Acts 2: 1-4, 14-21, 43-47 NRSVUE

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

    and your old men shall dream dreams.

18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

    in those days I will pour out my Spirit,

        and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show portents in the heaven above

    and signs on the earth below,

        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

20 The sun shall be turned to darkness

    and the moon to blood,

        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Happy Birthday, Church!  Today is Pentecost Sunday!

Pentecost is actually a Jewish holy day – a celebration of the 5 books of the Law – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – hence the Greek work for 5 – “Pente.”

Which is why Peter and the other disciples end up standing in the courtyard of the Temple and preaching to people in their own languages – they went to celebrate Pentecost and Spirit did a thing!

And it was a pretty spectacular thing!  Tongues of flame and a sound like a rushing wind and people speaking in languages that they didn’t know!

This is the event that Pentecostals – most of whom are descendants of the Methodist Movement through the holiness side of the Methodist family – take their name.  The foundational idea behind Pentecostalism being that Spirit is literally still speaking through people.

Pentecost has a very supernatural, spectacular feel to it, so in celebrating this holy day, we often pull out all the stops with bird, or fire, or wind, or butterfly themed decorations!  

Reading the scripture in multiple languages.

Children making flame hats out of construction paper and flame wands out of crepe paper streamers.

Turning on a BIG Fan to recreate a sound like a rushing wind.

I even did a balloon drop in one large church where I worked!

Red, orange and yellow balloons hoisted into the ceiling beams with ropes that when pulled, released the balloons onto people’s heads.

Because it’s fun.

Because we’re trying to teach the story.

But also because we seem to forget that the miraculous spectacle of the day is not the important part of the story.

I’m about to share with you an idea that totally changed how I read scripture.

Totally changed how I read scripture.

Are you ready?

In the pre-scientific era in which ALL of the Bible was written – miracles were used as proof that the teaching was legitimate.

For example in 1 Kings chapter 18, the Prophet Elijah wants King Ahab to listen to him talk about God instead of the prophets of Baal, talking about Baal, so he challenges the Priests of Baal to a miracle competition.  The challenge was:

Build an altar, 

put an animal sacrifice in it, and 

light the fire using only prayer!

It’s like a reality TV Survivor competition – make fire using no matches — using nothing but prayer!

Of course the priests of Baal fail to pray down fire, because science.

Then Elijah ups the game and has the whole thing drenched in water, says one little prayer and fire falls from heaven and burns the whole altar, even the stones, to ash.

Not science!

The Miracle proved that the message was worth listening to.

They accepted the message on faith because the miracle was convincing.

Then:  The Miracle validates the Message

Now:  The Message validates the Miracle

This is almost totally the opposite of how we think now.

We hear these stories of fire descending from heaven, or the Red Sea parting, or Jesus feeding the 5000, and we think —

The message is good, so I’m willing to listen to the miracle.

The Message proves that the miracle is worth considering.

Then, they accepted the message on faith because the miracle was convincing.

Now, we accept the miracle on faith because the message is convincing.

So if you’ve ever wondered why there are so many miracles in the Bible, which we find difficult to deal with today, this is why.

*Most* of humanity’s world view has done a complete 180 regarding miracles and messages.

But as Christians we are grounded in these stories that contain miracles, so we get caught up in trying to justify the miracles!

So we often spend Pentecost trying to re-enact miracles with crepe paper and balloons…which just makes the miracles seem even more ridiculous…

When what we should be doing is focusing on the message of Pentecost.

So we’re going to skip all the way down to verse 43!

43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 

Which says what I just explained in much fewer words!  People were impressed with the miracles so they were then willing to listen to the apostles.

And because the apostles taught the people what Jesus had taught them…

Look at verse 44

All these people who believed in what was being taught started sharing all things in common;  even selling their stuff and sharing the cash with everyone, so that everyone’s needs were met.

Woofff!  

Selling everything they had and giving it away to anyone who had needs!

Theologians have tried to explain this away 9 ways from Sunday.

Saying that was just a Pentecost thing.

Or that’s an exaggeration.

Or they only shared things with members.

Probably the most theologically legitimate explanation for the Radical Share Economy of the post- Pentecost Church is that they all thought that Jesus was coming right back, so they thought that nobody really needed to work or own anything – but pretty soon they realized that sharing everything with everyone wasn’t practical because some people’s needs were being over-met and others were still in need…. Which is kind of true… They did think Jesus would be right back, and they did appoint Deacons to manage meeting people’s needs in a more organized and responsible way.

But I think the most overlooked theological point is that the Church at Pentecost enacted the Year of the Lord’s Favor – the Year of Jubilee as a grass roots action of radical generosity.

Where those who had more than enough sold their possessions and redistributed their wealth to those who didn’t have enough – they were doing what the government of Israel should have been doing every 50 years according to Leviticus chapter 25.

