Sermon on Acts 2.1-21

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Focus: Just as the Holy Spirit helped the early Jesus followers communicate across difference, the Holy Spirit equips us to connect with others across difference.

Function: This sermon will urge hearers to be brave and loving as they connect with people who are different from them.

The musical Come From Away tells the true stories of the small town of Gander in Newfoundland on 9/11. The US airspace was closed, so a lot of international flights that were headed to the US got diverted to the airport in Gander—38 planes, in fact. And overnight a population of 9,000 people was taking care of 7,000 passengers.

After preparing every available space for their guests, the Newfoundlanders got the passengers off their planes and onto buses to be taken to their accommodations in schools, homes, and community centers.

The song "Darkness and Trees” describes the confusion and fear of those bus rides. Many of the passengers had been on their planes for more than 24 hours.

They didn’t have access to the news,

cell phones were few and far between,

they didn’t know where they were or where they were going.

          It was dark, and it was isolated, and they were afraid.

The song describes how a well-intended gesture caused a misunderstanding didn’t help the situation.

One of the buses had a bunch of people from Africa on it who didn’t speak English. They and the Newfoundlanders were unable to communicate. And the well-meaning Newfoundlanders had put on their Salvation Army uniforms as a sign of respect for their thousands of guests. But one of the African men exclaims, “There are soldiers everywhere!”

So, it’s 3 in the morning, they’re on a different continent in the middle of nowhere, they don’t know what’s happened or why they’re there, and they’re surrounded by people they perceive as soldiers.

I can’t imagine being much more confused and afraid than they must have been.

Jesus’ followers were probably pretty confused and afraid, too, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension.

As much as Easter is a joyful season—Jesus is alive and appearing to the disciples, and we celebrate with flowers and triumphant music and alleluias—there must have been a lot of mixed emotions for Jesus’ early followers.

The whiplash from the depths of despair at Jesus’ death and being afraid of getting arrested to the overwhelming joy at his appearance must have been exhausting.

The grief, the fear, the joy, the confusion—they had a lot to process.

And Jesus tells them to stay put in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes.

That was probably pretty confusing, too, but I imagine the disciples were happy to take some time to wrap their minds around everything that had happened in the past few weeks.

So, Jesus’ followers (including the eleven disciples, plus Matthias who replaced Judas, and Mary and Jesus’ brothers, and some women—totaling about 120 people) were gathered together in a room in Jerusalem after Jesus ascended out of their view (yet another confusing event to process). They prayed and they waited.

They probably felt pretty lost: Jesus had risen from the dead only to leave again—what were they supposed to do next?

They were probably grieving all over again and were probably still confused and afraid.

And then, something amazing happened.

On Pentecost, which was a harvest festival and a celebration of God giving Moses the Law, God gave them another powerful gift.

The Holy Spirit rushed into the room, lit up each of their foreheads, and gave them the ability to communicate in different languages.

Holy chaos.

As is often the case in big cities then and now, there is a diversity of people—language, culture, race and ethnicity, religious practice, etc.

Those 120 or so Jesus followers crammed in a room wouldn’t have been able to communicate with large swathes of the population of Jerusalem, let alone all their known world.

Until now.

Forget Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, and college language classes—I want the Holy Spirit language program!

In an instant, Jesus’ story went viral. From 120-ish predominantly Jewish folks to people of an overwhelming variety of cultures and languages—the story was out.

The book of Acts records that 3,000 people started following Jesus that day—that Holy Spirit moment was a gift to the 120 Jesus followers and the 3,000 that joined them.

The Holy Spirit helped communicate God’s love across many differences.

In Come From Away, God’s love was communicated in an unexpected way, too. Of course, the hospitality of the people of Gander was a huge gift and outpouring of love.

But for those confused and afraid people from Africa on that bus in the middle of the night, God’s word spoke comfort to them.

One of the Newfoundlanders was inviting them to get off of the bus so they could go to where they could rest, but they were too afraid to leave. The Newfoundlander was trying to figure out how to communicate that they were safe and that they would be taken care of, when he noticed one of them holding a Bible.

He says, “Now, obviously I can’t read it,

but their Bible — it’ll have the same number system ours does —

so I ask to see it

And I’m searching for something and then in Philippians 4:6.

I give ‘em their bible and I’m pointing, saying, look!

Philippians 4:6 — Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing.

And that’s how we started speaking the same language.”

The Holy Spirit communicated God’s love across difference that September day in 2001 just as the Holy Spirit communicated God’s love to those thousands of people in first century Jerusalem.

And the Holy Spirit communicates God’s love today across all kinds of difference. There is plenty to be afraid of and plenty to be confused about today. I often hear people bemoan the polarization that is happening in this country. And it doesn’t take much time reading news articles to start feeling afraid and confused.

But in the midst of chaos, fear, and confusion, the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts the fire of God’s love. A love that no barrier can stop—not language, not nationality or skin color or culture or ability or age or sexual orientation or gender identity or anything else that we petty humans divide ourselves by.

Pentecost was a day to celebrate the harvest and the giving of God’s Law, a day to celebrate the gifts God gives that communicate God’s love and care for God’s people. On that particular Pentecost day, God gave the additional gift of the Holy Spirit to communicate God’s love and care for God’s people, which is to say: everyone.

9/11 was a day of tragedy, fear, violence, and death. And, still in a small town hundreds of miles from New York and DC, God’s word spoke comfort to people who were afraid and confused.

So, today, in the midst of confusion and fear, let’s see what the Holy Spirit has in store for us. In moments when you encounter someone different from you in whatever way, remember that the Holy Spirit can speak through that. You might be surprised and even blessed by a moment of holy chaos.

Let the Holy Spirit speak.