May 19, 2013 (Pentecost) – Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, 25-27
Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, 25-27
What Does this Want to Be?
The Day of Pentecost – May 19, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
On the day of Pentecost we remember and celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit to
the disciples gathered in Jerusalem 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection.
Pentecost simply means 50.
It was 50 days after Jesus was raised from the dead,
when the Spirit Jesus had promised the disciples came to them.
In the biblical view, Spirit is not the opposite of flesh or matter.
It is, rather, what animates flesh and matter.
It is much better to think of Spirit as energy.
The Holy Energy that was at work in Jesus body before the resurrection would now be at work in
his body after his resurrection, the body of his disciples, the church, the body of Christ.
There are all kinds of energies or spirits at work in the world.
There are many deathly kinds of energies or spirits.
There are spirits of addiction, and domination, and depression, and resentment,
and a hundred others:
we all know how much energy there can be in these death-filled spirits.
We know there are these death-filled spirits at work in the world,
but there is another Spirit at work in the world.
It is a spirit that defeated the spirits of death on the day of Resurrection and
that has been unleashed into the world on this day we call Pentecost.
This spirit, the spirit that was at work in Jesus, is called the Holy Spirit,
and it is a life-filled energy.
A spirit or energy that animated him to heal and feed and teach and forgive and
even raise the dead to life.
Distilled and intensely focussed in Jesus was the Holy Spirit of the Triune God that is
present throughout all creation, creating and sustaining life.
That is the Spirit that is given to the church on the Day of Pentecost.
That Spirit, that is present of course in all creation, is now given to the disciples of Jesus,
that it might be focussed in their work as it was focussed in Jesus’ work.
This spirit had been focussed in the occasional individual in the Old Testament,
particularly in the prophets and exceptional individuals like the Judges.
But God had promised a time in the prophet Joel when it would be poured out on
all kinds of people, even slaves and young people and old people of both sexes,
in other words on those work is not especially prized.
God is a generous giver.
And on that day in Jerusalem when Jews were gathered to celebrate the Festival of Weeks,
the Spirit was given seemingly to members of every nation.
As it says in Acts, “All were amazed an perplexed.”
And then they said to one another, “What does this mean?”
Only, if you translate what they say literally, it doesn’t ask that great question,
but instead it asks another.
Literally it says, “What does this wish to be?” What does this wish to be?
which is an even greater question.
Well, if you read on in Acts, what it wishes to be is more.
The Spirit sends these people out in all directions, taking the Good News of
forgiveness, blessing, healing, and life for all people to every corner of the empire.
If you read on in Acts, that is, you realize that Pentecost is not a one-time event long ago.
If you read on in Acts, you begin to realize in a profound way we are now living in
the age of the Spirit.
The Spirit is energy, and it is restless, and yes it blows where it wills.
It’s given to murderous unlikely Saul, and he is changed and sent out to
create communities of healing and grace and inclusion across the empire.
It’s given to Peter – yes on the Day of Pentecost but again, seemingly,
when he has a sort of second conversion when he comes to realize that
Gentiles and not just Jews are to be included within God’s people:
when he realizes that when God says “all flesh” God means “all flesh.”
It’s given to Stephen in a difficult situation when he must face death for
claiming Jesus as Lord and not Caesar, when he is empowered by the Spirit to
die as Jesus died, full of trust, full of forgiveness, full of grace.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Pentecosts have continued throughout the life of the church, not just in biblical times.
The Holy Spirit, the Holy life-giving energy continues to be given.
The colour for this day is red, and I do love my red chasuble because I look fantastic in it.
Red is the colour of Pentecost,
the colour of the heat and light and warmth of the fire of God’s love.
The only other day we usually put on red is Reformation Day,
when we recall that the Spirit was especially at work in the 16th century reformers.
But really, this is misleading.
Really we shouldn’t just be wearing red on the Day of Pentecost, or on Reformation Day.
Really, we should be wearing every day, for this Spirit is always at work, and is
always being given by a good and generous and gracious God for the life of the world.
For something began on that day long ago that is just not finished yet.
Something began that has been unleashed into the world that
continues to work for life and goodness and justice and meaning and the
common good of all people.
What does this wish to be?
I asked you this question in the weekly e-mail this week.
Here’s exactly what I asked: tell me about the Pentecosts you have seen at First Lutheran Church. What’s a Pentecost moment you can share with me that you’ve witnessed here? Where have you seen the Spirit actively at work?
I said I would share the responses, and there were many of them.
Here they are.
A couple of people mentioned experiences around our recent production of the musical
“Forgiveness in the Family.”
There were so many people involved, giving of their gifts for the good of the whole, and
this prompted Cindy Green to say that for her a recent Pentecost moment was simply
witnessing The people who helped with the musical and made it awesome!
