Watch for the Holy Spirit

Today’s text comes from the Book of Acts which was probably written by Luke who wrote the gospel that bears his name. Acts could be called the book of the Church because it describes how the New Testament church began in Jerusalem following Jesus’ resurrection and expanded over the next 30 years throughout the Roman Empire. In today’s text we’ll read about what powered that expansion: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Pentecost itself, sometimes called the Festival of Weeks, was already a Jewish feast that occurred seven weeks after Passover. It marked the end of the celebration of the spring harvest cycle during which devout Jewish families thanked God for God’s grace and bounty.[1] Some Jews also rededicated their lives to God at Pentecost.[2] So Pentecost was a time of renewal, expectancy, and hope, all of which were given new meaning and power by what happened a little before nine o’clock one spring morning in Jerusalem.

For at that moment new life — sudden, exciting, irresistible — came upon those first followers of Jesus. It sounded like a rushing wind from heaven. It looked like tongues of fire. It seemed to be Babel reversed. Remember the story back in Genesis about God punishing human pride by confusing all the languages of the earth. In Pentecost Babel was overcome as all heard of God’s power in their own languages. Rushing wind, tongues of fire, amazing words. Jesus had promised the coming of the Spirit and that the disciples would receive power when it happened. So they did, beyond their wildest dreams. Let’s read it in Acts 2.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they 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.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs — in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All 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:

Something definitely happened in Jerusalem a long time ago on a fine spring morning. But even back then they weren’t quite sure what happened. Luke’s description in Acts is evocative and helpful but words failed even the eyewitnesses. Something happened beyond words. Some folks asked, “What does this mean?” Others said, “We know what it means. These people are just drunk.” We’ve been arguing about Pentecost ever since.

Today there are Christians and Christian churches who claim that what happened on the first Pentecost was not unusual at all. In fact, it was normative; those things happen still, they claim. Many of these churches seem to be growing rapidly right now so they have size and success on their side. They would look at a church like ours in particular and Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Lutheran churches in general and say you show no signs of the Spirit and that’s why your denominations are declining. The secular world looks at Pentecostal churches and says those people are psychologically disturbed (though not a single study has ever shown that). The secular world looks at so-called mainline churches like ours and thinks it’s okay to have some nice religious clubs if you’re into that sort of thing; but otherwise the world yawns at us. The point is, we are still essentially arguing about Pentecost: what does this mean? What is the Spirit doing? Here are a couple of thoughts to help us grapple with this question.

When we talk about the Holy Spirit, most Presbyterians may wonder if we have missed something. Tom Long, one of my favorite authors, tells of teaching children in a confirmation class. “It was a very small group,” he said. “In fact, there were only three young girls in the class.”

In one session, he was teaching about the festivals and seasons of the Christian year, and when he came to Pentecost he asked them if they knew what it was. Since none of the three knew, he said that Pentecost was when the church was sitting in a group and the Holy Spirit landed on them like tongues of fire on their heads. Then they spoke the gospel in all the languages of the world.

Two of the girls took this information in stride, but the third looked astonished, her eyes grew wide, and finally she said, ‘Gosh, Reverend Long, we must have been absent that Sunday.”[3]

When the discussion turns to rushing wind, flaming tongues, and amazing speech, we too probably feel like were absent that Sunday. Have we missed something?

Down through the centuries some churches have gone to extraordinary lengths trying to help people not miss out and to feel the dramatic, dynamic power of Pentecost. Harvard professor Diana Eck wrote a book called Encountering God in which she describes religious life in some of the medieval cathedrals of Europe.

She says the custom of painting heavenly scenes on the great domed ceilings of cathedrals inspired believers with blessed visions. The paintings also disguised some discreet trap doors. These small openings were drilled through the cathedral ceiling to the rooftop. During the Pentecost worship service, some hapless servants would be drafted to clamber up on the roof and at the appropriate moment during the liturgy, they would release live doves through those holes. From out of the painted skies and clouds on the cathedral ceiling, swooping, diving symbols of the Holy Spirit would descend toward the people below.

