Wind and Fire
Text: Acts 2:1-21
Today is one of the most important and yet overlooked days in the Christian calendar: Pentecost Sunday. Today is the birthday of the church. Today is the day that we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, kindling fires in the disciples to go out and change the world. Pentecost ranks along with Christmas and Easter as the three most important days in the Christian calendar… and yet it is the one that, for various reasons, most often slips us by.
It is unfortunate, because today is such a wonderful celebration. It bridges the gap between remembering what God has done through us through both the gift of Christmas and the miracle of Easter. It brings us into the longest Season of the Christian calendar, and is a reminder that God calls each and every one of us to make a difference in the world. However, Pentecost has no real commercial appeal. Even though we talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit, there are no traditions of gift giving that create the frenetic shopping seasons at Christmas, or the surprises at Easter that somehow lead to increased sales in chocolate.
Because Pentecost doesn’t appear on the radar of society at large, it isn’t surprising that we have a scheduling conflict with the Mississauga Marathon today. I celebrate that so many of you were able to make it. The chance of having such an event held on Christmas or Easter Sunday is rather unlikely. But today is different; after all, we are in the middle of May, the weather isn’t half bad... money needs to be raised for charity… and next week is the Victoria Day weekend.
But in many ways, this is a good thing. The day of Pentecost remains as one of the few celebrations that has not been hijacked by commercial interests. It has not been tainted by outside interests, and isn’t something that can be traded like a commodity. There is something very unique to the gift of the Holy Spirit, and I think it lets us be the church in a way that is more alive, where we are not trying to swat away the trappings of the seasons.
Instead, we have the story from Acts: Fifty days after Easter, the disciples are gathered together on the day of Pentecost: the Jewish festival of the spring harvest. Ten days after the ascension of Jesus, all of them are gathered together in Jerusalem with friends, supporters and relatives. On the day of Pentecost, there comes the sound of a mighty rushing wind… combined with visions of fire resting on each of them. A spectacular lightshow that would make special effects companies drool. In the wind, it evokes the image of creation… the mighty wind from God sweeping across the face of the deep. In the fire, it recalls Moses and the burning bush. Clearly, something big is happening.
What’s more, in telling the story, Luke is just getting warmed up. He evokes all kinds of images throughout scripture, and starts throwing them at us rapid fire. It’s all that we can do to keep up. Wind and fire are images are used to evoke the most powerful images of God throughout the Old Testament. In both Greek and Hebrew, the words for “wind” can also be translated as “Spirit.” So in these brief few words we have images of not only creation and Moses, but also of the Exodus, Elijah’s mountaintop experiences, Isaiah, Ezekiel… the list goes on.
The story goes on to say that all of them are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages. This wasn’t the nonsensical kind of speaking in tongues that we often hear about, but each of them began speaking in a way that people began to hear and understand in their own language. It was as if everything that happened at the Tower of Babel was reversed… another image from scripture… languages were no longer confused… and God’s gift was something that everyone could understand… It is something for all people, in all places, in all time.
Wow. The idea is certainly overwhelming… and there were many who didn’t want to believe it. They looked at the disciples and all that were with them and sneered, “they’re all drunk!”
Now… we have to admit that Peter’s comeback is perhaps one of the lamest that we ever find in scripture… “We’re not drunk! It’s too early in the morning for that!” –Like that’s a good excuse… evidently Peter has never been to a university residence.
Fortunately, he recovers quickly. Peter then reminds the crowd of the words of the prophet Joel. “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young will see visions, and your old will dream dreams.” Again, Luke is bringing even more images from the Old Testament… Wind, fire, visions, prophesy, dreams! Wow…
God is doing something here… it is the beginning of something new. No longer are the disciples these seemingly lunkheaded followers of Jesus who don’t really get the point. No longer are they backwater hicks from Galilee… In this story we see the disciples transform into apostles… great teachers in faith who set about living out God’s mission in the world. Wow…
There is an awe and wonder that is part of Pentecost that I think we miss. Luke is drawing in all of those great, epic images from Hebrew scripture. He draws all of these great cosmic threads that speak of God together, reminding us that God is not “out there” but continues to be with us always, in a way more profound and more intimate than we can possible imagine. God entrusts us and empowers us to live out Christ’s love in our lives. God does this through the Holy Spirit. Maybe the least concrete, least tangible, least visible, and yet most profoundly present way in which God interacts with us and sustains us.
