fiery red

from my sermon on Pentecost, May 27, 2012, from Acts 2:1-21

Red. Fiery Red.  How many sermons do you remember?  I do remember one from more than 20 years ago. It was preached by one of our younger female clergy at Annual Conference in San Antonio from this text.  She had gone to her church where they got out the liturgical banners for the sanctuary for Pentecost.  The banners were in pastels and pinks.  She thought to herself, "This isn't right.  Pentecost is about red, fiery red."

She told the story of going to visit a man in the hospital with AIDS.  She was invited to visit by the man because the man's own pastor had refused to come in.  The man's own pastor had come to the door of the hospital room and had yelled in, "We're thinking of you.  I hope you're doing okay."  This was in the 1980's when AIDS was very scary.  She went into the room.  She sat down by the bedside.  She talked with the man.  She prayed with the man.  She took the man's hand.  She didn't wear a glove.  The man said to her, "Nobody touches me anymore."  Pentecost is not about pastels and pinks; the color is fiery red.

That's how the Church was born...in fiery red.  On that first Pentecost, the early followers of Jesus were gathered together, maybe still afraid, certainly not sure of what to do.  When the Spirit came upon them, it was as if flames came upon their heads.  Do you remember going to chemistry lab for the first time?  Do you remember the Bunsen burners?  If you had long, loose hair, and it got too near the flame, there would be this sudden  spppprrrrttt....and a flame and a smell, and your hair would burn for a second.  Can you imagine a room full of people with their hair on fire?  And they had fiery speech and they communicated the gospel in every language.

Peter was there.  Remember Peter?  He had been voted by his class of disciples as "least likely to preach."  Remember his last speech?  He was in the courtyard outside the place where Jesus was being tried.  People kept coming up to him, saying, "Aren't you of those followers of Jesus?  You sound like a Galilean."  And Peter's stump speech was, "I don't know him."  Now here's Peter boldly proclaiming the gospel.  He chooses a most interesting text for his sermon, the prophet Joel.  The text is one about the last days, the day of judgment, but Peter finds good news in it.  The signs are blood red.  Three thousand are baptized that day.  Pentecost comes not in pinks and pastels, but fiery red.

Let's admit it....we are scared of fiery red.  I will illustrate.  I was the associate pastor at St. John's here in Austin for 4 years.  I left for 5 years and came back to be their senior pastor for 6 years.  In that 15 years, there is one thing that remained constant.  If you looked inside the pulpit, you would have found a fire extinguinsher!  Do you get the symbolism?   "We don't want any fiery preaching coming out here!"

But the Holy Spirit continues to burn fiery red.  When I was pastor in San Saba, I would get together with other area pastors in an accountability group.  One of them was Bob Huie at Mason.  Bob had been preaching against the military-industrial complex.  He thought our priorities should be more to taking care of the poor.  On this Memorial Day weekend, I don't mean to offend anyone, especially those who have served in the military.  Bob was not trying to offend those good German Methodists in Mason, but he did.  They stopped giving to the church.  There was a woman in that church named Mary Maude McMillan.  She was a long-time member of the church and full of credibility.  She got on the phone and called every single member of the church.  This is what she said, "The bishop appointed Bob to be our pastor.  You may not like what he has to say, but the pulpit is not for sale.  You will give your money to God, not to Bob."  And they did give.  The color for Pentecost is not pink or pastels, but fiery red.

We're scared of fiery red.  There has been a movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church called the Walk to Emmaus.  It is a 3 day spiritual retreat where the sacrament of communion is celebrated each day.  It is based on the scripture passage in Luke 24 where Jesus meets some of his disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter afternoon.  They talk, but the disciples don't recognize him in his resurrected form.  Their eyes are opened as he breaks the bread at meal; it is like communion.   They said to one another, "Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road?"  Mine did as I attended my walk.

How many of you have been on a Walk to Emmaus?  A lot.  I went on Walk #19, in April of 1985.  At that time, there was a waiting list of months to get in.  I can tell the Holy Spirit is leaving this movement because today, many walks don't make because the minimum number don't sign up.  I know because today this is the spiritual director's manual (I hold up a 3 ring binder that is 4 inches thick with papers).  We say, "Come, Holy Spirit, in these words.  We don't want you to get out of control and burn us." 

Yet the flame of the Holy Spirit won't be quenched.  The Holy Spirit is fiery red.  In the United States and Western Europe, the Church struggles, but the Church is growing tremendously in India, China, Indonesia, and Africa. Pentecost is happening everyday. 

Even in the USA, where money and possession, security and success tend to drown out the gospel, I see the fiery red of the Spirit.  Even in this church, I see people leaving their gated communities and car alarms and going into the prisons with Storybook Project and Kairos walks.  I see people working with the poor.  Not for the poor, but with the poor, to change the dynamics of our culture and give people a chance to succeed.  I see this in this church through Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and many other outreach ministries.  The Spirit comes not in pastels and pinks, but in fiery red.

I see the fiery red in the Reconciling Ministries Network.  This group is working for radical inclusion of all people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered.  I read this passage from Acts and see that the Holy Spirit comes to male and female, young and old, slave and free.  Why not to straight and gay?  I know not all of you agree with me on this point, but this is where I see the Spirit burning today. 

I see the fiery red in our emphasis on making disciples, not just making church members.  We are moving beyong maintenance to mission.  I have been in a continuing education series this year, called the Healthy Church Initiative.  We had our last session just this past Thursday.  Rueben Saenz who heads up our new church development office was with us.  He talked to us about the E-word, Evangelism.  You know that we can do  this:  be credible Christians.  His last word to us was in his native Spanish.  It was "Fuego."  It means "Fire."

So graduating seniors, I have no advice to give you.  But I will tell you what God is like.  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Fire.  Fiery Red.

Whatever else you may remember about this sermon, remember this:  on Pentecost, pink and pastels don't cut it.  The color for Pentecost is Fiery Red.  That is the good news I have to share today.