6-10-19
Hello,
This past Sunday, churches throughout the world celebrated a day called Pentecost. Pentecost always falls 50 days after Easter, and it the anniversary of the day when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples after Jesus ended his earthly life by ascending into heaven. (The story of Jesus’ ascension would be a good topic for another Bungee Cord…..where did Jesus go?)
Anyway, the second chapter of the book of Acts tells of the day when all of the Apostles were gathered in a Jerusalem room, when suddenly there was a great roar of a rushing wind and tongues of fire appeared over their heads. Spontaneously, the Holy Spirit that had just come upon them, led them to begin telling about the great acts of God in languages that they had never spoken before. The people in Jerusalem, hearing the chorus of languages and voices figured that the Apostles had gotten into the wine that morning and were mumbling drunkards.
“Oh no,” said Peter, “They aren’t drunk. They couldn’t be. It’s only 9:00 in the morning.” (I have always snickered that the early time of the day was the evidence for their sobriety!) “What you are witnessing,” he said, “was God pouring out his Spirit upon his people, just as he had promised he would do.”
So, that is Pentecost, and red is the designated color of the day….red for the tongues of fire over the disciples’ heads. So, in our church the altar area was clad in red, I wore a red stole, and many of the people put on their finest red garb to wear to worship. Red.
Pentecost is all about the power of God in our lives…..red hot power! God’s presence is so intense in our lives that it is red hot. So hot that not even one sin can withstand God’s singeing heat, incinerating every one of them. So hot that not even a mountain of doubts can create a wall to separate any one from God, engulfing them in an unstoppable wild fire of his love. So hot that not even the most painful deeds, the longest held prejudices, or the most foolish of convictions can keep God from uniting everyone in God’s love, gathering all people together under a lava flow of his grace. God is at work in our lives…in our world…with red hot heat.
Of course the world keeps heating things up, too, working on us. Sometimes it can warm us up just enough to get us through a tough time, but when the next tough time comes, it may not have enough fuel. Sometimes it can start a fire of guilt and shame that gives us third degree burns and scars us for life. Sometimes it can produce cinders of arrogance and pride that shower down on people whose lives are dried up with failures, igniting a bon fire.
When I look around me in the world, I see a lot of fires burning. Some are good and helpful….some are just terrifying. But none of them fueled with the unending grace of God, raging with God’s love and mercy, generating life out of ashes, decimating fields of hopelessness with eternal peace. God is at work in our lives and in the world with the blazing power of the Holy Spirit, that is what Pentecost is all about. So, when the world or my life seems to be going up in smoke….and when you watch the news or look in the mirror, it sure can look like it, I am glad that the power of God’s presence in our lives and in our world is a mightier fire….and so I pray amid the world’s fire…..Come Holy Spirit, Come!
Have a blessed week!
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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