Loving God, you have created each of us and all people in your image and have breathed into us the breath of life.  Fill us also this day with your Holy Spirit, that in all we say and do we might reflect your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Today we heard the story of Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit.  While this whole experience might seem strange, or even scary to many of us, at least some of the things that happened were not all that different from things that happened in the Old Testament.  For one thing, God shows up in the wind and in the fire.  All through the Hebrew Scriptures, it is understood that the wind comes forth from God.  In fact, the word for wind (ruach) also means breath or spirit.

    At the same time, God shows up in the fire on a number of different occasions.  Can any of you think of any Old Testament stories where God’s presence is experienced through fire?... [Possibilities: Moses and the burning bush, pillar of fire, Mt. Sinai, fiery chariot] So the people who were gathered together on that very special Day of Pentecost would have known that sometimes God shows up through wind or fire.

    These same people would have heard the stories about the Spirit of the Lord being poured out on people.  Once again, there are many instances in the Hebrew Scriptures where God’s Spirit comes upon people or is poured out on them.  However, in the Old Testament, most of the people who receive the Spirit do the same thing: They prophesy.  Now, what does it mean to prophesy?...

    Most people immediately think of making predictions about the future.  However, that’s actually only a very small part of prophecy.  Mostly, people who prophesy speak God’s word.  A prophet is one who speaks for another.  And so, God’s prophet speaks for God.  That’s why so many of the prophets start their messages with something like: “Hear the word of the Lord,” or “Thus says the Lord.”  They have been given the Spirit in order to speak for God.

    In at least some ways, this is the same as what happens in today’s reading from Acts.  The Holy Spirit is poured out, and the disciples start speaking to people about God’s deeds of power (Acts 2:11).  However, this time things are different.  This time, it is not just the Spirit of God, but the Spirit of Jesus that gets poured out, and all of a sudden God’s Word is not just for the Hebrew people.  This time, God’s Spirit speaks all sorts of different languages, as it becomes clear that because of Jesus, so many more people are now included.

    The reading from Acts mentions many different places with names that we may not recognize today.  At that time, these places represented the limits of the known world, and all of them were either in or near the Roman Empire.  If we were to make a similar list using today’s names, there would have been people there from Iraq and Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya, Italy and Greece, Syria and Jordan. God’s Spirit and God’s Word are for all of these people.

    At the same time, we hear about the Spirit being poured out on men and women, young and old, slave and free.  In fact, Joel spoke about the Spirit being poured out upon “all flesh”, which pretty much seems to include everybody!  “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).

    I’d like to invite you to bring to mind any sorts of people that you wouldn’t care to share a meal with.  Think about any people that you’d rather not sit beside or invite into your home.  Think about any people that you’d be afraid to talk to or that you might have trouble understanding because of their accent.  For any people who have come to mind, understand this: God’s Spirit and God’s Word are for them, too.  God’s Spirit and God’s Word are for you and for all.

    There is much that is said in the New Testament about the Holy Spirit and about why the Holy Spirit needed to come.  Just in the readings that we have heard today, we learn quite a bit about what the Holy Spirit does.  Our Psalm reminds us that the Spirit renews and gives life – not just to us but to all of creation!  At the same time, we hear in 1 Corinthians about the variety of gifts that are given to a variety of people – all for the common good.  In the gospel from John, the Spirit brings peace in the midst of fear and sends people out to share the good news – and even gives authority to forgive sins.  And in our reading from Acts, there are two things that are brought to the fore: telling others about what God has been doing lately, and having dreams and visions.

    Truthfully, I think that most of us have reservations about these last two things.  Telling others anything related to our faith seems scary at times, and we might question both the validity and the usefulness of dreams and visions.  However, the Holy Spirit makes both of these things not only possible, but powerful.

    The New Testament contains a number of different dreams and visions – some of which are easier to understand than others.  Both Joseph and the wise men are warned in dreams and are shown what they need to do to escape from King Herod (Mt. 2).  In the Book of Acts, both Peter and Cornelius have visions that show them what God has in mind for them and for the church (Acts 10).  Paul also has some visions, which either help him to see what is going to happen, or that show him what God wants him to do and where God is directing him to go.  And then, of course, there is the entire book of Revelation, which is a vision that was experienced by John.

    For us today, as we think about dreams and visions, we are invited to at least open ourselves to the possibility that God might choose to communicate with us in this way.  Perhaps we are also being invited to dare to dream, for there are certainly so many ways that we could improve the world around us by embodying the love of Christ in all that we do.

    At the same time, we are being invited to open our hearts and our minds in such a way that God can work through us.  The Holy Spirit actually does give us the words to say if we will allow it.  The Spirit also leads us into opportunities to share with others what God has been doing lately, both for us and around us.  Keep in mind that we’re not talking here about making every conversation into a sermon of some sort.  Otherwise, people might not want to talk to you any more!

    But consider acknowledging God’s activity in your life when it is appropriate, or even simply offering to pray for somebody when you know there is a need.  God can work through you in all sorts of different ways, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The only question for us is if we are willing to open our hearts and minds to the presence and power of God.  It is the Holy Spirit who changes hearts, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives us whatever gifts are needed for the common good.

    And so, live in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit.

[And] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).

Amen.

Day of Pentecost (A)                        Acts 2:1-21
June 8, 2014                            Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                    1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Pastor Lynne Hutchison                        John 20:19-23

© 2014 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved