Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Pentecost is one of the major festivals of the church year- but there is nowhere near the excitement of Christmas and Easter (heard any good Pentecost carols? How about Pentecost lilies?). Maybe it falls too late in the spring (often right on the Memorial Day holiday- this year, it’s a full two weeks after)- but after Easter, it could well be most important: it’s the birthday of the Church!

It’s the day we remember how the Spirit of God- the Spirit that moved across the watery chaos when God created the Heavens and the Earth- the Spirit of the Crucified and Risen Jesus filled the disciples, and those with them in the Upper Room- with the sound of a mighty wind, and tongues of fire- and compelled them to share Jesus with people they had never seen, and in languages they had never spoken!

It is the day we remember how the church grew from a small circles of the disciples and their friends who had known Jesus during his earthly ministry- to a congregation numbering 3000- most of whom had never heard of Jesus before- in just one day!

The church erupts onto the scene in Jerusalem, and we can see how the disciples have changed: from people who just didn’t get it- didn’t understand Jesus and who he was, and what being a disciple meant- to people who are on fire…

There is no doubt what they are supposed to do- no doubts any more about Jesus- what he meant to them- who- or even where he was: His spirit was right there- the Spirit was in them- each of them, just as he had promised when he said they were to stay in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high!

They were willing to take risks- risk everything from being called drunks on this day to beatings, imprisonments- ultimately giving up their lives to share the Good News of God’s Love- God’s power in Jesus Christ:

That God’s love is eternal- powerful- there for each of you forever!

That in your relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s Spirit will change your life for the better- transform you with new ways of loving- of serving the people around you!

Because Jesus loves you so much that he was willing to die on the cross for you- experience your death- and then was raised from the dead, so that there is nothing- nothing you have done- nothing that can happen to you- that can take God’s love in Jesus away from you.

That story of Pentecost is our story- because the Holy Spirit stayed, just as Jesus had promised, working in the lives of believers- and the Church spread throughout the world in one generation, and kept growing, even when the Church was persecuted- even when Christians were killed!

The Spirit worked- people heard- people saw- people believed and responded! Jesus entered into relationship with them- was shared through the years, and through the generations to you and to me!

It is the work of the Holy Spirit that enables you to believe- to respond to Jesus’ love for you, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12: 3- “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except through the Holy Spirit!

So I confess to continuing confusion and disappointment to the studies that show churches losing members- even the Pentecostal denominations that had been growing are now falling back- and the main line churches- good grief, we’re hemorrhaging… Lutherans reported basically holding our own last year- but if you think about it in terms of the population of the US- which is growing all the time, we’re not doing so well…

I confess to being disappointed when an ELCA official describes as “thriving” churches that are “holding their own- or declining more slowly than others because demographics are changing…. And in a recent issue of our church magazine, I read that it won’t be long until the average Lutheran congregation has a worship attendance of around 100- down from 141 ten years ago, and right around the point where it will be difficult to maintain a full-time pastor...

How can that be? Are there no longer people who need to know the love of Jesus Christ? When I was came to you, a study was done showing that 7 out of 10 people in a five-mile radius around Bethlehem were either unchurched, or “lightly churched…” I love the phrase “lightly churched!” What does it mean? Is that like being “mostly faithful” to your spouse? Have we reached them all?

Greg Meyer did some calculating a few years ago before we started Jacob’s Well  that indicated that if every church in south Minneapolis was filled to capacity four times each morning, more than half of the population would still not be coming to any church!

Has the Spirit departed from us? Or are we not listening to the Holy Spirit, or however unintentionally perhaps stifling the work of the Spirit?

As I read the Pentecost Story in Acts 2, it is clear that there is an enormous potential trap for us…

“They were together in the Upper Room…” Acts 1 tells us there were 120 people- all tied by common history and experience- by Jesus in his earthly ministry. The temptation must have been strong to keep it that way!

That trap would be the keeping of the status quo…keep things just the way they are- have “always” been…

You have a group of people who know each other- or know of each other, and it’s all very comfortable- you share common experience, a common worship language, and it’s perfectly understandable that you would want to keep it that way, even though it keeps people out!

Does this describe “church” for you at all? I’ve talked to Lutherans around the country about inviting their friends to church, and often the reaction I get is that of a man from Seattle, who told me that “church works for me, and I love it- but I don’t think my friends would understand what we do…”

Even though the man meant well, and wasn’t trying to be exclusive, you can paraphrase what he said: “It’s more important that the people who go to my church continue to be comfortable in our fellowship even though it’s keeping unchurched people from a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ…”- or “They’re welcome to come, but first, we’ll make them like us and then they can hear the Gospel…

But on Pentecost, the followers of Jesus never had a chance to get comfortable: out they go! And that’s the story we have been following through this sermon series of Life Together. Life Together in the early Church was filled with the struggle to see how the Good News of Jesus could continue spreading: sharing the ministry between the Apostles and the rest of the church, overcoming persecution, welcoming non-Jewish believers... Never comfortable, always being stretched by the Holy Spirit, and growing, always growing- in every way, spreading across Asia, into Europe...

It is not, and has never been the will of the Spirit- God’s Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit for the church to stay contained for me and mine- and it’s something for all churches to be alert for- even Bethlehem!

Spirit-filled, committed Christians are contagious Christians- they know the church exists for the sake of those not yet here!

Another way that trap is played out is how we react to change when it happens: The disciples go out and proclaim Jesus as Lord and some devout people- establishment types, mock them out: “They’re drunk!”

