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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Filled with the Spirit

Pentecost/Endowment Day

Scriptures: Numbers 11:24–30; Psalm 104:24–34, 35b; Acts 2:1–21; I Corinthians 12:3b–13; John 20:19–23; II Nephi 3:29–39; Doctrine and Covenants 6:4

Sharing Christ’s Peace

How can the Spirit fill vessels that are unwilling to expand their capacity to receive and give accordingly to a full measure of God’s grace and truth?—Doctrine and Covenants 163:6c

Prelude

*Hymn

“Holy Spirit, Come with Power” HS 287
OR “Gather Your Children” SP 3

*Opening Prayer

Call to Worship: Numbers 11:24–30

Hymn

“There’s a Spirit in the Air” HS 214
OR “Lord, Pour Thy Spirit from on High” HS 364

Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1–21

Message: Based on Acts 2:1–21

Reading: “We Write the Story”

Disciples’ Generous Response

Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries Mission Tithes. Offertory stories are provided to keep the church in touch with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ. Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information as part of your offertory ministry. Visit www.CofChrist.org/offertory to print a copy, or contact your pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.

Have “Psalm 104” by Amy Grant (from the album, Amy Grant, ©1978, Word Incorporated) sung or played while offering baskets are being passed through the congregation. An alternative would be to have someone read Psalm 104:24–34 while soft music is played.

Blessing and Receiving of Mission Tithes

*Congregational Hymn

“Touch Me, Lord, with Thy Spirit Eternal” HS 409
OR “Go, My Children” SP 44

*Sending Forth: Doctrine and Covenants 6:4

*Response

*Postlude

We Write the Story

Let us remember the God of new beginnings.
           In the beginning…God…created…heaven and earth…and
           all things therein.
           And behold, all of God’s creation is very good.

We are the children of God—
Loved from the foundations of the world
By a God who is constantly giving on our behalf.

We are members of the Christian community.
We are joined by countless millions, present and past,
Who confess that Jesus is the Christ.

We are the children of the Restoration.
We knelt in Palmyra’s grove
And heard the voice of God directing us to the Christ.

We journeyed to Kirtland
Where we gave our precious possessions
To build a House of the Lord.

We heard God’s call to frontier living and journeyed to
Independence.
Here we experienced both the joy of community
And the bitterness of persecution.

We resettled in Nauvoo—the City Beautiful.
Here, again, we experienced rich community
And the bitterness of dissent.

We are the children of the Reorganization.
We stood in Beloit, Amboy, Plano, and Lamoni,
And once again in the Center Place.

Our story is partially told in the life of a family:
Joseph Jr. and Emma
Joseph III and Fred M.
Israel, W. Wallace, and Wallace B.

We have recently known the joy of expanding fellowship,
Joining with those of other continents and cultures
To express worldwide Zionic community. (pause)

We are the church of Jesus Christ in today’s world.
We owe a debt of gratitude to those who forged our heritage.
Their faith laid the foundation for our commitments.
We go with confidence into the future with God,
Knowing who we are and whose we are,
To write the story not heard before.

We are the children of God.
We are members of the Christian Community.
We are the children of the Restoration and Reorganization.
We are the church of Jesus Christ in today’s world.
We will write the story not heard before.
—Geoffrey Spencer in Prayers and Readings for Worship, Judy Judd, ed. (Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1987), 78–79.

Sermon Helps

Scriptures: Numbers 11:24–30; Psalm 104:24–34, 35b; Acts 2:1–21; I Corinthians 12:3b–13; John 20:19–23; II Nephi 3:29–39; Doctrine and Covenants 6:4

Exploring the Scriptures

This text from Acts 2 is one of the best known stories in the scriptures and is rich with possibilities for preaching. Pentecost has been called the birthday of the church. But it is important to note, if the message is that this is the beginning of something, that the author refers back to the events of Easter. Explore the following points from Luke 24 that have parallels in Acts 2:

• The risen Lord was made known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread.
• He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
• He promised to give them the same power which moved him.
• The prophets must be fulfilled (Joel is cited by Peter in his sermon).
• Repentance and forgiveness must be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

The text begins with “they were all together in one place.” This is a story about how a faith community receives its calling. Encounters with the Holy Spirit are often perceived as purely “interior events,” offering direction or correction to individuals one at a time. Here we have a public encounter with the Spirit: “It filled the entire house.” “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak.” A list is given of all of the nationalities who receive the gift of proclamation in their own languages.

The Spirit comes as wind. This might be explored as a reference to Genesis 1:2, where God brings new life by sweeping a wind over the world.

The hearers gathered outside the house do not have a uniform reaction, except that they are all bewildered and astonished. “What does this mean?” they ask. Not all are open to the truth; some are ready to explain it away as drunkenness. Only those who are able to maintain their sense of wonder are able to hear the truth of what is offered. The irritation of some with the interruption of the Holy Spirit recalls Luke 4, in which Jesus, “full of the Holy Spirit,” claims more authority than his hearers will grant him. They want to hurl him off a cliff. No one wants this much excitement from the Spirit.

The first gift of the Spirit is the gift of speech. While it is vital that every disciple is given this gift, it’s also poignant that Peter is the one who makes the first speech. After the events of Luke 22, where Peter cannot summon the courage to admit his discipleship even to a servant girl in the dark, who could have foreseen this rebirth of a witness? In Genesis 2:7, God breathes life into dust and creates a human being. Here the Spirit breathes life into a failed follower and creates a new disciple.

The New Interpreter’s Bible makes the following point in reference to the community of disciples formed this day by the Spirit:

“Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?” (2:7 NRSV). The Jewish auditors, amazed and perplexed, recognize the community’s familiar Galilean dialect. The language of the Spirit is not communicated with perfect or heavenly diction, free from the marks of human identity; it is the language of particular human groups, spoken in their idiom. God works in collaboration with real people—people who are filled with the Spirit to work on God’s behalf in their own world.

Central Ideas

1. The Holy Spirit comes to the whole community, calling each person, in the hearing of everyone else, to discipleship and witness.

2. The Holy Spirit is a force that disrupts “life as usual.”

3. There is both community and individual rebirth in this event. Peter is moved to new, heroic discipleship, but God also announces a participation with “real people”—you and me.

Questions for the Speaker

1. When have you experienced the Holy Spirit—as a purely “interior event” or in community with others?

2. Have you welcomed the Holy Spirit’s interruption, or has it been something to explain away?

3. How have you been given the gift of speech by the Spirit?

4. Would you describe the Spirit as “wind” or with another metaphor?

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