Pentecost - Be God's Glitter

Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 

Good morning and – Happy Birthday.  The Church Lectionary has done it again.  Last week, lessons of love would have been perfect for Mother’s Day, but those lessons had appeared the week before.  Last week was also our birthdays celebration Sunday, but it is this week that the lessons are about a birthday, the birthday of the Church, otherwise known as Pentecost.  Of course, listening to this morning’s terrifying readings, it doesn’t sound much like a birthday celebration.

Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.”

When Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, they knew He was about to leave them.  They knew that everything was changing, and Jesus wished to comfort (in the Church comfort is another word we use for strengthen) them just prior to His passion (a word the Church uses for suffering), to console their sense of abandonment and fear. 

As we are taught in Matthew to not worry about tomorrow, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, the disciples have been living in the present. Unaware until just recently that things are going to take a drastic turn, they have been happy and content to follow Jesus and live as both His friends, pupils, and loyal followers.  If you think about it, we are in a similar position today.  But for the disciples, things are going to become horribly confusing, as their Rabi, He whom Peter identified as the Messiah, is taken away and crucified.

I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  These words are encouraging, but they do little to allay the disciples’ grief.  In such a devastating moment, Jesus asks of His followers what He so often asks of us.  Wait!  Have faith!  I will not leave you comfortless. 

We can see modern examples of faith in the face of devastating reality.  Think of the brave people who sheltered Jews during the time of the Holocaust.  Think of people who are going out of their way today to help those displaced by war, by prejudice, by hatred. Fear not little flock, our Savior told us, but sometimes it’s very hard to keep the joy in our hearts as we live in a world filled with so many kinds of violence and hatred.  In fact, we couldn’t hold on at all, were it not for the gift that Jesus promised His disciples was on the way after He physically left them.

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples 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.

Did they have time to be alarmed?  It doesn’t sound like they did.

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.

We’ve heard this lesson so often we don’t even think about what it was like for the Apostles.  This was a startling event.  They were all suddenly attacked by what seemed to be wind and fire, the ancient symbols of God’s presence.  That energy, that Being, set them figuratively on fire with confidence and thrust them out into the street, where they were soon accused of being drunk at ten o’clock in the morning.

Well, maybe they didn’t leave the upper room immediately.  Some scholars think that this paragraph from Luke-Acts condenses the events of several days.  If the disciples were still in the upper room, the scene may have occurred too close to Jesus’ execution for them to feel safe rushing out onto the streets on that same day. 

But we know that the Holy Spirit, as a rule, doesn’t waste time, so it wasn’t too long before they were out and about, possibly on the steps of the Temple, where there would be many Jews celebrating the feast of Shavuoth, which in those days was the harvest festival, and where large crowds could gather unobstructed.  Were the disciples confused or conflicted?  Obviously not.  They were too filled with the fire of God.

But it would have been different for the crowd. The crowd was very confused, and therefore put their own interpretation on what they were seeing.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

It took Peter to speak out, loudly, and explain to the gathered crowd exactly what was happening, that they were witnessing prophecy being fulfilled.

And so we come to our own lives today.  We, the baptized, have received the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.  When we think of Baptismal images, we are repeatedly presented with the dove descending in fire to light upon each of us and fill us with strength, and joy, and the determination to spread the Word of God.  However, I doubt there was a rushing wind or flames of fire at any of our baptisms.  If there had been, it would probably have caused pandemonium.

Despite our being well acquainted with the fiery images of Baptism and Pentecost, it is difficult to relate to that image to our everyday lives, where worldly fires tend to distract and seem far more pressing.  We are told we much burst forth with fiery joy, but that seems impractical, if not impossible in our daily lives.  Happily for us, there is another image, one that is perhaps more in keeping with our lives, and with today being the birthday of the Church.

This is the day where the power of Jesus’ love filled His friends, as it fills us. So, first and foremost, this is a day about the power of love, divine love.  This power is like pent up energy, like a runner finally being able to speed off from the starting line or an arrow released from its bow.  When we do something in the name of Jesus, great power is unleashed, but that doesn’t mean there must be rushing wind and flames of fire. The action of the Spirit is actually benign.  In our lives it is most likely to move gently, showing itself in acts of thoughtfulness, kindness, and sometimes self-sacrifice. 

Nonetheless, we are called to explode with the energy of God’s love, and (here is your birthday image) as we do so we are to be flung out across our communities, the nation, and the world with the release of the Holy Spirit, like God’s glitter—mingling and sparkling amongst ordinary life, to show that God’s love is not so ordinary, but something radical and life-changing.

The Holy Spirit burns within each of us, and it is this holy fire which gives us the strength to endure; the strength to do the work Jesus has given us to do.  We don’t have to go up in flame.  We only need to have open hearts and the willingness to be flung out into the world, sparkling lights that show forth God’s love.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, so move our hearts that all barriers which divide us may crumble, and grant that we may be filled with the fire of your Love, that united in one Body we may so brightly burn, that all who see us may come to know and share in the joy of your Holy and life-giving Spirit, through your Son our savior Jesus Christ.  AMEN.