Pentecost Sunday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Theme of the Day
The Holy Spirit gets around. Historically the church has also commemorated its origins on this festival. In some traditions, confirmation is celebrated.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered that the Spirit come and transform the faithful to give them language to proclaim the word. The Holy Spirit, Justification (by Grace), Sanctification, and Evangelism are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
* Hymn to God the creator; praise for God's providential interventions.
* The verses considered focus on the multiplicity of creatures God has created (vv. 24-25) and the creating role of the Spirit (v. 30), themes most suggestive of Pentecost. These themes could be related to the ecological agenda or to justice (God as the One who gives faith and other good things [vv. 28-29]).
* The verses conclude with praise of God's awesomeness (vv. 32ff).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Greatest Winning Team of All Time"
Acts 2:1-21
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To extol the church and the joyful comfort belonging to it provides.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Recounting of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful (and origin of the church) at Pentecost.
* Jewish tradition held that the law was given on the day Christians commemorate as Pentecost, fifty days after Passover (Leviticus 23:15-21).
* Luke often says all the faithful were together to underscore unity of the community (2:44; 4:24; 5:12). This theme is emphasized in this lesson.
* The gift of the Holy Spirit (baptism of the Holy Spirit) had been promised by John the Baptist (Luke 3:16). Reference to the Spirit's appearance as tongues of fire (v. 3) is reminiscent of references to the tongues of fire used by Old Testament writers to suggest God's presence (Exodus 19:18; Isaiah 66:15-16; 5:24).
* The speaking in other languages and ability to understand each other (vv. 4-11) is a reversal of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), and another mark of the unity of the community.
* The skepticism of some, accusing those who had the experience of the Spirit of being drunk (v. 13), is a reference suggestive of the pentecostal experience noted in 1 Corinthians 12:13. Consequently, the first Pentecost seems to have been an ecstatic experience.
* Peter stands to defend the validity of the experience that those filled with the Spirit are not drunk (vv. 14-16). His sermon, based on Joel 2:28-32, follows (vv. 17-21). The sermon teaches that the pouring out of the Spirit on all (even on slaves and women, v. 18) is a mark of the messianic age. The sermon based on the Joel text underlines the eschatological nature of the text. Justification by Faith is taught here by Peter (v. 21).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Among the topics addressed include especially the doctrines of the church, Holy Spirit, and Eschatology. But Justification by Grace is also addressed.
* John Calvin nicely explained the significance of the story: "Again, it is out of all doubt, that God meaneth by this so doleful a description to stir up all godly men that they may with a more fervent desire seek for salvation" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 90).
* He warns that we must beware that "when the fire burns we will be as stubble" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 90).
* Martin Luther made it clear, though, that the Spirit may create new hearts (Complete Sermons, Vol. 4/1, p. 332), but the Spirit's work is not complete: "The Christian must, in some measure, still feel sin in his heart… but Christians are supported by the Holy Spirit who consoles and strengthens until His work is fully accomplished" (Ibid., p. 334). "We are like the sick man in the hands of the physician…" (Ibid., p. 335).
* John Wesley issues a warning against dismissing the experience of the Spirit as the scoffers did (v. 13): "Thus natural men are prone to ascribe supernatural things to mere natural causes; and many times as impudently and unskillfully as in the present case" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 473).
* Karl Barth offered reflections on the nature of the church, its narrow focus on Christ:
The historical existence of the church is legitimate only in so far as it refrains from giving specific weight to its own possibilities, developments, and achievements, from interesting its members in these things and therefore in itself instead of pointing simply to that beginning in direct and exclusive proclamation of Jesus Christ.
(Church Dogmatics, Index, p. 297)
* Martin Luther reminds us that the church relies totally on Christ:
It is not we who can sustain the church, nor was it our forefathers, nor will it be our descendents. It was and is and will be the One who says, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world…"
For you and I were not alive thousands of years ago, but the church was preserved with us, and it was done by the One [who is Jesus Christ]…
Again we do not do it in our lifetime, for the church is not upheld by us. For we could not resist the devil… and the sects and other wicked folk. For us the church would perish before our very eyes and we with it (as we daily prove), were it not for that other man [Jesus Christ] who manifestly upholds the church for us.
(quoted in Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, p. xi)
* Elsewhere he elaborated on the benefits of this Pentecost message:
Our Pentecost message should remove all terror of sin and death. The more joyful you are and the more certain and sure the faith in your heart is, the nearer the Holy Spirit is to you and more you benefit from the new Pentecost.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 160)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See the data in this section for the Second Lesson, Ascension of Our Lord, regarding American suspicions about the church.
5. Gimmick
Note that we celebrate a birthday today. Ask the congregation if they know whose birthday it is. It is the church's!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Describe what happened on Pentecost: the Holy Spirit was given resulting in the birth of the Christian church. Suggest we give attention to the birthday child.
* Note the hard times the church has today. Cite statistics alluded to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Those who have been active in the church for years feel frustration. Sometimes the church feels like a liability. We may find ourselves asking if all the work is worthwhile, if involvement in the church is making us any happier or better off. Confess that this has been your own feeling sometimes.
* A gloomy picture for the birthday child. (Address confirmands if any are confirmed: Not a very compelling picture to attract you to adult membership, is it?) But Martin Luther has some good news. Use the next-to-last bullet point in Theological Insights. It is not up to us to keep the church alive.
* When we are down in the dumps, when it seems no one is listening or caring, Luther's words remind us that the success of the church is not up to us. It is up to God. In the end God will triumph over death, meaninglessness, and apathy. (Classic View of Atonement is implied here.) That is what Easter is all about. Jesus is victor! And so the church is a winner. (Tell confirmands, if present, that they are joining the greatest winning team of all time.)
* The church is a winner. We need to begin projecting that image. It will help evangelism because Americans love winners. (Note a sports team in your area that is popular because it is a winner.) Note to the confirmands that they are joining the greatest winning team of all time.
* Note how the church provides security we can have nowhere else. Good looks fade, brainpower deteriorates, loved ones die, but the church remains forever! In times like ours, the church provides security we gain nowhere else.
* It is fun to play for a winner, a joy. We do it with the assurance that the victory is not ultimately our responsibility, but God's.
* Membership in the church offers the opportunity to become full participants in an eternal community in tune with the eventual outcome of all history. Use Luther's comment about how the Pentecost message overcomes all terror of sin in death in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. Also consider the fourth bullet point of the Gospel for Holy Trinity Sunday.
* Of course, the realities of sin still make membership in the church feel not particularly significant sometimes in our lives. And if the only way to deal with our spiritual doubts was to do it alone we would be in trouble. None of us has that strong a faith. But together with the Holy Spirit we do, we do! (See the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.) Besides leaning on the Holy Spirit, in the body of Christ, the church offers us each other to lean on.
* The Pentecost story, like the book of Acts as a whole, gives testimony to unity, as language is said to no more divide the faithful (vv. 4-11). Elsewhere in Acts (2:44) testimony is given to how the followers of Jesus shared all things. Commenting on this point the great early African theologian Augustine claims that this means that there was a oneness of spirit among these Christians, a sharing of all things in common as members had need (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 564).
* When you join the church you become one with all the members, one spirit (united by the Holy Spirit) sharing all things in common. What is yours is mine and what is mine is yours. Proceed to note how we may lean on each other, so that if one does not feel the joy and excitement of participating in Christ's work, he or she can lean on those who are excited.
* This is what the church is for, in all its activities, to lean on and support one another.
7. Wrap-Up
Offer concluding reflections on why God established the church (our church). We are not so faithful that we could be Christians, maintaining a sense of purpose, on our own. We need assurance, given by God and by each other. Together as the body of Christ, the church is the greatest winning team of all time. That is why Christians and the world need the church!
