Gathered and scattered: a sermon for Pentecost

A sermon for Pentecost...
Acts 2: 1-18

[the idea here is a sort of rhythmic repetition, snappy and fast-paced and flowing, and bringing in some of the lyrics to the following hymn 'Gather us in'... I feel I got boxed in earlier in the week by the post-sermon hymn... it ain't pretty, but never mind]

Let us pray:

Spirit of the living God

Fall afresh upon us –

Help us to hear your voice in word and in our thoughts...

Amen.

Gathered in

Gathered together in one place

All the believers –

in one house

Sitting ...

Talking

Pondering upon Jesus:

Jesus who had so recently been among them

And who had been himself 

gathered

up to God the Father....

but, who, before he’d gone

Had asked them to gather...

And so, 

they did.

In a room,

In Jerusalem...

Gathered together

Gathering their thoughts:

They waited...

And wondered:

Wondered what those last words of Jesus had meant:

‘You will receive power from on high’

‘I will be with you always’...

Always?

But he’d disappeared...

Gone to the Father;

So, how was that possible?

Called and gathered

They had been on an incredible adventure:

A roller-coaster ride of mystery and wonder

Of friendship and laughter

Of weddings and wine

loaves and fishes

Palms

Processions

Cheers, betrayal, and jeers

A journey of fear, denial,

Slaughter and scattering.

...and unspeakable bewildering grief...

And then

Day’s dawn in a garden

And the world... turned upside down

as a stone rolled away... with resurrection’s promise fulfilled.

They gathered again

He appeared in their midst

With bread and wine and blessing

And the promise of a helper...

On a day 

when they’d gathered together again,

A sudden unexpected noise

Loud:

 like wind blowing out the cobwebs in the corners of the mind

Blowing and rattling the windows of imagination open

Blowing wide open the doorways of their hearts

as the flames of the Holy Spirit danced in their midst:

their eyes opened as if seeing for the first time;

And their hearts were comforted by the warmth of holy fire

And their minds understood 

the words:

‘I will be with you always’...

And in response:

So excited that together they left the room

And, like the Spirit rushing into that room and into their lives...

they rushed out into the world:

Excited

Amazed

Shining and blazing with the light and life of God’s love.

Proclaiming what had happened to all who would hear.

...And some who heard thought they were drunk

but others from all around the known world mysteriously heard the joyous good news in the language of their birth.

And 3 000 were added to the number of believers that same day.

And as they gathered,

So they scattered – to be witnesses

And to call and to gather others...

Who, in turn, would scatter

and proclaim the good news of the message of Christ

down through the ages...

Generation upon generation,

Gathering and scattering,

Fired by the prompting of the Spirit,

Hearing and sharing the story:

Eating bread,

drinking wine.

Remembering the one who had called them

and caused them to gather

Who told them that He would be with them always;

Then - 

told them to scatter and to share the good news...

And now,

here,

in this place,

in this room,

we gather:

Week in, week out,

We gather.

Why?...

Because Christ has called us here –

although maybe in a less dramatic way than those first followers on the day of Pentecost:

the drama which was the birth of the church.

We gather, because 

it’s something we just 

do:

Almost a routine...

We get up

Get dressed

Have our bacon butty

or our cereal

or even that slice of leftover pizza...

and, at the Spirit’s prompting –

even though we may not have realised that’s what it was –

we answer the call:

we gather in this place

as generations before us have gathered;

we hear again the good news...

 

That good news is about friendship:

God, in Jesus, saying:
‘I call you my friends’

God, through the Spirit

Being with us – 

always.

The friendship expanding as we, in turn, say to our neighbours:

‘I call you my friends’

As we stand alongside,

and walk with those around us –

in joy and in pain and in all the in between....

We are called to gather,

in order to scatter

and so we share the love of God.

Here,

in this place,

in this room,

we gather:

and although at times we may not even be aware of it...

Here, in this place, 

new light is streaming

now is the darkness vanished away.  

The One who calls us friends

is with us still

in the mystery of the Spirit;

That same Spirit

who blows through this room

making, in our hearts, a home:

comforting and encouraging

challenging and inspiring...

with us always

calling us to gather

to hear again the good news;

to remember

and to respond once more:

to shine;

to blaze with the light and life of God’s love

and then to scatter from this room

and go and share:

share the good news with all:

the good news

that God calls us friends

that God is with us always –

that God will never leave us or forsake us

that we are loved regardless of age, or gender, or orientation,

or even if we did have that leftover pizza slice for breakfast...

Here in this place

Gathered together as God’s called people -

Even now...   

 the breath of God’s Spirit is filling the room,

Swirling around us

and within in us

Reminding us that 

even as we scatter and think about what God might be doing 

in our own lives,

And in the life of the world - 

that we are not alone, 

that each of us is part of something much, much bigger: 

that we’re bound together in friendship – 

with each other

And with God,

Who calls us

And gathers us

Loves us

and scatters us

and who, in the Spirit,

is the fire of love in our flesh and our bone -

and who encourages us to tell 

the greatest love story the world has ever known.

Amen.