The Church Emerges

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on May 11, 2008, Pentecost Sunday.

Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
1Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 7:37-39

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Since Easter, we have been on a journey exploring the ancient church during the time of the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Today, that journey brings us to the starting point of what we know as the church; the presence, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Pentecost.

Our reading from John begins as Jesus cries out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink.”

Our reading from Acts has a prophecy from the book of Joel, “God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”

The Lord promises to pour out the Spirit on all flesh and Jesus cries out for those who believe to come to him. John’s gospel promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Acts describes the Spirit’s coming.

The Spirit has come, the church is born. From these beginnings, the church emerges. And as it emerges, it does with authority granted by the Lord and empowered by the Holy Spirit. And for the past seven weeks, we have gotten a scriptural image of what the church is, what it should be, and what it can be.

Our readings have pointed us toward a community rooted in the resurrected Christ; the messiah who bore the wounds of pain and death for us; the Shepherd who knows and protects his sheep. The sheep, knowing the Shepherd’s voice, called to come together as a community sharing fellowship, a common meal, and prayer as the family of God.

We are the people who are given a new message of new life, a life that begins with the gift of free grace offered long before the beginning. We are the people called to respond to this glorious gift in faith shown in repentance and baptism.

We are called to worship the Jesus who died and rose and lives today who is the Lord of life, not of death. The Lord who created us, loving us freely, wants us to respond in love, not out of obligation. Since there is no way we can repay the Lord, one of the ways we love God is by loving one another.

Most importantly perhaps, we, as the people of the resurrected Lord have been told to go, see, and tell. We are to share the person and in the work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

In Acts, Luke writes of the coming of the Spirit as a heavenly sound, like the rush of a violent wind. The concept of a heavenly wind isn’t unusual to the Jewish reader; this phrase is found in other places in scripture noting the arrival of the Spirit of God. So when the Spirit comes, it comes with the same power it came with in Genesis when the wind blew across the waters when the Earth was a formless void.

If as one of the three persons of God, the Spirit blows beginning the process of creation, giving the gift of tongues must be a snap.

In Acts the people ask the question, “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” People today still ask this question, “How does the gift of tongues work?” In our reading from Acts, this question is never answered.

When the question, “What does this mean?” is asked, this question is answered. Peter speaks telling the assembly “Let this be known to you, listen to what I say.” Peter tells the assembly that how the Lord speaks to them through the power of the Holy Spirit is not nearly as important as the message itself.

The message is simply this, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is the message of the Pentecost. This is the message we are given the power and authority to take into the world, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

So on this, the birthday of the church, what does this message mean to us? What does it mean to us as individuals? What does it mean to us as the body of Christ?

Above all, it means that we have been given the power to do as the disciples did two thousand years ago, we are to share the good news that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And we have been given the power to do this so that all may understand.

What you don’t know, but I’m about to tell you, is that when I got to this point in the sermon, I had no idea where to go from here. I was looking for some grand words, a wonderful gesture, a stunning illustration; and it just wasn’t there, and I spent days looking.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of words. But of those that made sense, many of them were accusatory without being convicting. I was doing some good blaming, but there was nothing constructive. I was deeply theological, but not terribly practical. Good stuff, but frankly, other than a few professors and maybe a journal editor, who cares about my deep theological epiphanies? But for the love of God and all that’s holy the words I had written just sounded preachy… to me! I couldn’t imagine any of those words were pointing to Christ and moving us toward to the kingdom of heaven.

So, I punted. There were some things I needed to do in the office this morning, so I went to McDonalds and got some coffee and came in to do some worship chores. I changed the paraments to the proper liturgical color, changed the outdoor sign, stuff like that.

As I was putting up the “Happy Mother’s Day” sign, one of the women who worked in the county dispatch office across the street came to work. She looked over at me and said, “So you’re the one who changes the sign!” I replied “Yes I am.” (This wasn’t the time for the Bill Engvall “Here’s Your Sign” snappy comeback.)

She reminded me of a couple of months ago when the sign said, “Ashley, We’re Praying for You.” Of course, we were praying for Ashley here in church. But she told me that they appreciated it because there were two women in the dispatch office named Ashley and they appreciated that someone was praying for them.

This wasn’t the first time that happened because of that sign. While the sign was up, a woman asked me the last name of the Ashley we were praying for. I told her that she was a member of this congregation and that I would keep her last name in confidence. So she asked me if we were praying for Ashley So-and-so and I said no. But then I said that in a way, we were praying for her if she believed we were. The Lord does things with words and prayers that I cannot control.

One little sign, in one little sign four women were blessed and bathed in prayer that I know of! Through that one little sign, one tiny prayer, the Good News of life eternal was being shared in ways I never imagined. My intent was for only one of them, but the Holy Spirit would not be constrained to my little corner of the world or by my intent. The Spirit blows as the Spirit will and we must be ready for where that Spirit takes us.

In my study there is a small picture of the Isenheim Altarpiece in Colmar, Alsace titled “John the Baptist.” by Matthias Grünewald. Karl Barth used this image to inspire him and to serve as one of the goals of his preaching.[1] The central image of this altar piece is Christ on the cross. To his left is John the Baptist in camel hair holding holy writ and pointing to Christ. Barth believed that all good preaching was holding holy writ and pointing to Christ crucified.

This is the message we take into the world. We take Christ crucified into the world. We are to use the power of the Holy Spirit, given to the church on Pentecost so long ago, and use it to point to Jesus who lived and died and conquered death so that we may live. And the Spirit gives us the power to do just that. And by the variety of gifts given for the common good—the good of the church; whether by wisdom or knowledge, by faith or healing or miracles, by prophecy or discernment, by tongues or interpretation of tongues; we are able to take the word into the world saying, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” By this, the church emerges.

[1] Willimon, William, Conversations with Barth on Preaching. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006, page 6.