Watch Out for that Holy Spirit

For Pentecost, we read Acts 2:1-21 as the primary reading and after the list of places that the crowd was from we add additional languages that people speak in our congregation and listen to John 3:16 in each language.  So we had John 3:16 read English, Akkadian, German, Japanese, Finnish, Portuguese, Swedish, Spanish, Sumerian, Russian and French individually before hearing them all spoken together, which is just awesome to hear.  


Yesterday was also the baptism of two brothers, Aidan and Dylan, which made for a great celebration for both the family and the congregation.  And a celebration of the church as Pentecost is the birthday of the church.  


However, the more I preach, the more comfortable I get with completely  not relying on my manuscript and preaching more extemporaneously.  Yesterday especially was one of those days.  So below is the sermon I wrote.  It is similar to the one I preached but not quite the same. 


Enjoy!

I read a wonderful quote this week “The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to solve our problems but to create them.” 

That may seem backward to many of us but think about it.  In our reading from Acts today, Peter and the other disciples were hanging out, waiting as Jesus had instructed for the promise from God the Father.  It had already been 10 days.  10 days of prayer and picking a new apostle to replace Judas and thus far there had been no signs from God.  You have to think how much longer they would have waited around for this sign from God.  Maybe a few more days, maybe even a few months or a year.  But slowly, without the Holy Spirit, the group would have dispersed.  The apostles would have returned safely back to their own homes, to their own lives.  And as they grew older, as they became fathers and grandfathers, they would have talked about those crazy three years when they followed that preacher from Nazareth.  And they would have lived to old age as fishermen, and tax collectors.

But instead the Holy Spirit came to them and in doing so caused the first bit of trouble.  People thought they were drunk, though it was only 9 o clock in the morning, because they were speaking, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, in languages that were not their own.  And then the Holy Spirit sends them out, out from Jerusalem, from this city where they had gathered for 50 days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, into the wilderness.  They didn’t go into the wilderness as we think about it, into the woods or dessert but to places far and wide to proclaim Jesus.  They traveled throughout the Middle East, to south east Europe, to Rome, to places as far as India.  And wherever they went they did tell others about those crazy three years as they followed that preacher from Nazareth who they knew to be the Lord and Savior, the one sent by God to save all humans from our sins. 

And of course this calling by the Holy Spirit became their problem.  All but one of these 12 apostles were martyred, often in gruesome ways.  And so the Holy Spirit did not come to make the apostles lives easy, to immediately take them up to heaven, to end any frustration they may have.  Instead because of the Holy Spirit, these 12 men, and many others were killed because they told others because of Jesus.

And our lives are not made easier because of the Holy Spirit.  Because of the Holy Spirit we are called to go out into this world to tell others about Christ through our words and deeds.  Because of the Holy Spirit we are called to do crazy things like give up a portion of our income so that the poor may be fed, clothed, and cared for.  Because of the Holy Spirit, we are called to do crazy things like preach a sermon even though we are only 15.  Because of the Holy Spirit, we are called to do crazy things like give up sleeping in on a Sunday, in order to build a community with people we might not otherwise know, or even otherwise like, as we worship God together.  Because of the Holy Spirit, we do things like tell others about how we have seen God.  Because of the Holy Spirit, we do things like risk financial security as a congregation to call some 20 something year old, in-experienced pastor in order to hope that in the long run, God’s love might be more fully proclaimed to more people. 

And just because the Holy Spirit is with us, doesn’t mean that these problems that are created are free of failure.  We as humans are going to fail.  We will fail as children to our parents.  Aidan, Dylan, I am sure you have never done something your parents have told you not to do?  We will fail as parents.  We will fail as spouses, as employees and employers.  We will even fail as children of God. 

Today Aidan and Dylan will be marked with the cross of Christ as they are baptized into the Lord’s family.  But they, like everyone else in this room will at times fail as God’s children.  They will question their faith, just like all of us have.  They will doubt, just like all of us have.  They will sin against God, against others and as brothers against each other. 

But when we fail, the Holy Spirit forgives us.  Because the Holy Spirit invites us to fail.  The Holy Spirit invites to try new things, to look outside ourselves for problems in this world, to find new ways to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord through our words and deeds.  And occasionally that means failure.  Occasionally we will do wrong, sometimes intentionally, sometimes with the best of intentions, sometimes we won’t even realize that we have failed. 

