Weekly Sermon: Catch the Wind - 06-08-25

The Holy Gospel according to St. John. Glory to you, O Lord.

Philip said to him, him being Jesus, Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.

Jesus said to him, Have I been with you all this time, Philip,

and you still do not know me?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, show us the Father?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

But if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that

I do, and in fact will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and

he will give you another.

Advocate. Advocate. To be with you forever.

This is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You will know him. You know him because he abides with you and he will be in

you. The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ. Please be seated.

Thank you.

Pentecost. Lots of fire, right? Fire above the heads. What a weird thing to put into the Bible.

Don't you think? If it hadn't been true, would they have put it in the Bible?

That's just weird. We've never read it anywhere else in antiquity, but right here.

And thank you for saying all those places. Everyone is saying that because they didn't want to read it.

So what was it that eventually, eventually changed the apostles?

They were like cowardly lions from the Wizard of Oz. You remember him.

And then they became these courageous people who went to the ends of the earth

to tell everybody about Jesus. They went everywhere.

What changed them? Did they get a heart?

Like that lion from the Wizard of Oz.

Today is the day that we remember the Holy Spirit coming into the people.

But first, we remember the Holy Spirit being breathed into the disciples in

that upper room, in the privacy of their hideaway.

See, these are, at this time, you might call them cowardly because we called

it the cowardly lion, but they just really didn't want to be out there with all the people.

Why? Because those people were looking for them to give them over to the Romans.

These were the people, though, who had walked all the roads with Jesus.

They had witnessed the crucifixion, witnessed the resurrected Jesus in that same room,

and who had even watched the ascension of Jesus by this time,

had even watched him ascend into heaven.

And they were hiding, hiding from ones who would put them on trial and sentence

them to death, just like what happened to Jesus.

It's hard to decide when it's time to step outside, isn't it?

When it's time to stay something.

Without the Holy Spirit these disciples were going nowhere the resurrected Jesus

took a big breath and breathed on them when he was there,

from within Jesus came the Holy Spirit then and it comes now the strength of

the Spirit gave them heart for a little while then they were downhearted again

because Jesus had ascended,

How are they going to have any strength now?

He breathed the Spirit on them, but was it still there?

So, as he said, the gift of the Holy Spirit came in a great wind inside that room.

That'd be scary, wouldn't it, if all of a sudden a wind came into your room?

If you were already cowardly, that would really have put you to your knees,

which wouldn't have been a bad place to be.

So the gift came in as a big wind rushing through the room, and it shaped this

faith community into ones who were,

well, they had the power to forgive sins or to retain them.

They had the power to love one another and others.

Gave them the gift of language to communicate to those who had never seen Jesus.

Through the love that is Jesus and the strength of that Holy Spirit,

the faith community reveals Jesus to the world.

And through revealing Jesus, the church gives the world the choice to enter

into a relationship with God,

the God of limitless love and of amazing grace.

Now, I want you to imagine you had some balloons.

If you had a balloon, what do you have to do to fill it up?

You have to blow a lot, right? I am awful at filling balloons, by the way.

I can get it to, no, I can't do it.

There's some trick, and I never learned it. I've got a big voice,

and I've got a lot of wind in me, but no, it just didn't. How many of you can blow up balloons?

Okay, okay. Good for you.

Okay, imagine as if you're blowing them up, and what you're putting into those is the Holy Spirit.

Just imagine the Holy Spirit in those balloons, and you blow them up to as big as they get.

And because of that, you think of that balloon as your heart.

Your heart being blown up with the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Spirit.

Now, it's not meant to continually blow. What happens if you continually blow on that? Yeah.

Useless, right? Yeah. So all that goes in is gone.

Just gone.

Continually receiving. without going out.

Burst any possibility of expanding the ministry of Christ.

Instead, the balloon, your heart, must get under the power of the Holy Spirit,

and when you've filled it as much as it should fill, and if you let it go,

can you predict where it goes? you can't really can you you can try but those

things they just go anywhere don't they they just go anywhere,

just like the word of Christ went everywhere with these disciples there's no

prediction of where it's going to actually take hold,

it just goes it just goes.

