"They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues."

         My mother is telling more stories about her younger years these days. When I was home last, she told me about going to Covenant Beach one evening when she was in her twenties. In those days they held a family camp that lasted two full weeks, and people from all over the conference would come as they could to hear the speakers and to sing in the big massed choirs.

         On this particular evening she and her cousin were singing in the choir. She said that Pihlstrom was preaching that night, and apparently not having such a good time of it. The response was not what he had hoped for, so he lengthened the sermon, and the invitation, and then the singing. So it was one hymn after the other, in hopes that something would happen, that the Spirit would arrive, that people would come forward. Finally it got to be 9:30, and my mother saw that her mother was standing at the back door, signaling that it was time for them to leave. Her uncle, who had driven that night, had to be at work in Tacoma early the next morning, and they must leave. So my mother told her cousin that when the hymn ended they needed to leave. She was a little reluctant, but with some prodding, they began to make their way down the stairs from the choir loft, and then her cousin tripped and fell right on the platform. Pihlstrom looked at her, and said, "That would not have happened, if you had not done what the devil told you to do."

         My mother then said they had to bite their tongues as they hurried to the car, but once out of earshot, they laughed all the way home. But I started thinking about Pihlstrom. He did his very best and the Spirit did not arrive. He was not able to bring renewal, a fresh work of the spirit by sermon or invitation or singing. The more pressure he applied, the less likely there was to be response. You can't force the Spirit to come. But we can open our hearts to the Spirit, and wait prayerfully, and in time, the Spirit will come. We can invite the Spirit.

         "Come, Spirit, Come."

         The disciples of Jesus gathered on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish festival day, a harvest festival. It was one of the three pilgrimage festivals, so people came from all over the known world to gather, to bring gifts and offerings to the Lord. For the disciples this Pentecost started out as another day to wait, and they did not know for just what they were waiting. Maybe they began to wonder when the waiting would end. They could not force the Spirit to come in their long waiting. They opened their hearts and waited.

         Then the Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit came in a way that no one could have imagined or explained. The Holy Spirit came as wind and fire. Yes, both wind and fire were associated with the work of God in the Old Testament. Jesus talked about the mystery of the wind being like the Holy Spirit, and he connected that to the new birth. He also talked about the wind blowing the chaff away in harvest, a reference to judgment. But all you need for that is a gentle breeze.

         The disciples did not feel a gentle breeze on Pentecost. They experienced a loud, rushing wind.. If such a wind came upon us today, it would sweep the matzo off the communion trays. It would drown out the noise of the passing motorcycles. It would rise above the roar of the air conditioner and fan. Pentecost wind was noisy, strong, violent wind. It was not a wind that could be missed or ignored. The point is that the Holy Spirit did not arrive as an option for the disciples. The Holy Spirit was not just for those who were sensitive to the quiet stirrings of the soul. It was unmistakably for each one who was present. It was a wind that moved them, that sent them into a mission. It was a great wind that caught the sail of the ship called the church. The wind blew strong, and they moved out into the known world.

         You never know where the Spirit is going to blow you into mission. This week the Spirit is blowing 17 of our men to Miami, to a church of people who come from many different nations. I don't know that we know much about them, or that we have much in common with them. And they do not know much about us. They may well ask our men,

"How is it that you have come to help us?" or "Are you with us, are you for us, do you want to know us?"

         How much do we want the Spirit to blow us around in this chaotic world of ours? That is a very important question for us. At Pentecost the wind of the Spirit blew the followers of Jesus into many diverse communities. Eventually even Paul got on the ship.

         The Spirit came as fire. Fire can be a symbol of the presence of God. The burning bush for Moses, or the pillar of fire leading Israel through the desert. But this fire was very different. This is described as tongues of fire. I still don't really know what that means. A tongue of fire rested on each one of them. That speaks of a personal relationship. When the Spirit comes upon us, each one is set aflame, each one is burning. It also speaks of power. In the Holy Spirit there is power for witness and ministry.

         The fire of the Spirit manifests itself in language. They spoke, and the people who had come as pilgrims from all over the world, each understood in their own language. That really was not necessary, because all of them would have known Greek as a second language. But they heard the message in their first language. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, Judeans, Cappadocians.

         More is becoming known these days about what happens to people when their language is taken away from them. It is a shattering experience. Even problems like alcoholism can have roots in the loss of language.

         At Pentecost, all these people knew Greek, but they were hearing their own language, and something gets restored in them, something gets healed. The work of the Spirit is to restore and heal.

         What does all this mean for us?

         First, we affirm that because we have the Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, we now live in a new way. We are empowered and moved to live beyond conformity to the world. We do not feel compelled to do what he TV tells us to do. Rather, reading the Word together, we act in a new way, a way that pleases God and accomplishes his will.

We also move together in the Spirit. People whom we would normally ignore or even fear, are those we go to with the love of Christ. We are planning a Mission trip to Waukegan this summer. We are going to help a church put on a VBS for children whom we might otherwise ignore. We invite you to come and join with us in this family mission experience.

         Today, as we come to the table, we also pray for the Spirit. We pray today for a fresh experience of wind and fire:

•  Wind and fire for our missions team as they travel to Miami to do more than replace a roof.
•  Wind and fire for our young people as they travel to Tennessee for CHIC and to camp this summer, that they would experience Christ and hear his voice in their lives.
•  Wind and fire to empower and renew our Sunday School with Good news for children of our communities, and especially for our VBS.
•  Wind and fire for our graduates, as they are waiting expectantly and maybe anxiously for what is next.
•  Wind and fire for this gathered community as we come forward to receive the bread and cup today.

         We will wait on the Spirit. We will receive the Spirit with open hearts.

         Come, Holy Spirit.

         Amen.