This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa, on May 20, 2018. It’s based on Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:22-27, and John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
I didn’t intend to pay attention to the royal wedding. But when I got into my car yesterday morning, radio set to Minnesota Public Radio, I inadvertently tuned in. I thought, at first, I was hearing a Pentecost sermon. As it turns out, maybe I was.
I started listening just as Bishop Michael Curry was concluding his sermon1 by referencing Teilhard de Chardin:
French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, great spirits of the 20th century, Curry said. Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a mystic. In some of his writings he said, from his scientific background as well as his theological one…that the discovery or invention or harnessing of fire was one of the great scientific and technological discoveries in all of human history.
Fire, to a great extent, made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating, which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby made human migration around the world a possibility, even into colder climates. Fire made it possible — there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no Industrial Revolution without fire. The advances of science and technology are greatly dependent on the human ability and capacity to take fire and use it for human good.
Can you understand why I thought I was hearing an early Pentecost sermon? All those references to fire?
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. 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 (Acts 2:1-4).
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them. We’re wearing red today to remember that fire.
We began our worship this morning with a dialogue that named Pentecost as a day when the Holy Spirit was revealed in flaming glory and the glory was given to the people. The fire of the Holy Spirit lives on in us, we proclaimed.2
Fire is power.
Stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high, Jesus told his disciples before he left them to ascend into heaven (Luke 24:49).
Fire is power. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them. Rested on each of them. Power from on high is not kept on high, held tightly by a tyrannical God. Power from on high comes down. Flames. Spreads. Rests on us. Gives us the ability to speak.
The fire of the Holy Spirit lives on in us, helping us to pray when we have no words for the heartache and sorrow of this groaning world. The Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words, communicating our need to God, who hears our desperate pleadings.
It’s the fire of the Holy Spirit living on in us when we testify, when we boldly speak the truth of life in Christ. Jesus told his disciples that when the Advocate—the Spirit—would come, he would prove the world wrong about sin, and righteousness and judgment. The Spirit would instead guide into truth, speaking the words of Jesus—God’s word made flesh.
This is happening.
Where the world wants to say that everything is relative, and there is no right and wrong, and there is no sin, the Spirit speaks the word of Jesus, Repent, and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15).
Where the world wants to act as though there’s no cure for sin, no way to create meaningful legislation that saves lives, no way to end war and poverty and hunger, the Spirit speaks the word of Jesus, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
Where the world wants to suggest, and even outright claim, that any human being is anything less than a child of God made in God’s image, the Spirit speaks the word of Jesus, Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me (Matthew 25:40).
Where the world, full of shame and regret, can not trust that it is beloved, can not believe that its righteousness comes only from Christ, can not accept that God has already judged the world and that the judgment is life, the Spirit speaks the word of Jesus, Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).
Where the world wants to point fingers, refuses to listen, relies on sound bites and memes instead of meaningful interactions in the context of relationships, the Spirit speaks the word of Jesus, Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another (John 13:34).
Bishop Curry concluded his fiery litany by returning to de Chardin, who said that if human beings ever harness the energy of love, then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.
Love is fire. The creating love of God for this beloved world, the redeeming love of Christ for all people, is the fire of the Holy Spirit that rests on us today. It gives us the ability to speak the word we have heard, to love as we have been loved. Amen.
1 Watch and read Bishop Curry’s entire wedding sermon at https://www.washingtonpost.com
2 Find the entire call to worship, written by AnnMarie Kneebone, at https://re-worship.blogspot.ca