Let the Spirit Soar - Acts 2: 1-21

During confirmation class this year, the students were asked about the Holy Spirit. What is it? What does it do? And most gave answers that we too think of at first. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ inside of us that guides us. But it is also so much more then that. The bearer of gifts, the birth-mother of the Church, a wild and untamable force to be reckoned with. The spirit is not only soft and gentle, working secretly inside of us, it is also profoundly visible, if only we look for her movement. The Holy Spirit works to expand the Kingdom of God.

The disciples had went to the upper room to pray a prayer they couldn’t even fully comprehend - that the promise Jesus made them as he ascended would come true. That they would be blessed with the Holy Spirit. The disciples had no idea what they were really praying for that day, only that they were petitioning God to come true on this promise.And God did come through in a mighty and unexpected way. For as the disciples gathered together, suddenly they heard a rush of violent wind. Did they think of the still small voice of God that came after the violent wind for the prophet Elijah? Or did they scurry around looking for openings the wind was rushing through? Then tongues of fire appeared on each of them. Did they think of Moses and the burning bush - or were they too frightened to recall the story of God revealing the Holy Name? Then a sound erupted among them as they began to speak and understand different languages then their native tongues - languages they had never learned before. Did they think back to the tower of Babel or were they too amazed? 

As they stumbled out of the upper room they came across Jews from every nation. This was the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Pentecost, marking 50 days after the passover. Jews from over 10,000 square miles are mentioned in this passage as coming to bring the first of their crops, their very best, as an offering to God, in hopes that God would continue to bless them with bounty throughout the growing season. They came together to remember Moses receiving the law of God on Mt. Sinai, a law that they now carry with them and are directed by.

But the Spirit of God transformed the meaning of this day, just as it had transformed the meaning of Passover for those who followed Christ. As the disciples spoke about the goodness of God in languages that people from around the land could understand in their own tongue, the day became not about the first fruits of crops, but the first fruits of the Kingdom of God as thousands joined the movement of the Church that day. It became a day not about carrying the physical law of God, but about having the law of God written on the people’s hearts by the Spirit. It became a day marked by the soaring of the Spirit of God, drawing people to the Kingdom.

Of course, not everyone believed that day, just as not everyone believes today. Some accused the disciples of being drunk, early in the morning. But Peter, the disciple who betrayed Jesus out of fear just months before, was now the very first to respond to the nay-sayers, speaking of the texts they would know about the last days. He knew he was speaking to Jews who fervently believed that they were living in the last days, and the Spirit empowered him to share these words of prophesy to reach people’s minds and hearts as he proclaimed that God was doing a new thing during these times. 

I believe that the Spirit is what lead Peter to give the testimony he did in response to the accusations of being drunk. I’m not so sure that impulsive Peter would have given that answer on his own with the work of the Spirit. But the accusations of the onlookers and Peter’s passionate response is something that we need to consider today. For the onlookers were so taken aback by the new thing that God was doing that they tried to rationalize it in their minds, and then convince others of the foolishness of the disciples by saying that they were drunk. Are onlookers saying similar things about the Church today? Are they so struck by the new thing that God is doing that they rationalize our outpouring of passion? Or are we not showing the marks of the Spirit enough for people to even say anything at all? If they aren’t saying anything is it because the Spirit is working in ways that they understand or is it because we are hiding the Spirit within us?

Today we celebrate Pentecost as the “birthday of the Church”, which may be well and true, but it is also so much more than that. Its the time when the disciples firmly stood on the promises of God. It was the event that tied together the resurrection of Christ and the gift given with his ascension. Its the celebration of the fact that our spiritual lives have the power to transform peoples lives. And it is the time the Church was born into a community. A community where everyone was welcome - all genders, ages, and social classes came together on this day to proclaim the word of God. And a community that came not out of the religious institutions, but through the Spirit of resurrection and deliverance. 

Pentecost is rich in meaning for us as the church, and two particular Pentecosts stand out in my memory as ones with signifigant meaning for me personally. The first was when I was in eight grade. A group of eight students and our pastor had just spent the better part of six months together, every Sunday afternoon, learning about the Church. On this particular Sunday we were welcomed into the congregation as full members through confirmation. We each wore a red flower, symbolizing the renewal of our commitment to uphold our baptismal vows. The church was filled with red paraments. When the congregation clapped for us and welcomed us among them as equals, I remember thinking that this was a vital step to becoming an adult. 

The second Pentecost was in 2008. I had been invited by a pastor 45 minutes from my house to work on her team to launch a new service, with the hopes that it would become a daughter church of her current congregation. We had worked months to prepare and now the day was finally here. We may not have had as many people show up as we would have hoped for, but I started to think about Pentecost differently that day - as we celebrated the birth of a new service that was designed to live out the reality of the day, not simply see it as another church holiday to move past. 

It was on these two Pentecosts that I stood on the promise of God that the Spirit can transform lives, because it transformed mine. Transformed the way I saw myself in the body of Christ. Transformed the way I saw the body of Christ reaching out into the world. These were the days that I recognized God was a force to be reckoned with and was doing a new thing in me. Friends, do you see today that God is doing a new thing in you? In this church? In this community? In this world? Do you stand on the promise of the power of the Holy Spirit or are you trying to tame its movement? May we be bold like Peter, Spirit lead, to soar on the power of the Spirit, all for the Kingdom of God. Amen.