Pentecost 2005
Happy Birthday!
by Paul L. Larsen

(Notes: Charlie the Church Mouse is a large hand puppet I use for Children's
sermons.  The congregation likes him better than they like me!  We are
celebrating Charlie's birthday on Sunday asking people to bring a gift of
food for the food shelf.  Charlie will give a gift to all the kids and
everyone will be invited for birthday cake.
    
The "Three Minute Rule" is a request that people speak with someone they
don't know that well for the first three minutes following worship.)

Charlie the Church Mouse isn't the only one celebrating a birthday. It was
my birthday on May 7th. Jeff, my wonderfully sensitive son, gave me this
birthday care with an adorable, happy-looking dog on the front. Inside it
says, "At least you don't have that 'old person smell' yet!"

I guess one has to give thanks for small blessings. When I was younger I was
really excited about birthdays and wanted them to come more often. Have you
ever noticed how little kids are never four years old? They are "four and a
half" or they are "almost five!" At my age birthdays come around too
quickly. My older brother tells me that they come around more quickly every
year. I hope that acceleration doesn't mean we are going down hill!

Things change again as people advance in age. All of a sudden they say they
are "almost 90." They don't say they are 94 they say, "I will be 95 next
month."

While some of us may have mixed feelings about birthdays, the author of
Luke-Acts loved them. The first two chapters of his gospel are all about
birthdays. First John the Baptist's birthday and then Jesus' birthday. And
when we turn to Acts, what do we find? Another birthday party! This one was
for the Church!

We call the birthday of the Church, Pentecost. It's the third great date or
event in the church calendar. The first is Christmas which celebrates the
birth of Christ. The second is Easter, our celebration of the resurrection
of Jesus from the dead - a kind of birth to new life. The third is Pentecost
- a celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. With the coming of the
Holy Spirit the disciples are transformed from cowering Christians hiding
out in the upper room to bold proclaimers of the Good News of God's gift of
love and forgiveness. Three thousand believed the disciples' message that
day and were baptized. The church was born. (1)

Now, Pentecost doesn't get the kind of attention that Christmas and Easter
receive. It's almost overlooked. But we should celebrate it because it is a
very important date and event for our lives.

Esther and I saw a wonderful Pentecost celebration in Italy last year. It
was a Sunday morning and we traveled to the little, hill town of Orveito.
There is a beautiful church there that we wanted to see, but when we arrived
this huge crowd was standing around the square in front of the church. There
were fire trucks and fire fighters, and police. There were people dressed up
in Renaissance type outfits and marching bands. The church is a striking,
two tone marble structure. There is this large turret with statues of the
apostles in it. A cable ran from that turret across the street into an alley
behind us. Everyone was waiting for something to happen. I finally realized
that this was a Pentecost celebration. Just then fireworks started to go off
and this little rocket ship went shooting down the cable propelled by
blasting fireworks. It smashed into the turret with the apostles and
suddenly tongues of fire lit over their heads! Everyone applauded and the
bands played and people cheered while a fire fighter climbed a ladder and
carefully took down the rocket ship. He gave it to an official looking
fellow who marched around with it for all to see. Inside the rocket you
could see a white dove. There was more applause and then more music and
finally, the official went into a building and appeared out on a balcony he
took the dove out of the rocket and held him up for everyone to see and
finally let him fly away. It was quite a Pentecost celebration. I am sure it
was one that dove will never forget!

I don't know that we have to do it quite that way, but we should celebrate
Pentecost, for it is the birthday of the church and the day when the Holy
Spirit was given. Because of the gift of the Holy Spirit we don't have to
have that "old smell" as a church or as individual Christians. We can be
reborn each day as we remember our baptism and the fact that we have been
drowned to sin and raised to new life. We have new life because the Holy
Spirit gives it to us as a gift each day. We can leave our sins, faults and
failings behind us because the Spirit assures us that we are forgiven. God's
forgiveness leaves us as fresh and clean smelling as a baby just out of
their bath.

Someone e-mailed me a prayer that says, "Lord, I want to thank you for being
close to me. So far this day I have not been impatient, lost my temper, been
grumpy, judgmental or envious of anyone. But I am going to really need your
help with the rest of the day because soon I am going to get out of bed!"

It is the Holy Spirit who gives us that help.

The Spirit helps us get out of bed and live to the glory of God as we engage
in our every day lives.

The Spirit helps us pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off when we have
fallen into sin. For the Spirit reminds us that despite our wrongs God still
loves us and God can still use us.

The Spirit washes away the "old smell" of sin and blesses us with the
wonderful fragrance of forgiveness.

The story of Pentecost is a dramatic reminder that it is always God who
comes down to us. We do not climb some ladder of good works to get up to
God.

