There's A Fresh Wind Blowing

Acts 2:1-21; I Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23

It isn't easy to do something that is different. And, yet, throughout history there have always been those innovative persons who felt, almost as a part of their being, that there had to be some better way to do something. We remember the most brilliant of these innovative persons. Most of the names that come to mind are persons like Leonardo Da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Wesley, Madame Currie, Robert Fulton, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk and others. But, what we may not realize is the pain that these enlightened people often had to endure as they went through life. Because these persons dared to be different, many of them often became the brunt of teasing and abuse when they were children. Because they often turned their backs upon the way everyone else was accustomed to doing things, they often had bitter enemies within society and were excluded. Nevertheless, these brilliant innovators throughout history went on with their work, often inspired by some unseen motivator. And we can admire them today as we look back upon them. But the question is: How would we treat those persons if they were in our midst, today? Would we reject them for being different and for questioning our way of doing things, or would we accept them and value them for being what we need as a hedge against stagnation and decay? And, there is also the other question: If we were somehow inspired to be different, would we be willing to accept the persecution that often goes along with it?

The disciples, fifty days after Jesus' resurrection, understood this. For as they sat together in a large room, praying together, the Holy Spirit came upon them and filled them. And, suddenly, indeed, they were different. They were different from the rest of the Jews they had grown up with. They were different from their own families -- from their brothers and sisters, and mothers and fathers. They were different from their school teachers, and from their fellow workers, and from the merchants who sold them their food and clothing. They were different. And in their difference they were alone. In their difference they stood out. In their difference they became vulnerable.

The filling of the Spirit has been one of those things that has been poorly understood throughout the history of the church. And I suppose that the concept of the Spirit's filling has been most misused when there have been those who have thought that the Spirit's power was for the fulfilling of their own personal individual worldly and spiritual ambitions. Certainly, when one is filled with the Spirit and has this experience of joy and exhilaration, there is often the attainment of a sense of personal confidence and well being. But, more than anything, we need to remember that the main purpose of the filling of the Holy Spirit is for the growth of the church, otherwise known as the Body of Christ. The Spirit was given to the Church so that it may be edified. And when the Holy Spirit comes upon persons and blesses them with gifts, unless those persons turn around and use those gifts to spread the message of Jesus Christ to the world, and to enhance their fellowship with other Christians, the gifts are wasted. It isn't enough to have simply had the experience of the Spirit's filling. It isn't enough to be able to point to a time and say, "That's when the Spirit touched me!" as though the event was like a pin on a lapel. Rather, the experience must make you different. The filling of the Spirit and his giving of gifts to us must set us apart.

When I was at Eastern Michigan University one of the requirements for graduation was to have taken some sort of literature course. So, as I looked at the choices available, I decided to take a course on the Bible. And one of the requirements for the course was the purchase of a special bible, known as the Oxford Annotated Revised Standard Version, with the Apocrypha. And I was surprised when I saw it in the college bookstore. First of all, you don't expect to see a bible on sale in a secular college bookstore. But, most of all, this particular edition of the Oxford Annotated Revised Standard Version, with the Apocrypha didn't even look like a Bible. For, rather than being bound in leather or in something that looked something like leather, as most Bibles are, it was a just a fairly plain looking cloth-bound book. And I can remember how some of my fellow students felt about taking that class where they had to use a bible. Most of them were glad that the bible they would have to carry with them to class didn't look like a Bible because they were afraid of what other students might think if they were seen with a Bible. And they most certainly didn't want to be regarded as "Bible Thumpers."

And, yet, for a few students in that class the opportunity to carry a Bible around the campus was a reminder that Christians are called upon by the Spirit to witness; that Christians are always called upon to stick their necks out for Jesus and for the edification of the Church.

Indeed, if we are afraid to share our faith, if we are afraid to show others the commitment to Christ we should have if we are truly claimed by Christ, then perhaps that commitment isn't deep enough. And perhaps the filling we may claim to have experienced has worn off so that we need to be filled again.

The disciples' first use of the Spirit's power was to tell the world about Jesus. And this telling was a very unusual one, at that, because those who were passing by could hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached in their native languages, even though the preachers had never studied a word of those languages.

Now, we're not sure whether the miracle of tongues is a miracle of speaking or whether it is a miracle of hearing. It all depends upon one's perspective. But what is important is that the gift of speaking in tongues was given to the disciples, not as a personal badge to brag to others about, not as a way to proving one's closeness to God, but as a means of proclaiming the Gospel and making the Body of Christ grow. It was only as time when by that Christians erroneously began to think of the gift of tongues as being proof that they were close to God. And, indeed, the Apostle Paul warned that speaking in tongues should be avoided, unless it was something that could be understood for the edification of the church.

But, perhaps one of the best lessons we can learn from the disciples' experience of Pentecost is the knowledge that we shouldn't think it at all strange if people should misunderstand us because of our kinship to Christ, because we are being led by the Spirit. For just as there were those who thought that the Spirit filled disciples were drunk, there are those who will ridicule Spirit filled Christians, today. But for Christians, their ridicule is nothing in comparison to the richness and glory of being among those who stand, even now, at the throne of Almighty God.

On the Day of Pentecost I always like to remind my congregation that the miracle that took place on Pentecost marked the beginning of a new relationship between God and his people. That relationship was one of unity, without regard for nationality or race or gender or age. Everyone who confesses Jesus Christ, no matter where they are from or what language they speak, are One with the Lord.

In a very real way, then, Pentecost reverses what took place in the Genesis story of the Tower of Babel when God frustrated humanity's selfish plans by giving everyone different languages so that they couldn't understand each other. Ever since that time humanity was divided, one nation from another. But, now, with the filling of the Spirit, those who believe, those who are filled, are one. And on this Day of Pentecost that's what God wants us to be.

I'd like to share this poem that I wrote for Pentecost several years ago. It is written in the form of a prayer. So, let us now be in an attitude of prayer:

Come fill us Holy Spirit

This day of Pentecost,

That we may tell your story

To all who may be lost.

Appear to us with tongues of flame,

And so our hearts inspire,

To show God's love around the world,

Enlivened by your fire.

Come fill us Holy Spirit.

Reverse the Babel roar!

We want to build your kingdom

In unity once more.

Our place to work is here on earth,

To see you when we love.

Your presence is within us all,

Such wonders from above.

Come fill us Holy Spirit

'Til in our lives we see

The One who taught us mercy

And died upon the tree.

The living Christ you glorify

To guide us to the light.

You make our sorrow turn to joy

And show us what is right.

Come fill us Holy Spirit

To dream and prophesy.

We'll witness earthly wonders

And signs up in the sky.

Enabled by your many gifts

To tell the world you came,

We'll bow before your glorious throne

And call upon your name.

Amen.