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As I begin I’d like to encourage all of you to get this Devotion/Sermon Notes/Prayer

Sheet that is in your bulletin. This week I’ve shared five readings and devotions about the Holy

Spirit that will help you grow in your own understanding of the Holy Spirit. This devotion is an

excellent way for each of us to grow in faith. If by chance you misplace the devotion between

now and the time you get home after church—which could happen today if you play kickball

with me—you can go to our web site, colpres.org, to find it. When you get on the web site, look

on the left hand side that says newsletters/devotion. On Mondays we upload the sermon from

the previous day and the devotion.

Let me share how I use the devotion. I have a Bible on my desk. I put this Devotional

sheet right next to my Bible. I’ll read the passage, reflect on the questions. When I come to the

time to pray for people at Chain of Lakes, I pray the prayers that are here. Using this Prayer

Sheet is an excellent way for us to be friends each other. When we pray for someone, we

become closer to the person—we’re not a stranger any more—we’re a friend.

Today is the religious holiday of Pentecost. On Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of

the church and we remember the movement of the Holy Spirit in the story that we heard from

Acts 2. Let me start out by sharing some history about Pentecost. First, Pentecost is what we

call a moveable feast. What I mean by that is the date changes every year. Think about

Christian holidays. Some are moveable feasts and some are not. Christmas, of course, is the

same date every year—December 25. The date of Easter changes every year. Easter is

celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. This was

determined in the year 325 at the Council of Nicaea. This year the date was April 4. Next year

Easter will be celebrated April 24.

Pentecost is celebrated seven Sundays after Easter. The word Pentecost means fiftieth.

Because the date of Easter changes every year, the date of Pentecost changes every year.
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Originally Pentecost was an agricultural festival. The first time a person will find the

word Pentecost in the Bible is in this story in Acts 2. There was a long tradition that preceded

Pentecost. Originally the celebration was called the Feast of Weeks, the Hebrew word is

Shavuot. You might want to write down these Scriptures—Exodus 34:22 and Leviticus 23:15-

22. The Feast of Weeks was a harvest festival celebrated 50 days after the Passover. The

Israelites would bring the first fruits of the harvest to the celebration. The Israelites celebrated

three festivals while they were in the wilderness. They were Feast of Weeks, Passover &

Tabernacles. When the Temple was built in Jerusalem these celebrations became pilgrimage

festivals. Every male was expected to go to the Temple to attend these three celebrations.

Pentecost is often the day that youth who go through Confirmation are received into the

church. How many of us were confirmed on Pentecost? If you were Confirmed and don’t know

the date of your Confirmation, I would encourage you to find out the date this week. There are

two dates that are important for us to know in our faith—one is our baptism date and another is

the date of our Confirmation. If our parents are alive, I would guess they might know the date of

our Confirmation. If our parents aren’t alive, we could call the church where we were

Confirmed. They would have a record.

I asked my parents via E-mail this week the date of my Confirmation. I was confirmed

into my home church—Westminster Presbyterian Church in Worthington, Minnesota—on

Pentecost, 1979. The date was June 3. My vivid memory of that day was sitting in the front pew

of the sanctuary and receiving Communion. Our home church unfortunately didn’t allow

children to receive Communion. Before I received Communion on that day I wondered if I

would receive overwhelming experience from God when I received the elements. I didn’t. This

was an important day for my journey as my relationship to the church changed. I was no longer

excluded from the Communion Table.

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On Pentecost the church season changes. Ever since Easter on April 4 we’ve celebrated

the Easter season. Now we go back to the season that is called Ordinary Time. We’ll be in

Ordinary Time until the start of Advent.

Often on Pentecost people are encouraged to wear red to worship. Red is the color of the

Holy Spirit. How many of us remember wearing red to worship on Pentecost?

Pentecost is a very special day. I shared this information with you because I want

Pentecost to be important to us. Besides Easter Sunday and besides the Sunday before

Christmas, Pentecost might be the most important Sunday of the year.

