Message

The Rev. A. Thomas Carlson

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21

I Corinthians 12:3b-13

On this Family Sunday, I will begin with a story about a Reverend and his daughter. “A young girl walks into her father’s study and sees that he is writing, so she sits down. Her father looks up and then back to his writing. He takes his pencil and crosses out a word here and one there. He writes more and crosses out some also.

‘What are you writing?’ the girl asks.

‘I’m writing a sermon for Sunday,’ says the dad.

‘How do you know what to say?’

‘God tells me what to write.’

The girl shakes her head sadly. ‘You’re not listening, are you?’”

This is also Mother’s Day. We remember Mom--all moms are special, each mom is unique. There is nothing in this world like being a mom!

Here we have two observations, one is of an outsider, called somebody, making judgments about motherhood and the other is from one who is living the experience of motherhood! It’s two different worlds, side by side.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby. That somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, “Normal” is history.

Somebody said being a mother is boring…. That somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver’s permit.

Somebody said if you’re a “good” mother, your child will “turn out good.” That somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said “good” mothers never raise their voices. That somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbors kitchen window.

Somebody said you don’t need an education to be a mother. That somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.

Somebody said you can’t love the fifth child as much as you love the first.

That somebody doesn’t have five children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books. That somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery. That somebody never watched her “baby” get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. That somebody never organized four giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married. That somebody doesn’t know that marriage adds a new son- or daughter-in-law to a mother’s heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother’s job is done when her last child leaves home. That somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don’t need to tell her. That somebody isn’t a mother.

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the church. Our reading from Acts 2 tells us this birthday is a life-altering event that brought out two distinct reactions. On the one hand, it was viewed as a nuisance, a disturbance that needed to be discredited or even shut down. This view was held by many outside observers (non disciples). And, then there were the followers of Jesus (led by Peter) who recognized God was bringing about something special that would change their lives forever! It really is like that distant somebody in the Mother’s Day clip I just showed you versus one intimately involved with a new life and new beginning!

On this Pentecost Sunday is it a fair question to ask if we are like the outsiders in the crowd, the distant somebody in the Mother’s Day clip--or are we intimately involved in a life-changing experience because the church was born? What makes the difference for you because of Christ and the church He birthed?

For the 40+ days prior to the church’s birthday the followers of Jesus were floundering. Their Master was no longer at their side. They were unsure of so many things--it was as if they were in a “spiritual sink hole!” Even when Jesus appeared to them in the post resurrection narrative, they were unsure of themselves at worst. And they were in a holding pattern, at best. Since they had been with Jesus, had heard His promises and listened to His directives, the disciples were receptive to what happened that first Pentecost. Without their previous experiences with Christ, they could have been just as skeptical as the onlookers, the outsiders.

Simply put, I believe Pentecost is really about empowering those who accept Christ to be the whole people of God. It doesn’t happen because we read more books on the Holy Spirit or become better Bible students. It happens when the Holy Spirit touches our lives, yes, enters into our lives in ways that we cannot fully understand. Yes, I know it is true. The Spirit can and does empower us to be more adequate in our living and serving. Pentecost, itself, had some extreme overtones, sonorous and disorderly aspects to it. (Like mom giving birth.) But the results were a clearer focus, holy boldness, and personal assurance of God’s unfailing presence.

This birthday of the church, called Pentecost, takes all that Jesus taught--all that He practiced--and empowers us to keep the faith, to share it with others and stay on track, as we grow in God’s way. Pentecost allows us to experience God’s grace and power as never before. It is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but standing outside and watching with a critical or curious eye doesn’t even come close to having an experience of God’s Holy Spirit working in my life. And, while the study of the Holy Spirit can be rich, the empowerment of the Spirit is more profound. On this occasion, we can liken it to be an experience of motherhood. It’s hard to fully explain, when you experience it, you treasure it forever. Amen