1 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:23,600 Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and 2 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,680 suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a 3 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:32,200 violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were 4 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,760 sitting. Divided tongues as a fire 5 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:41,280 appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 6 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,680 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 7 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,640 in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. 8 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,360 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living 9 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,120 in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd 10 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:03,680 gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them 11 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,720 speaking in the native language of each. 12 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,640 Amazed and astonished they asked, Are not all these who are 13 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,640 speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each 14 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,520 of us in our own native language? 15 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:25,520 Parthians, Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea 16 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:30,760 and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, 17 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,600 Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and 18 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,760 visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and 19 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,240 Arabs. In our own language we hear them 20 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,400 speaking about God's deeds of power. 21 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,880 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does 22 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,480 this mean? But others sneered and said they 23 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:03,480 are filled with new wine. This is the word of the Lord. 24 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,320 All right. Good morning, friends. 25 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:12,960 Really happy to be here this morning. 26 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,600 So today is an important day. Some of you may have been aware 27 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,840 walking in the room they look forward to. 28 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,720 I think a lot of it is what's required of you in that room. 29 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,440 Some of it has to do with the people that you'll be with, 30 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,200 whether you trust them or you're curious about them, whether 31 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,760 there's something alive between you in the relationship that you 32 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:41,760 have to the people in the meeting. 33 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,280 And some of it is the hope that you carry into that space. 34 00:02:45,640 --> 00:02:50,520 So an all office meeting for Dunder Mifflin generally isn't a 35 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:55,840 particularly hopeful place, but my hope is that meetings like 36 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:57,960 the one that we're sitting in now, we could call this a 37 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:03,480 meeting, would be hopeful would be spaces where we're curious 38 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,800 about what's going on in the room and in each other's lives. 39 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,040 The story that we're reading this morning, the the story that 40 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,880 Thomas just read to us, begins with a meeting, actually a 41 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,440 series of meetings, sequential meetings for days on end, where 42 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,560 people are gathering together in the same place to do more or 43 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,400 less a similar thing each time they're together. 44 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:28,240 And the meeting that is at the center of the story that we're 45 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,280 reading today turns out to be one of the most consequential 46 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:35,480 meetings in the story of Scripture and in the story of 47 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,440 human history. The theologian Willie James 48 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,000 Jennings says this throughout the book of Acts. 49 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,360 The one thing you know about the coming of the Spirit is somebody 50 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,480 has been asked to do what they don't want to do. 51 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,800 What is it that the Spirit wants you to do? 52 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,280 He wants you to be with those who you prefer not to be with. 53 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:59,400 It's an interesting perspective on meetings, isn't it? 54 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,000 So the next time you're called into a meeting full of people 55 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,600 that you prefer not to be with, whether it's this one or another 56 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,960 one, think about the words of the theologian Willie James 57 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:10,960 Jennings. This is the work that the Spirit 58 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,240 is doing in the world today. Obviously this is a little bit 59 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:18,399 tongue in cheek, but friends, we're being called together with 60 00:04:18,399 --> 00:04:22,560 people who aren't like us for a grander purpose than any of our 61 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,640 singular lives in and of themselves. 62 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,680 That's what the book of Acts is doing in just a few sentences. 63 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,960 And it starts here in a room with a group of people who had 64 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:36,880 no idea what was about to happen to them. 65 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:42,560 So the passage opens when the day of Pentecost had come, they 66 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:47,040 were all together in one place. And I want you to notice what 67 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,880 Luke does not do at the beginning of the story. 68 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:55,760 He does not open with the wind. He does not open with the 69 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,680 spiritual phenomena. He does not open with the 70 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,360 miraculous spectacular thing that takes place in this 71 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,200 meeting. He doesn't open with fire. 72 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,360 He intentionally opens with this room full of people who have 73 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,360 been gathering together one day after the next. 74 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,760 If you go back 1 chapter, Acts chapter one verse 13 tells us 75 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:20,640 that after Jesus ascended, they went up to the upper room and 76 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,360 stayed there. And so this was a habitual 77 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,520 assembly. And Acts 114 describes what 78 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,400 those 10 days looked like. It says all these were 79 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,720 constantly devoting themselves to prayer together. 