"Great Tongues of Fire"
6-8-14 (Pentecost A)
Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39
Great Tongues of Fire!
They gathered together that day as disciples; followers of Christ; men and women who had witnessed great things. They gathered that day, much like they had gathered since they’d watched Christ ascend to heaven. They gathered to worship God in the name of their risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God was present with them. God had always been present with them, but this day, this time, God was doing something different. God was showing up in a whole new way. Suddenly, like a hurricane from heaven, the Holy Spirit rushes upon these gathered people. The Spirit fills the temple; it engulfs it like a match thrown on gasoline. And these followers of Christ begin to preach. The power of the Spirit alights over their heads like great tongues of fire. They start talking in all different languages. And people start to hear what they’re saying.
It doesn’t take long for a crowd to gather around them - it’s the festival of Shavuot, the feast of Weeks, so people from every nation have made the pilgrimage to the temple to worship and to commemorate God’s giving of the Torah to Moses. For many of these people, the last thing they expected was to hear some random Galilean speaking their language. But here they were, these strange Galileans, talking the languages of all these different people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, even Arabic and beyond... all in one group of disciples. And the question on everyone’s mind as they stand there in awe is the same: what does it mean?
They gathered together that day as disciples; followers of Christ; men and women who had witnessed great things. They gathered that day, much like they had gathered since the early 1870’s in Vandalia. They gathered together to worship God in the name of their risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God was still present with them. That same wind that blew through the earliest church was blowing into the midst of a new congregation as the Rev. H. M. Boyd came into Vandalia in 1883 to preach to a group of Presbyterians, who would consequently decide to come together and perfect the Vandalia Cumberland Presbyterian Church organization in 1885. Once again, God is doing something new; God is showing up in another new way, in another new place. The word of God is being proclaimed and people are listening. People are noticing. The church grows in the 10 years between its organization and the dedication of its own church building from 24 founding members to 73. And people in the community speculate - what does it mean?
Of course, there were skeptics - there are always skeptics. Among those in the crowds who wonder at the events and try to figure out what it all means, there are those who simply refuse to believe it. There are the voices of people who sneer at the disciples gathered at the temple and declare that these men speaking in foreign languages have to be “filled with new wine,” drunk to the world despite the early hour and the holy occasion. There are the voices of those who may have questioned how well another church like this would grow in the midst of tough prairie grass and tougher prairie settlers.
But even among the skeptics, the Spirit still moves. The Spirit still works amazing things. Because Peter stands up amidst the crowd and delivers a sermon. “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to what I say. Indeed, these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” And the Spirit uses Peter to deliver a sermon so powerful that the author of Acts says that all who heard it were “cut to the heart” and asked Peter what they must do. And through the work of the Spirit that day of Pentecost so many years ago, some 3,000 people were baptized and became believers. The Spirit continued to move throughout the history of the church - men and women rose up year after year, answering the calling of the Spirit on their lives to proclaim that good news of Jesus Christ. Men and women were called specifically to Vandalia to proclaim that good news, and for 129 years, this congregation has been actively involved in proclaiming the gospel, in both word and deed, to any and all who come through its doors.
And so we gather together this morning. We gather together as disciples; as followers of Christ; men and women who have witnessed great things. We gather today, much like we have gathered every Sunday as members of this congregation for 129 years. We gather today, much like the church has gathered every Sunday for millennia. We gather together to worship God in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God is still with us. The winds of the Spirit still blow and the Spirit still fills this place. Today, we gather together to worship a God who still does new things, who still puts the Holy Spirit at work among us and gives us a message to proclaim to the world. We gather in a place together, as members of the body of Christ, in a building which God is still using to proclaim the gospel and to change lives.
When we think of Pentecost, we usually think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event that happened some 2,000 years ago. We think of it as just one more miraculous event that is recorded in the Bible that we can take a lesson from and then move on. We take the day of Pentecost and remember it as the birthday of the church, and we all make sure to put on red clothing and to celebrate this day. But my brothers and sisters, I stand before you this morning to tell you that Pentecost is so much more than just a birthday. It’s so much more than just a one-time event. Because the Spirit isn’t content to just happen once, to just rush into a place but one time and then be a quiet influence throughout the rest of the church’s history. No, my friends - the Spirit is constantly rushing into places. The Spirit is constantly pushing the church to do new things, to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel. The Spirit is what has caused the history of the church - it moved in the disciples, in Paul, in the men and women who shaped the church in its first centuries. It moved in the Reformers, in Martin Luther and John Calvin. It moved in the hearts of the men and women who wrote the hymns that fill our hymnals and ring in our churches year after year. It moved in the heart of Rev. Boyd as he organized and led this worshipping community. And everywhere we look in this church, we know that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, of believers who have drunk from Christ and out of whose hearts flowed incredible streams of living water. We are surrounded by the history of the church, by the memories of people who taught us in Sunday School, who led us in song as we stood in the choir, who served us Communion, who spoke God’s Word to us. And here we are today, still witnesses, still filled with the Spirit, ready to flow streams of living water out to all those who thirst all around us, just as much a part of that cloud as those who have gone before us. And the wind still blows. The Spirit still moves. Where that Spirit blows us, what new things it moves us to... God only knows. But the Spirit still moves. To God be the Glory. AMEN.