At the same moment, the choir would break into whooshing and drumming sounds like a holy windstorm. Finally, as the doves were flying and the winds were rushing, bushels of rose petals were showered down upon the congregation. Those red, flickering petals symbolized tongues of flame falling upon all who waited below in faith. They called these openings to the sky in medieval churches “Holy Spirit holes.”[4]

Now maybe such experiences truly thrilled and inspired people as worship sometimes does. But I’m thinking you’ve got a bunch of doves flying around and rose petals falling all over and people milling around — sounds to me less like Pentecost and more like a huge mess. Who is going to clean it up?

Have we missed something? Maybe so. But cutting holes in the roof and letting pigeons loose in here is not the way to find out.

So let’s ask a second question and that is, what is God trying to do with us? We can’t make Pentecost happen with doves and rose petals. But if Pentecost is real, if God’s Spirit really comes to God’s people — and I believe God’s Spirit does so come, then what is God trying to do with us?

The answer lies in part in the scripture Peter quoted as he began his Pentecost sermon. He quoted the prophet Joel who prophesied some 400 years before Christ. Peter said that Joel understood what it meant when the Holy Spirit comes. When the Spirit comes, boundaries and distinctions are done away with. When the Spirit comes there will no longer be spiritual distinctions between men and women, old and young, slaves and free. And that means even the distinction between priests and laity no longer count for anything. Everyone is eligible to prophesy, that is, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The gift of Pentecost is this stunning equality.

Too often we miss this. Too often we try to recreate it or manufacture it with something like Holy Spirit holes. Too often we try to control it. Too often we think the Spirit comes only if you’re holy or a certain type of Christian. Too often we try to tell the Holy Spirit what to do instead of being open to what the Spirit is already doing in our lives and in the world.

A minister was visiting one of his church members in the nursing home and he met there an elderly woman who was originally from Russia. She spoke virtually no English and he spoke absolutely no Russian. But he tried to indicate who he was by showing her his Bible and his little kit for serving communion. She seemed to perceive that he was a priest or some such thing and he could see by the warmth in her smile that she was grateful for his visits. He wanted to learn about her Orthodox faith but that wasn’t really possible because they didn’t have the words.

But on one visit when he began to serve her communion all the confusion and language barriers fell away. They both entered into the language of the church. At the Lord’s Prayer, they recited together, English and Russian blending as if in perfect unison. Then they shared the body and blood of Christ. No words were needed. There was a 50-year difference between their ages. During most of their lifetimes, one being American and one Russian, they would have been considered political enemies. Neither age nor language nor ideology divided them in those moments when the Holy Spirit drew them together in communion with one another and with Christ.[5]

This is what God wants to do with us in the Spirit — to overcome all that separates and divides. Do you want to see God’s Spirit? Look for where divisions are overcome and boundaries erased and separation diminished. That is the working of God’s Holy Spirit.

The truth is that we don’t need Holy Spirit holes in the roof of our church. We need to have the pentecostal confidence that the Holy Spirit is already in our lives, doing what only God’s Spirit can. The sermon hymn this morning speaks exactly this truth about the Spirit.

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, James D. Newsome, Texts For Preaching, Year A (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1995) 329.

[2] “Therefore, it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets that they should observe the feast of Shebuot (Weeks) in this month, once per year, in order to renew the covenant in all (respects), year by year.” This is from the Book of Jubilees, most likely written between 161-140 bc. James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1985) 67.

[3] Thomas G. Long, Shepherds and Bathrobes: Sermons for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Co., 1987) 15.

[4] Diana L. Eck, Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras (Boston: Beacon, 1993) 73.

[5] Clayton J. Schmit, “Released from Babel,” Pulpit Resource 34.2 (2006): 47-48.