80 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,600 And that word together is instructive in this passage and 81 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:40,680 really throughout the rest of the New Testament. 82 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,040 The Greek word appears 11 times in the book of Acts, and it 83 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,880 carries a sense of unified purpose, which is obvious. 84 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,480 We we think that when we think of the word together, but it 85 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:53,560 also has a musical dimension to it. 86 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,320 In the ancient world, this would be the same word that's used to 87 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,400 describe musical harmony. So different voices, different 88 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,240 parts that come together and create something that none of 89 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,440 them could have produced on their own. 90 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,760 And that's what's happening in the Upper Room. 91 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,520 For 10 days before Jesus ascended, he told these 92 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,480 disciples to wait in Jerusalem. And so they they waited and they 93 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,240 prayed. And they were likely recounting 94 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,440 the stories of what it was like to be with Jesus and thinking to 95 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,480 themselves, Gee, isn't it strange that our good friend was 96 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,680 just, you know, disappeared into the clouds in front of our very 97 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,840 eyes? What is it that we do at this 98 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:36,760 point? They were grieving because they 99 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,560 found themselves in a strange circumstance that they probably 100 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,440 didn't have a lot of clear answers for. 101 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,960 But they were hoping in the same breath because their teacher, 102 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,760 their rabbi, this Messiah whom they had come to trust and know 103 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:56,520 as the visible image of the invisible God, told them to 104 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:02,280 wait. So that's what they did. 120 men 105 00:07:02,280 --> 00:07:06,160 and women who had followed Jesus from Galilee. 106 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:09,040 This included his mother and his brothers. 107 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:13,520 Ordinary people who had seen extraordinary things throughout 108 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,840 Jesus ministry and they didn't entirely know what to do next. 109 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:23,760 And so they were there because he told them to be there day 110 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,920 after day, and they just knew to keep meeting. 111 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:30,000 They didn't know what to anticipate. 112 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,680 Of course, we know what comes next because we just read the 113 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:38,640 next part of the story. But into that room, those people 114 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,160 and those prayers, those unfinished stories told and 115 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:48,360 retold, the miracle of God's presence by the Spirit arrives. 116 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,160 And so this community was creating the conditions for what 117 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,320 was to happen next. They were actually making 118 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:57,840 possible this feeling that happens. 119 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,200 They were creating the container for the presence and the love of 120 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,680 God to come into their midst. And so there's something that 121 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,760 would have been obvious to every Jewish person in that room that 122 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:15,600 morning that we almost entirely miss because of our situation in 123 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,960 time and space. Pentecost was not a new holiday. 124 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,600 This was not a thing that they were coming up with on this day 125 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,000 that the Spirit came and and filled them. 126 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,160 It was a ancient Jewish festival, a feast known as 127 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:36,280 Shavuot, the the Feast of Weeks, one of the three great 128 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,919 pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar. 129 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:43,600 And so 50 days after Passover, the people would gather in 130 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:48,640 Jerusalem to celebrate the wheat harvest and to remember 131 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,360 something important from their history, the giving of the Torah 132 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,000 at Sinai. So this was the festival that 133 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,520 sort of marked the remembrance of Moses ascending Sinai and 134 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,920 receiving the law from God that would instruct the people of 135 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:11,640 Israel, you know, how how to become a people, this covenant, 136 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:17,360 this gift that would make Israel who they were supposed to be. 137 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:22,040 And so when Luke opens with when the day of Pentecost had come, 138 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,000 he's placing this moment on a very specific point in the 139 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,040 devotional life of the people, the way that they sort of marked 140 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,080 the time. So think about, I don't know, 141 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:36,120 it's Memorial Day weekend. And so we have these secular 142 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,040 holidays that sort of mark the time and that might invoke some 143 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:40,600 particular memories for some of you. 144 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,600 I know for me there were things from childhood, you know, 145 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,440 cookouts or camp outs or whatever that when I hear 146 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:49,400 Memorial Day, I just think, Oh yeah, that stuff. 147 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,600 And so this is that's the work that this is doing in the, in 148 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,200 the, the people who are gathered, they're together and 149 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:58,120 Oh yeah, it's the feast of weeks. 150 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,120 And so it sparked some particular thoughts for them. 151 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:10,600 This is the day that we remember Moses on the mountain. 