“The Spirit at Work Through Us: Making More Disciples”
Rev’d. Tanya Stormo Rasmussen
The Congregational Church of Hollis, U.C.C.
Pentecost, 23 May 2021
Matthew 28:16-20
Acts 2:1-21, 43-47
A lot can change in 50 days, especially when your world has been turned upside down. When everything you thought you understood and trusted is called into question. When all illusions of being in some semblance of control over your life are suddenly shattered. When the familiar rhythms of life screech to a halt and, as best you can tell, you were completely powerless to stop or change what’s happening.
For us, it was an eclipsing coronavirus speeding its way across the planet, upsetting our not just our freedom of movement and ability to safely gather for more than fourteen months, but also devastating entire economies; laying bare simmering systemic social prejudices and inequities that have long been denied, ignored, tolerated. Within the first fifty days, the coronavirus disrupted and completely changed our ability to love those we cherish in ways that we previously took for granted. It wreaked havoc on our ability to be present with the suffering and grieving in ways that offer comfort. And, while lock-down life was a boon for many families who rejoiced in more “quality time” together, for countless other families, the stress was unbearable and the acrimony became toxic to the breaking point.
For some, pandemic life presented an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about life and the priorities we’ve either chosen or found ourselves accommodating. And the revelations and changes have been life-changing for many people.
A lot can change in 50 days when your world has been turned upside down. For the earliest disciples of Jesus, it was when the one they’d called “Teacher”, “friend”, even “Messiah/Savior” was arrested, tortured, and executed by the government and religious authorities they’d previously trusted, at least tacitly, to administer justice.
Jesus’ dearest friends—his “true believers”, the ones who were closest to him, most invested in him (the men, at least)—had abandoned him in fear. And they proved their fear by locking themselves away in a secret room somewhere so the authorities couldn’t find and interrogate them. But within days after his death, the disciples began having personal encounters with Jesus, resurrected. Though they feared and hid from the worldly powers-that-be, Jesus came to them with a divine power in their cowering place and said, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid.”
And that’s when what he had been trying to teach his student-friends started making sense: that’s when the talk of resurrection, of rebirth, of life after death even in this time and this space, became real for them. A spiritual truth had been revealed to them; and whereas they had once been blind to it, they could see clearly now.
Much as they’d have liked to have Jesus continue to be physically there with them, there was no going back. What they had been through, individually and collectively, had changed them. Everything was different because, in Paul’s words, they had been “transformed by the renewing of their minds”.
According to Matthew, Jesus had instructed them to make more disciples everywhere they went. And, he promised them he would be with them always.
They had, in fact, learned enough about life in the Spirit, that they began to comprehend that although he wasn’t there in the flesh, the power of his Spirit was certainly there. And it was equipping them with a holy boldness, if only they chose to claim it and act on it.
Of course, the disciples could have decided that, with their fearless leader no longer sitting with them and instructing them in the ways they’d grown accustomed to, it would be easiest to go back to the life they knew prior to meeting him.
But there was no going back. It simply wasn’t possible. They had changed. The world itself had changed. And their understanding of it, having spent time reflecting on how Jesus engaged the powers and principalities of this world, had taught them a lot about truth and hope and dealing with the inevitable conflicts and challenges and controversies that will come to us. Jesus didn’t run from them, but he embraced the courage and the power that the Holy Spirit within him provided, to grapple with all of life. They saw that more clearly than ever now that he was gone.
And now, on this Jewish festival day of Pentecost—the holiday when they remembered God’s gift of the Torah to guide them—their entire company was bathed with the same Holy Spirit that had worked in and through Jesus. They were drenched in it, within and without.
They could have just said, “Well, that was weird” and proceeded to close down, to numb themselves with old routines and other distractions. But they didn’t. They opened themselves: heart, mind, soul, and body, they opened up to a new and vulnerable way of being together. Of loving God, and loving their neighbor. A courageous new way of engaging each other that told the truth with love and power. “They are not drunk, as you suspect—it’s actually the power of the Holy Spirit,” Peter said. And the doubters all nodded smugly, “Yeah, right. Of course.” But the disciples were not deterred. They sat with the discomfort. They paid attention, as Jesus had taught them to do, and they noticed that it wasn’t painless or effortless. But they knew that God does not give us a spirit of timidity. They’d seen how Jesus had faced the enemies that came to him, those who mocked him and tried to derail his mission. Yet, he somehow managed to love them nonetheless and still get on with his work of healing and transforming the world, in spite of the forces that would prefer death and despair.
