Good morning, Friends! Thank you all for coming to worship today. I know that this is a big three-day weekend and lots of people are busy. There’s Memorial Day. And today is Pentecost, which celebrates the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the Christian church.
I bet that none of you actually remembered that last one, did you? The name “Pentecost” is a Greek word, and it means fiftieth. Pentecost comes seven weeks, or fifty days, after Passover and Easter.
Pentecost is celebrated by both Jews and Christians, but for different reasons. In the Jewish faith, Pentecost celebrates the first fruits of the new growing season. The first wheat is up and can be harvested. It means you’ve got grain and can eat bread again, because all the grain from last year is probably gone. It means you and your family aren’t going to starve this year. That’s a really big deal. You’ve got bread!
In the Jewish faith, Pentecost also celebrates something else. It celebrates God giving Jews the Torah, the five books of Moses. Jews celebrate with special meals. And they celebrate by staying up all night, and reading the five books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It’s what people did before they could binge-watch TV shows — stay up all night, reading the five most important books of the Old Testament.
See, Jews made the connection, between having bread for the coming year, and having the Word of God, living bread, food for the soul.
Christians have a different reason to celebrate Pentecost. The story begins in the book of Acts, the book that describes what people did during the first few days and weeks and months after the Resurrection.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?
People from Iran and Iraq, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, North Africa, Rome, Arabia and the island of Crete, both Jews and converts to Judaism – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They’ve had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people aren’t drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.– Acts 2:1-18
Let me ask you a question. What would you do if the food ran out? What if one year, there just wasn’t any more? To start with, we’d all use whatever we had in our freezer, or our pantry. Then we’d go to the grocery.
But what if the stores ran out? What if the land itself stopped producing? For us, that seems like a pretty distant possibility. But for people in Bible times, it was something that happened, more frequently than anyone wanted to think about.
So, having a holiday to celebrate, “Hey, we’re going to have enough food to eat this coming year!” was a holiday that made sense. It really was something to celebrate.
Now, let me ask you another question. What if, instead of food not being here, what if God’s word simply ran out? What if you couldn’t read the Bible any more? What if suddenly, no one could even remember what God said to us?
How would you feel? What if nobody remembered the basic rules of human society – to love and honor God, to respect God’s name, to take a day off every week, to honor family, not to murder, cheat, steal, lie or lust after what isn’t yours?
What if nobody remembered anything at all about the stories of God’s people? What if all God’s blessings were lost? What if all God’s promises were all forgotten?
We’d starve to death without the Word of God. Maybe not physically, but spiritually. Our souls would be dying.
But that’s not happening. We have the Bible. We have the written word of God. Maybe, once a year, we need to celebrate – “Let’s be glad we have the Bible day!” Jews do it. Why shouldn’t Christians do it?
But – there’s a deeper level going on. As they always say in the TV ads, “There’s more!” The ancient holiday of Pentecost, has an even deeper meaning, which is where today’s story comes in.
It was seven weeks after Easter – today, in fact! Jesus had been executed, but then he rose from the dead. We know about that — people saw Jesus. They saw him by ones and twos, in the garden or along the road. They saw him in small groups, in the upper room or at the beach. They saw Jesus in places they didn’t expect.
But it was him! They knew it. He was there. They touched him. He ate with them. He blessed them.
And then, one day, he was gone. The details are a little sketchy. Nobody really knew where he went. Back to where he came from. Back to his Father’s house. Gone away to prepare a place for us, he said.
Jesus said he’d come back again one day. Maybe soon. Maybe a while. He said to stay awake and be ready. Don’t forget anything. Keep doing what he told us. Love God, and love your neighbor.
Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit people who are alone or in prison. That is what Jesus said for us to do!
Keep sharing the good word. Heal people, and bless them. Share your peace, wherever you go. Pray always. Don’t give up. Those are commandments for us, direct from Jesus. Forgive, and be forgiven. Be humble, and joyful. Give, whatever you can, so that other people will thank God because of you. Tell the truth. Don’t be anxious, just pray.