And this is such a radical teaching – just as radical then, as it is now – that this story needed a really spectacular miracle to validate the sheer audacity of choosing generosity in a world that is centered on greed.

The real message of the story of Pentecost.

The real good news of this miraculous story is not wind, and languages and tongues of flame.

The real good news is that day by day – this is in verse 46 – day by day, they broke bread in their homes and shared food together with glad and generous hearts. 

And, BECAUSE day by day, they gathered in homes and at the Temple with glad and generous hearts…they earned the goodwill of all the people.

And day by day, God added to their numbers, those who were finding healing and wholeness.

I say, healing and wholeness, because sozoh – the Greek work that is translated as “saved”  means healing and holistic wellness – in body, mind and spirit.  Having enough to pay the bills and put food on the table goes a long way towards physical healing and wholeness.

And day by day, God added to their numbers, those who were finding healing and wholeness.

Not because of wind and fire, but because of glad and generous hearts.

Church, in our Board meeting last Sunday, we discussed an article with some pretty serious statistics from Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, our neighbors to the North in the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area

In the past 10 years, PNW Annual Conference – that’s Washington State and Northern Idaho – 

• has shrunk from 236 churches to 187 churches – that’s a loss of 49 churches.
• The One Corporate Sized Church – that’s 500+ shrunk down to a Program size church – that’s 150- 500
• 13 churches shrunk from Program sized to Pastoral sized- that’s 50- 150 members
• There are about half as many Pastoral sized churches – that’s 50-150 in members
• And there are more Family sized churches, but only because about half the previously Pastoral sized churches now have 50 or less members.  
• Of those 119 family-sized congregations, 98 average fewer than 35 in worship 

And I share this not to say, Oh No!  The sky is falling! The Church is dying!

I share this to say, we are not alone.

Montavilla is not the only church who used to be Program sized, moved to Pastoral sized, and now is Family sized, with an average of fewer than 35 in worship.

We’re not alone.

We’re not less good at doing church than other churches.

We’re not “doing it wrong.”

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the midst of what historians call an Epochal Change.

Like we’re standing at the edge of the end of one Epic and the beginning of another age in history.

And so were the Disciples on Pentecost.

The Disciples didn’t know what they were doing!

Until the day of Pentecost, they were HIDING IN THE UPPER ROOM!

They were so scared and bewildered after Jesus’ death and resurrection that they had no idea what to do.

They were standing at the edge of the end of what Historians now call the End of Antiquity and the Beginning of the Common Era!

They didn’t know what they were doing, they just did what they knew.

They went to the Temple to celebrate the Festival of the 5 books of the Torah and Spirit showed up.

They didn’t know what to do next, so they just did what Jesus did with them.

They hung out, they ate, they talked about what it means to really follow God – then they went out and did it – by practicing neighbor love with glad and generous hearts.

They practiced Radical Hospitality, without any intention of being radical.

They were just doing with others what Jesus had done with them.

Church, this Pentecost, I believe we are standing at the edge of the end of the Common Era and the Beginning of… I don’t know what the Historians will call this!

And I don’t know what to do to save the institutional church.

I’m not actually convinced that we’re even supposed to save the institutional church.

Temple Judaism was holy and God let it come to an end, but the Jewish faith went on.

The Holy Roman Empire was… a thing, and God let it come to an end, but our faith went on in new forms..

Mid-century-modern Institutional Church is coming to an end, but our faith – Christianity is moving on to new forms.

But at the center of all these movements are the teachings of God.

The practice of hospitality.

The practice of compassion and care.

The practice of neighbor-love.

The practice of day by day, gathering in homes and churches with glad and generous hearts, and day by day, God added to their numbers.

So that’s what we’re doing, and it’s working.

I know that it doesn’t look like it’s working on Sunday, but day by day, as we gather with Haven Dinner on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, God is adding new people to Haven every single month!

Since last summer God has added 9 more people to Haven Dinner, and we’ve got our biggest group ever heading to Camp Magruder Adult Renewal Retreat the first weekend in June, and we’re picking up a completely random person who registered for camp and needs a ride!

Since last summer, God has added new people to the Sewists Collective every month — they now have 3 gatherings a month – a day time gathering, an evening gathering and a knitting circle.  There’s even a young man who’s a committed Sewist!

Day by day – I see you bringing donations to the Haven Dinner pantry, gathering household items for people who need something, and dropping stuff off for Rahab’s Sisters with glad and generous hearts.

And day by day, even in our old fashioned mid-century-modern Sunday worship, God is adding to our numbers.  Thanks be to God, we’ve got some new friends.

So happy birthday, Church!

I don’t know what we’re going to look like next year, much less 100 years from now, but I do know this.

The future begins with glad and generous hearts.

We know how to do that!