152 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:15,320 So even in the simple way that this is situated in our story, 153 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:20,320 it's beginning to actually make a claim about the kind of thing 154 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,760 that's happening. Because Luke doesn't just name 155 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:28,720 Pentecost to mark the time. He's also, he's invoking this, 156 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:33,440 this festival, this feast to sort of flag that something is 157 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:36,720 happening that sort of rhymes with that thing that the people 158 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,400 were already familiar with. And so then in verse 2, suddenly 159 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,000 from heaven, there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, 160 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:46,520 and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 161 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:52,480 In verse 3, divided tongues of fire appeared among them, and a 162 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:57,280 tongue rested on each of them. And the wind and the fire are 163 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:04,040 specifically Sinai imagery. When God meets Moses on the 164 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:08,120 mountain, there was smoke and fire and loud sounds and the 165 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:10,640 mountain trembled. So what Luke is doing and 166 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,240 telling the story is he's he's sort of signaling this is 167 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,280 happening again. It's happening again in a new 168 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,000 way with a new group of people. And God is doing something that 169 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:23,520 rhymes with an earlier part of the story. 170 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,880 So, you know, when we when we learn to read the story of the 171 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,320 Scriptures as one unit, as one grand story, you can start to 172 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,240 see the ways that these things sort of repeat themselves and 173 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:34,920 rhyme with earlier parts of the story. 174 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,200 God is showing up in the way that God showed up at Sinai. 175 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:43,480 So when you read that story from Exodus and you see all of these 176 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:48,520 things that are sort of similar, at Sinai, God gave the law to 177 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,680 one man who carried it down the mountain to the people. 178 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:58,320 And at this point, fire doesn't land on each individual person. 179 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:02,080 Moses, one person has a radical encounter with this powerful 180 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:06,360 presence of God. And verse 3 in our text is 181 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,240 careful about that. It says a tongue rested on each 182 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,760 of them, so it rhymes, but it's not the same because we can see 183 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:16,560 that something a little bit different is happening. 184 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:20,200 Every person in the room is touched with the kind of 185 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,880 phenomena that one person, Moses, the leader, experienced 186 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:28,040 thousands of years before. The presence of God is enormous 187 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:32,440 and impersonal and far away. In the first story that we read 188 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,920 at Sinai, even for Moses, it's actually not quite close enough 189 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,560 to touch. I want to show you 2 paintings 190 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:45,840 side by side for a moment. The first one is from the, the, 191 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,160 the 17th century, a painter named Jerome. 192 00:12:50,680 --> 00:12:56,560 And we see Moses. We, we actually don't see Moses, 193 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,120 We see God. There's a far away sort of giant 194 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,400 figure on top of a mountain. And you see the masses of people 195 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:05,680 sort of gathered around the base of the mountain. 196 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,320 And this thing you see visually is sort of, you know, God's 197 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,120 giving the law. And I don't know if there's like 198 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,120 lasers coming out of his eyes or what's happening, but you know, 199 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,560 it's like there's something, there's something going on up 200 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,160 there on the mountain, right? I mean, that's, that's what 201 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:20,880 that's what I would title this piece. 202 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,760 And so when you look at this, you can see the this this kind 203 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,320 of experience that would be recounted that people would have 204 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,640 read in the scriptures and would be called to mind by this moment 205 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,760 that, you know, way far away. One person who we kind of knew a 206 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,560 little bit, who was one of our leaders had a crazy encounter 207 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:41,480 with God out there on the mountain and we all kind of 208 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,200 followed suit. Now look at the next one. 209 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,480 This is Titian, and it's interesting because it's a 210 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:55,320 similar composition. There's there's light descending 211 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,720 from the top of the frame and figures are looking up. 212 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,720 But the way that artists have represented this moment over 213 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,880 time is with a kind of intimacy that's lacking from artistic 214 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,920 representations of Sinai. No longer do you have masses of 215 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,520 people looking at the far away thing that's happening way up 216 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:18,120 over on the mountain to one person, but you have an intimate 217 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,400 gathering of folks who are sort of looking to the presence of 218 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,560 God coming into the room. And it's it's impacting it's 219 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:30,920 affecting each individual person and it's impacting their their 220 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,960 gathered assembly. The distance from what's 221 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:35,440 happening is completely different. 222 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:40,280 And So what Sinai kept at arm's length in the story of the 223 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,400 Scriptures, this powerful, intimate, loving presence of 224 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,520 God, Pentecost brings all the way in. 225 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,920 And these people had the most personal kind of encounter 226 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:56,240 possible. And then in verse 4, all of them 227 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,640 were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other 228 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,400 languages as the Spirit gave them ability. 