No one can predict it.

There's a power to that wind. Jesus said in John 3, 8, the wind blows where

it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit builds you up, or builds up in you, builds up in you,

you have to release that power.

And there's no telling where it'll take you. Think of this church as filled with the Holy Spirit.

Where will it go?

Totally filled with the Holy Spirit. Can't hold it in here, can you?

As a matter of fact, you have probably done this.

You blow up a balloon you tie it off because you're going to keep it it's a

pretty balloon it's red and you like it and you're going to keep it and a couple

of days later what does it look like?

Not so pretty anymore, is it? No. Because it just seeps away.

Air just seems to seep away if it wasn't put to good use, if it wasn't directed,

or at least sent out to the world.

That's probably the worst that could happen. You sealed it all in,

just like if the balloon were you and you were sealing in the breath of God.

If you just hold that story of Jesus inside, it's precious.

You want to hold it inside. Don't let anyone know because it might take some

of the preciousness away. Does it?

No. Give it away.

Give it away.

So this week, if you were watching soccer games around the world,

around the world as they're coming for that World Cup,

I know I'm making an assumption, but nonetheless.

When you watch a game and you get all filled with excitement,

Do you just sit there and watch the game?

No. Well, sometimes I do, but especially if it's not going my way.

But you have excitement that builds up inside you and you at least,

maybe you're like me, and you at least yell back at the TV, right?

And if you're out there in the stands, oh my gosh, you're up and down and up

and down and up and down, clap till your hands fall off.

You're so full of excitement that you have to let everyone know just how full of excitement you are.

That excitement goes out there and touches them. Maybe you'll teach someone

to enjoy soccer as you're watching the game.

Then, of course, the playoffs end. World Cup will be decided just like everything

else, and the balloon loses its air.

But you, on the one hand, will continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promises that the Spirit will be with us forever.

We will never run out of the Spirit and the Spirit's power. the Spirit given

to you in baptism will be with you always.

Always.

And we read in Acts that the disciples are continually being filled with the

Holy Spirit through the hearing of the Word, through the sharing of the Holy Supper.

Filled with the spirit as they come together in community.

The filled balloon that is not let go doesn't use the power that is within.

The power leaves and the balloon goes flat.

Most of you remember when a good game of basketball or baseball or maybe a run was like nothing.

You could hit the hoops all day. How many of you played athletics when you were

in, oh, high school, college?

Yeah, maybe even beyond.

I say a good run. I never had a good run.

Maybe y'all did.

But you can remember when it was like nothing to go out there and do it.

You could hit those hoops and by golly, it was done.

You could pretend you're on the Mavericks or on the Rangers,

something. Maybe the Cowboys.

Now, after years of not hitting those hoops or knocking homers or running a

good deal, what would those muscles say to you if you tried to play with a team, the big teams?

Muscles that aren't used atrophy, don't they?

They're just not as strong, just not as fulfilling.

And they can become useless. Can the same happen to us if we don't exercise our faith and share it?

Can the same happen to a church?

Here's the key. If you expect to be renewed, challenged, and empowered,

if you expect it, the Holy Spirit will do it.

Expect to be filled with the Spirit and it will happen,

with the church if we expect renewal and empowerment we can't do it ourselves,

any more than a balloon can blow itself up,

only God can do that only God can help us with the church Expect it.

Ask for it. And God will fill you up and fill the church.

God is the one who provides growth and renewal for churches.

Trust me, the pastor is not the only one.

Everyone does it. Everyone filled with the Spirit.

Brings it and gives it away.

Balloons flying under the power of the wind are not boring or tedious or predictable or stale.

And neither should spirit-filled believers or congregations be.

Be filled and let it go.

Amen. Go in peace. Trusting Christ is with you.

Let the spirit lift you beyond fear, beyond comfort, beyond the familiar.

Catch the wind of God's grace. Let it carry you to new places,

new people, new possibilities.

Set the world ablaze with hope as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God and we will. If you're inspired by this week.