Sermon Text and Title
"Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones"
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim a fresh start from stagnation or oppression (Justification by Grace and Realized Eschatology) for all. The universal dimension of this proclamation can have implications for social justice for the oppressed and also target confirmands.
2. Exegesis
* Ezekiel was a prophet from a priestly family whose ministry to his fellow exiles during the Babylonian Captivity extended from 593 BC to 563 BC. Some of the oracles pre-date Jerusalem's fall.
* The original collection was rewritten and expanded by an editor.
* Main Sections: (1) Oracles concerning Judah and Jerusalem (chs. 1-24); (2) Oracles concerning foreign nations (chs. 25-32); (3) Restoration discourses (chs. 33-39); and (4) Vision of a new temple and polity (chs. 40-48).
* Central Themes: (1) Judgment of Judah for its idolatry and defilements of the sanctuary; (2) The abiding presence of God among the people; (3) Some concern about poverty; (4) Consolation and hope expressed not so much in a call for repentance as in a proclamation of God's unconditional care; and (5) The prophet undertakes vicarious suffering for Israel (12:6b; 4:4-8), most suggestive of messianic images.
* The text recounts the famed vision of the reviving of the dry bones. These bones represent the exiles and the hope of Israel's resuscitation (vv. 11-13).
* Ezekiel's response to whether the bones can come back to life bespeaks an affirmation of God's power (v. 3).
* The word of the Lord is the means of giving new life (v. 4).
* References to the "breath" to be put in the bones (vv. 5, 9-10) use the same Hebrew word ruach as is translated "the Lord's Spirit" (v. 14), bringing the bones to life. The Spirit of God gives life. Note that the Hebraic holistic view of persons, not a Greek view of the immortal soul, operates here.
* The Hebrews will return to the land (v. 14). There is a continuity here with the Old Covenant, as reference is made to obedience to the law even after the resuscitation of the people (v. 24).
* The resurrection of Israel is a testimony to God's act in history.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text speaks to Justification by Grace, Eschatology (resurrection), and Social Ethics.
* Aside from the black preaching tradition, relatively few theologians have commented extensively on the pericope. One black spiritual nicely captures these themes:
He delivered Daniel from de lion's den,
Jonah from de belly of de whale,
And de Hebrew children from de fiery furnace,
And why not every man?
* Eschatology and the word of resurrection in this lesson are related to giving hope to the despairing and new possibilities. Theologians associated with the theology of hope have emphasized these convictions. One of them, Jürgen Moltmann, has written:
Memory binds him [human beings] to the past that no longer is. Hope casts him upon the future that is not yet.
(Theology of Hope, p. 26)
It [hope] constantly provokes and produces thinking of an anticipatory kind in love to man and the world, in order to give shape to the newly dawning possibilities in the light of the promised future, in order as far as possible to create here the best that is possible, because what is promised is within the bounds of possibility. Thus it will constantly arouse the "passion for the possible," inventiveness and elasticity in self-transformation in breaking with the old and coming to terms with the new.
(Ibid., pp. 34-35)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* For statistics pertinent to those groups needing a resurrection of their dry bones, see statistics in this section for Gospel, Easter 4; First Lessons, Epiphany 5 and Advent 3.
* Martin Luther King's comments on how this new life in the bones made dry by slavery and segregation might manifest itself remains timely yet today:
The system of slavery and segregation caused many Negroes to feel that perhaps they were inferior… It scars the soul and distorts the personality… But through the forces of history something happened to the Negro. He came to feel that he was somebody.
(A Testament of Hope, p. 85)
We must no longer be ashamed of being black. The job of arousing manhood within a people that have been taught for so many centuries that they are nobody is not easy.
(Ibid., p. 245)
* Neurochemists are finding that remaining stagnant and set in one's ways lessens happiness; planning new things or engaging new activities promotes secretion of neurochemicals that produce happiness. See this section for the First Lesson, Advent 1.
* Such a lifestyle may even promote youth among the aging, as the dopamine and serotonin released in the brain when new activities are undertaken provides the older brain with the energy it needs to create new brain connections it would ordinarily not be prone to do (Stefan Klein, The Science of Happiness, pp. 61-62).
5. Gimmick
Excitedly recite or even sing the words of the Negro spiritual:
Dem bones, bones, dem dry bones,
now hear the Word of the Lord!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Ask the congregation if they know the spiritual, that story of the dry bones and how the foot bone connects to the ankle bone and the ankle bone to the leg bone and all the rest. It is the story in our lesson today.
* Recount the story of Ezekiel's dream, placed in the middle of a plain where there was nothing but human skeletons. God told Ezekiel to walk on that plain among the dry bones and asked him if these bones could live again (vv. 1-3a). Ezekiel deferred to God's power (v. 3b).
* Then Yahweh Elohim instructed the prophet to prophesy over the bones, to preach the word of the Lord to them (v. 4). Ezekiel shrugged his shoulders and went ahead and did it. And then there was a great noise, the bones started coming together like the old song says! Flesh was put back on the bones. And then breath was returned to them. God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, breathed on them (v. 10).
* Then God told Ezekiel in the dream that these bones are the whole house of Israel who had said that their bones were dried up and their hope lost (v. 11). There were good reasons for the people of Israel to feel that way in 575 BC. They were a conquered people, carted off into captivity by the Babylonians. Far away from the homeland, many were losing faith. They were a politically and spiritually dead nation, an oppressed people, a group of people filled with despair, with no viable options before them. But miracle of miracles, the bones came to life!
* It is a strange dream. What is the relevance of it for us all? (If confirmation is transpiring, allude to the question of what the dream has to do with the rite.) Perhaps we can best understand Ezekiel's dream if another dream (the preacher had) is related.
* Tell the story of a dream you had where you were placed in a large valley with a lot of dry bones. Dialogue with God like He did with Ezekiel. Note how familiar the bones were. Note how they looked like various members (or types of members) in your congregation. Recognize them in virtue of certain characteristics or clothing on the bones.
* Continue the dialogue with God as Ezekiel did, expressing doubt whether the bones can come to life, for they are so dry, so stagnant and stuck in the mud. But then God's word was proclaimed, the Holy Spirit reached the bones, and they began to rattle, they gained flesh, and began to breathe! And then you awoke (or your spouse woke you).
* Another strange dream? But are not many in this nation, in this community, without hope? Provide the statistics on oppressed groups in America alluded to in the first bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Minorities, victims of oppression, get wrung so dry with poverty that despair sucks out hope.
* Despair makes you give up. That's the state of a lot of the bones in this community, the ones that had dried up in your own dream. We are in ruts that are so deep that we do not think there is any way out.
* The words of American author Flannery O'Connor relating to the last part of the twentieth century pertain today: "We have become a people who have domesticated despair. We live with it, our bones are so dry, and we never consider more hopeful possibilities. We are dead in our stagnant ruts."
* Charlie Chaplin had it right: "Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference." That's American life today, a people lulled into indifference, just getting by. It is not just the bones of the impoverished that are dry. The bones of the middle class and the cultural elite have gotten dry, lulled into the indifference of declining standards and the breakdown of values and binding commitments. It's why we don't vote much, don't follow current events, and don't think there's much room for improvement. Oh, how drugged into indifference we have become. And our bones feel so dry! We have been drugged into complacency and indifference. Oh, how badly our dry bones need to be made alive again.
