Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season. Pentecost is the day we celebrate the coming of the Spirit and the birth of the Church. Pentecost was and is a Jewish festival. In the time of the Early Church it celebrated two things - the harvest and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.
Pentecost comes 50 days after Passover when the Jewish people celebrate their freedom from slavery. Having been made free they were given the Law to live by so that they may know and do God's will. For Christians Pentecost comes 50 days after Easter when we were made free by the death of Jesus on the cross. By accepting the forgiveness Jesus won for us on the cross, we are set free from our addiction to sin, death and decay. Having been set free, the Holy Spirit comes to fill us anew to give us power to be disciples.
People have funny ideas about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. Some time ago I got a phone call from a young man who was coming out as gay. The only problem was he was a minister within the Assemblies of God and he wanted to know what possibilities there were for transferring into MCC. He wanted to know if our church was Pentecostal.
I don't know how many of you have ever attended an Assembly of God or other Pentecostal church? If you have you may be able to appreciate his question. He wanted to know if we were a Christian Church. I said we were. "Well, they all say that," he scoffed. "What I really want to know is if you believe in the Holy Spirit?" I assured him we did. "But," he asked intensely, "are you Pentecostal?" "Do you mean do we speak in tongues?" I asked. "No, I mean are you Pentecostal?" he repeated. "Do you mean do we believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" "No," he said getting exasperated, "I mean are you Pentecostal?' Finally, I said, "I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that." To which he replied, "Then obviously you are not Pentecostal." And he put the phone down on me!
But as I read the scripture's account of the first day of Pentecost, I have to say that I'm convinced that young man was wrong. When I think about the style of worship in this and other MCCs I muse about being Pentecostal. Every week one of our churches gets a letter or email from those who attended a worship service expecting one thing and found another. Some people find us too formal, others don't like that we laugh or clap in church. But almost everyone who attends admits that they sensed the Holy Spirit here. This irritates some of them, and I can understand that. I mean, I just hate it when God does things without my approval.
Jesus said, "The Spirit is like the wind which blows where it chooses, and we can't control where it comes from or where it is going." The Spirit blows through this church changing lives, healing, helping, giving us hope and purpose. Though some of us have let the fire dim, this is the place where the Spirit lit up our souls.
One miracle, which makes this church Pentecostal, is that like the disciples in the book of Acts, we come "together in one accord."
"And when the disciples were all together in one accord, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty wind and it filled the entire place..." It is almost like being together and "of one accord" was a pre-condition for the Spirit to blow through them.
One of the greatest things about this church is that we are all so different: Catholics, evangelicals, straight, gay, transgendered, and undecided. We are all so different, but I believe the Holy Spirit blows through this place not despite our diversity but in celebration of it.
Let's be honest here. Many of us came to this church because we were unwelcome in other places. But more and more, we are here because this is where God meets us. This is where we choose to be because we want to be a part of this amazing thing that God is doing.
That's why it is so frustrating when we take church attendance so casually. The slightest distraction, and we avoid church. The Spirit of the Living God is here; we should come prepared to have our souls wind blown. This is the most important hour of our week.
It is so ironic that God used Peter on that first Pentecost to explain what was going on. I mean, if you read the Gospel, Peter spent most of his time with Jesus completely clueless as to what was really going on. Now, he stood before a diverse group of perhaps 2,000 people who gathered to see what was happening. Peter explained to them that the wind and fire was exactly what the prophet Joel predicted.
"It shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young shall see visions, and your old shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, will I pour out my Spirit."
Men and women, young and old, slave, and free, God pours the Spirit on us all. The Spirit redefined what it meant to be the people of God. Pentecost was an act of great inclusion.
* In a day when
women were treated like property, God gave them the Spirit in equal
measure.
* To older ones discarded and discounted, God gave the Spirit.
*
To the young, often abused and neglected, God gave the Spirit.
* To the
oppressed, the enslaved, God gives the liberating Spirit.
* God was
personally breaking down barriers welcoming those who too often get left
out.
I grew up in a church where people didn't clap and seldom laughed. Actually, there wasn't much to applaud or laugh at. But when I read the account of the first day of Pentecost, I see diverse people so empowered and joy-filled that those who were looking on accused them of being drunk with new wine. Yes, life is serious and painful at times. That is why Jesus promised to send us a "comforter." The presence of the Spirit in our lives gives us confidence and power and peace, but only when we allow the Spirit to do so.
I heard of a student typing a paper for his religion class. One line of the paper said that Jesus came to take away our guilt, but he accidentally typed letter "q," so what he typed was that Jesus came to take away a quilt. The professor must have known something of the joy of the spirit because she wrote on his paper. Fear not little sheep, you will not be cold because God has given us a comforter.
And so it is for those who are members of the family of God. What transforms our lives is the knowledge that we are
* never alone,
* never bereft,
* never orphaned
for God is with us always.
After Easter Jesus hung around for a while with the disciples. Their relationship had changed and they never knew when they might see him again. They'd be together eating and he would pop in and know what they had been talking about. They would be walking along the road and stop to break bread only to realize he was with them. Or they might be out fishing and he would suddenly be there.
Then, 40 days after Easter Jesus gathered them all on a hillside. He sent them out to share the good news of God's including love and said "Lo I am with you always, even unto the ends of the earth."
When Jesus ascended into heaven he symbolically tied a knot in the rope of their relationship so they could move forward together in a different way. Then, ten days later, when they were all together in the upper room for the feast of Pentecost, Jesus came to them again in the person and the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In this second coming Jesus said to them, I have been living with you, but now I will be living in you. I would never leave you as orphans.
Today is Pentecost, the last Sunday of Easter on this 2003 Faith Odyssey. But Pentecost is the Church's way of reminding us that resurrection never really ends because the risen Jesus has come to make his home in us. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit has come and has made Pentecostals of us all.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.