Pentecost Yr A, 5/11/2008

Acts 2:1-11; Ps. 104: 25-37; 1 Cor. 12:4-13; John 20:19-23

I hardly know where to begin today.

It’s Pentecost to start with which is one of the big 7 days of the church calendar.

We’ve got baptisms today, it’s Mother’s Day.

All you kids and husbands and fathers just remember one thing.

Mother’s Day is all day…every single minute of today is Mother’s Day.

Enough said.

Also it’s my last Sunday before my sabbatical which starts tomorrow.

Yes, in less than 24 hours I’m putting my golden Mickey ears on and heading to Disneyland to start my sabbatical off right.

Now to Kent Disneyland is kind of like what Hail Thee Festival Day is to me.

You know someone out there is really enjoying it…but its not you.

Anyway, which one do I pick?

Do I go with the Holy Spirit appearing like tongues of fire resting on people’s heads?

And anyone who’s opened a children’s Bible has that image in their mind.

We heard so many good words about that today.

How the Spirit gives incredible voice to the stories of God’s deeds of power.

Isn’t it so cool the way the Spirit made it possible for all kinds of people to hear those stories in their own languages?

That is such a clear sign of God’s love for us.

Making sure that no one is left out.

Making sure that all different kinds of people don’t miss a single word of what God has planned.

Or do I go with the whole idea of us being baptized into one body by the power of the Spirit.

There’s a lot there to work with.

The idea of each of us being gifted by the Spirit with different ways to serve.

From one Spirit comes all kinds of different gifts.

Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, the mystery of the gift of tongues…and that’s just a starter list of gifts.

All of those gifts given out to different people as the Spirit chooses.

We don’t choose…the Spirit chooses.

And why?

So that we can follow Jesus and use our gifts for the common good.

For the common good.

Not for our own pleasure or our own egos.

But for the common good.

The Holy Spirit, the gifts, the one body…all great topics.

The whole idea of God making sure we can hear and understand God’s stories.

I wish I had a big, flashy sermon to give.

But no, instead I was thinking about car accident stories this week.

I gave a sermon the Sunday before I was ordained a priest and told my “Liz is a goober” car accident story.

I left my car in neutral at the gas pump for some lame reason.

It was a 1987 Chevy Nova by the way.

I’m into boring but trustworthy cars.

So I went to go pay and out of the corner of my eye noticed my car starting to roll.

I tried to catch up with it but not before it had gently rolled into the side of someone’s cherried El Camino.

Gently putting a nice dent in both the door panel and the front fender panel.

I thought the woman’s head was going to spin around like Linda Blair’s.

But honestly, it was so completely my fault…a total goober move.

And I did get a point for a moving violation despite the fact that I wasn’t even in the car.

When I gave the sermon I was asking the question why God would trust me to be ordained a priest.

Actually I called myself a knucklehead in that sermon.

I pointed out the obvious operator error.

The reality that while the car was very trustworthy, I managed to blow it.

I did point out the fact that even though God is real clear about my personal limitations …

Still God is entrusting me to be a priest...mind boggling really.

So I was thinking about my second car accident.

I’ve only had the two in my life.

About 18 months ago I turned onto Country Club from Bass Lake and was cruising towards the church.

I was following like an 80s Thunderbird.

I noticed a car parked perpendicular to the road.

See kids, learning geometry is important…you will use it, trust me.

So this car is parked on the shoulder, perpendicular to the road.

Looking like its going to dart out any second.

And I got distracted by that.

I lost track of the fact that I was following the other car.

And I failed to notice that it had stopped, waiting to turn up the hill to Holy Trinity.

I plowed right into it.

Smashed the rear of that car and smashed the front of my very trustworthy Honda.

Distraction, loss of focus and more operator error.

Fortunately no one got hurt but how lame was that?

Knucklehead, goober.

And God is still putting trust in me.

There are moments when it seems shortsighted of God.

But there it is.

How much clearer can the message of Pentecost and the message of baptism be.

God is loving us like crazy.

God knows our shortcomings, our knuckleheadedness.

And still God is expecting good things from us.

At Pentecost God makes it clear that the Spirit will make a way for us to hear and understand what we need to know about God’s power and God’s love.

And then in baptism the Spirit joins us together to be one body.

The Body of Christ.

All different parts, with all different gifts, being baptized into one body, and drinking of the one Spirit.

You know what I want to tell you guys getting baptized…Alissa and Lizzy and Steven.

Don’t miss out.

Don’t ever think that you are being baptized into your own little private version of Christianity.

And don’t ever think that whatever kind of knucklehead you are lets you off the hook for doing your part in the Body of Christ.

You are signed on now.

Baptism sign us on.

You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.

You have a role to live out in this body.

And God is trusting you.

And these three beautiful children being baptized…Hannah and Gavin and little Steven.

They have been baptized into that same body.

And we all get to be a part of them growing into the gifts that God has for them.

That’s why we don’t just have people come into the office and pour some water over their heads.

We get to be one big group of knuckleheads gathered up into one body.

Watching as the Spirit washes us clean and then gives us gifts…

And then knits us together to be the Body of Christ.

I can practically see the little flames resting on each head out there.

I can’t imagine what my life would be without this amazing knowing that God trusts me.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God trusts us to be the hands and eyes and mouth and voice of Jesus in our corner of the world.

We know that kids and adults all around us are in pain, are struggling to sort out their lives.

In fact, we know that we’re in the same boat.

We know that people are hungry and homeless and sick and dying.

We have a responsibility as followers of Jesus, as the Body of Christ in the world.

Alissa, Lizzy, Steven, Hannah, Gavin, Steven Jr…you are joined to us now in a new way.

You have a calling and gifts and responsibilities now.

You are called now to live for the common good, not just for yourselves.

Will you fall short, will you lose focus and do goober, knucklehead things?

I think we all can testify that we have and that you will.

Should you give up?

Never, because you are part of something eternal.

God knows your heart, God knows each heart.

And the Spirit binds us together for our God and for the world.

The Spirit is binding us together into one Body so that the world will be served.

Our Gospel hymn had a great verse.

These are the words that we sang together:

Pray we then, O Lord the Spirit, on our lives descend in might; let your flame break out within us, fire our hearts and clear our sight, till, white hot in your possession, we, too, might set the world alight.

That is a powerful prayer for today…for baptisms and for Pentecost and for the power of the Spirit in each of our lives.

Lord, let the flame of your Spirit break into us.

Let it fire up our hearts and clear out our minds.

Let us be completely yours, Lord.

By the power of your Spirit, let us be white hot for you.

Let us light up your world.

Lord, please let us light up your world.