* This despair is indeed a living death, a feeling that life does not matter and never did. It is as the famed nineteenth-century English author George Eliot put it: "But he who dies in despair has lived his whole life in vain." A whole life lived in vain. Ask the congregation if they have not had these feelings. And if we have had such feelings with all our material well-being, what of the poor and oppressed? In this light we can better understand some of the destructive behaviors of those trapped by poverty and social degradation. Knighted English World War I vet B.H. Liddell Hart said it well: "Helplessness induces hopelessness."
* Grateful Dead band member Jerry Garcia is right on target in explaining the drugs, illicit sex, and crime in our poor neighborhoods:
The real problems are cultural. The problems of the people who take drugs are a cultural trap -- I think there's a real problem there, the crack stuff, the hopelessness of the junkie. The urban angst.
* We are so dry, so chained to present circumstances, drugged up on indifference and hopelessness. But Pentecost, our dream, is a story about resurrection about new life. Cite the black spiritual noted in Theological Insights. If God could deliver them all, why not the poor? Why not us in the midst of our destructive hopelessness and indifference?
* To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr. (cite second bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights) we no longer need to be ashamed of who we are.
* Our lesson, the dream we heard, reminds us that we will come to life, that God is about to get our bones rattling again. The despair, the stagnation, the indifference is about to wither away. As new flesh was put on the dry bones of the people of Israel, so a living future liberates us from the past, rousing us to a passion for new possibilities. Consider the last bullet point by Jürgen Moltmann in Theological Insights. Note how the courage to break with the past for the sake of new possibilities in the future can lead to health and happiness. See the last bullet points of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
7. Wrap-Up
God comes again and again to arouse us. He comes with a forgiving love, which did not give up on Daniel, did not give up on Jonah, did not give up on the Hebrew people today, and so will not give up on us. (See again the spiritual in Theological Insights.) This is a love so great that it can put flesh and self-respect on the poor, give new life and hope even to bones made dry by despair, indifference, stagnation, and hopelessness like yours and mine! Yes, our dry bones can come alive.
Sermon Text and Title
"Creation Groans"
Romans 8:22-27
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
A sermon that will call attention to our sinful condition (how our selfishness leads the creation to groan [both our social networks and the broader environment]) along with the good news that the Holy Spirit can and will intercede for us to overcome our groaning and wantonness (Justification by Grace, Sanctification, and Social Ethics).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Continues a discussion of the impact of God's saving act in view of the continuing realities of sin. The text proclaims the hope of fulfillment.
* The faithful and the whole creation groan in labor pains, possessing the Spirit's first fruits but waiting for fulfillment (vv. 22-23).
* Reference is made to the hope in which we are saved. He is not seen; we must wait with patience (vv. 24-25).
* The Spirit helps in our weakness. We do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes (vv. 26-27).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson directs our attention to the doctrine of sin and its consequences (esp. the nature of our sinful condition) and the work of the Holy Spirit in interceding for us and in strengthening us (Justification by Grace and Sanctification).
* John Calvin sees this text as a word of hope in the midst of threats:
For experience shows, that except we are supported by God's hands, we are soon overwhelmed by innumerable evils, Paul reminds us, that though we are in every respect weak, and various infirmities threaten our fall, there is yet sufficient protection in God's Spirit to preserve us from falling, and to keep us from being overwhelmed by any evils.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, pp. 311-312)
* Regarding the reference to the Spirit's role in interceding for us, Calvin writes:
… God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and to temper our emotions… not that He actually prays or groans but arouses in us assurance, desires, and sighs, to conceive which our natural powers would scarcely suffice.
(Institutes, p. 855)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Regarding ecology, see the data cited in this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 22: Creation groans. But it is not only creation that groans; we ourselves groan inwardly.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Note how creation groans. Cite the data regarding ecology referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* You and I groan too, weighed down by challenges posed by the economic downturn, by the trials of ordinary everyday American life.
* American author Marya Mannes powerfully states what is at stake in our degradation of the environment: "The earth we abuse and the living things we kill, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future." This is ancient wisdom, evident in the parallel words of a Native American proverb: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
* You may wish to focus the entire sermon on the preceding theme, in which case the next several bullet points could be deleted. Or one might avoid this controversial issue and focus on what follows.
* We groan too, under all the pressures of life, its insanity, feeling so helpless sometimes that it may lead to hopelessness (B.H. Liddell Hart).
* What causes the groaning we experience, the groaning of creation? Paul tells us in our lesson, as he refers in this chapter to the creation's longing, and to our longing (vv. 19, 23). Our groaning is sort of like what causes the baby who is cared for still to cry.
* Why does the baby cry? She is cared for, has a bonded relationship with her parent. So does the creation; so do we. But the relationship is not enough. Babes that we are, we yearn for more, though not sure what we want. Our yearning is ambiguous.
* So it is with us; so it is with the world.
* Paul Tillich explains our groaning in terms of this ambiguity. Yes, we belong to God, have the first fruits of the Spirit (v. 23). Our Psalm of the Day even testifies to the fact that even the created order belongs to the Holy Spirit (v. 30). We are in the presence of, have our very being permeated by eternity, and yet we and the earth remain fragile and finite. Just as the baby's nurturing environment is marred for the baby by her finitude that impedes her from grabbing, eating, or touching all that she wants.
* About these dynamics, this not having the infinity and eternality that seems so near and is already in some sense ours, Tillich writes:
In every conscious being, life is aware of its exhaustibility; it dimly feels that it must come to an end, and the symptoms of its exhaustion not only make it conscious of this fact but also awaken a longing for it… it is the existential awareness of one's finitude which poses the question of whether the continuation of finite existence is worth the burden of it.
(Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, p. 57)
* Urge the congregation to consider whether they too sometimes feel that life is not worth it all. We are so close to God, so in the presence of eternity, and yet so far. And so we groan.
* This is another dynamic in the groaning of creation. Our sin and finitude entail that we are not able to see creation right, to solve the ecological crisis, to put meaning in our lives. Indeed, we do not even know how to pray for it very well. Like children, we do not even really know what we want or what is good for us when we yearn.
* It would be a hopeless situation were it not for Pentecost, were it not for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we commemorate and celebrate today.
* Paul wonderfully clarifies the matter with a word of hope and good news. Read verses 26-27. In our weakness the Spirit is present. Note the profound insights we can gain from John Calvin. Consider the quotations in Theological Insights. Highlight the companionship we have with God because the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, travels with us, gives us the companionship we need to temper our emotions, and stimulates desire and passion we never naturally summoned.
7. Wrap-Up
Reiterate to the congregation that we could not grapple with evil, could not pray, without the Holy Spirit. Suggest that it will take the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an awareness of God's presence and that nature is God's, in order to overcome our ecological neglect, to transform the groaning of creation to songs of joyous praise.
Sermon Text and Title
"Gifted By the Spirit"
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the gift of the Holy Spirit and what the Spirit does in our lives (Justification and Sanctification).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Jesus continues His farewell discourse.
* He claims that He will send the Advocate (helper or defense lawyer), the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father (15:26).
* Jesus claims to reveal new things to His disciples not previously taught because He was with them. But now He is returning to the One who sent Him (16:4b-5).
* Despite sorrow that might emerge as a result of His departure, Jesus notes it is to His followers' advantage, since then the Advocate will be sent (16:6-7).
* The Spirit will prove the world wrong about [convict the world of] sin and about judgment, for the ruler of the world has been condemned (16:8-11). The Greek term used for world in verse 8 is kosmos, which can refer to present human reality.
* Jesus proclaims that He has more to say, but His followers cannot bear it now (16:12). Yet the Spirit will guide them into truth and speaking not on His own will declare what is to come (16:13). The Spirit will glorify Christ, taking what is Christ's and declare it (16:14). All that the Father has, Jesus claims, is His; this is why the Spirit takes what is His and declares it to the faithful (16:15).
