Acts 2:1-21; John
20:19-23 - Pentecost Day
I know it’s
Pentecost, but let me take you to Christmas for just one moment, in particular
to “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” As you may recall, Charlie Brown is the
director of the Christmas pageant, in which Pig-Pen has the role of the
innkeeper, and Frieda plays the innkeeper’s wife. But Frieda is not happy: she
feels like all the dust around Pig-Pen is taking the curl out of her naturally
curly hair. And so Charlie Brown says, “Don’t think of it as dust. Think of it
as maybe the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient
Babylon. It staggers the imagination. He may be carrying soil that was trod
upon by Solomon, or even Nebuchadnezzar.” Pig-Pen is impressed, and says, “Sort
of makes you want to treat me with more respect, doesn’t it?” Frieda doesn’t
buy it, but you know, it does sort of stagger the imagination. The laws
governing the conservation of mass and energy make that scenario entirely
possible: Pig-Pen could be carrying around molecules that were once part of the
soil of Babylon. Right now, some of us could be breathing in the same oxygen
atoms that Jesus breathed on his disciples. But beyond such physical
speculations, we most assuredly have the same Spirit moving through us right
now that Jesus breathed on his friends, the same Holy Spirit that fell like
fire on those disciples that first Pentecost day.
But I don’t want
what I just said to go in one ear and out the other. Consider with me what that
actually means. It means that the same Spirit of power that hovered over the
waters of creation, the same Spirit at work in the creation of 100 billion
galaxies, is at work in each one of us this very moment. The same Spirit of
love that flowed through Jesus, that inspired his teaching and energized his
healing and gave him the strength to die on a cross is flowing through each one
of us this very second. In other words, nothing less than the Holy Spirit of
God is moving through us, a Spirit of unlimited power and love. That alone
should stagger our imaginations, but it doesn’t stop there: there is more. Look
at these readings. After the Spirit descends with awesome power, Peter preaches
to the crowds, quoting the prophet Joel, through whom God proclaims, “I will
pour out my Spirit on all flesh.” Think about what that says: it is the very
nature of God to give away the Spirit. The prophets testify to that, but Jesus
demonstrates it. Jesus gives the Spirit away in his teaching and healing and
loving and dying; and in this passage today, the Risen Christ gives the Spirit
away by breathing the Spirit on his followers. This is what God does. But
because that is true, because it is the Spirit of God living and flowing
through us right now and because God holds nothing back, that means that we can
never actually have the Spirit at all — not even God has the Spirit. God is
forever giving the Spirit away. The only way we can say that we “have” the
Spirit is by giving the Spirit away as well. And that really does blow my mind
and it makes me think of my whole life differently.
We are natural
hoarders: we so easily fall into the habit of acquiring things for ourselves:
money, possessions, power, status. But we can’t do that with the Holy Spirit:
we cannot catch her or trap her or use her for our own ends. Rather, the Spirit
makes us like Christ, the Spirit makes us like God, and that means we can only
give the Spirit away, or maybe a better way of putting is that we can only let
the Spirit pass through us. In that story from Acts, those people don’t possess
the Spirit — they can’t even hold onto her — but instantly go out into the
streets, proclaiming the Good News, as the Spirit flows through them to bless
others. In the Gospel, the disciples aren’t given the Spirit as a static
possession: the Spirit is like breath, like the wind, that will blow through
them to offer God’s forgiveness to everyone. As a result, we have to be careful
about our language: we say it a lot, but we really can’t be “filled” with the
Holy Spirit, we cannot have “more” of the Holy Spirit because it just doesn’t
work that way. We are not receptacles: we are channels. We cannot hold on to
anything: we can only let it flow through us. In that way, the Spirit truly is
love: the only way we can “have” love is by giving it away.
And when I said
that this makes me think of my whole life differently, I meant that: I no
longer think about spiritual gifts as possessions, as “talents” God has given
me. I no longer imagine building up reserves of spiritual energy. I no longer
think about having anything. The only thing that matters is the flow of God’s
Spirit, the flow of God’s love and power, rushing through me. My job and my joy
is to let that happen. If a sermon or a forum or a visit blesses anyone, that
is only because the Spirit has moved through me — and I have just cooperated
with that divine flow. And that is true for each and every one of us. I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, says
the Lord. Jesus breathes that Spirit on all of us — no exceptions. We can never
think, “Well, that just doesn’t apply to me.” We cannot come here and receive
absolution for our sins and consume the Body and Blood of Christ and then leave
here thinking that the Spirit is somehow safely confined within these walls or
assigned to other people. Every moment of every day the Spirit is being poured
out on all of us; every moment of every day that Spirit is trying to move
through you and me. And God never grows tired. The outpouring of God’s love and
power through the Holy Spirit is endless. God blessed and changed the world by
flowing through those flawed and fallible disciples; God wants to bless and
change the world by flowing through each one of us: in our homes, our
workplaces, our community, our relationships.
Here’s your
homework and your delight: pay attention this week, today. How does the Spirit
flow through you? How does God move in your life to bless others? Recognize it.
Rejoice in it. Don’t resist it or dam up the stream. And if you honestly have
no idea how the Holy Spirit is moving through you, then, people, it is time to
get an idea. There is no life in Christ without it. Pentecost is a one day
celebration but it is an everyday reality. The same God who created the
universe and took on human form in Jesus is pouring his Spirit into you and me
right now — and looking to pour out of us in acts of love and mercy. For
Christ’s sake, let the Spirit flow!
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