This sermon was preached at Capitol Hill United Methodist Church on June 4, 2017 – Pentecost Sunday.
Happy Birthday, church! On Sunday, June 4, 2017 we celebrated the birth of the Church universal as we celebrated Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit that draws us together.
In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament), the Greek form of “Pentecost” is used for the Jewish festival, Shavuot (aka Feast of Weeks), when both the gift of the wheat harvest and the gift of the Torah (or Law) were commemorated. This Jewish celebration that occurs 50 days after Passover was a time to bring a gift of the first fruits of one’s harvest to God in the Temple. So, there would have been Jewish pilgrims from all over in Jerusalem for Pentecost when we read about the wind and fire of the Spirit that enlivened the disciples 50 days after Easter as we read in Acts 2:1-6 (and following).
So, birthdays are times to give and receive gifts, right? Pentecost has always been about gifts – wheat and Torah in our Jewish heritage and the Holy Spirit in our Christian tradition. That makes me wonder:
- How you have experienced the Holy Spirit as a gift?
- Has the Holy Spirit allowed you to be a gift? If so, how?
I invite you to consider Psalm 139:1-12 as you consider the questions above and to consider that and the Acts passage noted above as a way of preparation for listening to this sermon.
Listen to the sermon here:
Right-mouse-click this link to download the audio.
Psalm 139:1-12
1O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”
12even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.(NRSV)
Acts 2:1-6
1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. (NRSV)
