God is Calling You

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Pentecost – 4 June 2017

Texts: Acts 2; Philippians 4:4-9 (Cecelia’s Confirmation verse)

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Cecelia has chosen a verse from Philippians 4 as her Confirmation verse, read a few minutes ago: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition present your requests to God." Whenever we look at a solitary Bible verse, it is helpful to look at the context of that verse. So, for some context of Philippians 4:6 –

Remember that this book was originally a letter, written by the Apostle Paul to a group of believers in Philippi. By the time Paul writes this letter, the Church in Philippi is undergoing some suffering as a community because of their belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire is the pre-dominant ruling power, and absolute allegiance to the Roman emperor is the expectation. But, allegiance to the emperor is more than just saying a pledge – it’s a religion, so Christians in Philippi are being persecuted because they don’t worship the emperor, they worship Christ.

In addition to the suffering that the Philippians are enduring, Paul himself is writing this letter to them while in prison, so he himself is dealing with some pretty difficult circumstances when he writes to them.

So into this situation, and from his own difficult situation, Paul writes these words to the Philippians: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition present your requests to God."

It is one thing if Paul writes these words to them, and everyone is secure and happy in their faith. Having some of the background about the verse, it begins to take on a different significance. Paul writes to the Philippians from a place of endurance, knowing that they are also having to endure some things.

Last week, Cecelia came up here to work on her banner, and she brought her artwork with her. I offered to keep it in my office for safekeeping, and, Cecelia, we had no idea in that moment (when I asked you about keeping it in my office) how much of a witness that artwork would be for me over the next couple of days.

I wasn’t facing difficulties like Paul and the Philippians faced, however, I can tell you there was one point (following a challenging phone call) that I happened to look over and see this verse – and it spoke to me. It spoke directly into the situation I was facing in that moment – directly into my anxiety and stress – and it helped me focus on lifting my anxiety and stress to God in prayer. And several times over the next couple of days, I found myself pondering the words on your artwork. This message was a witness for me.

Even beyond the stresses of our day-to-day lives, we still live in anxious times. Maybe the names of countries and people in charge have changed since the First Century A.D. when Paul lived, but our world is filled with fear and stress, fear and stress that threaten our faith in a loving God.

But today is Pentecost, the day upon which we remember the coming of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised the Spirit to his disciples – and on that first Pentecost, as they gathered, the Spirit descends upon them in a mighty way, granting them strength and power. And this Spirit is poured out on all kinds of people, just as the prophet Joel had said it would 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. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

Which means, Cecelia, that God is calling you – but not only you – but you, and you, and you – God is calling all of us to proclaim God’s love and grace. All of us – young and old, and in the middle – all of us together are joined in this call of proclamation, and we are equipped by God’s Spirit for this work. It is the Spirit who empowers us, and we are not given that power only for our own sakes, but for the sake of this world that God loves. This world needs our witness to God’s love, this world needs our care in God’s name.

Today, you are affirming your baptismal faith. You were baptized – as many of us were – before you could speak for yourself, and so others took the vows for you. Today, you affirm those vows for yourself – promising a life of faith in which you live among God's faithful people, listen to the word of God and share in the Lord's supper, proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

It’s a lot.

But – I promise you this – none of us is alone. Look around you – see your family and your friends, your pastor, and your church family – we are all here to walk with you. In a few minutes, when you come up to affirm your baptismal faith, you’ll kneel for prayer, and we will gather around you, surrounding you with our prayers and our love. Then, this congregation, representing the Body of Christ everywhere, will promise to support you and pray for you as our sister in Christ.

Never forget, too, that the Spirit of God – the same Spirit poured out on those first disciples way back when – that Spirit has been poured out on you, too. That Spirit has been poured out on all of us. Through the waters of baptism, and throughout our lives until today, and into tomorrow, and the next day – that Spirit is with us.

Thanks be to God for this gift. Amen.

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The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away...

Pentecost – June 8, 2014 - Year A

Texts: Acts 2:1-21

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace be with you, from God our Father, from his beloved Son, and from the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Have you ever been bewildered by the power of the wind? I have, many times – I’ll share one time with you. My mom and stepdad and I went camping together in the mountains of New Hampshire one summer. We had a beautiful campsite, right along a small brook, complete with babbling water. The campsite was surrounded by towering trees, which formed a sort of outdoor cathedral over our heads.