* Jesus concludes by noting that in a little while He will not be seen, but then again a little while longer and He will be seen (16:16). This seems to be an eschatological comment, pointing to Jesus' ongoing presence after His resurrection and His eschatological return.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Focus is on the Holy Spirit and a theonomous understanding of free will. Classic View of the Atonement is taught in verse 11.
* John Calvin nicely notes how often we miss God and the work of the Spirit: "The same thing happens to us; for we hold Christ bound by our senses, and then if He does not appear to us according to our desire, we contrive for ourselves a ground of despair" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 136).
* Karl Barth offers a helpful reflection on the Holy Spirit and his word:
He [the Spirit] is not to be regarded, then, as a revelation of independent content, as a new instruction, illumination and stimulation of man that goes beyond Christ, beyond the word, but in every sense as the instruction, illumination and stimulation of man through the word and for the word.
(Church Dogmatics, Index, p. 406)
* Martin Luther echoed this point: "In this way Christ sets bounds for the message of the Holy Spirit Himself. He is not to preach anything new or anything else than Christ and His Word" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 363).
* Elsewhere Barth wrote: "The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus Christ has formed and continually renews His body…" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/1, p. 643).
* About the Spirit, Martin Luther writes: "Therefore Christ promises to give us a Spirit who will not only strengthen our hearts and increase our courage but will also make our faith sure, remove all doubt, and enable us to judge all the spirits" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 294).
* Similarly, the Reformer writes:
… wherever the Holy Spirit is present He effects a new heart and mind in one who no longer flees from God but, though he knows and acknowledges that he has sinned and merited God's wrath, still takes comfort from the grace of Christ….
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 439)
* We need the Spirit because we are sinners, condemned by the Spirit:
You say: "But how can this be? What prevents such [human] glory from being valid before God? Is all this damnable: That they are good, honorable, and pious people…" As has been said, you must know that Christ is not referring here to man's outward life and conduct, which the world can judge and condemn; but He is going to the very core, namely, to man's heart, which is the fountainhead and source of the chief sins.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 341)
* The first Reformer notes that if the Spirit were not with us, we could not bear the daily combat and the world (Ibid., p. 290).
* Elsewhere Luther observes concerning the Spirit's work:
Whoever is converted to faith cannot say anything else than that the Holy Spirit comes and when He will and where He will and to what person He will… It is the Holy Spirit, not reason, who teaches me to be baptized and to believe. Consequently, my life must consist in the Holy Spirit, who blows where He will.
(Ibid., Vol. 22, pp. 302-303)
* Also see various references to the Holy Spirit in the First Lesson, Easter 7.
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See the poll data in this section for the First Lesson, Easter 7, regarding the disturbing American (Christian) disbelief in the reality of the Holy Spirit.
5. Gimmick
Jesus was preparing his followers for His departure. He promised in His place to send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Today on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the gift of that Spirit. But what's the big deal? What good is the gift of the Holy Spirit? (Besides, the Spirit doesn't seem to hang around here [or in our lives] much.) There is not much speaking in tongues around these parts.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Note the general American skepticism about the Holy Spirit in the survey data alluded to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Part of the problem is that most of the American public (even churchgoers) is not very clear on what the Holy Spirit is or does. Let's get clear this Pentecost Sunday on how the Spirit gifts us.
* Begin by clarifying what the Holy Spirit does not do. The Spirit does not haunt people. (One of the reasons it is better for the preacher to speak of the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Ghost.) To say that the Holy Spirit is a "spirit" is more in line with the Greek and Hebrew in which the Bible was written.
* Explain that the word pneuma has no connection with ghosts. And the Hebrew equivalent words nephesh and ruach refer more to breath and wind, to the forces that give life, even to living creatures, not to ghosts. In Latin the Holy Spirit is spiritus sanctus. Spiritus: That has nothing to do with "ghosts." "Holy Ghost" is English derived from the German equivalent Heilige Geist. But the German word Geist literally translates "spirit," not "ghost." There you have it: There is no such thing as a Holy Ghost.
* The Holy Spirit does not go around haunting people in a white sheet. No, the Spirit has to do not so much with something mysterious and strange, but with something common and ordinary.
* Keep in mind that the Hebrew term for "Spirit" refers to wind, breath, or to the everyday element in human life. We use the word "spirit" that way today, saying that a hard-working person always on the go has "spirit." Kids with a little bit of the devil in them are also said to have spirit. Cheerleaders try to rev up school spirit. This seems to imply that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than God grabbing hold of our everyday lives to make them more energetically holy! That's not what a ghost does.
* How does the Holy Spirit work in our daily lives? With Trinity coming next week it is wise to begin by clarifying what each person of the Trinity does: The Father created the world and continues to care for it; the Son helped in creation and then as Jesus Christ saved us, but has returned to the Father; the Holy Spirit is God's presence with us right now. We may not see God just now. But He is present with us (albeit in another dimension)!
* It is very important to recognize this point. Thanks to the power of the Spirit we have a God who does not sit somewhere up in the clouds, but is intimately involved in our everyday lives. This is a God who knows us better than we know ourselves. This is a God so intimate that we can really love Him!
* What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives, in the lives of the faithful? Jesus' words in the Gospel Lesson provide us with insights. Jesus says that the Spirit will be our Advocate -- our Helper and One who puts in a good word for us with God (15:26).
* The Spirit does more, according to John's Jesus. The Spirit also convicts us of our sin (16:8-9) and guides us into truth (16:13). In guiding us to truth, it is the Holy Spirit who is really responsible for our faith. In those moments of doubt we are not alone. The Holy Spirit makes our faith sure, Martin Luther says, even gives us courage to struggle with sin. (See the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights for this sermon and the fifth bullet point in Theological Insights for this Sunday's first sermon for the First Lesson.) Because of sin, we are not strong enough to believe on our own. (Ask the congregation again if amidst their doubts and challenges of life God needs to strengthen them.) Without the Holy Spirit (God walking by us in our lives), we could not endure the daily combat we face with evil (see second-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights).
* Martin Luther also spoke of the Spirit's role in giving you and me new hearts (seventh bullet point in Theological Insights above). Next time you feel love, want to help someone such sentiments flow from your new heart, not the seedy, sinful one with which you were born. It is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit that makes you forget yourself and do for others.
* The great reformed theologian of the last century Karl Barth had it right. He claimed that the Holy Spirit empowers us. Use quotation in the third bullet point of Theological Insights for First Lesson, Easter 7. The Holy Spirit "sits" on us and "fells" us. Repeat the point for emphasis, asking the congregation if they have really heard this. (If necessary, elaborate on how when we are knocked down or sat on, we don't lose our free will. It is just that we are brought under the domain of something or someone who overpowers us.) The Holy Spirit overcomes our unbelief, our doubts, and our selfishness, by sitting on us and knocking us and all those temptations down. God (the Holy Spirit) gifts us with courage and strength and will not let us get away.
7. Wrap-Up
To realize you are gifted by the Spirit means that if something good comes out of what you do you cannot take credit for it. It is the work of God. Ask the congregation to reflect on something nice they have done lately, on some way they have lived their faith. Remind them that if they believe in the gifts of the Spirit it is necessary to make this confession. Ask the congregation if they are looking for miracles. Belief in the gifts of the Spirit makes ordinary things like faith and doing good miraculous. Wonder where the Spirit is in our church? You can tell He's been here by the good that's been done. You can tell He's been in their lives by the good that has been done. By working good among us, by strengthening and giving us courage, the Holy Spirit points back to that loving God of ours, reminding us that God is really the source of all life. The Holy Spirit is God among us, God in our midst!
