Scripture Acts 2:1-18
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place. And there came suddenly from heaven a sound like the sweeping of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Then there appeared among them divided tongues, as of fire, and one rested on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues just as the Spirit gave them to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout Jews from every nation under heaven. Now at this sound the crowd gathered and was confused because each heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astounded, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how do we hear, each in our own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjacent to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and questioning to one another saying, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Judeans and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you all, and attend to my speech: For, these persons are not drunk as you suppose; it is only the third hour in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your daughters and your sons shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your elders shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both women and men,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
Sermon
It’s interesting… let’s say, it’s important… that our passage begins with the sentence, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place.” In fact, they were waiting for Pentecost. Not this Pentecost, which, this year, we are celebrating with fiery balloons, and streamers, and the color red, and the sound of the bells of angels in our sanctuary. But their Pentecost, the Jewish feast of Pentecost. While our Pentecost celebrates the birth of the church—the coming of the Spirit of the living God in a wild and unmistakable and overwhelming way—the Jewish Pentecost celebrates God’s gift of the Torah, the law, the moment when Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the tablets, his face shining with the light of God, Godself. My understanding is that devout Jews await this by getting together for all-nighters, during which they study Torah—the first five books of the bible—and eat things that contain milk and honey, such as ice cream, and cheesecake. I would like to put in a request to the Presbyterian powers-that-be that we, too, find a way to get in on this deal, because it sounds amazing.
But back to the important thing: the disciples, who are named in chapter 1 as consisting of both women and men, are all together in one room. And it’s my bet that, they, too, are studying Torah with all their might, continuing to seek out the wisdom that God has for them in this liminal, transitional moment.
Because Jesus is gone. Again. Gone from their sight and touch and tables. And Jesus has given them all kinds of words of encouragement, and wisdom, and the promise that the Spirit of the living God is coming, but they don’t know when.
So, they stay together. They gather around the gifts Jesus has given them, studying, debating, praying…
And then… It happens.
I want you to try something with me. I’m going to try very hard to make a sound like the wind. I want you to listen for a moment, and then, join me.
~~~
And there came suddenly from heaven a sound like the sweeping of a mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
I’m not going to have you take out lighters or boxes of matches for this next part, because this is when tongues of flame appear on everyone’s heads. I have tended to focus on the flame part, and it, too, is important, because fire is, like water, both destructive and constructive. We need fire or its equivalent for warmth, to be able to cook food, to be able to see in the dark. Fire is the lifeline for many ecosystems, such as that of the giant sequoias, for their renewal and regrowth. Fire also symbolizes inspiration—which simply means, the Spirit being in us, and giving us new thoughts, ideas, joys, hopes, and plans.
But more than the fire itself, I’d like to focus on how it perches atop each person. The story starts with a group experience of waiting, and studying, and praying, and moves onto a group experience of experiencing the wind of the Spirit blowing through. But the flames appear on each person, because the Spirit of the living God is alighting on each individual, as well as on the group. And that’s because, as Paul reminds us,
…there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… ~ 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NRSVUE)
We are the body of Christ—we are one. And we are also individually members of it, each of us with our own stories, and paths, and gifts that are unique to us, and also that are very much needed by the body. We are one in faith, hope, and love, one in intention and purpose and service. And we are unique individuals in the ways we connect and serve and give.
And then, the gift of languages. Some scholars like to say that this is the reversal of the Tower of Babel, when people were separated—intentionally!—by language. It feels particularly relevant in our day and time when our neighbors are regularly being mocked, belittled, and even threatened for speaking the tongues of their ancestors. The Spirit of the living God engineers a moment when the languages of many are not reviled, but honored. Each person gets to hear the gospel in the language of their heart. We are one, and we are unique individuals in the way we connect and speak and listen.
And then, Peter seizes the moment to reassure the crowd that what they are witnessing is not sloppy drunkenness, but rather, it is what God has promised all along, as the prophet Joel conveys it. God declares,
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your daughters and your sons shall prophesy,
and your young shall see visions,
and your elders shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both women and men,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And there we have the work of the Spirit of the living God described perfectly. No more division based on age, or gender, or class structure. No more division based on nationality or ethnicity. It is as powerful a call to unity as any passage you can find in scripture.
In one of her daily reflections this week, Cameron Trimble share an old Sufi story, as told by Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar. It’s called The Conference of the Birds.
The world had become dangerous and disordered. The birds were frightened. They felt leaderless. Everywhere they looked they saw confusion, conflict, vanity, greed, and instability. So they gathered together to decide what should be done.
The hoopoe bird, the wisest among them, told the others they must go in search of the great Simurgh, the divine king they believed could save them.
The journey would be difficult. To find the Simurgh, the birds had to cross seven valleys: [including] the Valley of Search, the Valley of Love, the Valley of Knowledge, and the Valley of Detachment. Each valley took away another illusion. Some birds turned back because they preferred comfort. Others were overcome by fear. Some got distracted by beauty or status. Some could not let go of their ideas about themselves.
The journey slowly unraveled them. By the end, only thirty birds remained. Exhausted and transformed, they finally arrived before the Simurgh expecting to encounter a great divine being waiting for them in glory.
Instead, they found a mirror. In that mirror they saw themselves. “Simurgh,” in Persian, means “thirty birds.”[i]
Trimble comments,
The lesson was not that a distant ruler would come to save them. Instead, something sacred had grown within their own community through the hard work of traveling, letting go of illusions, suffering, and staying together.[ii]
Claire, on this day on which we honor the beautiful work you have done here for close to forty years, when you see the ringers today, sharing their glorious music with us, I ask you to understand that you are looking into a mirror. You are seeing your own work, your own love poured out, your own connection with each individual, your own gift of music that has been sent out into this world and continues to thrive through the love, which each person received, and continues to hold and to pass on.
All of us are looking into a mirror. I wish you could all see what I see from this pulpit every week: I see individuals, yes, people, most of whose names and stories, and families I know. But even more beautifully: I see the Body of Christ, in the gathering of all of us together, like the disciples, in one place. All of us seeking the wisdom that the words and actions of Jesus provide, the power that the Spirit blesses each of us with. I see Pentecost, each week—the birth of the church again and again, as she gathers and waits for what God might bless us with that day.
When the day of Pentecost comes, we are all together in the same place. And we look together for Jesus, and I tell you, what Jesus shows us is a mirror…we are his body. Something sacred has grown within our community through the hard work of serving, letting go of illusions, bearing one another’s burdens, sharing one another’s joys, and staying together. We contain within us the Spirit of the living God, who is pleased to dwell in us as we share our unique gifts, our unique ways of being, our unique identities. Know this: every drop of what we do and share, every bit of love we show, every tiny act of service, flows out into God’s beautiful and broken world, a never-ending stream of God’s love, of which we are, and will always, be a part.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
[i] Rev. Cameron Trimble, The Thirty Birds: A Mediation by Cameron Trimble, Piloting Faith, May 21, 2026. https://www.pilotingfaith.org/p/the-thirty-birds?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=58642&post_id=198613366&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=g2mun&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email.
[ii] Ibid.