Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
May 19, 2002 Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2: 1-21
You may find this hard to believe, but I am not real comfortable with a lot of changes or surprises on Sunday morning. I think about worship a lot during the week; I prepare, I plan. Sunday worship is always on my mind. So when Sunday morning comes around, I like things to go as planned, try to minimize the surprises. Now over the years I have learned to adjust, to make last minute changes, to move things around, to think on my feet when things don’t go quite as planned, such as that memorable moment a few years ago when I turned to the last page of my sermon for my big finish, only to realize that the last page wasn’t there. No last page, just the bare wood of the pulpit looking back at me… I swear it was laughing! I adjusted then, and I can adjust now, although I don’t necessarily like it. I like it when worship flows smoothly, according to plan….my plan.
And so, in all honesty, I am not sure I would have handled that first Pentecost too well. Everyone was in the room. Perhaps they were planning to share in a prayer, have a discussion, plan for life after Jesus, maybe just share a meal. Then suddenly, without warning, wind, fire, people speaking all manner of different languages. Total chaos. “Wait a minute, this isn’t on today’s agenda; there’s nothing in the order of worship about wind and fire! I didn’t plan this, this isn’t supposed to be happening, we don’t have time for wind and fire. Where does it say anything here about wind and fire?”
No, I’m not sure I would have handled that first Pentecost too well. And yet, interestingly enough, it was out of that Pentecost experience, that unplanned, unruly, disorderly, disruptive, chaotic experience, that a church was born. Born of wind and fire, born of a Spirit that blows where it will without regard for agendas and plans. How easily I forget that….but I don’t want to forget that.
Some wonderful people joined our church today. It never fails to excite me – to move me – when people make the decision to unite with us as members of this congregation. Truly it is a time of rededication and renewal. And before they joined, we met for a few hours and discussed important things – church history, church structure, money, denominational connections, a little of their own faith journey and how they came to this church. Important stuff to know and several questions were asked. We had a good discussion.
But not one of the people who joined our church today said that they were joining the church so that they could serve on a committee. Not one said they were joining the church because they needed a place to give money. Not one said they were joining the church because they longed to learn how to follow a neat and orderly Gene Nelson order of worship. Hard to believe, but true. Well, if they weren’t interested in committees and money and orderly worship, then why did they join? I would have to ask them, but I think they joined this church – I think we all joined this church – because we want a little wind, a little fire in our lives. We want that unruly Spirit to blow, to have its way with us, and take us down unexpected paths of faith and caring and service. We want to feel its power working in out hearts, replacing the cold chill of anxiety and fear with the hot fire of hope and love. I think that’s what we want; I know it is what I want.
A few years ago, ABC’s Peter Jennings hosted a documentary called, In the Name of God. He investigated the rapid growth of independent mega-churches is North America – churches often with thousands of members. He contrasted these churches with the decline in older mainline denominations, such as the United Church of Christ. Jennings interviewed John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard Fellowship. Wimber said that when he first became a Christian, he visited various churches in search of “the stuff.” “Where’s the stuff,” he had asked over and over again. What he meant was…where are the healings and speaking in tongues, and other miracles that were part of the first church. He expected that extraordinary gifts of the spirit would be manifest in a “real” church. And he wanted to be sure they would manifest in any church he would be part of.
His remarks pretty much explain why I am not a member of the Vineyard Fellowship. Their “stuff” really is not my “stuff” and I suspect most of us here this morning would not find their stuff too appealing. I’m sure I would only be a one-time visitor in such a church. And yet, I don’t want simply to dismiss him with a verbal wave of the hand. He is making a point we need to hear, even we rational, even-tempered, sensible western Sonoma County Protestants.
I recently received an e-mail from the Methodist Church in Baton Rouge where our daughter, Bethany, is working. It listed ways we might sing some well-known hymns, if we were really being honest. For example, if we were really being honest, we might sing:
Blest Be the Tie that Doesn’t Cramp My Style
Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following
Above Average is Thy Faithfulness
My Hope is Built On Nothing Much
There Shall Be Sprinkles of Blessings
Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me.
While I don’t agree with John Wimber’s style, I do believe he makes a telling point. It is easy to lose our stuff, to become so bland, so safe, to go out into the world and blend in with all we see. We lose our fire. The air gets so still, so stale, no wind blowing anywhere. We are content with sprinkles of blessings. “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Much.”
But it wasn’t that way when the church began. On that first Pentecost, those disciples discovered that their world had just been turned upside down. The Spirit blew all the doors off the hinges. Reflecting on Pentecost and the gift of the Spirit, Barbara Brown Taylor says, “Forget everything you ever thought you knew about who is in charge in this world. If you think you know which way is up, think again. If you think you know how things should turn out in the end, get ready to be wrong….Then receive the Holy Spirit. That is, breathe. Deeply. Receive your life as a gift invisible as air, and prepare to be astonished by all the forms that breath can take. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, shy people have been known to step up onto platforms and say audacious things. Cautious people have become daredevils, frugal people have become philanthropists and people who used to be as sour as dill pickles have become rich with friends.
“There is no limit to what the Holy Spirit can do. You just cannot hold your breath, that’s all. You have to keep breathing, keep paying attention, keep responding to whatever crazy idea you come up with next. Some people call it intuition. Others call it inspiration. Forever and ever, the church has called it Holy Spirit.”
Martin Luther claimed that he led the Protestant Reformation by sitting in the tavern drinking good beer and minding his own business. The Holy Spirit did the rest. (I wonder if that would work in sermon preparation?) Luther understood that we are a church called into being by the restless, unruly, unpredictable Spirit. And it hasn’t gone away, it is with us still! It doesn’t mean we are going to speak in tongues or roll on the floor. But it does mean that we are not going to be compliant, afraid of change, afraid of new people, hopelessly tied to the way we have always done things – or the way we have always worshipped. It means we are going to stay awake, pay attention, be open to new ideas, new directions, always asking, “Is this what God would have us do?” As one colleague has said, “The sure sign that we are following Christ is that he leads where we did not expect to go.”
You’ve all heard the story that when A. L. Mencken was informed that Calvin Collidge was dead, he responded, “How can they tell?’
May that never be said of this church. And it won’t be as long as we want “the stuff” of the Spirit, as long as we believe that the power and purpose of God – a power and purpose beyond our controlling or complete understanding - are working in each of our lives and in our life as a community – shattering barriers, restoring unity, sending us out, upsetting plans, opening windows, turning lives and a world upside down, making us, in all our weakness and imperfection, a church.