Pentecost

Summary

Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of Christ’s followers on the 50^th day after his death.

And what a fifty days they were for Christ’s disciples.  First they experienced Jesus’ joyous resurrection, then those happy days of seeing the risen Lord in their midst which were too quickly followed by his miraculous ascension to heaven.  But at his ascension Jesus had said to his followers, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In the days following Jesus’ ascension the disciples must have felt alone and apprehensive.  I can imagine them discussing their plight, “It feels like its over, but he said it isn’t, so what?  We’re supposed to wait for the Holy Spirit, but what does that mean?  Will we even know if the Spirit’s come?”

Think about it.  They have no idea what to expect next.  Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit as a guide and counselor who will bring power, but what did he mean?  They must have wondered how they would know the Holy Spirit had come?

In retrospect, it would have been a funny question, because on the day of Pentecost, WHAM!  They knew the Holy Spirit had arrived!  The Holy Spirit came through and blew their socks, or sandals or whatever they wore, right off!  The Holy Spirit not only filled them but gave them new languages to be understood in, so as to speak Jesus’ name to those who heard them speaking.

They went from fearful waiting to powerful action in an instant.  They couldn’t keep their mouths shut, they could only speak out what was flowing through them!  The truth could not be contained, it had to be spoken and heard.

Let’s hear from John about the Spirit, his 14^th chapter, 26^th verse reads, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

The Holy Spirit is God alive in the world and in the lives of all believers.  Just look at how the Holy Spirit impelled the disciples into action by telling the truth of Jesus to all who would listen, which because it was Pentecost was hundreds if not thousands of people from all corners of the Roman Empire.  But it was not just for a day.  No, the Holy Spirit moved the disciples to action from that point in time forward.

After Pentecost Peter and John were moved to heal the lame beggar and then preached boldly in the temple of salvation found in the Messiah, Jesus.  Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch the good news and then baptized him in a roadside pond.  Stephen, the first martyr, preached the truth to the Pharisees so boldly that they stoned him to death.  Saul the persecutor was called to faith by Jesus and driven by the Holy Spirit into a life of preaching and teaching, he was so changed that from thereafter he went by the name Paul.  Lydia upon hearing of Jesus Christ was moved by the Holy Spirit to start a church in her home.  All of these followers of Jesus’ were led by the Spirit into greater voice, action and belief on behalf of the Christ.

The Holy Spirit still moves in our lives, often gently, sometimes strongly but always in a powerful way.  For the Holy Spirit is God.

We found a great children’s Bible recently.  This Bible puts things in such a way that makes our Christian faith so easy to understand.  I want to share part of the Pentecost story with you from this Bible.

“How it happened they didn’t know, but they knew God’s power had struck their hearts ablaze – and Jesus himself was coming to live inside them.

They had seen Jesus go away, but now he was closer than he had ever been – inside their hearts.  And this time nothing could ever separate them.  Jesus would always be there. With them.   Loving them.  Whispering the promise that would get rid of the poison and terrible lie and sickness in their hearts.  God’s wonderful promise to them: ‘You are my child. And I love you.’

‘Make your home in me, as I make my home in you.’ Jesus had said.

Could it be?  Heaven was coming in to their hearts?”

Wow! Isn’t that a cool telling of this story?

For that is exactly what the Holy Spirit does, the Spirit is God, Jesus, entering in to our lives to live.  Entering our lives to teach.  Entering our lives to move us.  Entering our lives with new life.

The writer Kathleen Norris shares an image from the early church writer Tertullian concerning the Trinity, and thus the Holy Spirit.  “It’s an image of the Trinity as a plant, with the Father as a deep root, the Son as the shoot that breaks forth into the world, the Spirit as that which spreads beauty and fragrance, ‘fructifying the earth with flower and fruit.”

How do we know that the Holy Spirit is present?  In the book of Galatians we learn that the fruits of the Spirit are, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

I am made aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in person after person through the reality of its fruit experienced in my relationship with them.

When I receive the beauty of kindness shared with me by one of you, I encounter the Holy Spirit.  When your patience calms me I feel the Holy Spirit. When your generosity overwhelms me I know the Holy Spirit.  When I experience your joy the Holy Spirit surrounds me. When I am grounded in your faithfulness I am touched by the Spirit.

We know of the Spirit’s presence by the fact of the Spirit’s fruit. In the same way we know that the Holy Spirit moves because we see its results, like the passing of the wind through a forest; people coming to faith, people being healed, people growing in their faith, people living lives of love, rather than hate, people relating to one another in the Spirit’s fruits, rather than in the world’s fruits.

For in every experience when I relate with another person through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, I feel the Spirit blowing through my life. When we live in the fruits of the Holy Spirit as Christ’s church I catch a taste of what the disciples experienced on Pentecost.

These experiences of life filled with the fruits of the Spirit, show me, and show us that God is still moving in the world today. We know that God is moving in the most powerful of ways for we feel his presence in our hearts, and we see God’s Spirit moving like the wind amidst his people and out in the world. Blow Spirit, blow!

Amen.

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