Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

In the Broadway production “The Music Man” Professor Harold Hill promises the town of River City the answer to all their problems. He convinces the folks there to let him start a marching band and they give him money to purchase uniforms and instruments and are filled with excitement about the future. But then, neither the instruments nor the uniforms don’t arrive, and someone accuses Professor Harold Hill, saying he’s no professor at all; he is a con man, a thief, who travels from town to town scheming and cheating folks before leaving town with their money. And just when it looks like the professor may get tarred and feathered and run out of town, the band of children appear dressed in second-hand uniforms and playing tarnished instruments badly out of tune. At least that’s what most of us see. But then we hear mothers and fathers shouting, “That tuba is my Barney!” and “That’s Eddie’s clarinet!” and “That ‘s my Davey!” The cacophony that surrounded them fades, and each one hears clearly the music their child is playing.

In the closing scene “76 trombones”, we witness a transformation as the ragtag band of children multiplies and the street is filled by the townspeople and a marching band dressed in sharp red uniforms with shiny brass buttons and playing gleaming instruments, led by none other than Harold Hill.

In the scene we hear Luke describe in Acts Chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles, suddenly the crowd gathered around them hears them speak about God’s deeds of power in their own languages. All of the other noises of the crowd –the other languages being spoken and the murmurs of surprise and wonder – that surrounded them faded and they could hear clearly.

The Holy Spirit is the One who brings transformation. We cannot by our own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ. Like the crowds in Jerusalem that day we carry too much judgment, skepticism and doubt –we are turned inward and too full of ourselves – to believe on our own. But the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ. In his explanation of the third article of the apostles’ creed, Martin Luther writes, “the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”[i]

It’s possible we will never witness the physical presence of the Spirit described here – the “divided tongues, as of fire” that appeared among the apostles, or even “the rush of a violent wind” that ushered it in. But the Holy Spirit is known by many different names throughout Scripture.  In our texts and prayers today alone we hear the Holy Spirit called Holy Wisdom, Holy Ghost, Spirit of God, and Advocate. And the Good News of Pentecost is that we encounter the Holy Spirit in our lives in surprising ways and in unexpected places, and Her presence reveals God’s own self to us in ways we can understand.

On this day of Pentecost, when we celebrate confirmation with Ruth Anne and with Caleb, that is especially good news. After three years of exploring the story of God and what Martin Luther teaches and questioning how faith and God are connected to our every day lives, they are affirming for themselves the faith given them in baptism and nurtured in the Church.

Often we stop there in the story, satisfied by the goodness of seeing the Holy Spirit active in the lives of God’s people. But in Acts Peter prompts us to try to answer the question, “What does this mean?” Similarly, Martin Luther asked the question “Was ist das?”, or “What is this?” in his Small Catechism, where he examined the Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and the Sacraments. 

As people of faith we are invited to wrestle with what it means to believe and to bear witness to God’s activity in our lives and the world.

The Acts account is not the first occurrence of Pentecost. The people following Jesus at the time of this account were called followers of the Way, but they were Jewish, having been raised on reading the Torah and celebrating Jewish holy days.  The Day of Pentecost was a Jewish festival, celebrated fifty days after Passover where God’s people, Israel, celebrated the harvest and remembered how God had given them the law at Mount Sinai.

The Day of Pentecost celebrates that the Spirit creates and continues to create, making all things new.

And on this Pentecost the apostles and the people of Jerusalem experienced God in wholly new ways.

In addition to those who thought the apostles were drunk, I expect there were some who were afraid. But in the midst of their misgivings, their wondering and their awe, Peter addressed them all, finding in the words of the prophet Joel a way to describe something bigger than what their imaginations or experiences could grasp: to name the ways God promises were being fulfilled in them on that day. They were glimpsing God’s own Spirit among them.

As we celebrate confirmation with Ruth Anne and Caleb,
may we be alert for the ways that the Holy Spirit shows up in our lives, surprising us, leading us and renewing us.
May we always return to the Word and faith we are given to make sense of what we are seeing and hearing.
May we have confidence in God’s goodness in our lives and be relieved of fear.

Thanks be to God.

[i] Martin Luther. Small Catechism.