Posts
A Spirited Body
I think sometimes we take worship for granted, or don’t
spend enough time wondering about how the Holy Spirit works through it… The Hymn of the Day which we just sung,
‘Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness;’ is a very special spiritual tune for me. It was both the song I heard to spark my
conversion experience, as well as, I used it for my ordination song. The wonderful prelude we heard this morning
is a Cursillo favorite of mine. In fact,
less than a month after my conversion, coming back to Christ, called to serve
or better said, begin the journey; that song, ‘Pass It On,’ accented for me
what the Holy Spirit was messaging me to hear.
This was a message that I couldn’t close myself off from graciously
receiving. The spirit said through both
of those songs—I have a new plan for you.
I would like to add to that, Thanks be to God, Alleluia and Amen!
The story of Pentecost is an amazing one to wrap your
mind around. The violent rush of the
wind of the Spirit ascending as flames upon the heads of those disciples…
amazing and something perhaps we can’t understand ever truly touching us. This is most definitely, not the truth,
however. It may not be flames, but the
soft voices of a processing choir fading off, and tears rolling inexplicably
down your face as an affirmation Baptismally of God’s message to your heart’s
ears, alone! God was indeed speaking to
me, that early August Sunday morning back in 2003. Every time I have shared
this witness of the Holy Spirit, there has been nothing I could completely
confirm as that ultimate spark of God’s call to change my whole life… it just
happened, then, and here I am now. Of all things as well, proving that God both
has a sense of humor and timing, it was a hymn written by a UCC minister being
played in a little Swedish Lutheran church on the northside of Chicago.
The tune we heard as this morning’s prelude I had to fish
out of a Methodist hymnal. So
interesting how the Holy Spirit shapes what you are called to proclaim— which
is a huge aspect, of not only discipleship, which is the journey of the
Christian, but all the texts this morning talk about unconditional welcome and
the autonomy and development of the Holy Spirit’s work in each and every one of
our lives—again, I say, Thanks be to God!
Unconditional welcome and autonomy were some of the themes from this past
weekend’s Association conference. There
was also the wonderful blessing of being a part of someone’s ordination. I have been very blessed to have been in two
other ordinations, outside of my own, where I was called forward with other clergy
to lay hands upon the soon-to-be ordained pastor.
The laying on of hands is a very Biblical rite. This is not
only an affirmation of the Spirit of the Body but it generates that same kind
of fire that those disciples in today’s lessons felt. This fire is from, and in, the heart for the
Gospel! We are called to proclaim it
throughout our lives in some form or another. Welcome is a very important
theme, not just connected to our polity but truly Biblically through the love,
peace and mercy only Christ can reveal through the Spirit’s work… It can happen
at any time or better understood as in God’s time—Kairos. Kairos is a wonderful comforting
understanding of God’s infinite, boundless plans and purposes for our
lives. Some of our Christian brothers
and sisters understand this as aspects of grace or prevenient Grace. The Lutheran in me will always see Grace as
GRACE, period or as my over-used statement goes: Grace is that all-caps,
extra-bold, Hollywood-sized Sign reality written upon the heart!
For this particular ordinand, her journey began with
those unpopular themes from last week being that she had to suffer ridicule,
reject and persecution to get where she is now.
For others, it could mean embarking into a completely different life at
the beginning of their human journey as an artist to only have God
“start-messin’” with it by bringing poetry into their art and eventually just
outright calling them in a little Swedish Lutheran church: “Ok, you’ve got to start to listen to me now…
a kinder and gentler world can exist, if you truly come and follow me.” Those tears were like the living waters in
the first Gospel text I shared: “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers
of living water.” Let me tell you, they
certainly did flow! The peace Christ released upon the disciples, some 13
chapters later, in the Gospel of John, were those voices singing of God’s
abundant welcoming love and invitation in that processional hymn, Spirit,
Spirit of Gentleness.
