I have to start with this, from a pastor friend: A violent wind. So much noise. Flames. Sounds like someone went little overboard on cicada abatement!!
Grace and peace to you from God eternal, from God with us as Jesus Christ, and God as Spirit, the relentless force living in and around us today.
The story of Pentecost fascinates me. It has for years.
We hear this story every spring, how the disciples were waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit. Not really knowing what would happen, or when. They were faithfully gathered and waiting as Jesus had asked them to do, just 10 days earlier, when he ascended. And suddenly the Spirit overwhelmed them. For so many of you, this story is old news, a story you’ve heard every Pentecost Sunday since you were little.
What really fascinates me is that people stayed! Picture the Holy Spirit showing up in the same way here. If the same thing happening here: if the sanctuary was suddenly filled with violent wind booming through the sanctuary, flinging wide the doors, a cacophony of sound, and live flames, there’s not one of us here that wouldn’t make a bee-line for the exits!
But instead of clearing the room, the Spirit drew people in. Thousands of people with different languages, different backgrounds, pulled in to see what this was all about. And this chapter of Acts goes on to tell us that more than 3,000 people joined their numbers that day.
Oh, there’s more. The Apostles took the Good News of Jesus from that place. And Spirit-carried from Jerusalem, it caught fire in Europe and Asia and Africa, and eventually all over the world. The Spirit drew them in, and sent them out. In the First Century, the Second Century, and every Century since.
Is it happening today? Let’s think about that.
Every one of you has a back story. A how-did-you-arrive-at-Trinity story. Some of you were brought up in this place. A few married someone already attending Trinity. Or you moved here and landed here on a Sunday and it felt right.
Rick and Mikki arrived courtesy of the Rummage Sale. If that doesn’t prove the Holy Spirit has a sense of humor, well, I don’t know what does!
I don’t think it’s chance, though, that you – every single one of you -- are in this place, part of the Trinity family. And that’s where the First Corinthians reading ties in this Pentecost Sunday. The Spirit is moving in this place. You were drawn to this place for a reason. There is something in YOU that is needed HERE.
When we speak about spiritual gifts, we’re not talking about what you are good at. The church isn’t just filled with super-intelligent, massively talented humans. It’s what you excel at, love doing, and this church family is healthier and better because you are doing it. There’s a list in First Corinthians, but it’s not super inclusive. And it’s not written in a way that we relate to in 2024. So let me try:
- We need teachers. And some people love to teach. But the Spirit has given us people who love Jesus, who study the word, and make it come alive at Trinity week after week, for instance, in our Bible studies, in Adult Forum, in Sunday School and at Trinity Preschool.
- Music is part of the DNA of Trinity. And we are blessed with people who are great musicians and singers that also love Jesus with their whole mind and heart and soul and strength, and it comes through in their music. That’s when music is a spiritual gift.
- And Trinity has people who just have this heart for service. Lots of people in this world come alive when they are helping others. But it is a spiritual gift if that love for service finds a place in the Body of Christ: packing meals and taking them to people you see who need them. Taking communion to someone who struggles to get to worship. Sewing banners or putting together a buffet on the day of a memorial service. That is a gift.
- And a final observation: some of you just can’t keep quiet about the love of God and what the Spirit is doing here. That’s great! That’s a Spiritual Gift. The early Apostles were filled with this one, and the Good News of Jesus traveled to the ends of the earth. Today, I have to tell you – people usually bury this gift. They’re afraid of what will happen if they tell others. But there are people dying out there to hear it, to find a place to belong. If that’s your gift, we celebrate you. Trinity needs you!
But I’ve been talking about those who have already found the way their Spirit-given gifts and this Trinity family connect. What if you are sitting there, in worship, or maybe watching online, thinking, THE SPIRIT MISSED ME!! There’s nothing I have that Trinity needs. Or I used to be able to do those things, but I can’t anymore. Or….
I don’t buy it.
I just don’t.
You are part of the Body of Christ. The Spirit drew you here for a purpose. And like our own bodies, the Body of Christ is one miraculous organism. You can take away a lot of parts and it still functions. Functions remarkably well, in fact.
But it’s not optimal.
The Body functions best with all of its members.
Trinity functions best with every gift present and active.
And you aren’t whole if you’re not using those gifts.
Pastor Chris and I visit some folks monthly who rarely make it to worship. And their gifts didn’t get de-activated because they live in assisted living or skilled care!! Those gifts find new ways to bless the body of Christ.
- A handful of folks reflect on their own faith journeys with confirmands.
- A woman tells her faith story with those at her table at lunch.
- Another’s generosity to Trinity and other organizations continues.
Eugene Petersen, author of the Bible translation “The Message,” put it like this:
“God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!”
Everyone. Everyone. And those gifts change. They change because the Spirit is moving here. A person whose gift was service may find they shine in leadership and visioning. We’ve seen those transformations here among our young people as they mature and discover what gifts the Spirit has given them.
Sometimes those transitions happen to the most unlikely people ever. Forty years ago, Mike was helping with Sunday school. Typical mixed-age Sunday school, not that different from Trinity’s. Mostly a delight, sometimes a bit crazy and rambunctious. Twenty years later, we’re at a different church, and a friend of ours said he was going to California to spend time with his friend, a recently ordained pastor. Upon hearing his name, we realized Mike had him as a Sunday school kid. Who knows how the Spirit will use the interactions we have today with anyone in this place?
I conclude with a blessing for you all, from one of my favorite authors, Steve Garnaas-Holmes.
May the mystery of the Holy Spirit dwell in you,
that you may hear the voice of grace
even in strange places and foreign tongues.
May the wind of the Holy Spirit move you
to cross boundaries and defy divisions
to love those who are different from you.
May the breath of the Holy Spirit breathe in you
to forgo all comfort and familiarity
to meet others where they are.
May the fountain of the Holy Spirit flow in you
with courage and humility to learn anew,
to be awkward and foolish for the sake of love.
May the fire of the Holy Spirit burn brightly in you,
that in all you do others may see in you
the warm light of the steady love of God.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment