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Spirit Still Speaks Acts
2:1-21 Pentecost
Sunday, Year A A Sermon preached at FUMC, De Queen/Gillham, AR
on May 11, 2008 by the Revd David S Williams Communication Break-down Sometimes we
really have a hard time understanding one another. A failure to communicate
might, in fact, lie at the very root of most of our problems. Years ago a
conscientious homeowner wrote to a manufacturer of cast-iron pipe, telling
them that she had found that by pouring pure hydrochloric acid down her
drain, she immediately opened her grease-clogged pipes. She asked if there
was any way in which the acid might be harmful to the pipes. The plumbing
manufacturer wrote back: “Thank you for your letter. The effect of such acid
upon ferrous-constructed materials is certain to be deleterious. We therefore
strongly urge you to cease such activity in the interest of the future of
your plumbing.” She read the
letter and responded. Thanking them for the letter, she said that she was
relieved that she was doing the right thing in using the acid on the pipes. Another letter
from the manufacturer: “We fear that there may have been some
miscommunication in our correspondence. Acid, of that density, applied to
cast-iron pipe, is certain to have dubious results. Therefore, please desist
from your current practices.” The homeowner
read the letter, then wrote back, thanking the company for its response,
telling them once again that she was delighted she was doing nothing that
might harm the pipes. Finally, an
exasperated manufacturer sent a telegram: “Don’t use acid. It’ll ruin your
pipes!” Hopefully she got the correct message. Sometimes for
all our talking we just don’t hear each other – we have a break-down in
communication. This often happens in marriage. Men and women speak different
languages. When Rebecca
asks me, “Can you help get dinner on the table?” – to me that means carry the
food from the stove to the table, or I interpret that often to mean,
“Dinner’s done;” so I fix my own plate. I’ve discovered, however that it has
an entirely different meaning for her. And we
experience this challenge of communication right here on Sunday morning. I
know what I think I’m communicating but I’ve found out that you often hear
something far different. Or sometimes you just get finished long before I do. Speaking And Hearing In a similar
way, the story of Pentecost is a story about speaking and hearing. It’s about a people who hear God during a time when conventional wisdom said that God was
pretty much finished speaking. The
prophets, the Baptizer, even Jesus came and spoke the truth of God and God’s
kingdom. But the people were still divided and confused; they didn’t
understand each other, much less God. It had been that way ever since the Now here they
are, all gathered in the city of And then, there
is a rush of wind, a shaking of the foundations, the Spirit descends, they
begin to hear the Good News, and they begin to understand. God spoke. The people heard. Hearing The Spirit Speak The remarkable
thing about the story is really not the
rushing wind or the tongues of fire. Those are all manifestations of God’s
mighty presence and power. It’s the fact
that God spoke and the people were enabled to hear. God spoke through
the feeble mouth of the disciple Peter, who stood that day daring to declare
to the people what God was doing. The miracle
here is that the people actually heard God
speaking to them. They didn’t just
hear a great sermon. They didn’t just hear a group of excited disciples. The
Spirit came and these folks heard a word from the Lord and knew they must
respond. Toward the end
of the story, Luke tells us that the people were, “cut to the heart” (v. 37). The Spirit who had come took the
truth of the gospel and somehow made it come alive in their hearts. So much
so that they cry out in near panic, “Please tell us what shall we do?” What was true
on that day continues to be true. Pentecost is about God pouring out the Holy
Spirit on all people, drawing them
to know God and be reconciled to God. We believe in prevenient grace – the grace of God that even now pursues every
living person seeking to help them hear the truth of the gospel today, enabling them to respond in faith. And that’s what
our gathering as the church is all about. Our worship is all about the God
who speaks and the possibility that
people of all walks of life might hear
and respond in faith. Our worship is not about whether or not you happen to
like the music or enjoy the service or laugh at a story or see your friends.
I hope that all those things might happen for you, but I’ve got news for us –
if God doesn’t speak during this hour, we’ve have no good reason for getting
together. There is so
much about living in this noisy world that keeps us from hearing God. In the
course of a week we become mute and dumb. We forget ourselves. We need to be
realigned with the one who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” And the
only way that will happen is if we hear
God speak. Crash At The Crossroads I learned from
a friend a good definition of preaching and worship, “As preachers, what we
are trying to do every week is to engineer a crash at the intersection of people’s lives and the Word of
God.” He told me, “that the greatest thing about my job as a preacher is that
I get to stand at the intersection and watch the crash happen” (The Revd
Jeren Rowell). Our lives are
always weaving in and out of choices, children, relationships, teenagers, chaos,
struggles, doubts, questions – life and death – eternal decisions, and you
come to church at the crossroad –
where your life comes crashing into the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ – and it is there that we find life, it is
there that we find truth, it is there that we discover what we’ve been searching
for all along. God is faithful
to speak still today. God speaks to us all the time. But here’s the rub.
Toward the end of Luke’s Pentecost story we discover that God always speaks
but we don’t always hear. Luke says that,
“those
who welcomed [Peter’s] message” (v. 41). Not everyone heard and responded when the Spirit spoke. There’s
something here I believe about the nature of our receptivity. I’ve had this
happen to me on the very same Sunday – when someone will come and say, “O
Dave that was a great service, the Spirit really spoke to me today” and on
the very same day someone else will say, “I didn’t get what you were saying
today, sorry.” Please just
remember, I’m not working alone up
here. The musicians are not playing alone. The choir is not singing alone. We
are all playing to an Audience of One! I come into the
church every Sunday morning before you ever arrive and go over what I believe
God has laid on my heart to share with you each week. But ultimately, if
anything is really going to happen here today, I pray, “God, you’ve got to do
something. Your Holy Spirit has to speak the message to the hearts and lives
of your people.” Rev. Timothy
Merrell says, “that the Holy Spirit is the translator and Peter is the interpreter
of the Spirit’s speaking” (“The Interpreter,” Homiletics [Vol. 18, No. 3, June 2006], pp. 42-44). I try to interpret the news each week. The Spirit
works to translate it to our hearts
and lives. I’m just the newspaper boy. I deliver the news, but I can’t get
you to open the newspaper. That is your choice. Dear people of
God, the Spirit still speaks today. The question is, are we ready to hear? When God speaks and we
listen, our broken lives are mended, our pain is healed, our confusion is
overcome by peace, and our fear is replaced by divine love. For 2000 years,
the Spirit is still speaking to us
church. The question is, “Are we still listening?”
In the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