But after we have failed, the Spirit invites us to innovate, invent, and then fail yet again.  But we need not worry about failure, because our failures have been drown in the waters of baptism.  Our failures have washed clean from us.  There is no need to worry about failure as long as we don’t keep failing the same way over and over. 

MMC: Pentecost is Coming

Good Morning Bethlehem,

Yesterday's worship

So going a little out of order than normal, I heard that worship yesterday was wonderful and once I'm done writing this email, I'll watch the recording that Becky P. made.  I have heard only fantastic things about Ryan's sermon, Tori's leadership and Anna, Dylan, Emma, Nini, and Rebecca taking over worship yesterday.  As I was at synod assembly, I asked many colleagues what they were doing for worship on Sunday, often a supply preacher or a lay adult was in charge (and they were often reading the sermon that the bishop prepared).  I can't tell you how proud I was of this awesome congregation to tell people that youth were not just leading worship at Bethlehem but preaching and that the adults would be full of grace as these youth grow into their roles as leaders of this church.  So what did you think?  How did it go? Have I pastored myself out of a job?  If you want to read Ryan's sermon, you can do so here (the video to come later).

A Few Announcements

• Tonight at 7pm a group will be meeting to discuss Christian Education at Bethlehem next year; if you are interested in discussing how out congregation can teach the bible and theology better to children, youth and adults, please join us. 
• Senior Lunch is this Wednesday at noon, we will be meeting at the Putnam House in Bethel.  
• This Sunday is a very busy day!  We will celebrate Pentecost with languages, red, flowers, balloons and the baptisms of Aidan and Dylan C. during the 10am worship.  Please let me know if you are willing to read John 3:16 in a language other than English.
• After worship on Sunday, June 12, head down to Georgetown Day to support our coffee hour booth.  Please contact Cheryl M. to volunteer to serve, set up, clean up or to bake goodies.
• The next council meeting is Monday June 13 at 7:30pm
• Sunday June 19 we will be celebrating the Holy Trinity, new members and dads.  Join us in welcoming the C. and C families and having a special coffee hour of pretzels, hot dogs and beers (both alcoholic and root varieties) as we honor our dads.

Book of Faith Puzzler

Last week’s  question was: In Sunday’s gospel, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Advocate.  Which is not another name for the Holy Spirit? A) Spirit of Understanding, B) the Counselor C) Breath of God, D) Wave of God

Isaiah 11:2 uses the phrase “Spirit of Understanding.”  John 14:26, 15:26 & 16:7 all refer to the Holy Spirit as the Counselor.  Job 33:4 calls the Holy Spirit the Breath of God.  As far as Pastor Becca knows, the Holy Spirit is never referred to as the Wave of God.  Congratulations to Nancy B. for winning this week's puzzler.

This week’s question: The National Council of Churches is an ecumenical group working towards Christian unity and cooperation.  How many different denominations are members of the NCC? A)2  B)37 C)250 D)1000  If you know the answer or willing to google it, email me by noon on Wednesday to be entered into this week's drawing.  And the winner this week will get some delicious cinnamon rolls that my dad and I will be making this coming weekend in preparation for Georgetown Day.

Assisting this Sunday

Below are the people who signed up to serve as worship leaders in the following ways:

Worship Assistant: Mark H

Reader ______

Communion Assistant: Anna H

Ushers: _________ & _________

Bread bringer/baker: Regina B
Offering Counter: ___________
Altar set up & clean up: ___________
Coffee Hour Host: Mark H and Heloisa P
If you would like to serve in any of the ways that are currently blank, please let me know.

This Sunday's Readings
This coming Sunday, for Pentecost, the heart of worship is the story from Acts 2:1-21, when the apostles received the Holy Spirit.  What do you think it was like for the apostles to have a tongue of fire rest on them and to speak in other languages?  Have you ever felt suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit?  What was it like?  We celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the church, how does this seem like the start of the church?  How do we as a church continue to age gracefully and yet grow and be excited about each birthday as if we are a young child?

