June 8, I will begin a series of 20 Pentecostal sermons in which I will explore with you ways we may seek to live as a people of God. All are invited gather with us as we feast in God’s goodness and mercies and pray for His impowering us jubilations our callings to love the world whole.
Joel 2:28-32
The Lord said to his people:
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
….Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' "
The Collect:
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Genesis 3:8-15
The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." The LORD God said to the serpent,
Mark 3:20-35
The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
"Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" -- for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
We will seek to know and to understand that we have become a new gathering that is aflame with a passion for compassion that will be displayed daily, everywhere, to everyone as “shepherding love”. The Lord is our Good Shepherd who is ever present to guide and guard us as we journey this life on earth.
We will come to realize and to live out the meaning of our creed that is to love one another as God loves us. We become His people daily, as He is our God eternally.
We shall listen for God’s commissioning and sending to serve, and not to be served; to minister, and not to be ministered unto.
Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Theme:
Pentecost is the great Feast Day of the Church when we give thanks to God for the overwhelming gift of the Holy Spirit, whose truth empowers us and whose loving advocacy sustains our life as the Body of Christ in the world.
Genesis 11:4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
Introduction
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
….[They] were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven 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 shall be saved.' "
Today is the Day of Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church, the birthday of the Holy Spirit
The Lord said to his people:
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
Today is a marvelous day of jubilation. We come to celebrate the Day of Pentecost, which is the 3rdgreat Festival of the church. At Christmas we celebrated, “God with us!” At Easter we celebrated, “Jesus’ resurrection and His triumph over sin and death!” Today, on the Day of Pentecost, we celebrate, “reviving the spirit of God within us!” God lives again with us. This good news message is our cause for jubilation.
We are celebrating God’s love as poured out on all people on the Day of Pentecost making them one in a loving community. We are a new family; a new community in Christ. We rejoice in a ministry of reconciling compassion that calls us as witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Today the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son whose spirit is love and truth who comes to be in us and abide with us. Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in us and we are one with them. We are one in spirit. We have been called from our solitude to solidarity through the Spirit of Solicitude.
Reviving us, living again
Today is a day of revival. It is a day for firing us up. I was not eager to be fired up. I remember as a boy in Georgia going to Revival Tent meetings each summer to hear firry sermons of hell and damnation, visions of Elmer Gandtry. I did not want to be on fire and emotional, out of control, people around me falling to the ground and others passing out and shouting.
I was in search of a church where people kept their sits and were quiet. No speaking in tongues or shouting and jumping up and down and falling down. I found that in the end these revivals scattered us, separated the saved, from the unsaved. Left some chosen and others damed.
The Methodist also had revivals, but they were called camp meetings and the aim was for God to revive us. For God to regenerate us and pull us back into the fold of serving and loving one another. These camp meetings went on for about a week, but they were filled will camping songs, and spirituals, and lots of food for before each service we had a pot luck lunch or dinner.
Not that we were sinners, but that we may have burn out…or had only smoldering ambers and we may have lost some wind in our duties and service. It was to revive us, stoke the ambers, rekindle the fire and breath some new life in to our dried up bones. So that we could love in new ways with renewed passion for compassion as neighors in an unneighorly world.
The Spirit of this world…the Spirit of Babel
Our world and its people look like it is ruled by the Spirit of Babel, rather than by God’s Holy Spirit of Compassion and Truth. In response to the self righteousness and self sufficiency of the citizens of Babel, God confounded their efforts to control heaven and earth and scattered them and separated them into peoples of many tongues who could not understand one another.
Genesis 11:4
Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
[Note: The Tower of Babel was in Babylonia on the plain of Shinar which is now Iraq.]
Babel caused a scattering of God's people because the builders of the Tower of Babel wanted their own steps and doorway to Heaven. They wanted their own way to God. They wanted to control their access to God and God’s access to them. They said, “Let us build for ourselves a city. Let us build for ourselves a stairway to heaven and a Gate to Heaven. “Their tower and their heaven’s gate would give them control of their world and control of God’s activity in their world. The world broke apart and separated itself into cultures and clans, and religions. A fractured and divided world possessed and oppressed by the demons of exclusiveness that cultivated fear, and hate, and war.
The world often seems without Love and seems without God’s care and without God’s control. War and hate seems to rule around the world. Nature’s fury makes us all children. Like the horrific earth quake, sunami, and tornados that killed thousands in New Zealand, Japan, and America this year. The Middle East, so called Spring of rebellion that unleashed oppression and death from tyrants and continues to divide and set neighbors against neighbor. To say that the world is in a state of rebellion and divisive cultural currents is an understatment.
At Pentecost the Spirit was poured out on all flesh. We once again inhaled the breath of God and our bodies of dust became animated spirits. We were animated by God's "ruach", God's breath that is love. Its breath brought us into life. Life that was in harmony. Life that was undevided against itself or other beings.
For a moment the world was united in God’s breath of loving. Pentecost was the Spirit of love's home coming.
Behold the dwelling place of God is with man and he shall dwell with man and woman forever.
For a moment those who had faith in the Holy Spirit were returned to the Garden. We were home. God was home. We were one.
And then the Spirit of Babel over came faith in Compassion and in God’s Truth and Word and we desended into division again. We were outside the garden on our own again; but from our own choosing, not God’s punishment or banishment.
The Spirit of Babel remains the faith of most folks in the world today, including those who claim the Christian Faith.
Separated and scattered
we are clay images of our own narsistic handy craft. Without compassion and mercy
our spirit is the spirit of Babel that wants to make a name for itself,
rather than honoring God's Name.
Clay pots full of ourselves frantically trying not to break apart while we are busy smashing others….self image, national pride, and cultural elitism.
Disbelief in the Holy Spirit condemns those who have chosen the ways of demonic clay figures as their self made idols.
These specks of dust pretend that they are self made men and women and blow storms of war that brings death and ashes to all.....they trust not in the the Lord but in their own arm ...they trust in their own tanks and rockets andbombs. The Spirit of the Tower of Babel rules this world!
Today's men and women of Bable forget that they are dust and to dust they shall return. The theme song of the this world, and the toward of Babel is
Frank Sinatra's ..."I did it my way!"….and I want to make your way …my way.
III. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Jesus read this scripture at the synagogue in Nazareth, his home town, at the beginning of his ministry around the sea of Galilee.
This is the spirit of God that was poured out on all flesh at Pentecost. Not only the disciples, but this is the spirit of all Chirstians who minister and love in Christ’s name in the world. All flesh! The spirit of the Lord is upon me. The spirit of the Lord is upon us.
We are given the spirit of love to give good news to the poor,
To proclaim release to the captives of whatever holds them in bondage.
To bring light into the darkness, and to enlighten ever human condidtion.
To set at liberty those who are oppressed
And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. To proclaim that God’s rule is begun.
CONCLUSION:
Now we turn to creating how we will live as people who are motivated and antimated by the Holy Spirit of God’s shepherding love.
Are we fired up, yet? Well that will be our task for the next 22 Sundays after Pentecost. It will be a long hot Summer and Fall. Yet, my hope is that I can stoke the ambers, coles of your hearts to nurture a fame of love that sets the world toward uniting.
Get ready to be fired up. On board ship we slowly bring the ships boilers on line. In other words fire them up.
We can live again in love and neighborliness.
That is the purpose of Pentecost:
To give new purpose. To change chaos and confusion into understanding.
To turn us from rebellion to love and obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit.
To turn despair into hope. To bring a new love into our hearts that wants to reach out to God and others. This Pentecost Sunday brings the invitation to receive the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a message that sets us on fire. At least turns up the flame a little.
