Pentecost

Today we celebrate Pentecost:
The last of the 50 days of Easter.

In the sweep of liturgical time,
Jesus has been raised, and has ascended into heaven.

The apostles are gathered:
Reconstituted:
and made whole again:
as Matthias is chosen to replace Judas:
and their number is back to the original twelve that Jesus intended.

But before these twelve can go out to continue Jesus’ ministry of
proclaiming the kingdom of God to the world:
They must receive the same spirit that empowered Jesus in his ministry.

And when the Spirit comes:
To empower the disciples for mission and ministry:

It comes with some fanfare:
And even some disruption.

It’s sort of like God’s appearance on Mt. Sinai:
With thunder and storm clouds.

This time: on Pentecost:
The spirit appears with rushing wind, fire, and an outpouring of prophetic
power:
As the apostles suddenly speak in different languages.

But not just any languages:
The apostles are speaking in the native languages of throngs of people
gathered in Jerusalem for a Jewish festival.

It was the festival of Shavout:
One of the three most important Jewish festivals.

All of these people were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem:
To attend the festival.
And it’s suddenly disrupted by these loud clamoring voices:

All speaking in the multiple native languages of these pilgrims.

It was not what was expected.
Not for the pilgrims gathered for the festival.

It wasn’t what was expected by the apostles:
Who knew they would receive the Holy Spirit:
But didn’t expect it to arrive in this way:
Bursting out of the locked room:
And into the ears of people from all tribes and nations.

But that’s just the thing:
The outpourings of the Holy Spirit are often unexpected.
The outpourings of the Holy Spirit often disrupt our plans.
The outpourings of the Holy Spirit often explode our expectations for how
things are meant to go.
And the outpourings of the Holy Spirit often pour out beyond us:
To others from every tribe and nation.

We’ve been praying here at St. John’s for a revival through the Holy Spirit:
For the holy spirit to transform and renew us.

We even talked last week about what we need transformed:
In ourselves and in our church.
Those needs are hanging from the baptismal font:
As a reminder to us to be willing to be transformed by our God.

And I think we have to be prepared for some unexpected transformations
too.
Things that don’t appear on our font:
And things that we’ve never even thought of or considered.
We might even need to be prepared for a “disruption” like the pilgrims and
the apostles experienced on that original Pentecost.

But let me be clear:
And disruptions and unexpected surprises don’t come every day:
They’re interspersed among the mundane “every dayness” that is also a
part of our lives in the Spirit.

Our regular, every day worship and fellowship together:
Is just as significant as the big, surprising, unexpected Pentecost moments.

As we wait for the holy Spirit to surprise us:
We have to do just that:
Wait.
Wait, and pray, and worship, and fellowship: not just in the exciting, fire
filled moments:
But the normal, regular, sometimes even boring ones too.

And actually: it’s funny.
In preparing for today I had hoped to say something much more exciting.

Next year: Fall of 2026:
St. John’s will celebrate its 150 th anniversary.
We’ll be planning some special events:
And I hope it will be far from mundane and boring:
But a spirit filled celebration of Jesus’ ongoing ministry in this place.

And not only that:
But this very building was consecrated on Pentecost Sunday in 2001.
I wanted this sermon today to bring us all to the edge of our seats:
And kick off the upcoming anniversary year for our church.

I pulled my hair out writing this sermon:
Because I wanted it to be like that rush of violent wind coming from heaven,
and filling the entire house of the apostles.

But that’s not what a got:
And that’s partly because I made the mistake of thinking that I COULD
thought bring in that holy spirit excitement.
When really:
That’s God’s job.
And it happens only in God’s time.

And this IS Actually the message of Pentecost:
That the exciting, fire filled moments appear unexpectedly:
amid the mundane and every day:
and always--
ONLY-- in God’s time: not ours.
In the last 149 years of this church:
There have been some exciting Pentecost moments.
But mostly:

The last 149 years of this church are filled with the steady, regular prayers
of the faithful.
Prayers offered for the church, and for the world.

The same is true since the consecration of this building in 2001.
That day was surely an exciting, monumental, Pentecostal day:
(I’m sure many of you remember it!)

But those exciting monumental days are only exciting because they don’t
happen all the time:
They’re set apart from our regular every day:
And they’re often completely unexpected.

In trying to say something monumental and exiting:
I was reminded that its really the regular, mundane, every day that
ultimately sustains us:
It’s our regular gathering and worship that is sometimes less than exciting:
That prepares us for the big exciting moments:
The unexpected bursts of Holy Spirit Fire.

So as we prepare to enter our 150 th year:

Let’s stay the course:
Until in God’s time:
The Holy spirit disrupts us:
In our next unexpected Pentecost.

Amen.