Pentacost

Pentacost

Have you ever heard the old joke about the woman who cuts off the ends of her beef roasts?
 
Thinking that cutting of the ends makes the roast better, you learn that the woman really just cut off the ends because her mom always did.
 
Turns out: HER MOM cut the ends of the roast because that was the only way she could get it to fit in her small oven pan.
 
What if: There was a baking pan big enough to accept the roast just the way it is?
 
Well… This is what Pentecost: and the birthday of the church is all about.
 
The sending of the Holy spirit:
Which allows for a big enough roasting pan:
To encompass everyone: just the way that they are.
 
Or to use another image:
The church, inspired by the loving care of the holy spirit:
Is a big giant umbrella.
 
I want to share with you today an excellent childrens book, that illustrates this.
Not that the book looks at the big umbrella as the church:
But we can certainly see the similarities.
 
This book is called, “The Big Umbrella” written by Amy June Bates.
 
By the front door…
There is an umbrella.
 
It is big.
It is a big, friendly umbrella.
 
It likes to help.
It likes to spread its arms wide.
It loves to give shelter.
It loves to gather people in.
 
It doesn’t matter if you are tall.
Or hairy.
Or plaid.
 
It doesn’t matter how many legs you have.
 
Some people worry that there won’t be enough room under the big umbrella.
But the amazing thing is…
 
There is.
 
There is always room.
 
I hope you can see,
How the umbrella is like the church.
Or at least:
How the church SHOULD be like the umbrella.
 
Welcoming everyone in:
Nomatter what they look like:
No matter how big or small.
No matter where they come from.
 
And this is one of the primary messages of Pentecost:
A day that teaches us to celebrate diversity:
And all of our differences.
 
On that first Pentecostal day,
The Bible tells us that God’s Holy Spirit visited the disciples in a special way.
The rush of a mighty wind blew the timid disciples right out of their upper room and into the middle of a very diverse crowd of people.
 
In fact, the Spirit gave these people from many different lands:
Who spoke many different languages:
The ability to understand the message of Jesus and the love of God.
 
The message of Pentecost is that God loes variety:
And sends a variety of gifts to all different kinds of people so that God’s presence can be known everywhere there are people.
 
There’s room under the big umbrella.
No matter where we come from,
What we look like, or what language we speak.
 
In fact:
BEFORE that first Pentecost:
Before the sending of the Holy Spirit:
The message of Jesus was fairly limited.
 
Sure the disciples, and close friends of Jesus knew all about it.
But they were also hidden away in the upper room.
 
The followers of Jesus were limited by language barriers:
Unable to share the Gospel to those who spoke different languages.
 
But those limits were broken when the Holy Spirit pounded through the upper room in a wild rush of wind:
Opening the doors:
Spreading the big umbrella over the entire world.