The Work of the Spirit

Sermon preached Sunday, May 28, 2023, Pentecost Sunday, at Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in North Chesterfield, VA. 

Pentecost is definitely one of my favorite festivals in the church year. I’m not even totally sure why, but it is. The imagery is great, with the flames and the wind and the dove. And maybe it’s my tendency to root for the underdog that makes Pentecost standout, since the Holy Spirit is the person in the Trinity who often takes a backseat…but it really shouldn’t.

After all, the Holy Spirit is God’s promised presence with us. When Jesus was still with his disciples, he promised them an advocate. And the Holy Spirit is what inspired the disciples to finally leave the upper room and begin to spread the Gospel. Without the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t be here.

Today is not only Pentecost, but also Confirmation Sunday! The question then becomes, why do we do the Confirmation rite on Pentecost? We don’t need to, it’s not a requirement. In fact, we could Confirm our young people on any day the church gathers for worship. However, anytime there is a transitional rite in the church, we tend to invoke the Holy Spirit: ordinations, baptisms, and confirmation. It makes sense then, to Confirm our youth on Pentecost or Reformation Sunday, which is another traditional festival some congregations use—these are both considered Holy Spirit Festivals.

Confirmation is actually not even a unique rite unto itself. It’s really just an Affirmation of Baptism. When most of our youth were young, they were baptized, and promises were made on their behalf. Their parents or the folks bringing them to baptism promised:

to live with them among God’s faithful people,

bring them to the word of God and the holy supper,

teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,

place in their hands the holy scriptures, and nurture them in faith and prayer,

so that your children may learn to trust God,

proclaim Christ through word and deed,

care for others and the world God made,

and work for justice and peace.

And for the past however many years, it has been the parents’ faith, the grandparents’ faith, the congregation’s faith that has stood up on behalf of the child’s. Today, however, one of our young people is going to be making those promises for themself after time spent learning more about the Bible and what we believe as followers of Christ. Today, Henry will be making a transition from his childhood faith to the beginnings of his adult faith and he will be able to take his place as a full-fledged member of this congregation with every responsibility and privilege that entails.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that we heard today, Paul describes all the different gifts that individuals bring to the table. The same God provides them and the same God activates them, but the gifts themselves are as unique as the people who display them.

As a congregation, it is so vital for us to remember this. To remember that each person who participates in our community has that unique set of passions, skills, and gifts that make them integral to what we do.

And it’s not just the adults. It’s not even just the confirmed. But it’s everyone. Of all ages and abilities.

Let me address this next bit to anyone who identifies as a millennial or older:

The young people here at LCOS, regardless of whether or not they are confirmed, are not the church of the future, as some folks may be prone to say. They are the church of today, the church of right now, just like the rest of us. They might engage the Church in a different way, they might have ideas that seem foreign. We might not know just how to make room for them—but they are here, the same way any of us are. And we have made promises on behalf of them.

When a child is baptized, the parents make promises, but the congregation makes promises as well. The congregation promises to support and pray for each individual in their life of faith—and supporting them means finding ways to fully include their true selves in our community. You’ll all make that promise again today—the promise to continue to support them and pray for them. Support does not require conformity, but rather encouragement and understanding.

After all, the Spirit that we celebrate and worship and remember today moves and guides the church in ways we often don’t expect or understand…or even want. That is the story of the early church breaking open on Pentecost. All of a sudden, it’s not just Jews, it’s not even just people who speak Aramaic or Hebrew or even Greek: it’s people of all tongues and nationalities hearing the Gospel. Eventually, as time goes on, the church opens up even more as newcomers aren’t required to convert fully to Judaism in order to follow Christ.

The Book of Acts and the story of how the Spirit has led the church is a story of things cracking open in new and different ways and conflict arising because always, without fail, someone opposed it. But always, without fail, God was at work, bringing some new out of the ever-changing church.

It’s been just about a year since I began my call here. On May 30^th last year, we embarked on a new season of ministry together. We didn’t get to that place on our own: we trusted that the Holy Spirit was at work in our mutual discerning. And we have leaned on the Spirit over the past twelve months to encourage and inspire us a long the way. As I look forward into the next year, the next several years, I eagerly anticipate how the Spirit will move and shape this community.

What advocacy will we embark on?