Passing it onward, the Gospel, that is, IS all about the
Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit working as
that New Nature within your first church, the heart, as well as, it is where
the Holy Spirit takes you. In efforts to
build our Body here, it is my task to guide your spiritual formation, your
faith’s formation. Like Saint Paul
working tirelessly to enliven and enlighten his Corinthians, I am here to
preach, teach and help shape your faith to realize that you indeed have the
capacity to BE and DO all things through Christ who indeed strengthens us all!
Pentecost isn’t just supposed to be the “birthday party”
of the church but the celebration of the anointing, blessing, commissioning of
our Spirited bodies to take a fantastic leap of faith into the future with the
Gospel of Grace in our hearts and spread through our voices, hands and feet as
the Body of Christ! Here is that very
Biblical unconditional welcome: “12For just as the body is one and
has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body,
so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized
into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of
one Spirit.”
These
words came out of the lips of a former Pharisee, a man who sat back in the
early part of the Book of Acts, while the angered crowds stoned Stephen. What on earth happened to him? He had a conversion experience. We all remember the story, God knocked him
plain off his horse and asked him why he was persecuting him… The scales God placed upon Paul’s eyes were
like those tears shed, that balm upon the heart to truly open his spiritual
eyes to the truth, of what he was really called to do and become! The only thing I heard at that conference
that I couldn’t agree with was that one of the presenters said that conversion
is a mistaken call into ministry—well I’m here to greatly correct that. My conversion experience is what changed my
whole life for the better, period!
Yes,
witnessing again, that’s the problem with preaching for Pentecost, blame
God! The Gathering North would make every
5th Sunday of the month, a witness Sunday. Let me tell, it was amazing to see and hear
how God was working through these peoples’ lives! Here was something very Biblical to practice
as a church in fellowship. We would hear
the wonderful witness from one of our congregants and then we would talk about
it after worship during fellowship.
Those services were wonderful!
Speaking of witness, I have been blessed to read through the amazing
photo album, history collections by our own Grace Schmeidel, and they are
incredible. Here is the autonomous
witness of what this church family means to her and her family. It is not only a fabulous example of
stewardship and the sharing of gifts…. She truly shared the spirit of Christ in
her thoughtful gift of these pictures, texts and related. All of which are diligently being prepared
for us to share with the world on our web pages.
Who
are we? First and foremost, we are
disciples of Jesus. Secondly, we are His
children of Grace and Promise carrying out His call to each and every one of us
to share His Gospel together here and throughout the world. You may see the world as just the east side
of Vegas… but God is always calling us to think beyond not only ourselves, but
the little universes we’ve all created and are all too often, way too
comfortable in! One of the ministers at the Association meeting made the most
wonderful quip not printed in the bulletin of course, he said, comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
This is one of those very old layers all preachers need to incorporate
into their delivery to get the truth of the Gospel out there. It was just very humorously spirited to hear
him saying this at just the right time, during the ordination service.
At
just the very right time, God’s time, those organ pipes dropped out and the
voices of the choir sounded like soft bells...
At just the very right time, the cursillistas were processed outside of
the main dining hall into a darkened, long candle-lit hallway, where the loving
sight and voices of friends and family sang, ‘Pass it On,’ (our prelude music).
This is while, we were all lead, into a lovely little sanctuary in the Villa
Desiderata retreat center on Pistakee Bay in McHenry, Illinois, the early
October of 2003. Again, there were no flames
or wind swirling through the room, but the Holy Spirit was most definitely
there, profoundly there. Can you feel
that Spirit, even a little bit from what was shared? If you even felt a mustard seed’s worth…
that’s great! Welcome to the true meaning
of Pentecost!
Let
us Pray,
Gracious
God,
It
only takes a spark to get that spiritual fire going…
It
only takes our heart some shaping from Your Holy Spirit
To
be glowing with the fire of the Gospel for all to witness!
May
these next 24 Sundays in the Season of Pentecost
Teach
us and inspire us to unconditionally share, live the Gospel
Through
our unique lives’ stories.
In
Your most precious Name, we pray—
AMEN
June 4th,
2017; Day of Pentecost; Year A
Sermon by:
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 25; 1
Corinthians 12:3-13; Acts 2:1-21 & John 7:37-39; 20:19-23
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church, 9:30AM
No comments:
Post a Comment