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| #seeaheartshareaheart |
Pentecost Sunday is the celebration of the beginning of the church, the birth day of the church. That is special and fun. Then, when you read the Scripture and you read about howling winds and flames on folks' heads-- well, that stuff is pretty cool.
Several years back when I preached at Brooks Memorial as a pulpit supply lay speaker, I had created a birthday gift and brought bubbles in flame colors (red, orange, yellow) and white for the Holy Spirit. I resurrected that aspect of that day for yesterday's sermon "Get Fired Up!"
Below you will find the sermon text, though what is written is never exactly what is said, as things are edited and adapted during the service.
You will see a picture of two people wearing red. Wearing red for Pentecost has become a tradition in many churches and I encourage folks to do it. I wore red too, foregoing the robe. I wore a red cross and some new flame earrings I got at the arts festival in Mentone over the weekend.
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| Carmen and Cathy at FUMC on Pentecost Sunday |
I started off the day with a great view off my deck and a "Prayer to the Holy Spirit":
"Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
An additional celebration for me yesterday was getting to cheer on the Iron Man cyclists on our way into Flintstone yesterday morning. I enjoy encouraging them on their ride. There were some residents on the main road in St. Elmo shouting at motorists to take Tennessee Avenue. For us, that isn't a choice. We would still have to cross over at some point for us to get to Chattanooga Valley Road. We gave the cyclists the space they needed and got off the road as soon as we could, taking the back road to the church. The Iron Man is an awesome race and it is great to see so many participate.
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“Get Fired Up!”
Acts 2:1-21(CEB)
May 20, 2018 (Pentecost, Heritage Sunday)
Flintstone UMC
1When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all
together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling
of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames
of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
5 There were pious Jews
from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered.
They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native
languages. 7 They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look,
aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? 8 How then
can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? 9 Parthians,
Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions
of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to
Judaism), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the
mighty works of God in our own languages!” 12 They were all surprised and bewildered. Some
asked each other, “What does this mean?” 13 Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full
of new wine!”
14 Peter stood with the
other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone
living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! 15 These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect;
after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 Rather,
this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young will see visions.
Your elders will dream dreams.
18 Even upon my servants, men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
20 The sun will be changed into darkness,
and the moon will be changed into blood,
before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Joel 2:28-32)
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young will see visions.
Your elders will dream dreams.
18 Even upon my servants, men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
20 The sun will be changed into darkness,
and the moon will be changed into blood,
before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Joel 2:28-32)
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THIS
IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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Today
is Pentecost Sunday. It is also Heritage
Sunday and we celebrate 50 years in the United Methodist Church. It is truly a day of celebrating the birth of
the church! To celebrate this special birth
of the church, it has become a tradition for church goers to wear red on
Pentecost. [page 22 in The United
Methodist Church Handbook“Therefore, go: Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for
the Transformation of the World” has a good time-line]
Today’s
passage is a fairly lengthy one and we won’t be able to explore all of it.
Before
we get started, we might need to look back to see what the background is for
chapter 2. What is the setting? Who is there?
What is going on? In Acts 1, we
see that the risen Jesus is with the disciples and Jesus is instructing them on
what to do next. Jesus continues to
teach the disciples and reminds them to be on the lookout for the Holy Spirit.
Acts
1:3-5—“3After his suffering, he showed them that
he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of
forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. 4 While they were eating together, he
ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had
promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: 5 John baptized with water, but in only a
few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.””
Acts 1:9-10 tells us about Jesus’ ascension,
which we celebrated last week on Ascension Sunday. “9 After
Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud
took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going away and as they were
staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them.”
Acts 1:12-13 lets us know that they are in
Jerusalem, in the upper room, the same room where the last supper was held.
When we pick up in Acts 2, we now know who is
waiting, where, and why.
Now let’s look at our passage again.
Verses 1-4—“1When Pentecost Day
arrived, they were all together in one place.2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling
of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames
of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.”
Imagine
the apostles, in the upper room and a howling wind fills the space and they saw
what seemed to be flames on top of each of them. At the same time, they were filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. How would they have felt? How would they have responded?
This
is the upper room where they had gone to get away after Jesus’ death. Jesus
broke through the barriers of a locked door to get to them. Now, Jesus has gone away for the final time
and the promised helper, the Holy Spirit has come upon them.
It
wasn’t quiet nor something you could easily ignore. Hear some of the phrases again: “Howling like
a fierce wind”, “individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them”, “filled
with the Holy Spirit”, “began to speak in other languages”.
This
is going on in the house and it gets the attentions of others in Jerusalem who
gathered around. It was a loud noise.
Verses
5-6: “5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they
heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard
them speaking in their native languages.”
This gift of languages here is one of known languages. There is the gift of speaking in tongues, but
that is a different gift and discussed elsewhere. The languages here are known, yet the mystery
is that there are people gathered from all over, yet they are able to
understand the apostles speaking because they hear it in their native
language. The apostles didn’t speak
those languages prior, but the power of the Holy Spirit upon them enabled them
to communicate clearly to everyone as needed.
I will probably never forget the time I was with my French 3
students from Bryan College and I said something to one of them and she (Laurie Blanton) just
looked at me funny. She had been a
missionary kid in a Middle Eastern country.
She finally said to me, you just spoke to me in Arabic. I was blown away and confused. I didn’t know
Arabic. I knew a few terms because of
Spanish, but nothing I could put together.
But she said I spoke to her in clear Arabic rather than French. I had no clue. Mystery.
The Holy Spirit enables us to communicate with others in ways that
are meaningful to them, in their “language”, if you will. It might take the form of a written word, a
spoken word, a non-verbal communication, a number of things. If we pay attention, we might be aware of a
Holy Spirit encounter. Sometimes, we
might be the vessel, yet not even know it.
Verse 11—“we hear them declaring the mighty works of
God in our own languages!”
Pentecost Sunday reminds us that the power of the Holy Spirit came
down, it filled the room, the whole house with its presence. It enabled and
empowered the followers of Jesus to be and do what they were called to do—to spread
the word about Jesus Christ to all. They
made such a ruckus that folks thought they were drunk on wine. Peter stood before the crowds to let them
know that it was not wine, but rather the Holy Spirit that was the cause of the
uproar.
These apostles were literally “fired up”. They were lit up by the Holy Spirit and
allowed the Spirit to flow into them and through them. This was the beginning
of their ministry with the Holy Spirit as their guide and teacher.
What was the result? If we
read further down in Acts 2, verses 42-43: “42 The
believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to
their shared meals, and to their prayers. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone. God
performed many wonders and signs through the apostles.”
The same Holy Spirit that descended upon the
apostles is the same one that guides, directs, and comforts us. The Holy Spirit continues to teach us
today.
Bishop Rueben Job of the UMC reminds us, “Through
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost God in Christ became available to every believer.”
(217, A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek
God)
I imagine anyone who heard about or saw the
sermon from the royal wedding would recognize that Bishop Michael Curry, head
of the Episcopal Church, was Spirit led.
I didn’t see it in real time, but after hearing about it, I checked it
out.
Two of his quotes that caught my attention:
“When love is the way, we know that God is the
source of us all and we are brothers and sisters, children of God.”
“There’s power in love. Love can help and heal when nothing else can.”
When we sing, say, and pray, “Come, Holy Spirit”,
do we mean it?
Are we willing to pray “Come, Holy Spirit” and
allow the Holy Spirit to freely move within us—to give us dreams and visions,
to show us and guide us?
As we consider the Holy Spirit coming and moving
in and amongst us, hear these words of exhortation from ancient church fathers:
“It is possible either to sustain and strengthen
this burning of the spirit, or to quench it.” (188)
“Cast everything aside that might extinguish this
small flame which is beginning to burn within you, and surround yourself with everything
which can feed and fan it into a strong fire.” (188) (A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants)
May the Holy Spirit come upon us and fire us up
to live as followers of Christ, proclaiming the mighty works of God.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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Worship was a blessing yesterday. The songs dove-tailed so well, like most Sundays. The Holy Spirit works well to orchestrate this.
Here are the songs from yesterday's service:
"Soul on Fire" by Third Day
"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" UMH 400
"Freely, Freely" UMH 389
"Spirit of the Living God" UMH 393
Here are some resource links:
Heritage Sunday UMC Resources-- from General Commission on Archives and History
Pentecost Sunday UMC Resources
On Fire! Pentecost Worship
Pentecost 2018 Graphics and Resources
May this Pentecost season be a time when the Holy Spirit blows fresh wind through your world!
Blessings on your journey,
Debra
For some Pentecost humor, Kevin Frank's cartoon is pretty fun!
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| https://kevinfrank.net/ |
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