It’s this intangible part of Pentecost that we struggle with. There’s no manger to look in, no cross to kneel at… only wind and fire swirling about.
The only way we can get a handle on it is through our own experience. So here’s a question for you. Have you ever had an experience that something actually worked out far better than you ever expected? Have you ever had something go right, in spite of the fact that there is no reason it should have? That’s the Holy Spirit blowing through you… Have you ever had those moments where the light comes on, a moment of realization where everything just clicks into place and we finally “get it?” That’s the Holy Spirit kindling that fire in you.
Pentecost is about mission, about speaking, proclaiming, the good news to people everywhere, in languages (and language) they can understand; Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind this work. Divided into nations in ancient times, now all humanity is one; now God is in our midst. The Spirit is the launching pad for this mission. The prophecy that Luke talks about here is enthusiastically sharing the faith, “speaking about God’s deeds of power” and everything clicks into place. It is a reminder that we are never alone in the work that we do in Christ.
“The Holy Spirit is the power that enables the church to “go public” with its good news, to attract a crowd, and… to have something to say worth hearing. A new wind is set loose upon the earth, provoking a storm of wrath and confusion for some, a fresh breath of hope and empowerment for others.” (Will Willimon, Acts) It’s no longer something that is for a handful of people, but is given to all of us in the church. The Holy Spirit reminds us that the power of God resides in every believer. Perhaps we need convincing that all of us have the power to proclaim God’s good news in our lives.
Beyond the wind and flame, this is a glimpse of something wonderful: This message is for all of us, for all people.
Happy Pentecost! Come, O Holy Spirit, Come!
Amen.
Sermon preached Pentecost Sunday, May 15th, 2005
Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church; The Rev. John Crowdis
Today is one of the most important and yet overlooked days in the Christian calendar: Pentecost Sunday. Today is the birthday of the church. Today is the day that we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, kindling fires in the disciples to go out and change the world. Pentecost ranks along with Christmas and Easter as the three most important days in the Christian calendar… and yet it is the one that, for various reasons, most often slips us by.
It is unfortunate, because today is such a wonderful celebration. It bridges the gap between remembering what God has done through us through both the gift of Christmas and the miracle of Easter. It brings us into the longest Season of the Christian calendar, and is a reminder that God calls each and every one of us to make a difference in the world. However, Pentecost has no real commercial appeal. Even though we talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit, there are no traditions of gift giving that create the frenetic shopping seasons at Christmas, or the surprises at Easter that somehow lead to increased sales in chocolate.
Because Pentecost doesn’t appear on the radar of society at large, it isn’t surprising that we have a scheduling conflict with the Mississauga Marathon today. I celebrate that so many of you were able to make it. The chance of having such an event held on Christmas or Easter Sunday is rather unlikely. But today is different; after all, we are in the middle of May, the weather isn’t half bad... money needs to be raised for charity… and next week is the Victoria Day weekend.
But in many ways, this is a good thing. The day of Pentecost remains as one of the few celebrations that has not been hijacked by commercial interests. It has not been tainted by outside interests, and isn’t something that can be traded like a commodity. There is something very unique to the gift of the Holy Spirit, and I think it lets us be the church in a way that is more alive, where we are not trying to swat away the trappings of the seasons.
Instead, we have the story from Acts: Fifty days after Easter, the disciples are gathered together on the day of Pentecost: the Jewish festival of the spring harvest. Ten days after the ascension of Jesus, all of them are gathered together in Jerusalem with friends, supporters and relatives. On the day of Pentecost, there comes the sound of a mighty rushing wind… combined with visions of fire resting on each of them. A spectacular lightshow that would make special effects companies drool. In the wind, it evokes the image of creation… the mighty wind from God sweeping across the face of the deep. In the fire, it recalls Moses and the burning bush. Clearly, something big is happening.