229 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:06,160 And look at who's in the room to experience this. 230 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,640 Luke gives us this list in verses 9 through 11, which 231 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,320 Thomas read beautifully, by the way. 232 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,840 I love including long lists of names and places and things for 233 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:19,040 for the liturgist to have to pronounce in the teaching 234 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:20,720 Scripture. But I left it in on purpose 235 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:25,360 because people from every corner of the world as they knew it 236 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:28,160 were gathered in Jerusalem for this festival. 237 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,520 It's important that it was a pilgrimage festival because 238 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:35,040 people from everywhere were coming to, to to celebrate 239 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,720 together. Different regions, different 240 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,720 dialects, different food traditions, different financial 241 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:47,280 realities, different ways of of reading Torah, of reading the 242 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,320 law, and almost certainly different political instincts 243 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:58,160 toward Israel, toward the Roman Empire that oppressed the people 244 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:00,960 at the time. You know, this list might feel a 245 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,080 little bit over the top if we don't know what we're looking 246 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:04,440 at. Sometimes Scripture can be a 247 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,000 little bit that way when we read long lists of names or 248 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,640 genealogies or different things. But baked into the inclusion of 249 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:15,440 that long list of people from different places is a point that 250 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:19,400 the author's trying to make that this impacts everyone. 251 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:25,920 No one is left behind by the personal transformative presence 252 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,920 of God that comes in this meeting. 253 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,760 Jennings again describes what God's doing with that list as 254 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,840 nothing less than a revolution around the people, the way that 255 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,040 the people thought about how God was at work in the world. 256 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,000 He calls it the revolution of the intimate, and he writes that 257 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,840 it's it's the revolution of creating a life together that 258 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:53,080 breaks boundary and border. My people's story is taken up 259 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,640 into the story of God, and other people's story is taken up, and 260 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,920 our stories are woven together toward a new future. 261 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,640 Isn't that a beautiful thought? I mean, you know, when I think 262 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:10,200 about the ways that each person has come to be in this room week 263 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,760 in and week out, and the ways that our stories are so 264 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,280 different one from another, you know, that can become a barrier 265 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:18,960 in our ability to relate to one another. 266 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,760 But it can also be a beautiful representation of the kind of 267 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,200 thing that God wants to do. And and hear this, it's not 268 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,960 assimilation of stories together. 269 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,800 It's not all of these things losing their distinct importance 270 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:34,360 when they come together in a group. 271 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:39,960 It's each person from each place being named individually in this 272 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:43,040 list. You know, Luke doesn't take this 273 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,920 list of places and say all these people from all these different 274 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,800 places, they came together. They received the gift of the 275 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:51,040 Spirit, and then they became the same. 276 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,720 That's not the point. The point is that that their 277 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,360 distinct differences remain intact as they're drawn together 278 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:03,000 and their stories are woven together into the story of the 279 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,280 family of God. And so when Peter stands up to 280 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:11,160 address the crowd in verse 14, his first move is to reach for 281 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,800 the prophet Joel. And he essentially says this is 282 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:21,400 that that what the prophet is describing when he wrote that 283 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,560 God would pour out his spirit on all people, sons and daughters, 284 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:30,040 young and old, slave and free. Peter recognizes the moment 285 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,640 because he knows the story that he's living in and he can 286 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,400 recognize the pattern. He's so familiar with the story 287 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,280 of his people. He's so familiar with the great 288 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,360 stories that have informed the way that he lives his life and 289 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:47,360 understands himself in the world that he can't help but notice 290 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,040 that this thing is repeating itself again. 291 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,360 This festival that commemorated the law given to one man on the 292 00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:01,400 mountain has become the day that the Spirit is available to 293 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,320 everyone in the room across every single category that would 294 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,880 have been, that would have previously determined who had 295 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,760 access to the presence of God and who didn't, who was allowed 296 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:19,280 in and who had to wait outside. And what happens in this moment 297 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:22,040 is that the presence of God is universalized. 