We set up our tent under the towering trees, next to the babbling brook, and, after we finished setting up the rest of our camp, we enjoyed a lovely dinner by the campfire. This was  before smart phones and Kindles – I don’t think I even had a book light – so, when the night reached a point of deep darkness, and the campfire had died down, we went to bed. The babbling brook sang us a lullaby as we drifted off to sleep.

And then…

We were awakened in the middle of the night by a storm, picking up steam. Our tent was rainproof, we discovered. But what struck us was the wind. The wind, blowing a gale (as my mother-in-law would say) – picking up items we’d left out and blowing them around. We wondered to ourselves if the tent might blow away. Our beautiful cathedral of towering trees was transformed into a seemingly living and breathing space – and all three of us were in the tent, wondering if the ceiling of the cathedral might come crashing down on top of us.

It didn’t. The next morning, as we left camp, Mom talked with the park ranger, who had asked how our night was. “Noisy,” she responded, and he agreed, telling us that the winds on the mountain that night had clocked in at 50mph with gusts even higher. No wonder we felt so bewildered by that wind.

I’m thinking that the disciples gathered for Pentecost must’ve felt somewhat the same – bewildered. There they are, gathered together, celebrating Pentecost – which was the Jewish feast during which they remembered God giving the Law to Moses and the Israelites so very long ago. These disciples who are gathered have been witnesses of Jesus – to Jesus’ life and death, to his resurrection and ascension.

And then…

“…suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

And this is how the promised Holy Spirit arrives into their lives – through the rush of wind and the glow of tongues of fire. Beyond that, the disciples are given the ability, through the Spirit, to speak in languages that are not their own so that they may proclaim God’s deeds of power in the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ in the languages of the gathered community.

And there are some there who are bewildered by it all, and others who think they’re all drunk, which gives Peter the perfect opportunity to stand up and bear witness to work of God in their very midst. We don’t hear the end of Peter’s sermon today, but when he finishes, the crowd is “cut to the heart” and they begin asking, “What should we do?”

And Peter simply responds: “’Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.'”

We then hear that three thousand of them are baptized that day, and so the work of the Holy Spirit continues to expand. Out of that first group of Christians, God is birthing the Christian church, and empowering it with the Holy Spirit to get out there and spread the word that God freed Jesus from death and, in doing so, he frees us from the power of death, also.

“Repent and be baptized,” Peter says to those first Christians, “and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” – and that is the promise that we still have from God to this day – that when we are baptized, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is the gift which Brooklyn will receive today – because the promise is for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

We are not called by God only for our own sakes. Similar to what I said last week – I wonder where on earth we’d all be if those first Christians who received the Holy Spirit had kept their mouths shut - if when they received the Spirit, they’d gone home, shut their doors, and gone to bed!

Thank God they didn’t. Thank God that the Spirit drove them into their homes and marketplaces, to the synagogues and the wells where they drew water – so that they could speak about God’s deeds of power to others, so that others would also be called by God to believe.

We are not called by God only for our own sakes. We don’t receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for it to be hidden away. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are empowered by that Spirit to proclaim the great love of God. It’s bewildering sometimes – God is calling me? Yes, my brothers and sisters – God is calling us. “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”

Amen.

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On Wind and Birds...

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

C Pentecost – May 19, 2013

Texts: Acts 2:1-21; John 14:25-27

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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What is the big deal about Pentecost, anyway? This day on which we remember very specifically the coming of the Holy Spirit – what is the big deal?

I mean, the Holy Spirit’s kind of…hazy. Kind of…undefined. Kind of…well, Spirit-ey. We have in our Christian heritage many, many likenesses of God the Son - Jesus (art which often reflects the ethnicity and culture of the artist), and more than a few pictures of God the Father. For the God the Spirit, though, our artwork is limited to pictures of doves or flames (with a few other images thrown in for good measure). Rarely do we see a personified version of the Holy Spirit in Christian artwork.

