“Disrupting Spirit”

Pentecost Sunday

May 28, 2023

Acts 2:1-21

John 7:37-39

Children’s Message:

Today we heard one of the stories in the Bible that tells about the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit. It sounded like a great wind blowing among them. Can you sound like a great wind? It felt like fire, with whole new languages coming into them, heating them up from the inside. Have you ever been close to a fire? What does that feel like? HOT!

So, we know what the Spirit sounded like and what it felt like. But what does the Spirit LOOK like? We use lots of different images for the Spirit, don’t we? Can you name some of them? Fire. Water. Wind. Dove. And these images also remind us of baptism. Because that’s where the Spirit promises to show up in a way that we can feel and taste and hear.

But the Spirit is hard to describe. That’s why the Bible usually says that it was LIKE something—like a great wind, like fire, like a dove. We may not be able to describe the Spirit very well, but we know what we look like when the Spirit is in us. We are excited to tell people about Jesus and his good news. We can’t help but share God’s love with others.

Today, we’ve got these streamers to help us see the Spirit moving among us and to remind us that even though we can’t see the Spirit, we can see what the Spirit’s up to in us.

Let’s pray. Dear God, your Spirit changes us and changes the world. Help us share this good news with others. Amen.

Message:

It’s difficult enough for us stoic Lutherans to talk about the Spirit among adults, but it’s even more daunting to try to describe the Spirit to kids. One colleague spoke about how she always tried to have an object lesson prepared for Sunday School each week. When it came to Pentecost, she decided to go the standard route of talking about how Pentecost is the birth of the Church. She had a birthday cake, they lit candles, blew them out, and enjoyed a slice.

Later that day, one parent called her asking what they had been discussing in Sunday School. Her son, Lionel, was really upset about it. The pastor told her they had talked about Pentecost. “Oh,” the parent said. “That makes sense. Pentecost does sound a little like Santa Claus. Lionel came home insisting that Santa Claus was going to come to church on his birthday and light everyone’s heads on fire.” You can only do so much with the mystery of God.

But in some ways, Lionel was right to be concerned about the Spirit. Because, despite our attempts to tame and control this third person of God, much like the Creator and the Christ, the Spirit refuses to fit in the boxes we have created for God. The Spirit breaks into our world and disrupts everything.

Consider that first Pentecost following Jesus’ ascension. The disciples were gathered in one place in Jerusalem, just as Jesus commanded. They were waiting for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit. We can’t know quite what they expected, but I can almost guarantee that they got more than they bargained for.

It started with a sound. A mighty, rushing wind. Violent. Like a tornado filling the house where they were staying. I imagine them ducking their heads, putting their hands up over their ears. The noise would have been frightening and overwhelming.

And then—the text is translated as ‘divided tongues’, but the Greek just says ‘varied languages’—varied languages and dialects appeared among them. Languages appeared and rested on them, like fire. Heat, boiling in their hearts and on their tongues, demanding to be released. They couldn’t help but to speak. To shout. To explode with the telling of God’s mighty acts of power.

Across the world, you can see all sorts of depictions of this Pentecost inbreathing. Men sitting or standing, a wisp of air blowing around them, little mini-fires hovering above their heads. But I believe that this moment for these men AND women was…explosive. I can’t think of a better word. That’s how the Spirit works.

The Spirit breaks into our world and disrupts everything.

There is nothing wispy or little about the Spirit’s movement or action among us. And those who heard the disciples’ words in their own language were equally disturbed. Luke uses the following descriptors for the crowd: Gathered, Bewildered, Astounded, and Amazed.

In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther describes the work of the Spirit a little differently in his explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed. He says, “We are called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified.” It feels awfully clean language for the disruption we heard about from Acts. I’m reminded of our previous mission statement here at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church: “we invite, embrace, and equip for the sake of Christ.”

I wonder if we changed such impressive and well-intentioned language to fit the Acts community. “The community of God is gathered, bewildered, astounded, and amazed by the Holy Spirit.” That sounds like a pretty accurate description of people who have encountered the power of the Spirit.

In a few weeks, my family and my sister’s family are planning a trip to Kansas to help my mom clear out years of unnecessary furniture and detritus from the home she has lived in for more than 50 years. As you can imagine, this is causing her a lot of distress. More than once, she has asked, “What exactly are you planning to get rid of?” She’s worried we’re going to throw away pictures of family, cards received after my grandpa’s death, heirlooms, and clothes that haven’t fit or been worn in 30 years.

The reality of the experience is daunting and disruptive—for all of us. But my sister and I are also afraid of waiting too long—of waiting until she’s not there to tell us who or why or what we are looking at—of waiting until it HAS to be done and not having the time necessary to do it. This kind of upheaval is never easy, not even in the best of times. Change—even good change—is stressful.

And this is what the Spirit promises us. Because of God’s abiding and unending love; because of Christ’s life lived for the sake of the world; because of the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension; because of the inbreaking of the Holy Spirit, we are not allowed to get comfortable. It’s not an option. And not everyone will understand. Some will scoff. Others will decide we’ve lost our ever-loving minds. Yet others will decide we’re just drunk or high or stupid or naïve. The ways of the world will push back against the disruptive love of God exploding in and through and around us.

But do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of the hate. Do not be afraid of the rhetoric. Do not be afraid of the ugliness. Do not be afraid of the fear. For that is what it all comes from—a world filled with fear that the ways we have created for ourselves, ensuring comfort and power will be torn apart. That fear is not misplaced. Those things have already been defeated, and we’re holding on to mere scraps of control. But the Holy Spirit is cleaning house—taking out the detritus of idolatry and fear and replacing it with love, with grace, with hope. It’s not a comfortable process, but it is necessary.

The Spirit is breaking into our world, disrupting our ways, and changing everything.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE