"Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me" (Chalice Hymnal, #259).

I am glad today is Pentecost Sunday because this is my first experience leaving a congregation as pastor, and the temptation is to use this time to reminisce only about our life together and forget that this is the day we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the church. I could use this time talking about our triumphs such as our distinction of being one of the few congregations in our denomination, that I know of to actually go through the "Listening To The Spirit" process. As we prayed and studied and communed together, we talked about the role of gays and lesbians in the church and we concluded that when we say we welcome everyone in this house of God, we mean everyone. Race, gender, age, orientation are no barrier to membership or leadership here. Thanks be to God.

I could use this time to talk about our struggles and how we continue to seek God’s help in resolving those struggles in stewardship, education, and evangelism. Some of that may happen today, but what I really want to do is focus on the day the Spirit came in a way few had seen it before. I want to celebrate Pentecost with you.

Fifty days after the resurrection, we call this day, which is in Jewish tradition a harvest festival, the birthday of the church. "The Feast of Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, as it is known in the Old Testament, marked the end of the celebration of the spring harvest, and of a worship cycle that began at Passover and during which devout Israelite families praised God for God’s grace and bounty. And among at least some of the Jews, the Feast of Weeks was a time of covenant renewal.

"Pentecost/Weeks is thus a pregnant moment in the life of the people of God. Pentecost is the moment when gestation ceases and birthing occurs. It is both an end and a beginning, the leaving behind of that which

is past, and the launching forth into that which is only now beginning to be" (Texts for Preaching – Year C. Louisville. Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994, p. 342-343).

On this Pentecost Sunday, there is one last thing that Jesus wants the disciples to know, and on our last Sunday together, I want to share that one last thing with you. It is the one last thing I want to tell you as your pastor.

They ask, "when will the kingdom come?" Jesus says, "Just wait." "But when will we see you at work in the world in a way that gets Rome what it deserves?" "Wait and pray." "When will we see the growth we long for?" "Wait and pray." "But we are impatient, and we want to know some things now." But we hear the instruction, "wait in this gap peacefully and eagerly between where we are and where God is leading us. Wait in this gap for God to show you what you need to see."

"Wait so that you will be ready to move when the Spirit says move." Already Jesus has told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem so that when the Spirit comes upon them, as it will, they will be ready to be his witnesses in that city, in the region of Samaria, and to the end of the earth. We want to be his witnesses wherever we are, in Columbus at the corner of 21^st and Broad Streets, at the Regional Church office for the Christian Church in Ohio, and around the world, literally from our doorstep to the end of the earth. Wait and be ready for the Spirit to move you.

They were ready and in place, and while they waited, it came. The Holy Spirit of God did not sneak in, it did not come subtly, it came in a dramatic way, the wind sounded like a fast moving tornado, it looked and felt like fire on their heads, and people were able to speak in languages they did not know they knew, but they were understood, people caught their excitement, souls were saved, and the church grew.

How shall we wait? Giving away bread to people who need it is a good ministry for us. But what if, in addition to handing out bread on the last Friday of every month, on the nights of the monthly meal held here, you provided a meal for the homeless and hungry once a week, and tutored their children, helped people look for a place to live, a place to study, a place to work, a place to worship, and so this church becomes a place where people are respected and where they come to respect themselves.

What if you take the hospitality with which guests and visitors are greeted and turned it up a notch, so that we really live the inclusion that Pentecost brings. Then there were people from all over the Middle East and Europe. Now people are in this city from all over the world, and some of them are looking for a church just like this one. Continue to welcome them when they come, and show them a vision.

There is a song I first heard at General Assembly in Charlotte four years ago, I have shared the words with you before. The song was written by Bill Thomas who some of you know. He grew up at Woodland Christian Church, just about a mile from here. His vision of the church is my vision too, and I hear in it a vision of Pentecost.

"I see a church with a vision. I see a church on a mission. I see a church who has made her mind up, and she’s building her hopes on things eternal. She’s holding to God’s unchanging hand.

"I see a church with its doors open wide, and the poor and the rich worship God side by side; and the young and the old have both put down their pride; and yes we who are different don’t have to hide, and where all of God’s children can sweetly abide. And she’s building her hopes on things eternal. She’s holding to God’s unchanging hand" ("I See A Church" words and music by William Thomas 2001 Sedity Music Co. 2003 in Chalice Praise, #133).