There is a lot about which we could talk on Pentecost. I realize that we all want to eat hot

dogs and play kickball, so I want to quickly segue into talking about the Holy Spirit.

We Presbyterians get nervous sometimes when people start talking about the Holy Spirit.

Traditionally Presbyterians have been known as head people. It’s always been important what

we think about God. We’ve cultivated a denomination that has focused on theological

knowledge. We’ve created churches that are skilled in debating theological subtleties.

I enjoy a theological debate as much as anyone. Our focus on head knowledge has

hindered the development of our heart and a focus on experiencing God. We Presbyterians get a

little nervous when someone stands up and says, “I have had an experience of the Holy Spirit.”

Traditionally we’ve done better at cultivating head knowledge than heart knowledge.

We’re almost afraid of experience. This fear of experience and feeling uncomfortable

about the Holy Spirit is all to our detriment. If we only focus on head knowledge we are doomed

to become a lecture society.

I want us at Chain of Lakes to experience frequently the Holy Spirit. I want our worship

services to be Spirit-led. What I mean is we will experience the Holy Spirit in worship.

One way that we’ll know that we are experiencing the Holy Spirit in worship is when we

say the word, “wow” during a worship service. I’ve said this before, but the three letter, word
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“wow” is a synonym for the three letter, word, “awe, which means something very special is

happening. At the end of Acts 2 the community was awed by what was happening in their

community. The words “wow” and “awe” are indicators that the Holy Spirit is at work.

I’ve been “wow” a lot during our worship services. I said “wow” two weeks ago when

we viewed the Mother’s Day power point while Kellie played for us. I said “wow” when Kellie

played the song, Angel last week. I said “wow” last Sunday when Margaret Owens bared her

soul with us when she shared her story of Recovery. A number of you said “wow” when we

burned our anxieties last December outside of the building. These are all indicators that the

Holy Spirit is moving through us in worship.

When the Holy Spirit moves there is a sense that something incredible is taking place.

This happens differently in other churches.

I remember a year ago a group of us went to an Assembly of God congregation. They

experience the Holy Spirit in a different way. During that worship service most people raised

their hands as they sang. One of the women went down on her knees and started sobbing. Some

people around us started speaking in tongues. This was quite different for us Presbyterians.

Those experiences in worship are legitimate experiences of the Holy Spirit. I would have

not problem if people raised their hands as we sang, or if people started crying. The point is that

we receive the Holy Spirit in different ways. No matter how we receive the Holy Spirit, it is

critical that our worship is Spirit-led.

When the Holy Spirit moves there is a sense that something incredible is taking place.

This is what was happening in the story we heard in Acts 2. This is one of my favorite chapters

in the Bible. The disciples were in one place celebrating Pentecost. Jesus had just left the earth

and ascended into heaven. The disciples had chosen Matthias to be one of the 12 disciples—

replacing Judas. And there came a sound. It was a sound that no one on earth had ever heard

before. It was like the rush of a violent wind. This sound filled the house where the disciples
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were gathered. Then the disciples saw something strange. Tongues, as of fire, appeared. A

tongue rested on each of them. Something incredible was happening. Luke said that they were

filled with the Holy Spirit.

Remember all the Jewish males had come to the Temple to celebrate Pentecost. They

could hear the sound. The best description I have of the sound is a sonic boom. How many of us

have heard a sonic boom? When Amy & Hannah & I visited Amy’s parents when they are

wintering in Florida I remember hearing the sonic boom when the Space Shuttle re-entered the

earth’s atmosphere.

These Jewish males heard what we might call a sonic boom and went over to the house.

Remember these Jews were from many different regions. They had traveled to the Temple for a

pilgrimage festival. These Galilean followers of Jesus—the disciples—were speaking. The

people from these different regions could understand them.

Something powerful happened. The Holy Spirit moved. The people had a “wow”

moment. Something extraordinary was taking place. The experience couldn’t be explained, but

it happened.

