Preaching Paths 28 May 2023

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The text this Pentecost Sunday from ch 2 of The Acts of the Apostles falls into three sections. First, we witness the inrush of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ followers, who have been praying together in an upper room in Jerusalem on the Jewish feast called Pentecost. Lights like flames seem to flicker above their heads, and, speaking many languages, they begin to proclaim the message about Jesus in the streets. Second, we hear varied reactions among the crowd to the Spirit‑filled disciples, who proclaim “God’s mighty acts” in the many languages of the visitors gathered in Jerusalem for the feast. Third, Peter stands to interpret this multi-lingual proclamation to the onlookers. He announces that this constitutes the fulfillment of Joel’s ancient prophecy that God’s people shall prophesy.

One approach to the sermon might take the perspective of the disciples who have waited, watched, and prayed in Jerusalem since Jesus’ departure. Today, Christians still wait, watch, and pray for the redemptive intervention of God in human affairs. Sometimes, the wait is long. At times, God seems distant and silent. Yet, today as long ago, God empowers us with the aid of the Spirit to witness in word and deed to His ongoing, redemptive work.

Another sermon might focus on continuities in the mission of the church over centuries since its inauguration on that long-ago Pentecost. First, the Church’s mission has been boundary-crossing from its inception. When our ministry becomes increasingly inward-looking, a re-set is in order. Second, the effectiveness of our witness depends more on our prayerful alignment with the movement of the Spirit than on the size of the church budget devoted to outreach. Our words and actions in everyday, ordinary situations bear witness to the redemptive work of the Spirit among us. Christian witness is a Spirit-driven, divinely empowered event. A chance conversation on the commuter train can change another’s life.

A quite different sermon will take note of the fact that even those first, Spirit-drenched witnesses met with opposition. The dramatic outpouring of the Spirit that Pentecost did not win over every listener. Some dismissed the inbreaking power of the Spirit manifest in these Jesus-followers as drunken foolishness. Success is not a given, no matter how faithful our witness. The church’s testimony to God’s reign among us will always divide the house.

Finally, Peter’s reference to Joel (vv 17-21) reminds us that the God we meet in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is a maker and keeper of promises. The arc of divine promise stretches across centuries. We stand on the shoulders of those who have testified to God’s ongoing, redemptive work millennia before us. We take up the mantle, generation upon generation, testifying that the same Spirit that brooded over the primeval waters at creation is at work in our time, making all things new. Every Pentecost, our commission to bear witness to God’s redemptive promises, made and kept, is renewed. We do not wait for the world to come to us; we move into this world, where death still stakes its feeble claims, proclaiming God’s life‑giving power in words and deeds that speak to our own time and place.