That is a vision of a church touched and surrounded by the Holy Spirit. People walking into a church with such a vision may not understand it at first, but like that long ago Pentecost, when they see and hear you they will begin to know that God is at work. You want people to see you and know that something good and holy is happening here, and that Jesus is lifted up in the midst of this place.

It might look and sound at first like chaos, and ecstasy might be confused with some kind of early morning inebriation. But then Peter explains what is happening. It is not too much alcohol in the blood, it is the very breath of God moving in their being. It is God’s Holy Spirit being poured out and all of human creation is sharing the news. It is a time when men and women are proclaiming the work of God. There are dreams and visions, everyone participates, even those God calls "my slaves", who are not there because of involuntary servitude, but are practicing, free, voluntary "here I am, send me" (Isaiah 6. 8) servants of God.

Peter quotes the prophet Joel’s frightful vision of the day of God’s appearing, and transforms it. The blood and smoke and darkness and fear are changed in Peter’s vision. Instead, God is at work and what is happening is the stripping away of light for a moment so that the light and Spirit of God can be seen. The promise in the words Peter speaks are not words of destruction, but words of life.

"Once again the Spirit has invaded human life in ways that shatter old expectations. It is not death that is the aim of the Spirit’s visitation, but new life, sudden, unmerited, irresistible new life! Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" – v.21 (Texts for Preaching, p.344).

That is a promise we can believe and help to fulfill as we live in the Holy Spirit. The people then responded to Peter’s sermon and we can too. They worshiped and prayed and ate together, they became a family in the name and by the grace of God. They praised the living God and lived godly lives of prayer and care.

Because the disciples waited, because they were in place, because Peter understood and explained to all those people from all those places that even when it looked and sounded like drunken chaos, it was the Holy Spirit of God breathing among them, the world was changed on that day. And when we keep Pentecost, we continue to make room for God’s spirit to breathe life into us, and to change us so that we can change the world.

In the spirit of Pentecost, we can eat and celebrate with those at the table with us. We can, as the reading from Romans suggests, celebrate that we are all children and heirs of God. We can speak of God in intimate ways, Papa, Dad, Daddy. Mama, Mom, Mommy, and know that God calls us daughters and sons. We can form by God’s grace a family of care.

Claim the Spirit of Pentecost today. Imagine that God’s spirit has come into this place, into your life, and it has blown out all that holds us back, what if a real cleansing fire came into us? Would it make a difference if we began to let go of our fluency in scarcity and instead took up the language of abundance? I know you are anxious about this congregation’s future. I am too. I know we have shared some painful history in the last few years. Too many have died, too many have felt the need to be elsewhere, too many have given up, or given out. Their absence is painful to us. But I believe Maya Angelou when she said, "history, despite its wrenching pain cannot be unlived. But, if faced with courage, need not be lived again" (from "On The Wings of the Morning" the poem written for the first inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton, January, 1993).

Imagine and live with the reality that it is possible to let go of the barrier building language of scarcity – "we can’t", "there is not enough", "we used to be able to", "when we were younger, bigger, richer, but now…it’s all changed."

Instead, learn and speak the barrier breaking language of abundance: "we trust the Holy Spirit to show us how we can, to give us all we need, to be able because ‘nothing is impossible with God’" (Luke 1.37). By the Spirit, learn to speak from the wisdom of age, the energy of youth and to live with hope, joy, and vision. It is possible by the Spirit of God at work in you, to speak in a way that draws hungry and searching people who want to join you.

That Pentecost day, the people received from God that for which we long, to know God’s presence through Jesus Christ and to form a community of faith filled, hope filled people. That is what I sought to teach you and show you, and live with you, and as Great Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair said a few weeks ago as he announced that he would be leaving office later this spring, "hand to heart, I did the best I could."

I will conclude with this one last thing. By the power of the Holy Spirit at work in this place, renew your covenant with God, renew the vows you made when you were baptized. Renew your covenant with this congregation and help this church live. Trust that the Holy Spirit is here and set it free. See it, receive it, be a church with a vision and a mission. See this church as a place of possibility and see yourselves as a Pentecost people who hear the wind and feel the fire and speak the language of hope.

I look around here and I still see a church worth waiting for and working for, filled with all kinds of people doing amazing things that leave no doubt that the Spirit of God is alive and at work in this place. Let it be so. Thanks be to God. Amen.