Pastor Sherry’s message for May. 24, 2926

Scriptures: Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104:24-35; 1 Cor 12:3b-13; Jn 20:19-23

An older pastor friend I know from North Carolina grew up on a small family tobacco farm. To make ends meet, his folks both worked in a cotton mill by day. When his mother left for work each day in the summer, she left the future pastor and his 3 siblings a list of things to do in the house and outside in the tobacco patch. Mom and Dad left each day at 6:30 a.m. and returned by 3:30 p.m. In the way of most kids, the crew of 4 would try to figure out how long it would take them to complete the job-list, and then they would play around until they knew they had to get busy with their assigned tasks.

One day, at about 11:00a.m., they were lounging around—eating sandwiches and watching TV, having done not one thing on the list—when their mother showed up! She had gotten sick at work and had come home early.

Rather dramatically, the future pastor said he recalled hearing…

“…a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire room in which were were sitting…and the name of the wind was Mama and she was some kind of mad….instead of finding her children busy about the business she had left them to do, she found them sitting around, eating peanut butter sandwiches, and doing nothing. Mama roared into the den, the fly swatter she had grabbed off the hook by the kitchen stove in hand. She drove us out of the house, across the yard and up the hill, into the fields where were were supposed to be hoeing tobacco. We danced into that field. Mama’ s hand on the back of my neck, swatting at my legs and behind, while I stretched my feet and bottom as far away from her as I could get.” What a memory!

This pastor went on to make the point that he believes the behavior of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was more “like my Mama on a bad day than any sweet, sweet spirit [or] any gentle breath of God we might conjure up.”

(Fairless & Chilton, The Lectionary Lab, Year A, 2013, p.141.)

Let’s look at our Acts reading (Acts 2:1-21) and see if he is right. Today we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the (large “C”) Christian Church. It’s the anniversary of the day the Holy Spirit was given to all those who believe in Jesus;

It also marks an ancient Jewish religious feast day which commemorated the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest—the Spring Harvest season. Thus it was one of the 3 times per year a Jewish man was expected to journey to Jerusalem (Passover and Tabernacles were the other two) to thank God for all He had provided for them.

The Holy Spirit was given to the 120 disciples on this day to equip them with wisdom, energy, and power for ministry. We don’t see the Holy Spirit—He’s a spirit—but they and we are often given signs of His presence: (1) There was the sound of wind rushing. In this case, it was like the sound of a tornado, but minus the wind damage. People who live through tornadoes report the sound of the wind is like that of 5-6 train engines rushing by at top speed. (2) There was also the curious sight of a larger flame in the air separating into smaller flames.

Stranger still, the smaller flames come to rest over the heads of the 120 disciples gathered in that place. Like the bush Moses saw aflame in Exodus 3 while shepherding sheep, these flames did not burn anything. (3) There was also the sudden, unexplained ability of all 120 to speak in tongues/languages they had never been taught. Some biblical scholars believe the disciples were speaking Aramaic but the members of the crowd heard them in their own native tongue, with the Holy Spirit doing the simultaneous translation. Most other scholars believe they were actually empowered to speak words in sentences they had never learned nor ever expected they would be able to do. I wish the Lord had gifted me this way when I had to learn New Testament Greek in seminary, but alas, He did not! (4) Additionally, Peter was emboldened to preach to the Jews (vv.14-36) about Jesus and 3,000 were baptized that day (v.41). 

I think my pastor friend is correct: Holy Spirit power is authoritative and convincing, and like his mama with a fly-swatter, seems to carry with Him the message, Get Busy! 

Now what are we to get busy doing? I preached on this last Sunday, and our other readings today spell it out:

A. Psalm 104:24-34 is a song of praise to the God of Creation. We are to praise God for having created us and the universe in which we dwell. If we were to have read it in its entirety, we might have noticed that it follows the Genesis account of creation. First, God created light and darkness and separated them. Second, He separated the waters of the heavens (sky) from those on earth.

