Pentecost
The Church is the Gift of God
Acts 2:1-21
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. June 5, 2022
After Jesus had ascended into heaven the apostles waited to see what God had next in store. On the feast of Pentecost they were gathered all in one place. It was on that morning that the sound like a violent wind came down from heaven, and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, we are told fell on each of the disciples. And then, the sky opened and coming down from heaven, complete, and pure, was… the Book of Discipline.
The apostles immediately went about the first Charge Conference. They elected Peter as lay leader. James would be head of the church council. Matthew would be the finance chair. It was a struggle to find someone to chair the SPPRC, but in the end Bartholomew stood up. Trustees would be headed by John. And John Mark took the minutes.
A joyous time was had by all as they heard reports and passed motions according to Roberts Rules of Order. They wrote a mission statement, and vision statement, staffed their committees with volunteers, and went to work. And so the Church was born.
No, no, it didn’t go that way. It didn’t go that way because the Church isn’t formed by her bylaws and mission statements. Peter and the rest weren’t given Roberts Rules and a board and sub-committees.
Instead, the Church is the gift of God. It is the society formed by the outpouring of the Spirit. On that important morning as Moses had received the covenant on Mt. Sinai the apostles received the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descended as flames of fire, and gave them the ability to speak in all the tongues of the nations. Jews from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem that day to celebrate the festival, to celebrate the delivery of the Law to Moses. And it was to this global gathering that the apostles first preached. They left the place they were staying and went out into the streets, so full of the Spirit of God that they proclaimed, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!”
The people listening had not experienced such power before, and thought they must be drunk. “Not so,” Peter said, “It is only 9 in the morning. No, what you are witnessing is what has been foretold by the prophet Joel, ‘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.’”
Friends, this is the Church. It is the gift of God, formed by the Holy Spirit. God gifts us his presence and empowers us to give thanks and proclaim his gospel to the world. The Church is not first and foremost something we make, or we create, it is first and foremost something God gives us. And it is by the Holy Spirit, and only by the Holy Spirit, that we might be the Church. A people called from every language and nation. A diverse people who are made one in the gift of the Spirit that has been poured out upon us.
The rest of it, the committees and bylaws and the visioning, all comes secondary. It’s all secondary to the work of God in our midst, the gift of his Spirit, the giftings and talents poured out for each and everyone one of us.
Let us not forget this about ourselves. That the Church is not simply something we are called to make up. We do not decide who comes in or who goes out. And, ultimately, the Church does not depend on our own work or effort. The Church is God’s gift to us. The love we share, the fellowship we have, the grace we receive, the things we learn, those we serve, the lives transformed, this is not our doing but is God’s doing. It is all God’s gift to us.
So on this day let us give thanks. Let us praise God for friendships. Praise God for his love. Praise God for the gift of this beautiful community and place. Because it is God’s work in our midst to bring us together. It is God’s work in our midst to shower us in grace, to bring to us salvation. And what can we do in response but praise his name?