The Sermon for May 11, 2008;  Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
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    All too often something will happen in our daily lives which will cause us to scream "It's not fair!"  I heard a story about one of our younger members who happened to get caught up in a conflict at school this week.  Of course it takes at least two people to have a worthwhile conflict.  Furthermore, a conflict is almost never entirely the fault of just one of those persons, especially the person who did not start the conflict.  Yet, in the incident to which I refer, only one person was punished!  How could this be?  Favoritism?  Prejudice?  Personality conflict?  There are lots of reasons why sometimes things are simply not fair!
    Furthermore, things are not always fair on a societal level, either.  All too often those who have or who find power use it to their own advantage insofar as they are able.  Often this is simply not fair, or to use the biblical term, unjust!
    This lack of fairness, this justice deficiency, is just one of many reasons why our world is not the best that it could be.  A major voice of the bible, the prophetic voice, calls upon all of God's people to correct such wrongs insofar as we are able.  In fact, one of the promises that each of our confirmands made this morning was "to strive for justice and peace in all the earth".  This can be as simple as speaking up for someone at school who is being treated unfairly, even when it would be much easier not to do so.
    The reason I bring up this line of thought is the fact that once we have received our basic necessities, our daily bread, that which we need in order to survive and begin to thrive, the most important task each of us faces is finding a worthy challenge for our life.  This is a lifelong task, not just one for young people.  In fact, though a person may dream of a retirement life of indulgent leisure, actual retirees find that quickly grows very boring, and begin to seek a renewed challenge, worthy of their time and energy.
    For everyone here, from the youngest ones among us, through our six confirmands, through those soon to graduate, through those caught up in career considerations, relationship challenges, parenting, to the oldest among us, let me suggest that the primary quest we continually face is finding a worthy challenge for our lives!  Let me also suggest that a life "in Christ" is the one sure way that each of us may do so!
    To be sure, most of us here this morning already have a life "in Christ" for most of us have been baptized.  Sadly enough, baptism itself does not always lead us to a life that is functionally "in Christ".  There are many other possibilities, many distractions that can rob us of this most worthy of all challenges.
    Today we celebrate the festival of Pentecost, a remembrance of a very special and unique moment in the life of the church, when, accompanied by the sound of a violent wind, "divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages ..."  This moment in our Christian history is often called the birthday of the church, but I think the church was actually born when Jesus began calling folks to be his disciples.  I prefer to think of Pentecost as the baptism of the church.  It is the moment when Old Testament prophecy concerning the gift of the Holy Spirit, reiterated by John the Baptist, actually came true.  Remember that John had said "I baptize you with water ... but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; ... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
    You will notice that there was no sound of a violent wind this morning among us, no tongues of fire.  That was a very unique, one-time occurrence, just like our individual baptism.  Once accomplished, it need not be repeated.  We transmit that gift of Spirit through baptism, and may even renew it in confirmation, as we did this morning, from generation to generation.  Jesus had promised " ...  you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." We see how Jesus kept that promise in our scripture this morning.  We too receive fulfillment of that promise as part of the church, Christ's body.
    Thus we have the chance to embrace the most worthy challenge that life can offer, a life "in Christ".  As we do so, we are given three assets:  power, gifts and mission.  The notion of 'power' needs some clarification.  We may think that power is a divine reward for allegiance.  If we serve God, God will make us invincible.  Two words of scripture clarify just what this power involves.  It is never raw power available to us to use as we choose.  We do not receive super-powers.  Rather, we are given "power to become children of God" ... to live in harmony with God and God's will.  Again, the mighty St. Paul was only mighty "in Christ" ... not on his own.  Indeed, God taught him "power is made perfect in weakness".  We receive such power as we need to take up the challenge of a life "in Christ". 
    Second, we are each gifted, but no one person has all the spiritual gifts.  That is why it is so imperative that everyone is welcome as we gather "in Christ".  We need everyone's gifts.  You may think that just because you don't have a gift that someone else clearly has received that you are not specially gifted.  But the second lesson states "To EACH is given the manifestation of the Spirit ..."  Why?  Not for self-enhancement, but "for the common good."  Gifts are to be used for the good of all.
    Finally, we have mission ... a reason to be "in Christ".  We are to be the church in such a way that we offer the Lord to others.  Put simply, we are to love one another, so that others may see and respond to God's love.
    Today we rejoice that Bethany, Caleb, Eileen, Hannah, KC and Sarah affirmed their baptism.  They essentially declared that the fact God chose them was no mistake.  They embraced the challenge of being "in Christ".  Notice please that we were all invited to re-embrace that same challenge, to reaffirm our own baptism.  This is not a one-time event, doomed to be set aside as other opportunities come our way.  Living "in Christ" is a lifelong process.
    We do resist this challenge!  Some younger people might view the process of participating in church, in the body of Christ, as "boring".  Truth to tell, we older folks might have failed to make it as exciting as it could be.  It's up to anyone who would utter that condemnation to take responsibility for making our gathering less boring! 
    We may choose other activities, other opportunities in life over participation "in Christ".  Sadly enough, we then miss the most worthy challenge of all.
    We may judge church as "uncool".  Good!  That which the world affirms is transitory; it will let us down.
    We might complain, "A life in Christ is hard".  Duh ... most anything worthwhile is hard!
    Nothing else compares, however.  I invite us all, in the name of Christ, to embrace, or re-embrace the most worthy challenge of all, a life "in Christ".  Amen. 

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