Sermon for May 20, 2018
Read Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Acts 2:1-21 ....The Spirit is such a strange concept, isn’t it? There’s not really a very clear definition of spirit, and a lot of times we get an image of a nebulous ghost type of being. Websters says that it is: an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organism or a supernatural being or essence. Which I guess is a definition, but doesn’t go very far to explain what the Spirit is, does it?
In all of the original languages – Greek, Hebrew, Latin – what we now call spirit translates closer to breath or wind. This passage in Acts calls to a sense of breath and through that living. For breath is what you have when you are alive. Breath is how we know someone still lives. When at deathbed vigils we watch the rise and fall of a chest and we know they are okay. As long as he is breathing, there is still hope. To breathe is to be alive. To have spirit is to be alive. To speak of the spirit is to speak of the power of life that is in you.
There are those in the world who are so strong, so alive, that their spirit will affect others. I’m sure you all know those wonderful individuals whose mood is contagious. When they are smiling and laughing, it is almost impossible not to be caught up in their joy. When they are sad it puts a pall over the entire room. This is spirit so strong it can breathe itself out into other lives, becoming inspiring. Their spirit touches ours.
With God’s spirit we are dealing with the breath of God, the very life of our God. God is the power of life itself, and has breathed and continues to breathe life into his creation. Inspiring it. When the Spirit of God comes upon us, as God breathes it upon us, we cannot help but be caught up in that spirit. God’s spirit will move us, whether we wished to be moved or not.
In today’s passage the Spirit calls a group of people in the middle of a noisy busy city. Numbers of nonbelievers are striding past. People are going about their normal daily business. Its early morning, and with breakfast in their stomachs, people are starting out their day. A crowd of people has gathered together to celebrate the holy days, something they do every year. Life is normal.
And then… out of nowhere the Lord breathes upon them. All of them. Every last one of the disciples there. These are people who just came to worship and who got more than they ever bargained for.
Imagine those disciples, those followers of Jesus. They are followers, even by their very names. They are trying to figure out what now that Jesus has ascended, probably confused and not a little bit frightened. And then, next thing you know, the Spirit has fell on them and they are speaking in languages they have never known. They begin proclaiming the truth and saving grace of Jesus Christ not only in ways that others can hear and understand but with a courage and strength they had not known before. They turn from Disciples, those who follow, into Apostles, those who are sent.
Through the Spirit, they become empowered to go out as they had been told to do. Aj Gordon once described it as "Before Pentecost the disciples found it hard to do easy things; after Pentecost they found it easy to do hard things."
The Spirit does not pick and choose. We hear this in the wondrous vision encountered by the prophet Ezekiel where the breath (the Spirit) reinvigorates all those dry bones, bringing life where there was death, new hope where there was only despair. And we hear of it as the disciples were gathered together in one place and the Holy Spirit made its presence known with the ‘rush of a violent wind.’ In both cases, the ‘Spirit’ shows no discrimination. All the bones were re-assembled and had life breathed into them once more. Everyone who was gathered ‘heard and understood.’ Indeed, as Peter speaks, he points to the ancient words of the prophet Joel who dreamed of a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out upon all flesh. On everyone within reach.
I think about those poor people, the ones who weren’t disciples but just happened to be in the area. Going along, minding their own business. They were attending the Holy Days like good faithful people do. Life is simple when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, bam. The Spirit falls upon them in tongues of fire, uncalled for and unwanted. They are overwhelmed with the infectiousness of God’s Spirit. God’s breath. They are touched by the life of God, and are wrenched out of their normal pattern. No more will this one weave his cloth. No more will that one sell his wares the way he did. He is called into God’s spirit and the very air he breathes has changed.
True. You can ignore the call. Many do. I tried to! Growing up, I never thought I would be in the pulpit. You can see how well that worked out.
God calls us all no matter to gender or race, economic class or education. There are no entrance exams, no interviews. It makes no difference if you’ve traveled the world or if you have never been out of your hometown. God doesn’t care whether you are well spoken. The Spirit has chosen you. You.
Make no mistake; the Holy Spirit is calling you personally. No matter what you own plan is, God has a plan for you too. Something you can do in the world. Something God needs you to do. The Spirit has called each and every one of you to serve.
Now some people say that they can hear the spirit clearly. I had a classmate in seminary who swore that when he was quiet, he could hear the Spirit He was always convinced he knew what to do, because he had the voice of the Spirit talking directly to him.
That amazed me – still does in fact. The Spirit has never been so clear in talking to me. No, for me the Spirit likes hints, nudges, or a prod in the right direction occasionally, but nothing so clear as a voice. Which means I have to spend a lot of time paying attention to the world around me to figure out what I should be doing.
The Spirit not always a noisy or clear in its calling. Usually the Spirit is subtle, calling you through the needs of others. So listen. If someone asks you to volunteer for something, listen for the Spirit in that question.
And it’s even easier to miss the spirit at work when you aren’t asked directly, but instead hear of a need that you are suited to fulfill. Maybe there is a committee that could really use your help. Or you read an article on a particular need in our community. It’s easy to keep on reading there. Easy to see the problem as too big for you to help with. Easy to ignore the Spirit.
We even have good excuses! "I’m too busy." "I couldn’t do something like that." "It's too big for me to make a difference." All are reasonable arguments about the enormity of problems facing us today.
But remember – God knows you. God knows exactly what you are being asked to do and is asking you anyway. Because God knows what you are capable of. More importantly, God knows what you are capable of with the Holy Spirit’s help. Even tasks that seem so much bigger than us – so much more than we could possibly do are possible. Through the same Spirit that calls us, we are gifted with what we need to follow the Spirit’s call. So excuses will never fly with the Holy Spirit.
Now when I first started looking at seminary, I was terrified at speaking in public and chronically shy; not what you look for in a pastor. Given my own way I could have never ended up here. But it wasn’t my way, it was God’s way. The Spirit breathed upon me and gave me the courage to stand in a pulpit and speak the Word. The Spirit gave me the strength to introduce myself to people.
And I’ll tell you a secret, I couldn’t possibly imagine being anywhere else – doing anything else. I love my call – even if it didn’t come to me in a bolt of inspiration but in several subtle nudges in new directions – I am still convinced it is the call of the Holy Spirit I am serving.
The Spirit calls you. Loudly, quietly, insistently, joyously, somberly, urgently the Spirit calls.
The Spirit calls you to serve and if you only accept that call, the Spirit strengthens you to fulfill it. How joyous it is that you are called! It may not turn out how you plan – it rarely does. But you have been breathed upon by God, filled with the Spirit.
And invited to follow where that leads.
