Pentecost 2020
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Sermon Pentecost Sunday A All Saints 5-31-20
Acts 2: 1 – 21 Psalm 104: 24 – 34 1 Corinthians 12: 3b – 13 John 20: 19 – 23
Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams
Today is Pentecost Sunday and we celebrate the coming of the Christian Church. The Church has belonged to God since the beginning of time, but our ministry began this day in Jerusalem.
The Disciples of Jesus had been sticking close to each other and to Jerusalem after the Resurrection. They were, of course, fearful of the Temple leaders and the Roman Guard, but Christ Jesus had also promised that they would receive the Spirit of God in Jerusalem if they could be patient. Jesus promised that the Spirit of God would give them power and would teach them what to do in His name.
You remember the story as St. Luke tells it in the Acts of the Apostles:
The disciples have gathered in one place when suddenly they hear a fierce, wild wind. Looking at each other, they could see fire sitting on top of each other’s heads with no injury to anyone. Each of them began speaking the language of another nation – a language that they had not studied from a place they had not visited.
I have heard so often the observation that “God does not call the qualified, God qualifies the called.” I had no doubt that I was called by God to be a priest, but part of me asked God over and over if God were possibly joking. I knew then, and know now, that I am not qualified on my own to be a priest.
Watching the Consecration of +Frank Logue as our new Bishop yesterday, I remembered well my ordination. Lying face down on the carpet in front of the altar at All Saints, I do not remember the prayers that Bishop Louttit prayed over me. I do remember the flood of thoughts and prayers rushing through my mind. I thought of the years of preparation even before my seminary education. I thought of All Saints and Deacon Eddie and Fr. Sam and Fr. Otto, each of whom helped me to understand my call. I still thought God must be crazy to want me as a priest – I would never be able to live up to my ordination. But, oh, how I wanted to! How I still want to live into the vows that I took. Face down on the carpet was exactly where I needed to be. Face down before the power and the glory of God.
Wind and fire reminded the Disciples on Pentecost of the unlimited power of God. A face-full of carpet reminded me of the infinite glory of God. Facing God in the carpet has made me far more aware of God in the stars, and far less afraid to seek God in unexpected places.
This day is also the beginning of Peter’s path toward his preaching ministry and leadership in the new Church. In his first sermon, Peter speaks to Jews who had gathered from all over the world in Jerusalem for the Passover. He reminds them of the prophecy spoken by Joel: young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. Old men – and old women, I must add – would dream dreams.
Dreams are essential to our physical survival, and dreams of the heart are vital to our spiritual health. God sent Jesus into the world as a human being so that we could see God and God’s love. God sent the Holy Spirit into our souls so that we could grow to be like Jesus. God made us to see God in everything around us and in every person we meet. God made us to pray for God’s kingdom to come here and now and to work for God’s will be done here and now.
That is our dream. That is our goal. That is our prayer. We are to BE the kingdom workers here so that God will be honored and obeyed in every corner of the earth. Our eternal life has begun – we do not have to wait for heaven to receive it. WE CANNOT wait for heaven to begin to live as if we believe that God’s gift is real for us. Just as one little lunch of loaves and fish was taken by Jesus and spread generously among 4000 people, so our gift of the Holy Spirit must be shared to grow. We will never find ourselves beyond the Holy Spirit of God. Our tiny pond can become a stream, a river, an ocean if we allow our dreams of God to grow. If we limit God by our fears, our doubts, our convenience, our weaknesses, we will never see the power of Pentecost promised to us.
Even in times of Covid-19, the Church is still called to be the Church, driven and empowered by God and God’s love. We cannot hoard what God has so freely given. Let us dream new dreams together and grow into the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
