Pentecost | 2024
By: Jared Mackey
It is a joy to be here with you this morning. I love this expression of the Church.
Spend moment considering how we conceive and celebrate the work of the Spirit of God
Christmas is the celebration of God is with us
Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is the celebration that God is for us
Pentecost is the celebration that God is in us
Ordinary Time is the promise God is working through us
Pentecost is not only a celebration of a past occasion, but a way to conceive present reality
Pentecost is the personal arrival of the Holy Spirit, the very power and presence of God, not only in the lives of those in an upper room centuries ago, but in the millions of people across the centuries and generation, on every continent, and countless civilizations
Pentecost
This beautiful mystery of the Holy Spirit’s power and presence in you and I is essential to hold alongside the other mysteries of our faith about the Spirit of God
Pentecost is as miraculous and mysterious as the incarnation or the resurrection
We believe:
o The Spirit of God hovered and formed life the physical life of Jesus within Mary
(DNA of Mary is in Jesus who sits at the right hand of God)
o The Spirit of God raised Jesus from the grave and conquering death
(The resurrected Jesus who we will be like, embodied but existing in a reality beyond what we can comprehend)
So, when we come to the story of Pentecost, dancing flames of fire and rushing indoor wind should not shock us, Pentecost is not an isolated incident to consider
Doubt
Acknowledge those with some questions and doubts about all this, which is all of us
Trusting that God is born in the person of Jesus, Jesus living a sinless and perfect life; the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus was the way the love of God defeated sin and death, and the power of God through the Holy Spirit is redeeming and reconciling us in the loving relationship with God that we were created for is in fact, a holy mystery
I would humbly offer that our faith should never make so much “sense” to us that we fail to recognize the mystery of our faith
If you are here with some questions and uncertainty, I am here too
Faith is not certitude. It is trust. All those of faith have questions and doubts.
But I would offer that the doubters doubt is what can lead to faith
Your questions are an invitation to trust in the mystery of the Father, Son, and Spirt
Fire & Wind
When we come to Pentecost it is helpful to know the backstory of the Spirit
Provide context for the personal presence of the Spirit at Pentecost
Take a look at Genesis, Exodus, and Jesus, then return to Acts this morning
GENESIS 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Less than 20 words into the story of Scripture we are introduced to the Spirit of God
The picture is the Spirit of God hovering and forming a place where life can flourish
It is not just any life, but our life. All creation is created with an end in mind
Creation is an act of hospitality by God for a place for all people to flourish
Ruakh
Favorite resources to share is the Bible Project, led by Tim Mackie, who spells his name wrong, you can’t get everything right, offer a summary of his insights:
In Hebrew, the word for spirit is ruakh. Ruakh, its first and most basic meaning throughout the Hebrew Bible is breath. It's connected with wind and energy and power and animation. Of course, speaking is precisely what you do to breathe out your ruakh. So, you have the Spirit of God and God speaking that releases the ruakh out to bring order in creation. There's some complexity to God's identity that's beginning to be explored even in this vocabulary that's really interesting. God's ruakh comes in the beginning story of the Bible.
wind = ruakh: spirit; wind (powerful), or breath (personal)
To continue this brief bio, now go to the Exodus,
People of God have been enslaved by the empire of the day, Egypt
Act of rescue and redemption God leads them out and they come to a body of water with armies of Egypt pursing them to capture and kill them
EXODUS 14:21-22
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So, the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
wind = ruakh: spirit; wind (powerful), or breath (personal)
Wind pushes back the chaos, creates a way forward
Then later in the Exodus we not only get wind, but now fire
EXODUS 40:38
“So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”
Image of the Spirit of God comes to dwell with the people of God in the place of worship
It is the Presence of God that is visibly seen as a cloud by day and fire by night
Do a jump to Jesus to hopefully help complete the picture
JESUS
In Jesus the fullness of the Spirit of God, both this powerful and personal breath, dwells
Spirit that hovered over creation making a hospitable place, that pushed back the waters to rescue people from evil, now dwells fully in the person of Jesus
Jesus’s cousin John, who baptized him, helps us in the Gospel of Matthew
MATTHEW 3:11
“After me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
The language here is Greek but the word is the equivalent to ruakh
Holy Spirit = pneúma – spirit, wind, or breath
And fire = pyros – light, fire (pyrotechnics)
Jesus, John says, will baptize with wind and fire
Leads us to the text for Pentecost, hopefully now seeing in 3D color instead of grayscale 2D
Spirit
wind = ruakh: spirit; wind (powerful), or breath (personal)
Hovers over creation, delivers Israel, indwells Mary, and raises Jesus is now given to all
The Spirit of God is so beautifully woven throughout the story of God
Pentecost is the mystery where the Spirit, ruakh, now dwells, in us
It is mystery that should be celebrated as deeply as any aspect of our faith
This year the 50 days before Pentecost were preparation for me like Advent or Lent
Arrived at Pentecost like the first followers, with anticipation for this “paraclete”
In studying, as one who appreciates learning that is memorable and portable, looked for one thing I would want you to know about the presence and power of the Spirit?
How would one summarize this personal and powerful breath and light in our lives?
Kononia
Thankfully there was such a courageous person who loved words as much as me
The Apostle Paul closes a letter to a congregation he loves with these words
Words Alyssa has spoken as a blessing over each worship gathering of Integrated Faith
2 CORINTHIANS 13:14
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
1. God is described throughout Scriptures, but the one-word Paul chooses is LOVE
2. Jesus is mystery who shows us what God is like, the one-word Paul chooses is GRACE
3. Spirit of God is the powerful presence, hovers over chaos, brings light and life, and the one-word Paul chooses is
Fellowship
Fellowship
Love! Grace! Fellowship?
I feel the weight of the word may have been lost in translation
Fellowship for me growing up in church was “Food, Fun, Fellowship” or “Fellowship Hall”
For Paul the word was the way to communicate the intimate connection of presence
Koinonia = communion, intimate participation, belonging to God, ourselves, others
Fellowship is every moment we see who God is, who we are, and who others
“The Holy Spirit is the invisible third party who stand between me and the other, making us mutually aware.” John Taylor in “The Go-Between God”
Fellowship is when peace hovers over chaos, hospitality is created for people to flourish, and the power to humble ourselves to serve and sacrifice, moves in us and through us
Fellowship of the Spirit is what we encounter any moment we are animated by the Spirit of God to participate in the mission of God
Fellowship is what is essential to live a life of integrated faith
Integrated Faith
How does this expression of the Church become what each of you in your hearts long for it to be? The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit
The wind and fire, power and presence, embodied mystery that hovers over you here as you worship and, in your homes, that dwells in you and moves through you to bring order to chaos at work or school, provides hospitality in sharing meals, hope for those in need.
The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the intimate connection and participation UP, IN, OUT, DEEP - between you and God, each other, and the people and place around you
Close with words of Trevor Hudson, a South African minister, that have guided me in the season
“The flames of fire and the sound of wind are outward signs that the Holy Spirit has been given to them. They receive what all of us desperately need: the Spirit of God filling us and helping us overcome the evil within us and around us. We need to face the simple fact that to try to follow Jesus without the Pentecostal power of the Holy Spirit doesn’t work. We just cannot do it. From a biblical point of view, it appears that everything that happens before Pentecost is a preparation for this gift of Wind and Fire. This world was created so that in following Jesus Christ, we can have friendship with the Father, and be given the Holy Spirit. God made-flesh lived, dies, and rose so that our eyes would be opened to the unfathomable depths of God’s love and we would be ready to receive God’s Spirit.”
Prayer
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”