Pentecost Moments

            I have a confession to make. Another one of my favorite shows was a show called “Touched by an Angel.” I liked the show for its message. For those of you who never saw it, it is a show about angels. God sends the angels, Della Reese who was the Supervisor angel, Roma Downey who was the angel in training (For a lot of years if you noticed), and then Andrew who was the angel of death. He escorted the deceased to heaven. The basic premise of the show was that someone would get into some kind of trouble and God would send the angels to help the person out. The outcome was not always the outcome that people were looking for. But, in typical television fashion everything would be resolved in about an hour (give or take eight minutes in commercials).

            Now we are going to look back to a week and a half ago, which was the ascension of Jesus. He had been raised and met with the disciples to continue teaching them. The time came for Jesus to ascend to heaven. He promised that the Holy Spirit…the advocate or Holy Spirit would guide them and remind them of all he had taught. All seemed to quiet down when on the fiftieth day (Pentecost) after the resurrection the Holy Spirit’s presence was made known. This Pentecost also fell during the festival of weeks a time that the Jewish people celebrated the first Harvest and celebrated when God gave Moses the law.

The disciples were locked up in a room thinking that they were next. Remember, their Lord, teacher, and the Son of God, not long ago, had undergone suffering and death at the hands of the religious leaders and the Roman leaders. It might seem natural that they think they are next. So they are in this place hoping they aren’t discovered.

All of the sudden, things change. Without warning, the wind kicks up making incredible noise, and tongues of fire appear and now they are speaking different languages. I can imagine all this as if it were a movie. I can imagine the wind and this fire pushing them out into the streets as they are talking and it just seems chaotic. We know that the people already in the streets hearing the disciples thought they were drunk; Peter gets up and sets them straight, telling they are not drunk and then pointing out that this all came through Isaiah, “God declares, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh.”

This is one of those times in scripture that the Holy Spirit becomes visible. It came upon the disciples like a rushing wind and tongues of fire. Quite impressive, isn’t it? This is where I get put off and even upset with the show “Touched by an Angel.” The show had these visible markers; meaning, when the angel was about to announce themselves as an “angel sent from God,” A light would go on over their head. Wouldn’t that be nice if we all had that…ya know…when you want to feel the power of the Holy Spirit a light would come on over top of your head. It sure would make life a little easier; make the decision making process go a lot quicker in my life.

Pentecost is a transformational event. We see this time when people speak different languages but it is so much more than words. The disciples are able to share, in the languages of all the people who came to the festival from other nations, the work of God in their lives. Their words are so that others may hear the Word of God and the works of God through Jesus Christ; his teachings, healings, and even his death and resurrection. The disciples are able to speak all these different languages telling the story of God in the world…God’s Word that became flesh. These people that are telling the story are transformed, by the Holy Spirit, from cowering in a room being afraid that they are next to bursting out into the street to tell God’s story in their lives.

That is why Pentecost is so important. Because these lives…these people…who were followers of Christ, who asked “are you the Messiah? just tells us if you are,” Are transformed from followers who ask lots of questions and still may not get it into people who proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; they are now a people who share God’s Good News of salvation and redemption to all the people. We see this and the church points to this moment in Acts where the church is formed and it is indeed a day to celebrate.

But one of the problems is that we only believe that it occurs once. This is not the only Pentecost moment in the bible. This time where transformation and the work of the Holy Spirit appears happens more than one time in the bible. Stephen’s call to ministry is the work of the Spirit, Saul’s conversion, a few weeks ago, Paul was guided to the house of Cornelius, and of course this morning’s reading of the Spirit entering the disciples. These are moments where we get a glimpse of Pentecost moments…transformational moments.

So the question is this: “If Pentecost moments occur more than once in the bible, do they occur in our world?” I would argue that “yes, they do.” The Church in the world has had Pentecost moments; As we started our monthly Bible Study, we started with the Emperor Constantine. When he formed the Council of Nicea in 325, the church was transformed. It was not so much a free for all but became a little more organized. Throughout the history of the church with councils that came later, the Church was transformed. Martin Luther’s Reformation was also a Pentecost moment in that an understanding of God TRANSFORMED people’s hearts and minds. When he translated the Word of God into German so that everyone could read and hear God’s words is a Pentecost moment.

We also have Pentecost moments within our own church. Here in Woodsboro/Chapel, this church was altered 211/150 years ago when a group of people wanted to build a house of worship. When a pastor convinced the congregation to tear down the wooden structure of a church and rebuild a brick structure almost 100 years ago OR when a group of people, amid a war that pit brother against brother, decided the Word of God was important enough to build a sanctuary while stragglers are probably still passing by the general area on their way across the Potomac.

We also have those Pentecost moments in our own lives. When there is a new addition to the family either by child, marriage, or new relationship. These are transforming Pentecost moments because we know our lives will be different OR whenever we hear an inspirational story and we feel moved to do something to help others; starting a feeding ministry or helping the food bank. These are moments that transform our lives and our ministries.

These Pentecost times may not come with the light over the head, the Halo getting brighter, or someone saying, “I am an angel sent by God…” But these Pentecost times might appear in a friend saying, “I got your back.” They may come in the words of “As a called and ordained minister in the church of God and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the forgiveness of all your sins.” Pentecost moments may come in hearing “this is my body and blood, given and shed for you.” These moments may come in a smile or a hug or a phone call of someone just checking in.

May we all be on the lookout for our Pentecost moments and may we see the Holy Spirit through the actions of others: AMEN