DAY 199 - The Power and Problem of Pentecost

Acts 1:8, 2:1-8, 11b-13 (NIV) ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. ⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ^11b—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

The night covered the forest like a thick, dark blanket – no moon, no stars, no city lights to silhouette trees and bushes of the forest. Then from the sky, a bright white light touches a tall tree, splits it in two, sends sparks flying to other trees, bushes, and leaves. Now you can see. Now you can see everything. Then come the fire fighters, trying to control and contain the fire. Those who know the forest say the fire is the way the forest renews itself. But the fire fighters see the danger, they see the threat of the fire. And the fire seems to be spreading and jumping from place to place. Pentecost is like that fire.

Pentecost is the flame that brings individual lives into a living relationship to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Into lives darkened by a backbreaking routine, into lives doused by repeated disappointments, the flame of Jesus touches off a love, gives worth, revealed purpose and direction, and brings judgment and forgiveness that cleanses, renews, refreshes. This fire destroys our selfish individualities and melts us into community. Pentecost is like fire.

 That fire can be seen as hope, as healing, as power. Or, that fire can be seen as a threat that will destroy and change us, and most of all it can be seen as a fire we do not control. Sometimes we are like kindling that has been so soaked by our efforts to be in charge and to be in control that we smother the spark of Pentecost.

The fire of Pentecost does not move over us in the planned, orderly goal setting way many of us like to live. So when the fire comes it creates a crisis. It forces a decision. There is no fire like the fire of God. We don’t control it. We may even find we do not want it. In the meantime, we wait and pray so that when the fire comes we do not try to control it. We wait and pray so that when the fire comes, our lives will be touched and changed by it.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 11, 2000

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell