"Pentecostal" Preaching

And here it is, Pentecost 2014. Like most of my blog posts for festivals and high feast days, this one will look different from the "normal" set up.


...and to explain the title of this post. A few years ago while worshipping on Pentecost, I approached pastor and said "You look very pentecostal!" (The pastor had on a very nice red stole with flames on it.) Sadly, she did not find this amusing...


One Thought on Pentecost

There is always one thing I try to remember as I prepare for this Sunday: while I myself think about Pentecost, the Second Chapter of Acts, and all of this stuff A LOT, not everyone in my congregation does.  It doesn't mean that they don't care...they actually care a great deal, but not many of them dwell on the details.  Do I dwell on the details of their jobs?  So, if I start to think that what I'm talking about is "just too painfully obvious and boring since we all know this stuff, don't we?" I might be the only one.  There is a great chance that you will preaching to someone who is hearing (or more likely, truly considering) this story for the first time.  My goodness, that's awesome.  Make it come alive with your words and demeanor.


Superheroes?

Okay, I don't want to make too much of this, but as I hear Acts 2 read again (and again...and again) over the years I can't help but see these apostles in an almost superhero-esque light.  Like many of the superheroes we see in the movies or in graphic novels they are given special powers and abilities (there's the great language-thing going on in our own lesson for this Sunday but also check out Acts 1:8 for Jesus' own words).

Other superheroes get their powers from a radioactive spider (Spiderman), or by coming from another planet (Thor or Superman), or by receiving a "super-serum" (Captain America), or getting hit by gamma radiation (Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk), or cosmic rays while in outer space (The Fantastic Four), or just by having lots and lots and lots of money (Batman or Iron Man). Okay, that last one was unfair to Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark: they have a great work ethic, intelligence, etc. These apostles receive their "super powers" from the Holy Spirit and Pentecost is the beginning of a tremendous adventure.  It's an adventure that will include healings, daring escapes, long journeys, riots, encounters with demon-possessed individuals, shipwrecks, and much more. In fact,  it's an adventure that has not yet ended, even to this day.

If you start with the idea of calling the apostles of Pentecost Superheroes people might go along with it. Once you have them along for the ride, then you can land an amazing "punch."  Your listeners are superheroes as well, given amazing powers by their baptism and by receiving the Lord's Supper.

Think of the amazing powers they have: the ability to proclaim the good news, the ability to love like Jesus, to strive for justice and peace...hey, why not just run through the 'Affirmation of Baptism' (aka Confirmation) service again.

Hey, if you really want to get all Lutheran with this, talk about even believing in Jesus or calling him "Lord" is a super-power granted by the Holy Spirit (can anyone say Explanation of the Third Article of the Apostles Creed?)

AND while your at it, why not look at all of those gifts of the Spirit that Paul mentions in First Corinthians.  THEN you can point out how these different gifts work together: you practically have "The Avengers" here.


Other Images:

• I really enjoy the "Re:form" confirmation lesson on "Who Wrote the Bible, God or Humans?" (check out the video clip HERE.) It talks about the meaning of the word "Inspired." "In" means..."in" and "spired" means "breathed" as in "breathed into."  The apostles on Pentecost were quite literally "inspired" by the Holy Spirit.  There's plenty to be said about being "inspired."

• I really like how a crowd forms after hearing the sound of the apostles praising God in their own languages and then Peter is able to give a powerful sermon.  He was given the words when the time came.  How often do we worry about whether or not we will find the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ? Well, if you are like me, quite often.  Sometimes, however, the opportunity jumps up right in our faces.  Pentecost is ten days after Jesus Christ's ascension. Peter didn't know that he would be preaching a sermon on that day...but when the time came, the Holy Spirit gave him word.

• Okay, this probably isn't helpful, BUT...when I was a young kid and heard this story, I somehow got the idea that when people started speaking in different languages that they were ONLY able to speak that new language and had somehow forgotten their OLD language. Why did I feel this was how it worked? I really can't tell you, but the idea made be rather sad as I thought "They won't be able to talk to their friends anymore!" How happy was I when I discovered that they could still speak the way they had before.  I guess my point is, who knows what will be running through the minds of your listeners?

Yeah, What He Said...

"It is most significant, in the light of what we said before about the ascension, that the wind came 'from heaven' (verse 2). The whole point is that, through the spirit, some of the creative power of God himself comes from heaven to earth and does its work here.  The aim is not to give people a 'spirituality' which will make the things of earth irrelevant.  The point is to transform earth with the power of heaven, starting with those parts of 'earth' which consist of the bodies, minds, hearts and lives of the followers of Jesus - as a community..."

-N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part 1, pg. 22-23


"The New Testament writers in general affirm that after the death of Jesus his followers were united, guided, and empowered by the experience of the risen Christ, who empowered them by the Holy Spirit to carry on his work.  All agree that the church began not by human initiative, but in the conviction that the presence and power of God ( = the risen Christ, the Holy Spirit) generated the renewed Christian community.  The New Testament authors have different ways of conceptualizing and expressing this.  The Gospel of John, for instance, does not have a separate Pentecost scene but pictures Jesus as giving the Spirit to his followers on the first Easter day by breathing on them (...the Greek words for "breathe" and "spirit" are related).  Luke portrays the coming of the Spirit in a separate scene, just as he had pictured the ascension as an event distinct from the resurrection.  In the story of Pentecost, Luke sums up a gradual process in one paradigmatic scene."

-M. Eugene Boring and Fred Craddock, The People's New Testament Commentary, pg.369



"Luke's point is not the pyrotechnics of theophany, but spiritual transformation. The real "event" of Pentecost is the empowerment of the disciples by the Holy Spirit...."

-Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles: Sacra Pagina, pg. 45