“BECOMING A
PART OF GOD’S DREAM TEAM”
ACTS 2:1-21
2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together
in one place.
2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty
rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested
on each one of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began
to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem
Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they
were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are
not all these who are speaking Galileans?
8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native
language?
9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya
belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we
hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
“What does this mean?”
13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with
new wine.”
Peter's Sermon at Pentecost
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice
and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since
it is only the third hour of the day.
16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall
prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent
day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
It’s easy
to get stuck in a rut. It can happen to anyone.
It can happen to me. It can happen to you. It can also happen to all of us at the same time. That’s
because a congregation can also get stuck in a rut. You can see that in a riddle
that I’ve always liked. It’s actually the Congregational version
of the old light bulb riddle. It goes like this:
Question: How many Congregationalists does it take
to change a light bulb?
Answer:
Change! What do you mean change?
My grandmother gave that light
bulb to the church!
Now we laugh
because we know that there’s some truth in the answer to the riddle. Sometimes without and I’m here to tell you
that God doesn’t like ruts. If you’re not sure about that just look
at the words that Peter declared on that first day of Pentecost. After
the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit Peter stood up and quoted with great authority some words from the prophet
Joel.
…in the
last days it shall be, God declares,
I will pour out
my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young…shall
see visions,
and your old…shall
dream dreams…
God doesn’t
want us to ever get stuck in a rut. God doesn’t want us to look at all the hatred and greed in the world and say to
ourselves, “Oh well, that’s just the way it is.” God wants us to dream about a world that can be; a world
where we follow the words of the prophet Amos, a world where we seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God.
Robert Kennedy put it this way,
“Some men
see things as they are and say why.
I dream of things
that never were and say why not.”
God wants us
to dream. God wants us to dream and have visions of what can be. God wants us
to be like Wang Guiying. Wang Guiying is from China and she’s looking for a husband.
Her story was in the news a few months ago. What makes Wang Guiying’s story amazing is the fact that she’s
107 years old. She’s 107 years old and she’s looking for a husband
because she doesn’t want to be a burden to her nieces and nephews. She
was doing just fine until she broke her leg a few years ago and had to stop doing her laundry and other chores. When a reporter asked her why she wanted to get married she replied, “I’m already 107 and I
still haven’t gotten married. What will happen if I don’t hurry up
and find a husband?”
All I can say
is good for Wang Guiying! In the last days it shall be God declares, I will pour
out my Spirit on all flesh…your old men and women shall dream dreams and your sons and daughters shall prophesy. I wonder if any of our sons and daughters who have joined this Body of Christ today
have dreams and visions to share with us? I wonder if we will have the courage
to listen to their dreams and visions?
I can tell you
that Eduardo Muan is glad that we’re able to dream. Eduardo Muan sent me an email this past week after he read a a sermon
on our website. In the email he thanked us for sharing God’s love with
others. What makes this story a little amazing is that Eduardo Maun doesn’t
live here in North Reading. Eduardo Maun is
electrical engineer who is currently working and living in Qatar.
That’s a small country in the Persian Gulf. Imagine
that? Ten years ago we didn’t have website.
Then someone had a dream and said, “You know we really should have a website.” Now because we do our light
is shining in the heart of a young man who is half way around the world.
God wants us
to dream dreams and have visions so we can say,
Question: How many Congregationalists does it take
to change a light bulb?
Answer:
Change? What do you mean change?
We already changed that light bulb
two weeks ago. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard
A. Hughes
May 31, 2009
– Pentecost Sunday
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