Is our church led by the Spirit?

Acts 2:1-21

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,    and your old men shall dream dreams.

18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,    in those days I will pour out my Spirit,        and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show portents in the heaven above    and signs on the earth below,        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

20 The sun shall be turned to darkness    and the moon to blood,        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

3 …no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

On that first Pentecost all the believers (there weren’t so many at that point - maybe as many as we have here) were together in one place.  Suddenly there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, then tongues of flame descended upon each of them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and each began to speak in languages that they didn’t already know.  Although they were inside a house, this somehow drew a crowd.  People from all over were in Jerusalem at that moment, and they were stunned to find these uncultured Galileans speaking their respective languages.  Speaking in tongues is here presented not as the ability to speak some unknown “spiritual” language but as the ability to speak known languages.  It is precisely the point that they can be understood without interpretation.  

This event clearly represents the reversal of the Tower of Babel, where God, professing to fear what a unified humanity could do if they put their mind to it, intervened to scramble the languages, to sow disunity, to render us unintelligible to one another.   You might well ask if we are to understand this a literal description of something God did, or whether it is simply a kind of mythological origin story of tribalism and sociocultural fragmentation, but in any case, there’s no denying the reality that human history, and individual human lives, are characterized by enmity and estrangement.  

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit overcomes these divisions.  Interestingly the solution is not to give us all one language - God does not mandate that we speak Latin or Global English - but rather the Spirit makes communication, intelligibility, possible despite our differences, unity achieved without eliminating diversity.   The point of the story is not to say, “Look at this cool trick the Spirit can do” but rather to emphasize that the Holy Spirit enables and empowers new possibilities for human community.  That is to say, the Holy Spirit creates church, a new people who were once no people.  

It’s easy to get caught up in the sensational aspects of what the Holy Spirit does, and indeed it seems that the Corinthians did just that.  Paul told them that, the Spirit gives spiritual gifts to all, as indeed they’ve already discovered.  But the problem is that they seem to be caught up in which gift is the most important, the most impressive, the most dramatic.  The community has developed a kind of ranking of gifts, and thus a ranking of people based of which gifts they received.  Humans are drawn to status games.  

But Paul declares that these gifts have not been given as a reward to the best people, nor are they to be used for anyone’s personal exaltation, but instead they have been given by God for the common good, for the edification of the church.  Yes, there are many different gifts just as there are many different functions in a body.  He goes on to say that it would be ridiculous for the eyes to exalt themselves over the hand, or the head over the feet.  Instead their individual functions only find their significance within the context of the body, and they exist for the good of the body.  Theirs is a relationship of mutual dependence, mutual benefit.  The gift exists not for the sake of the member but to the one body to which every member belongs.  Here again the role of the Spirit is to create a new kind of community.  

These two passages give us a glimpse of what the Holy Spirit does, and in that light we might then see what the Holy Spirit is doing and wants to do.  We might begin to imagine what a truly Spirit filled, Spirit led community looks like.  

It the Holy Spirit truly does overcome our divisions and brings the many to the One, then a Spirit filled community will be a church where disunity increasingly gives way to unity, where all that would separate us is overcome, where strangers and enemies become friends.   

In my experience - perhaps because Americans are especially race-conscious - churches tend to see overcoming boundaries primarily in racial terms, and indeed church can evidence greater racial diversity than what’s found “in the world” - but just as often church is worse.  There’s an old saying in the US that the most segregated point in the week is Sunday morning when white churches and black churches gather.  We are preceded by an almost entirely black church and here we are, an almost entirely white church.  It’s not hard to make a defense of why this is, but we might want to ask ourselves if it’s really ok.  

And even if satisfactory racial diversity is achieved, there are any number of less visible ways we might self-segregate.  I’m pretty sure that everyone here has a university education - or at least feels entirely comfortable around those who do.  I don’t really spend time with “uneducated” people.  As much as I want us to be an “intellectual” church, it’s quite possible that we’re supporting the very kind of divisions the Spirit would overcome.  And on and on it goes.  The extent to which a church is Spirit-led correlates strongly with the extent to which it’s capable of welcoming and including all kinds of people. 

But perhaps the biggest division for the Spirit to overcome is the one we all maintain between ourselves and others.  We value our privacy, our possessions, our time and space.  We only want to be so close to other people; there is only so much we want to share or want shared with us.  A Spirit-filled community is one, like the one we see in Acts, where people desire to share their lives with one another, and where in that sharing the blessing to all increases.  

The Corinthians needed to be told that the gifts they received were not even really their gifts, and we might do well to remember the same.  There is perhaps no greater sign of the Spirit’s work than a community where all the gifts present in the community are given their full expression for the upbuilding of the community.  For some of us this means learning to see that our gifts are not really for our own benefit - or, rather, the truest benefit we receive from the gift is when it is used towards the end for which was given.  Our talents, skills, possessions - all of it is given to bless others, and there’s no greater blessing than being part of community where all share their gifts.  

For some of us this means recognizing that we do have gifts that church needs, but the whole burden doesn’t fall on the individual to identify his or her gifts.  Instead, church should be a place where we learn to see and to name others’ gifts and call them out.  If there are gifts in the church that aren’t given the opportunity to express themselves, then we are all the poorer for it.  Again, that might mean saying to some, “You’ve got this gift you use at work, but why don’t you use it here”.  For others it might mean saying, “You’re actually really good at this; you should use that gift more” - or, even better - “let’s figure out a way for your gift to bless the community.”  

I see one of my primary roles as a pastor to be ensuring that we see the gifts present in the community and that we allow them to flourish.  Rather than saying we need this or that program or initiative then trying to figure out how we find someone who is willing and able to do it, I much prefer that we collectively discern what we’re gifted and called to do and then make it happen.  If it’s true that the Spirit has uniquely gifted us then we should expect that Spirit intends to lead us according to those very gifts.  

I’ve been talking as if the emphasis is on what we need to do, as if it’s up to us to do the work, but really the task is more to get out of the way, to let go rather than seizing control.  Most of us very much like to be in control, or to know that someone else is in control, but the Spirit often confounds or sense of order and propriety.  On Pentecost some of the onlookers assumed the Christians were drunk, despite the morning hour.  And if the Spirit shows up here some might reach similar conclusions.  But if we open ourselves to the possibility, if we make ourselves available, weird and wonderful stop stuff just might happen.  The Spirit builds community, so lets allow the Spirit to do its work.