Numbers 11:24-30
Acts 2:1-21
When I first started serving at First Christian, there was no children's ministry at all. None. Over the years of dealing with declining membership, a large physical plant to maintain and a host of other issues taking care of the little ones came last.
That didn't set well with one of the members. She has always loved being with children and was mad that nothing was going on. As she recounts the story, she was complaining to me about why no one was doing anything about this and I responded, "So what are you going to do about it?"
It was after my moment of frankness that she started a children's program at the congregation, which in many cases was instrumental in helping the church revive itself.
Coming into Pentecost, I looked forward to this Sunday with both excitement and boredom. I love Pentecost because its such a joyous holiday, a time when pastors and worship leaders get to do something a bit different. I love that we get to wear red and usually the sanctuary is festooned with bright shades of red.
On the other hand, we tend to hear the same Pentecost text over and over again. At first blush, I wanted to just skip this text. It's been so overdone. David Lose kind of captures the "boredom" of the text:
Honestly, I suspect that we've heard the story of the wind and the tongues-of-flame and the dove and the crowds-hearing-the-sermon-in-their-own-languages just enough to believe that the promise of Pentecost is deliverance, celebration, victory, and strength. The signs of Pentecost, after all, are mighty. And what is the Holy Spirit if it is not God's own agent – the very Spirit of the resurrected Jesus – now on earth to accompany us with signs of wonder and power.
However, as the week progressed, this text kept coming back to me. I can't really describe why I am attracted to this text, again, but I am.
I think some of the points to consider as we re-read this text again is how disruptive the Spirit is. I don't think we realize just how much the Spirit turns the lives of the disciples of Jesus upside down. Look at what Peter starts talking about in this passage:
“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20 The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
None of this sounds safe, does it?
Looking at the text from Numbers, we see that the Spirit touches some people who weren't authorized to be prophets. Joshua thinks something needs to be done to stop these people who were not accredited from prophesying. But Moses tells Josh to put a sock in it. "Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” he says.
Pentecost is in many ways a question. We are asked to look back to see all the mighty deeds that God has done for God's people, to see how Jesus showed us God's love in his life, death and resurrection and to see the Holy Spirit descend in wind and flame. We are asked to see all of this and ask, "So what are you going to do about it?"
As we worship in our churches this weekend, as preachers prepare to preach yet another sermon on the Acts text, we might want to ask our congregations the same question. "So, what are you going to do about it?"
The "so what" for the disciples was that they started telling the story of Jesus all over the known world. They didn't go back to their old lives, but forged ahead, being empowered and led by the Spirit to some new territory.
The wind, fire and the speaking of different languages is a pointed question to us. What does all of this mean to you? Does it affect you? Does it change your life?
David Lose references one of my favorite political columnists, David Brooks, who wrote a worthwhile essay recently to today's college grads. He told them to give up the recent obsession in our society to focus on the self, and to live for others:
Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer’s and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss and must develop management skills so his department can function. Another young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a job category she never imagined. This wasn’t in her plans, but this is where she can make her contribution.
Most people don’t form a self and then lead a life. They are called by a problem, and the self is constructed gradually by their calling.
As Christians our lives are shaped by a calling; a calling from God, exemplified by Jesus and sent by the Holy Spirit. It is when we serve others, teaching children about God or befriending a person battling addiction that is when we begin to answer the question that is Pentecost, it when we do something about life in response to all the amazing acts God has done for us. For all of us.
So, what are you going to do about it?
Go and be church.
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