EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on June 5, 2022.
This week's gospel: John 14:8-17 [25-27]
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[a] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
The message:
You know, it really is a shame that in our Western Christian tradition that we do not think more highly of Pentecost, which is one of the most important religious festivals we have in our liturgical year.
I understand the hullabaloo over Christmas and Easter, but if you think about the impact of Pentecost on our faith … its importance simply cannot be overlooked.
After all, without overstatement, it could be construed as the very beginnings of our church.
So, if you will bear with me, I’d like to take you on a little imaginary journey, back to the first century, in the days just after Jesus’ ascension and this new thing we call church was born …
Look around you now, and picture yourselves in the upper room. … Does that reference sound familiar to you? … Well, it should, because we find ourselves now in the very same upper room that Jesus’ disciples hid out in after Jesus’ crucifixion.
The place where they retreated when their beloved leaders was murdered, and they didn’t know what was to come next. Fear presided.
Amazing, isn’t it? … A room that just weeks ago served as a hideout for Jesus’ faithful … will now give birth to the modern church. … How incredible is that!
So, here we are fellow Jesus believers … The gang's all here! … Jesus’ disciples, and his mother, Mary, and siblings. They’re all here.
And so are you! … You Jewish faithful gathered from all over the known world. … Oh yeah, did you forget that you're Jewish, and that you traveled here for what was known as essentially a harvest festival.
So, it turns out that Pentecost already existed. … Sort of.
Regardless, there you are from Galilea. And you from Mesopotamia. And you from Judea, and Egypt and Libya. Jews from all over the diaspora. And, it turns out that none of us has a clue just how special this particular harvest festival will be!
But, wait, what’s that sound!?!? … Does anyone else hear that roaring rush of wind blowing into our sanctuary here, the upper room? …It’s filling the entire house and we know that it was sent from heaven!
What is happening!!!
And oh heavens, look above Kylies's head! There’s tongues of fire! And above Lisa’s too! … And Mike too! What an amazing and awe-inspiring sight!
But what is that? … Debi, I can’t possibly be understanding you right now, can I? … You’re from Cappadocia and I am from Asia, and yet I can understand what you’re saying. … I understand you too Dike and you too Tim!
How is this possible, if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit! … The one Jesus said would come after him and be an even better advocate -- or paraclete -- on our behalf!
Imagine that! … An even better advocate than Jesus! Even more miraculous! … Even after the water into wine, the raising of Lazarus, making the blind see? … And God is sending us an even better advocate?!?! … How can that be!
Well, of course, we have Bob here whom it takes a bit more to convince of this miracle than your average first century Jesus follower. … And he thinks we’re just drunk on wine.
There’s always a skeptic, right!
But fear not fellow followers of The Way. … Here I am, Peter, with my other fellow 11 disciples of Christ, standing up here at the front of the room. … And I’m telling you that we are not drunk! … I mean, it is only 9 a.m. after all!
No, this isn’t drunkenness. … This is just the miracle that Jesus promised us!
“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.”
My brothers and sisters, no we are not drunk, but rather we are witnessing the coming of the Holy Spirit whom God, himself, has sent us … to be an active presence in our everyday lives.
And as you look around the upper room today, and you see those tongues of fire dancing upon the heads of all of your fellow believers from all over the Middle East and Asia and upper Africa and Europe … And you hear the tongues of so many spoken, and yet you understand their excitement. … Are you not filled with the wonder and awe of a child?
Friends, this day is the day that they will be talking about for millennia! … The day the church was born, and it received the Holy Spirit … the actual presence of God in its midst! … An advocate to care for us and intercede on our behalf in ways that are even more mind-bending than Jesus himself!
I’ll bet that even some newbie preacher 2,000 years from now will be talking about this day from the pulpit in some rural church in a land yet unknown to us here in the first century Middle East!
Now, how can you not be excited about Pentecost … my fellow Jesus followers and believers?!?! … Why aren't there Pentecost parties? And why aren’t the pews packed? … Why does this particular festival pass every year without barely a notice?
In my humble opinion, I think that Peter and the rest of the gang would be dumbfounded if they witnessed our nonchalance about Pentecost. … Oh, ho hum, the festival of the coming of the Holy Spirit. … What do you think Pastor is going to bore us with today?
Faith Family! … Today is Pentecost!
This is the day in our church year when we celebrate that God gave us an Advocate -- an even greater advocate than Jesus -- to accompany us in our everyday lives.
This means that despite all of the fears that those first century followers of Christ had after his crucifixion, they were not left alone. … Our loving God fulfilled his promises and delivered us His presence daily in the form of the Holy Spirit!
Fellow believers, God … is … among … us … every … single … moment … of … every … single … day!
And it all began right here today on Pentecost some 2,000 years ago!
How can you not be jazzed about that!
Talk about extravagance! … Talk about over abundance!
Yes, sure, God took home the Son of Man whom he loved so much to prepare the eternal resting place for us. … But he didn’t just up and leave us newborn baby believers here all by ourselves.
Oh no, he sent the presence of God that has existed since before time, and which he used to create this beautiful creation we call earth, to be with us! … Just let that sink in for a moment!
Faith Family, if there is greater evidence than this in regards to just how much our God loves us … I just don’t know what it is.
And yet, astoundingly, we let Pentecost pass by us every year with a yawn, and we cast our eyes to what lays before us in our summer.
Am I the crazy one? … Or should we be celebrating with streamers and confetti and a parade up and down Mainstreet each Pentecost? … Well, I think by now this morning, you know where I stand on that point!
Pentecost … The day when the Holy Spirit poured out in wind and fire and even in the baptismal waters. … The day when the Holy Spirit abides in the bread and the wine in which we will take part in later here today. … The day when the Holy Spirit began abiding in and among us in every living, breathing moment in which we reside here in this earthly kingdom.
Is that not miraculous!?!?
Regardless of where we come from, what language we speak, the customs that we have, what nationalities we might be … the Holy Spirit weaves us all together into one, gigantic Body of Christ, and stands with us in the times of trial as well as the times of joy.
And for this amazing, stupendous, awe-inspiring gift … all God asks of us is to take that Spirit of truth, and go out from this worship to proclaim the saving power of Christ’s love and the freedom of God’s grace with all of the world.
That is it! … That is all God asks of us in return for giving us an advocate even greater than Jesus.
And now, Faith Family, if that is not the Good News for this Sunday … this Pentecost Sunday, 2022 … then I don’t know what is. … Amen.
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