Spirit-Led Living
1 Corinthians 12: 4-13 & Acts 2: 1-21
Roger C. Lynn
May 11, 2008
Pentecost Sunday
& My Final Sermon Preached at The United Church of Moscow
Twelve years and five months - countless worship services - 537 sermons - weddings and funerals - laughter and tears - Bible studies and group discussions - enough potluck food to feed the whole city - work parties and movie nights and so much more! And always, always, always the precious, sacred connections of friendship rooted in the Spirit! I look out at your faces and I am filled to overflowing with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the support and encouragement and love which I have received from you in overwhelmingly abundant measure. My life has been powerfully shaped by my association with this amazing congregation and community.
And now I prepare to take my leave of you. God's Spirit is calling me on to new experiences which I am only beginning to glimpse. And I remain firmly convinced that the very same Spirit of God is also calling you, both individually and together as a community, to explore fresh new opportunities for ministry. Where our paths will take us has not yet been revealed to any of us. And the only way that we dare to take even the first step down those paths is by remembering that we do not go alone. We are on Spirit-led journeys of faith, and we are here, now, in this moment because God has been faithful and abundantly gracious thus far. And so it is that we can move on from here with confidence that God will continue to be faithful and abundantly gracious in each new moment of our lives.
What will our living look like as we step out into the futures to which God is calling us? My prayer is that we will remember to trust, and that we will remain open to the movement of God's powerful Spirit. What we know from a variety of places in scripture, including both of our readings for this morning, is that whenever and wherever people allow themselves to be open to God's Spirit the experience is defined by connection and purpose. The people in Acts were bound together by the profound experience of barriers being shattered and replaced by communication, understanding and acceptance. They were no longer divided by the realities of being ". . . Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs . . ." (Acts 2: 9-11) Their differences didn't go away. Our differences don't go away. Each of us is unique and we each have unique ways in which we contribute to God's work in the world. But our differences become a strength rather than a weakness when we allow ourselves to be bound together by the connecting power of God's Spirit blowing through the midst of us. "Once you were no people - now you are God's people" writes the author of 1 Peter.
And we are not transformed into the community of God's people only to be cast adrift in an ocean of meaninglessness. The Spirit of God which binds us together also sends us out to bring healing to the world. Spirit-led living is purposeful living. In John's version of the Pentecost story Jesus breathes on the disciples and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and he says to them, "As God sends me, so I send you." (John 20:21-22) When we allow God's Spirit to blow in our lives, the wind of God fills our sails and sends us out into the world with purpose and direction and power. We go out with our "variety of gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:4), inspired and empowered by the one Spirit of God, to meet the needs of the world. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:7)
I do not yet know what specific shape our Spirit-led living will take, for you or for me. What I do know is that if we will seek to be open to where the Spirit might lead us, we are in for the adventure of our lives. And neither we, nor the world around us, will ever be the same again. What else should we expect from the Spirit of wind and fire! We will find meaning and purpose, healing and wholeness, abundance and joy taking shape in ways far beyond our wildest imagining. So let us go from this place into Spirit-led living. Let us step boldly onto the path, empowered by God's grace, led by God's Spirit and sustained by our love for each other. Amen.
Roger C. Lynn
May 11, 2008
Pentecost Sunday
& My Final Sermon Preached at The United Church of Moscow
Twelve years and five months - countless worship services - 537 sermons - weddings and funerals - laughter and tears - Bible studies and group discussions - enough potluck food to feed the whole city - work parties and movie nights and so much more! And always, always, always the precious, sacred connections of friendship rooted in the Spirit! I look out at your faces and I am filled to overflowing with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the support and encouragement and love which I have received from you in overwhelmingly abundant measure. My life has been powerfully shaped by my association with this amazing congregation and community.
And now I prepare to take my leave of you. God's Spirit is calling me on to new experiences which I am only beginning to glimpse. And I remain firmly convinced that the very same Spirit of God is also calling you, both individually and together as a community, to explore fresh new opportunities for ministry. Where our paths will take us has not yet been revealed to any of us. And the only way that we dare to take even the first step down those paths is by remembering that we do not go alone. We are on Spirit-led journeys of faith, and we are here, now, in this moment because God has been faithful and abundantly gracious thus far. And so it is that we can move on from here with confidence that God will continue to be faithful and abundantly gracious in each new moment of our lives.
What will our living look like as we step out into the futures to which God is calling us? My prayer is that we will remember to trust, and that we will remain open to the movement of God's powerful Spirit. What we know from a variety of places in scripture, including both of our readings for this morning, is that whenever and wherever people allow themselves to be open to God's Spirit the experience is defined by connection and purpose. The people in Acts were bound together by the profound experience of barriers being shattered and replaced by communication, understanding and acceptance. They were no longer divided by the realities of being ". . . Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs . . ." (Acts 2: 9-11) Their differences didn't go away. Our differences don't go away. Each of us is unique and we each have unique ways in which we contribute to God's work in the world. But our differences become a strength rather than a weakness when we allow ourselves to be bound together by the connecting power of God's Spirit blowing through the midst of us. "Once you were no people - now you are God's people" writes the author of 1 Peter.
And we are not transformed into the community of God's people only to be cast adrift in an ocean of meaninglessness. The Spirit of God which binds us together also sends us out to bring healing to the world. Spirit-led living is purposeful living. In John's version of the Pentecost story Jesus breathes on the disciples and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and he says to them, "As God sends me, so I send you." (John 20:21-22) When we allow God's Spirit to blow in our lives, the wind of God fills our sails and sends us out into the world with purpose and direction and power. We go out with our "variety of gifts" (1 Corinthians 12:4), inspired and empowered by the one Spirit of God, to meet the needs of the world. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Corinthians 12:7)
I do not yet know what specific shape our Spirit-led living will take, for you or for me. What I do know is that if we will seek to be open to where the Spirit might lead us, we are in for the adventure of our lives. And neither we, nor the world around us, will ever be the same again. What else should we expect from the Spirit of wind and fire! We will find meaning and purpose, healing and wholeness, abundance and joy taking shape in ways far beyond our wildest imagining. So let us go from this place into Spirit-led living. Let us step boldly onto the path, empowered by God's grace, led by God's Spirit and sustained by our love for each other. Amen.
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