Opening Prayer

Holy God, like a rushing wind your Spirit moved upon the first disciples on the day of Pentecost, and like a purifying fire your Spirit seared their hearts and minds with the message of salvation. Send your Spirit upon your church in this time and place, stir up our courage, and rouse us for prophetic witness, that we may join with them to proclaim to the world your mighty deeds of power in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Message

It is not the special effects of wind, fire, and smoke that make Pentecost a Christian holiday. It is the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. Pentecost reminds us that “God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.”

When God moved across the waters of Creation, bringing light out of darkness, order out of chaos, and human beings out of the dust of the earth, we discovered God is for us. When God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again, that we may have life everlasting, we discovered God is with us. When that same God sweeps over our spirits filling us with mercy and compassion, and binding us together as one, God is in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

So, on this Pentecost Sunday, let us be filled with the Holy Spirit. What difference would that make for you? Let me suggest some things.

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT AFFIRMS US

Paul says in Romans 8:16: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. What a beautiful Scripture, but sometimes we Christians forget who we are.

Sin takes away our identity—sends us into our own prisons of isolation distancing us from those we love, and thick impenetrable walls are built. In the upper room the disciples were traitors, failures, lost sheep… It’s interesting, that the liberating gift Jesus offers is the power in the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. And at the Lord’s Table we remember who we are… But sometimes it is hard to remember who you are.

The stress of the day, the pressure of the moment, the sin of the hour, the tides of time, can cause us to forget who we are. Paul says the Spirit helps us.

When we do not know how we ought to pray because we cannot find the right words to say and we forget the words we think we know.

But then Holy Spirit connects with our spirit to remind us that we are the children of God. The Holy Spirit affirms us.

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO GUIDES US

But Jesus said, “When the Holy Spirit comes to you, he will guide you into all truth.”

The word Jesus used for this advocate is paraclete. It is a word that means “called alongside another.” It comes from the military world.

As surely as there is a soldier on the front line who is supported by his fellow soldiers at all times, so it is that this paraclete of God comes into our presence to be with us, to guide us, to direct us, to lead us in all truth.

Sometimes we translate the word paraclete as comforter. The Comforter has come. The Holy Spirit is that kind of comforter. The Holy Spirit of God is present with us to comfort us in our time of need.

Sometimes we translate the word paraclete as counselor. The wise Counselor is with us.

We need someone who will allow us to talk until we know what we are trying to say. We need somebody to probe to the core of our memories and help us find the way. We need somebody who will accept us as we are and empower us to become what we were created to be.

I will be forever indebted to pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, area ministers, church members, and Christian friends, who have helped me find my way through the wilderness of my own woundedness into the sunlight of God’s grace and peace.

Most of all, I am grateful today for the wise counsel of God through the person of the Holy Spirit who comes to show me the way. Yes, the Holy Spirit guides us.

III. BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT ALSO EMPOWERS US.

All I have needed God’s hands have provided, says the old hymn. The power we need to become what God intended us to be is already in our souls.

The church and our faith should never say you ought without immediately being able to say, you can. I want to say to you today you can, not by your own strength and your own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is that God is calling you to do and be in your life, you can!

You ought to be a better person. I have come to tell you today that by the power of the Holy Spirit you can be a better person!

You ought to break bad habits. I have come to say to you today that by the power of the Holy Spirit you can break your addiction.

You ought to forgive. I have come to say to you today that by the power of the Holy Spirit you can forgive.

You ought to love your enemies, said Jesus. I have come to say to you today that by the power of the Holy Spirit you can love your enemies.

You ought to be faithful. I have come to say to you today that by the power of the Holy Spirit you can be faithful to the finish.

When the day of Pentecost came, Peter was crippled with foot and mouth disease, bruised by too much bragging, impotent from too many denials.

Instead of wallowing in his own failure, he waited with other believers until the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them. What God did for Peter, God wants to do for you. We will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, happiness is a lot like a butterfly. Pursue it and it will always be just beyond your grasp. Sit down quietly and wait for it and it’s likely to land right on your shoulder.

Oh, may it happen to you today.

Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

With humility and gratitude, we stand in awe of all that has happened in this sacred place. This place has truly been a sanctuary for your children; a place to seek refuge from the busyness of the city; a place to hear words of comfort and words of challenge; a place to celebrate new life; a place to make sacred vows; a place to remember loved ones and bear witness to our hope in life eternal; a place to find rest when there is nowhere else to go; a place to sing and a place to pray; a place to seek your presence; a place to listen in stillness for your voice.

Yet, God, we are reminded on this day that you do not live in buildings made by human hands. We are reminded that this grand sanctuary is not the destination of our faith, but something more like a way station, a place we come to only to be sent out again, to share with others the love we find in this place, the good news we hear in this place, the light that shines so bright in this place.

Here we are, God—with all our joy and all our sadness, all our hopes and all our fears, all our love and all our bitterness, all our faith and all our doubt, all our loyalty and all our betrayals, all our health and all our sickness, all our boldness and all our meekness—here we are, God.

So fill us up with your Spirit; mold us into the likeness of Jesus. Send us out to be the church in the world. Send us out to be a light in the city. Send us out to be the body of Christ. Send us out to bring your kingdom to life. 

It is for this kingdom we now pray, using the words Jesus taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.