“SPIRIT POWER”
a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens
Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.
May 19, 2024
Acts 2:1-8, 11b - 18 NRSV
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.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language-
11 in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea 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.
This morning I am supposed to talk about stewardship and Pentecost. Ok. Here it is: I want to invite you to become stewards of the future of the church. That is really what today is all about. We can talk about giving to a church budget, we can give you a thousand reasons why giving is a great experience. But this is Pentecost. It is called the “birthday” of the church. Here is the more important reality. The Spirit Power that came upon those early followers of the way of Jesus, changed the future, changed the world. If you and I believe in this Spirit Power what you and I choose to give today, and actually give in the coming year, can change lives and change the world.
I don’t know what the Holy Spirit “looked” like that first Pentecost. I don’t know if it was like a fire or a dove or a dove of fire or a dove on fire - whatever. I know everything changed for the people that experienced that first Pentecost. I know a fire can change everything. It can burn everything up and leave you with ashes or it can warm up and light up a freezing cold dark night. I also know two truths about change. One, almost no one likes change, and, two: EVERY. THING. CHANGES. CONSTANTLY.
So what? Well, imagine yourself at that first Pentecost. Can you imagine what life was like for those folks? It was somewhere around the year 33. Can you imagine them imagining the changes between then and today, in 2024? I don’t think they could imagine the way things changed for the followers of Christ by the year 1615. By that year a palace called St. Peter’s Cathedral was built in a place called the Vatican in Rome. Life for those first followers of Jesus began with nothing but persecution from Rome. Talk about change?! In the middle of that a Catholic priest and theology professor named Martin Luther began making the changes that became the Protestant Reformation. That resulted in a whole new reality for followers of Jesus. Lives and the world have always been changed by Spirit Power.
So this Pentecost I want to talk about change, and I want to talk about letting the power of the Holy Spirit guide those changes. I call it Spirit Power. Don’t be confused. I am not talking about speaking in tongues or handling snakes. I’m talking about the changes that the church must make for there to be a church in 2424, or maybe even in 2034. I’m not saying this to raise everyone’s anxiety levels. I am saying we must not let anxiety, fear, or apathy cause us to lose the Spirit Power that we need to birth the church of tomorrow. We must have that Spirit Power because we have to make sure the Church changes. It must become something more and better than what it was and what it is.
There are way too many people today who want to reverse every change or pretend every change is evil in our world today. Here in the United States in legal circles for example, overeducated fools, including some on the Supreme Court, believe in a theory called Constitutional Originalism. They believe they can turn back the clock to when that document was written. What they want to do is turn the clock back to when the only people who mattered were white, male, rich, slave-owning, and property-owning people. I would be glad to accept that if they accept that the 2nd amendment means we do away with every weapon except the kind that were available at the time the Constitution was written. You know, like black powder rifles and such.
In Church circles we have people who wrongly believe they can read the Bible literally and live by it. What they really want to do is go back to a time in their imagination that never actually existed. Their vision looks something like a white, heterosexual – “ish,” male-dominated, rich, property-owning religious cult. Those who believe in this nonsense will never believe that their Savior was a brown-skinned, Middle Eastern peasant, who advocated people selling everything and giving it all to the poor. I don’t really have any reason to buy into their religion, so let me turn to talking about my vision of the church on this Pentecost Sunday.
We’ve made a plan for the next 3 years or so. That’s fine. But that is really just a list of things we already like to do or want to keep doing. It doesn’t really account for anyone who is not here. And if we don’t find a way to connect with the next generation and the generation after that then we won’t be here much beyond 2034. We must understand that when we talk about stewardship this morning we are not talking about a budget for 2025. We are talking about developing a mindset that we are called to be midwives of the new birth of the church. I’m talking simultaneously about Coral Isles Church and THE CHURCH all caps. THE CHURCH and Coral Isles Church must change, and most of us here, or sitting at First Baptist anywhere or some First Assembly of God or in St. Peter’s Cathedral, in the Vatican, really don’t have any idea what the next church needs to look like or what to do to release it into reality.
I say release it into reality because it must come by Holy Spirit power. It must happen like the birth of a child. It must come by the mating of imagination, faith, money, effort, prayer and a whole lot of work. I don’t have any idea what that really will include. And if you think it sounds way beyond your ability, energy, or faith, I’m with you. But here’s what I want to invite you to consider.
The Holy Spirit continues to give power to people of faith. The Scripture we read speaks of how the most unlikely people will “prophesy.” That means speak of God’s purposes. Women and men, free and even enslaved will be filled with Spirit Power. We can all tap into that to become stewards and midwives of a new reality, the next church. I know most of us want to go back to some church we remember in the past. Play those songs I know and love, not those crazy ones I don’t like. Don’t preach those sermons that challenge me to think, preach ones that make me feel happy about myself. And keep those kids quiet, cause we want them to come in and sit like mannequins. Well, sorry to tell you, I like the kid noise. It gives me hope. And if it bothers you because you can’t hear me, well, remember, I’m not praying to you, I’m praying to God. But don’t shush the kids. Ever. They don’t shush you when you snore during the sermon!
So let’s think about how we can engage twenty-somethings. By statistics something like 58% of them have never been inside a church. Here’s a couple of ideas. How about we start putting food trucks out there on a regular basis and when teenagers from the high school or other folks not attached to our church come along some of us are out there to engage them? Not to convert them or evangelize them, but to get to know them as people? I want to sit out there at a picnic table by one of those food trucks. I want to have a sign that says, “Tell me something that would make you want to come to church.” Or, “tell me all the reasons you would never come to church.” And then I would just listen. How about that?
Or how about we look into offering a once a month gathering for gay and straight young adults here in the church. We pay for sodas and chips and maybe bring some homemade cakes or something in and we let them decide what they want to do. Listen to music? Play video games together? I don’t have a clue. But maybe if we make a safe space for someone younger than pretty much almost everyone of us, maybe, just maybe they will tell us how to make a church for them? I don’t know if either of these things are good ideas, or that they will “work.” I just figure we have to find some way to learn from those who aren’t here what they want to have to come here.
I believe that Spirit Power multiplies every time someone takes a chance on a new way to share the love of God. I think every time someone starts something that shares the love of Christ with someone else, Spirit Power explodes, and lives are changed. I believe Spirit Power will renew the church and the church will multiply in ways that change the world for good. The question is, do we want to be part of it? Do we want to be stewards and midwives of the church of the future? Spirit Power is what Pentecost was about and is about. Will we give everything we can to see it multiply so we can change lives and change the world? That would be a real Pentecost to remember, wouldn’t it? AMEN.
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