Pentecost
              
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The Day of Pentecost                                                  May 24, 2015


This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Ezekiel 37:1-14Psalm 104:24-34, 35bActs 2:1-21John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
 
Pr. Steve's Sermon - Signs of the Spirit
Pr. Steve's Sermon - Signs of the Spirit
Children's Sermon - Tongues of Fire
Children's Sermon - Tongues of Fire

Choir Anthem - This Little Light of Mine
Choir Anthem - This Little Light of Mine

Youth Bell Choir - My Faith Looks Up to Thee
Youth Bell Choir - My Faith Looks Up to Thee




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Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve ... 

 

It's often said that there are two kinds of people.... (you know, the kind that divide people into two types of people and the kind that don't!)

 

But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, it does often seem to me like there are two kinds of Christians - the kind of Christians who speak about the Holy Spirit all the time and the kind of Christians who usually don't.

 

Lutherans are usually that latter kind. Oh sure, we acknowledge the existence of the Holy Spirit every time we recite the Creed. We baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But we usually only talk about the Holy Spirit when we celebrate the day of Pentecost.

 

Why is that? Well, frankly for me, it's often because when I get involved in conversations with Christians who always talk about the Holy Spirit, the conversation can get really weird really fast!

 

More often than not, I find myself involved in conversations in which I get lectured to about the real signs of the Holy Spirit, and how, if I don't express those signs, I'm probably not really "in the Spirit." And while I realize the Holy Spirit is God's self-expression which can happen to a variety of people in a variety of ways, I sometimes get really concerned with what so many people commonly believe are signs of the Spirit.

It seems like many people - including both kinds of Christians - think that signs of the Spirit need to be:

  • Weird and unusual (sometimes something like "speaking in tongues", which isn't what happens on the day of Pentecost, but often that's how we read it...)
  • Mystical and other-worldly - that is, you get transported out of this world, or receive some kind of secret, special knowledge (this was often thought in the first century as well...)
  • Divisive - that is, they really do demonstrate a division between those who got the Spirit, and those who don't ...

And while God can, of course, do whatever God wants in whatever way God wants to do it, what usually bothers me about those kinds of "signs of the Spirit" is that they aren't the signs of the Spirit that people experienced on the Day of Pentecost. Even though the Day of Pentecost was filled with weird experiences and other-worldly tongues of fire, those weren't really the most important signs of the Spirit.

 

The real signs of the Spirit were the ways in which:

  • People were drawn closer to God - regular folks walking through Jerusalem heard about God's deeds of power (especially the raising of Jesus.) Notice also, they didn't hear about God's anger, God's judgment, or God's warning to straighten out and fly right or else! They heard things about God that actually drew them towards God, and made them want to hear more. That was different, and that was a sign of the Spirit ...
  • People were drawn closer to each other - they all came together, even though they spoke other languages and came from places that really didn't like each other. The Spirit gave the disciples abilities, not to be spiritual show-offs, but to speak to people in their own languages - and not just the language, but in ways people could relate to. The Spirit broke down walls that divided people, and that was a sign of the Spirit ...
  • The disciples were instruments of God without any agenda whatsoever! In fact, lots of people became believers after this event, but that was as much a surprise to the disciples as it was to the ordinary people walking around Jerusalem. The disciples didn't set out to save the world or convince anybody. They just lived their regular lives as they felt God calling them to live, and through simply being open to live without a divisive agenda, they became instruments of the Spirit. And that, in and of itself, was a sign of the Spirit...

Sometimes, especially around the time of the Yard Sale, we ask ourselves how we can be instruments of God's love in the lives of people who visit our Yard Sale, speak other languages, and who often wouldn't darken the door of a church unless it was having a Yard Sale.

 

It's a great question to ask. But sometimes in seeking the answer, people want to know exactly what the right words are to say to somebody. People want to know what the right things are to do to help people experience God. And people want to know the right balance between talking to people about their faith and just letting people be.

 

The Pentecost story reminds us that if we really want to experience the signs of the Spirit moving among us - and if we really want to be instruments of the Spirit in the lives of other - it really doesn't involve knowing the right words or doing the right things.

 

If you want to experience the Spirit - and to be an instrument of God's Spirit in somebody else's life - than do what the disciples did at Pentecost. When you talk about God or your faith, talk about the great things of God in your life. Talk to others in their language - not just their actual language, but in ways they can relate to. And be open to what God's calling you to do at any given moment without any kind of agenda to "save" or "convince" anybody else.

 

Amen.