The Holy Spirit gets around. Historically the church has also commemorated its origins on this festival. In some traditions, confirmation is celebrated.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered that the Spirit come and transform the faithful to give them language to proclaim the word. The Holy Spirit, Justification (by Grace), Sanctification, and Evangelism are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
* Hymn to God the creator; praise for God's providential interventions.
* The verses considered focus on the multiplicity of creatures God has created (vv. 24-25) and the creating role of the Spirit (v. 30), themes most suggestive of Pentecost. These themes could be related to the ecological agenda or to justice (God as the One who gives faith and other good things [vv. 28-29]).
* The verses conclude with praise of God's awesomeness (vv. 32ff).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Greatest Winning Team of All Time"
Acts 2:1-21
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To extol the church and the joyful comfort belonging to it provides.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Recounting of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful (and origin of the church) at Pentecost.
* Jewish tradition held that the law was given on the day Christians commemorate as Pentecost, fifty days after Passover (Leviticus 23:15-21).
* Luke often says all the faithful were together to underscore unity of the community (2:44; 4:24; 5:12). This theme is emphasized in this lesson.
* The gift of the Holy Spirit (baptism of the Holy Spirit) had been promised by John the Baptist (Luke 3:16). Reference to the Spirit's appearance as tongues of fire (v. 3) is reminiscent of references to the tongues of fire used by Old Testament writers to suggest God's presence (Exodus 19:18; Isaiah 66:15-16; 5:24).
* The speaking in other languages and ability to understand each other (vv. 4-11) is a reversal of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), and another mark of the unity of the community.
* The skepticism of some, accusing those who had the experience of the Spirit of being drunk (v. 13), is a reference suggestive of the pentecostal experience noted in 1 Corinthians 12:13. Consequently, the first Pentecost seems to have been an ecstatic experience.
* Peter stands to defend the validity of the experience that those filled with the Spirit are not drunk (vv. 14-16). His sermon, based on Joel 2:28-32, follows (vv. 17-21). The sermon teaches that the pouring out of the Spirit on all (even on slaves and women, v. 18) is a mark of the messianic age. The sermon based on the Joel text underlines the eschatological nature of the text. Justification by Faith is taught here by Peter (v. 21).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Among the topics addressed include especially the doctrines of the church, Holy Spirit, and Eschatology. But Justification by Grace is also addressed.
* John Calvin nicely explained the significance of the story: "Again, it is out of all doubt, that God meaneth by this so doleful a description to stir up all godly men that they may with a more fervent desire seek for salvation" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 90).
* He warns that we must beware that "when the fire burns we will be as stubble" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 90).
* Martin Luther made it clear, though, that the Spirit may create new hearts (Complete Sermons, Vol. 4/1, p. 332), but the Spirit's work is not complete: "The Christian must, in some measure, still feel sin in his heart… but Christians are supported by the Holy Spirit who consoles and strengthens until His work is fully accomplished" (Ibid., p. 334). "We are like the sick man in the hands of the physician…" (Ibid., p. 335).
* John Wesley issues a warning against dismissing the experience of the Spirit as the scoffers did (v. 13): "Thus natural men are prone to ascribe supernatural things to mere natural causes; and many times as impudently and unskillfully as in the present case" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 473).
* Karl Barth offered reflections on the nature of the church, its narrow focus on Christ:
The historical existence of the church is legitimate only in so far as it refrains from giving specific weight to its own possibilities, developments, and achievements, from interesting its members in these things and therefore in itself instead of pointing simply to that beginning in direct and exclusive proclamation of Jesus Christ.
(Church Dogmatics, Index, p. 297)
* Martin Luther reminds us that the church relies totally on Christ:
It is not we who can sustain the church, nor was it our forefathers, nor will it be our descendents. It was and is and will be the One who says, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world…"
For you and I were not alive thousands of years ago, but the church was preserved with us, and it was done by the One [who is Jesus Christ]…
Again we do not do it in our lifetime, for the church is not upheld by us. For we could not resist the devil… and the sects and other wicked folk. For us the church would perish before our very eyes and we with it (as we daily prove), were it not for that other man [Jesus Christ] who manifestly upholds the church for us.
(quoted in Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, p. xi)
* Elsewhere he elaborated on the benefits of this Pentecost message:
Our Pentecost message should remove all terror of sin and death. The more joyful you are and the more certain and sure the faith in your heart is, the nearer the Holy Spirit is to you and more you benefit from the new Pentecost.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 160)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See the data in this section for the Second Lesson, Ascension of Our Lord, regarding American suspicions about the church.
5. Gimmick
Note that we celebrate a birthday today. Ask the congregation if they know whose birthday it is. It is the church's!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Describe what happened on Pentecost: the Holy Spirit was given resulting in the birth of the Christian church. Suggest we give attention to the birthday child.
* Note the hard times the church has today. Cite statistics alluded to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Those who have been active in the church for years feel frustration. Sometimes the church feels like a liability. We may find ourselves asking if all the work is worthwhile, if involvement in the church is making us any happier or better off. Confess that this has been your own feeling sometimes.
* A gloomy picture for the birthday child. (Address confirmands if any are confirmed: Not a very compelling picture to attract you to adult membership, is it?) But Martin Luther has some good news. Use the next-to-last bullet point in Theological Insights. It is not up to us to keep the church alive.
* When we are down in the dumps, when it seems no one is listening or caring, Luther's words remind us that the success of the church is not up to us. It is up to God. In the end God will triumph over death, meaninglessness, and apathy. (Classic View of Atonement is implied here.) That is what Easter is all about. Jesus is victor! And so the church is a winner. (Tell confirmands, if present, that they are joining the greatest winning team of all time.)
* The church is a winner. We need to begin projecting that image. It will help evangelism because Americans love winners. (Note a sports team in your area that is popular because it is a winner.) Note to the confirmands that they are joining the greatest winning team of all time.
* Note how the church provides security we can have nowhere else. Good looks fade, brainpower deteriorates, loved ones die, but the church remains forever! In times like ours, the church provides security we gain nowhere else.
* It is fun to play for a winner, a joy. We do it with the assurance that the victory is not ultimately our responsibility, but God's.
* Membership in the church offers the opportunity to become full participants in an eternal community in tune with the eventual outcome of all history. Use Luther's comment about how the Pentecost message overcomes all terror of sin in death in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. Also consider the fourth bullet point of the Gospel for Holy Trinity Sunday.
* Of course, the realities of sin still make membership in the church feel not particularly significant sometimes in our lives. And if the only way to deal with our spiritual doubts was to do it alone we would be in trouble. None of us has that strong a faith. But together with the Holy Spirit we do, we do! (See the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.) Besides leaning on the Holy Spirit, in the body of Christ, the church offers us each other to lean on.
* The Pentecost story, like the book of Acts as a whole, gives testimony to unity, as language is said to no more divide the faithful (vv. 4-11). Elsewhere in Acts (2:44) testimony is given to how the followers of Jesus shared all things. Commenting on this point the great early African theologian Augustine claims that this means that there was a oneness of spirit among these Christians, a sharing of all things in common as members had need (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 564).
* When you join the church you become one with all the members, one spirit (united by the Holy Spirit) sharing all things in common. What is yours is mine and what is mine is yours. Proceed to note how we may lean on each other, so that if one does not feel the joy and excitement of participating in Christ's work, he or she can lean on those who are excited.
* This is what the church is for, in all its activities, to lean on and support one another.
7. Wrap-Up
Offer concluding reflections on why God established the church (our church). We are not so faithful that we could be Christians, maintaining a sense of purpose, on our own. We need assurance, given by God and by each other. Together as the body of Christ, the church is the greatest winning team of all time. That is why Christians and the world need the church!