298 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:25,800 It's democratized. Every person suddenly has access 299 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:28,920 to the filling of the Spirit. That's the kind of gathering 300 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,120 that God chose for this moment. It was a room that was wide 301 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:37,040 enough to hold the whole list that that Luke just gave to us 302 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,160 and open enough that God could do something completely new 303 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,640 inside of it. And so before we move on from 304 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,400 this passage, I want to further place this moment in the big 305 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:52,840 story of the Scriptures because obviously Pentecost it it 306 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:57,240 doesn't come out of nowhere. In Numbers 11, Moses is 307 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:01,240 exhausted and the people are complaining again and he's 308 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,440 basically completely at the end of his rope. 309 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,640 And, you know, he's saying things like, God, I don't know 310 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,040 what to do with these people. They're so stubborn and they're 311 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:13,800 so difficult. And God tells him to gather 70 312 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,160 elders, and the spirit that rests on Moses is going to be 313 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:21,520 spread around among them so that he doesn't have to carry the 314 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:24,440 whole thing by himself. And it works. 315 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,160 So the 70 elders, they received the spirit and they start 316 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,880 prophesying in this story. But then there are these two 317 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,160 other jokers, Eldad and me dad, who aren't in the meeting for 318 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:38,560 some reason. So they skipped the meeting. 319 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,360 They heard, you know, all, all company meeting and they were 320 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:50,600 like, no, so they're still back at the camp and the Spirit 321 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:56,480 filled them anyway. So they start prophesying right 322 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:57,800 there in the middle of everybody. 323 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:03,480 And the reaction from the people who go to the meeting is like, 324 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,840 hey, guys, this was like just for the meeting. 325 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,640 So what are you doing out here? Moses stop them. 326 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:17,000 And Moses says would that all the Lord's people were prophets 327 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:20,760 and that the Lord would put his spirit on them. 328 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,600 And so the moment that people begin to think in this earlier 329 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,080 story that we're making reference to, oh, this is just 330 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:32,920 for the people in the meeting. We we have that that thesis kind 331 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,400 of thwarted immediately. You you sort of see God go. 332 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,160 These guys get the spirit. But I'm going to put a little 333 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,520 spirit on these guys over here too. 334 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:46,040 Who who skipped the meeting and so long before this passage that 335 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,960 we're reading this morning. We hear this longing that 336 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:51,680 there's this this man, this leader who's been carrying 337 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,280 something heavy for a long time, and he looks out at his people, 338 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,360 just wanting everyone to have this kind of interface with God 339 00:21:59,360 --> 00:22:01,680 that he just experienced on the mountain. 340 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:08,720 And he was asking for Pentecost. His, his longing, his prayer 341 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,640 sort of points to this thing that happens a long time after. 342 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,720 And his cry gets woven into the longest, most patient story 343 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,560 imaginable. Because in the beginning, God 344 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,960 walks with humanity in the garden in the cool of the day, 345 00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:30,760 in what's what's unmediated face to face interaction with God. 346 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,480 And then comes the fall and the humans create distance. 347 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:38,280 And this is an important part of the story for us to get right. 348 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,040 So just hear that it might, it might be something for another 349 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,800 time. But the humans create distance 350 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,720 between themselves and God. We often get this wrong. 351 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,880 We read the story like God is, is sort of holding people at 352 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,960 arm's length and pushing people out of way and you've messed up. 353 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:56,040 The humans fall. And so God says, I want nothing 354 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,400 to do with you. But the humans create distance. 355 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,040 And then at every point throughout the story, we see God 356 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,920 doing everything that God can do to try to to to get situated in 357 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,760 front of the humans again to say, let me help you, Let's talk 358 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,760 about this. And the humans continue to sort 359 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,080 of say, we're not so sure about that. 360 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:20,720 And so we have the Tabernacle, and God agrees to travel with 361 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:24,320 the people through the wilderness, with God's presence 362 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,560 contained in a tent, which might be kind of strange for God. 363 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,560 And then in the temple, the presence of God is located in a 364 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,400 building in Jerusalem, behind a curtain accessible only to 365 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,440 priests at a certain time of year. 366 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,200 And then in the incarnation, in the coming of Jesus, God's 367 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:51,600 presence fills a human body, walking around in Galilee, 368 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,960 touchable and interruptable, and eating with his friends. 369 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,640 And each moment in this grand story that the writers of 370 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:05,240 Scripture are weaving together, God comes a little bit closer to 371 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,240 the people. Despite sometimes the best 372 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:13,000 efforts of the humans to keep God at arm's length, God keeps 373 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:17,960 coming a little bit closer. And this whole arc bends toward 374 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,600 this movement where there is no longer a veil, no longer a 375 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,560 curtain, no more designated few standing in the presence where 376 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,520 everyone else waits outside. And all of that brings us to 377 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,600 this passage today. All of them were filled with the 378 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,760 Holy Spirit. The tongue of fire in verse 3 379 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:43,040 rested on each person. The spirit that rested on Moses 380 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:48,160 alone was distributed to the 70 elders as an emergency measure. 