Have a blessed week!
Pastor Becca

The Holy Spirit in Many Languages

This was written a few weeks ago after Pentecost (May 23) but didn't post, so here it is now:

This last Sunday I preached mainly on the passage from Acts 2:1-21.  In fact I switched up the order of the readings and read this reading last.  The gospel lesson was John 14:8-17 ,25-27 in which Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, and the Act reading is the the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples so we just read the readings in chronological order.

One of the highlights of Pentecost is using many different languages to celebrate how the Spirit gave the disciples to speak in other languages.  I have seen this done in many different ways at different congregations but I LOVE how we did it at Bethlehem this year.  During the Acts reading, after the list of cities/countries, I added additional countries and languages.  People in the congregation, who speak languages other than English, volunteered to read John 3:16 in those languages, so during the reading of Acts we had French, Russian, Spanish, German, Akkadian, Polish, Swedish, Sumerian, Ukrainian, and Japanese.  Some of these were spoken fluently, some more broken but they were done beautifully.  After each person had read John 3:16 individually, I then read Acts 2:11b "in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power" and all 10 languages, plus English were spoken together.    It was wonderful!

Below is my final written version of my sermon.  I did make a few additions that I thought brought the sermon together much better and members of the congregation added their own experiences of the Holy Spirit which I think made the sermon even better, but I have not added those, sorry sometime you just have to be there.  Enjoy!  (oh and pictures of the church will be up tomorrow, I still have to take a few)

We don’t talk about the Spirit a whole lot. The Spirit is kind of an add-on in some ways. In the church year we really only talk about the Holy Spirit on two days, today on Pentecost and next week on Holy Trinity, and even then the Spirit has to share the spotlight with God the Father and God the Son.

In the Apostle’s Creed we say a full sentence about believing in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Then we have a long statement about Jesus Christ, God’s only son our Lord, which goes on to tell about his conception, birth, his death, his resurrection and his ascension. And then we get one brief statement five words: I believe in the Holy Spirit. No explanation about what or who the spirit is, no description about what the Spirit does. Yes the creed continues, but not about the Spirit. We continue with the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. But those things really aren’t about the Spirit, yes they only exist because of the Spirit, there would be the church if it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit, but the creed doesn’t really explain the Spirit for those who do not know what it is.

So what is the Holy Spirit?

Well I don’t think we can explain the Holy Spirit to anyone instead it is something that must be experienced. So if the Holy Spirit must be experienced, then how do we know when we have experienced the Spirit? Well even that is difficult.

Often people will immediately credit the Holy Spirit acting when things happened the why they wanted it to happen. Last August at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, representatives of pastors and lay leaders from across the nation gathered for the biannual meeting of the greater church. But it was a contentious meeting, voting occurred on whether to allow people who are openly gay and in committed relationships to be pastors. Before each discussion, before each vote, those gathered prayed, they prayed that the Holy Spirit would be there, leading them, guiding them in their decision.

Well the vote was taken and the people who agreed with the decision immediately credited the Holy Spirit, often with tears in their eyes and signs of joy on their faces. And those who did not agree with the vote? Well since then they have fought it, many have left the church, many have complained, many have felt abandoned by the church that they love. And very few of them have credit the Holy Spirit or admitted that the Holy Spirit was there, in that conference center as people gathered, prayed, discerned and voted

And this happens all the time. We pray for the Spirit to guide us. When we are guided where we want to go, to great heights in our lives, we honor and celebrate the Holy Spirit, but when we are guided the way we do not want to go we fight, we rebel, we turn and go our own way. We don’t always see the Holy Spirit for what it is. We feel like we are being punished when we don’t get the job we interviewed for, or our relationship ends, or our health prognosis is not what we hoped for. We don’t see that the Spirit is moving, that the job was actually a dead end, and something that would make us unhappy, or the relationship was abusive or that another relationship is coming that will be even better than the one that ended, or through our health concerns we are able to open up to loved ones in a way that never would have happened in good health. But the Holy Spirit is not a timeline. It is not a plan for how things should happen. Having the Holy Spirit in us, experiencing the Holy Spirit, being guided by the Spirit, does not mean that we will not experience hardships and things will always go our way. Instead being led by the Holy Spirit means that we are able to grow through those hardships and realize that things will always go God’s way.