Sermon Text and Title
"Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones"
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim a fresh start from stagnation or oppression (Justification by Grace and Realized Eschatology) for all. The universal dimension of this proclamation can have implications for social justice for the oppressed and also target confirmands.
2. Exegesis
* Ezekiel was a prophet from a priestly family whose ministry to his fellow exiles during the Babylonian Captivity extended from 593 BC to 563 BC. Some of the oracles pre-date Jerusalem's fall.
* The original collection was rewritten and expanded by an editor.
* Main Sections: (1) Oracles concerning Judah and Jerusalem (chs. 1-24); (2) Oracles concerning foreign nations (chs. 25-32); (3) Restoration discourses (chs. 33-39); and (4) Vision of a new temple and polity (chs. 40-48).
* Central Themes: (1) Judgment of Judah for its idolatry and defilements of the sanctuary; (2) The abiding presence of God among the people; (3) Some concern about poverty; (4) Consolation and hope expressed not so much in a call for repentance as in a proclamation of God's unconditional care; and (5) The prophet undertakes vicarious suffering for Israel (12:6b; 4:4-8), most suggestive of messianic images.
* The text recounts the famed vision of the reviving of the dry bones. These bones represent the exiles and the hope of Israel's resuscitation (vv. 11-13).
* Ezekiel's response to whether the bones can come back to life bespeaks an affirmation of God's power (v. 3).
* The word of the Lord is the means of giving new life (v. 4).
* References to the "breath" to be put in the bones (vv. 5, 9-10) use the same Hebrew word ruach as is translated "the Lord's Spirit" (v. 14), bringing the bones to life. The Spirit of God gives life. Note that the Hebraic holistic view of persons, not a Greek view of the immortal soul, operates here.
* The Hebrews will return to the land (v. 14). There is a continuity here with the Old Covenant, as reference is made to obedience to the law even after the resuscitation of the people (v. 24).
* The resurrection of Israel is a testimony to God's act in history.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text speaks to Justification by Grace, Eschatology (resurrection), and Social Ethics.
* Aside from the black preaching tradition, relatively few theologians have commented extensively on the pericope. One black spiritual nicely captures these themes:
He delivered Daniel from de lion's den,
Jonah from de belly of de whale,
And de Hebrew children from de fiery furnace,
And why not every man?
* Eschatology and the word of resurrection in this lesson are related to giving hope to the despairing and new possibilities. Theologians associated with the theology of hope have emphasized these convictions. One of them, Jürgen Moltmann, has written:
Memory binds him [human beings] to the past that no longer is. Hope casts him upon the future that is not yet.
(Theology of Hope, p. 26)
It [hope] constantly provokes and produces thinking of an anticipatory kind in love to man and the world, in order to give shape to the newly dawning possibilities in the light of the promised future, in order as far as possible to create here the best that is possible, because what is promised is within the bounds of possibility. Thus it will constantly arouse the "passion for the possible," inventiveness and elasticity in self-transformation in breaking with the old and coming to terms with the new.
(Ibid., pp. 34-35)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* For statistics pertinent to those groups needing a resurrection of their dry bones, see statistics in this section for Gospel, Easter 4; First Lessons, Epiphany 5 and Advent 3.
* Martin Luther King's comments on how this new life in the bones made dry by slavery and segregation might manifest itself remains timely yet today:
The system of slavery and segregation caused many Negroes to feel that perhaps they were inferior… It scars the soul and distorts the personality… But through the forces of history something happened to the Negro. He came to feel that he was somebody.
(A Testament of Hope, p. 85)
We must no longer be ashamed of being black. The job of arousing manhood within a people that have been taught for so many centuries that they are nobody is not easy.
(Ibid., p. 245)
* Neurochemists are finding that remaining stagnant and set in one's ways lessens happiness; planning new things or engaging new activities promotes secretion of neurochemicals that produce happiness. See this section for the First Lesson, Advent 1.
* Such a lifestyle may even promote youth among the aging, as the dopamine and serotonin released in the brain when new activities are undertaken provides the older brain with the energy it needs to create new brain connections it would ordinarily not be prone to do (Stefan Klein, The Science of Happiness, pp. 61-62).
5. Gimmick
Excitedly recite or even sing the words of the Negro spiritual:
Dem bones, bones, dem dry bones,
now hear the Word of the Lord!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Ask the congregation if they know the spiritual, that story of the dry bones and how the foot bone connects to the ankle bone and the ankle bone to the leg bone and all the rest. It is the story in our lesson today.
* Recount the story of Ezekiel's dream, placed in the middle of a plain where there was nothing but human skeletons. God told Ezekiel to walk on that plain among the dry bones and asked him if these bones could live again (vv. 1-3a). Ezekiel deferred to God's power (v. 3b).
* Then Yahweh Elohim instructed the prophet to prophesy over the bones, to preach the word of the Lord to them (v. 4). Ezekiel shrugged his shoulders and went ahead and did it. And then there was a great noise, the bones started coming together like the old song says! Flesh was put back on the bones. And then breath was returned to them. God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit, breathed on them (v. 10).
* Then God told Ezekiel in the dream that these bones are the whole house of Israel who had said that their bones were dried up and their hope lost (v. 11). There were good reasons for the people of Israel to feel that way in 575 BC. They were a conquered people, carted off into captivity by the Babylonians. Far away from the homeland, many were losing faith. They were a politically and spiritually dead nation, an oppressed people, a group of people filled with despair, with no viable options before them. But miracle of miracles, the bones came to life!
* It is a strange dream. What is the relevance of it for us all? (If confirmation is transpiring, allude to the question of what the dream has to do with the rite.) Perhaps we can best understand Ezekiel's dream if another dream (the preacher had) is related.
* Tell the story of a dream you had where you were placed in a large valley with a lot of dry bones. Dialogue with God like He did with Ezekiel. Note how familiar the bones were. Note how they looked like various members (or types of members) in your congregation. Recognize them in virtue of certain characteristics or clothing on the bones.
* Continue the dialogue with God as Ezekiel did, expressing doubt whether the bones can come to life, for they are so dry, so stagnant and stuck in the mud. But then God's word was proclaimed, the Holy Spirit reached the bones, and they began to rattle, they gained flesh, and began to breathe! And then you awoke (or your spouse woke you).
* Another strange dream? But are not many in this nation, in this community, without hope? Provide the statistics on oppressed groups in America alluded to in the first bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Minorities, victims of oppression, get wrung so dry with poverty that despair sucks out hope.
* Despair makes you give up. That's the state of a lot of the bones in this community, the ones that had dried up in your own dream. We are in ruts that are so deep that we do not think there is any way out.
* The words of American author Flannery O'Connor relating to the last part of the twentieth century pertain today: "We have become a people who have domesticated despair. We live with it, our bones are so dry, and we never consider more hopeful possibilities. We are dead in our stagnant ruts."
* Charlie Chaplin had it right: "Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference." That's American life today, a people lulled into indifference, just getting by. It is not just the bones of the impoverished that are dry. The bones of the middle class and the cultural elite have gotten dry, lulled into the indifference of declining standards and the breakdown of values and binding commitments. It's why we don't vote much, don't follow current events, and don't think there's much room for improvement. Oh, how drugged into indifference we have become. And our bones feel so dry! We have been drugged into complacency and indifference. Oh, how badly our dry bones need to be made alive again.
* This despair is indeed a living death, a feeling that life does not matter and never did. It is as the famed nineteenth-century English author George Eliot put it: "But he who dies in despair has lived his whole life in vain." A whole life lived in vain. Ask the congregation if they have not had these feelings. And if we have had such feelings with all our material well-being, what of the poor and oppressed? In this light we can better understand some of the destructive behaviors of those trapped by poverty and social degradation. Knighted English World War I vet B.H. Liddell Hart said it well: "Helplessness induces hopelessness."
