Community Church Sermons
May 27, 2007
Pentecost
Sunday
John 14:12-17; 25-26
Acts 2:1-21
Listen to this
Sermon!
Let the meeting come to order. Seeing that a quorum is present, we’ll proceed with the reading of the minutes of our last meeting which was held on Pentecost Sunday.
(Read by
a woman)
The
meeting was called to order at 9:00 AM by Simon Peter. One hundred and twenty
persons were present. The invocation was offered by Brother Bartholomew. The
minutes of the previous meeting were approved as printed.
James,
the son of Zebedee – serving as Treasurer pro tem until a replacement is found
for Judas Iscariot – then presented the financial reports. Offerings received
since our last meeting were less than projected and James encouraged the
membership to keep up their pledges, reminding us all that with the price of
heating oil and gasoline going up, the cost of running the church is quite
high. James also urged the various Committees to only spend what they
absolutely need.
Nominations
were then opened for the apostolic position vacated by Mr. Iscariot. There
being no volunteers, Chairman Simon Peter reminded the gathering that this is
their church and everyone needs to pitch in to make it work. He said it is
unfair that the same few people always shoulder most of the work. Brother Philip then nominated Joseph for the
position of apostle. Brother Thomas lifted up the name of Matthias. Nominations
were then closed and a vote taken. Matthias was elected to the position. An
installation service will be scheduled for the Fall when everyone gets back
from Summer vacation.
In other
business, Mary Magdalene reported on plans for Vacation Bible School, stating
that this year’s curriculum presents the gospel message in song and dance
through representatives of the major food groups. Not only is the program
biblical, but it is healthy, too. Brother Simon, reporting for the Worship
Team, said that ushers have been scheduled through the end of the year. In the
Trustees report, it was noted that the lock on the front door has been tampered
with and the Trustees are currently getting bids from a security company for an
alarm system.
There
being no other business, Simon Peter led a brief worship service. The meeting
was adjourned at 9:20 AM.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Now, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes of the Pentecost meeting? Is there a second? All in favor, say, “Aye!” Let those opposed say, “Nay!” The minutes are approved.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. You’re thinking that what I just read to you is not REALLY what happened on the first Pentecost!
But actually, there’s more truth to it than you may realize. When the 120 or so followers of Jesus gathered together in those days, they came like many in our day – ready to do their religious duty, to fulfill their Christian obligation, to attend meetings or worship services pretty much like any other meeting or worship service they ever attended. I’m sure those early followers were expecting nothing more than “business-as-usual” that day.
Like you and me, they probably
came to church that morning expecting the same-old-same-old. In fact, isn’t it
true that apart from an occasional burst of refreshing creativity in our own worship
services here at Tellico, most of us pretty much prefer everything to go along
“decently and in order” as our Presbyterian friends like to say. We want the
Lord’s Prayer to be said the way we always say it, and the Doxology to be sung
where its always sung. We want the greeters to be where the greeters always
stand, and for Bob Puckett to be at his “Friendly” station in the hallway. In
fact, when Bob is NOT there, the first question people ask is, “Where’s
Bob?” We notice when things are out of place, and sometimes it upsets us! “Why
is one candle shorter than the other?” “Why is that person sitting in MY pew?”
“Why don’t they pick out more familiar hymns?” “Why can’t Marty keep his stole
on straight?”
We like things to have a certain familiar order, and most of us don’t much like surprises. We may appreciate it when the preacher closes a sermon by inviting people to “come to Jesus”, but we would be appalled if anybody actually did it! I mean, how would you feel if someone came running down the aisle at the end of a service, sobbing their heart out, and falling face down at the altar?
I know that some of us – even if we appreciated the event
for what it means to the person “coming to Jesus” – would find ourselves
looking at our watches thinking “no way we’re gonna get out of here on time
today!”
Let’s face it, most of us would prefer to come to church and just do our duty according to Roberts Rules of Order or some kind of format that requires nothing more of us than doing what we always do in the way we’ve always done it.
