Called to be a Church in Action
A Sermon by The Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams on The Feast of Pentecost, June 5th, 2022.
Acts 2:1-21
“When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:1-4).
Today is the Feast of Pentecost. It is the final day of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. Today is the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples. Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem and that he would send God’s Spirit to enable them to carry on his ministry in the world after he had ascended into heaven. In the Acts of the Apostles, we hear the story of how they waited expectantly for Jesus’ promise to be revealed and that as they prayed together they were filled with God’s power.
That was the beginning of the Church my friends. That was our commissioning. From that day forth we were called into action to bring Jesus’ message of peace, justice, healing and reconciliation to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit encourages us, strengthens us and comforts us and the Spirit also nudges us, and discomforts us and gives us the courage to act. And our call is to discern what the Spirit is saying to us through prayer and through each other.
The disciples gathered in the upper room that day had an amazing spiritual experience. They were able to understand each other even though they spoke different languages. But that extraordinary event was not just something to be remembered and cherished. Their time of prayer was meant to move them out into the world, just as we are called to move back out into the world after church each Sunday.
The world is a hurting place. Our country is in such discord and confusion and gun violence is off the charts. Just this year, we have had 214 mass shootings. The last two weeks have been particularly disturbing. In Buffalo, a racially-motivated shooting of 13 people in a supermarket in a predominately Black neighborhood. In Uvaldie, the killing of 19 4th graders and their 2 teachers. In Tulsa, two doctors, a receptionist and a patient. These horiffic killings have devastated families and whole communities and they have left all of us traumatized. So what are we to do?
As people of faith, we always, always turn to prayer during times of trial. We pray for the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We pray for the victims, their families and their communities. We pray for ourselves. We come together in worship to grieve and support one another.
And as people of faith, we are called to action. Just like those first disciples who came together in prayer, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit to make changes in this world. In 2018, in the aftermath of the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, about 50 Saint Georgians came together and marched behind our banner in the first March for our Lives. There is another March for Our Lives scheduled for this coming Sat, Jun 11th, and I really hope that we will have even more of us to go this time. We will gather around our Altar platform at 10 a.m. for a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to be with us, and then get on the Metro to go to the mall together. The march is from noon to 2:00.
It is really important for churches to take a stand and for the world to see that we are not only people who come together on Sundays to worship, as vital as that is. Christians and other people of faith are called to work for the common good. And sending a message to Congress that it is time to enact legislation that will address gun violence is so very important.
God really does give us the power to change the world. We have to believe that. We have to claim that. The Pentecost story is not just locked in the pages of Scripture. It is alive and real today and every day. We can never give up hope and we can never, ever give up on this world that Jesus came to save. And we have to lean on each other when the going gets tough. Jesus never said that his way of healing, peace, justice and reconciliation was going to be easy or convenient or comfortable. Going to the march is one way of taking up our Cross and following him, especially if you are someone who is not naturally inclined to march. There are a lot of things we could all be doing next Saturday morning and I hope you will respond to the Spirit ‘s nudges to join us. Will it make an immediate change? No? But little by little, step by step, together, in prayer.
“When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”