May 6 2018 “Come Holy Spirit, Come: Fall on Us” - *Acts 10.44-48,

May 6 2018 “Come Holy Spirit, Come: Fall on Us” - *Acts 10.44-48, John 15.9-17 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

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Every significant event in our lives creates warm rituals – parties and services that nurture our souls. On birthdays we celebrate with cards and candles.  [slide #  1 birthday party] Weddings bring on toasts, [slide # 2 wedding toast] and laugh-hardy roasts are often part of retirement and award banquets. For a 25th wedding anniversary a traditional gift to be given is silver. Bachelorette and bachelor parties compete for rituals that creatively cater to the couple to be, and baby showers are a customary must for many. Memorials of relationships past and present are marked with the most precious memories and mementoes, [slide # 3 tattoo] including tattoos these days. We humans deepen our sense of joy and commitment when we celebrate, when we remember, when we ritualize our experiences in order to meaningfully relive them. Some things are too important to forget.

The church has plenty of rituals and routines that keep us focused, and that unite us and strengthen us for the many missions to which God is guiding us. In the church we have altars, front and center, [slide # 4 altar  with steps] with a few steps toward Heaven. That is to help us remember that God is high and lifted up, that we are to bow below God and not above God. [slide # 5 cross with white drape] We have the cross to remember that God’s love is a sacrificial love, we have candles to remind ourselves that Jesus lights our path by day and night. [slide #  6 candles] We have classrooms and fellowship halls to meet and greet and study and [slide #  7 classroom] plan – all for the purpose of building God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and disciplining ourselves under the rule of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit.   

So the apostle Peter had been invited by a group of Godly men to talk about his experience with Jesus. [slide # 8 Peter and others] Not everyone gets a special invitation to talk about their experience with Jesus. Perhaps someone may ask you about your church or your faith or your godly behavior – not smoking, cussing, fussing, or drinking to excess.

If you have your bible in sight like one of our members did while in the hospital for a couple days, [slide # 9 bible] people may ask you questions or want your spiritual wisdom, or they may share their stories, but not everyone gets an invitation to talk about how you met Jesus and how he has blessed you and what inspires you to serve him.

Peter had such an invitation and he told about the man from Galilee whose name was Jesus. He told them Jesus was baptized, that he was Lord of all, that he was anointed ( or full of ) the Holy Spirit and power that made him a man of peace [slide # 10 peace] who could do good and [slide #  11 …do good] bring healing to those who were oppressed by the devil. [slide # 12 oppressed by the devil] Peter told the crowd that Jesus was hung on a tree but there were many witnesses who could testify that he rose from the dead. Most important of all, Jesus commanded them to go and preach that God was the judge of the living and the dead.

How wonderful it is to hear about Jesus – his baptism, his power to bring peace. (Remember that message last week sung by 5 year old Claire and her dad) When there is no peace on earth, there is peace in Christ. It is wonderful to know the one who has power even over the devil. It is wonderful to know we have a judge who judges with fairness and kindness. [slide # 13 only God can judge me]

Now we all have our challenges in interpreting the word of God. We are given the promise that the Holy Spirit will teach us, but there is always something new to learn.

We do need to take care that we pray as we study and as we seek God’s will for our lives. [slide # 14 pray and study…] We can be sure that those who were listening to Peter were men of prayer. They were Gentiles. They did not come from the same religious background that Peter did. Still, God was in their hearts. They were men of prayer, and they were not only talking to God, they were listening to God.

They understood in their hearts that Peter was worshiping the same God that they were worshipping even though they were from different cultures. In seminary I recall a book on the required reading list entitled “Christ and Culture.” It reminds us that there is a difference between biblical doctrine and church doctrine. For example, the bible does not say that we cannot drink alcohol. The bible says things like “Strong drink is a mocker and beer causes fights and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”

John Wesley [slide #  15 John Wesley] established church doctrine for our United Methodist Church with a conviction and recommendation that we abstain from alcohol as a witness to our faith. That is church doctrine which I honor, but it is not biblical doctrine. Church doctrine emerges from our culture. Since we have a proclivity to medicate our sorrows, it is deemed wise to ban drinking. But, when my non-Methodist friends and colleagues tell me they have had a glass of wine, I try not to judge. I do cringe because, like John Wesley, I know too much about what people go through in a family and a church when alcoholism gets a hold of a loved one. I try not to judge because biblical doctrine is our standard. Church doctrine, though often very helpful is not the appropriate standard on which to lay the church’s foundation.