I’ve had a few of these experiences in my own lifetime—I would guess that many of you

have too. I shared this story earlier this week with a group. I remember going to summer church

camp as a 7th or 8th grader. We went to Presbyterian Camp at Lake Okoboji in Iowa. The first

night I acted like a typical Junior High boy. We were all in this bunkhouse—about 20 Junior

High boys. When we arrived at summer church camp on Sunday night we were doing typical

Junior High boys activities. As we were being Junior High boys the counselor asked for

volunteers to pray. I volunteered. I was more interested in impressing my new Junior High

friends than praying to God. So I started praying. But I wasn’t praying. I was trying to be a

comedian. I got some laughs from my friends, but I don’t think God was too impressed with me.
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On Thursday of that week all of us from Summer church camp were gathered in a dark,

room. We were concluding our week together. It had been a good week in camp. The room

was lit by candles. We were sharing with each other. All of a sudden one of the counselors

shared that she was thankful that we as Christians didn’t have to gather in rooms like that to

avoid religious persecution. She started crying; then many other people started crying. This

wave of emotion swept the room. I didn’t start crying, but I could feel something. I could never

explain scientifically what was going on, but something was happening. We were all amazed

and perplexed. I was wondering, “what does this mean?” Some of the other Junior High boys

weren’t too impressed. They didn’t wonder if we were drunk, but they sneered.

I wasn’t sneering. When we got back to our cabin our counselor got some of us together

and started talking about faith. I believed in God, but I had never had an experience like that.

The counselor shared some of his journey with us. I remember him saying how thankful he was

that he had found a church in the Cities that let him wear jeans to church. Then he asked if any

of us boys would like to pray. I said I would. The counselor said, “you’re not going to pray like

the other night, are you?” he got me.

The Holy Spirit had broken out. Something had happened that none of us had expected,

but we experienced something extraordinary.

What is so mysterious about the Holy Spirit is these experiences happen when we don’t

expect them. And we can’t even manufacture them. The next summer I went to Camp at

Okoboji again. On the last night we were encouraged to pray. I prayed that I would have an

experience like I had the year before. I prayed as hard as I could; I scrunched my eyes together

as if this would cause God to act.

As your pastor I want us at Chain of Lakes to be a community that is shaped by the Holy

Spirit. Let me wrap up by sharing two ways we can be shaped by the Holy Spirit.
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First we are shaped by the Holy Spirit when we look outside of ourselves and love others

in a sacrificial way. The Holy Spirit is more than experience when we say “wow” something has

happened to me. We also experience the Holy Spirit when we love others in a sacrificial way.

We are shaped by the Holy Spirit when we delivered Food baskets last November. We were

shaped by the Holy Spirit when we donated backpacks at the start of school last year. These are

just the start of what we can do. When we look outside of ourselves and love others in a

sacrificial way we are being shaped by the Holy Spirit.

A challenge to you (the second from this sermon is the first was to find our confirmation

date) is to go out of our way to love others sacrificially this week. This is a way we share our

faith. When we get out a way where you can love others sacrificially this week. This is my

question for you. Let’s share some stories where we love others sacrificially.

(faith is confusing, we don’t feel like we know a lot about the bible, we don’t feel that we are all

that Christian. We are followers of Jesus when we love others sacrificially.)

The second way we can be shaped by the Holy Spirit is when we become a place of

spiritual energy. Last week, my coach, Doug Cushing spent three days with us here at Chain of

Lakes. Doug is a New Church Development pastor from South Carolina. He is certified as a

new church development coach within the Presbyterian church. While Doug was here he shared

that most visitors to a congregation make a decision about whether they will come back in the

first seven minutes of being in the community. IN those seven minutes the person will develop

an opinion about whether the people are warm and welcoming or whether they are cold; in those

seven minutes the person will develop an opinion about whether something special is happening;

in those seven minutes a person will decide if the people like to be there; in those seven minutes

the person will get a sense if the people are willing to sacrifice for each other in love.

Today on Pentecost may we re-commit ourselves to loving others in a sacrificial way.

And as a community may we commit to being a place of spiritual energy. …