Sermon 5/23/2021
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Sermon Pentecost 2021
Sermon Series: Witness & Wonder
Scripture: Acts 2:1-24, 43-47
My husband Clark grew up in Orchard Park, NY outside of Buffalo. Many of you have met Clark who is 6’4” tall and so you will probably not be surprised to learn that he played basketball in high school. And like most parents, he likes to, you know on occasion, regail his children with stories from his high school days. Whenever the story pertained to his basketball days, he would invariably launch into the chant the cheerleaders yelled from the sidelines during the game. - “Ooh, Ah, Can’t stop the Quakers!” Even though I know it is coming - everytime he does it I crack up. I just can’t help it. All I can picture is a group of Quakers at a meeting house conducting a religious service in silence with a group of cheerleaders chanting at top volume from the sidelines “Ooh, ah, Can’t stop the Quakers!” The image seems so absurd.
Or at least it did, until the Holy Spirit brought it to mind as I was meditating on Pentecost this week and on the passages throughout the scriptures that describe the work of the Holy Spirit. How the Spirit is like wind.
"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." - John 3:8
What I love about these descriptions of the Holy Spirit and the story of Pentecost in particular, is the way in which the sheer power and force of the Spirit is unstoppable. One minute the disciples are huddled in fear behind locked doors, grieving the departure of Jesus who has ascended into heaven and the next minute they are parading through the streets talking to anyone and everyone who will listen about Jesus Christ and the amazing power of God’s transforming love. It’s like the wind literally pushed them through the door and out into the streets. The Spirit is unstoppable.
This my friends is why we have gathered here today; under the hot sun in our red shirts. We have gathered to celebrate the unstoppable work of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit that makes us dream dreams and see visions, that equips us to share the good news far and wide.
Let me tell you, the Spirit has been busy this year, pushing us out into uncharted territory to do the unstoppable work of God. The Holy Spirit may have given the first apostles the ability to communicate in Greek and Persian and whatever they speak in Pamphylia. But this year the Spirit has given us the ability to share the gospel in all kinds of new ways - via livestream and zoom, facebook and Youtube. This pandemic year has been a year of dreaming new dreams and envisioning new visions of what it means to be the Church. We have the Holy Spirit to thank for that!
The Spirit has shown us that the Church is not limited to the building! The pandemic could not stop worship it simply forced us to rely on the Holy Spirit to get more creative and learn how to spread the gospel message in new ways. If you had told me 16 months ago that one of the most meaningful worship services I would attend this past year would have been with 5 other people on zoom - I would have looked at you like YOU were drunk with wine. The spirit moves in mysterious ways. Online worship connected me with a lovely woman in England. A friend of Donna and John Knox who started attending our online services early in the pandemic when she wasn’t able to attend her own church. When her best friend was put on hospice care and she was unable to visit I was able to send her regular messages of love and support during that difficult time. That is the unstoppable power of the Holy Spirit crossing an ocean.
We witnessed the unstoppable force of the Spirit not just to worship. The pandemic could not stop us from the work of spiritual growth, of fellowship and the prayers. The Spirit gathered us online and by phone for bible study, fellowship, Sunday School, book studies and prayer. I talked to several people who said that one of their favorite parts of this past year was participating in a small group and getting to know one another better. People have deepened their relationships with one another. As our nation faced a racial reckoning the Holy Spirit pushed us out of our comfort zones to embark on difficult conversations about racism. 50 brave individuals met weekly to read and discuss the book “Anxious to Talk About It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism”. There was a lot of positive energy that grew out of this study that inspired us to form the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee to help us continue these important conversations about how to be a community of radical hospitality to everyone.
When isolation threatened our sense of togetherness, the Elders, led by the Holy Spirit suggested we focus on Unity and the Worship Committee worked with Pastor Shelby and myself to put together a series on Community including videos of leaders in our community, Weekly Bible Study and a community Prayer Wall. The unstoppable Spirit kept pushing us out into the community.
The unstoppable Holy Spirit was also at work this year spreading Compassion. Both because of the pandemic and in spite of the pandemic, this congregation was inspired to greater acts of generosity.
We set up a food pantry on our property that still sees a steady stream of people dropping off and picking up. It has never been easier to anonymously help a neighbor in need.
People in financial crisis who were out of work were helped with the assistance of our COVID Compassion Fund.
The Pandemic did not dampen our commitment to helping people in crisis across the globe - we exceeded our Compassion Offering goal of $20,000. I spoke with the director of the Week of Compassion, Vy. He called me from the national office to say thank you to this congregation for consistently being one of the top giving congregations in the denomination, often the number one. He let me know that thanks to your generosity and the generosity of other churches across the denomination, they sent $50,000 to India two weeks ago to help with the COVID relief efforts there.
One area of new life that excites me the most is seeing how the Holy Spirit has compelled members of our congregation to invest more time in their relationship with God. Many of you took advantage of this year of stripping away the nonessentials to refocus on what matters most; to reinvigorate your spiritual practices and grow in your knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. I have talked to some of you who have picked up the bible again, have tried new prayer practices, picked up new books to read, explored new podcasts, found other religious services and offerings to watch online. My most fervent hope and prayer is that as things resume and schedules get busier, that we maintain these personal practices of regular worship, prayer and scripture study. The spiritual health/strength of our church is only as strong as the spiritual health of each of our members. So let us keep up the good habits we have formed!
The same goes for all the new practices we have learned as a church this year. We may be going back into the building - but we don’t want to go back to the way things were. The Holy Spirit is always pushing God’s people forward. Urging us out into the mission field. Equipping us with new visions and new ways to share the Good news. This year the Holy Spirit has given us a new vision of how to be the church: shoulder to shoulder in the pews reciting the Lord’s Prayer as well as from the comfort of our living room recliner belting out the hymns along with the musicians; seated across the table with bibles in hand and gathered together over zoom watching videos and holding discussions. It has been a year of listening to the needs of our community and finding creative ways to respond to them. This may mean that going forward we may need to let some programs go so we can focus our energy on starting new ones.
All of this will require lots of prayerful listening to discern the movement of the Spirit. I eagerly invite you to join me in this Pentecost endeavor as we listen to the Spirit and embark on a new way of being the church. Even though the methods may change, the message is the same.
The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.
-Brennan Manning 1934-2013
And this is what it really means to be the Church. Let us go forth in the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God!