A sermon preached by the Reverend Sarah Grondin at St. Jude's Church, on Sunday, May 19, 2024, Pentecost Sunday.
I speak to you in the name of the Spirit, who moves and dwells among us. Amen.
Have you ever been so impassioned, so moved and stirred, so uninhibited in your joy and your actions that the people around you weren’t quite sure what to think? Have you ever gone out to dance in a warm summer rain? Or rolled around in a field full of wildflowers while singing God’s praises?
If these experiences all sound very foreign to you, let me assure you that when you refuse to allow others to determine the acceptable ways to express yourself and your heart’s desire, you get a lot of funny looks and snide comments.
It’s perhaps rather telling then that in our reading from Acts today, which contains one of the most significant sermons in scripture, Peter has to preface his comments by saying, “No, we’re not drunk.”
When the disciples were filled with the Spirit on this first Day of Pentecost, and are accused of being 3 sheets to the wind, they have to clear up the misunderstanding. But this isn’t the only time good people pursuing righteousness have been accused of overindulgence.
Jesus was thought to be a drunkard because he hung out with disreputable people, and when Hannah went to the Temple to ask God for a son, her prayer was so fervent that Eli thought she was drunk, too.
NT Wright levels this challenge against the church today: “some Christians have been so concerned to keep up safe appearances and to make sure they are looking like ordinary, normal people that they would never, under any circumstances, have been accused of being drunk at nine o’clock in the morning or any other time.”
For the record, I am not encouraging you to go home and get drunk. What I am encouraging you to do as you sit in the pews today, and indeed when you go home, and every other day for that matter, is to open not only your minds to the words of Scripture, but to open your heart to the fire and the wind of the Spirit.
Let it move you. Let it make you uncomfortable when you start to feel too complacent. Let it equip you for the work of the saints. Let it overflow out into the street and don’t try to keep it cooped up for fear that someone might wonder what’s gotten into you when you set it free.
PAUSE
In today’s reading from Acts, Luke says Pentecost sounded “like a rush of violent wind” and it looked like tongues of fire. And everyone there, from every nation under heaven, heard the disciples “speaking about God’s deeds of power” in his or her own “native language.” Pentecost is a power filled day.
But I sometimes wonder if for many of us that is the extent of Pentecost – a rushing wind, fiery tongues, foreign languages. The coming of God’s spirit, however, is not an ending or completion of something, it’s a beginning. It’s a starting point. It’s a day to prophesy, see visions, and dream dreams.
I don’t know if you caught it, but when I said the Spirit had entered the disciples, I said it happened on the first Day of Pentecost. Pentecost is not a one and done.
It’s not a historical event that’s written in the pages of the Bible that goes away when we close the book. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate, and the Spirit has been with us ever since!
PAUSE
So what does it mean to prophesy, see visions, and dream dreams?
Prophecy for the Spirit has come upon you. Prophets don’t predict the future, they name what will happen if we continue doing the same old things we’ve always done. Prophets aren’t very popular because they deliver hard messages that people don’t want to hear. They warn us of the error of our ways, and call us out when we stray from God.
Let the Spirit move you. Look with insight at what has happened and is happening in our world. Speak with foresight. Name the pain, injustice, and brokenness that’s all around us. Call for change, even when it means people might revile you for Christ’s sake.
PAUSE
Cast a vision for the Spirit has come upon you. What was Jesus’ vision for life and the world? Jesus tells us that the Spirit anointed him to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free. I think what Jesus saw was love, justice, peace, healing, compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation, and abundance.
Let the Spirit move you. Dare to envision a world where there is no more hunger, no more hatred, no more war and no more violence. Where children from every nation can play together in peace, where hearts matter, and histories no longer have to dictate the future.
PAUSE
Dream dreams for the Spirit has come upon you. Dreaming isn’t about wishful thinking or fantasizing. It’s about sacred imagination. I don’t think our problem is a lack of know how, resources, or answers. Our problem is that we’ve let go of our dreams of what could be. We can’t imagine something new and different so we settle for what is.
Let the Spirit move you. Sacred imagination allows us to connect with the divine and to see beyond the limitations of the physical world, to experience the mystical and unseen dimensions of God. Dreaming is the first step in creating something that does not yet exist: a different world, new ways of being, deeper and more diverse relationships.
Peter shares this passage from Daniel about prophesying, seeing visions, and dreaming dreams, because his listeners would have understood that this meant they were at a turning point. Something big was going to happen. They had entered into a new space in time where “the last days” were no longer some distant far off possibility.
The prophets had warned about times of fear and trembling, but they also spoke about the time of new creation, which would start with God’s own people!
This passage signals to the people that the outpouring of God’s spirit is no longer reserved for one person here and a few people over there, or for Kings and priests… but through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s spirit has been poured out on all God’s people.
The disciples who were huddled together in the house in fear, are now the wellspring of this new creation, which is spread far and wide with the fire and wind of Pentecost.
PAUSE
I chose not to wear my red dalmatic today, because I wanted you to see my stole. This was my ordination stole, and from the moment I saw it, I knew that this was the one. The image of the “Burning Heart” encompasses so fully my understanding of what it means to live a Spirit led life, and what it means to serve God and God’s people.
But I know that I don’t always let the Spirit roam where she pleases, and sometimes I keep the Spirit cooped up because I’m embarrassed at the thought of getting funny looks for stepping outside of the tight little frameworks that we’ve invented to keep everything tidy and under control.
But Pentecost can’t be controlled. Pentecost is colouring outside the lines on purpose. Turning to N.T. Wright again, “when it comes to Pentecost you need to be out there in the wind, letting it sweep through your life, your heart, your imagination, your powers of speech, and transform you from a listless or lifeless believer into someone whose heart is on fire with the love of God.”
Inspired and sent. That’s who we are. We are people of the Spirit. The Spirit has come upon us and we have a decision to make – as individuals, and as a parish. It’s the same decision the disciples had to make.
Will we continue to breathe the same old stale and suffocating air of our locked house or will we unlock the door and go out? Out into the wind and fire. Out into our community, and to the world. Let the Spirit move you.
Colour outside the lines, roll in that meadow, but most importantly, sing God’s praises in all you do and let your burning heart lead you. Amen.
