Sunday, June 8, 2014

Pentecost Sunday.... Sharing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit at Brooks Memorial UMC

Brooks Memorial UMC
Several weeks back I was asked to fill in for my friend Rev. Terry Huffer as she headed off to Annual Conference on June 8th.  I checked my calendar and since I was available, I let her know it wouldn't be a problem.

Then, I started seeking a Scripture passage for the day and realized it was Pentecost Sunday.  Wow!  I've not preached on a Pentecost Sunday before.  Cool!  That became exciting and a little nerve wracking as I listened to the movement of the Holy Spirit guide and direct my sermon message.  (You may ask why "nerve wracking".... and you'll see when you read the sermon.  But, I'll simply say that I am one to take risks in my teaching and speaking opportunities, especially when I sense the leading to go there.  Yet, even in those leadings, there is nervousness.)

Since the worship leader wasn't going to be there, I took the opportunity to use my WO 510 education and I picked out the songs for the service too.  In his absence, I would also be leading the songs, but I'm okay with making a 'joyful noise unto the Lord'. 

What follows on this blog post is the sermon in written form.  Though it wasn't given 100% to the written form, it is close enough to give you an idea of what was shared.  I will also include some pictures. 

I chose the 1 Corinthians 12 passage from the Lectionary (I enjoy preaching from the Lectionary, especially when I'm visiting another church) and read from The Message.  Though the passage was 3b-13, I read 1-13 since it's difficult to distinguish the verses in The Message.

This was my 2nd time to Brooks Memorial and I had a wonderful time with the congregation.  Some folks were out of town and one member was in the hospital.  We may have been a small group gathered to share the Word and in fellowship, but we were there.  If I counted correctly, there were 13 there, plus me... so 14.   Several times I was told that there was one woman there who was 101 years old and if she can make it to church, the rest of us don't have an excuse. That made me smile.  It was impressive.

Without further ado, today's sermon preached at Brooks Memorial UMC in Lupton City:


Sharing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Brooks Memorial UMC

June 8, 2014

Pentecost Sunday

Good morning.  This morning's Scripture reading will be read from The Message.  Hear God's Word:

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

The Message (MSG)

Spiritual Gifts

12 1-3 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

4-11 God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

LEADER:  This is the Word of God for the people of God.

ALL:  Thanks be to God.

Today is Pentecost Sunday.  It's an appropriate day to talk about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts.  What is the significance of Pentecost Sunday to the church?  In Acts 2:1-5, we read: " When the day of Pentecost had come, they [disciples/apostles] 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." (NRSV)

The Holy Spirit came upon the believers and gifted them.  As you read on in Acts 2, you see that new believers are converted to the faith, they were baptized, they devoted themselves to the teachings and fellowship, and they praised God together.  This was the beginning of the church.  Pentecost Sunday is a celebration of the birth of the church. 

Rueben Job, a retired Bishop in the United Methodist Church, writes this about Pentecost in A Guide To Prayer For All Who Seek God: "Through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost God in Christ became available to every believer.  Christians now had firsthand experience with God in Christ.  From Pentecost on, the good news was not held only by a select few who had been with Jesus, felt his hand upon their lives, and sought to follow him throughout the earthly days.  Now everyone could experience that touch of the Savior's hand; everyone could know the healing and saving presence of Jesus Christ.  No Christian need ever walk alone, for now God was present with every believer who chose to accept this holy presence." (217)

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for each and every believer.  Now, that's a twist on a birthday celebration, isn't it?  At birthdays we are supposed to bring a gift to the recipient.  But, on the birthday of the church, it is the Holy Spirit who is giving out the gifts.  Let's look at the gifts again mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, and tongues.  If you look at different versions of the Bible, you will find different wording.  There are also at least three other main Scripture passages that list spiritual gifts (Romans 12:3-8 and Ephesians 4:1-16 and 1 Corinthians 12:28).

When you look at the gifts listed, do you recognize one that you've received?  Maybe that's not something you've thought about before.  Or, maybe you have.  Sometimes we don't recognize the gifts given to us and it takes someone pointing it out to us.  Or we might take a spiritual gift inventory to see how we have been gifted.

