May 19, 2013
Acts 2:1-21
1When 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.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.’”
Sermon:
“What does this
mean?”
It was the question
asked by a diverse crowd gathered in the middle of noisy, dusty Jerusalem. There were people milling about speaking a
cacophony of languages, but mostly just sticking to their own kind.
There were Parthians, and Medes, Elamites and residents
of Mesopotamia, visitors from Rome and folks who called Jerusalem their
hometown. There were Jews and
proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, Republicans and Democrats, Northerners and
Southerners, teenagers and grandparents.
There were even Duke fans mingled with Carolina fans. Like I said, it was a diverse crowd!
Suddenly the
scene turned into a combination of Gone With The Wind and Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire. A great wind blew
through the place and fiery tongues landed on each of Jesus’ disciples’
heads. They began to speak about God’s
deeds of power and everyone heard and understood in their own language.
The Southerners
asked, “What does this here stuff mean, y’all??”
The Northerners
asked, “Pardon me everyone, but might you know, perchance, what this occurrence
signifies?”
The
Presbyterians just stood in the corner muttering to themselves, “Well THIS is
certainly not decent or in good order!”
Many in the
crowd answered that question with a logical assumption: those disciples were
drunk (and not on sweet tea)!
Peter got
annoyed at that idea, and stood up to speak to this varied crowd, and said,
“Drunk?! Please! It’s only 9 a.m., and we don’t drink Irish
coffee, people.” Recognizing that what
was happening was not a meteor shower or some mass hallucination, Peter quoted
the prophet Joel:
“When the time’s right, God says,
I will pour
out my Spirit upon all people,
sons and daughters will speak the truth,
teenage boys will see the way the world’s supposed
to be,
old men will dream of that reality.
Male, female, young, old: my Spirit will be poured
upon everyone, and they will prophesy.”
He went on to say something about blood, fire, mist and darkness, and
portents, signs and the coming of the Lord’s great day. And he finished with Joel’s words, “Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Now we’re not told whether people believed
Peter. No doubt some still believed that
they were enjoying spirits with their breakfast cereal and not the Holy
Spirit. But whether they accepted the
answer or not, they did ask that most important question, “What does this
mean?”
This is a question we should keep asking all
of our lives.
On this Pentecost Sunday, where we commission
our high school graduates for the next stage in their lives, I am asking this
question on behalf of Brandon and Karen.
We can ponder the meaning of the coming of the Holy Spirit for ourselves
as well, but today, I want to tell those two what I think this whole “Pentecost
thing” means for them. I know they
absolutely love being singled out like this.
Karen and Brandon, you need to know that when
the Spirit of God was first poured on all people, they didn’t really understand
what was happening (hence the thought that they were drunk). But the Spirit was poured on them
anyway. So, embrace those times of
questioning, when new experiences in life and challenges cause you to
reconsider what you always thought you knew about God. Do not fear uncertainty. A deep connection with God and those around
you is not found in being afraid to challenge and question…it is found in the
courage to ask questions. No amount of
questioning will take the Spirit away from you.
That Spirit set up camp in your soul at your baptism, and will never
leave you.
Which brings me to another thought: it’s not
enough to say that the Spirit is in you, that you have a “personal
relationship” with God through Jesus and just leave it at that. Like that group of disciples and strangers in
Jerusalem at Pentecost, you need a faith community where you can most fully
experience the Spirit at work. The
Spirit was not poured on all people so that they could walk around with their
nose in the air like Hermoine getting another answer right. (You know I had to get another Harry Potter
reference in there!)
The Spirit was poured on all people so that
they could prophesy. That there is a
scary word! Here’s what it means: speak
the truth, all the time, no matter what the cost to your popularity or pride. When you see that things are not as they
should be, when someone is left out and no one will speak to them, when alcohol
is seen as the solution to social awkwardness, when people are looked down on
because they come from a different background, it is your job to prophesy. To tell the truth. The Spirit is in you so that you will speak
for those who have no voice, so that you will encourage those who are beaten
down, and show another way of life simply by being exactly who God made you to
be, and no one else.
I wish I could tell you this was easy. The truth is, telling the truth is a lot
harder than just going along with what everyone else is doing. But I don’t need to tell you that being a
prophet is hard…you know that. Because
you already are a prophet. I’ve seen
it.
Karen, you are a prophet filled with the
Spirit when you pray with boldness and defy peer pressure to be yourself no
matter how hard that choice can be.
When the burden of being a prophet, of being
a bearer of the Spirit, gets too great, you will always have this place. Here, you can always come back to remember
who you really are. Here, you can
experience the Spirit refilling your spirit with hope. Here, you can be reminded of what we all see:
that you are a child of God, and that you are not the future of the church but
that you are the church right now, as God is using you to bring light to
others.
We are so grateful to be your church family
and that, promised in baptism and reaffirmed in confirmation, you will always belong
here. And we make a promise to you (you
might even call it an “unbreakable vow”:
we will pray for you, we will support you as your continue becoming who
God has called you to be, and we will listen to you as you continue to teach us
all what it means to be a prophet filled with the Spirit. Amen.