* Grateful Dead band member Jerry Garcia is right on target in explaining the drugs, illicit sex, and crime in our poor neighborhoods:
The real problems are cultural. The problems of the people who take drugs are a cultural trap -- I think there's a real problem there, the crack stuff, the hopelessness of the junkie. The urban angst.
* We are so dry, so chained to present circumstances, drugged up on indifference and hopelessness. But Pentecost, our dream, is a story about resurrection about new life. Cite the black spiritual noted in Theological Insights. If God could deliver them all, why not the poor? Why not us in the midst of our destructive hopelessness and indifference?
* To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr. (cite second bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights) we no longer need to be ashamed of who we are.
* Our lesson, the dream we heard, reminds us that we will come to life, that God is about to get our bones rattling again. The despair, the stagnation, the indifference is about to wither away. As new flesh was put on the dry bones of the people of Israel, so a living future liberates us from the past, rousing us to a passion for new possibilities. Consider the last bullet point by Jürgen Moltmann in Theological Insights. Note how the courage to break with the past for the sake of new possibilities in the future can lead to health and happiness. See the last bullet points of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
7. Wrap-Up
God comes again and again to arouse us. He comes with a forgiving love, which did not give up on Daniel, did not give up on Jonah, did not give up on the Hebrew people today, and so will not give up on us. (See again the spiritual in Theological Insights.) This is a love so great that it can put flesh and self-respect on the poor, give new life and hope even to bones made dry by despair, indifference, stagnation, and hopelessness like yours and mine! Yes, our dry bones can come alive.
Sermon Text and Title
"Creation Groans"
Romans 8:22-27
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
A sermon that will call attention to our sinful condition (how our selfishness leads the creation to groan [both our social networks and the broader environment]) along with the good news that the Holy Spirit can and will intercede for us to overcome our groaning and wantonness (Justification by Grace, Sanctification, and Social Ethics).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Continues a discussion of the impact of God's saving act in view of the continuing realities of sin. The text proclaims the hope of fulfillment.
* The faithful and the whole creation groan in labor pains, possessing the Spirit's first fruits but waiting for fulfillment (vv. 22-23).
* Reference is made to the hope in which we are saved. He is not seen; we must wait with patience (vv. 24-25).
* The Spirit helps in our weakness. We do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes (vv. 26-27).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson directs our attention to the doctrine of sin and its consequences (esp. the nature of our sinful condition) and the work of the Holy Spirit in interceding for us and in strengthening us (Justification by Grace and Sanctification).
* John Calvin sees this text as a word of hope in the midst of threats:
For experience shows, that except we are supported by God's hands, we are soon overwhelmed by innumerable evils, Paul reminds us, that though we are in every respect weak, and various infirmities threaten our fall, there is yet sufficient protection in God's Spirit to preserve us from falling, and to keep us from being overwhelmed by any evils.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, pp. 311-312)
* Regarding the reference to the Spirit's role in interceding for us, Calvin writes:
… God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and to temper our emotions… not that He actually prays or groans but arouses in us assurance, desires, and sighs, to conceive which our natural powers would scarcely suffice.
(Institutes, p. 855)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Regarding ecology, see the data cited in this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 22: Creation groans. But it is not only creation that groans; we ourselves groan inwardly.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Note how creation groans. Cite the data regarding ecology referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* You and I groan too, weighed down by challenges posed by the economic downturn, by the trials of ordinary everyday American life.
* American author Marya Mannes powerfully states what is at stake in our degradation of the environment: "The earth we abuse and the living things we kill, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future." This is ancient wisdom, evident in the parallel words of a Native American proverb: "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children."
* You may wish to focus the entire sermon on the preceding theme, in which case the next several bullet points could be deleted. Or one might avoid this controversial issue and focus on what follows.
* We groan too, under all the pressures of life, its insanity, feeling so helpless sometimes that it may lead to hopelessness (B.H. Liddell Hart).
* What causes the groaning we experience, the groaning of creation? Paul tells us in our lesson, as he refers in this chapter to the creation's longing, and to our longing (vv. 19, 23). Our groaning is sort of like what causes the baby who is cared for still to cry.
* Why does the baby cry? She is cared for, has a bonded relationship with her parent. So does the creation; so do we. But the relationship is not enough. Babes that we are, we yearn for more, though not sure what we want. Our yearning is ambiguous.
* So it is with us; so it is with the world.
* Paul Tillich explains our groaning in terms of this ambiguity. Yes, we belong to God, have the first fruits of the Spirit (v. 23). Our Psalm of the Day even testifies to the fact that even the created order belongs to the Holy Spirit (v. 30). We are in the presence of, have our very being permeated by eternity, and yet we and the earth remain fragile and finite. Just as the baby's nurturing environment is marred for the baby by her finitude that impedes her from grabbing, eating, or touching all that she wants.
* About these dynamics, this not having the infinity and eternality that seems so near and is already in some sense ours, Tillich writes:
In every conscious being, life is aware of its exhaustibility; it dimly feels that it must come to an end, and the symptoms of its exhaustion not only make it conscious of this fact but also awaken a longing for it… it is the existential awareness of one's finitude which poses the question of whether the continuation of finite existence is worth the burden of it.
(Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, p. 57)
* Urge the congregation to consider whether they too sometimes feel that life is not worth it all. We are so close to God, so in the presence of eternity, and yet so far. And so we groan.
* This is another dynamic in the groaning of creation. Our sin and finitude entail that we are not able to see creation right, to solve the ecological crisis, to put meaning in our lives. Indeed, we do not even know how to pray for it very well. Like children, we do not even really know what we want or what is good for us when we yearn.
* It would be a hopeless situation were it not for Pentecost, were it not for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we commemorate and celebrate today.
* Paul wonderfully clarifies the matter with a word of hope and good news. Read verses 26-27. In our weakness the Spirit is present. Note the profound insights we can gain from John Calvin. Consider the quotations in Theological Insights. Highlight the companionship we have with God because the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, travels with us, gives us the companionship we need to temper our emotions, and stimulates desire and passion we never naturally summoned.
7. Wrap-Up
Reiterate to the congregation that we could not grapple with evil, could not pray, without the Holy Spirit. Suggest that it will take the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an awareness of God's presence and that nature is God's, in order to overcome our ecological neglect, to transform the groaning of creation to songs of joyous praise.
Sermon Text and Title
"Gifted By the Spirit"
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the gift of the Holy Spirit and what the Spirit does in our lives (Justification and Sanctification).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Jesus continues His farewell discourse.
* He claims that He will send the Advocate (helper or defense lawyer), the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father (15:26).
* Jesus claims to reveal new things to His disciples not previously taught because He was with them. But now He is returning to the One who sent Him (16:4b-5).
* Despite sorrow that might emerge as a result of His departure, Jesus notes it is to His followers' advantage, since then the Advocate will be sent (16:6-7).
* The Spirit will prove the world wrong about [convict the world of] sin and about judgment, for the ruler of the world has been condemned (16:8-11). The Greek term used for world in verse 8 is kosmos, which can refer to present human reality.
* Jesus proclaims that He has more to say, but His followers cannot bear it now (16:12). Yet the Spirit will guide them into truth and speaking not on His own will declare what is to come (16:13). The Spirit will glorify Christ, taking what is Christ's and declare it (16:14). All that the Father has, Jesus claims, is His; this is why the Spirit takes what is His and declares it to the faithful (16:15).
