Pentecost Sunday A
May 31, 2020
Grace, Waseca, MN
Acts 2.1-21; John 20.19-23
A few months ago, before the pandemic closed everything, I got a call from a student at Gustavus Adolphus College, my alma mater. Now, usually I don’t answer the phone because I know they are calling asking for money. To be clear, I do donate regularly, but I prefer to do it online. However, for some reason that evening, I answered the call. The young man was very nice, thanked me for my past donations, and told me his plans upon graduating in May.
Then he surprised me by asking me what advice I’d give the graduating students. I couldn’t think of anything but I did know that I wanted to avoid the usual platitudes i.e., “follow your bliss.” So I told him I was having a hard time coming up with something. He persisted and said, “What would you tell your younger self?” Almost immediately I said, “Be open.” And then I added, “Be open to possibilities you haven’t considered. To put a theological spin on it, be open to where God is leading, however unexpected.”
Today is Pentecost Sunday when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the commissioning of the church. In the gospel reading from John, Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on his followers the evening of his resurrection, saying “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Then in our first reading from Acts, it appears Jesus didn’t get it right the first time. It’s now 50 days later and the Holy Spirit overwhelms the gathered followers, this time a lot more of them and with an audience. I think it’s helpful to realize this is the same Holy Spirit as in John but with a different manifestation. Yet, the invitation from Peter to the crowd is the same as the one from Jesus: be open to the Holy Spirit.
There are two aspects of being open to the Holy Spirit I want to talk about, the first is the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the active part of God working in the world, “blowing wherever and whenever” it wills.” As Luther says in the Small Catechism, the Holy Spirit calls us to faith; gathers us into the community; enlightens us with gifts; sets us apart to be God’s hands in the world; forgives us when we mess up; and keeps us together through all ups and downs. In the book of Acts, which should be called “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” rather than “The Acts of the Apostles,” the Holy Spirit is constantly with and through Jesus’ followers who are sent to love and bless the world.
That same Holy Spirit is present in us. And that’s the second, and scariest, part of the Holy Spirit: being open to the Holy Spirit in us. It’s scary because when the Holy Spirit is in us and we are open to it, change and transformation happens. As Acts progresses, Jesus’ followers will have their boundaries stretched and preconceived ideas challenged, most notably with the inclusion of non-Jews in God’s boundary-less kingdom. Personally, being open to the Holy Spirit has meant among other things that I needed to rethink my beliefs about what kind of love is acceptable to God. My theology hasn’t changed; I’m still an unabashed Lutheran. Yet, the Holy Spirit changed how I live out that theology.
As your interim senior pastor, I’m asking you to both be open to the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit. I’ve asked the Discovery Team to not bring preconceived ideas about your next pastor and I’m asking the same of you. Please ask God for the grace to open your hearts and minds to see where the Holy Spirit is working. Chances are, God is inviting you to join in doing some new things in the Waseca community.
More importantly, God is asking you to be open to transformation in your own hearts and minds. It’s a scary business, because you can’t see what it’s going to look like. But that’s okay because you’ve been through this before with other ventures and you’ll do it again with this one. Be comforted to know that the same Holy Spirit that blew through those first followers of Jesus now blows through you. Amen.
A video of this sermon can be viewed on the Facebook page of Grace Lutheran Church, Waseca, MN found here.
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