What services, food, clothing, or shelter will we provide?

How many people will feel God moving in worship?

How many ways will God expand faith through our community?

What parts of our congregational life will be deepened and strengthened? Which ones might we be called to adapt or say goodbye to?

If we are looking for it, the work of the Spirit is everywhere. Sometimes it makes sense and we can easily assent to it and embrace it. Other times, it might seem scary or strange or challenging and we might be tempted to shy away. But God’s reign will continue on regardless. Are we ready to join in?

Amen.

Pushed by the Holy Spirit

Sermon preached Sunday, June 5, 2022, Pentecost, at Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, in North Chesterfield, Virginia. 

I just told our young folks that Pentecost is like the church’s birthday. I feel that way. On Pentecost we remember and celebrate when the Jesus Movement took its first real steps out into the world, undeterred by the opposition it would face and confident that, even with Jesus no longer physically with them, God would be by their side.

It’s a new chapter, an open door, an adventure waiting to be embarked on.

Frankly, that’s kind of the way I’m envisioning this beginning time at LCOS.

After a couple months of talking with the synod, interviewing with the Call Committee, talking with Council, visiting you all in April…here we are!

I am thrilled that the Holy Spirit has led us to this place: a new chapter, an open door, an adventure to be embarked on.

I don’t want to be idealistic here: I am sure there will be bumps in the road as we navigate our relationships with one another. That’s the nature of being in community: ups and downs, conflicts and resolutions. However, I feel certain that God is leading us to where we are called to be.

I mean, it wasn’t all clear skies and open roads for those earliest Christians, right?

In the book of Acts we hear stories of imprisonments, executions, persecutions, and more. Those earliest believers argued quite a bit as they discerned what God wanted them to do. Which laws should they follow? What did they keep from their Jewish roots or incorporate from the Roman and Greek world around them? What would they embrace that was brand new? It’s a turbulent time, with no obvious way forward.

…and yet, forward those earliest Christians went. Forward to proclaim God’s love and the good news of salvation through Christ.

It is not an easy time right now. There seems to be stress and turbulence in so many arenas of our world. I remember, when I was younger, my family all agreed not to talk about religion or politics with my grandpa because it would always lead to an argument or a diatribe that no one wanted to listen to. I feel like, nowadays, that list is ever-expanding: be careful not to talk about religion, politics, the environment, education, economics, healthcare…or any topic that could even tangentially be connected to one of those.

But I don’t think that not talking about these things is the answer. That only leads to echo chambers and getting entrenched in one’s own opinion. When our only options when you disagree with someone are to change your mind or ignore them completely, we’ve missed the point. When we only see things as abstract concepts without nuance, we lose what’s really happening.

This is not to say that we should never change our mind. It is good and honorable and a sign of growth that, when presented with new facts or a new perspective, we understand the world in a new and different way. What I mean to say is that we should be sure to be grounded in something—dare I say the Gospel?—that holds us to a standard of love and care and justice which prevents us from accepting every generalization, blanket statement, or harmful idea as fact.

Alternatively, by saying that we shouldn’t automatically shut down communication with those we disagree with, I am not suggesting that we need to subject ourselves to hateful rhetoric or give oxygen to things that are patently false or harmful. Instead, I am convinced that most people, maybe not all, but most, want to know that they are at least being heard and not dismissed. And so, taking the time to listen does not mean that we will agree, but it does highly increase the odds that we will remember that they are a child of God and that the image of God is borne in them, as well as us. And maybe, by remembering that, we can find some thread of commonality to move our relationship forward.

How do we get started, or restarted, or reenergized to do this work? I think that’s where the story of Pentecost comes in.

The Holy Spirit arrives and kind of upends the disciples’ plans. Okay, so we don’t know for sure what they’d been planning on doing after the ascension and after they cast lots to find the twelfth disciple to replace Judas…but I honestly don’t have super high expectations. Given their previous track record of hiding in rooms or going back to their regular jobs, I pretty much assume that maybe they would have eventually gotten around to doing some evangelizing, but it wouldn’t happen too fast and it wouldn’t be too innovative. (Boy, does that sound like the Church today, much of the time!)

