PENTECOST (John 14:8-15, 25-27 Acts 2:1-21)

“Pentecost” © Buffie Johnson (1958)

This sermon was originally preached on June 8, 2025, Pentecost Sunday, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church. 

The full worship may be viewed on online. The sermon alone is available below and on YouTube.

Gospel:
John 14:8-15, 25-27
Epistle: Acts 2:1-21

***

​Blessings, beloved siblings,
and Happy Birthday to the
​Church of Christ!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the Birthday of Christ’s Church by the Power of Mother Spirit, and the Third in a Trinity of High Holy Days in the Christian Liturgical Year.. With the Holy Mother and the Midwives, we witnessed the Very Good Love of Eternal God made flesh at Christmas. With Mary Magdalene and the women who stayed, we tasted the everlasting goodness of the Bread of Life, the Living Water who is Christ, Resurrected at Easter. And today, with the 12 Apostles, a few other men, and at least a hundred Women, according to Acts 1, we are Born anew of Breath and Fire, formed into One Body — the Body of Christ, and His Second Coming— by the Indwelling of God’s Eternally Hovering Holy Spirit. Our Beginning, Our Brother, Our Breath: One God, now and forever. 

Today we are invited to cease any efforts to wrangle the wind and instead practice presence: To dwell within the ineffable who dwells within us by the promise of the Son who was indwelled by the Father in whom he also dwelled. 

If it all sounds and feels chaotic and confusing: congratulations and welcome to Pentecost! We are in Very Good company as we enter the scene and witness Spirit, who comes more like a crashing hurricane or a raging fire than a balloon that flits and floats and weightlessly falls into the eager arms of those She has come to transform.
​
Before we go further, a word about my use of feminine pronouns for Holy Spirit.

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