Spirit of Adoption

Today is one of my absolute favorite Sundays: Pentecost. That day when the Holy Spirit came from heaven like a windstorm and alighted like a flame on each apostle (including the newly inducted Matthias), then set them on fire for God so that they had to go out and share the Good News about Jesus with everyone. 

And just as churches around the world are celebrating Pentecost today, synagogues around the world celebrated Shavuot last week. This holy festival takes place 7 weeks, or 50 days, after Passover. Shavuot is a celebration of the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. Nowadays men, women, and children are encouraged to go to the synagogue to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments. Special meals are eaten, including many dairy dishes to “commemorate the fact that upon receiving the Torah, including the kosher laws, the Jewish people could not cook meat in their pots, which had yet to be rendered kosher.” Women and girls light holiday candles to usher in the holiday. Some communities read through the book of Ruth.

As I mentioned, Shavuot is a celebration that takes place 50 days after Passover. In English, it is called the Festival of Weeks. And in Greek it is called Pentecost. This is the only major Christian celebration, at least that I know of, that already existed before Christians started celebrating it. And that fascinates me. God chose this moment for the Spirit to come and turn everything upside down, changing the meaning of this day for Christians for millennia to come.

See, Shavuot celebrates the covenant that God established with the Law, gifted to Moses in the wilderness. By sending the Holy Spirit during the Festival of Pentecost, God reinforced the New Covenant, which we celebrated last week and every time that we eat the bread and drink the cup: Christ’s body broken for us, the cup that we refer to as the New Covenant sealed in Christ’s blood. The Holy Spirit connects us to the Lord’s Supper, or communion. 

The Holy Spirit also connects us to our other sacrament of baptism. For by baptism a sign is put on us to show that we belong to God. In Romans, Paul explains it’s through the Holy Spirit that we are connected to each other; it’s through the Holy Spirit that we are children of God. During Roman times, children, teenagers, and even adults were adopted by a family typically because the family had no sons, meaning the family had no heirs. When adopted, the youth would give up his previous family name and take on all of the status and responsibility as if he had been born to his new family. That is what it means that we are children of God and co-heirs with Christ. 

And it’s through the Holy Spirit who came to us at Pentecost. 

Luke can’t quite describe exactly what the Spirit was like: kind of like a violent windstorm that blows in with gusts of wind, and kind of like fire that warms and comforts and burns and purifies. But after just a few verses of explaining what the Spirit is like, Luke moves on to the important part: what the Spirit does. The Spirit causes understanding. The Spirit moves the disciples out of the house and seemingly safe places. The Spirit gives the disciples the words they need to share the message, connecting them with those who have gathered for this Festival that takes place 50 days after Passover. 

People heard the Good News about Jesus who welcomed everyone. People understood what was being said. The Spirit gave Peter the words to combat those mutterings that drunkenness could cause understanding. And by verse 41, the Holy Spirit has moved 3000 people to change their hearts and lives and be baptized.

The Spirit didn’t come on that day almost 2000 years ago, and then disappear. This is the same Spirit that is with us. The same Spirit that broke in and changed the meaning of Pentecost continues to break into our own lives today. The Spirit is the winds of change, pushing the disciples out of their comfort zone while also being with them in that discomfort as a comforter and companion. In the same way, the Holy Spirit spurs us on and then remains with us in those difficult times of transition and change, connecting us to God and, as fellow children of God, to each other. 

The Spirit is at work here First Presbyterian. We are going to the community with our next Community Meal which will be at Friendship Park. And this time we are working with the nonprofit organization SHOP at Bream in Charleston who is helping us do a grocery giveaway for the first 50 families who come by. We experienced an inspiring worship service last week as Emily and Bronson joined the church and we heard the beautiful music from Jackson Middle School Solo and Ensemble. Session is meeting after church today to create goals that help us move forward as a church who cares about spiritual growth, nurturing relationships within our church family, and reaching out to the community. We’re working, but we need your help. Continue to pray for our church and the leadership. Continue to be open to the Spirit as we look to the future and how the Spirit might be leading us here in Parkersburg. For the Holy Spirit is at work among us, pushing us and walking alongside us.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Amen.