In her book, Reclaiming The "L" Word, Kelly Fryer tells of a day at seminary
when she did not want to be in class. It was a beautiful day and many of the
students were gazing out the window wishing they could be outside playing.
The professor realized that no one was listening and he slammed his notebook
shut. He yelled at them about he wasn't going to waste his breath on people
who didn't care enough to pay attention. Before he left the room he picked
up a piece of chalk and went to the board. He drew a gigantic arrow pointing
straight down, and then said, "If you understand that, you understand
everything you need to know about what it means to be a Christian who also
happens to be Lutheran."

They all just sat there staring at this enormous, stark arrow pointing
straight down. Kelly figured it meant he thought they were all going to
hell!

The next time they gathered for class, he began by drawing that same arrow
on the board. This time, he had their full attention. He said, "Here's what
this means. God always comes down. God always comes down. There is never
anything that we can ever do to turn that arrow around and make our way UP
to God. God came down in Jesus. And God still comes down, in the bread and
in the wine, in the water and in the fellowship of believers. God ALWAYS
comes down." (2)

God always comes down to us. God comes to us and dwells in us in the person
of the Holy Spirit. On that first Pentecost the Holy Spirit came in the
sound of a loud, rushing wind that blew away the "old smells" of fear and
doubt and filled the disciples with faith. The Spirit blew them out of that
stuffy, upper room into the fresh air of the city center. The Spirit spoke
through them in languages they had never learned so that all might hear and
know that God had sent Christ into the world as the savior.

Powerful and peculiar things began to happen. Three thousand people were
baptized in one day. Lepers were healed. Possessions were gladly shared.
Love and laughter erupted. Prejudice melted away. The exclusivity of the law
was replace by the inclusivity of the grace. Praise and prayer fell freely
from every tongue. And while all of this strange stuff was happening the
secular world looked on in amazement. At a very deep level they yearned to
become a part of the party. They too wanted to be sized and saved by this
sizzling Spirit. (3)

People still want that today. There is a deep, spiritual hunger in our
world. Unfortunately, people are not looking to the church to feed them.
They are dabbling in new age, and eastern religions and strange
spiritualities.

Like the disciples we need to let the Holy Spirit blow us out of our
comfortable hiding places and light a fire in us. We need the Spirit to
empower us to share the Good News God has given us. It is a good news that
the world needs to hear. People need to know that they are loved and
forgiven and accepted by God. And how will they know that if we don't share
it with them?

I don't expect you to stand on a street corner and preach to people. That
isn't very effective any way. But we are called to share this story. We are
called to "Send the Love" by welcoming and inviting others into the faith.
There are some very simple ways you can do that.

You can invite a friend, neighbor or co-worker to come to worship with you.
From the comments made on the worship surveys I think most of you are
pleased and excited about what is happening at Christ the King. Share that
excitement with others. Offer to pick them up and bring them to worship or
to some other event or program at church.

You can participate in our "Welcome Walks" this spring and summer as we go
around the neighborhood sharing some information about Christ the King and
inviting people to worship.

You can talk about your faith in some low key ways. If someone is struggling
with illness you can tell how your faith helped you deal with the anxiety
and pain you experienced when you were ill. If someone shares their problems
with you tell them that you will pray for them, and then do it!

I know it is sometimes outside your comfort zone to talk to people you don't
know after worship and to practice the "Three Minute Rule." But think how
uncomfortable it is to be a stranger in a church and have no one acknowledge
your existence or welcome you. As Christians we are called to "Welcome one
another even as Christ has welcomed us."

On that first Pentecost the Holy Spirit changed and transformed the
disciples in some dramatic ways. The Spirit also wants to change and
transform us.

Are we open enough to be surprised by the Spirit?

Are we free enough and courageous enough to act peculiar in the eyes of the
world?

Are we changed enough to greet greed with generosity?

Are we crazy enough to insist that personal integrity take precedence over
personal success?

Are we foolish enough to exchange the love of power for the power of love?

Are we brave enough to dive into an unknown future rather than clinging to
the familiarity of the past?

Are we transformed enough so that people outside the church even notice our
peculiarity?

Has anyone ever wondered if we were drunk because of our enthusiasm for the
faith?

Two thousand years ago on that first Pentecost the church was born out of
the womb of God's aching love. The church was thrust kicking and screaming
into the wide expanse of the world's need. And because that embryonic church
was peculiar enough to draw attention to their God, the world has never been
the same.  (4)

The Holy Spirit is present for us today, giving us new birth, calling us to
be disciples who share the Good News of God's love, empowering us to live
out our faith in our every day lives. Through the Holy Spirit every day is
your birthday as you are reborn through forgiveness and given a new and
transformed life through God's love. Happy Birthday, fellow Christians.
Happy Birthday. Amen.

References:

 Bass Mitchell "Happy Birthday to the Church" as published on
homiliesbyemail.com

 Kelly Fryer, Reclaiming the "L" Word, pages 29-30

 Susan R. Anderson, "Peculiar People" - The Sermon Mall, May 2005

 Ibid.