1030am Sunday 5-31-20
It is. It is a unique privilege to be the pastor at st. Stephen but it is also my distinct honor to lead and serve alongside these amazing disciples from Patrick with the youth to Rachel with our children to Connie with worship to Brenda and Christina in the office to Bob and Dorothy on worship in Tech and all of the volunteers who make every single thing possible here at Saint Stephen. I hope that you will follow and an end indulge Patrick's request. Please leave in the comment section wherever you are on YouTube or on Facebook. Why do you know the children or not? We all understand that need need for children in a Time such as this with social media bullying and all of these negative emotions and comments and attitudes thrown their way everyday, they need encouragement now just as we all do and so, please take just a brief moment. I just type in a short comment a short encouragement. Something were you solve one of the youth please don't give names out of children on our Facebook or YouTube comment sections so leave names out, but you can just say I saw one of our youth a certain a certain young lady or certain young man and then let us know and then let them know that you see the good that they do just as God sees the good that they do and how God is causing them to grow into a wonderful beautiful people in beautiful people who carry and bear the image of God into this dark and broken world. We are all called to be a part of that and this is a small way that you can do it. So take this time as we enter into our message and are scripture. Just just think about that and leave a comment when you're ready. I'm going to invite you as you are able to please stand as we enter into our message and Our Gospel reading for this morning for Pentecost. We are going to be in the Gospel of John the 20th chapter we're going to Inn at verse 19 begin at John 20 verse 19 through the 23rd chapter
when it was evening on that day the first day of the week and the doors at the house were the disciples had met for a locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you. After he said this he showed them his hands and his side then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again. Peace be with you. As the father has sent me so I send you.
When he had said this he breathed on them and said to them receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained the gospel of Our Lord praise to you o Christ leave this evening.
I invite you to pray with me.
Change be broken lives be healed In This Moment Christ be revealed in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Amen.
today the church celebrates Pentecost And in so doing we we commit ourselves to God's call and we reenlist ourselves into God's commission, which we all received at are baptisms. Pentecost is a Greek word. It sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is it simply means 50th day? Pentecost according to the account of scripture occurred 50 days after Jesus's resurrection the book of Acts gives clear testimony and witness to this event has received the Holy Spirit which both commission and empowered them to continue the work of Christ. the heel and loved the world our meeting today from the 20th chapter of John's gospel where Jesus gives his disciples the Holy Spirit he breathed on them sing receive the Holy Spirit as the father has sent me. So I send you this moment. It was the Fulfillment of John the Baptist Proclamation earlier and earlier in chapter one where John said to his disciples. I baptize you with water, but he Jesus he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Pardon me?
But Pentecost wasn't just the Fulfillment of John's Proclamation. It was actually the Fulfillment of God's tireless mission to pull to drag to bring alongside Humanity to bring us back into relationship with him and they get back to the sacred work begun at the Garden in Genesis where God with Humanity together would create a world of peace and justice. Not really in chapter 2 of Genesis. God created through the Holy Spirit. It says that the spirit moved over the waters the the Hebrew where there is a breath Spirit are God's Wrath moved over the waters and it tamed the Seas. And I created lights and it's separated the darkness from the light and it pulled the land out of the Season it created plants and animals and every living thing eventually leading to the culminating creation of humanity.
Scott shared the Bounty of his creation and blessing and the privilege and the glory of his relationship with humans and the commissioned and call them to be in relationship with him to continue the work and to create an even more beautiful more blessed world than he had already done. But Adam and Eve Rebelle, we all hopefully know the story and a fractured the relationship between God and Humanity creating an ever-widening ripple effect of suffering in the world. Around the world and through generations this suffering pain hurt and grief held Humanity captive. And trapping and entangling us into broken and disordered attitudes and actions. These attitudes corrupted our business practices. They segregated Us by race and ethnicity and nationality. They just ordered our view from everyone has value because they are God's child to your value is determined by your wealth and possessions. They cultivated a toxic mentality that men are somehow Superior to women establish the dangerous belief that the strong have the right. To oppress the weak. Call the misguided belief that the true love can only exist in the narrow confines of a traditional marriage as we Define it. this suffering has caused us to segment and isolate ourselves and others into ever-shrinking and diminishing groups creating barriers walls. And end in this distinction between groups between religions between nations between races between genders between sexualities between humans.
the story of Perpetual isolation suffering and sadness was passed down from one generation to the next one parent to their child one person to another
then in the fullness of time God sent his son in the person of Jesus to show us the way back to our humanity and two are homeless. To undo our fraction relationships with God and with one another and to unify us into one Humanity again. but our broken nature passed from one to the next like the worst of viruses. Unleashed its full fury on this Man From Galilee crucifying him for the crime of loving people and Truth more than Power & politics
But death could not hold him. We're on the third day. Jesus was raised eventually ascending to heaven and then sending his holy spirit on Pentecost to teach and strengthen and Empower his disciples as they began and continued the long task and work of restoring Humanity to humanity. We said that Pentecost mean the 50th day. That sounds like an arbitrary and random number, but I assure you it is not. It has meaning and purpose. In the Jewish tradition every 50th year was the year of what was called Jubilee? On that year all slaves were to be freed. All debts were to be forgiven. All lands will be weird to be returned to the rightful owners. It was a complete reset a total Liberation an absolute Act of forgiveness and an invitation into a world of justice and peace.