381 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:53,640 And it comes on judges and priests and prophets and kings 382 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,880 for specific tasks and specific seasons. 383 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,280 But the longing of the entire story that we see throughout is 384 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:09,400 that that the people of God, each one to a person, would have 385 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,880 this experience of the loving kindness of God. 386 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:16,880 And Peter's point is simple in the sermon that he preaches 387 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,600 after our text, This is that happening that's coming into the 388 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,320 world right now for the first time. 389 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,480 And the longing of the entire story of the people, of the 390 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,280 Hebrew Scriptures is fulfilled in this moment. 391 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,520 And the Spirit doesn't come from an empty sky. 392 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,800 Peter is clear about this. And the sermon the spirits 393 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,720 poured out from the throne. You know, it was fun. 394 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,040 A couple weeks ago, I got to teach the kids about the 395 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,480 ascension, which I think I think Thomas and I doubled up on 396 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,880 back-to-back to back weeks. And the questions that came in 397 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:51,640 that room were were so much fun, you know, because it's like, 398 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,360 well, Jesus did what? And it's like, well, yeah. 399 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:56,640 You know, that's that's what it says. 400 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,120 And we talked it through. It was great. 401 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:01,520 But you know, this doesn't come from nowhere. 402 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,760 And and one, one of the kids nailed it. 403 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,520 I love this. You know, why, why, why at the 404 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,520 ascension did the angels tell the disciples to quit staring up 405 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,200 into the sky and and kind of get on with it? 406 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,040 And she said because there was more to do. 407 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,800 God wasn't done. And it's like, what a beautiful, 408 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,560 concise summary of this sort of Arc of the story. 409 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:35,080 This is Jesus raised from the dead, exalted to the right hand 410 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:38,800 of the Father, pouring out the Spirit from the throne. 411 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:44,920 This is his first act as ascended Lord to give the gift 412 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,760 of the Spirit is the announcement that the crucified 413 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:52,200 1 is alive and reigning and not forgotten to his people, but in 414 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,440 fact has made his presence available to all in a way that 415 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,520 wouldn't have even been possible walking on the earth. 416 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,760 What a beautiful thing. And so this meeting is the new 417 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,840 temple. And this meeting becomes the the 418 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:14,000 archetype. This is now the new temple going 419 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,920 forward. The story arrives at the thing 420 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,320 that it was building toward. And, you know, I want to say 421 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:24,800 something directly to some of us who come from sort of 422 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:29,320 charismatic traditions because I think we're susceptible to a 423 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:34,480 particular misreading of this moment, you know, in in churches 424 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,920 and rooms where we love the operation of the Spirit and we 425 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,640 love the gifts and we love what God wants to do for each of us. 426 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:48,760 That's yes, yes, absolutely. And we can make Pentecost about 427 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,720 something that it is not necessarily about. 428 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:57,800 We can make it about the phenomena, the wind and the fire 429 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,360 and the tongues, as if the point of what's happening in this room 430 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:06,240 were the experience itself. And, you know, I don't need a 431 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,600 show of hands or anything, but I've been in rooms where we've 432 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,840 done that. I've actually LED rooms where 433 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:15,240 we've done that. And I just, I just want to say 434 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:22,120 that this is not about trying to drum something up because of the 435 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:25,360 story that we're reading. What Luke is writing about is a 436 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,120 community that that, as I've heard NT Wright say before, it 437 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:33,080 gets blown out of the upper room and into the streets to speak 438 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,320 the truth about Jesus with a boldness that has nothing to do 439 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,800 with their own courage. And it has everything to do with 440 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,120 whose presence they are now carrying with them when they go 441 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,800 out of that room. I think about this a lot because 442 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:52,120 I think it's, it's very important to pay attention to 443 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,160 today. I, I worry that much of what 444 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:58,880 gets called revival or renewal in America today is simply the 445 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,600 public broadcasting of what NT Wright would call a private 446 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,320 hobby. More enthusiasm, more phenomena, 447 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,080 more experience, but nobody getting blown out into the 448 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,840 streets on behalf of the poor and the stranger and the outcast 449 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:17,120 and the immigrant and people we would prefer not to be with, to 450 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,840 refer back to Jennings. That is decidedly not what 451 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,920 happens in this room. Because when we read the rest of 452 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:29,120 the book of Acts from this point forward, we see a whole bunch of 453 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:34,000 people who get blown out of that room and onto the streets for 454 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:39,920 the for the common good of people who have been overlooked 455 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,920 and thought less of people blown out onto the streets for the 456 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:49,920 purpose of bringing the truth about the person of Jesus into 457 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,800 the world in a way that's not just not just polemic, but it's 458 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,520 it's actionable. There is real skin in the game 459 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:00,360 from this point forward. And so the whole story of 460 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,280 Scripture bends toward this empowering presence that is the 461 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:09,040 basis for all of the work that Jesus is compelling us to do in 462 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,040 the world. And it happened in a meeting. 