Acts 2:1-21; John 7:37-39
Great Tongues of Fire!
They gathered together that day as disciples; followers of Christ; men and women who had witnessed great things. They gathered that day, much like they had gathered since they’d watched Christ ascend to heaven. They gathered to worship God in the name of their risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God was present with them. God had always been present with them, but this day, this time, God was doing something different. God was showing up in a whole new way. Suddenly, like a hurricane from heaven, the Holy Spirit rushes upon these gathered people. The Spirit fills the temple; it engulfs it like a match thrown on gasoline. And these followers of Christ begin to preach. The power of the Spirit alights over their heads like great tongues of fire. They start talking in all different languages. And people start to hear what they’re saying.
It doesn’t take long for a crowd to gather around them - it’s the festival of Shavuot, the feast of Weeks, so people from every nation have made the pilgrimage to the temple to worship and to commemorate God’s giving of the Torah to Moses. For many of these people, the last thing they expected was to hear some random Galilean speaking their language. But here they were, these strange Galileans, talking the languages of all these different people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, even Arabic and beyond... all in one group of disciples. And the question on everyone’s mind as they stand there in awe is the same: what does it mean?
They gathered together that day as disciples; followers of Christ; men and women who had witnessed great things. They gathered that day, much like they had gathered since the early 1870’s in Vandalia. They gathered together to worship God in the name of their risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God was still present with them. That same wind that blew through the earliest church was blowing into the midst of a new congregation as the Rev. H. M. Boyd came into Vandalia in 1883 to preach to a group of Presbyterians, who would consequently decide to come together and perfect the Vandalia Cumberland Presbyterian Church organization in 1885. Once again, God is doing something new; God is showing up in another new way, in another new place. The word of God is being proclaimed and people are listening. People are noticing. The church grows in the 10 years between its organization and the dedication of its own church building from 24 founding members to 73. And people in the community speculate - what does it mean?
Of course, there were skeptics - there are always skeptics. Among those in the crowds who wonder at the events and try to figure out what it all means, there are those who simply refuse to believe it. There are the voices of people who sneer at the disciples gathered at the temple and declare that these men speaking in foreign languages have to be “filled with new wine,” drunk to the world despite the early hour and the holy occasion. There are the voices of those who may have questioned how well another church like this would grow in the midst of tough prairie grass and tougher prairie settlers.
But even among the skeptics, the Spirit still moves. The Spirit still works amazing things. Because Peter stands up amidst the crowd and delivers a sermon. “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and listen to what I say. Indeed, these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” And the Spirit uses Peter to deliver a sermon so powerful that the author of Acts says that all who heard it were “cut to the heart” and asked Peter what they must do. And through the work of the Spirit that day of Pentecost so many years ago, some 3,000 people were baptized and became believers. The Spirit continued to move throughout the history of the church - men and women rose up year after year, answering the calling of the Spirit on their lives to proclaim that good news of Jesus Christ. Men and women were called specifically to Vandalia to proclaim that good news, and for 129 years, this congregation has been actively involved in proclaiming the gospel, in both word and deed, to any and all who come through its doors.
And so we gather together this morning. We gather together as disciples; as followers of Christ; men and women who have witnessed great things. We gather today, much like we have gathered every Sunday as members of this congregation for 129 years. We gather today, much like the church has gathered every Sunday for millennia. We gather together to worship God in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And God is still with us. The winds of the Spirit still blow and the Spirit still fills this place. Today, we gather together to worship a God who still does new things, who still puts the Holy Spirit at work among us and gives us a message to proclaim to the world. We gather in a place together, as members of the body of Christ, in a building which God is still using to proclaim the gospel and to change lives.
When we think of Pentecost, we usually think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event that happened some 2,000 years ago. We think of it as just one more miraculous event that is recorded in the Bible that we can take a lesson from and then move on. We take the day of Pentecost and remember it as the birthday of the church, and we all make sure to put on red clothing and to celebrate this day. But my brothers and sisters, I stand before you this morning to tell you that Pentecost is so much more than just a birthday. It’s so much more than just a one-time event. Because the Spirit isn’t content to just happen once, to just rush into a place but one time and then be a quiet influence throughout the rest of the church’s history. No, my friends - the Spirit is constantly rushing into places. The Spirit is constantly pushing the church to do new things, to find new ways to proclaim the Gospel. The Spirit is what has caused the history of the church - it moved in the disciples, in Paul, in the men and women who shaped the church in its first centuries. It moved in the Reformers, in Martin Luther and John Calvin. It moved in the hearts of the men and women who wrote the hymns that fill our hymnals and ring in our churches year after year. It moved in the heart of Rev. Boyd as he organized and led this worshipping community. And everywhere we look in this church, we know that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, of believers who have drunk from Christ and out of whose hearts flowed incredible streams of living water. We are surrounded by the history of the church, by the memories of people who taught us in Sunday School, who led us in song as we stood in the choir, who served us Communion, who spoke God’s Word to us. And here we are today, still witnesses, still filled with the Spirit, ready to flow streams of living water out to all those who thirst all around us, just as much a part of that cloud as those who have gone before us. And the wind still blows. The Spirit still moves. Where that Spirit blows us, what new things it moves us to... God only knows. But the Spirit still moves. To God be the Glory. AMEN.
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