May 15 (Pentecost) “Fiery Vision”

May 15 (Pentecost) “Fiery Vision” Psalm 104.24-34, 35b, Acts 2.1-21Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Most of the time, our lives are rather ordinary and calm. We enjoy quiet times. [ slide #1 water dock] When life is calm, we become rested and rejuvenated. The seasons of peace allow us to build and prepare for times that can may be unsettling. [slide #2 turbulent water]

Somewhere in this world this morning, there may be loud, unsettling noises. Someone may at this very moment be hearing what early Christians heard on the day of Pentecost – what verse 2 tells us was the “sound like the rush of a violent wind.” [slide #3 a sound like the rush… ] Someone, somewhere could be hearing that same sound at this very moment.

The sound may be filling a whole house as it did THAT Pentecost day. It was a rushing sound. In the Greek “ a rushing violent wind” means a wind that is carrying, rushing, and enduring. It was a wind that was carrying a burden that needed to be intentionally managed according to God’s purpose. It was a wind that moved with urgency, rushing to announce and produce God’s plan.

At this very moment in this world, someone may be able to perceive that God’s Spirit is rushing and enduring whatever must be endured like an ambulance or firetruck [ slide #4 ambulance ] endures the traffic, seemingly recklessly, or violently through streets. [ slide #5 firetruck]

All this happened on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a legal feast day, a holiday, a day to celebrate and enjoy, to bring lavish gifts to the altar; today we dress the altar in red. [slide #6 red balloons] It was a day to give thanks for the bountiful harvest of wheat – there was no thought of famine, no fire, floods, and no fear this day. It was to be a day of relaxation; they marveled at the latest profits of the quarter; they had planted, and watered and weeded their crops; they began to harvest and pick and store the grain, package and cook and share.

Pentecost was a day to put your hair down, put your feet up, get out the music, clap your hands and thank God because God had blessed them and helped them through the circumstances of the season; they were celebrating that God had helped them through the thick and the thin, and that God would always come. [ slide # 7 dove]

Pentecost was on every ancient Jewish calendar; it was 7 weeks, or 50 days after Easter, which is the Jewish season of Passover. Today, May 15th it has been 50 days since Easter which was March 27^th.

Today in the Judeo-Christian tradition, we are celebrating the feast of Pentecost! As in every Sunday, we have gathered together on this day to give thanks for our bounty, to acknowledge that God is God and we are not. We are the sheep of God’s pasture. We follow because we know we will be able to lie down in green pastures, and we will be led beside the still waters until our souls are restored. We know this. [ slide # 8 lamb in Jesus’ hands ]

On the day of Pentecost, Christ’s followers heard the sounds of a mighty rushing wind throughout the house. But that was not all. Some saw tongues of fire. [slide # 9 fire overheads] Others heard their own language being spoken by Galileans, who were foreigners. It can be surprising to discover what language God’s children around the world can speak.

I went to Bank America in Connecticut. I was the only customer for the moment and there were two young men working as tellers. I asked the one young man, who looked like he might be of Latin descent, if he spoke Spanish so I could practice, and he said, “No.” While the other man who was African American chimed in, “But, I speak Spanish.” He had worked for the government in Russia and India and could speak several languages. My jaw dropped in surprise and I confessed the stereotype that was planted in my brain.

The same shock came when I met a Russian woman working to get a degree in Baltimore City Community College. She was also fluent in Spanish. We’ve met Asian friends whom we might expect to speak Chinese, but who speak fluent English without any accent at all. It is a good thing to see with our own eyes and to hear with our own ears that God is weaving us together in an awesome and beautiful tapestry! [slide # 10 tapestry   ]

The sound was so loud on the day of Pentecost that a crowd began to gather around the house. If it were a scary sound, they probably would have run the other way. If the saw signs of a destructive wind, they probably would have scattered, but instead of running away, they were moving in, trying to satisfy their curiosity and see for themselves exactly what was going on in that house where they were fellowshipping.

Verse 4 tells us that they were filled [  slide # 11 full water glass  ] with the Holy Spirit and spoke as the Spirit enabled them. [slide # 12   three languages] They were filled – the Greek word for filled is pletho – meaning filled and fulfilled. From the Greek we get the word plethora, meaning abundance.

If we know what it is to have our belly filled, we also know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. A full belly does not stay full for long. It is constantly digesting and moving forward. Spiritually and physically we are constantly taking in and letting go.

If we want to be spiritually fit and healthy, we must take in the word of God, fellowship with the people of God, do the will of God, and let go of that which does not please God.

If we want to be full and fulfilled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, (generosity), faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, we must take in God’s word – through songs, sermons, teachings, readings and meditations. We must fellowship with God’s people in worship, gatherings, events, projects, missions, phone calls, prayer, social media and every way possible.

If we want to be fulfilled in God’s presence we must enter God’s presence by doing God’s will. If we want to be satisfied in this life that God has given us, we must let go of that which does not please God. We must put whatever does not please God in a furnace of fire [ slide # 13 fire   ]  and allow God’s urgent flames to purge it from our lives.

This is the Day of Pentecost. Today, may we hear the sound of God’s mighty rushing wind. May we understand God in our own language and may our lives be purged and our burdens carried carefully to their destination, until we are filled, fulfilled, and satisfied in the presence of God and the people of God. [slide # 14 dancing children] Amen. [slide # 15 spirit of Pentecost]