What is unique about the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that they are indeed supposed to be given to the church and used in community.  In Ephesians 4:11-13 we learn the purpose behind the gifts: "11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ." (NRSV) 
We have received these gifts to equip the saints for ministry, for building up the body of Christ.  Therefore, we can give to the church, to the community as we celebrate the birthday of the church.  It's a birthday celebration in which the Holy Spirit equips us to give back to others.  Now, that's a celebration.
Ann Weems is a poet, a writer, a worship designer.  She wrote "Happy Birthday, Church!" for Pentecost Sunday.  As you listen to her story, note the parts that bother you and the parts that resonate within you.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHURCH!" in Reaching For Rainbows by Ann Weems
           There was once a church that had only party rooms: the Session's Party Room, the Music Party Room, the Feasting Party Room, the Do Justice Party Room, the Love Mercy Party Room, the Touch Lepers Party Room.  In the center of the building was a large round room with an altar and a cross: God's Party Room.
            There was in the church an air of festivity and brightness that could not be denied.  The people outside the church pointed their fingers and shook their heads: "Something should be done about that church."  They were especially upset when they saw that the members wore party hats and smiles both inside and outside the church.
            Other congregations came to take a look and were shocked when they saw this church having so much fun during a worship service, snapping their fingers and dancing.
            "Sacrilegious," screamed the crowd.  But the people in the church just smiled at them and went right on doing things like taking people in wheelchairs to the park and playing ball with them.
            When everybody else was collecting canned goods for the poor, this church bought pizza and marched right into dingy, dirty, paint-peeling apartments and sat down to eat with the tenants.
            They held picnics for the old folks home, and old men ran races while the congregation stamped their feet in applause.  It was at one of those picnics that some of them members climbed up on the roof and shouted: "Good news!"
            "Now we can get them for disturbing the peace," said one of the outsiders.  The police arrived with sirens, ready for the arrest, and came out two hours later wearing party hats and smiles.
            One Sunday afternoon, the entire congregation met at the jail and passed out flowers to the prisoners.  The following week after bread and wine and much laughter at the Lord's table, the people went to the hospital and asked to see the dying patients.  They held their hands and mopped their brows and spoke to them of life.
            "Disgraceful!" shouted the crowd.  "They must be stopped."  So the crowd appealed to the governing body of the denomination, and this committee of respected church people went to see for themselves.
            "Do you deny the charges of heresy?" asked the committee.  "Do you deny that you've mocked the church and the Lord?"  The people of the church looked into the stern red faces and smiled at them.  They held out their hands to the committee and led them to the Birthday Cake Party Room.  There on a table sat a large cake decorated beautifully in doves descending and red flames and words that red: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHURCH!  The people began cutting cake and blowing up balloons and handing out party hats to the committee members. 
            "Wait!  Wait!" cried the chairperson.  "Can't you take anything seriously?"
           "Yes," said the people.  "We take our commitment to the Lord very seriously indeed."
            "You don't take it seriously at all," interrupted the chairperson in loud voice and red face.  "You have parties and wear silly hats and blow up balloons and sing and dance and have fun.  Do you call that commitment?"
            The people smiled at the chairperson and asked him if he'd like a glass of wine.  The chairperson hit his fist on the table.  "I don't want wine, and I don't want birthday cake.  We're here to reprimand you.  We're here to show you that you're wrong.  Can't you be serious?"
            "We are," said the people.  "We're asking you to take communion with us."
            "With birthday cake?" screamed the chairperson.  "Outrageous!"
            "Outrageous?  We ask you to sit at our table and sup with us.  God gave the Holy Spirit to believers, and that is something to celebrate!  It's an occasion for a party.  We are celebrants of the gift of Life.  We are community.  We are God's church.  Why are your faces red when we are trying to do justice and love mercy?  Why do you shake your fists at us when we are trying to discover the hurting and begin he healing?  We are overjoyed that we can be the church, a community of people, who are many, yet one--who are different, but who walk together and welcome any who would walk with us.  When we weep there is someone to weep with us and to affirm us and to take us to a party.  When we see injustices, we must be about God's business of freeing the oppressed.  When we are faithless, we have God's promise of forgiveness.  Isn't it remarkable that we can be God's good news?  Is it any wonder we have a church full of party rooms?  There is so much love to celebrate!"
            The committee stared at the people, and the people moved closer to them and put their arms around them.  The committee chairperson stepped up to the table and sliced a piece of birthday cake, took a bite, and laughed out loud.  He began slicing and passing it out.
            When the wine was poured and the hands were held, the chairperson raised his glass and said: "There is so much Love to celebrate!  Happy Birthday, Church!"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As we prepare to celebrate communion, we might ask ourselves: "What is the Holy Spirit saying to me today about my spiritual gifts?  Is there something I need to celebrate?  Or is there something I need to confess?"  The answer may be both.
As we come to the table today, let us remember that Christ gave his life for us so that we might be free.  We celebrate that freedom today in humble, yet joyful thankfulness, recognizing that the Holy Spirit has gifted us to share the love of Christ in community.

After you have taken the bread and the cup, there are baskets at the end of the communion rail with bubbles and birthday mints to remind you that today is a celebration of the church.  If you would like to take one, you may.
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Blessings on your journey,

Debra
happy birthday package prop
bubbles in Holy Spirit dove and flame colors
happy birthday mints
inside the bulletin (order of worship)


bulletin cover


wearing red for Pentecost Sunday

NOTE:  I found a creative way to use Ann Weem's Happy Birthday, Church! by engaging multiple folks.  Click on the link and you will see the PDF that engages choir, narrator, etc.  I simply read it (with as much inflection and emotion as possible.)  I got the idea to use this story from Textweek.com.  This is where I go for many of my preaching and teaching resources.

NOTE: The story can be found in Reaching for Rainbows: Resources for Creative Worship, which is available for free download ebook or audio by clicking here.

NOTE: For those following my story and realizing that I am not yet ordained, I thought I would assure you that the elements used in today's communion service were consecrated in advance by the Rev. Terry Huffer.  Therefore, what I offered was more akin to extended table to the congregation.  Not that anyone was wondering... but in case.  Yes, we followed the rules and regulations.

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