It is easy to develop church rules and regulations and rituals that we keep out of habit. We want to careful, for some may habits may harm rather than help the church. Some have outlived their usefulness and are no longer relevant in our cultural context. For example, there was a day if you showed up to church without a hat and gloves in some neighborhoods you were considered disrespectful to God and to the culture. Today when you show up in a hat a gloves in some communities, people may wonder how out of touch you are with reality.

It is so important that Christians have a regular dialogue with God in prayer and with one another, so we can understand what is in each other’s hearts as well as what is on our heads, so we can stop judging one another and let God show us how to accept one another and build the church rather than kill the church.

I heard a man tell the story of how as a teenager, he was invisible. He had problems that caused people to pick on him. Then he went to another school, nobody picked on him. They just ignored him. He found it more painful to be ignored than to be picked on.

As an adult, now he goes around lecturing to audiences to help them understand that what young people want more than anything is to be seen in the context of a meaningful relationship. Youth are typically experience-rich and language poor, so they make statements without words. They speak with tattoos and hairdos and dances and rituals that may not be part of any other language at all.

So, when I saw a young man a few weeks ago with a sweet smile, a Mohawk haircut with a ponytail flip, three or four tattoos, giant holes in both ears, I gulped and started a conversation and found out that he was a vegan and a dedicated father of a newborn. I think Jesus is pleased that I opened my mind and my mouth to look past all the things that I wanted to run away from, and saw him for the human being that he is. Since I expect to see this young man again, I hope the Spirit will teach me some things that will help me love and appreciate him and be just as excited to see him coming as I believe Jesus does.

The disciple Peter reached out beyond his comfort zone to tell these Gentiles the truth and the truth set them freer than they had ever been. To Peter the Gentiles looked different, even odd. They acted in different ways. They did not follow the same rules that had served God’s people so well in the past. There was definitely a cultural clash. [slide # 16 culture clash]

If Peter had not been a man of prayer, he would not have heard God asking him to go and preach to the Gentiles. [slide #  17 real men] If Peter had not been a man of prayer, he would not have had the strength to let go of his past routines and rituals long enough to see what God was trying to say and do in relationship to the Gentiles who were brothers from another mother. Peter obeyed God and shared good news with those whose hearts were hungry for good news. Because he was so loving and kind, Peter was the good news.

Peter knew God’s word. He knew about the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. He knew the laws and disciplines and rules that made for a life that was healthy and holy. But, more importantly, Peter knew God and Peter talked with God daily. He not only talked, he listened. That is how he learned exactly where he was to go and what he was to say!

Because Peter allowed himself to be the good news, to love and accept and welcome those God told him to, something strange and wonderful happened that day. Verse 44 says as he was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who heard God’s word.

They invited Peter to come and preach because they wanted to hear what God had to say, and when they listened, the Holy Spirit fell on them. That day, from the heights of Heaven, they were showered with blessings. Good things descended upon them. No doubt, love rained down, courage rained down, peace rained down, wisdom rained down; comfort rained down; perhaps even financial resources rained down.

Every time we pray, we invite God to speak to our hearts. When we actually listen, we can hear good things as they descend from the heights of Heaven.

We know exactly what it is like to be showered with blessings. We have had so many blessings that we had to share them. We have had so many blessings that we could not even count them all. WE have been very blessed.

Still there may be prayers that we have prayed for which we do not clearly hear God’s answer. Our hearts ache and long for something very specific. For those prayers, it can be helpful to start by setting aside 30 seconds every day or 3 times a day for 3 days at least, in order to intentionally be still and focus and ask God whatever it is you want to ask and if you still think God is not answering, then ask if there is anything you or others are doing that are blocking the blessing. And then listen and write down anything that you believe is an answer, and think about whether those answers are in keeping with God’s word and will for your life!

May today and every day be a day when we invite God into our hearts, and we listen, and the Spirit showers us with the blessings we need. [Slide #  18 quote…doctrine] Amen. [slide #  19 Jesus tattoo]