463 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:21,080 And so I just would want to maybe encourage us to, to 464 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:25,920 question the attitude that we sometimes have about meetings to 465 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,560 sort of bring this full circle. You know, I listen, there are 466 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,760 meetings that I don't like. I get it. 467 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:37,360 But when when we're in a meeting with other people, what we've 468 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,600 done is we've effectively created a container for God's 469 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:46,680 Spirit to come and fill and blow us out of the building for the 470 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,240 common good of the people that God is inviting us to love. 471 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:56,400 And So what does it look like to be the kind of people who show 472 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,240 up to a room like that? In church, we sometimes talk 473 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:05,520 about this idea of expectation. You know, we sometimes talk 474 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:09,280 about it like it's something that we have to generate a 475 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,480 feeling that we have to work up or an intensity that we have to 476 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,800 sustain. I don't know if you've ever been 477 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:17,400 in environments like that where you've kind of left feeling 478 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,560 like, yeah, I'm going to do the thing that the preacher assigned 479 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,640 or I'm going to like, you know, be a different person from this 480 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,280 moment forward. I'm going to start this new 481 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:33,040 practice and I'm going to do it. And then you don't, or maybe you 482 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,840 do for like 48 hours, but I don't. 483 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,800 I don't know about you. I just am not that reliable. 484 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,400 The commitments that I make to myself, I can't keep them. 485 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:49,680 You know, I just, I and, and I think a lot of us have a similar 486 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,840 experience where we're just not the most dependable. 487 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,800 And so listen, this isn't about that. 488 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:01,600 These ones in this story, we're not trying harder and harder to 489 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:06,480 feel ready for the spirit. They were not working themselves 490 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,480 up into some kind of froth to be able to go out and do the things 491 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:13,040 that they did. Following from this moment. 492 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,480 It was the genuine empowerment of the presence of God, the love 493 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,960 of God filling them that compelled them to go and do the 494 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,440 things that they did. They were training their 495 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,800 attention in this meeting. And this is kind of the last 496 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,720 thing that I wanted to speak about for for a moment. 10 days 497 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:34,040 of prayer and showing up together, being together, paying 498 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,040 attention. There's a there's a difference 499 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:44,240 between trying and training. If I went out this afternoon and 500 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:50,840 tried to run a marathon, somebody would be coming to to 501 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:57,600 help to help me. But if I trained, you know, I 502 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:02,920 mean it might take me a long time, but if I trained my body 503 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,320 and my attention and my aptitudes and all of those 504 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:08,960 things toward, you know, unto that thing, I, I think it would 505 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:14,320 be possible, Mary Oliver wrote, Attention is the beginning of 506 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,360 devotion. And I think this is precisely 507 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:21,360 the kind of thing that Mary Oliver and, and the poets are 508 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:24,120 speaking about when, when we talk about training our 509 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,040 attention toward a particular thing. 510 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,280 This meeting that these people are in creates the conditions 511 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:35,800 for their attentiveness to God and attentiveness is the door 512 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,160 that the Spirit walks through in our lives. 513 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:41,400 Attentiveness. I really believe this. 514 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,520 It's not this, it's, it's not, it's not desire. 515 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:49,000 It's not longing. It's not, you know, sometimes 516 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,040 those things come to some end. But I really believe that paying 517 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:58,640 attention to what God is doing is the thing that that creates 518 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:00,680 opportunities for this kind of filling. 519 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,280 It's, it's the posture of the people who have arranged their 520 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:08,000 lives and they're gathering around the possibility that God 521 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,280 might show up and do something new for them. 522 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,400 There's a passage in The Lord of the Rings where Sam and Frodo 523 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:20,159 are in Mordor and things are difficult and the Ring is 524 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:24,520 getting heavier and they've still got a long way to go, and 525 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,800 Sam starts reminding Frodo about the great stories. 