Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21  

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: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Celebration           

I want you to imagine what it must have been like in that room when the miracle of Pentecost happened. Imagine being in a room with your friends when all of sudden, the room is filled with the sound of a rushing wind. I think it’s important to note here that the text doesn’t say anything about an actual wind. This is just the sound of the wind. So, imagine that you’re sitting in a room, and you hear this loud rushing wind, but everything around you is still. You don’t see hair or fabric whipping around. Nothing is getting blown off the table, nothing is getting knocked over. It’s just sound, and as you look around in confusion, fire. Tongues of fire appear over each person’s head. And again, we have to note here what is in the text, and what is not. There is no description of heat, the author does not mention anything burning. There is only the image of flames over each person’s head. The sound of the wind. The image of flames. This was something truly miraculous. Something that you can’t explain by a wind blowing through the house, by something catching fire.

This sound drew the attention of the people. A crowd gathered to find out what was going on. And, as they watched and listened, the listeners heard everything in their own native tongues. They heard those with the flames above their heads speaking in the listeners’ own native tongues.

You can imagine what they might have said. Questions about what was happening. Words spoken in fear. Perhaps there were words of wonder and awe. But, regardless of what they said, the listeners heard whatever was spoken in their own native tongues. Everyone was able to hear the Good News of what Jesus did for them, the wonderful things that Jesus taught, how he was killed, but then was resurrected three days later. Without language as a barrier, and the wonder of the miracle that happened, the Good News spread like wildfire, and they baptized 3,000 people that day

This is the event that we call the birth of the church. This is the celebration of Pentecost.

We have been dealing with so many heavy topics lately as a congregation, which is good, because that’s our job. As Christ’s Body in the world, we have been tasked with confronting the world’s pain and injustice head-on, to represent God, and to spread peace, joy, love, and hope wherever we go. But, being a Christian isn’t supposed to be all work and no play. There are plenty of celebrations in the Bible, and this event, this Pentecost event, is certainly cause for celebration. Jesus’ followers were facing a time of uncertainty. He had told them that another would come after him, to be with them after he was gone, but until the Pentecost, there was no way for them to know what that meant.

So, we celebrate the Pentecost, the birthday of the church, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, here on Earth, alive in us. Celebrations are important. We use celebrations to mark significant events and the passage of time. We celebrate because of holidays and birthdays, anniversaries and retirements, weddings and simply to enjoy each other’s company. Celebrations are just as important as the times of mourning and the times of worry. We could argue that they are more important, because they give us something to look forward to, a reason to keep going when times are difficult.

And, things have been difficult for a long time. Covid has taken away so many things from us, especially from our young people. My heart broke for that graduating senior class that had to experience their last year of high school during the first year of the pandemic. They didn’t get to see each other every day in class. Instead, they had to take classes from home, and see everyone as a tiny thumbnail on their computer screen. They didn’t get to have homecoming or prom. They didn’t get to have the graduation ceremony that they had been expecting, the iconic walk across the stage that they had seen depicted so many times in movies and TV, maybe even in person as they watched friends or family graduate. But, we figured out different ways to honor the graduates the last few years, to mark this milestone.

As for me, I had to have my ordination during Covid. It was nothing like I had imagined it, so many things had to be done differently to accommodate the safety precautions we were all supposed to be following. This was during the height of the pandemic, so the pastor who had been my mentor during my ordination process, the person who was supposed to deliver the sermon for my ordination service, couldn’t be with a crowd of people that she didn’t interact with on a regular basis. She couldn’t put her family at risk in that way. So, instead, she joined us virtually, and spoke as a giant head from a big-screen TV. A TV that was set up outdoors, by the way, because, of course, the service had to be outside. And speaking of family, I couldn’t even invite my own family to my ordination service, because I didn’t want them travelling during that time. I wasn’t able to invite other pastors from the local area, like you usually do for these things, and we couldn’t do the laying on of hands, because everyone was supposed to stay six feet apart. But, the solution to that ended up being pretty neat. I decided we could use branches as extensions of people hands, so I cut a bunch of thin green branches, and we called everyone there who was ordained, all of the pastors and all of the elders of the church, and they all stood in a big circle around me, reaching out with their branches, the tips with their tiny green leaves brushing against me. It was like a scene out of Harry Potter. It was so whimsical and magical, and it felt special and especially me.

And, because we were in the midst of a pandemic, we had gotten pretty good at live-streaming our services. This meant that anyone with access to the internet could attend my ordination, so in a way, there were way more people there than there would have been if it had just been a normal year, so that was special, too.

Things have been hard, but God made us to be resilient. God made us to be inventive and creative. And, God made us to celebrate. So, on this Pentecost Sunday, remember how the Holy Spirit burst into the scene with wind and with fire. Remember to celebrate, to honor your achievements and your milestones. Life is supposed to be filled with wonder and joy. Life is supposed to be glorious. So, celebrate that which should be celebrated, and know that to celebration is holy and good. Amen.

~  Rev. Charles Wei