Acts 2:1-21 “The
Crisis of the Holy Spirit”
Since Easter, we’ve been
having what I’ve called Re-Birthday parties at my home.
So far about 25 of you have
been to my house in your flock groups.
In these groups we’ve talked
about who we are as a church and where we’re going. What I’ve heard over and over is that we are
a caring church.
A warm and
welcoming church.
We’ve also talked about where
we’re going.
I’ve asked everyone who comes
over to make 3 wishes for our church.
You may be thinking that
there are 75 different wishes floating around out there.
Not true at all.
Almost every single person
had at least one wish that was related to spiritual
growth - more Sunday School, strong youth group,
more learning, deeper spirituality.
But you know the saying “Be
careful what you wish for.”
Spirituality is not something
we can control.
True Christian spirituality-- born out of God’s Holy
Spirit--
has a life and power of its own.
This is the same Holy Spirit
that brings the church to life,
enlivening and empowering us to be the Body of Christ.
This is the same Holy Spirit
we read about in today’s scripture --
who descended on the
first followers of Jesus.
This is the story of Pentecost,
often considered the birthday of the church.
But the more I read and studied
this scripture this week,
the more I realized that calling what we just read in the
scripture
the birthday of the church is just a little
too tame.
In my Bible, there is a
little heading above chapter 2 that says
“The coming
of the Holy Spirit.”
Actually if we listen to this
passage,
it’s not so much the
coming of the Holy Spirit as the crisis
of the Holy Spirit.
Can you imagine what would it
be like if
what happened there, would happen right here?
Just look around you. Have
you ever been in or near a tornado?
What if that was the sound
that began to fill this room?
And then the candles that we
see -- what if the flames split
and then spread all over the room, a flame resting on
each person.
And then
the languages.
What if each person here
began speaking in a different language,
and what with the roar of the wind, and the flames and
the languages,
hundreds and hundreds of people -- people from all over the
world --
and that would be realistic in Norcross --
began crowding into this building from all up and down
trying to figure out what all the commotion was.
But the different languages
wouldn’t divide like the
They would bind people
together as each one heard others
speaking in their native language.
Something powerful and
incomprehensible would be happening.
It would feel like a crisis.
Some people would understand
that power.
Others would not. Some would be amazed -- others would
sneer.
There’s always a mixed
reception when it comes to believing in God’s power.
God’s power
where anything and all things are possible.
And what if we stood up to
those questions
and then you heard a sermon reminding you:
This is God’s power -- the
promised Holy Spirit.
The prophets have been
promising this since the beginning of time.
It’s not just for the end
times or the last days.
That power is for here and now.
It’s for this new age
inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The new age that begins anytime people claim Jesus as
Lord of their lives.
And this is not power for the
few.
It’s for everyone to claim --
sons and daughters, men and women, young and old,
those with power and those without.
What if that would happen here? Would we be ready?
Could we claim that power?
Will Willimon is
currently a Methodist bishop in
but he has also been a seminary
professor, pastor and author.
He writes this: Just when we get all settled down,
comfortable
with present arrangements,
our pews bolted securely to the
floor, all fixed and immobile,
there
comes a rush of wind, or a still small voice,
a breath of fresh air,
tongues of fire and.....the Holy Spirit prevails!
If we let the Holy Spirit prevail, it will
lead us into the deeper spirituality --
the spiritual growth -- that
many of us are longing for right here.
Of course, the coming of the
Holy Spirit doesn’t always happen in such dramatic ways. If there is one thing we can say about the
Holy Spirit, it’s this:
just when you think you know what it looks like,
that’s when you can be sure you don’t.
But when we let the power of
the Holy Spirit prevail,
we will grow deeper in our relationships with God and
each other.
But that can’t be where we
stop.
The purpose of Christian
spirituality is not
so that each of us can have a privatized spiritual
experience aimed at self-improvement.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is given so that we can go
out and make disciples.
That is our deepest calling.
Our understanding of God
grows as we are faithful to this calling.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we
can pour it out into the world. We can’t
keep this good thing to ourselves.
And so our purpose must be disciple-making not
self-preserving.
Can we imagine what that
might look like here?
What if we considered
Pentecost to be not a crisis,
but an opportunity to claim the power of
the Holy Spirit for here and now?
Can we imagine a future -
God’s future? Can we see visions - God’s visions?
Can we dream dreams - God’s
dreams?
Can we imagine a future where
a group of us from our church meet together
to pray about, discern and decide how to expand the
Christian education of our church
so everyone is learning more about God and the
Bible? And then we do it?
Can we imagine a future where
we are a praying church -
a church that believes that prayer changes things.
A church
that believes that a praying church is a powerful church.
A church that believes that
prayer will guide us into
becoming the church God wants us to be?
Can we imagine a future where
we don’t just wait for people to notice our church,
but we are so excited about God’s Spirit here among us
that we invite someone to come to our church -- every
day.
At the grocery store. In line at the gas station.
At work. At Starbucks.
“Come to my church,” we say.
“We are learning how to live like Jesus would.
We are making a difference in
Peachtree Corners. We are changing
lives.
You can help. And your life will change too.”
Can you imagine a church
where we talk more about ministry than
money?
Where we talk about where God
is leading us next, who God is calling us to serve now. And we always come up with the money to do
the ministry
because serving others like Christ did is the
reason we are here.
Can you imagine a future
where we see the needs of this community
and we let God lead us into caring ministries that serve
these needs?
Where we notice the children
who need after school tutoring?
Or the single mothers who
need job training and child care
and more than anything need to believe they are worthy
too?
Or the people addicted to
alcohol or drugs and need recovery groups
to break this cycle of addiction?
Or the immigrants from around
the world who live right here in Norcross
and need a chance to learn English?
What if we noticed just one
of these needs around us?
The Gwinnett section of
Saturday’s AJC had a big article
about children in
some 36 different extended-stay motels in the county.
There are at least 2000 of
these children in
Every county in metro
Their lives are tough but
summers are tougher.
I would guess that most of
our kids are happy to be out of school for the summer.
Not these kids.
In the article, a 7-year-old
talked about what he would miss about school.
He said “I’m going to miss
the lunchroom. It always has a bunch of
food in it.”
His 9-year-old friend added
“macaroni and cheese, tacos, fresh bananas and apples,
juice and milk. You
can get what you want.”
A 6-year old says he’ll miss
the playground. “It has slides and
swings.”
The hotel they live in is not
what you would call a luxury hotel.
In fact most of these hotels
are crime infested and drug ridden. No
place for kids.
There is a church in the
county that started a summer program
where they deliver sack lunches to these kids, but they can’t
serve them all.
Norcross Cooperative Ministry
can hardly keep up with the increased food requests
in the summer when children aren’t free breakfasts and
lunches in the schools.
Can you imagine a future
where we see those children as God’s children?
Can we imagine a future that
is already here but not yet?
A future
where we claim the Holy Spirit as our own.
I have seen the Holy Spirit
at work in a church.
I have seen the Holy Spirit
changing people’s lives.
It is not some wild story of
wind and flames and foreign languages.
But it is an even wilder
story of the power and possibility of God’s Spirit
moving and working and changing us into disciples of Christ,
who love one another and serve the world.
Can we imagine God’s future
for our church? Can we see God’s
vision?
Can we dream God’s
dream?
It can happen here!
Not by our power. But by God’s power.
Come Holy Spirit. Come!