What’s more, in telling the story, Luke is just getting warmed up. He evokes all kinds of images throughout scripture, and starts throwing them at us rapid fire. It’s all that we can do to keep up. Wind and fire are images are used to evoke the most powerful images of God throughout the Old Testament. In both Greek and Hebrew, the words for “wind” can also be translated as “Spirit.” So in these brief few words we have images of not only creation and Moses, but also of the Exodus, Elijah’s mountaintop experiences, Isaiah, Ezekiel… the list goes on.
The story goes on to say that all of them are filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages. This wasn’t the nonsensical kind of speaking in tongues that we often hear about, but each of them began speaking in a way that people began to hear and understand in their own language. It was as if everything that happened at the Tower of Babel was reversed… another image from scripture… languages were no longer confused… and God’s gift was something that everyone could understand… It is something for all people, in all places, in all time.
Wow. The idea is certainly overwhelming… and there were many who didn’t want to believe it. They looked at the disciples and all that were with them and sneered, “they’re all drunk!”
Now… we have to admit that Peter’s comeback is perhaps one of the lamest that we ever find in scripture… “We’re not drunk! It’s too early in the morning for that!” –Like that’s a good excuse… evidently Peter has never been to a university residence.
Fortunately, he recovers quickly. Peter then reminds the crowd of the words of the prophet Joel. “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young will see visions, and your old will dream dreams.” Again, Luke is bringing even more images from the Old Testament… Wind, fire, visions, prophesy, dreams! Wow…
God is doing something here… it is the beginning of something new. No longer are the disciples these seemingly lunkheaded followers of Jesus who don’t really get the point. No longer are they backwater hicks from Galilee… In this story we see the disciples transform into apostles… great teachers in faith who set about living out God’s mission in the world. Wow…
There is an awe and wonder that is part of Pentecost that I think we miss. Luke is drawing in all of those great, epic images from Hebrew scripture. He draws all of these great cosmic threads that speak of God together, reminding us that God is not “out there” but continues to be with us always, in a way more profound and more intimate than we can possible imagine. God entrusts us and empowers us to live out Christ’s love in our lives. God does this through the Holy Spirit. Maybe the least concrete, least tangible, least visible, and yet most profoundly present way in which God interacts with us and sustains us.
It’s this intangible part of Pentecost that we struggle with. There’s no manger to look in, no cross to kneel at… only wind and fire swirling about.
The only way we can get a handle on it is through our own experience. So here’s a question for you. Have you ever had an experience that something actually worked out far better than you ever expected? Have you ever had something go right, in spite of the fact that there is no reason it should have? That’s the Holy Spirit blowing through you… Have you ever had those moments where the light comes on, a moment of realization where everything just clicks into place and we finally “get it?” That’s the Holy Spirit kindling that fire in you.
Pentecost is about mission, about speaking, proclaiming, the good news to people everywhere, in languages (and language) they can understand; Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit is the driving force behind this work. Divided into nations in ancient times, now all humanity is one; now God is in our midst. The Spirit is the launching pad for this mission. The prophecy that Luke talks about here is enthusiastically sharing the faith, “speaking about God’s deeds of power” and everything clicks into place. It is a reminder that we are never alone in the work that we do in Christ.
“The Holy Spirit is the power that enables the church to “go public” with its good news, to attract a crowd, and… to have something to say worth hearing. A new wind is set loose upon the earth, provoking a storm of wrath and confusion for some, a fresh breath of hope and empowerment for others.” (Will Willimon, Acts) It’s no longer something that is for a handful of people, but is given to all of us in the church. The Holy Spirit reminds us that the power of God resides in every believer. Perhaps we need convincing that all of us have the power to proclaim God’s good news in our lives.
Beyond the wind and flame, this is a glimpse of something wonderful: This message is for all of us, for all people.
Happy Pentecost! Come, O Holy Spirit, Come!
Amen.
Sermon preached Pentecost Sunday, May 15th, 2005
Clarkson Road Presbyterian Church; The Rev. John Crowdis
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