And the Holy Spirit is with us whether we realize it or not. The Holy Spirit is with us if we deny its existence or embrace it openly. And by embracing the Spirit, by praying for the Spirit to guide us, by praying that the Holy Spirit, in the words of the prayer of the day, kindle in us the fire of God’s love, empowering our lives for service and our tongues of praise, we become children of God. It is by allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us that we are able to bear witness to God and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

So what is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God. God that has been promised to us, God that is living in us, God that is a gift from God to us, a gift that has been promised and already received.

What does experiencing the Holy Spirit feel like?

Experiencing the Holy Spirit can be mundane, just a part of everyday life. Experiencing the Holy Spirit can be frustrating when the Holy Spirit comes in ways that we do not want. And experiencing the Holy Spirit can be overwhelming. Overwhelming with joy, overwhelming with happiness, overwhelming with love, and even overwhelming with fear. Experiencing the Holy Spirit can make us seem drunk at only 9 o’clock in the morning such as it was for the disciples. Experiencing the Holy Spirit can make us do impossible things. Experiencing the Holy Spirit can make the impossible become possible. Experiencing the Holy Spirit can bring tears to our eyes.

So maybe this is why the Holy Spirit only gets a brief statement in the Apostle’s Creed, it is so difficult to explain, but easy to experience as long as you acknowledge that it is the Spirit that you are experiencing. All we really need to know is that we are children of God who are led by the Holy Spirit. And for that we need to say is “I believe in the Holy Spirit” and allow the Spirit to lead us.

Church-y Craftiness

This coming Sunday is Pentecost, when the church celebrates the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples.  It is also the birthday of the church universal as it is often seen as the day the followers of Jesus moved from being a small group to a movement. 

Pentecost is celebrated in many ways, the most basic way is with people wearing red, the color of the day and having bright red paraments (the cloth covering the altar and the pulpit and the stole (aka scarf) the pastor wears).  Often the readings or a portion of them are read in a variety of languages since the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the ability to speak in other languages. 

Bethlehem will do these things but also the church will be DECORATED!  A bunch of geraniums are ordered to go behind the altar, around the pulpit and in the window sills.  Balloons will float at the end of the pews and outside the doors.  And two new things are happening, hence my church-y craftiness. 

The first is ribbon poles.  During the procession of the cross, two of our youth will follow the cross, waving poles of red ribbons.  A member of the congregation and myself saw this at another church when we went to the Book of Faith Festival the other week.  My internship congregation discussed making these while I was there (though I cannot remember them being used).  So here is what I did.  I got to 1/2 inch pvc pipe, some white spray paint for plastic, some binder clips (can be found at any office supply store) and a bunch of red ribbons (satin mainly since it flows well) of varying widths and shades.

I went with 7 foot pipes since Bethlehem's ceiling is sort of low and chandeliers hang in the aisle (both the processional cross and the cross that we used on Good Friday have been hit on a chandelier before).  My first step was to drill a small hole about a 1/2 inch down from the top of the pipe.  I then went to town spray painting the pipes. 

Next I used my sewing machine and just a needle and thread to sew the top 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fabric over to make little loops in the ribbons.  The ribbons were between 4 and 6 feet in length.  And then I threaded the loops through the binder clip. And then attached the binder clip to the pole through the hole that I drilled in it. 

The finished product:  

They don't look like much now, but waving in the sanctuary they will look beautiful! 

The other project I enlisted the help of the Sunday School kids.  This last Sunday I taught a brief lesson on the Holy Spirit and we made origami doves made from dollies.  (Click here to find out how to make them)   The dove is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit.  At Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove.  All total they kids made 60 of them.  So yesterday I spent a good portion of the day putting thread through them so we can hang them from the chandeliers or other parts of the ceiling.  Right now I have a flock of origami doves in my dining room. 

I'm decorating the sanctuary on Saturday morning with some parishioners.  I'm excited to see how great the place will look on Sunday with flowers, balloons, doves, and streamers.  But I'm more excited for Sunday worship when people will read John 3:16 in Swedish, Russian, Spanish, French, German, Akkadian, Sumerian, Ukrainian, Japanese, and Polish.

Oh and did I mention yet that both my parents and in-laws will be there?  Bob is graduating this weekend, convocation on Sunday and commencement and degree ceremony on Monday.  He has translated John 3:16 into both Akkadian and Sumerian and I think it is appropriate and exciting that he gets to use both on his graduation day in front of his parents.  More about graduation weekend coming soon.