Third, He set the oceans into place and gathered together dry land, upon which he placed vegetation. Fourth, He then set the stars, sun and moon in place, creating night and day. Fifth, He populated the seas with life forms and the earth with all sorts of animals; and sixth, He created us, breathing into humans and every other creature the breath of life!

Verse 30 is especially precious: (NIV) When You send Your Spirit, they [meaning humankind and all animal life] are created, and You renew the face of the earth—which He did! This psalm is a tribute to the creative power of God the Father and God the Son. It is the Holy Spirit who manifests this divine creative power. It’s important for us to get busy expressing to God our gratitude for Creating and Sustaining us.

B. In our 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 passage, Paul makes it clear that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can even say, “Jesus is Lord!” The Spirit leads us into all Truth, and leads us to accept the Truth. He also reminds us of all that Jesus taught, and helps us rightly discern the meaning of Scripture.

Paul also goes on to list 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are each supernatural abilities bestowed on certain believers—not for their own entertainment or to exalt their pride—but (v.7)–>for the common good. They are meant to build up the body of Christ, His Church. They include (vv.8-10) gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, the power to work miracles, prophesy, distinguishing spirits (evil ones from good; angels from demons), speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. Each of us believers is given at least one spiritual gift; some are given more than one.

Each of us is also given unique skills and talents. We are not to hoard these for ourselves, but again, the purpose of the gifts is to edify the Church, not the person. However, when we are walking out our gifting, our talents, we feel pleasure, even joy—“in the zone”—it doesn’t feel like work. If we haven‘t already, we want to get busy working in our gifting.

C. Finally, in John 20:18-23, Jesus makes one of His post-Resurrection visits to His Apostles. Now He is in His glorified body, a body that is not subject to the laws of the material world. He is able to teleport, appear suddenly in one space or another. Realizing that would be startling, He offers them peace, indicating that His appearance is in no way threatening. He still bears the scars of His Crucifixion–helping them to recognize it is Him and He is alive; but also demonstrating that He bore our scars so we won’t ever have to! 

Then He breathes on them, conferring Holy Spirit empowerment for the 50 day interim from Easter Day until Pentecost. He was ensuring their safety and sustaining them; and He was also preparing them to preach and teach. Now we know that no one can forgive sins except God. But we also know our sins are forgiven when we confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness-→1 John 1:8-9 (NLT)-→If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

We are cleansed from our sins buy the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But how would anyone know this unless they hear it (the Good News of the Gospel) from someone? Jesus is reminding them and us that we are to get busy! We’ re not to sit around eating peanut butter sandwiches and watching TV. We are not even to judge other people for their sinfulness. We are to do the work He has given us to do…telling people about Him and saving souls.

Friday night, I attended a worship service to commemorate my Pentecostal Friend’s 12th year as pastor of the Apostolic Lighthouse Church. He started the church with 12 members 12 years ago. Now it’s grown to 140 members; and they have baptized more than 100 adults in that time. He has the gift of evangelism (I am less an evangelist and more a teacher, counselor, and preacher.) But can’t we all consider what knowing Jesus has meant to us?Can we think of how the love of Christ has changed us? Can we recall how—in cooperating with the Holy Spirit, and trusting in God’s grace and His answers to our prayers–He has actually freed us, transformed us from how we used to be?

That’s what we share with others. That’s our job, Church. As my pastor friend puts it: “[On Pentecost] that wind gave [the disciples] a job, and the ability to do the job, and then He drove them out into the street so that they would get busy doing that job. Which is why the Holy Spirit, the mighty and powerful wind of God, is more like an angry Mama than any sweet baby or gentle lover. And on this Pentecost Sunday that Holy Spirit is after us. He’s after us to get out into the world with the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ….He’s after us to look around us and see who it is that we know or know about who needs to know about the love and grace and forgiveness of God in Christ (Fairless and Chilton., p.142).

You heard the man, and you heard the Spirit: Let’s Get Busy!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams