May 23, 2010 - Pentecost

A Promise and A Call
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost – May 23, 2010

Today is Pentecost, and in this church, it's also the day when we traditionally confirm our 8th graders. They will come up here in a few minutes & stand in front of everyone and make a public affirmation of their baptism, claiming this life of faith for themselves. It's an important step on their faith journey, and one that we always recognize the week before by having a little dinner here at the church. This year it was my pleasure to get to go & pick out the cards that would go with the gifts they would receive from the congregation, and I wanted to share with you what it said. It went something like this: God is with you in whatever you do, on your Confirmation day, and everyday – Now get out there and show the world!

This promise and this call are a part of every Christian's life. We see from the very beginning, even in this story from Acts. Jesus has died, Jesus has been raised, Jesus has appeared to them multiple times. And just before he leaves, Jesus tells them 2 things: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20), and “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea & Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”(Acts 1:8). In other words, the promise & the call: God is with you always, so get out there & show the world.

But that hasn't happened yet. They were told to go out & show the world that God was with them, to share the good news that God is with everyone, but nothing is happening. At this point, there are about 120 believers, not just the original 12 and the women, but the beginning of chapter 2 finds them all together in one place, hanging out in somebody's house, socializing only with their fellow believers. They are immobilized, stuck in the house, waiting for something to change, waiting for the signal that now is the time to begin this work that Jesus has given them.
It's a situation we can relate to in the church today, not just in our church, but in many churches. We too have been given both a promise and a call. We hear over & over again that God is with us – we read it in the Bible, we sing it in our songs, we experience it in God's meal – and I sure hope you hear it in the sermon! But with that promise of God's forever love comes a mission – to go and tell others this good news, to speak it, as Acts says, in their own languages, languages that they can understand. We are sent from this place each week to be Jesus' witnesses to the ends of the earth – or at least in our neighborhoods! Yet so often, we find ourselves all gathered together in one place, hanging out mainly with other believers, telling each other the story – but that's where it ends. There we remain, waiting for something to change, waiting for the signal that it's time to begin, perhaps waiting for people to come to us.

But the story of Pentecost reminds us that that's not the way it works. It is good to gather together in one place – but we can't stay there. At least the disciples had an excuse – Jesus told them to wait until they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit – and when that Spirit came, everything changes. There they are, gathered in that house, and suddenly, the Spirit comes rushing in, filling their ears with the sound of a violent wind, filling up the house with her presence, descending on each of them like a tongue of fire, moving their own tongues to speak in languages they never had known. All of a sudden, their waiting is over – the Spirit sends them out of that place and into the world, out to where people who never would have thought to come into the house have gathered, sends them out to this tremendously diverse crowd of Jews from all over the world, who all spoke different languages, who had heard the commotion and come to see what's going on – sort of like those flash mobs that you hear about or see on YouTube, where some group starts to sing or dance in public & everyone gathers around because this isn't something you see every day, and you have to know what it is, the curiosity is just too much to stay away. Here, finally is the change, the moment when they begin to do what Jesus said they would do – to share the story – to proclaim God's deeds of power in the people's own languages, enabling them to hear, to understand, to be changed by God's people, telling what God has done in the world through Jesus, all of it set into motion & powered by the coming of the Holy Spirit into that place and those people.

And that same Spirit is still in motion today. We who hear this story every year tend to think of it as some past event that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away – but the Spirit is still alive and active in our world, in our church, in us. I have heard her rumblings, felt the rush of her wind blowing in this place – and I'm not just talking about the wind howling around us like we've heard in church a few times this past winter and early spring. No, the Holy Spirit is on the move even in this place. We may feel more comfortable staying right here in one place with other believers, but I can feel the Spirit moving us, pushing us to leave this place, just as the disciples did on that Pentecost day so long ago. It is the Spirit that is at work in us as we are learning to focus our attention outward, to consider what lies beyond our doors. The Holy Spirit is picking up speed among us, here in this place, as we get more involved in the life of the world around us, as we dare to see the hurts and needs of our world and do something about them, instead of watching and waiting for the world to change on its own.

I see the Spirit working in us in something as simple as our Memorial Day water give-away, which is about so much more than being a part of our community's parade – because it's a way to show God's love in a small but tangible way, to remind people that this gift of God is free for the taking, open to anyone.

I see the Holy Spirit at work in the inspiration to open our summer food drive not just to members of our church but to anyone in the neighborhood who wants to be a part of making a difference for people in need.

And I especially see the Holy Spirit moving in us as we are moving towards becoming a host congregation for Family Promise, because when I arrived here not quite 3 years ago, I don't think any one of us could have imagined throwing open our doors for families who are homeless to come and stay here for a week at a time, to lead the way for faith communities here in Lynbrook to become a part of the solution, instead of just lamenting the problem, to open ourselves to the changes that inevitably happen in us when we dare to try to make a difference. None of these things could happen without the Holy Spirit working in our church.

And that same Spirit is at work in each of you, because the Holy Spirit didn't just come that one time at Pentecost and leave. The Spirit comes in the waters of our baptism, we pray for it to be stirred up within us at the time of confirmation – the Spirit the one who reminds us of the promise, that that God is always with us, every day of our lives, and then sends us with a call. So, let's get out there and show the world!

Amen.