So there they are, those 120 people of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). They are doing what church people always do – having Committee meetings, finding ushers, planning baptisms, managing finances, electing officers, singing hymns, listening to scriptures, praying the prayers – when suddenly…
Point of order! Point of order! That’s not on the agenda! That’s not listed anywhere in the Sunday morning bulletin!!!! Do you see anything in here about speaking in tongues and flames of fire?
What an upsetting moment! But what a life-giving experience!
We call Pentecost Sunday “the birthday of the Church” because Pentecost Sunday forever changed the essence of what the Church is, and what the Church isn’t. The Church, it turns out, is not a place where people gather to neatly and cleanly organize themselves for performing their religious duty. No, the Church given birth on Pentecost is a fellowship where the Spirit-wind blows as it wills, and human organization and control take a back seat to God-at-work, and all of a sudden, ordinary people like you and me are so fired up with the power of the Holy Spirit that we are ready to go out there into the world and do great things for God and humanity, no matter the risk, no matter the cost!!
Annie Dillard, in her book, “Teaching A Stone To Talk” humorously writes about the sad condition she observes in many Christian churches today:
"Why
do people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour
of the Absolute? On
the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently
sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power
we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?
The
churches are children playing on the floor with chemistry sets, mixing up a
batch of TNT to pass a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats
& velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should
issue life preservers & signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For
the sleeping god may wake some day and
take offense, Or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never
return.[1]
Suddenly…
“…a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were meeting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of their heads. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues…”
Wow! Welcome to the Church of Jesus Christ – where the Spirit blows where it will – and human beings cannot harness it or shape it or organize it. The only thing we can do is to be open to it, and let the Spirit take us where it will and make us what God wants us to be.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, helps us to better understand this Holy Spirit that was given to us on Pentecost. He simply describes the Holy Spirit in a way that makes sense to me. In Romans 8:11, Paul says the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead.”
What would it be like if that Spirit got into you?? What would happen if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead became the driving force behind our church?
Do you think it would be business as usual?
Someone recently mentioned to me how wonderful they think it is that our church has become as large and successful as it is. I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And I agree that we have been blessed in many, many ways. But I find myself drawn to an earlier moment in the life of this beautiful church.
It was almost 20-years ago, in 1988. It was before there was anything here that even looked like what we have now. And on Palm Sunday of that year, 11 people gathered for a worship service at the home of Art and Iris Spurrier. And the wind began to blow.
They didn’t have any money. No paid staff. Didn’t even have a place to worship except peoples’ homes. What they did have, though, was the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead. And led by that Spirit, they caught a dream about starting an interdenominational Christian church. And that tiny company of people with a dream bigger than themselves went out and took the risk and made sacrifices and built a church out of nothing. And for almost twenty years now, our church has brought the grace of God through Jesus Christ to thousands and thousands of people. Who could have imagined such a thing, but God himself?
And I find myself wondering if we today – almost 1400 members strong – are equally ready to dream bold dreams, and take great risks, and make vital sacrifices to serve God and bring God’s grace to the world around us.
Disciples of Christ preacher Lea Slaton writes:
“We seem so far away from that
first Pentecost. But, the only
difference between us and those first disciples is that they were ready for God
to turn their lives upside down – they wanted it. I fear that we don’t believe in a God who does that sort of thing
anymore. That’s why we like duty so
much; it’s not a leap of faith. It lets
US decide how God can use us.
So, maybe the question for us this morning is not do we believe in a God
who acts like this, but do we WANT to believe?” [2]
So let me put the question to all of you.
What kind of God do you want to believe in? What kind of God do we want to center the life of our church around?
The kind of God you can organize into a neat little package that you can control without need of risk and sacrifice?
Or the kind of God whose holy wind still blows into people and churches, filling them with the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead and sending them to accomplish great things for God and for humanity?
What kind of God do you want to believe in?
May the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwell in you!