For Diane Stadnyk, a recent Pentecost moment came after the musical when Jamie the director
was presented with the painting of a fish by Daniel Martin in order to thank him.
It seemed to me he was incredibly touched and it seemed to me that he left with a vision of
‘church’ that was different than the one he held in the past –
one filled with unity and gratitude.
Now truly those gifts – unity and gratitude – are gifts of the Spirit:
I’m sure that’s what Pentecost wishes to be.
Providing a space for the arts occasioned Pentecost moments for others as well, like Paul Gehrs,
who recalls the play “Sargent and Victor” being performed here in our worship space.
Two moments in the play stuck out for him.
First, How the playwright understood and highlighted the centrality of communion, meal and bread, to the life of the church. It was an example of word and symbol being understood beyond the walls and immediate members of the church community. Isn’t that something like Pentecost? That the message was somehow understood by others? Second, There was a sequence in which one speaker said “I love that new pastor” and the next speaker said “I can’t stand that new pastor.” I think it highlighted the diverse experiences of individuals and diverse reactions to every attempt we make to share the gospel. Isn’t that something like Pentecost? The Spirit somehow helps us move beyond diversity to encounter God’s love, God’s purpose and God’s holiness.
We do proclaim that that Spirit comes to us dependably as a community gathered around
word and sacrament in Sunday morning worship.
Here’s Alan Cann on his experience on one of those Sunday mornings:
I will never forget a specific Sunday. . . . It was shortly after the Sanctuary refurbishment and I was standing in the front row. During the offertory, we were singing, “We offer with Joy…ourselves, our time, and our possessions, signs of your gracious love…”; the children were coming back from Sunday School; the ushers were bringing the money and the food collection forward; and out of the corner of my eye, I saw scurrying feet amongst the adult feet, plates, baskets of food, the font. I heard giggling, happy voices, and a close knit community singing of signs of God’s love, and a palpable sense of peace flowed over me and I realized that I was witness to a holy moment. I will forever relate the sound and image of young scurrying feet to the tongues of fire that moved through the room at the first Pentecost.
Alan wasn’t the only one to discover Pentecost on a regular Sunday morning.
Here’s Martha Helgerson on the Spirit’s work at worship:
I’d have to say I see a Pentecost Moment each time you start chanting the opening words of the communion –“The Lord be with you” and the congregation responds. Your face [I blush to relate this] is always aglow with serene contentment and happiness, which is also reflected by the participation of the worshipers. A relaxed yet holy mood is definitely set. I also see it during the passing of the peace, but even beyond that, when worshipers from the community are embraced literally and figuratively despite having significantly different backgrounds. . . . There is definitely a feeling of inclusiveness that I can only hope and believe would be extended into our everyday lives.
Some of you, including Doug Sigurdson, see that extension of the Spirit in our
everyday lives at work at our Food Banks and Community meals.
One of you, Sue Sorensen, sees the Spirit at work in those we minister to there:
I’ve seen the very poor, at the Urban and at our food bank, give away money and food generously when they have so little themselves. As a percentage of their so-called “net worth” I can’t even imagine what proportion of their “wealth” they are giving away.
Isn’t this Spirit of mutual giving what Pentecost wishes to be?
The Spirit is alive and well at First Lutheran Church: God is powerfully at work here in ways
large and small.
Tamsin Collings pointed how the Spirit is powerfully at work among us in the
care extended to one another in this community.
Any week that my father is not at church, she wrote, people check with me to see how he is doing and offer their support. They check in with him and my mother when they are at church. I know Gaelene provided food when they were having a very difficult time last fall, and I know there have been many moments where people have offered support and genuine caring which we have really appreciated.
Isn’t that what Pentecost wishes to be?
A couple of months ago, during a visit from Synod Council member Jennifer Marlor,
council was invited to talk about the work we’re doing, and as we did so,
Someone else felt a Pentecost moment, as we discussed, and I quote,
the amazing work of our church, the Spirit among our people, and the life we share!
We spoke with excitement about our diverse community and our culture of thankfulness,
we spoke of Kids Club and events like the CLWR Fundraising Concert and
the Gospel Jamboree.
We spoke of joint projects with congregations like Gloria Dei, Messiah Lutheran,
various West End ministries and our joint study with Home Street Mennonite.
We spoke of Food Banks and Community Meals and
Fall Launch Neighbourhood BBQs and Refugee Sponsorships.
We spoke of Amnesty International Letter Writing and the establishment of our
social Justice Working Group and of our support of the ministry of Luther Village.
This is what Pentecost wishes to be: it wishes to be now. And it wishes to be you.
It wishes to be inclusion and it wishes to be caring.
It wishes to be mutual giving and receiving.
It wishes to be justice and it wishes to be mercy.
It wishes to be community and healing and peace-making.
It wishes to be now. And it wishes to be you.
So together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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