Y’all…  Today is yet another major holiday in the Church.  As you know, within the calendar year there revolves another kind of year, the liturgical year, in which we, the church, celebrate the major milestones of our faith, usually marking the events of  Jesus’s life.  And, like the calendar year, the liturgical year is divided into “seasons.”  Today marks the end of the Easter season, which encompasses Easter and the 40 days thereafter.  And it’s a big deal.

Today is Pentecost.  Today we celebrate that day long ago when the disciples were all hanging out together wondering what in the world they were supposed be doing and how to fulfill Jesus’s command to them (and us) to “go out into the world and teach the Gospel” aka The Great Commission.  In the meantime, they, like the good Jews they were, had joined Jews from around the world who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Shavuot, which is a major Jewish holiday that commemorates the day God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.  And then, in the midst of the celebration, according to the Book of Acts (Acts 2:1-11), 

“Suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.  At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?  Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?”

This was, of course, foretold by Jesus right before he ascended into Heaven.  He had said to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  And BAM!  Receive the Holy Spirit they did!  And on the day of Pentecost, the world received that very same Holy Spirit.

And there was their answer to the question of how to do that job they, (and we), were given to do. 

We were told in no uncertain terms to go hither and yon and tell folks about Jesus and his message to the world, and the lucky disciples were given the ability to do just that, to go and preach so that folks could understand what the heck they were saying. 

So reckon wonder what does all this mean for us today in the here and now?  When I was a teenager I sang in the church choir, and one of the songs that I remember singing was “Come, Holy Spirit” by JW Peterson.  The chorus, in particular, stuck with me: 

Come Holy Spirit dark is the hour
 We need Your filling 
Your love and Your mighty power
Move now among us stir us we pray
Come Holy Spirit revive the church today

The funny thing is, though, the Holy Spirit has already done that.  The Holy Spirit has come and filled and moved, and done His best to revive.  It’s up to us to accept what the Holy Spirit has done and act accordingly.  Jesus commissioned us to do and go and be, and the Holy Spirit has given us the wherewithal to do so…but we gotta accept that commission.

In order for us to do that, however, we gotta know what it is we’re preaching.  The whole central tenet of Jesus’s message, before anything else was love.  Love first, love last, love period.  Us having the courage to step out from wherever it is we are and say, in every language and to all people, “God loves you, I love you, and how can we help you?”  Pentecost reminds us that we are the only Bible some folks will ever read.  Pentecost reminds us that we are the only Jesus some folks will ever see.  How do we put that love into action?  Again, Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 to feed the hungry, house the unhoused, and make the world a better, more loving place.  Jesus did NOT tell us to crack on someone’s skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, body type, political affiliation, or any other perceived difference.  Jesus told us to love.  I’m not a big fan of Paul, but he certainly got it right when he wrote “love is patient, love is kind.  Love is gentle.  Love is longsuffering.”  Heck, even the Beatles had it right when they sang, “All ya need is love.”

Now there ya have it.  The message of Pentecost.  It’s really the same message as that of Christmas, and of Easter, and of every other thing that happened in Jesus’s life and ministry.  Love God.  Love your neighbor. (Yes, even that neighbor that you don’t like, agree with, approve of, and can really barely tolerate.)  And one more time for those in the back….. Love.  Do it.  Be it.  Show it. 

Amen.