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Many folks grew up in churches where little kids attended classes to learn about the Bible or about the particulars of their Christian denomination's traditions. In one church, on Sunday mornings as they began class, the fifth graders would line up and each would recite one phrase of the traditional "Apostle" Creed" - a series of statements about what the church believes. This went on for about four months, until one Sunday. The class began the usual way. The first girl recited her line perfectly, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." The second, a boy, stood up and added his sentence, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord." But then silence descended over the class. Finally, realizing what was wrong, a little girl stood up and announced, "I'm sorry, but the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit is absent today!"
And so it is...in many churches: the Holy Spirit is strangely absent. Yet on this day we recognize that if it weren't for the coming of the Spirit, there would be no Christian Church. We celebrate Pentecost not only as the birthday of the Church universal, but because there is something about the strange, ecstatic events of that day long ago that is available week after week here in this church and in every church.
Last week we heard that, before Jesus departed this world with his hands extended in blessing over the disciples, he had told them to wait together in Jerusalem until they were "clothed with power from on high." The coming of that promised power, which we remember and celebrate today, is recorded in the Bible in the second chapter of the book of the "Acts of the Apostles." Check it out...it's makes a cool "mental movie."
That text begins, "When the day of Pentecost came...." (Originally "Pentecost" was a Jewish holiday that celebrated the harvest. Sort of like a Kosher Thanksgiving.) "When the day of Pentecost came, they (the disciples) were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them." And the story tells that these "other languages" enabled people from different countries around the known world, who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost, to hear the disciples "declaring the wonders of God" (Scripture says), each in his or her own language!
Then we can go on to read about how Peter (the whiny wimp who had betrayed Jesus three times just a couple of months before?), now empowered by the Holy Spirit, preached boldly, quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures, so that thousands came to believe in Jesus Christ. And how all these believers, Acts chapter 2 says, "devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship they shared, to the breaking of bread together and to prayer." We read that everyone was filled with awe and wonder, that miracles were daily occurrences. We read about a unity of spirit that touched every facet of their lives and how they constantly met together, "...praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people..." and that "the Lord added to their number daily." Talk about rapid church growth. We ain't seen nothing compared to that!
They were there when the Spirit descended. And today we are here, waiting as they waited for the gift of God's Spirit.
We wait for God's Spirit to heal us, to take away the wounds of the past, to take away our sense of having been shamed and betrayed by those who were supposed to love us. We wait for God's Spirit to heal our bodies of illness and weakness. We wait for God's Spirit to heal our minds of doubt and fear and loneliness. We wait for God's Spirit to heal us of self-centeredness, of self-pity, of self-loathing.
We wait for God's Spirit to renew us, to give us visions and dreams so powerful that the very utterance of them pulls us toward their fulfillment.
We wait for God's Spirit to release our creativity, to call forth our gifts and talents.
We wait for God's Spirit to recreate us as the Church, just as the Holy Spirit melded and empowered the ragtag group of which we read in the Biblical account of Pentecost.
We wait...as if the Spirit came on that day so long ago and then left. As if we must hope to meet the Holy Spirit for the first time...again! And there is our mistake! There is our lack! There is our failure! We don't need to wait for the Holy Spirit; the Spirit is here for us now just as the Spirit was there for "them" back "then." We don't need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is here! We need to recognize it...and seize it...and use it...and allow it to transform our lives as the Holy Spirit wants to do!
Our mistake may be that we hear this Biblical account of Pentecost and assume that, if the Holy Spirit was really among us, we would constantly hear a roaring wind and see images like flames dancing before our eyes. And that might be the Holy Spirit...or it could be a bad case ofthe flu.
Remember: power can be used in a couple of different ways: it can be unleashed, or it can be harnessed. The energy in ten gallons of gasoline, for instance, can be released explosively by dropping a lighted match into the can. Or it can be channeled through the engine ofa Toyota in a controlled burn and used to transport a person 350 miles. ("Mileage may vary depending on driving conditions.") Explosions are spectacular, but controlled burns have lasting effect, staying power. The Holy Spirit works both ways. At Pentecost, the Spirit exploded on the scene. But the Spirit also works continually through our lives and through the church...for the long haul. We need to tap into and hamess that power that is already available to us.
We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that only big, explosive, "dramatic" occurrences are evidence of the Spirit at work. But the truth is, the Spirit works in a variety of ways. So don't assume that the long, slow, evolutionary processes of our lives are not the work of the Spirit!
Author Jamie Buckingham explains this phenomenon well as he writes about a visit he once made to a dam on the Columbia River. He'd always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that is was just froth...that deep within turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity - quietly, without notice...not like the flashy froth on top. The Holy Spirit can do "flashy." More often the Spirit does "faithful."
We need to learn to recognize the ways that the Spirit is at work in our midst. One of those ways, certainly, is through prayer. Our Scripture reading this morning told us that the Spirit prays on our behalf when we don't know how to pray. I don't know about you, but I find that extremely comforting. We don't have to find all the right words or search for the fully appropriate theological expression. We don't have to be careful to say just the right thing to a critical and distant God. God does not call us to be eloquent in our praying. A medieval monk once told the novices under his care, "Pray as you pray, not as you ought to pray." The deepest prayer is personal, direct, honest communication with God. There is no formula, no "right" way to do it. Pray as you pray, with the assurance that the Holy Spirit is present to speak what we have no words to speak.
We must learn to recognize and harness the very present power of the Spirit in prayer and in what we do together as a church: in our worship and our learning and our growth as disciples of Jesus Christ. Part of the Holy Spirit's distinctive role, as what we call "the third person of the Trinity" - those 3 distinct aspects of our one God - is to fulfill what we might call a floodlight ministry in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you've ever seen a building at night illuminated by a floodlight, you know what I mean. When floodlighting is done well, the floodlights are placed so that you don't see them; in fact, you're not supposed to see where the light is coming from. What you are meant to see is just the building on which the floodlights are focused. The intended effect is to make it visible when otherwise it could not be seen for the darkness, and to maximize its appearance by throwing all its details into relief so that you can see it properly. This is part of the Spirit's role in the world. When Jesus left the earth, God sent in his place this wonderful presence who is, so to speak, the hidden floodlight shining on the Savior. When we come to see Jesus in a "new light" in our lives its because, unknown to us, the Holy Spirit is shining forth to make it all clear.
In prayer and in discipleship the Holy Spirit is ever present and we need to learn to recognize that. But there is another key way in which the Spirit is present to us and it's stated quite plainly in our Scripture reading from Romans 8: "The Spirit, too, comes to help us in our weakness."
The Spirit is present...here and now, in this place today...to heal us, to take away the wounds of the past, to take away our sense of having been shamed and betrayed by those who were supposed to love us. God's Spirit to here to heal our bodies of illness and weakness. To heal our minds of doubt and fear and loneliness. To heal us of self-centeredness, of self-pity, of self-loathing.
God's Holy Spirit is also here, church, to renew us, to give us visions and dreams so powerful that the very utterance of them pulls us toward their fulfillment. The Spirit is here to release our creativity, to call forth our gifts and talents. The Spirit is here to recreate us as the Church God intended from the start.
Some of these things will happen in an explosion of power. Some will happen in the long, slow, evolutionary processes of our lives. But be assured of this: there is no good thing that God desires to withhold from us. We need to meet the Holy Spirit for the first time...again...and get to know the Pentecost power that is available to us right here...right now! Amen.
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