The Feast of Pentecost Year C - Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1-21

Lutherans are rarely mistaken for Pentecostals and even when the charismatic renewal blew through the mainline church our version of Pentecost was still a little more reserved than the Assembly of God. It could be due to our Nordic or Germanic heritage, where church doesn't look anything like drinking new wine in the morning. But that doesn't mean we are less spirit filled or on fire for the Lord. It just means our expression of Holy Spirit fire prefers to toast the faithful not light them on fire. It is a mistake to envy the more demonstrative Holy Spirit folk or think that they are holier than thou, though thou art free to discretely raise a hand while singing A Mighty Fortress or quietly add an “Amen” if your Lutheran pastor’s preaching warrants such a response. While those things are all well and good this text is not about personal expressions of emotional piety. The day of Pentecost is about speaking the story of Jesus in a language people can understand. In these “last days” it means speaking the story to those who are by self-definition spiritual but not religious but in truth still seeking for something that satisfies the restless heart. On that first day of the “last days” it meant speaking in the tongues of Gentile nations. In these “last days” it means the church must step outside of its holy halls and wake up from the illusion of privilege and power. It means we stop lusting after the myth of a Christian nation and acting as if we are victims of a secular conspiracy. For those of us who call on the name of the Lord in this day of the “last days” it means speaking the story subversively so that by sowing the seeds of curiosity we may be asked why we long for peace, why we feed the hungry, why we share ourselves in service, why we hope, why we love. It may be that by speaking from the heart about the Spirit that fills us with peace those who are spiritual but not religious might be tempted to become religiously spiritual which might be an apt description of a Lutheran Pentecostal.