“The Spirit of God” - Acts 2: 1-21

The story is told of an elderly man who had been a life long member of a local church. One day the man died and the church folks all gathered to celebrate his life, but many people didn’t know much about him. The following Sunday the church folks returned for worship only to find that the lights were off, the heat wasn’t turned on, there was still a mess in the sanctuary, and the garbage was overflowing. It ends up this man singularly took care of most of the behind the senses tasks that made the church a pleasant place to be on Sunday. He did it all without any fanfare so people didn’t realize until his absence how vital he was.

When I heard this story the first time my thoughts immediately went to the Holy Spirit. One of the claims of the Church is that God is three in one and one in three. Three distinct persons with distinct roles, yet wholly untied and all part of the Godhead. Yet, the Holy Spirit seems to be the most forgotten and least talked about part of the Trinity. Even on this Sunday, Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the birth of the Church, the Holy Spirit sometimes gets discounted. We forget how vital the Spirit is, until he seems to be absent from our lives, personally or corporately.

In some Bibles, in addition to scripture verses being numbered, topics are broken up and given headings - a preview of what the section is about. In my Bible, the first part of today’s scripture passage is entitled “The Coming of the Holy Spirit”. While that statement is true, the Holy Spirit has also existed with God and Jesus since the beginning of time, sweeping over the vastness that was to be created in the beginning. But now the Holy Spirit has come to form the Church, empowered by God to carry forth Christ’s mission to go the very ends of the earth baptizing disciples.

It makes me wonder, how long the Godhead had been planning this Pentecost celebration. How long had God been dreaming up this time when disciples would be gathered together, fearing for their very lives, yet would be met with a gift from Heaven that rushed through their space like a violent wind and appeared like tongues of fire? Did Christ know that the Spirit would enable his followers to speak languages they never studied, some they had never even heard before, in order to go forth in his name? Did God chuckle knowing how the people hearing these disciples would react? Asking how this was possible for them to hear Galileans speaking their own language? Or that some would be nay sayers would say that disciples were only drunk - as if alcohol would give them the power to speak different languages discernibly?

This celebration that God was planning was a giant gift to the Church that we still do not fully understand or unwrap today. We don’t understand the role of the Holy Spirit so we can’t tap into his power in our ministry. So what are some of the things that the Holy Spirit brings to the Church? The list is extensive, but I want to address four this morning. 

First, the Spirit brings forth signs and wonders. One of the things I hear from time to time that breaks my heart is that we are no longer in the age of miracles -that they don’t exist anymore. For that’s simply not true. We just don’t recognize the Spirit moving among us, bringing forth signs and wonders even today. Like the people in Jesus’ day who demanded a certain sign, only to receive something else instead, we overlook every day miracles, or worse don’t properly attribute them to the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t come in the packing we expect, so we dismiss it.

Second,, the Spirit gives us courage. The second part of this morning’s scripture has the title “Peter Addresses the Crowd” in my Bible. Peter, filled with the Spirit, has the courage to preach the first sermon of the Church. He raised his voice and told the crowd to listen to what he is saying. That those filled with the Spirit aren’t drunk, rather this is a fulfillment of scripture. Peter, who didn’t even have the courage to admit that he was a follower of Christ only a few months earlier, now is boldly proclaiming the gospel. 

Every time we claim that we aren’t brave enough to do something, or it makes us feel uncomfortable, or we can’t possibly do a certain work for the kingdom because we aren’t gifted, we are denying the courage and power the Spirit gives us. We dismiss the Spirit, thinking that he isn’t big enough to stand up to our own self-proclaimed inadequacies. What would have happened if Peter wouldn’t have seized the courage given by the Spirit at this moment? Three-thousand people would have missed out on the opportunity to be baptized. What moments do we miss when we make excuses instead of depending on the Spirit?

Third, the Spirit gives us guidance when making decisions. One of my favorite parts of the Pentecost story is the timing. The disciples were gathered in the upper room, waiting. Christ told them to wait in a certain place until a certain, undisclosed time. There is a lot of trust and hard work that goes into waiting. Yet the Spirit helps us discern the right time, decision, or plan of action, if we actually pray for these things. But all too often, we pray about something once and consider that good enough for discernment. Or we get caught up in other people’s ideas instead of the prompting of the Spirit. We lose our sensitivity to the movement of the Spirit and our ability to discern diminishes as we rely solely on ourselves instead of waiting on the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, the Spirit equips the Church for ministry. The disciples couldn’t speak these languages, they weren’t native to them. Yet the Holy Spirit came and reversed the confession that had existed since the tower of Babel. The Holy Spirit brings gifts and power to use them to the disciples. The Spirit works in creative ways to unite the nations for the mission of God, if only we would claim them.

Sometimes Pentecost is described as a Birthday party. And in some ways this is true. But some times we get too caught up in the image of a birthday party - where only certain people are invited. And at the end of the day, after the presents are opened, and the cake is eaten, people go home, back to their lives as if nothing has happened. But the birthday of the Church is something everyone is invited to, a celebration for the world if only people would RSVP. Some will dismiss the message, like the nay sayers claiming that the disciples were drunk. Others will simply come to see what all the commotion is about before return to their lives as scheduled. But there is the potential for the celebration to lead to lives being changed, if we rely on the Spirit in all of its power, creativity, and gifting. People can come to know Christ, if we have the courage to discern where the Spirit is leading and boldly follow. 

Brothers and Sisters, may we be a Church known for following the Spirit, instead of dismissing him. May we follow the gifting granted to us for the mission of making disciples for the transformation of the world, proclaiming the signs and wonders of our God, three in one and one in three. Amen.