526 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,920 Do you guys remember this part? I might cry actually, thinking 527 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:38,320 about it. So about all the people who 528 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:43,520 found themselves in in dark and desperate places, up against 529 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:47,480 impossible odds, in the middle of something much larger than 530 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:53,760 themselves, he says, in moments as hard as the one that we're in 531 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,600 now. And then he turns to Frodo and 532 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,480 he says, do you suppose we might be in a story, Mr. Frodo? 533 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:07,080 I love that question because if you're if you're a reader and a 534 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:11,800 character in a story suddenly asks whether they might be in a 535 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,960 story, you kind of have to ask the same thing about yourself. 536 00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,320 At least that's the way that my mind works. 537 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,680 I don't know about you, but, you know, when I hear Sam ask that 538 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:25,360 question, I go, do you suppose I might be in some kind of a 539 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,640 story? As a kid, that question was the 540 00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,160 most alive thing in the world to me. 541 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,760 I, I wanted to be part of the stories that captivated me. 542 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,400 You know, it's, it's why I love literature and film and all 543 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,760 these things, you know, The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or 544 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,640 Treasure Island or Robinson Caruso or whatever. 545 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:52,600 And something in those stories calls to something in US. 546 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,640 And, and here's what I want to say to you this, this Pentecost 547 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:01,400 Sunday, God has been telling a story from the first word of the 548 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:05,160 world, from the first flicker of light that came into existence, 549 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,880 creation, fall, redemption, resurrection, renewal. 550 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,800 Moses was part of that story. The prophets were part of that 551 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,240 story. The 120 who were gathered in 552 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:15,760 this room were part of that story. 553 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,160 And so are you. And one of the most powerful 554 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,600 things about the story of Pentecost to me is the 555 00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,800 continuity of the story that God's telling in the world and 556 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,280 the way that it invites it beckons each of us to join in 557 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,840 and become part of the story that God is still writing. 558 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,920 This is a story that you and I get to live. 559 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,480 Pentecost is the declaration that God desires to pour out the 560 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:43,200 Spirit on each one of us. The presence behind the veil, 561 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,680 the presence that walked in the garden, the presence that Moses 562 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,560 met on the mountain, the presence that the people could 563 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,280 only see from a distance, the presence that came for the first 564 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:56,840 time to each one on the day of Pentecost is now the presence 565 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,640 that dwells in you, us in Christ, and Christ in US. 566 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:06,240 And so when I think about even that passage, we're participants 567 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,440 in Jesus story in Christ. We're caught up into this 568 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,320 beautiful thing, this beautiful story that God's telling. 569 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:18,600 And so when we pray, come Holy Spirit, we're not trying to do 570 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,080 something new and we're not trying to retrieve something 571 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,400 old. It's actually neither of those 572 00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,680 things. We're joining something that is 573 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,760 ancient and unstoppable. The greatest, truest story 574 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,160 that's ever been told, that's still being told through 575 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:39,360 ordinary people in ordinary rooms like this one who just 576 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,120 keep showing up. And so maybe when you think 577 00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:46,920 about coming to church again, you have the you have the Jim 578 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,600 Halpert face a little bit, give us Jim. 579 00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:59,880 That's fine, he can go. Now we're talking about a 580 00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:04,800 different kind of story than The Office, as much as I love it. 581 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:10,000 So if you're here this morning and you feel like you've fallen 582 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:15,080 out of any good story that there ever was no connection, no 583 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:20,840 meaning, just random pieces of stuff happening to you and it's 584 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,320 like confusing and strange and you're not sure how to hold all 585 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,680 of it together. I just want to say that the word 586 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,320 of the Lord to you this morning might be that there is a story 587 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:36,320 for you to be a part of. And by being here in this 588 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,200 gathering, it's it's a great way to sort of take a step, take a 589 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:46,080 step toward that story. If you only knew, if you only 590 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:48,680 knew how caught up in this thing you already are. 591 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:52,080 If you only knew that the same spirit who filled that room in 592 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:56,840 Jerusalem is present in this room right now, that your life 593 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:02,640 is not a series of disconnected events, but a little part of a 594 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:06,680 story, a little side quest in the story that God has been 595 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,560 offering since long before you were born. 596 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:12,760 It could change the way that you think about everything. 597 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:18,040 And So what I want to do is invite you to stand, if you're 598 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:22,320 able, with me. And we're going to have the kids 599 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:26,160 come back in a moment. So parents actually stay where 600 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:30,600 you're at for for just a second and we're going to pray and 601 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,440 we're just going to ask for God to, to.