Things Are About to Get Disrupted, TLC, NL, Matthew 28, September 3, 2023

Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator and our Lord Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.

We’ve all been there. Life is rolling along, just the way we expected it to go. Then something happens, and in an instant, you know, … business as usual is going to be disrupted. 

You know how that looks. And I’m pretty sure you can recall the feeling in the pit of your stomach from the last time it happened to you:

• You have a great job, you’re starting to save for your children’s education, and you are called in to a company meeting, where you learn that 30% of the workforce is being laid off, and that 30% includes you.
• The phone rings early on a Saturday morning. It’s your mom, and she never calls you at that hour.
• Your doctor’s office calls: Your doctor wants you to come in right away about the results of that last “routine” test.
• Or sometimes the news is great – your partner calls and says “We’re having a baby!” Joyful news, but still disruptive.

Whatever that moment has been for you, in an instant, life as you know it is going to change. Your priorities may shift. Your carefully organized schedule – out the window!

Business as usual will be disrupted.

When Jesus was telling his disciples about his ascension, he tried to prepare them for what was coming. The storm that was the life-changing Gospel, the Way of Jesus the Christ, was arriving. In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus was trying to give them some hints: “ALL authority in heaven and on earth…” “Make disciples of ALL nations…” “I am with you ALWAYS, to the end of the age…” In John’s gospel, Jesus told them, “I have much more to tell you, more than you can bear….”

And every time, Jesus assured them that he wasn’t leaving them on their own, he was sending them help, an advocate, the Holy Spirit. “Hang out,” he told them. “Stay together and wait for it.”

The disciples really didn’t know what was coming. Perhaps it was better that way – I imagine they would have bolted had they known! When the Holy Spirit arrives, business as usual is going to get disrupted. The Spirit arrived with fire, wind, commotion. People were amazed, bewildered, perplexed. No one received a little taste of the Spirit. It filled them, overflowed from their hearts and hands. Everything changed.

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Is it different in 2023?

Well, some things are. We don’t expect fire and wind when we enter this space. Chances are the visitor count won’t be like it was that first Pentecost Day (Especially this weekend! 😊)

We do prefer to speak the same language! When we profess our faith with the Apostles Creed, no fireworks happen. The third article of the Creed, expressing our belief in God as Holy Spirit and our place in eternity, sometimes seems, at least to me, an afterthought to God, the active Creator, and life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

However, if you or your child happened to be confirmed in the Lutheran Church, you may remember Martin Luther’s explanations of the Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and yes, the Apostles’ Creed. Hidden among the “what does this means” and the “this is most certainly trues” of Luther’s Small Catechism is this gem, fleshing out the Holy Spirit portion, the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with spiritual gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way, the Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church, the Holy Spirit daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day, the Spirit will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

Ho-ly Spirit! Wow!

Without the Holy Spirit, there would be no believers, no gifts, no holiness, no staying power in faith, for me, for you, for anyone!

There would be no Church, no love, no grace, no mercy, no forgiveness, no eternity.

No Baptisms, no Lord’s Supper, no music, no joy!

Without the Spirit – nada. Absolutely nothing. In that light, the power of the Holy Spirit is immense. Everything we are, everything we do as Christ’s church is possible because of the Holy Spirit. Every group of preschoolers singing “Jesus Loves Me,” every “The Lord is My Shepherd” whispered in someone’s dying breaths, and every word and action in between. The Spirit IS the life of the Church. When the Spirit shows up, business as usual is going to get disrupted.

It is the Spirit that changes us through our prayers and in our worship, and prompts us to reach out to the hungry, the hurting, the lonely, the lost. When we start getting sidetracked from the mission, getting caught up in our own buildings and comforts, the Spirit prods us, “shakes us out of lethargy,” as we sang in our opening hymn, to see how much others need us, and how much we need them.

It is the Spirit that challenges us to reach hundreds of preschoolers and their families with God’s love at Trinity Preschool. To partner with Gateway 360, Circles of Concern and Meals Do Matter. To reach across the border and provide encouragement and education to change lives at Lantern Hill. And in doing so, the people we reach are changing us. It goes so far beyond acts of kindness. We are being transformed. There’s a Holy Disruption that is happening within each of us, and in the Body of Christ that is ALL of us.

Because when the Holy Spirit shows up, business as usual will be disrupted.

Pastor and theologian David Lose put it this way: “But take note, as in the readings today, so also in our world: if we heed the word and work of the coming-along-side Holy Spirit, we will inevitably be pushed beyond what we imagine and end up stirring things up. We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the answer to a problem, but what if the Spirit’s work is to create for us a new problem: that we have a story to tell, mercy to share, love to spread, and we just can’t rest until we’ve done so!”

Perhaps you’ve heard it put this way: the Spirit’s work is to “Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable.” No doubt, the Spirit is Comforter to those who are hurting and struggling. But the Spirit also is unrelenting in moving us off center, making us open our doors a little wider, using the many ways Trinity has been blessed to be a blessing to our community and beyond.

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Sometimes I wonder, “Do people really know what they’re getting into when they pray “Come, Holy Spirit”? Do they understand what they are asking? After a month at Trinity, I think you all DO know.

When I arrived at Trinity, it was with a bit of awe. This church is nearly 125 years old. Trinity has survived depressions and times of war. There’s a preschool. Several large community projects. An international mission. Three music professionals. A facility that serves the community by hosting fund-raising events, recovery meetings, sports practices, concerts and more. So many staff members and members with such diverse gifts. And now Trinity has stretched itself to invest in the future of the Church, as a training site for a vicar.

The Holy Spirit is in this place, in each one of you: illuminating, growing, encouraging, inspiring. From our littles listening and dancing, to our elders worshiping and connecting. Next week, it’s God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday. The following week, Rally Sunday. Holy Disruptions. Holy work that the Spirit is moving Trinity to do.

I pray that you will never stop realizing where that power comes from – the faith, the love, the grace, the service that is Trinity Lutheran Church comes from the Holy Spirit. And I pray that you continue to be surprised, and occasionally awed, by what the Holy Spirit is inspiring Trinity to do. Amen.