Wind and Fire

Acts 2: 1-21, NT page 119 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But 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. Indeed these are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘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. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Sermon “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place,” is how our second scripture lesson begins, and it’s worth considering for a moment just how miraculous that was. Surely there was work that could have been done that morning, but they gathered there anyway. The school calendar must have cooperated in order for all of them to be there – no one was away on vacation. By some miracle there were no soccer games, and, thanks be to God, all the kids cooperated in putting on their Sunday clothes so families could get out of the house on time. They were all together in that one place, and it’s important to stop and reflect just right there to consider what would have to happen for all the members of First Presbyterian Church to be gathered here in one place on a Sunday morning. But there you have it – it happened – they were all gathered together, and for a preacher like me it can be easy to get caught up in the magnitude of one Sunday of perfect attendance. There is much that could keep you away, and that you are here reflects a spiritual discipline to be admired. Surely there is a list of things you could be doing rather than sitting in your pew or listening in on the radio – you could be out cutting the grass, planting tomatoes, taking a nap, or watching TV. Instead you are here, and I am thankful that you are because in our world something as important as attending church is becoming harder and harder, or at least less and less likely to happen. There’s a miracle then in just that first line of our scripture lesson – and it’s a miracle that means for me a certain degree of job security, but the moral of our lesson is not that church members should make a greater effort to attend church every Sunday. In fact, it certainly should be said that if the church is simply a place where people show up on Sunday morning, if the great sign of faithfulness is whether or not you worship each week, if this hour right now is the culmination of your religious practice, than you only know the tip of the iceberg of what it means to be a Christian. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Then they spoke to the city of Jerusalem where Jews of every nation had assembled for a festival, and they declared God’s great deeds of power. They assembled – yes, all in one place – but then the Holy Spirit fell upon them, the curse of the Tower of Babel was reversed, and they were able to take a message out into the world. To take the message out into the world – now that is what we celebrate today on Pentecost Sunday – the day when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and the Church was born. But so easily the Church goes back to that room that the disciples started in, assembled there all in one place, for we forget that we were created not just to assemble. The new Pope wrote to his home church in Argentina last month saying that, “A Church that does not go out of itself sickens from the stale air of closed rooms.” He told celibate Bishops and Priests that their vows of celibacy should enable them to become fathers to the churches that they serve, nuns that they should be like mothers, and that celibacy should be an excuse for neither to become hermits and spinsters. Instead they should go out – take risks, as this pope would prefer a church who makes mistakes a million times over a sick church. But the Church, in many ways is used to keeping to itself – and most everyone else is used to the Church keeping to itself as well. So the people of Jerusalem were shocked when those disciples looked out from the stale air of their closed room and did something, as people are often shocked to see religious people do something besides sit quietly in church pews. Some thought they were drunk – after all it’s a strange thing to go out into the world proclaiming a message – but Peter explains, and he becomes the first but certainly not the last to begin his sermon with a joke: “They’re not drunk, it’s only nine in the morning.” Then he continues with his explanation firmly rooted in Scripture saying this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘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. Sons and daughters, not just talking, but prophesying with words of meaning and truth and God’s will at work in the world. Young men without much to live for and not much idea of what they should do, all at once full of purpose, seeing visions of a bright future for themselves, a reason to live, a reason to get up out of bed. There are High School Seniors here who will be honored later in this service – and what all of them need to know is that the courage to pursue a vision is what this world needs far more than a perfect grade point average, a life free of mistakes, and the need to never apologize. The Holy Spirit will provide the vision, but you must take a step out from the stale air of that closed room and into the world. And old men – they shall dream dreams. Not nightmares or fears, not the memories of a better time, not a well-worn road of wish-I-hads and regrets, but dreams. I think too often about the County Commission Room here on the Square. A mural of buildings that once were but are no more decorate one wall, and I’m thankful that they’ll be remembered, but it’s one thing to remember the past and it’s another thing to have a dream for the future – and I tell you an old man with a dream for the future is a powerful force. I knew a man like that. His name was Jim, and when he was diagnosed with lung cancer he knew he wouldn’t have much time, the cancer had already moved too fast. When I visited him in the hospital his wife left the room so we could talk. I don’t know what I wanted to know – and I didn’t know what I was supposed to say, but eventually I asked him if he was worried about anything. He told me that he had done his best to describe to his wife Carol the maintenance schedule for the Heating and Air system at the house, but he wasn’t sure if she had really wrapped her head around it yet. Then he said, “Joe, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I see him.” “See who Jim.” “I don’t know what I’m going to do when I see him. Will I dance, will I cry. When I see Jesus I’m not sure what I’m going to do.” He was old enough, but not so old that his death should not have made him angry or afraid. What makes me sure that the Holy Spirit was in him was that he was not laying on his bed with regrets or injustices on his mind. He was there dreaming of what he would do when he met Jesus. The time will come, for you and for me, when, in the words of a character in a great Wendell Barry novel, “we’ll have an appointment, not with the beautician but the mortician.” I don’t have to tell you how great a thing it is to not just show up here on Sunday, but to take the faith that this place can give you out into the world – to take hope out into a world of hopelessness, to take purpose and direction out to a generation without it, to take faith with you into the hospital room when death is knocking at the door - this is the difference between believing that the words of Scripture are nice to hear and believing that the words of Scripture really mean something. But that was Peter’s sermon – he preached about the day when the words of scripture would come alive and was bold to say that such a day was today. Do not be afraid – for the Holy Spirit has come, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen.