Pentecost

Toto I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!

·       Most of us are familiar with the movie classic, “The Wizard of Oz”.

·       As a child in the 1960’s I eagerly awaited its annual showing on television while secretly dreading the Wicked Witch who scared the daylights out of me.

·       I remember the amazement of seeing, after we got color television, what previous generations had seen at the theater, the amazing, exotic color of Oz.

·       You’ll remember, of course, that the scenes of Kansas were shot in black and white.

·       Dorothy, transported by a great wind, had arrived in a new reality far more expansive than anything she had known in Kansas.

I would like to think that one of the apostles, probably one of the lesser known of them like Simon the Zealot or Jude, used words similar to Dorothy’s when a great wind dislodged them from their hiding place.

Suddenly finding himself in the midst of the colorful throng with their myriad of languages, costumes and customs, can’t you hear the anonymous apostle say “Peter I’ve a feeling we’re not in the upper room anymore”.

“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.” (Acts 2; 1-2)

You will recall that the followers of Jesus, most of whom had betrayed him by “what they had done or by what they had failed to do” and who had been witnesses to the resurrection and ascension, continued to be holed up in a room in Jerusalem.

·       Although they had managed to gather a small community and had taken care of the business of choosing Matthias, they still weren’t sure what to make of all they had seen and heard.

·       They were still reluctant to share their experience with others.

·       They were focused on themselves.

·       They were afraid of what God might have in mind for them.

The actual text from Acts is fascinating.

One minute the disciples are gathered in the room and then, without any kind of transition or description of how it happened other than the coming of the wind and fire, they are out in the streets in the midst of the multitude of those visiting Jerusalem.

Like Dorothy and her little dog, a great wind had suddenly and without warning lifted them from the colorless room of fear and self-absorption and deposited them in the midst of a colorful crowd more expansive than anything they had known in the Kansas of that upper room.

What then can we say of this Spirit that comes in wind and fire?

·       The Holy Spirit comes completely as gift, the gift of the Risen Christ.

·       The Holy Spirit is disruptive and unsettling while at the same time comforting.

·       The Holy Spirit turns fear to courage.

·       The Holy Spirit makes communication possible between people who at one time could not understand one another.

·       The Holy Spirit turns ordinary people into dreamers, prophets, and evangelists.

·       The Holy Spirit births the church.

And so dear friends in Christ, what about us here at First Lutheran?

After a few weeks with you there are many wonderful things that I’ve observed;

·       Your commitment to the worship of God through the liturgy and great music,

·       Your genuine affection and concern for one another,

·       Your generous support of Dare to Care and The Louisville Youth Group,

·       - to name just a few.

I have wondered though if we, and I honestly and wholeheartedly include myself in this we, if we are really ready and willing to experience Pentecost.

·       We have to ask ourselves some serious questions.

• ·       Has the upper room become too comfortable?
• ·       Do we pass up opportunities for real communication?
• ·       Are our priorities focused inwardly?
• ·       Would we really just rather be left alone?
• ·       Isn’t black and white good enough?
• ·       What does it mean to be “the welcome place’?
• ·       Is a peaceful death preferable to an unsettling future?
• ·       What will the great wind overturn?
• ·       What will the fire burn?
• ·       Can’t we just stay in Kansas?

We will need to answer those questions as individuals and as a church over the coming months.

In a sense, however, it’s too late.

·       For my friends, like an unpredictable tornado, the Holy Spirit blows were she wills and is already blowing here among us.

·       The answer to those questions will determine our cooperation but in no way limit God’s power at work in the world or in this place.

If left to themselves, the disciples might never have left that upper room.

·       We are grateful today that God did not wait for them.

·       We are grateful today that it does not depend on us.

It is Pentecost whether we ask for it or not.

·       First Lutheran, feel the power of the wind and be blown away!

·       First Lutheran, feel the heat of the flame and catch fire!

Come Holy Spirit!

·       Renew us.

·       Renew this congregation.

·       Renew the whole church.

·       Renew, as the scriptures promise, the whole face of the earth.

Amen.