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"Playing With Fire"
Pentecost B May 31, 2009 Acts 2:1:21 In the Name of Jesus. Amen. A little appetizer before getting to the main course this morning:
What neither Luke nor the disciples could have possibly known then was that Jesus had no intention of limiting proclamation of the good news to the 12 disciples. Now, on this day of Pentecost, just as Jesus had said, the good news is literally proclaimed in God’s name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. “Power from on high” -- the Holy Spirit -- is poured out on everyone. There were 120 believers all together and, Luke tells us, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak boldly." Notice that Luke doesn’t say a thing about the personalities or qualifications of these believers who were gathered. He doesn't say that the fire of the Holy Spirit descended on the best and the brightest of them, or on the ones with college or seminary degrees. He doesn’t say the fire of the Holy Spirit descended on only the men, or only the adults. He doesn’t say the fire of the Holy Spirit descended on only those who could quote all kinds of Bible verses, or who could recite the Luther’s Small Catechism, including all of the meanings, by memory. Luke says the fire of the Spirit descended on all of them. “A Christian is an ordinary person in whom something extraordinary has occurred.” You may not have been there in Jerusalem for the extraordinary event of Pentecost, but you were there for the extraordinary event of your Baptism. When you were baptized, the congregation prayed, “Pour out your Holy Spirit upon (say your name, out loud!).” Notice: not “trickle down,” not “sprinkle” your Holy Spirit – but pour. When you were named as God’s own child in your Baptism, you were also called, sent, to be a messenger of the good news of Jesus Christ. Your whole life of faith since then has been credentialing you to speak up for Jesus. The hardest thing for 95% of us to accept about the gift of the Holy Spirit is that, just as Christ had no intention of limiting proclamation of the good news to the 12 disciples, neither does Christ have any intention of limiting proclamation of the good news these days to ordained clergy. YOU have been entrusted with a message for the world. Yes, you! Think about this: there is no one else to speak the particular message that is entrusted to you, if you don’t speak it. The only story you can authentically tell is the story of who Jesus is in your life. If you don’t tell the story of who Christ is in your life, who will? And what will happen to the person who needs to hear your story, not someone else’s – yours -- in order to be healed of deep despair, or comforted in grief, encouraged in a time of trouble, loved in loneliness, trusted in a time of self-doubt, or challenged in a time of self-delusion; the person who needs to hear the story about hope and joy and justice in a language s/he can understand. Perhaps you are the one who speaks that person’s language, who has a special voice in that person’s life, that no one else has. No one else can tell your story with as much integrity, as much power. If you don’t tell your story, who will tell it for you? “Oh,” we say -- recalling the words attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” -- “Yes,” we insist, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love!” Will they? Every world religion, and most human philosophies, at one point or another teach the virtue of love, compassion. Even atheists recognize the virtue of love as a pretty good idea. Perhaps our reluctance comes from the fact that it is commonly acknowledged that one of people's greatest fears is public speaking. But you know what? At some point we have to put words to it. We have to say “Jesus.” We have to say “loves you unconditionally.” You don’t have to get up in front of a group of people to share the good news of Jesus Christ! You get to play with the fire of the Holy Spirit and say the words of your faith one-on-one to people you already know – at the coffee shop, in a fishing boat with a non-believing or skeptical friend, during a visit with a lonely elderly person, when chatting with a group of moms on a play date at McDonalds. You can share it one-on-one with neighbors, co-workers, friends, fellow-students, club members, the person you golf with, water-ski with, knit with...perhaps even the person you live with. I want you to say it now, to a person next to you or in front of you or behind you. Look them straight in the eye and say what you believe: “Jesus loves you, unconditionally.” Practice with one another, because if we can’t play with fire and be comfortable saying it to one another here in this sanctuary, we’re certainly not going to get comfortable with saying it to others. Do you understand? God sends you from inside the walls of this church to play with his holy fire in order to ignite faith outside the walls of the church. Why?
I wonder how many of us would immediately shut up because we didn’t want to attract attention to ourselves. How many of us would try to shush the children? How many of us would be wondering which paragraph in the church’s constitution and bylaws covers events like this and, assuming there isn’t one, would start to draft one so we could control this thing? How many of us would be looking around worrying what our friends, our visitors were thinking? Well, you know what? You better duck, because God has already begun playing with fire here. God began 50 years ago. And this lovely building – but more importantly, you and I -- wouldn’t be here if those first LCC members had held the fire carefully among themselves, blocking it from the Spirit blowing freely through the place, through them, because “fire can have a life of its own if you’re not careful and it gets away from you, don’cha know...” How do we put out the candles, which represent the light of Christ, at the end of the service? We smother the fire. Why would we possibly want to do that? Because we understand that the fire goes forth from this building with you, in you, as you walk out these doors and enter the mission field of your own backyard. God has been playing with fire with our youth, many of whom used to go to other churches for youth ministry, but who now come to their own church on Wednesday nights, and who are now bringing their friends here. God has been playing with fire with our Bible studies, as members invite friends or other members who have been sitting on the sidelines for a long time, into the living Word of Scripture. God has been playing with fire with our rummage sales, our Women of the ELCA events where church members are, once again, inviting their friends. God was even playing with fire during our anniversary celebration. One woman who attended our 50th anniversary worship a few weeks ago commented with tears in her eyes to another member that she’s never seen a church so alive, so energetic, so joyful. She saw a congregation not just looking back, stuck in the past, but a congregation celebrating and eagerly walking into the future with the living God who loves to play with fire and Spirit. God began playing with fire here 50 years ago. And God’s playing with fire again, this morning. Will you smother the fire Christ has kindled in you since Baptism when you leave the building today? Or will you follow where that fire and Spirit lead you and, perhaps, just perhaps, introduce someone to Jesus? Amen. Rev. Joan Gunderman, Senior Pastor
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
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