Acts 2: 1-12 As most of you know, I have been enrolled in Lay Academy for the past 3 years. For those that do not know what Lay Academy is; the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ hosts a Lay Academy program, offering courses of study to pastors and lay people who seek to: deepen their faith, strengthen Christ's church, and grow in spiritual maturity. We meet five weekends per year at the Wisconsin Conference Center in DeForest and are usually led by instructors from various Seminaries or specialists in that subject's particular field. It is a fantastic program and I highly recommend it. I have learned much from my Lay Academy experience. It has been quite a journey so far. From the first class on Theology where I was so afraid these classes would be way over my head to my most recent class on Evangelism. My faith has been tested, stretched and has grown more than I could have ever imagined. During our class on the Old Testament we were introduced to the term “exegesis. This Greek word, means a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. We were taught that through exegesis we were to look at the historical background and ask questions to discover the meaning, surrounding the text and how we can use this today. Well, lets give this a shot. So what is the historical background to today's text? Pentecost is historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot , which commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments to the people, fifty days after the Exodus. Among Christians, Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus. For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described as the "Birthday of the Church". Let's keep that in mind, the “Birthday of the Church”. So what happened to this “Jesus Movement” after the death and departure of it's founder? What were the disciples going to do? How would they go on without their leader? All along they had displayed fear and had questioned what they should do next. They must have felt totally lost and afraid, but as they had been instructed by Christ, they prayed and waited. Acts, chapter 2 opens up and it says “they were all together in one place”. This was for the celebration of the 50th day after the Passover when the Jewish pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate God's gracious provisions of harvested food, land and Torah. Who was there? Verse 13 of Acts 1 says, “Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women including Mary the mother of Jesus as well as his brothers.” What exactly were they really doing? Waiting and probably wondering. What were they waiting for? In Luke 24: 49 Jesus says, “so stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” In Acts chapter 1 verse 8 Jesus also tells the disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. After hearing Jesus say these words in many different ways, they must have been convinced because they waited. Waiting. Now, how many of you like to wait? Like a child, waits for their birthday to arrive, or worse yet...Christmas to arrive? Waiting for a loved one to come home, that you haven't seen for a very long time. For the traffic light to turn green so you can go. For a baby to arrive. We all spend a good share of our lives waiting. Sometimes we do it patiently. Sometimes, not so much. How do you think the disciples were at waiting? Were they patient? Did they wonder what this power was that they were promised they would receive? How would the Holy Spirit come to them? What do you think this would this feel like? Or look like? But alas, all they could do was wait. Our texts describes the Holy Spirit as “the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and that tongues of fire appeared among them and rested on each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, how would you expect the Holy Spirit to arrive? Tiptoe quietly in? Nah, I suspect that there were a few of those disciples that would have needed to be convinced. Probably Thomas for one. What a fearsome sight this must have been. A wild violent wind whipping through the room and red flames dancing over their heads. Not a sight you see every day. Then to make things even more interesting, they began speaking in other languages. Why was this? Well the Holy Spirit had now given the disciples the tools to share the good news of God, through witnessing (or evangelism). This was for ALL people, even from other nations. What an inspiring sight this must have been. It WAS the Birthday of the Church. Because of their witnessing, these Jews of other nations, became believers and now followers too. Now that you think about it, it seems that time has not changed this practice over the years on how we too can grow the church. This text for today reports a miracle that is often overlooked because it is not as flashy as most. No one is healed. No one is raised from the dead. No one has a demon driven out. No one's water is turned to wine. No ones sees a storm stopped by Christ's command. What we do see is that every person gathered in Jerusalem heard the Word of God in their own language. How was this done? Thru the Holy Spirit giving the disciples and even us, the gift of Evangelism. This miraculous story reminds us that to hear God's Word we have only to open our ears, for God speaks God's Word to all people, in all places for all times though the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we speak to the guests that come into our church? How do we speak to the people outside these doors? Do we speak their language? When the Holy Spirit is present, we speak the language needed, for them to understand. Just like the disciples who now were speaking the same language to the devout Jews of other nations. It's the sharing and receiving of the Good News that is Evangelism and that in turn will grow the church. Oh, and there's that word that has so many connotations. Did you hear it?...Evangelism. What thoughts come to your mind? TV evangelism? Someone pushy? Tent Revivals? Knocking on doors? In your face? How about this; A messenger that brings the Good News of God, an Angel, Testimony, Acceptance, Relationships, Love. Have you ever experienced a Pentecost or Evangelism moment? I'm sure most of you have and didn't realize it. It was maybe a time when you shared something about your faith with someone or maybe someone shared something about their faith with you? It is indescribable what can happen. You may not see tongues of fire but you certainly will feel something. And that's the Holy Spirit. Let me give you an example. Some of you were present the Sunday when Ryan Krattiger shared his journey of faith through his travels to Juarez and his experience with the ACT Ride. We were all pulled into that moment as he spoke. We were sharing in his experience. At that moment, the church was alive with the Holy Spirit. We all felt it, in fact most of us were actually brought to tears. The love, relationship, the message. For myself, I can say that I have recently been so fortunate to be on the receiving end of some inspiring moments in this church during our Fellowship time. I've witnessed some beautiful faith stories that have been shared with me. I wish I could sit down with each one of you and hear your faith journey, for being on the receiving end, is truly feeling the Holy Spirit at work. I have found, after these experiences, that I leave church feeling like I'm walking on a cloud all day. Now, that is what church is all about and I feel like I want to share it with everyone. It is such an infectious emotional feeling. Our Fellowship time is a time for sacred moments such as these. It's an opportunity to share with others. To feel the Holy Spirit at work. Experience it and then to take it out beyond our doors and share it with others. You may have noticed, a little slip of paper in each of your bulletins. On your slip of paper is one of 8 statements that can be used to start a conversation with someone. I'd like to encourage you to try talking to someone during Fellowship time today talking about what your slip of paper says, and then listen to what story you hear back. Wait until you see what happens. I think you will be surprised. Evangelism is so easy and the rewards are huge. Give it a try. Christ may have died on the cross and rose again on Easter morning, but without Pentecost, our Easter story would have eventually become a forgotten memory. When Christ had left he promised to send the Holy Spirit in his place; to guide, teach, comfort and remind us of who we are and who's we are. Share that good news today with someone and see what happens. Happy Birthday! Amen. http://www.archive.org/download/MuccSermonJune12th2011/MUCC_Sermon_20110612.mp3