PEOPLE'S CHURCH OF DOVER

John 20:19-23                                                      THE WORDS OF PENTECOST

Pentecost Sermon May 11, 2008:  People's UCC, Dover, DE:  the Rev. Dan Griggs

 

            Pentecost has a couple of problems.  One problem is that the charismatic elements have become so publicized in the newer denominations, on television and in the press—you know, the "baptism of the Holy Spirit," the tongues of fire, the speaking in foreign languages; and that kind of religious expression is foreign to many of us and to some it's even offensive.  So the first problem is wrapped up in the term "Pentecostal."  The second problem is almost the opposite:  people have read and heard the story in Acts chapter two so many times that even the names of the foreign countries seem familiar; and when you've been through a story that many times you're tempted just to zone out—you've already heard it.  So Pentecost has problems:  we are either offended by the "Pentecostalism" or we're lulled to sleep by the familiarity of the story.  So how am I going to preach another Pentecost sermon—especially today, Mothers' Day?  How can I say something that might revive the power of the "rushing mighty wind"?  Or is this sermon, like our reading of Peter's sermon on that Pentecost, just going to roll off the front of the pulpit and splatter on the floor?  Pentecost Sunday ought to revitalize our faith-energies, don't you think!  Leaving church after the Pentecost service, at least some of us ought to have our "saltiness" restored so that we can continue to be "the salt of the earth" Jesus spoke of. 

            Well, let's try this:  a whole different Pentecost story.  Acts chapter two is Luke's Pentecost story.  The Gospel of John doesn't follow the same outline as the other three Gospels; and sure enough, John has a different Pentecost story.  In fact, John wraps up Easter night, the Great Commission, and Pentecost all into one moment—the Second Lesson today.  John says that on Easter evening the disciples were together in the upper room, all except Judas and Thomas, and the doors were locked; but Jesus came among them and greeted them, "Peace be with you."  He showed them his broken body and his bloody side, and they were overjoyed to see him.  Then, John says, Jesus breathed on them and said, "I send you as the Father sent me:  whose sins you forgive are forgiven."

            This is the Gospel of John's Pentecost story, and it has the power to revive us again.  It has the power to sum up our best experience of the Christian faith and make the salt salty once more.  It does this with four key words; and that's what I want to look at today.  The words of Pentecost are:  "peace," "receive," "send" and "forgive." 

 

            Jesus' first word is both a greeting and a blessing:  "Peace be with you."  He came into the world to redeem you and give you peace.  Do you know his peace?  Has there been a moment in your life when it seemed like the walls of the world were closing in on you?  The grocery check bounced, the rent came due, the children needed shoes, the boss was unhappy, your spouse got sick, your mother-in-law called to offer some advice—all on the same day?  Did it stress you?  Or did God find a way through all that for you?  "Peace be with you."  I guess he did. 

            Many of you remember 1943.  The war in the Pacific was just barely inching forward.  In the Sahara Desert the Allies barely escaped defeat.  Then in Sicily everything seemed to go wrong, and Italy was a long, dreary struggle.  At home there were plenty of jobs but no gasoline, no tires, no sugar, less of everything else.  German submarines patrolled the waters off Cape Henlopen and Fenwick Island; and there were many blue stars in windows.  Did it destroy you?  Or did God find a way through all that for you?  "Peace be with you." 

            September 12, 2001 we were all in shock after the World Trade Towers had been destroyed.  This repeated deployment of so many of our military personnel, and the physical and mental and spiritual casualties, along with higher prices, greater inconvenience in travel, inflation.  How are you doing?  "Peace be with you,"  Jesus says. 

            In Hebrew that would be, "Shalom."  It means "hello," and "goodbye," and more importantly is means, "I know the Lord will find a way for me."  The first word of Pentecost is peace. 

 

            The second word comes when Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on his disciples; he said, "Receive the Holy Spirit":  the second word is receive.  What do you suppose the disciples were doing in the upper room that night—in the room where, three days before, Jesus had instituted the Lord's Supper?  I think they were eating the Bread and drinking the Cup of Communion when he appeared.  Just like for us, Christ became really present among them "in the breaking of the bread."  This is how the early Christians experienced the Lord's Supper:  they met Jesus again.  He came among them:  real, and really present.  This is no meal of mere nostalgia.  Holy Communion was to them, as to us, an opportunity to behold the risen Lord afresh, today.

            And in this moment of Communion he gives us the Holy Spirit.  Here is our power.  Here is our wisdom.  Here is the very presence of God among us, guiding us into more truth—"God is still speaking"—comforting, recharging, energizing our faith, our hope and our love.  The second word of Pentecost is receive.

 

            But Christianity is not all "peace" and "receiving."  The third word of Pentecost takes us out of church to serve others:  the third word is send.   Jesus gave the church the Holy Spirit and immediately said, "I send you as the Father sent me."  We have a mission.  We have business to take care of, a job to do in this world.  We have not received the Holy Spirit just for ourselves, but to DO something.  That something is the Great Commission:  to announce in fifty different ways, by word and by deed, the good news that Jesus invites others to the feast with us.  Jesus Christ called us, and he sends us. 

            When you were a child, remember that one kid that got candy?  Did she eat it all herself?  How did you feel, not getting any?  Or did she come to her friends and say, "I've got great news!  Mama gave me a bag of candy, and everybody gets a piece!"  Evangelism is not something hard:  it's sharing our candy, the good news of redemption.  The church does this happy task together in word and in deed.  The third word of Pentecost is send. 

 

            And the fourth word is forgive.  This is what we're sent out to share:  this is the candy.  This is why in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said if we don't forgive others, God doesn't forgive us—it's all about forgiveness.  In the Lord's Prayer we pray, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."  We have been sent to bring forgiveness to other people. 

            What kind of forgiveness?  ALL KINDS of forgiveness.  I love the image in Luke chapter 6: 

 

 

As you have known redemption in your own life, so you are to spread redemption around by word and deed.  The fourth word of Pentecost is forgive. 

 

            Here then we have a new look at Pentecost.  The four words of Pentecost are "peace" (which God continues to give us), "receive" (our own needs are met), "send" (lest we become selfish with God's generosity), and "forgive" (the good thing we have to share). 

            So how can we just pack up and go home?  How can we abandon the faith-family, the joy of this Pentecost power, the rich message of redemption to be shared all around?  Well, we can't!  Because we have heard the words of Pentecost, and they go all the way down!

AMEN