Pentecost 2022 Sermon: The Surprise of Pentecost

Not only is this week Pentecost, it’s also annual meeting week for Living Hope Lutheran Church, one of the two congregations I’ve just begun serving as pastor. So, here’s a sermon for Pentecost Sunday, continuing in the theme of unity (see last week’s sermon) and trusting in God’s presence with us, inspiring us and sending us out through the Holy Spirit.

The primary text for this Sunday is the Pentecost story in Acts 2:1-21, with some reference to John 14:8-17, 25-27 and Genesis 11:1-9. Portions of this sermon are drawn from the first Pentecost sermon I preached, back in 2017. I learned about Holy Spirit holes from this sermon from Pastor Michael Allwein at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I also was inspired this year by James Howell’s essay on this text at Ministry Matters.

You can watch the video of the entire service here (some audio issues in the first few minutes), or listen to just the sermon audio:

Pentecost is one of my favorite days in the church year for a few reasons. First, it’s silly, but this is one of the two Sundays in the year I get to wear this red stole my mother-in-law made me for my ordination.

The second reason is also kind of silly, but I love the words in today’s reading from Acts. Any day you can talk about Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Cappadocia and residents of Mesopotamia has to be a good day, right?

I remember as a kid one of the first times I was a reader in church I had this story, and I practiced over and over to try to get it right. I have no idea how it actually came out. You did a great job just now, but I love this kind of ridiculous moment in the church where we expect people to pronounce names of ancient cultures that just don’t come up much in conversation.

More importantly, I love Pentecost because today is the birthday of the Church. This is the turning point in the story, the day God’s people are sent out into the world.

At the beginning of the reading, God’s people are gathered together, and they’re waiting. They’ve been through a lot, right? Just a few weeks ago they were on top of the world as Jesus entered the capitol city of Jerusalem like a conquering hero, but then he was arrested and killed.

A few days later he rose again, and he’s with them for a while, teaching and eating with them, then he ascends into heaven, leaving them with instructions to go be witnesses to God all over the world.

It’s a big assignment, and he really doesn’t tell them how to do it. How, exactly, are we as this small group of people, supposed to make disciples of the people on our block, let alone the whole world? A few more details or at least a strategic plan might have been helpful!

Maybe that’s what they were doing in that room as they waited, maybe they were writing a constitution, getting committee reports, electing some officers.

No, I think they’re hiding. They’re afraid, probably feeling a little abandoned, and most of all, I think, they’re just confused. Jesus is alive, but now he’s gone? Now what? What’s next?

Earlier, back before he was arrested, Jesus had promised them he wouldn’t leave them alone. He promised to send them an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to help them, to teach them, to keep reminding them of all he’d said to them.

But I don’t think they had any idea what that meant. They’re waiting in Jerusalem because Jesus told them to, but they don’t know what they’re waiting for.

And then comes Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit shows up. In this Pentecost story, these timid, incompetent, ordinary people, these followers of Jesus who’d abandoned him in his hour of need, who’ve been hiding for weeks, these people transform into apostles, messengers carrying the good news to everyone. Something extraordinary happens: They encounter the Holy Spirit.

The same Spirit that was blowing over the waters at creation, the same Spirit breathing into Adam at creation, the same Spirit Jesus promised to send to his disciples as their helper and advocate, is at work.

The Holy Spirit shows up on the believers sitting in their house, and something happens, something so dramatic a crowd gathers to watch. They start speaking different languages, and tongues of fire appear.

We’re familiar with this story, so we lose how odd all of this is. But look at the reactions of the people in the crowd as they try to figure it out. Verses 12 and 13: “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’”

The people watching get that something’s happening here, but they have trouble believing God is involved. They certainly don’t expect God is starting the church with these kind of people, in this way.

It’s the same kind of questions people ask over and over in the Bible, because God keeps working in unexpected ways and through unexpected people. The Pentecost story challenges our expectations of how God works.

These people, Jesus’ apostles, are not educated elites; these are people from a backwater part of a small nation dominated by a conquered empire. No one rational should choose them to spread a message around the world. For one thing, on a purely practical level, they don’t speak other languages. But the Spirit fixes that problem.

These are timid followers, filled with doubts, feeling abandoned by their leader…Until the Holy Spirit comes and fills them with courage and the words to say. Then they start preaching and proclaiming, and by the end of the chapter, this brand-new church has grown by over 3,000 people.

And those are just some of the gifts the Holy Spirit brings. As Paul explains later to the Corinthians, the Spirit has gifts for everyone. Some get to do miracles, some get to heal. Some get to speak in tongues, others interpret, some serve behind the scenes, others play music, some make food. All of God’s gifts are for the common good.

Look at the connection to our first lesson, the tower of Babel story in Genesis 11.

In that story, the sinful arrogance of the people at Babel led God to confuse their language so they couldn’t understand each other. At Pentecost, the opposite happens: People of many languages can understand each other.

But notice, the people in the crowds at Pentecost aren’t speaking the same language. The Spirit doesn’t make them the same; the Spirit reveals the Gospel to them in their own native languages. The Holy Spirit shows up in diversity.

I don’t know how much diversity of languages we have in this room or among the people watching, but we have many different gifts, many different skills and interests.

Many of you heard me talk about that last week, but it’s a big part of this Pentecost story too. Right from the start, from the moment the Church begins its mission, there is diversity. There are people who speak in different ways, who share the Gospel in unique ways.

Everyone gets to be involved, even foreigners and the people who look and act different.

Peter quotes from the prophet Joel to explain what’s happening. When God’s Spirit comes, Joel says, your sons and daughters prophesy, young men see visions, old men shall dream dreams. Even the slaves — the lowest of society, both men and women — get the Holy Spirit. Pentecost says God can work through anyone!
Slide: Can the Holy Spirit really work like this?

Even if the Holy Spirit chooses to work through people like this, I can imagine the onlookers wondering, “Is this really what God’s work looks like?” Can the Holy Spirit really work like this?

There’s a tradition in some ancient cathedrals and churches of having “Holy Spirit Holes.”

A Holy Spirit hole is a hole in the ceiling of the cathedral that gets opened once a year, at Pentecost. The tradition is to release doves into the sanctuary, representing the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Later in the service, people on the roof would dump buckets of rose petals to float down onto the congregation, like tongues of fire.

I love the chaos and the unpredictability of that image. I suspect birds flying around the room causes some problems. The Holy Spirit is not predictable. God isn’t tame. Rose petals wouldn’t fall exactly where you want them.

But at least in theory, I love those images pointing out the unpredictably of how God’s Spirit moves. At least in theory.

In reality, sometimes I think we’re closer, at least I am, to the good, religious people who had come from out of town to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pentecost, the festival of booths.

They didn’t know what to make of these radically excited disciples. They were different; they behaved oddly. They weren’t normal. Shouldn’t God be working in some more established way, through the official channels? I like to have a bit of control and to know what to expect.

I didn’t think cutting a hole in the roof for today’s service would go over well, but the next time we try some new idea, remember that sometimes when the Holy Spirit shows up, bystanders think the church people are drunk. Remember this when we hear about God doing things we’re not quite sure of!

Even the disciples are surprised at what God is up to. At Pentecost, they start to realize this whole Jesus thing is way bigger than they thought. At the beginning of the story, they all fit into one house. By the end of the day, there are over 3,000 of them. The Spirit messes with the way we’ve always done it, or the way we expect the future to look. The Holy Spirit is disruptive, even today.

What is the Spirit doing here, among us? As Living Hope holds our annual meeting in a few minutes, perhaps that’s the most important question we can ask. What is God up to here? What is the Holy Spirit doing among and through us?

Pentecost tells us God is no longer confined to Jerusalem, or to the people who had walked and talked with Jesus. God is not confined to the people who grew up in the church attending Sunday School. Those Holy Spirit holes in the cathedrals aren’t really to let the Spirit into the church; they should be to release the Spirit into the world.

Fire is such a good image for Pentecost, because the Holy Spirit blows where it pleases. We can’t control what God is doing.

All we can do is trust and give thanks for this gift. All we can do is notice God at work and get involved, because God is on the move in our world, in our community, and in our lives.

Come Holy Spirit!
Amen