Let's Go Sailing!

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

When we first moved to New Mexico we were told that Spring was the time of year that Arizona tried to get to Texas by way of New Mexico.  The Spring winds gathered dust and sand from Arizona and blew it through New Mexico and into Texas!  It wasn’t just dusty.  The winds rearranged things too.   A woman got stuck in her house when the wind rearranged the tumbleweeds so they blocked her front door.  Wind rearranges things.

When I grew up in Florida we rode out hurricane Eloise.  After that violent wind, everything was rearranged.  The trees were so rearranged in the streets that we couldn’t drive.  Electric lines were rearranged so there was no power or water.  Here in Maine, violent winds rearrange snow so your lawn is bare but right where your cars are parked there’s a drift as big as a whale!  

Violent winds blow.  They rearrange things.  It changes things. The violent wind of the Holy Spirit blows and rearranges and changes things too.  On that first Pentecost it blew the disciples right out of hiding.  That violent wind rearranged their fears.  It blew apart all the walls keeping them from doing what God had called them to do.  That Holy Wind changed them and rearranged them so much the people who saw them didn't know what to think.  

Things change when the Holy Spirit blows and the Holy Spirit is always blowing.  That Violent Wind isn’t just blowing on Pentecost and it doesn’t just blow when we wear red in church.  It’s always blowing… always rearranging… always changing.  We are not the Holy Spirit’s master by any stretch!  Our only say, when it comes to the blowing of the Holy Spirit, is whether we’ll go with it or fight against it!  Jim Croche had a song back in the early 70’s, and in addition to his advice to not tug on Superman’s cape, pull the mask off the Lone Ranger or mess around with Jim, he also advised NOT to spit into the wind!  The Spirit is blowing, rearranging and changing things.  We have no say in that.  We only choose to hoist a sail or ignore Jim Croche’s advice!    

Both choices have problems.  Hoisting the sails and going where the Spirit blows is frightening!  This is no summer breeze.  It’s a violent wind!  There’s no telling where we’ll end up!  For those of us who like things predictable and steady, that’s not our favorite kind of sailing!  The other option isn’t pretty either.  You can stand up to the wind, walk against it, get your face exfoliated with the blowing sand or you can go against the song’s recommendation and end up with an even bigger mess.

Whether we're comfortable with it or not, the Holy Spirit just keeps blowing!  Blowing, rearranging, and changing.  We can’t ever quite grasp it... like trying to grab a fistful of wind.  But every now and then when we’re paying attention, even though we can’t see it, we can see what it’s doing.  What got you out of bed, into the shower and here this morning?  The Spirit was blowing.  What had you helping at Everyday Basics, Addie’s Attic, Quilting or baking for coffee hour?  The Spirit was blowing!  You gave your time, money, talents and gifts for another person.  That was the Spirit, rearranging your life… blowing you toward the “other” and out of your locked up, mirror admiring, closed off upper room self.

We often try to pretend the Spirit isn’t blowing… that it isn’t uncomfortably rearranging and changing our lives, our families or our church.  But it is!  We try to shut the window on the Spirit.  Then, like a violent wind, it blows the window wide open and shows us again, that the wind dried up the waters after the flood... that the wind drove back the water to create a path out of Egypt... that the wind blows and dry bones get new life... that the wind blows and whistles through an empty tomb.  

Outside that upper room... out in the wind... it was scary for the disciples.  Inside was comfortable, safe and known.  Inside, looking at our past as two churches called St. Mark’s and Prince of Peace we remember it as safe and known and predictable.  Outside, over the last few years the wind has blown us together and now we’re heading outside into the wind again, searching for a new name like it's written on a slip of paper, blown around on a violent wind... all of us trying to grab it as it blows by.

But it’s time.  Time to get blown from our comfortable upper room again and step out into the wind.  It’s time for the Holy Spirit to rearrange us and change us again for the work that God is calling us into next.  It’s time to trim our sails and ride God’s Holy Wind toward our new name… a new name that will go with us into the new work God is calling us to do.  It's not a gentle wind for some of you, I know.  For everyone, emotions and feelings are swirling around like a piece of tin roof in a hurricane.  “This is good!”  “This is bad!”  “This is scary!”  “No, it’s exciting!”  “I’m not ready!”  “I’m BEYOND ready!”  All blowing like a whirlwind.  I know.  

But God is calling us to hoist our sail anyway, catch God’s unpredictable, violent wind and trust that God's Holy Wind will blow us again toward abundant life.  Remember, the Spirit's always blown formless voids into new creations; captives to freedom, exiles back home and death into life.  That Holy violent Wind has always blown God’s people toward light and life.  God’s Holy Wind is blowing us there too.  So, let’s go sailing!  Amen.