Scripture: Romans 8:14-17, Acts 2:1-12; John 14:8-17, 25-27
Title: Sealed and Sent
**Sermons are meant to be heard, so listen along here**
In the third book of CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan sits Lucy and Edmund down and tells them that this is their last time in Narnia.
For those of you who need a refresher, Narnia is a land the kids discovered through a wardrobe, which we hear all about in the most famous of the series – The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe.
So Aslan (the lion) sits these two kids down and says they won’t be able to come back to Narnia anymore.
Lucy and Edmund are understandably upset.
Not because they love Narnia, but because they love Aslan.
They don’t want to be without him.
How will they ever make it?
Aslan promises that they won’t be alone.
They will be able to find him back in their world too.
Because of this, theologian and author Dr David Lose says that this book is a prime representation of pentecost.
Last week our Gospel ended with the disciples looking up at the sky.
Jesus had ascended, returned to be with the Father.
As he left Jesus told his disciples (Luke 24:49)
49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
So there they wait.
Getting more and more nervous, asking more and more questions about why Jesus left them and if they were going to be ok.
They were grieving Jesus being gone yet again.
They love him, they don’t want to be left alone. (Sound familiar? Like Aslan? )
And they were worried.
They were worried about doing the things Jesus said they’d be able to do once he left.
You will be my witnesses, Jesus said.
You. I’m counting on you to get the word out about me.
The disciples were worried about whether or not they would mess it up.
I mean, they made so many mistakes when Jesus was walking right beside them, how will they manage without him?
“I will not leave you orphans” Jesus said.
“The Father will send you another Advocate.”
He says that phrase twice in today’s Gospel. The Father is sending you another advocate. Someone other than me.
You will not be alone.
We most often translate the Greek word used here (Paraclete) as advocate.
It comes from the Advocare – ad=to vocare=call
So it literally means to call to one’s aid.
It’s not a daily life kind of word – we don’t go around saying we are advocates.
(Well maybe we should, but that’s a whole other sermon)
But besides advocate, paraclete can mean helper, assistor, intercessor.
And who doesn’t want one of those?
Today is Pentecost Sunday.
It’s the day we celebrate this promise of the Holy Spirit coming into the world and to us.
And if we think advocate is a complicated word or idea, the Holy Spirit is about a hundred times more complicated and complex.
Priest and influential 20th century theologian Karl Rahner once said that We could drop the doctrine of the trinity tomorrow, and 98% of Christian practice and devotion would remain untouched.
Whew.
That’s tough to hear laid out like that, but honestly, it’s probably true for a lot of us.
We don’t really understand the Holy Spirit.
And I will confess that we probably aren’t going to leave here today with a crystal clear understanding of the Holy Spirit.
There are people who have dedicated years of their life to trying to understand the Spirit, so I’m pretty confident that we can’t do the same thing in ten minutes or so.
But if we don’t leave here thinking that we finally understand the Holy Spirit, I think it’s ok.
Even Luke didn’t know exactly how to describe what happened in pentecost. He said it was like wind and fire.
He didn’t say it WAS wind and fire.
So let’s take a moment and be ok with not quite having a full understanding of what the Spirit is,
And instead take some time to focus on what the Holy Spirit does and what the Spirit has to say about who we are.
That’s the point of pentecost I think.
And at the first Pentecost the disciples were gathered together, and the Spirit came into their room like wind and fire and the disciples started speaking in lots of different languages and suddenly the word of God was shared with more people than ever believed possible.
That’s awesome right?
But what does that mean for us now?
If we also receive the Holy Spirit?
What does that really mean?
I can speak the tiniest bit of Spanish and some German but I worked hard to learn those. They weren’t imparted on me at my receipt of the holy spirit.
So what does the Spirit do for me now?
This is the question.
And the Apostle Paul began to answer it in Romans 8 that was read this morning:
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”
“It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
“And if we are children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”
What does the Spirit do?
The Spirit gives us a name.
Child of God.
When we baptize anyone (adults, children or babies) here at POP – we start with the words “we are born children of a fallen humanity – but by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church – the body of Christ.”
We mark a cross on the forehead of the baptized and say they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Sealed.
You know the original meaning of that word is a layer of protection.
We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and claimed as children of God.
I mean – isn’t that it?
That’s the good news.
Right there.
And that is what Pentecost is all about.
Hearing the Good News.
Knowing that God has sent the Spirit to be with us,
And trusting that this same Spirit now goes with us.
Notice those disciples, they didn’t stay in that locked room, they went out into the world.
Not because they wanted to, but because they could do nothing else with the knowledge of God’s good news.
When Aslan tells Lucy and Edmund they don’t need to worry about being away from him again, he says:
the whole reason they were brought to Narnia is so that they would know him well enough so they could recognize him in their own world.
And as David Lose continues in his book, “that’s what happens at church. We come to hear the Gospel promise and to be reminded how much God loves us. And that actually helps us go back into the world to look for and find God already at work. And when we recognize God caring for the world, we can join in.”
That is Pentecost.
We are sent.
Sent into the world
Sent to be fully who God created us to be, but understanding that we are not out in the world by ourselves.
But we’re not sent to be something other than our true selves.
Author and pastor Brian McLaren has phrase for living like this – sent into the world to be fully who we are created to be – and here he is to talk about it:
Show video clip by Brian McLaren “Spirit aliveness” (http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/ )
What does it mean to be alive in the spirit?
What does that look like for you?
What does pentecost 2.0 look like for you?
We can’t simply stay standing here. Looking up at the sky.
It’s tempting, I know.
But just like the disciples on that first pentecost, We’ve got to go out. Once we hear that Good News, when we are reminded that we are children of God not because we deserve it or earned it, but because God has said it’s so – we can’t help ourselves, we have to go out.
And like Jesus says to his worried disciples “The Holy Spirit will remind you of all I have said to you.” Don’t worry – don’t be afraid.
Luther said we need to hear the Gospel every day because we forget it every day.
And that’s what the Spirit does.
Reminds us of what God has already made true.
As we heard last week Jesus said to his disciples, “YOU will be my witnesses.”
And somehow it worked.
Despite their fear, despite their worries – it worked.
Because here we are.
At this place, in this church, on this day, because Jesus sent his disciples out into the world to share. And they did it.
It worked for one simple reason – They weren’t left to do it alone –
And neither are we.