All these things, which are written down for us to read and remember. This is like food for our hearts, and life for our lives.
But it isn’t enough, and Jesus knew it. Jesus promised us more.
Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphaned. I am coming to you. I will ask the Father, and he will send you the Comforter, the Counselor, the Advocate, to be with you forever. The Spirit of Truth, which the world can’t receive, because the world neither sees the Spirit or knows it. But you will know the Spirit, because the Spirit dwells with you, and will be in you. The Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. . .” (John 14:16-18, 26-27)
That’s the promise. That’s who Jesus said he’d send. And today’s the day we remember how it all came true.
They were praying together, and without warning there was a mighty wind. It shook the house. It blew all the doors and windows open. Everything was blown off the shelves and tables. They never knew a wind like that!
It was powerful, but it wasn’t destructive. It was a fresh wind, a clean wind. Nobody knew where it came from. But it filled their hearts and filled their minds.
And before they knew what was happening next, the room was filled with fire. Again, not a destroying fire, but a living fire. Kind of like what Moses saw, at the burning bush. It blazed, but they weren’t consumed. Each person felt it. It was overwhelming.
And then, when the wind and fire were still echoing round the room, something else happened. Their hearts and minds were filled with the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit that Jesus promised. It was like they could feel Jesus again, inside them. Jesus’ words, his thoughts, his love, his courage. He was alive!
They weren’t shy any more. They all had something to say. And they all started to talk, with new words that the Spirit gave them.
People who were passing by, who were walking down the street, didn’t understand what was going on. They were puzzled, they were amazed. Some of them mocked the disciples.
You’ve heard me talk about this before. Were they speaking in actual, foreign languages? Were they speaking in unknown tongues?
I’ve told you my own way of understanding this part of the story. I experience the Holy Spirit as reaching out, from me to other people.
The Holy Spirit is the great bridge builder. The great force for understanding our differences, who brings us together. Heart reaches out to heart. Mind reaches out to other thoughts.
This is something I’ve felt for all my life. God breaks down walls. God crosses mountains and oceans. God reaches out past barriers of fear and hate, and helps us to see each other and bring us together.
I’m not good at speaking other languages. But the Spirit has invited me, all my life, to reach out to other people, from all kinds of different places, and find the same Holy Spirit, already present in them.
That’s a miracle. The Holy Spirit, in every human being, reaching out to bring us together.
How can you hate someone you know like that? How can you be afraid, of someone whose heart is so much like yours?
And the thing is, it doesn’t stop. The Holy Spirit is fresh every day. It’s not one and done. It’s not a long time ago. This is now. This is today.
Jesus said that he would be with us for always. He said that this new life would never end. It’s not like God spoke just once, a long time ago. God is still speaking, every day.
Jesus taught us a prayer once. He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”
And then he taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread. . .” That’s not just ordinary bread, the kind you make sandwiches out of. Jesus also meant living bread, bread from Heaven, food for the heart and soul as well as for the body.
That’s what the Holy Spirit is. Without it, we starve inside. We’re hungry, and we don’t know what’s missing.
The Spirit isn’t just our comforter and our friend in court. The Spirit is our counselor, our breath, our inner fire.
The Spirit teaches us everything, and helps us remember the lessons we learned.
The Spirit is the great interpreter, the healer of hearts. It’s the holy Wisdom that’s greater than anything the world knows.
It blows into us like a hurricane with fresh life. It helps us to understand each other. It inspires us to reach out.
It helps us to forgive, and to tell the truth. When we know what to pray, when we don’t have the words, the Spirit cries out to God for us, and God hears our prayer anyway.
In today’s story, Peter said that God pours out the Holy Spirit on everyone – men and women, young people and old people, on slaves and free people, in visions and dreams. The Spirit overcomes every barrier, of language and division.
And it’s not just a long time ago. It’s not for people we never knew. It’s for people like us. And it’s fresh every day.