Holy Spirit as Present, Presence, and Word, A Sermon for Pentecost Sunday
Below is a sermon I preached for The Desert River Church for Pentecost Sunday. I'm continually grateful for the opportunity to share the Word of God with God's people, and especially so on Pentecost as we remember the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh.
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| Pentecost is a painting by Jen Norton |
The book of Acts, which is a narrative account of the Acts of the Spirit, and a continuation of the book of Luke, takes us on a journey filled with surprise, movement, and new creation. This second chapter of Acts is titled “The Coming of the Holy Spirit,” “The Gift of the Spirit,” or “Speaking in the Spirit,” depending on the translation or commentary you are looking at, and it celebrates when the Spirit of God, fulfilling the promises of Jesus, arrives in a surprising way and joins humanity as present and presence to God’s people.
The Spirit of God, by joining with humanity, invites and empowers the people of God to proclaim God’s goodness and glory to all who will hear - participating in the new creation that is continually being brought forth.
Now, let's imagine for a moment that we are there - on the day of Pentecost. You are with a group of believers, including the 12 apostles, and have gathered together to pray with expectation of the arrival of the Spirit as Jesus had promised. The death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are fresh in everyone’s minds, and while everyone is not sure how the “spirit” will arrive, you trust that God will show up as God has done before.
The room moves from silence in prayer, to conversation, to praying aloud, to sharing some breakfast, back to conversation, and so on...and then all of a sudden, a roaring sound, like the rushing of a powerful wind fills the whole house! And before anyone can begin to discuss or try to figure out what is going on, divided tongues of fire rest on each person and an overwhelming presence of peace and aliveness fills each person as the Holy Spirit fills you. Each person then begins to speak in other languages as the holy breath of the Spirit pours out of each person in words of proclamation and joy.
The ones in the house with you are not the only ones who heard the rushing sound of wind and language, and so a crowd appears full of people from every nation living in Jerusalem, all hearing their native languages being spoken to them. Each person is amazed and astonished and they ask “Aren’t all of these people who are speaking Galileans? How can we each hear our own languages?” Peoples from over 16 different regions, Jews and Jewish converts, all hearing about the deeds and power of God in their own language. Out of amazement and perplexity some ask “What does this mean?” While others sneer and postulate that they have all simply had too much wine and are drunk.
But as the questions and accusations begin to ramp up, Peter remembering the moments when Jesus himself was accused of drunkenness as he spent time with tax collectors and sinners, boldly stands up and says “People of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, these people are not drunk as you suppose - it is only nine o’clock in the morning! No, what is happening is what was spoken through the prophet Joel!:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and daughters will prophesy,
And your young men will see visions,
And your old men will dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they will prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
And signs on the earth below,
Blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood,
Before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Peter goes on as he interprets the event that is happening before them as everyone around him listens intently and is amazed by the ways in which God is fulfilling promises, showing up, and being present to all of humanity.
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Our text for today, as assigned by the lectionary, cuts off the remainder of Peter’s speech, so we do not get to the part where the crowd asks what they should do and how to respond, but even without getting to that part of the text there is a LOT to unpack here.
While the text is not very descriptive as far as the setting and character development in the story, the symbolism and implications of the coming of the Spirit is rich. And I think it is important that we view this story and its implications with fresh eyes and open hearts as we hear the Word of the Lord in this text, and as we too expectantly await and seek the movement and joining of the Spirit in our own lives.
This is the beauty of Pentecost!
Providing us with the opportunity to be reminded of the gift of the Spirit just as it came to that room of follows all those years ago, and in the ways the Spirit continues to be with us to this day.
As I listened to this text throughout the last week, I was struck by how often words for speaking or language came up - the work of the Spirit here is in speaking - moving from tongues of fire to tongues of language to the tongues of people proclaiming the works and power of God! The first fruit of the Holy Spirit here is proclamation!
