"All Together in One Place"

Acts 2:1-21

Nearly every time we gather here, the same person takes center stage. I don’t even need to name him, do I? We celebrate his birth on Christmas. We remember his baptism on another day. We remember the time he called his first disciples, those fishermen on the lakeshore. We listen to the time he went to a wedding and made it the party of a lifetime. We remember his life. We tell the story of his death. We gather on Easter and remember surprisingly that, for him, death was not the end. And because of all that, every time we gather here, no matter what part of the story we hear, we are reminded that because of him, for us, death is not the end, either. He is the main attraction. The center of attention. The man of every hour when we gather. Well, nearly every hour.

Today is different. Go back and re-read the lessons we just heard from Acts and Romans and you’ll find that his name isn’t included in any of them. We hear his words in the reading from John’s Gospel, but that’s it. Today, the man of the hour takes a backseat to someone else…and he’s glad to do it.

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

That mighty wind rips through the room, filling the house. Those “tongues” of fire ignite among them, above them. The Holy Spirit fills them, giving them new ability, new voices, new words that they’ve never spoken.

How could we not give a day for something that makes these kinds of things happen? How could we not gather, for at least an hour and remember the morning when everything in the lives of this young community of faith changed forever? Each year, on this day-fifty days after Easter-we give a little time to the Holy Spirit. Today belongs to the Holy Spirit…but it also belongs to us, too.

Something that may be even more amazing than the violent wind, the tongues of fire, and the spirited words is the fact, that when the day arrives: “they were all together in one place.” All of them, together, in one place. When I think of that one fact, I am amazed that Pentecost-the day the Holy Spirit claimed us-even happened. All those followers of Jesus-reclaimed by the risen Christ and reunited-were actually “all together in one place.” The day of the Holy Spirit’s arrival is equally the day of the disciples’ sticking around, together.

Today, when you and I gather to remember this, we remember this same thing-it’s about the Holy Spirit…and it’s about us. So really, today is no different than any other day since the beginning of time-every day of your life and mine, because they’re all about the same thing-they’re about God and about us.

As I think of this, it also occurs to me that those first disciple’s lives were different than ours. They didn’t have cell phones or blackberrys that rang, buzzed, or beeped with a steady stream of phone calls, emails, and text messages. They didn’t have 9-5’s or 7-3’s or 3-11’s or 11-7’s like we do. That first group that gathered didn’t have mid-terms or finals, no book reports, or research papers. They didn’t have family that lived hundreds or even thousands of miles away. So maybe being “all together in one place” was a little easier for them. Which makes this Pentecost, and the fact that we are here together in one place-even more special.

It is especially important that we continue to find ways to be “all together in one place.” Together, we need to commit ourselves, more often than just on the day of Pentecost…more often than just one hour each week. Together, we need to give one another permission to turn off the cell phones and the blackberrys, to take a day off from the 9-5’s and to put the mid-term’s on hold. Together, we need to find ways to be “all together in one place.” Because it is important for us, for the world, and to God.

Imagine if those first disciples hadn’t made the time to be together. Just think if they couldn’t schedule that day to be all in one place. What would have happened on Pentecost if they were “all alone, in different places.” Maybe the wind would still have rushed, but there would have been no one to turn to and say “Did you feel that?” Maybe the flames would have ignited, but there would have been no one to look and say “Can you see that?” Maybe the words would have come, but there would have been no one there to look back at us and say “Could you repeat that?”

For as many reasons as the disciples could have come up with not to be together, each one of them knew that there was one very important reason why they needed to be together. So, once again, today becomes about that one person who came and changed everything-we just can’t get away from him. It was Jesus, who after he gave his life for them…and rose again for them…gathered them together and said “You are my witnesses…so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Jesus invites us all today to hear his words with open hearts, and to remember that it’s awfully hard to live lives, spend days, or even share hours that are about God and one another when we don’t make a point of being all together in one place.