* Jesus concludes by noting that in a little while He will not be seen, but then again a little while longer and He will be seen (16:16). This seems to be an eschatological comment, pointing to Jesus' ongoing presence after His resurrection and His eschatological return.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Focus is on the Holy Spirit and a theonomous understanding of free will. Classic View of the Atonement is taught in verse 11.
* John Calvin nicely notes how often we miss God and the work of the Spirit: "The same thing happens to us; for we hold Christ bound by our senses, and then if He does not appear to us according to our desire, we contrive for ourselves a ground of despair" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 136).
* Karl Barth offers a helpful reflection on the Holy Spirit and his word:
He [the Spirit] is not to be regarded, then, as a revelation of independent content, as a new instruction, illumination and stimulation of man that goes beyond Christ, beyond the word, but in every sense as the instruction, illumination and stimulation of man through the word and for the word.
(Church Dogmatics, Index, p. 406)
* Martin Luther echoed this point: "In this way Christ sets bounds for the message of the Holy Spirit Himself. He is not to preach anything new or anything else than Christ and His Word" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 363).
* Elsewhere Barth wrote: "The Holy Spirit is the awakening power in which Jesus Christ has formed and continually renews His body…" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/1, p. 643).
* About the Spirit, Martin Luther writes: "Therefore Christ promises to give us a Spirit who will not only strengthen our hearts and increase our courage but will also make our faith sure, remove all doubt, and enable us to judge all the spirits" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 294).
* Similarly, the Reformer writes:
… wherever the Holy Spirit is present He effects a new heart and mind in one who no longer flees from God but, though he knows and acknowledges that he has sinned and merited God's wrath, still takes comfort from the grace of Christ….
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 439)
* We need the Spirit because we are sinners, condemned by the Spirit:
You say: "But how can this be? What prevents such [human] glory from being valid before God? Is all this damnable: That they are good, honorable, and pious people…" As has been said, you must know that Christ is not referring here to man's outward life and conduct, which the world can judge and condemn; but He is going to the very core, namely, to man's heart, which is the fountainhead and source of the chief sins.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 341)
* The first Reformer notes that if the Spirit were not with us, we could not bear the daily combat and the world (Ibid., p. 290).
* Elsewhere Luther observes concerning the Spirit's work:
Whoever is converted to faith cannot say anything else than that the Holy Spirit comes and when He will and where He will and to what person He will… It is the Holy Spirit, not reason, who teaches me to be baptized and to believe. Consequently, my life must consist in the Holy Spirit, who blows where He will.
(Ibid., Vol. 22, pp. 302-303)
* Also see various references to the Holy Spirit in the First Lesson, Easter 7.
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* See the poll data in this section for the First Lesson, Easter 7, regarding the disturbing American (Christian) disbelief in the reality of the Holy Spirit.
5. Gimmick
Jesus was preparing his followers for His departure. He promised in His place to send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Today on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the gift of that Spirit. But what's the big deal? What good is the gift of the Holy Spirit? (Besides, the Spirit doesn't seem to hang around here [or in our lives] much.) There is not much speaking in tongues around these parts.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Note the general American skepticism about the Holy Spirit in the survey data alluded to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* Part of the problem is that most of the American public (even churchgoers) is not very clear on what the Holy Spirit is or does. Let's get clear this Pentecost Sunday on how the Spirit gifts us.
* Begin by clarifying what the Holy Spirit does not do. The Spirit does not haunt people. (One of the reasons it is better for the preacher to speak of the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Ghost.) To say that the Holy Spirit is a "spirit" is more in line with the Greek and Hebrew in which the Bible was written.
* Explain that the word pneuma has no connection with ghosts. And the Hebrew equivalent words nephesh and ruach refer more to breath and wind, to the forces that give life, even to living creatures, not to ghosts. In Latin the Holy Spirit is spiritus sanctus. Spiritus: That has nothing to do with "ghosts." "Holy Ghost" is English derived from the German equivalent Heilige Geist. But the German word Geist literally translates "spirit," not "ghost." There you have it: There is no such thing as a Holy Ghost.
* The Holy Spirit does not go around haunting people in a white sheet. No, the Spirit has to do not so much with something mysterious and strange, but with something common and ordinary.
* Keep in mind that the Hebrew term for "Spirit" refers to wind, breath, or to the everyday element in human life. We use the word "spirit" that way today, saying that a hard-working person always on the go has "spirit." Kids with a little bit of the devil in them are also said to have spirit. Cheerleaders try to rev up school spirit. This seems to imply that the Holy Spirit is nothing more than God grabbing hold of our everyday lives to make them more energetically holy! That's not what a ghost does.
* How does the Holy Spirit work in our daily lives? With Trinity coming next week it is wise to begin by clarifying what each person of the Trinity does: The Father created the world and continues to care for it; the Son helped in creation and then as Jesus Christ saved us, but has returned to the Father; the Holy Spirit is God's presence with us right now. We may not see God just now. But He is present with us (albeit in another dimension)!
* It is very important to recognize this point. Thanks to the power of the Spirit we have a God who does not sit somewhere up in the clouds, but is intimately involved in our everyday lives. This is a God who knows us better than we know ourselves. This is a God so intimate that we can really love Him!
* What does the Holy Spirit do in our lives, in the lives of the faithful? Jesus' words in the Gospel Lesson provide us with insights. Jesus says that the Spirit will be our Advocate -- our Helper and One who puts in a good word for us with God (15:26).
* The Spirit does more, according to John's Jesus. The Spirit also convicts us of our sin (16:8-9) and guides us into truth (16:13). In guiding us to truth, it is the Holy Spirit who is really responsible for our faith. In those moments of doubt we are not alone. The Holy Spirit makes our faith sure, Martin Luther says, even gives us courage to struggle with sin. (See the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights for this sermon and the fifth bullet point in Theological Insights for this Sunday's first sermon for the First Lesson.) Because of sin, we are not strong enough to believe on our own. (Ask the congregation again if amidst their doubts and challenges of life God needs to strengthen them.) Without the Holy Spirit (God walking by us in our lives), we could not endure the daily combat we face with evil (see second-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights).
* Martin Luther also spoke of the Spirit's role in giving you and me new hearts (seventh bullet point in Theological Insights above). Next time you feel love, want to help someone such sentiments flow from your new heart, not the seedy, sinful one with which you were born. It is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit that makes you forget yourself and do for others.
* The great reformed theologian of the last century Karl Barth had it right. He claimed that the Holy Spirit empowers us. Use quotation in the third bullet point of Theological Insights for First Lesson, Easter 7. The Holy Spirit "sits" on us and "fells" us. Repeat the point for emphasis, asking the congregation if they have really heard this. (If necessary, elaborate on how when we are knocked down or sat on, we don't lose our free will. It is just that we are brought under the domain of something or someone who overpowers us.) The Holy Spirit overcomes our unbelief, our doubts, and our selfishness, by sitting on us and knocking us and all those temptations down. God (the Holy Spirit) gifts us with courage and strength and will not let us get away.
7. Wrap-Up
To realize you are gifted by the Spirit means that if something good comes out of what you do you cannot take credit for it. It is the work of God. Ask the congregation to reflect on something nice they have done lately, on some way they have lived their faith. Remind them that if they believe in the gifts of the Spirit it is necessary to make this confession. Ask the congregation if they are looking for miracles. Belief in the gifts of the Spirit makes ordinary things like faith and doing good miraculous. Wonder where the Spirit is in our church? You can tell He's been here by the good that's been done. You can tell He's been in their lives by the good that has been done. By working good among us, by strengthening and giving us courage, the Holy Spirit points back to that loving God of ours, reminding us that God is really the source of all life. The Holy Spirit is God among us, God in our midst!
