Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. This is the beginning of our reading from the book of Acts, and I have to confess, it makes me a bit sad because unlike that first Pentecost and the many Pentecost Sundays that we’ve celebrated in years past we are not yet able to be all together in one place, at least not physically. But in another sense, though, we have experienced being in one place for some time now. For more than a year now we’ve all been living together in a hard place. It’s not over, but thank God, things are changing for the better as we responsibly move out and beyond the walls of our homes and back into the world. It is a very good thing and something to celebrate.
But back in March of last year it was a very different story. Over the days and weeks of that month life as we knew it shut down - schools, businesses, and, of course, church. It was a Wednesday afternoon when we were suddenly and unexpectedly cast out of our church buildings. We were forced, whether we liked it or not, to embrace change. The experience made us redefine how church both is and is not a destination. And in the months that followed we found new ways of worshipping, new ways of being together, and new ways to serve the world around us.
Which makes me think that perhaps our story is not so different and far removed from the story of those first believers. Because even though they begin their day being all together in one place that is not where they end up. It was sometime before 9 o’clock in the morning when suddenly and unexpectedly they experienced being cast out of the safety and security of the place in which they were in. It started with the sound of a violent wind. Then tongues of fire appeared. People were filled with the Holy Spirit. And evidently, all that blowing of wind and noise and hazardous pyrotechnics seems to move everyone outdoors into the world. A world filled with all kinds of people from all kinds of places speaking all kinds of languages. And then, when the followers are out in the world it is then that the Spirit empowers them to speak the good news of God so that all the people can hear. And that’s what everyone finds so amazing. It’s not the wind or the fire or even that locals are speaking international languages that dazzle. It’s the experience of hearing and really understanding the message of God’s great deeds of love. That’s what makes an impression. Such an impression that 3,000 people are baptized into the community of faith by the end of the day.
And the Church is born. Not the Church as a building. But the Church as God’s people. God’s people out in the world filled with the Holy Spirit.
So it is today, with our streamers and our red hangings and our special music, that we celebrate the birth of God’s Church on the day of Pentecost. But, more importantly, we also celebrate that this was not just a one and done event. The Holy Spirit has never stopped blowing like the wind. She is always calling God’s Church, God’s people into new life. Empowering us - or sometimes just plain prodding us - to grow, to change, to move beyond the familiar so that we might find new languages, new ways to communicate the good news of God’s deeds of love to that everyone might really hear.
Now I don’t think that any of us believe that God caused Covid-19 and the pandemic. But that’s not to say that God is sitting this one out. This time has not been wasted. Yes, we have all been living in a hard place - and for some it’s been harder than for others - but even in that place God’s Spirit has been at work. The disruption of our lives has made room for the Spirit to move in new ways. Calling us to new life. Many of us have used this time to deepen relationships. Others have taken on new practices and ways to serve. Probably all of us have grown in appreciation for simple pleasures. And in the COOS community being forced out of our buildings prompted us to become more present in the digital world. Our weekly Compline and Noonday Prayer services - that never existed before this crisis - are thriving. Bible study and fellowship groups have added members, some who are even long distance. Older and shut-in parishioners, ironically, are feeling more connected than ever with online worship opportunities. I wonder, as we go forward, how we will be changed, both as individuals and as a church community. What former things will we cherish more than ever? What things will we chose to let go of because we’ve discovered they really don’t matter so much? What new things will we want to hold onto as we live into this new life?
The Holy Spirit is moving. Pentecost is happening - but not just on this Sunday only. We get to live into a whole season of Pentecost which starts now and goes all the way to the end of November. The end of November...who knows what the world will look like then? But whatever the future holds, what we do know is that God’s Spirit will be with us, present and at work - empowering us to stretch, to change, to grow, to live into the new life of Christ and into new ways of being the Church in the world and for the world. Today is just the beginning. So let’s celebrate!
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