But lucky for us—and Thanks be to God!—the Holy Spirit blows in, shakes things up, and lights a fire—literally—that sends the disciples off to the corners of the world. I mean, what else were they to do, now that they all were speaking different languages? The Spirit gave the push—the shove—to get them out, proclaiming the good news.

That’s what the Holy Spirit is best at—kicking things off, initiating some remarkable action.

In Hebrew and Greek, the word Spirit is closely linked and often interchanged with both “breath” and wind.” Does anyone know the Hebrew word? (“Ruach.”) And the Greek? (“Pneuma.” Yep! As in Pneumatologist.”) If we look at the most revelatory and game-changing actions in creation, the Spirit is there.

At Creation, when there is only a formless void and chaos, God’s ruach moves over the face of the waters just before God says, “Let there be light.”

In the Gospel of Luke, when Mary asks the angel how can she be with child, the angel tells her that the “pneuma hagion,” the Holy Spirit will come upon her.

Two chapters later, Jesus’ ministry is inaugurated at his baptism when that same Holy Spirit descends upon him.

Each time, something in history shifts, never to be the same again: the universe is brought to order from chaos. God chooses to become incarnate and live among us. Christ is baptized so that we may eventually become one with him in our own baptism.

And, of course, as we hear today, the Holy Spirit arrives to remind the disciples that there is work they are called to do. It is work that they have been equipped for, but it is a challenging and probably a scary undertaking, nonetheless. They have to know it won’t be easy, but the Spirit is there: encouraging, comforting, cajoling, exciting. Every step of the way.

So, as we sit here—or as you sit here and I stand here—I look forward to discerning with you what work it is God is calling us to, the work that we have been equipped to do together, as we have individually and collectively been formed by our experiences up to this point. Do you feel something pulling at your heart, nudging at your soul?

And could it be the Holy Spirit, ever at work, encouraging you, comforting you, cajoling you, and exciting you?

Shall we find out, together?

Amen.

Out of God’s Heart

Sermon preached Sunday, May 31, 2020, Pentecost Sunday, from my home in Gettysburg, PA, due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Pentecost definitely ranks up there with my favorite feast days. What’s not to like about a day filled with fire and wind and the chaotic sound of many different languages and the baptism of three thousand people? It’s just a really great story that has inspired the church for two thousand years!

When this day comes up each year, when this reading from Acts is appointed, it is our job as the church to think about what the Holy Spirit would inspire in us if we were in that room? What is the Holy Spirit trying to inspire in us today? The Church now looks very different than it back then. A variety of languages is not what’s needed to spread the Word today, although we do need some translations.

We need to find ways to translate the love of God in tangible ways: in love, in service, in generosity. And the only way we can do that is by the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to make it happen.

Today’s gospel reading sees Jesus standing up in the middle of a noisy and chaotic festival, declaring, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37b-38)

During this festival, the festival of Sukkoth, the harvest festival, water would be poured out in thanksgiving for water that had nourished the crops. Jesus takes this moment to let all who can hear know that the real sustaining water, the real living water, comes from him—and that anyone who is thirsty may drink.

Then he follows that up by stating that “out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” It’s a little confusing here, but it doesn’t sound like he’s talking about himself It sounds like he’s talking about someone who believes in him—someone who has taken a drink of the water of life…and that living water is now overflowing through them.

I imagine it like one of those cliché champagne towers, right? Where you pour the champagne in the top glass and it fills up then overflows and spills out into the cups below it? That’s kind of how I see this living water, this metaphor for the Holy Spirit, working.

From God, the Spirit comes to us and fills us. But that’s not enough. The Spirit keeps working in us until we can’t contain it anymore and it spills out of us into those around us.

And the quote Jesus cites says that it comes from “the believer’s heart.” That’s not really a full translation. This word can mean heart, or stomach, or even womb. It’s a person’s innermost being, the very central part.

And so, we receive the Spirit from God’s most central part, God’s innermost being. What an intimate thing to share with us! And then God, through the Spirit, moves into our innermost being and fills us so that we can share the love and peace and grace of God with others.

The Spirit, after all, is never static, any more than the wind is or any more than our breath is. God’s Spirit is constantly on the move, taking the church into unexpected places where God is ready to meet us.

Take a deep breath with me. Feel for the Spirit.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

This Pentecost Sunday, I pray that God continues to surprise you and fill you with this gracious and Holy Spirit.

Amen.