Services every Sunday at 7:00 P.M.

"Carrying on the Vision" Acts 2:1-16 5/31/09 Pentecost

Well it's birthday Sunday and we get to celebrate the lives of all those people who were born in May. But we also have another celebration tonight for it is Pentecost and the birthday of the church. It was on this day so long ago that wind and flames woke up the people and they began to understand what each other was saying. It was the day that the terrified disciples broke out of their closets of fear and became the community that the Risen Christ has wanted them to be. The Holy Spirit breathed life into what would become the early church. So Happy Birthday Church we are a part of the long line of faithful people throughout the centuries who have brought the Church to this day and time in history. Think for a moment about the person or people who served as the link to bring you into the church. It could have been your parents or grandparents or a friend that invited you to go along with them to church one day. Remember to thank that person for being faithful to the Spirit's call. And so here we are another part of the body of Christ called the Metropolitan Community Church of Pittsburgh. Now I was you to take a moment and think about the person who brought you here -- a friend, a lover, someone who told you about the church at Pridefest or a Memorial or Labor Day picnic. If that person is still in your life remember to thank them for being your link to this church.

So what can we learn from that first Pentecost that will help us to carrying on the vision that has been entrusted to us today? The Holy Spirit still works in our lives today and our faith community. Just as those first disciples were empowered to come out of that upper room, so are we empowered to take the message to our people. It's nice to receive what we get in worship on Sunday but the real ministry of our church should be happening out in the world. There are so many brothers and sisters struggling day in and day out just looking for a little hope that says God's loves them just as they are. Remember when you felt like you were the only glbt person in the world and how life giving it felt when you discovered community. I had the opportunity to be interviewed on Friday by a writer from the Tribune Review on the two marriage bills that have been proposed for Pennsylvania. One of the questions was asked was did see public opinion changing and why? I told her that the more glbt people who come out the more people will get to know us as loving, caring individuals and this personal knowledge would changed their minds As we follow the Spirit's leading we are given the courage to go where God would have us go and do what God would have us do.

The second thing learn from the Pentecost story is that we are each needed in our own way to carry on the vision that has been entrusted to us. Hildegard of Bingen said this "We are all sparks of the divine flame." We each speak our own language which someone else understands. We each have a story to tell that is like no one else's story. We each have gifts, ta1ents, resources that don't match anyone else's. And there is someone out their waiting to hear your story and they will recognize it. The Holy Spirit breathes life into our gifts and talents just when they’re needed by someone in our community or out in the world. It's our part to be available and to play about where the Spirit would have us to go. It is my belief that if everyone on earth shared what they had there would be no poverty, there would be no more homeless, there would be no more hunger, there would be no lack of anything. Part of responsibility as people of faith is to share from what God has given us so abundantly.

The third thing I hear in the Pentecost story is the way the Spirit empowered the people. The disciples we knew had betrayed Jesus, run away in Jesus' time of need, feel asleep when Jesus needed companion, and then after Jesus' death that locked themselves behind a closed door because of their fear. And then the Holy Spirit breathed through their lives and nothing would be the same again. They had a new courage, they had a sense of passion and urgency for their work, they had a new goal and purpose and nothing was going to stop them. The Holy Spirit had empowered them in such a way that it was not the same old disciples, they were different now, so different that most of them went on to lose their lives for the Gospel they shared. They did what they could as humans, but most importantly let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Rev. Mychal Judge wrote this prayer:

Lord, take me where you want me to go,

Let me meet who you want me to meet,

Tell me what you want me to say,

And keep me out of your way.

We can go so far on our own but the Spirit is the one who empowers, give direction, and makes it happen God’s way.

Happy birthday church! May we be empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry on the vision that has been entrusted to us. May each of us share of the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given to us. And may God breathe life into our bodies and our church.

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