LETTING GOD FLOW

Acts 2:1-21

Intro

One of the quick ways that Pentecost is understood is as the ‘birthday of the church’, for this is the day that the Spirit of God came upon the followers of Jesus so as to empower and embolden them to step out into their worlds and fulfill the call of the Great Commission and ‘make disciples of all nations’. So yes, Pentecost is the beginning of the church.

However, one of the things that has always left me a little unsettled about leaving the description of Pentecost as merely a birthday celebration is that it feels like something that you are invited to, you head to for a few hours, and even have a good time, but then head home, not really affected (let alone affecting others) beyond the fact that you enjoyed yourself.

But Pentecost is so much more than singing Happy Birthday to someone else, and then having a piece of cake that is way too big. At least it should be.

Pentecost is the day when we are able to recognize that the sacrifice that was made on a cross, which grants the opportunity to free all people from the burden of sin that we carry, also comes with responsibilities. These responsibilities are to be carried by all of God’s people and this amazingly diverse group of people is empowered through the Spirit of God to live lives, both in word and action, that declare the truth that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is not some sort of eternal ‘get out of jail free’ card. It is a sacrifice that calls us to action and through the movement of God’s Spirit we are granted all that we will need to share the truth of Jesus, and allow his light to shine forth. Regardless of who you are or how the world may view you, you are blessed in ways to allow the light of God to shine. The scripture reads this way.

Acts 2:1-21

2When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

“Letting God Flow”

Pentecost is one of those days on the liturgical calendar when you’re pretty sure you know what you’re going to hear when you come to church. On Christmas, you hear about the baby being born. On Easter you hear about Jesus rising from the dead. On Pentecost, you know that you are going to hear about the Spirit of God coming like a rush of wind and that individuals from a multitude of homelands and cultures are able to understand what is being said by the followers of Jesus in their own language, even though the Galileans, more likely than not, would know how to speak a single word of that foreign language.

The way that we have this miraculous event explained in its totality is through a listing of a multitude of locations. Some of them are familiar to our ears. Many are not. But regardless of whether or not we recognize the names, what those 17 verbal landmine opportunities provide for us is one picture of how much greater the call of being church with one another is then just the little corner that we know.

Think about it, with whom did the church start? With a group of people from a small community of an occupied country that was considered kind of backwater by the folks who lived in the refined city of Jerusalem.

And yet, it was through these individuals that God worked so that the message of Jesus Christ spread to so much of the known world. This life giving message of Jesus connected all of these individuals.

As I said a moment ago, it can be real easy to get caught up in the belief that the church is the little corner of the world that we know. It’s this sanctuary. It’s the ministries and missions that we are involved in and committed to. It’s the people whom we have met.

But what our passage reminds us is that the church was never meant to be confined to what we know. It was meant to head out into the world so that all the world might realize that in Christ we are one.

I had this truth pushed home in some new ways this week during the mission trip that I was able to participate in up in Paterson.

Being perfectly candid, I knew next to nothing about the trip that we were going to be taking, let alone the work that we were supposed to be doing. I knew that I was going to be working alongside Bruce and Laurie Hawley, as well as the folks who stood up before the church last Sunday to be commissioned. I knew that we were going to be helping to work on the church properties of a congregation called Faith Chapel. That was it. I knew nothing else. I didn’t know what denomination the church was with; I wasn’t sure if there was going to be another congregation working there; I didn’t know a thing about the city of Paterson so I couldn’t even picture the sort of people whom we were going to be meeting; and I had no idea the sort of physical labor that would be placed in front of us. I had next to nothing.

However, hour by hour those unknowns became known. The group from Three Bridges, and we were the only folks there for the first week of a six week mission experience for Bruce and Laurie, explored a little bit of the city in including the falls which I would have never imagined ever being there. We saw the church buildings of Faith Chapel Reformed Church including the parsonage where we both slept and worked, repairing both damage received from a burst pipe, and helping the congregation to become good stewards of a property that had been, for too long, neglected. But the greatest thing that happened was that we began to meet the people of Faith Chapel.

On Sunday night the pastor stopped by with a couple of the youth leaders as they were all returning from a youth event that had 50+ people. They were tired. You could see it in their body language and you could see it in their eyes.

But they came, and we gathered together in the living room that consisted of walls that had holes, and a floor that was down to its original turn of the 20^th century floor boards (and trust me, that wasn’t a good thing!), and we began to talk. At least twice Laurie gentle tried to let them know that it was okay for them to leave. But the Spirit moved in such a way that they stayed, and conversation eventually swung around to singing, I think Marlyn mentioned the hymn ‘Precious Lord’, and before you knew what was going on, Pastor Darryl began to sing. Then one of the youth leaders added in the harmony.

We sat there in the midst of that humble space, in a city that has clearly be beaten down in too many ways, and we were worshipping, worshipping a God who was so much greater than any of us could ever conceive, greater than any of our individual experiences, greater than our cultures (both the areas where they are the same and the areas where they are different), greater than everything and anything.

They finished singing and without a word being said, we started to pray. Now mind you, there was no, ‘let us pray’, or ‘please bow your heads’. Everyone was just led to pray, for one another, for each other’s churches and the church universal, for the work that was about to be done, and the hope that all of us would be open to what God was going to reveal, whatever that may mean and however that may develop.

The prayer concluded and we looked at one another realizing that what had taken place was not of us: it was of God. The Spirit of God breathed into that room and called for us to share the light to everyone we met.

And it happened, and I’m not just talking about the work that we did there, I’m talking about the love and community that Faith Chapel invited us to be a part of. Have you ever had one of those hugs where you immediately know that you’ve been welcomed into a family? Those moments were all over the place. From a Tuesday night meal in the back yard that looked like a family reunion, to a Wednesday night Bible Study that reminded each of us of all of the different ways that we can act as the feeding hands of Christ, to all of the moments where people who looked so different on the outside worked with one another showing to everyone who walked by that house that the only label that really mattered was that we were all Christians, the Spirit of God moved.

None of us knew how the Spirit of God was going to move. None of us really knew how God might be able to work through us. But we opened ourselves to allowing God in and when that happened, people heard in their own dialect and tongue the truth that is found in Jesus Christ.

Sons and daughters of the Living God in this community of faith here at Three Bridges, each of us have not only been called to move beyond these church walls, and beyond the walls that allow us to feel comfortable to proclaim the truth of the living God. In and through the Spirit of God you will be blessed so as to allow that light to shine. Be open to it, and then let God flow.

In your home and at your work, let God flow! In your school and with your friends, let God flow! When you’re comfortable, and absolutely when you’re uncomfortable, let God flow. Regardless of who you are or how the world may view you, you are blessed in ways to allow the light of God to shine. Pentecost is not just a birthday party: let God flow!

After Sermon Prayer

God Your Spirit has come into the world, and if we are open to it, we are able to acknowledge that it has come into our lives as well. God, help us to be open to all of the ways that You are moving in the world so that we might use the blessings You have bestowed us with to be a blessing unto others and allow Your light to shine. Lord, help us to let You flow! It is in Jesus’ name that we do pray. Amen.