And now, by remembering that example, and by opening themselves to living the vision and purpose of Jesus in their own lives, they were discovering entirely new vistas and realities opening up to them. Surprising themselves with the emotional and spiritual strength they possessed.
They felt fear, for sure, but they didn’t allow the fear to guide or deter them. They moved into the storm when necessary, with the armor of divine love accompanying and strengthening them, and just kept going. And it changed the nature of the storms. As they gave themselves over more and more to the ways of the Prince of Peace, they learned how the peace within them had the power to calm the chaotic seascape of the relationships around them.
They began organizing themselves, meeting regularly to practice the Holy Habits they’d observed in Jesus’ life. They met together for Worship, and Prayer, Biblical Teaching, and Fellowship. They developed the sacred activities of noticing God’s presence with them while Eating Together, and in their participation in the sacraments of baptism and of Breaking Bread—remembering Jesus’ words to them as they celebrated holy communion. They practiced different strategies for Sharing Resources, Serving others, and demonstrating Gladness and Generosity even in the midst of adversity and persecution—because they’d discovered that this was paradoxically a source of strength and power when they were otherwise feeling weak and burdened.
In doing all of these things, as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit within them, they discovered that just as they had become disciples of Jesus, they themselves were Making More Disciples.
As Luke described it, the people around them were awe-struck, because so many amazing things were happening. Signs and wonders, Luke called them. “Day by day,” he testified, “as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47)
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So, what are we going to do? We’re at this threshold, a decision-making moment on this Pentecost Sunday, where we could choose to resume familiar routines. Though we’re not fully there yet, we’re being told that it’s getting safer to drop our masks; we can breathe a bit more freely in many ways. It’s tempting to imagine that we could just put the year behind us as if it was some sort of horrible dream, and go back to the way things were.
But if we think that nothing’s changed permanently across the past year, or that God wasn’t urging us to wake up, pay attention, and change some things about the way we were a year and a half ago, then we’ve missed the Spirit’s memo.
How have things changed for you, across the past year? For all of us? What notions, perceptions, and realities of a year and a half ago are permanently shattered for you?
Are you any more willing to be vulnerable, to trust the impulses of divine love when it urges you to take risks that might require personal sacrifice? To do things that might make us look foolish in the eyes of the world, because we’re so ridiculously willing to be guided by a power that doesn’t conform to the rules of the world, but instead is all about welcoming the outsiders and loving the unlovable? Are we, as a community, more willing to trust God and trust each other as we experiment with new ways of sharing Christ in the world, as we take new risks in faith? (God knows we’ve already taken some big ones—now what are we willing to do to build on the ones we’ve already ventured?)
The questions for us to answer, for ourselves and for our church community, are: how well are we doing at believing, trusting, that the same Holy Spirit we read about in the Bible is still active today? How much more willing are we today than we were last year, to respond to the promptings of that Spirit when She whispers, “Come, dedicate more of your time to learning about me.” “Listen more closely for my divine voice as you sit with me in prayer.” How will we respond when we hear God say, “Look, my beloved child and guardian of creation: don’t be so fearful when I invite you to share all that I’ve entrusted to you. You can be a bit more bold, braver in tough moments; trust, believe, and discover that the same Spirit that strengthened Jesus himself is living in and longing to work through you!”
The way we respond, actively and passively, will determine whether or not we experience the joy and wonder of the earliest disciples. Christ is risen—and for those who grasp the spiritual truth of that, there’s no going back; a new day is dawning, and we are all drenched in the Spirit of the Resurrected One, from the inside out. It’s Pentecost, beloved people of faith! Allow yourself to feel the fire and power deep within! And, with the earliest churches, let’s see what happens when we courageously allow the passion and potency of the Holy Spirit to flow so freely from us that our Holy Habits produce signs, wonders, awe, and a whole lot of joy as we share the life that is in us! Hallelujah, Happy Pentecost, Happy Day of Transformation! Amen.