Pentecost - receiving the gift of the Spirit

Acts 2: 1-18

I wonder whether anybody got up today thinking “hooray! It’s Pentecost today – I can’t wait!”.

Or maybe – especially for those who might be asked to read in church - there were thoughts of “oh no, it’s Pentecost, with all those funny place-names”.

Dare I say it, for some of us while we stand a chance of remembering it’s Sunday, and we know we’ve been talking about the stories of Jesus’ resurrection for quite some time since Easter, we might not have arrived here this morning expecting anything in particular.

Whatever mood we’ve arrived in here today, we’ll find someone we can relate to in the story of Pentecost.

The followers of Jesus are gathered together in Jerusalem. They are there because about 10 days before they had seen the risen, resurrected Jesus on a mountaintop near Jerusalem. He had told them

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

The disciples have seen Jesus die and they have met him, risen from the grave – they know they can trust his promise to be with them, and to send the Holy Spirit. The disciples know something is going to happen – they are waiting, expectant, hopeful.

But they don’t know what is going to happen, or when.

Maybe that’s you: unsure & waiting.

 

Then there are people described as “devout Jews” gathered in the city. They are there because it is Pentecost – a Jewish festival of the wheat harvest – which came 7 weeks “a week of weeks” after the first harvest of barley. It was a time of celebration of the harvest, and also a time to give thanks for the law of Moses – the law which governed everyone’s life.

People had counted off the 50 days from the first ripe ears of barley (Pentecost) – it was time to worship God. It was a particularly good day for people who liked rules and order.

The central feature of the day was the presentation of two loaves of leavened, salted bread to the Lord. The size of each loaf was fixed by law: the length of the loaf was 7 handbreadths, width 4 handbreathths, its depth 7 fingers.

Many people had gathered for this day of thanks to God – with no reason to believe that it would be any different to any other Pentecost. There were people from all points of the compass – from all those places listed in the reading, that can be such a tongue-twister to pronounce.

Maybe that’s you – not expecting too much.

 

And there are people caught up in this story – who were not part of the group of Jesus’ disciples, and not on their way to the temple to pray, thinking about Pentecost and the harvest and thanksgiving, There were people just living life, walking in the streets of Jerusalem.

Maybe that’s you. Just…here.

And then – bang! It happened.

The Holy Spirit came down on the disciples – and the description of what happened is clearly difficult to capture. 

There was a noise – like the sound of a rushing wind.

There was something like tongues of fire, that rested on each one in the room.

There was the ability to speak in strange tongues, languages which could be understood by everyone.

 

What happens raises a stir – the people from other countries can understand the praise Jesus’ followers are giving God. People hear the commotion and a crowd gathers in which people are amazed and astonished and perplexed.

 

Simon Peter tells them that this is the Spirit of God – and this is for everyone.

The Holy Spirit is for everyone in Jerusalem that day, and for everyone beyond that, whatever country they come from.

The Spirit is for old and young, for men and women, even for enslaved people.

The Spirit is for the people of the prophet Joel’s time (about 900BC) and for the people Peter speaks to that day (about 33AD) and for all the followers of Jesus who are yet to come – the Spirit is a gift for us!

 

Wherever we think we fit into the story of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes as a gift for us. What does that mean?

 

I love the thought that the Holy Spirit is like a wind – like the breath of God.

She’s the Spirit which moved over the chaos at the dawn of creation, and the breath God breathes into the earthling made from clay to create living human beings.

She’s in the roaring wind which announces her arrival that day of Pentecost and in the flutter of a heart that starts to believe Peter’s words and believe in Jesus.

She is the silent breath which takes our prayers and lifts them to the heart of God, and the mighty force which turns a small band of followers of Jesus into a world-wide church.

I wonder how you feel about this gift of the Holy Spirit in your life?

You might feel frightened by the thought of a force which is beyond you – like the thought of facing into a huge lashing storm.

(You might feel more at home with the people who are busy measuring the Pentecost loaf to make sure it’s the right size).

You might feel that today, for whatever reason, in your tired and fragile state you need a soft melody of God’s love and not a mighty rushing wind.

You might not know what you need from the Holy Spirit, and you might feel afraid to ask for the gift of God’s Spirit, in case you get the wrong thing.

However you feel, it might help to remember that the gift of the Holy Spirit is a gift of the grace of God. And surely God does not want to frighten us, flatten us, or terrify us.

As so often in my life, I turn to the words of Frederick Buechner, American writer and theologian. He says that “The grace of God means something like this:

Here is the world.

Beautiful and terrible thing will happen.

Don’t be afraid. I am with you.”

 

Don’t be afraid. The Holy Spirit will come to help us.

To disturb us when we need to move on.

To comfort us when we need to be consoled.

To guide us when we feel lost.

To fill us with purpose when we have run out of ideas.

To be with us, filling us with God’s love, always.

 

So whoever you are, however you feel. This is Pentecost and God wants to give you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 Let’s open the doors and windows of our hearts, our lives and our church.. and welcome in God’s gracious Holy Spirit. Amen.