So in our Gospel lesson for today, from the Gospel of John, Jesus is talking with his disciples about the Holy Spirit. Today’s reading is part of what we call his “Farewell Discourse” – these are his final words to them before he is arrested and killed. In today’s snippet from the Gospel of John, Jesus promises that “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”[1]

If we fast-forward from today’s gospel reading to later, after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; fast-forward to the ascension – the time when Jesus ascended into heaven; fast-forward to the disciples in Jerusalem, following Jesus’ instructions to them, waiting for whatever comes next – waiting for this Advocate to show up…I kind of wonder what or whom they were expecting, exactly. A person? An angel? Were they expecting this…?

“Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”[2]

The arrival of the Holy Spirit is not the arrival of a person or an angel - no, this is something much greater! This is the very Spirit of Christ, arriving in dramatic fashion, and immediately giving power to these followers of Jesus – power to proclaim the love of God in Christ Jesus without hesitation and without fear! The story of Pentecost, then, reminds us that sometimes the Spirit makes a dramatic entrance – and sometimes the Spirit moves us in ways that we aren’t expecting at all.

One of the symbols commonly used to portray the movement of the Holy Spirit is wind. That was really the inspiration behind the kite festival this afternoon – to experience the wind and remember the movement of the Holy Spirit. But as I’ve started flying kites to get ready for this event, and watched others do so, too, here’s another correlation: sometimes, the wind moves the kite in totally unexpected directions. One minute, that kite will be up in the sky, looking great, and the next minute, it’s plummeting to earth, dive-bombing everyone within a fifty-foot radius.

So it is with the Spirit. The Spirit moves us – sometimes in very challenging directions – but always for the sake of God’s mission in the world. The Spirit moves us – sometimes way out of our comfort zones – but always with the promise of remaining with us. Jesus promised to be with us always, to the very end of the age – and that is the work of the Holy Spirit: to remind us of Jesus and his teachings, but – more than that – to be that on-going presence of Jesus-with-us.

For most of my adult life, I’ve found it humorous that one of the most commonly-used symbols for the Holy Spirit is…a bird – specifically, a dove. We get this image from Scripture, of course – in the Gospel of Luke it’s found in chapter 3 – Jesus is baptized by John and is standing there – the heavens open up, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove.

There are images for the Holy Spirit that come from outside Scripture, too. In Celtic Christianity, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as a bird, but not a nice, peaceful dove, gracefully landing on someone’s shoulder. Rather, they use the image of a wild goose – loud, unpredictable, blustery. Even here at Our Redeemer, we’ve starting using these little paper cranes to remind us of the Spirit’s presence with us.

I found another reminder at home this month. A few weeks ago, we began to notice a finch hanging out more on our back patio, under the porch roof. She seemed focused on one of our hanging plants in particular and – sure enough – I went out to check a couple of weeks ago and found a nest with five tiny eggs.

Every day, Mama Finch is there with her eggs, sometimes hovering protectively around the plant, sometimes brooding on the eggs themselves. When I go out to water the plants or do some other task, she flies off, but never very far. She keeps an eye on things from the nearby fence, squawking at me if I get too close to her nest. As soon as I leave the area, she’s right back at the nest again, chirping and nestling in, making sure that all is well.

The other day, I went out to check the nest and found that two of the eggs had just hatched. There, nestled among my plant, were two little fuzzy birds, just beginning to breathe in new life.

I’ve had nesting birds before. Soon, Mama Finch will feed them. And eventually, she’ll urge them on, out of the nest. As I have watched her over these past weeks, I’ve begun to see a new image of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit as…a finch, of all things. Loving, brooding, sometimes quietly present and sometimes squawking at me, but never far away.

And that’s the deal with the Spirit. We will probably never come up with the perfect image to suit the many ways in which the Spirit works among us. But we can trust that the Spirit is working among us and in us and through us. As Pope Francis said this morning (on Twitter): “The Holy Spirit transforms and renews us, creates harmony and unity, and gives us courage and joy for mission.” May we be always attentive to the Holy Spirit’s presence and love and work among us, as we follow the Spirit’s leading.

Amen.

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[1] John 14:26

[2] Acts 2:2-4