"Pentecost People"

June 12, 2011
Acts 2:1-21, John 7:37-39

In John 7:37-39, Jesus talks about those who are thirsty, those who believe, and those from whose hearts will flow “rivers of living water.” John sort of adds the note that Jesus was talking about his promise of the Holy Spirit, still to come to his disciples.

This then sets up what happens in our reading from the second chapter of Acts, in which, following Jesus’ ascension ‘to be with the Father’, the promised Holy Spirit does come to his disciples on the day of Pentecost – which is today.

To Jesus’ followers, those who believe, Luke says in Acts, it sounds like a great wind blowing through every room of the house they are in. A tongue of fire rests on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s the Spirit that then gives them a voice so others could understand what they have to say about God’s great “deeds of power” through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.

The result of all this then is that: those who are thirsty (those seeking to be closer to God) will hear the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ (from his followers). Hearing, they will believe. Believing, they will call on the name of the Lord and thus be saved. And the cycle will repeat itself, over and over again as those who have heard, who have called upon Jesus, who have been saved, then witness to others – all because of the power of the Holy Spirit, a promise first kept on the day of Pentecost and which is to continue in the church today.

This past Monday at Annual Conference in Des Moines the pastors who have retired this year were honored. Retiring Elder Dale Batcheler gave the message, which was very good, by the way. In this message, he gave some very timely advice to all the churches in the Iowa Conference. He said, “Discover who you are, where you are going, and how you will get there.”

I think, should we want to do that, our reading from Acts today might help in our understanding of who we are, or at least who we should be. It tells us we are a church of the Pentecost. We are a community of people empowered by the Holy Spirit to share the good news so others might hear and believe. It’s our hearts that will, as Jesus says, flow like rivers of living water.

Yet perhaps Reverend Batcheler was suggesting a bit more than reading the second chapter of Acts. Maybe he was suggesting that for our churches, a reality check was in order. You know, sometimes we confuse who we are with who we should be. So asking pointed questions would be a good thing. Have we been effectively sharing the good news so others might hear and believe? Have we really been making disciples? And if not, what have we been doing, what is our current reality? Who are we?

What is the current situation of our church? Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon write: “The church is called to be a colony, an alternate community, a sign, a signal, to the world that Christ has made possible a way of life together, unlike anything the world has ever seen.” Is that what we are, or are we something else?

A church that is a sign to the world points away from itself toward God. There is something beyond us that inspires and leads us forward. This church is open to the world, looking outside itself, existing for the sake of others rather than ourselves. Is that what we are, or are we something else?

The church that points the way to God loses itself in the act of worship. Outsiders might say, “Look how they adore God!” Is that what we are, or are we something else?

As a preview of our life in God’s realm to come, the church loves and cares for one another, it serve others, and its people worship God in all they do. Is that what we are, as a church, or are we something else?

As a church, we strive to serve, to forgive, and seek reconciliation. We try to feed the hungry and visit those in prison. We help people without expecting anything in return. We point out injustice and advocate fairness. Is that what we are, as a church, or are we something else?

The church serves as an instrument of God’s realm. It helps to alleviate human suffering, reaching out to meet the needs of the community and the world. Is that what we are, as a church, or are we something else?

Reverend Batcheler said, “Discover who you are, where you are going, and how you will get there?” That may seem like a tall order. It may even be a lot of time and effort you really hadn’t planned on – but it can and should be done. It is time! So I’m asking you to help this summer and fall in discovering who we are as a church, where we are going, and how we are going to get there. I’m thinking July or August might be a good time to start. We’ll see how the Holy Spirit moves us in the weeks ahead.

Remember, as Luke tells us in Acts today, we are a Pentecost people – a church empowered by the Holy Spirit to do great things.