May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard.  Amen.
In some ways, I think it would have been best if I hadn’t told you about the bulletin having the wrong Gospel text.  If I hadn’t, you might have assumed I was speaking in tongues!  Now, the funny things is that to be a priest on this day, trying to put together the worship service, it is sort of like standing in front of a buffet – You can use this text from Acts, or this one from Numbers; you can use this text from 1 Corinthians or if, you haven’t already chosen from door number one above, this text from Acts.  And, you can choose this reading from the Gospel of John, or this other reading from the Gospel of John.  And no, the reading in your bulletin was not listed as a third option.
Welcome to Pentecost Sunday, when the church truly celebrates the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the variety of ways it works within us.
Now, this is one of the four major feast days of the church – the biggest one being Easter, and the other two are Christmas and All Saints.  And today is truly special, because we celebrate something so big, so inherent to our faith, so present in our lives…and it is something that we can’t see…or can we.
In the beginning of the reading from Acts, the principal reading for today – the one most everyone talks about – the apostles are in this moment of transition.  Jesus has finished his farewell tour, and has ascended into heaven.  He is no longer there to guide them.  And the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, that Jesus promised to send in last weeks’ Gospel (which by the way, IS the one printed in your bulletin – see how that Spirit works!), anyway – that Spirit of Truth hasn’t arrived yet.  Now in the reading from Acts today, it seemed they didn’t wait long, but the Ascension happened ten days earlier.  And yet there they were…waiting in hope.
Did they have any idea what would happen?  Now, Christians today forget why they were in the room in the first place.  Pentecost is Greek for 50th day – and it was a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot.  That’s why they were there.  But, when what was promised to them by Jesus arrived that day – that very day – it became for all those who followed Christ the day that the waiting was over.  It transformed the meaning of that day for us, as it transformed the lives of those who were there.
The long awaited Spirit of Truth – the Holy Spirit – the Spirit that had been a co-creator of all that is – the Ruach (breath of God) – came down and through that room – and it was no small slight breeze wafting in the air, but a force that filled the entire house.  The waiting was over – and it was time to Act…the very name of this book:  The Acts of the Apostles.
Now, I remember a student of mine asking one day… “Chaplain, I get the idea of God, and of Jesus, but what is this Holy Spirit thing?  I don’t get that?”  See, that’s why I love being a chaplain – you get very real questions – the kind some folks in church are afraid to ask because they think they should already know the answer.
What is this Holy Spirit thing?
“Holy Spirit in the Greek is hagios [holy] and pneuma, which has several meanings [breath, wind, Spirit].  So one translation might be Holy Breath or Holy Wind. Let’s try it: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Wind.
It only sounds weird because we are used to Holy Spirit instead of Holy Wind. But, [in some ways] Holy Wind [can be] closer to the reality of God’s third person. A wind moves things. Think of leaves blowing around on a blustery autumn day or snow blowing in a blizzard. Think of the loud flapping sound of a flag on a flag pole on an unrelentingly windy day when you think the wind might [just carry you right off]. Think of the wind filling the sails of a sailboat and moving it swiftly through the water. Wind is about movement.”
And in the case of the Holy Spirit – like the wind, it is the movement of all that it touches that reveals the Spirit to the world.
See, the thing about what happened on that Pentecost so long ago is, the real miracle, isn’t the flames of fire, or even the speaking in tongues.  It was what happened next!
Those early followers of Jesus stepped out into the world – a world much different than ours, because their good news was truly new.  I love this moment in our faith history so very much because it is so inspiring.  I mean these people had no idea where the Spirit would take them – or how this would all work.  And yet, there they stood telling anyone who would listen about Christ.
But today’s reading leaves out what happened next…and it is important for us today.  See, there was no blueprint for what they were doing.  Those apostles didn’t know what exactly the future held for them, but they knew it was something worth giving all that they had to make it happen.  In the verses that follow today’s reading, it is said that they baptized 3,000 that day, and “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers…All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”  See, it was they as well who had visions and dreams, as Peter spoke from the book of Joel in his speech that day.
That is why I find the book of Acts so inspiring…they moved from a period of despair at the death of their Rabbi, and then hope in his reappearing, and then transition after his ascension, and then, with the Spirit in them, action in the world.  Jesus was good on his promise – the Spirit of Truth did come, and is still with us today.
But what does all that mean for us?
Everything.
Everything.  Because the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind of God, is alive and working in us – here in this place.  And, as the text in our reading from 1 Corinthians makes clear, the result will not be the same for any of us as individuals.  But, as Christ Church, our period of waiting in hope is over too.  We are a people energized, filled with the Spirit, and working in the name of Christ in and outside of these walls.
And like those early followers of Jesus, our numbers have grown as a result – since January we are up by over 10% on our average Sunday attendance from where it was last year, and that will continue to grow.  Our activity in the world is growing so much that cramming it into our Sunday Paper is getting to be a weekly challenge.  And trying to keep our new website up to date with all of it is nearly a full time job!  We too are a people with vision and dreams – filled with the Spirit!
Thanks be to God!
But remember that those early followers pitched together to make it all work, right?  Guided by the Spirit, they gave of their time and treasure.  And because of that, we are here today.
It reminds me of the Billy Joel song “We didn’t start the fire…it was always burning since the world’s been turning.”  The fire that was lit in the hearts of the apostles burns brightly today because of their willingness to give and to risk.  And our very ability to worship in this place is the result of others before us, who were inspired to give of what they had, believing that from this place, this place we call Christ Church, the Spirit is calling us to proclaim the good news.  The fire of the Spirit is here!  And if you need proof, last night, while working on this sermon, I got a call that our fire alarms were going off!  How’s THAT for timing!
Now, if this is starting to sound like a stewardship sermon, well, in many ways, it is.  And I can’t think of a better time to talk about that than on the day we call the birthday of the church.  Of course, for those that plan their vacations from church for the fall just to avoid it, I have to apologize for the surprise… the way some folks feel about stewardship talk kinda reminds me of a story of one pastor on Pentecost…
It was Pentecost Sunday. As the congregation filed into church, the ushers handed each person a bright red carnation to symbolize the festive spirit of the day.  The people listened attentively to the reading of the Pentecost story from the book of Acts: about how the disciples had heard “what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven,” about how the Holy Spirit had appeared: “like tongues of fire.” Then came the sermon.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,” the preacher began.
“Like a powerful wind from heaven!” shouted a woman sitting in the first pew. Then she threw one of the red carnations toward the altar.
The preacher began again. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.” The same woman’s voice rang out: “Like the tongues of fire, like the tongues of fire!” And she threw a red carnation toward the altar.
The preacher looked straight at her and said, “Now feel the Spirit move you to tithe to the church!”
To which the woman replied with conviction: “Preacher, you just done calmed the wind and put out the fire.”
Yup…mention stewardship and that’s generally the reaction.  But, as I said, I can’t think of a better day to talk about it than Pentecost this year, because we are on the verge of something powerful.  Like those disciples, we have good news to share, and our baptismal covenant calls us to do just that.  This place, our spiritual home, is bursting with new life and filled with the Spirit, and we are on our way to becoming a vibrant center of spiritual enrichment and ministry in our community.  And to keep that going, we all need to step boldly forward, in the example of the apostles, contributing what we can to the community, so that we can all live fully into whatever gift of the Spirit that is given to us in the name of Christ.
In the months ahead, we will be launching a new type of stewardship effort – one that is centered on…listening.  We want to hear from you – about how the Spirit is at work in your life, about your visions, your dreams, for this church, for your life, for the world around us.  About why you give of your time and treasure – and why you don’t.
See, we are all different in so many ways.  That is what makes us the wonderfully diverse faith family that we are.  And, the Spirit will work in us in all sort so of ways too.
As St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that we heard today, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free– and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
St. Paul was right.  The Spirit will give us the gift of God for a world in need.  And like those early followers, we often have no idea where that Spirit will lead us.  But we do know this – if we open our hearts to it – it will lead us exactly where we need to be, where this hurting world needs us to be – everytime.  And everytime, none of us do it alone – we do it together.
We are the body of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and united here at Christ Church to live out our calling to love and serve others.  “Now many of us can’t remember the exact moment we were baptized, [well, I can because I was 12 and got a mouthful of water when the dunked me – a baptist baptism is a full body event – ] but even if we can’t remember, every day we can remember and we can celebrate the marvelous gift of being adopted into the family of God through the life-giving waters of baptism. So I would encourage you to think of today-Pentecost Sunday-as reactivation day, the day this opportunity for service is turned on once again in your life.”  The day when the door to being a full part of this faith community we call Christ Church is flung wide open.
We didn’t start the fire – it was always burning since the world’s been turning…and it is now up to us to keep it going.
What will that look like for you?
Amen.

All sermons posted are as written, and not necessarily as delivered on any given Sunday.

The Rev. Diana Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
June 8, 2014
Pentecost Sunday – Year A
1st Reading – Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Gospel – John 20:19-23