Fill us Up Lord
Act 2:1-21
Can you imagine the scene?Disciples huddled in a room, and afraid? When I think of it I imagine being in a room with all the windows covered, and people in little groups, one there…and one there…one there…talking quietly and trying to decide what to do.
And then a roaring wind, and tongues of fire….and then no more huddling in the room, everyone is out on the street….overflowing with the excitement of the moment….talking to everyone…
Can you see the scene....see the sudden contrast? Huddling in the dark, shivering in fear…..and then overwhelmed with the good news,
Quite a change don't you think?
We talk about the Day of Pentecost as being the birthday of the church. The day that the Church came into being. Why do you think we talk about it that way?
To answer that question we need to think about what a church is ….
What is a church? Sometimes we think of the Church as the building, but that is an idea whose time is LONG past, isn't it. I mean, we all know that it's not the building that makes the church.
But is the church just a group of people gathering together?
Pentecost is NOT the birthday of the church because it was on that day that we first saw a group of followers of Jesus gather, is it. We see Jesus gather people to himself before his crucifixion, and we hear of groups gathering together after his death, meeting each other, and meeting with the risen Lord. So why is Pentecost such a special day? Certainly it was a day that would have caused quite a stir with the noise and the fire, - people were making comments like - man they must be drunk - but why the birthday of the church? People didn't gather for the first time that day.
But what makes us a church, is not just that a group of people gathered together on a Sunday morning to visit with each other, and to do various things. To sing, and pray, and greet each other, to listen to a sermon (or maybe to take a bit of a snooze in the middle), and to share a bit of bread and wine together. Now that sounds a lot more like church doesn't it? But it's not quite right. We sometimes talk about the church as being the people and not the building - but a church is more than that too isn't it. MORE than people working and learning and growing together. More than people worshiping together and then going out into the world to serve……
It's more because it's more than just You, and me and you and you and you show up. It's because GOD himself shows up isn't it. We see this morning that the church is formed when believers gather and the Holy Spirit empowers them to be Christ's body in the world. So Pentecost really is the birthday of the church.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us, and to empower us to do things WE SIMPLY CANNOT DO ON OUR OWN.
The message of today's readings is that we are called to learn, to work hard, to strive to win the race for God, as Paul talks about in another place - BUT even more than that, we should expect that sometimes, when we are feeling weak and tired and discouraged, God may choose to use us, instead of for a one base hit if we think in terms of baseball, you know that one base hit that is all that we can muster in our own strength, but to hit a home run. To hit the ball, not into the bleachers, but right out of the ball park. Imagine the ball sailing up and up and up…and its gone….its right out of sight.
How many of you can think of things that you have done, that it was simply not within your power to do. To help someone when you couldn't, to forgive someone when it wasn't in you. To talk to someone when you just didn't have the courage. To see a person healed in body and in spirit. To be a part of God's handiwork. I see God working in places and times that are truly amazing.
Sometimes we think of the Holy Spirit as God that makes us feel better, that heals us in body and in spirit. The Spirit does empower our prayers and our worship. - In the Bible the Spirit is called the Comforter sometimes just for this reason. But I think we sell the Spirit short when we only think in this way…The Spirit is Powerful and can DO all sorts of things that are beyond our imagination.
I often pray that the Holy spirit will come, fill me, empower me, so that I can do things that I could never do on my own….I was talking about this with on of my friends and he was trying to tell me why that was silly, that the Spirit comes to us at baptism, when we first believe, and so why pray that way….
Well the answer to that I think can be seen in….can be seen in these three cups, and this pitcher of water. When we first are believers, are young believers we might be thought of as this little cup, and God send the Spirit….but as Christians we grow don't we…we study, and learn and grow in faith, so that we start to look more like this cup…. And then we grow some more…and we need more of God's Spirit to fill us up...
Of course there is a problem with all of these glasses too isn't there…we are not meant to be glasses full of water are we, we are meant to be full and overflowing with God's Spirit, so that we can be a light in this dark world. More like this…
Let's think about the story in Acts one more time. We find a group of followers of Jesus, huddled together in a room, and then the Holy Spirit comes. It fills the room, and alights on everyone there. And then they are out in the street, telling everyone about Jesus. They are able to speak to everybody in their own language. Peter, yes Peter, the one that didn't have the courage to tell a small group around a camp fire that Jesus was his friend, is now announcing that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was the messiah, and telling them that this was GOOD NEWS for them. Wow.
Of course the really good news for today is that we, along with all of Jesus followers from Peter to EACH OF US, can have that same person behind us. The Spirit didn't show up, and then disappear. The Spirit came to form the church at Pentecost, and is still working in the world today, to empower each and every one of us.
How you say? What do we do? We pray. We pray for ourselves, we pray for each other. We ask God, in his power to help us, to send the spirit to us, to fill us, to bless us, to help us truly be the church in the world.
I invite each of you, today, on Pentecost Sunday, to pray as you come forward for Communion. To say Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, shake me up a bit. Fill me to overflowing. Help me to do the things that Jesus is calling me to, to do the hard things, to do the easy things, and to do the impossible things, to the Glory of God.
Amen
©2004 Steve E. Timpson
(613) 272-2360
P.O. Box 69
2764 Highway 15, Portland, Ontario
stimpson@ontario.anglican.ca