A Sermon by Barrett Clark Hess
Acts 2:1-12
Let me ask you a question: Is Pentecost simply another day in the life of the church? Pentecost, strictly speaking, is the annual Christian commemoration celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension, held on the seventh Sunday after Easter.
Is this a story we ponder in the sanctuary and forget about its power by the time we reach the church doors heading home? Or is it a story that we know how to embrace and use in our lives everyday?
Before we disregard Pentecost as a somewhat mysterious, cryptic and perhaps dramatic story from the bible, we need to look deeper into that story to discover the valuable, moving, vital and inspired lessons contained within that text. No other story in the bible conveys so dramatically and clearly the mystery and power of Jesus’ intent for us to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and to live and spread his word to the world.
Men in a room are filled with the Holy Spirit, bolts of fire that look like tongues land and remain on each man. These men are transformed…they begin proclaiming God’s word in different languages and then the inevitable happens….
The cry rings out from some guy witnessing the drama…”Hey, you’re all drunk!” Such a perennial resident disbeliever is a recurring theme in most of the miracles in the bible. The disciples dealt with such folks and their opinions and judgments daily, they grew to handle this opposition, the accusations and doubts with grace…and carried ahead with what they believed and lived the word of God…they did this will faith and with courage into an often at times hostile world.
We, on the other hand, live in a time and place in the world where we are free to believe what we wish, without persecution. We are even more open than the disciples to freely learn about God, freely practice our faith and to freely listen and act as the Holy Spirit moves in and through us in our daily lives.
But do we listen? Do we use this freedom the disciples did not have? Do we listen to the naysayers in our lives and tip toe away from truly and honestly living what we believe? Do we have the courage to listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to us and the courage to follow through on what we learn we can be and do?
Pentecost shows us God’s intent with the disciples and God’s intent by illustrating in that Pentecostal room filled with fire, with men speaking in many different languages, his wish for us to speak, live and share this message with a diverse world, People of many lands and beliefs and backgrounds. It seems God was illustrating his wish for us to bring and include, in hearing his message, diverse people to Praise God and live his ways.
God’s message is constant and timeless…for all diverse creatures to peacefully and respectfully spread God’s message and that the Spirit is in us and moving among men of all faiths. We need to look for and see that the Holy Spirit is living and present in all men despite their choice of faith and grasp at the commonality of those beliefs and the strength that comes from how we’re alike rather than different despite what or who we ‘believe in’.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is a true gift. Today’s belief and church is founded on that of the past foundations, beliefs and teachings, of all that has gone before. Accepting and embracing diversity for the sake of diversity is not the point….Embracing and pursuing acceptance of diversity for the sake of the world and the quest for the common Holy Spirit in all men is a noble purpose and worthy of our contemplation and action.
I started this piece with a question…I’ll end with a question as well….
Do you listen to the Holy Spirit inside you? Do you live that will? Are you a willing ambassador of the Holy Spirit to the world? Will YOU, reach out to other religions, people, cultures, beliefs…and begin a new age? A new age of the Spirit?
An age of accepting and seeking of common ground. An age of listening to the Spirit working in and through us in our daily lives. An age of looking for the Spirit in others and recognizing the familiar and loving face of God in their eye.