Something new- something exciting begins to happen and the first response is to make fun- accuse it of being bad for the church…

I hear this from main-line Christians all over: they simply do not understand the idea of the high commitment churches- several of which now have thousands attending each week. And the response is to sneer at them- “Oh they’re pandering…entertaining…giving people what they want…we’re interested in quality, not quantity…we don’t want people to come to be served, we want only those interested in serving…” But I know several of these churches and their pastors- and they’re reaching people, and people are becoming disciples through their ministry! What might we learn, if we’re open to them?

Or, we’re nervous about new technologies- let me “meddle” a bit here. I know of several “multi-site congregations,” where the sermon is preached live at one site, and transmitted by television to the others. My skin crawls at the idea- I just hate it- but these congregations are growing- it’s working for them… And the Spirit of God is obviously using video- and computer technology to introduce people to Jesus…

Shall we accuse those folks of being “filled with new wine…?” Or might we be open to learning something- making use of these gifts in a way that fits with who we are?

The third, and perhaps most difficult aspect of the trap of the status quo is being open to people different than us. If we’re completely honest with ourselves, we know we’re most comfortable when we’re surrounded by people similar to us. On that first Pentecost, the crowd outside the Upper Room included Parthians and Medes, Elamites, Cappadocians, Cretans and Arabians…People from all over, and they were all welcomed into the church.

Talk about being willing to stretch! This fellowship goes not only from 120 to 3000 in one day, but most of the new folks don’t even speak the same language! How did they manage? They couldn’t- but the Spirit did!

For too long, our churches have been churches of northern Europeans (maybe we haven’t noticed that the boats have stopped coming…) For all our talk about diversity, there is still work to do- I mean, look around…What changes would we be willing to make?

This Day of Pentecost calls us, as a community, to accountability- are we open to the work of God’s Spirit? Now as your pastor, I can stand before you and say both that Bethlehem does well in being open to change- that the Status Quo tends not to be our God- and, that of course, we have much work to do, as well- it’s all too easy to get comfortable.

We have been growing- the Spirit is working here, with and in each of us, but we must not relax- we are called to let the Spirit push us…

We plan to continue growing- we believe that the Holy Spirit is leading us to include more and more of our friends and neighbors in our community of faith. We talk about 20,000 new relationships with Jesus Christ by 2020- through Bethlehem, through new communities, through our work with existing churches with whom we partner.

Now get this: the slogan is to remind us that our work is not done. It’s not about the numbers, it’s about seeing lives transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if we are focused on connecting people with God, each other and their mission in the world, then we go flying right past that number.

Do we do this for our glory? Heavens, no! We do it because everyone needs the transforming love of Jesus, and there are lots of people around us who don’t know him.

We will try whatever we can to share the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Look for us in the next few years to try some experiments: new worship services? New communities? New relationships with some churches willing to experiment with us? Maybe even working with-gasp- other denominations who share our goal on seeing the Kingdom of God reach into places and people’s lives where it has not yet taken hold... Look, too, for continuing service and mission opportunities to share God’s love in Jesus Christ.

Some of these could well fail- crash and burn spectacularly, and we may well laugh as we figure out what we learned. But none of the ideas will be laughed at…

If you have a new idea, you are invited to share it- you will not be mocked! If you have a ministry of service- in sharing Jesus- in fellowship or discipleship that is not being done here yet, start it up- get it going! In the immortal words of Nike: JUST DO IT! You do NOT need permission; it is NOT our job to control the Spirit! Look at how the Spirit worked in Acts: Stephen and Philip were deacons- they were supposed to care for the widows and children of the community, and yet the Spirit led them into incredible preaching- the supposed job of the Apostles!

I have noted that increasing numbers of our new members come from traditions other than Lutheran. That is changing us- opening us to new ideas as we learn from you. That will continue!

Those of us with northern European heritages will continue to rejoice in them, but we won’t require them for membership. And we need to work hard on learning what it means to welcome people from different places, ethnic groups or whatever- we will welcome the diversity that God brings us, even as we rejoice in the unity we have in the gift of Jesus Christ.

One last thing: the Holy Spirit works through individuals for the good of the whole church. Each person present in the Upper Room received the Holy Spirit…

Each person in this room received the Holy Spirit when you were baptized- that’s true of the little ones we welcome today! The Spirit is the sign and promise of God’s eternal love and care for you… It’s the literal presence of God’s Spirit in your heart!

The gifts of the Spirit are many and varied, but are all to be used for the good of the church- for Bethlehem, and the whole church of God in Christ.

And as we have seen over these last six weeks, as we read what happened after the day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts, where the Spirit leads, amazing things happen: lives are shared, lives are changed. People just like you and me are used by God and know great meaning and significance as they live- and share the Good News of Jesus Christ across the world.

Open yourself to the Spirit this Pentecost- let the Spirit lead you to share your gifts! Let the Spirit fill you with God’s love in Christ! Let the Spirit fill you with the desire to share Jesus and his love with the people around you! Let the Spirit give you the eyes to see how God is working in our world and how you can participate in that amazing, important work of seeing lives changed forever for the better in Jesus’ Name. Will you bow your heads and pray with me please:

Come, Holy Spirit, our souls inspire, and lighten us with your Holy Fire... Fill each of us with the gifts you have promised: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Help us to grow in them- and to share them in the places where we live and work, and with the people you bring us each day.

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