Pentecost: Come to the Party

Texts: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:12-17

God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! 

 15-17This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. 

What kind of church do belong to? I mean, what describes our church? 

This morning I want to talk to about belonging to a church that is adventurously expectant, that is exciting, that is festive, that celebrates. I want to talk to you about belonging to a church where all kinds of people are welcome; not just your kind of people, or my kind, but where all kinds of people are welcome. 

I want us to think about belonging to a church that is more like a party than a meeting. When you think about church, I want you to think about inviting all kinds of people to a wonderful party. Where people say, “what's next, Papa?”

Let me share a story about that kind of church.

Tony Campolo is a sociologist at Eastern College in Pennsylvania. I want to share a Tony Campolo story. Once he was invited to speak at a conference in Honolulu. He flew from the East Coast to Honolulu and found himself wide awake at 3:00 am. So, he went out for something to eat. He found a little greasy spoon restaurant open and went in and sat down on one of the stools at the counter. 

The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked, "What d'ya want?" 

"A cup of coffee and a doughnut."

He poured the coffee, and put a doughnut on the counter. Then, the door of the diner flew open and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place, and so they filled the counter stools all around him and started talking.

Just about the time Tony got up to leave, the woman sitting next to him said, "Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm going to be thirty-nine."

Her friend responded in a nasty tone, "So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? Ya want me to get you a cake and sing 'Happy Birthday?"

"Come on!", the first woman said, "Do you have to be so mean?" I was just telling you, that's all. You don't have to put me down. I don't want anything from you. Why should you give me a birthday party? I've never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?" 

When Tony heard that, he made a decision. He sat there until the woman left, then called over to the fat guy behind the counter and asked him, "Do they come in here every night?

"Yeah," he answered.

"The one right next to me, does she come in here every night?"

"Yeah! That's Agnes, yeah, she comes in every night. Why d'ya want to know?"

"Because I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you say you and I throw a birthday party for her-right here-tomorrow night."

A smile came across his face and he said, "That’s a great idea. Lets do it."

So Tony agreed to get decorations, and Harry, the guy behind the counter, agreed to make a cake. At 2;30 the next morning Tony was back in the restaurant with crepe paper decorations and big cardboard letters that said "Happy Birthday, Agnes." The whole dinner was decorated from one end to the other.

They must have put the word out on the street, because by 3:15 it seemed like every prostitute in Honolulu was there. Wall to wall prostitutes, and Tony.

At 3:30 the door opened in in came Agnes with a girl friend. Tony gave the signal and everybody screamed, "Happy Birthday."

Agnes was flabbergasted...stunned....shaken. Her mouth fell open. She sat down on one of the stools, and everybody sang "Happy Birthday." Her eyes got all misty and moist. Then they carried out the cake with all the candles aflame, and Agnes lost it and just cried.

Finally Harry said, "Blow out the candles Agnes. Come on. If you don't I will." She sat and looked at them, finally she did. Then Harry handed her a knife and said, 

"Yo, Agnes, cut the cake. We all want some cake."

Agnes looked at the cake. Then slowly said, "Look Harry, is it all right with you if I...I mean is it okay  if I kind of...well, is it okay if I keep the cake a little, I mean, if we don't eat it right away?"

Harry, shrugged and said, "Sure! If you want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to."

Agnes looked around and said, "I just live down the street. I want to take the cake home. okay? I'll be right back. Honest!"

She picked up the cake, and carrying it like it was the Holy Grail, walked slowly toward the door. Everyone just stood there motionless. She left.

When the door closed there was a stunned silence. Not knowing what else to do, Tony broke the silence and said, "What do you say we pray?"

Well, Tony admits it was kind of a dumb thing to do. But he prayed for Agnes, for God to be good to her, for her life to be changed.

When he finished, Harry leaned over the counter and said with some hostility in his voice, ""Hey, you never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?"

Tony said, "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning."

Harry waited a moment, then almost sneered as he said, "No you don't. There's no church like that. If there was, I'd join it. I'd join a church like that!"

Wouldn't we all?

Wouldn't we all love to join a church that throws birthday parties at 3:30 in the morning  for the outcasts and the left out ones, and those who have never had a party?"

