Sermon: Pentecost 2008

Being that I am not particularly gym savvy, I have a personal trainer. Her name is Caitlyn, and I meet with her once a week so that she can show me how to work-out. The first time I met her, she made me work so hard I had to stop because I thought I was going to puke in the middle of the gym. I often refer to her by terrible names, because every time I leave a session with her I kind of hobble away in pain. She is mean. She is tough. But, as I sat around thinking about Pentecost, I kept hearing her words in my mind.
Caitlyn is always pushing me to lift weights that I think are too heavy for a regular person like me. She constantly wants to add more, and every time that I think I have pushed myself as far as I can go, every time I think that my body might actually turn into jello, she tells me, use your breath. Use your breath and push it out. And so I take a deep breath until it fills me up, and when I push it out, those muscles find a little more reserve.
Today, Pentecost, is a day of breath. That Holy Spirit we celebrate on this Sunday is the very breath of God. In the Old Testament that spirit is called ruach or wind, here, in the greek, pneuma can be breath or spirit. It is the force God breathed into Adam in the creation story, it is the spirit that moved over the waters, separating earth from sky, it is the breath that fell from the lips of Jesus as he died. It is the very same breath that came hurtling through the room in Jerusalem, so filling those gathered that they starting speaking languages they didn’t even know, the very same breath that made them feel as if they were on fire as they told the stories of what God had done. The very breath that sent them out of that room, and into the middle of a crowd who heard the word of God in their native language, who understood what God had done.
It is the very same breath that Peter promised would make sons and daughters prophesy, old men and women dream dreams, slaves and free speak God’s word. It is the breath, the spirit poured out on all flesh, that promises all may see and know what God has done, and what God continues to do. Because it didn’t end with the death of Jesus, it didn’t even end with Easter, it didn’t end with ascension of Jesus to sit at the right hand of God, it didn’t end- because God’s very breath is still enlivening us, filling us, helping us to push just a little more, to push the bounds of our hopes and dreams a little farther.
Kelly Fryer is a Lutheran visionary, a person I very much respect. She has written several books. She regularly speaks at conferences. The last time I saw her, she asked us to consider how we know that the direction we are going is where God wants us to go. She asked us to consider how we know that we feel the Holy Spirit. I thought really hard, hoping to come up with something that sounded very spiritual and deep. She said that she knows the Holy Spirit is pushing her somewhere when she feels like she is going to throw up.
And that is because the celebration of Pentecost is not a celebration of a soft breeze, it is a celebration of a wind so hot, a holy hurricane that is more likely to set us on fire than tickle us. The breath of God had those gathered in Jerusalem so filled with God’s dream for the world that the church swelled from a handful to three thousand. They couldn’t walk away from what they had seen, the quiet started preaching, the scared started testifying, the lonely found themselves sharing the love of God with their neighbors. That hot wind fifty days after Easter pushed them out of their safe places, made them push just a little farther, try something just a little more daring, do something just a bit different.
Today, on Pentecost Sunday, the words of my trainer are God’s words for us. Use your breath, the breath of God that Jesus sent to remain with us. Use your breath, because God always wants to push us a little farther. God challenges us to come flying out of our safe places and into the streets, preaching and teaching, dreaming and prophesying about what God has done and what God continues to do in the world around us.
Our problem, as the people of God, is not that we dare to dream. It is that our dreams are too small. Our dreams are perhaps to see someone new in worship every once and awhile, or perhaps to have a balanced budget every few years. Our dreams are that perhaps we’ll see a few more babies, our dreams are for things that might actually happen. Our dreams are small enough that we don’t have to be really disappointed if they don’t work out. Pentecost, dear friends, reminds us that those tiny little dreams aren’t God’s dreams. God’s dreams are so big that they can’t be boxed up, God’s dreams are so big that we can’t even see the whole picture, only tiny glimpses of the movement of the spirit. God’s dreams are that we are so set on fire with the passion, vision, and mission of God, that we can’t hold it in anymore. God’s dreams are for a world filled with God’s kingdom, a world transformed and renewed by the very breath of God.
On Pentecost, we remind ourselves that the church was born from pushing the boundaries a little farther. The church was born from people speaking languages they didn’t know, from people stumbling out into the streets to proclaim the mighty deeds of God. The church was born in excitement, in passion, in dreams and in visions.
Do we really believe that? This Sunday, all decked out in our red shirts, looking at the red plants, the fiery banners, do we really believe that God is all about setting us on fire? Do we really want the Spirit to blow in through this sanctuary and push us into things beyond our biggest dreams? Or, does God seem like he has gotten a little tired out, perhaps more interested in keeping us afloat than in rocking the world around us?
There are times I meet with Caitlyn, and I think there is no way my body can do more than it has done before. There are times I walk into this building and I think there is no way we can do more than we have already done. There are times I look at the statistics about the ELCA, dropping in membership and I think, there is no way God is really interested in transforming our lives. Perhaps God is more interested in waiting with us until the church dies out. But, Pentecost reminds us that the body of Christ, the church can always push more. Jesus Christ promised to send us the spirit, a spirit to set us on fire, to renew us and enliven us and be with us. We can use our breath, use that Holy Breath that is enough to fill dust with life, that Holy Breath that is enough to set people on fire, that Holy Breath that pushes us and changes us and draws us to new life. Use that Holy Breath, and see the world transformed. Amen.