today is the day when the church remembers that first Pentecost the day that the church was born. And the Hope For Humanity's restoration to wholeness was begun. Just as the Year of Jubilee happened. Today was the day that the church found its voice as the Flames of the spirit rested on those very first disciples as recounted in the book of Acts causing them to to find their voice a voice that they didn't even know. They had a voice that cause them to be confounded and confused because they were speaking languages that they themselves did not know. Whether this is speaking in tongues or simply up a translation of different languages, we don't know what we do know is that the spirit cause them to speak and wave that moved the people around them and the church from that moment grew and then multiplied and then doubled and then doubled again, and now today Christianity is spread around the world with more than two billion adherence and followers us being among them.
The voice is still speaking. The voice is still here. The fire is still here because no wind or water can extinguish the flame of God's spirit. I love that. I love it that the last words of our text today are. reading for you exactly
If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained, what does that mean? What what power does this spiritually and Dallas with does that mean that the church is called to run around the world judging baptizing with fire hoses o but it does mean that we have been granted and gifted something. We have been given a voice and it is not our voice. It's not my voice. Nobody wants to hear from Pastor Peter, but everybody needs to hear from Jesus. Nobody really wants to hear from you either, but they do need to hear from Jesus. Nobody needs to hear my opinion or your opinion, but they need to hear the truth. and the truth is the God loves them. But God loves them so much that he calls us at the church to call them to account. this last verse hear sounds judgmental, but in reality what it is is God calling these first disciples and inviting you and I to recognize that our call is high and our purpose is right. That it is to see the broken places in our world. Where is thin seems greater than love?
Were the cries of those who declare I cannot breathe are met with the breadth of God's love. we are called on this and every Pentecost this and every Sunday this and every single day of the week to be a church that has a purpose and holds a standard holds up a mirror for the world to see it's Brokenness and it's in we are called to hold first and foremost ourselves to account. We are called to hold each other accountable to the path that we have embarked on together. In our baptisms, we were commissioned and called into a world that needs us and we are each called to support to love to encourage and correct one another when that need comes. We are also called to beat the beacon the compass of the world to declare with peace. But with power.
but all people retain the Breath of God including George Floyd and all of those Whatever race they may be. Who have been falsely injured wounded or hurt by that perpetuation of our Brokenness? Are perpetuation of arson? We are called to forgive and God's forgiveness is far and above Humanity's ability to forgive that much is certainly true, and I hope it's true for me because if it's not I have no hope. But we are called to hold those with power accountable. We are called to hold each other to account. We are called to hold our governments. Are people and most importantly ourselves to account to the high standards and calling and purpose that God has placed on our life. Jesus today breathed on the disciples and he sends them out.
The father has sent me so I send you. He sends us out still today. To burn. or two to create Rebellion but to make a fuss to to let people know that what happens in this world is sometimes not right and we as the church above all else have an obligation and a call to stand in solidarity with the week the littlest the least the lost and the last weed today receive the Breath of God and that breath that we still retain in our lungs that many still do not is a responsibility to speak and to use that breath. To bring Justice and peace into our world. Is Pentecost is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on where God is calling us tomorrow? What does the church look like in the future? How can we speak truth to power with Grace and forgiveness in our hearts, but not accepting anything less than right and justice. When Jesus saw that that was not occurring he too became angry and frustrated. He tipped over tables. I recognize that there is a wide swath of different opinion about what is going on in our country and around our world. But I pray I hope I believe that we can all at least accept and agree. But everyone has value and is to be treated with nothing less than the Dignity of the imprint of God whom they bear. On this Pentecost Sunday. It's important that we recognize the spirit within us but that we also recognize the spirit and others and that we use the spirit. God has given us the voice that it create cultivate.
And establishes in us to use it for justice for all. Let's use this day to celebrate what God has done. And then helped create that Justice and peace for others. That is our call. That is our commission. Thanks be to God. Let's pray together. Gracious God we thank you today. That your spirit comes to us wherever we are. But your forgiveness is Bountiful in your mercy is eternal. Got me pray for all of those who know Justice and we pray for those who do not know Justice. We pray for those. Oh, no privilege and power and those who know only powerlessness and isolation. We pray God for our nation. We pray for our world, but most importantly we pray but your spirit would come would call convince and convect US of our own Brokenness and our own stubbornness. stubbornness created by our political leanings stubbornness created by our own attitudes of
carelessness with others lives Help us God. To be your church today to stand for justice and peace of Christ did for us. We pray that your spirit would be with us now and every day of Our Lives that we may speak our voice with power knowing that your voice and your breath is within us we pray this in your son's name on men.