Wouldn't we all love to be a part of a church where grace reaches across barriers and divisions and touches the lives of all kinds of people to give them joy and worth and dignity? 

Did you notice in Luke's story in the reading from Acts who was in Jerusalem that day? Did you notice who came to the party ? 

Luke says it was everybody. People from all nations gathered at Pentecost, the celebration of the Feast of Weeks. This was a harvest festival bringing the first fruits of harvest to offer to God. Jewish males gathered from all over the world to bring their offering to the Temple. It was a holy day. 

Luke gives us a role call of the nations. Strange nations with funny sounding names; 

Persians, Parthians, Cappadocians, Phrygians,  

Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians. Cretans

What the author is telling us in this passage is that people were there from everywhere, every tongue and tribe. The Tower of Babel is reversed in this story.  Once God scattered the proud.  Now God reunites all people and all tongues.  The fractured, broken, divided, alienated people who did not speak the same language, and often were at war with each other-they were all there.

And then, at something like 9:00 that morning, while they were gathered in one place, the wind came up, and that holy wind blew through the room and 

blew across their nationalities, and 

blew through their differences, and 

blew into their nostrils and filled their divided hearts with fire and set their tongues in motion, and 

they spoke words to each other, and 

everyone understood, for the fire burned the words into their hearts, and 

they wept, they sang, they remembered who they were:

they were the children of the God of Love, 

they were the chosen people of the God of Joy; 

they were the holy people of the God of Jesus, the Christ.

That mighty Wind of Fire and Spirit created the church that day. 

A church that was born when the Holy Spirit overcame the divisions and barriers that keep people apart, and made them one body in Jesus Christ. 

On that day of Pentecost, the celebration was so joyful, the carrying on was so remarkable, that outside observers thought they were drunk even though it was early in the morning! 

Well, that is the kind of Church Jesus came to create. That is what this morning's texts are all about. The church is a party where everybody is included. 

People from all the nations: 

the Mexicans, the Indians, the Germans, the Ethiopians, the Koreans, 

the Pakistanis, the Viet Namese, the Iraqis, Iranians, and the Americans

People from all stations in life—prostitutes, and lepers, and tax collectors, lonely people, old people, awkward adolescents, gay and straight, stressed out business people, professors and teachers, janitors, jailors and musicians. 

Jesus came to have a party. 

He included the people who have been left out. 

So he ate with them and drank with them, and told stories to them, and did whatever was necessary to make them feel accepted and whole and worth a party. 

The kind of church I think you and I want to be a part of began with Jesus including everybody. And before he was finished, he prepared a feast for everyone to be invited to gather around the table, and eat and drink and become one in the love they shared in God. 

And then, when he left us, he sent the Holy spirit to break down the barriers between us, to open our hearts so we can understand each other, and love each other, and continue the party in his name. 

That's the kind of church Jesus had in mind. 

Is that the kind of church you want to belong to? 

Is that the kind of church you could invite others to belong to?

 

Madison Square can be that kind of “adventurously expectant church every week of the year if we do just three things. 

First, We can be that kind of church if we let this same Holy spirit lead us in sharing our faith in Jesus Christ with each other. Open your hearts to each other. Share your story of pain and joy and faith.  Meet together, Talk together   about your faith in God.  All kinds of people can join Madison Square Presbyterian Church. When there is caring and sharing of faith, there is  fire of the the Spirit.

Second, we can be that kind of church if we let the Holy Spirit lead us in sharing our faith with folks outside our church. Open your hearts to those you are with during the week. People are waiting to hear good news. Tell them the exciting good news about Christ, about your faith.  People want to hear your good news. Tell them what you have found to be true.

Third, invite them to the party. Tell them you would like them to come to a wonderful party, and invite them to come with you to Madison Square.  Everyone is welcome here. We are all here because the Holy Spirit brought us together. No one is excluded. Who do you know that you can invite to the party? They are welcome here.

"There's no church like that," Harry said. "If there was, I'd join it."

And so would I. And so would you. 

Open your hearts to the Holy Spirit. 

Come to the party. This party is for you.