Sunday is Pentecost. A friend of mine, Rev. Michael Piazza, took note this week of how unfortunate it is that churches don’t make a bigger deal of it; since it is a day so rich with meaning. In Pentecost we find “The Key to Building God’s Family.” After all:
- It is the birthday of the church. On Pentecost, a scattered and scared bunch of women and men suddenly became a powerful movement that swept across the world.
- Pentecost represents spiritual empowerment for ordinary people like you and me. Jesus did amazing things, but He was gone. In His place, though, was a devoted group of disciples working under the power of the Spirit to change the world.
- It is a Holy Day that reminds us of how Jesus had been with us, but, now, in the person of the Spirit, God dwells in us. The fact is that we don’t appreciate that Pentecost is emblematic of how little awareness we have of God’s abiding presence in our lives.
Just think what would happen for our community if Covenant rediscovered and lived out these very things. Rev. Piazza goes on to say that “Churches around the world ought to pull out all the stops to get people to attend worship so they can experience the greatest gift of all – the very breath of life. In fact, the Gospel of John describes the event as the Resurrected Christ breathing on the disciples.” He’s right of course. The reality is that Christianity has been underwater far too long. We need Jesus to come along, pinch our nose, and give us mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. We need the very breath of life breathed into our lungs causing them to swell. We need to feel the healing and empowering Spirit of Life begin to permeate every cell of our body. That is how we become the Body of Christ. We are only a vessel of clay until God breathes the breath of Life into us.
So join us in worship on this Pentecost Sunday at Covenant. We will be celebrating the birthday of the Church by hopefully rediscovering“The Key to Building God’s Family.” Come join us as if you are with Jesus and those first-century disciples in the upper room. As Rev. Piazza put it, “As you are there on holy ground, in the presence of God, breathe deeply of the Holy Spirit. Give your body over to the Spirit of Life, and, who knows, you may discover FIRE again!” The scripture text for my sermon is Acts 2:1-8, 12-18 & 21 and John 14:25-27.
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