One commentary states, “The new day begins with an eruption of sounds from heaven and of wind. Things are coming loose, breaking open. Can it be the same wind which on the very first morning of all mornings swept across dark waters, the wind of creation? The wind is once again bringing something to life.” (William Willimon, Interpretation Commentary)
This wind that is bringing new life comes through language, through breath in our lungs...and not just one language, but a diversity of languages - something crucial, personal, powerful, something that can quickly either welcome or reject- language, the speaking and hearing of it, is a sign of divine welcome to all people.
Think of the many different peoples who heard the wind and heard their own language and came to see what was happening! The work of the Spirit through embodied proclamation drew a crowd that was eager to see what was going on. And when they arrived they heard not only their own language, but heard, through Peter, how God will pour out God’s Spirit on all flesh - this word “flesh” here means “humanity.” Young, old, male, female, slave, free, ALL are welcomed and included in this pouring out.
And it all begins with language.
Willie James Jennings in his commentary on Acts says, “Here we must not draw back from what is being displayed in Luke’s account. This is God touching, taking hold of tongue and voice, mind, heart, and body. This is a joining, unprecedented, unanticipated, unwanted, yet complete joining. Those gathered in prayer asked for power. They may have asked for the Holy Spirit to come, but they did not ask for this. This is real grace, untamed grace. It is the grace that replaces our fantasies of power over people with God’s fantasy for desire for people.”
Words so often are used to control, to manipulate, to hurt...We have seen it throughout history and in the last year with the polar opposites we have encountered on a number of fronts, I think we can easily draw to mind examples of when words have been used in these ways, and yet here, we see how the Spirit uses words, language, bodies to become one with us, to welcome others, to join with our very flesh, blood, and breath and bring new life in our words, actions, and welcome of each other and the Spirit - proclaiming the goodness of God.
This is the church. The diverse people of God, breathing deeply of new life in the Spirit - not choosing whose language was included, but unexpectedly and, possibly, uncomfortably, including all in Jerusalem.
The wind of the Spirit is giving life to language coming from our own mouths as a divine example of the co-mingling of Jesus’ story and the presence of God being bound up in our own.
I love this picture that Jennings paints when he says, “The same Spirit that was there from the beginning, hovering, brooding in the joy of creation of the universe and of each one of us, who knows us together and separately in our most intimate places, has announced the divine intention through the Son to reach into our lives and make each life a site of speaking glory. But this will require bodies that reach across massive and real boundaries, cultural, religious, and ethnic….Now love of neighbor will take on pneumatological dimensions….This is love that cannot be tamed, controlled, or planned, and once unleashed will drive the disciples forward into the world and drive a question into their lives: Where is the Holy Spirit taking us and into whose lives?”
Again, this all starts with language. Not just one language, like what was desired in the story of Babel, but a diversity of languages and peoples, which the Spirit has now called together for a unified purpose - living life with the Spirit, with each other, and extending divine hospitality to the diversity of peoples we encounter to join us in life with the Spirit, who is poured out on all flesh.
This question of “where is the Holy Spirit taking us and into whose lives?” is one that, as followers of Christ, as the church, we are called to ask again and again. Perhaps this doesn’t mean that we literally learn a new language to welcome others, but maybe it does! Or maybe it simply means being attentive to the wind of the Spirit in our lives and who it is calling us to welcome.
In the Pentecost story, the inbreaking of the Spirit ushers in a new age, echoing back to the beginning of Creation as the Spirit of God moved over the waters, and back to the conception of Jesus as the Spirit came over Mary giving birth to the Christ - The Spirit has joined us and is on the move, bringing new life through presence and word (Word).
Like these followers in Acts, we must be attentive to and expectant of the work of the Spirit - making room for it to surprise us as we continue to mirror the hospitable work of the Spirit through our own words and actions - proclaiming the glory and goodness of God through our whole selves, language, body, and breath, as the Spirit is poured out upon us.
May we live lives that are caught up by the wind of the Spirit.
May we allow ourselves to be surprised by the direction the Wind takes us.
May the fire of the Spirit stir us from complacency and light our way as we seek to live with the Spirit of God on our tongues as we speak love and welcome to all we encounter.
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