God's Vision

Acts 2:1-12

June 5, 2014

Pentecost

Pentecost.

The first day of the church as we know it.

Now we might think that it was a festive occasion.

But really, the disciples must have been terrified.

Wind, flames, speaking and understanding different languages.

And when we come to church, we basically know how it will go.

We know there will be prayers and songs,

we know the pastor will get up and say something,

Some of us even know the liturgy by heart.

But this was the first time for the disciples.

They had no hymnal to refer to

they had no instructions book

No mission statement or constitution.

no years of tradition.

This was the first time for the disciples.

Now these disciples had been with Jesus,

heard him talk, spent time with him,

eaten with him, had their feet washed by him.

They had seen him arrested and killed,

and raised from the dead.

And for 40 days since the resurrection,

Jesus had been roaming around with them

visiting them and encouraging them.

But still, even in their last moment with Jesus on earth

they didn’t seem like they

completely understood the arrangement.

Right before he ascends they say to Jesus:

“Lord, is this the time when YOU

will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

What great things will YOU be doing now, Jesus?

How will YOU wow us in these last days?”

No, no, no, Jesus tells them, you’ve got it wrong.

MY job is done.

“YOU will receive power now

The Holy Spirit will come upon YOU.
YOU will be my witnesses in Jerusalem

and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
YOU will be the ones to carry on my church,

YOU will finish the work that I’ve begun.

This is YOUR job now.

And just to make sure that they understood

that it was THEIR work now,

Jesus ascended up, into the clouds

and left them. Alone.

How could Jesus do that?

How could Jesus leave the church in the hands

of these people with no instructions or guide book,

with no leadership seminar, no seminary class?

And these 11 people ?! -

- Their assumed leader was, Peter, the same one who

had denied Jesus in fear.

- James and John the ones who were jockeying

for position arguing over which one was the greatest.

- There was Thomas who wouldn’t believe that Christ had risen.

- Jesus left the church in the hands of the same ones who didn’t believe that Jesus could feed the people in the field,

- The ones who tried to push the children away from Jesus.

- The ones who accused Mary after she anointed Jesus.

On that day, God gave Jesus ministry to people like that.

To people like us.

People who are egotistical, insecure, cynical, tired,

burnt out, who tried to hard and didn’t try hard enough

God gave the church to regular people like us

and for better or worse,

they made something that we are still part of today.

It would be impressive enough if you just noticed the

length of time that it’s lasted.
But we are still reading scripture, praying, being moved and inspired by the same stories. We are still surprised, lit on fire, motivated to baptize and make disciples

help strangers and to work for justice in our communities.

Still after all this time.

Maybe one of those disciples

had us in mind that day.

Maybe in one of those dreams that that the Holy Spirit inspired

that day of Pentecost, maybe one of them thought:

I want a group of people that follows Jesus

to be in a city like Columbus, OH 2000 years from now,

to welcome everyone and have school

and a ministry in Swahili and a food pantry.

That dream would seem impossible then.

But here we are.

That’s how dreams are.

On that day, God declares,

I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams

So what dreams are we dreaming?

What visions are we envisioning.

What can we see the church being and doing and becoming?

I will ask you to share that in our meeting after worship.

For right now, just pray for God to

fill us with the spirit, to give us

visions and dreams and to tell you what God wants from us.

God still expects great things out of us.

God has chosen this church, in this time and place

God has chosen us to get that job done that Jesus started.

This is not just Jesus’s work any more.

This is our work.

And we can have confidence in the Spirit

that has brought us to this place.

Look around you today.

This is the church that Jesus imagined and is still imagining.

This is the church that the Spirit is still working on.

This is God’s vision.