Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
May 11, 2008 - Pentecost / Festival of the Christian Home
Acts 2:1-21
1st Corinthians 12:3b-13
John 7:37-39

Where the Wind Blows

The well known author and preacher Fred Craddock tells a rather funny story about a lecture he was giving: A few years ago, when he was on the west coast speaking at a seminary, just before the first lecture, one of the students stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal."

The room grew silent. Craddock said he looked around for the Dean of the seminary! He was nowhere to be found.The student continued with his quiz right in front of everybody.

Craddock was taken aback, and so he said, "Do you mean do I belong to the Pentecostal Church?"

He said, "No, I mean are you Pentecostal?"

Craddock said, "Are you asking me if I am charismatic?"

The student said, "I am asking you if you are Pentecostal."

Craddock said, "Do you want to know if I speak in tongues?"

He said, "I want to know if you are Pentecostal."

Craddock said, "I don't know what your question is."

The student said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal." He left.

What are we talking about this morning? Is the church supposed to use the word Pentecost only as a noun or can it be used as an adjective? And so I ask you: Are you Pentecostal?

In spite of the fact that the church doesn't know what the adjective means, the church insists that the word remain in our vocabulary as an adjective. The church is unwilling for the word simply to be a noun, to represent a date, a place, an event in the history of the church, refuses for it to be simply a memory, an item, something back there somewhere. The church insists that the word is an adjective; it describes the church. The word, then, is "Pentecostal."

If the church is alive in the world it is Pentecostal. And you thought we were Congregational! (www.esermons.com)

How do we keep this aliveness, this fire burning, this spirit moving? What must exist in us, around us, and through us, if we are to be Pentecostal? At the very least it means that we know that we are all connected!

One of the things that I appreciate about our denomination is our slogan: That they may all be one!"
Part of what it means to be Pentecostal is the realization that we are all one!

Last week Carol stood up and told us of two mothers - both of whom are struggling in ways that are almost unimaginable to us. She asked us to honor our mothers by helping these two mothers ... because there is a way in which we are connected to them, and to their children.

We have another mission emphasis this month - our annual "Strengthen the Church" offering ... to help United Church of Christ congregations that are struggling to stay alive and vital - and just need a helping hand to get over the hump ... because there are ways in which we are one with them.

We've seen in the news this week about the devastation in Myanmar. It now looks like there are over 100,000 dead and close to two million homeless ... Our One Great Hour of Sharing has already been tapped to assist in aid ... except the government is blocking the aid ... but we are one with them ... and, there are ways in which we are one with the government.

We've heard about the price of grain skyrocketing ... about how the use of corn is helping us with our dependence on oil, but at the same time diminishing the world food supply. World hunger is an increasingly large problem. In the United States, the price of rice has increased from $22 to $40-50 per 100-pound bag in the last six months. Worldwide, wheat prices are up 120 percent, rice prices are up 75 percent, and prices are predicted to stay high at least through 2015. Many poor families spend up to 80 percent of their budget on food. Some estimates are that 3.5 million children are dying every year from malnutrition. (www.TheWiredWord.com). And Pentecost reminds us that we are all connected.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness ... because the mouse was Pentecostal -- and knew that they were all one! (www.homileticsonline.com).
May the wind and fire of Pentecost blow on us and help us know that on this planet earth, we are all one!

SERMON IN A SACK: Red Streamers attached to a fan. They look lifeless ... until the wind blows. We, too, are lifeless, until the wind of Pentecost blows on us.