Day of the Church Year: Pentecost Sunday
Scripture Passage: Acts 2:1-21
On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit blows through Jerusalem where Jesus’ disciples and Jews from the entire known world are gathered. The Spirit rushes like a violent wind, burns like flames, and is heard in many languages speaking about God’s deeds of power. The Spirit is poured out on all flesh, Peter preaches, a quote from the Old Testament prophet Joel. The Jewish people had gathered every year for Pentecost and still do, celebrating the first fruits of the harvest and the giving of the law to Moses, and of course, Jesus’ disciples are Jewish. They are gathered with everyone else to celebrate Pentecost in Jerusalem, but this year’s Pentecost is different than any Pentecost before. This year, the followers of Jesus are moved to action by the Spirit, and the church is born. After 50 disorienting days of Jesus risen and ascended, after 3 life-changing years of following Jesus, the disciples might have been ready for a little normalcy, a regular festival, like is done every year. But that’s not what they get. They get the Spirit instead, and then, instead of going back to the way things used to be, their lives change again. Again and again and again. For the Spirit moves them to preach and teach, to form communities of worship and study and prayer, to share all they possess with one another and to especially tend the needs of the most vulnerable among them, to even change their religious practices because the Spirit compels them to do so.
Sometimes on this Sunday, we sing Happy Birthday to the church. We buy a cake and light candles. We count the number of years we, the church, have proclaimed the good news of God in Christ. The pouring out of the spirit births the church—and not only births the church but guides the church. Just yesterday, a young couple were married here at Grace, and after the wedding, the mother of the bride commented to me, “When you walk into Grace, you can just feel the Holy Spirit.” I heartily agreed with her; the people of Grace are a spirit-led people. And while Pentecost is the birthday of the church, the pouring out of the spirit is not restricted to the church, not restricted to the disciples, not restricted to men, not restricted to Jews, not restricted to adults, not restricted to people of certain languages or certain lands. On Pentecost, the spirit is poured out on all flesh, no restrictions. So, besides the church, what else is born? What else is the spirit doing?
I ask the question because I think we forget that the Spirit of God is less concerned with whether something is “sacred” or “secular,” whether something is “spiritual” or “worldly.” The Spirit of God is poured out on all flesh, on church folks like us, yes—but also on everyone else. Now more than ever before in the history of the Christian church, at a time when the church needs radically to change or else will die in its present form, it behooves us to remember that the Spirit of God is not limited to what we do in this building of altar, organ, and stained glass windows. On this, the birthday of the church, perhaps it is fitting to celebrate that we will find the Spirit of God at work wherever we go—not just at Grace Lutheran Church or First Presbyterian or Central United Methodist, but in schools and workplaces, in hospitals and libraries, in cities and small towns, in deserts and countrysides, and even in governments. I know everyone was with me until that last one...
Our question of the day is: What is one way you see the Spirit of God working in the world, apart from the church? To read reflection by the community, go to the Facebook Live worship feed for Sunday, May 23.
Honestly, I am thrilled that the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh, that the Spirit of God cannot be limited to the work of the church, that I will find the Spirit working wherever I go! If you know me, you know that Pentecost is my very favorite day of the church year, and it’s for this reason: that the universal pouring out of the Holy Spirit assures me that, no matter where I go, I can expect to find the spirit there! I saw the Spirit of God at work yesterday morning when I volunteered with Sonoran Prevention Works, a harm reduction agency, people committed to love and non-judgment, healing and hope for people who use drugs. I see the Spirit of God at work in my neighborhood where people know each other’s names, help each other, and actually share their resources. I see the Spirit among those who gather to listen to others’ poetry at Lawn Gnome Publishing along Roosevelt Row on Wednesday evenings, an audience completely respectful, loving, attentive, without a single cell phone open, all eyes on the brave poet at the microphone.
Even though the Spirit is poured out on all flesh, we the church have a particular call on our individual lives, on our collective life: to be the hands and feet of Christ, to do God’s work with our hands. While the Spirit is poured out on everyone, everywhere, we who actively seek the Spirit’s guidance, on the birthday of the church, we get to have the cake and eat it too. We receive the Holy Spirit, and then, we get to do what the Spirit compels us to do.In this unique moment in the life of the institutional church, I wonder where the Spirit will lead us next, how the Spirit will bring together us church folks with all other folks, how the Spirit will bridge the gap between sacred and secular in order to bring about the world God desires. I wonder. I don’t know how that will work, but I’m sure the Spirit will lead us. Thanks be to God!Amen.