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Acts 2:1-18 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 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. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young shall see visions, and your old shall dream dreams. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. Acts 2:1-18 05/23/2021 – Saginaw First U.M.C. “A Heart Strangely Warmed” Rev. Amy Terhune Wednesday, May 24, 1738: It is late, nearly midnight, and a man is journaling, recording the events of his day. He writes, “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” [from https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.ii.xvi.html.] The author is an Anglican priest named John Wesley, who, despite more than a decade of service by that point, still wasn’t sure that God’s grace would cover him. But it seems that something happened to him that night deep within his being. He suddenly understood God’s grace, accepted it. Some kind of strange fire warmed his heart and the pieces of his calling began to fall into place. Not long after that, John Wesley retreated to Herrnhut, Germany, where he studied several months with the Moravians. When he returned to England, he had a vision. He bought a dilapidated old factory downtown London called The Foundry, and in that building, he and his growing band of followers offered morning and evening worship, bible studies and accountability groups called class meetings, reading courses for children, job training for women to learn to sew on machines, meals for the hungry, shelter for those who had nowhere to go, medical care and shock treatment for epileptics, and a command center from which he conducted ministry all over England. In his lifetime, John Wesley rode more than 250,000 miles on horseback (enough to circle the globe 10 times over), preached an average of 4 sermons a day, wrote the best-selling layman’s medical manual of the 18th century, and coined the phrase “let us agree to disagree”. Why am I telling you this? Because the 283rd anniversary of that heart strangely warmed is tomorrow. Because today is Pentecost, when wind and fire and Holy Spirit were poured out on Jesus’ disciples, strangely warming their hearts too, I think, and birthing the church that continues to this day. And because it still touches and moves people. Let me give you proof. Don Saliers is an ordained United Methodist Elder and was for many years the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He’s now the theologian in residence and professor emeritus there. Unless you read theology, you probably haven’t heard of him. But very likely, you’ve heard of his daughter. Or at least, you’ve heard her sing. Emily Saliers grew up learning about John Wesley’s strangely warmed heart. Today, she and her friend Amy Ray are the Indigo Girls, and 35 years ago, they released the title song on their first album. It was called “Strange Fire”. These are the words: I come to you with strange fire. I make an offering of love. The incense of my soul is burned by the fire in my blood. I come with a softer answer to the questions that lie in your path. I want to harbor you from the anger; find a refuge from the wrath. This is a message, a message of love; Love that moves from the inside out; Love that never grows tired. I come to you with my offering: I bring you strange fire. Strange fire burns with the motion of love. Strange Fire is what we’re talking about today. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and although it flows out of the faithful in acts of worship and service down through the centuries, it is put inside us by God when we open ourselves to God’s presence, and that is why it never grows tired. This is a celebration of the birthday of the church, when God sent God’s Holy Spirit to us—the Spirit that unites, the Spirit that empowers, the Spirit that creates and recreates. But before we talk about what that means for us, let me briefly remind you that before it was a Christian thing, Pentecost was a Jewish thing, observed 50 days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of the law. You may remember that story from Exodus. Moses and the people are out in the wilderness wandering around. When they come to Mt. Sinai, Moses goes up and the people huddle at the bottom waiting for word of what’s next. Moses goes up and there’s lighting and wind and storms and fire and clouds—the same kind of stuff that seems to show up at Pentecost centuries later, just after Jesus is crucified and taken up into heaven, and the disciples are left below to wait for word of what’s next. Moses came down with ten commandments written in stone. But to the 120 or so disciples gathered in the upper room that day, the Holy Spirit comes down with something altogether different— something that gets written on the heart rather than the rocks. In a radical paradigm shift, we move from knowing commandments to knowing the Commander—the one who commanded the world to be and it was; the one who commanded the wind and waves to be still and they were; the one who said “I give you a new commandment: that you love others as I have loved you”. And they did. I doubt that any will be speaking in exotic languages today. I doubt that any outsider will accuse us of drunk this morning. But that doesn’t mean that God’s Spirit isn’t here. The Holy Spirit can be just as real in this place as it was that first Pentecost. There are some who believe that spirit-filled Christians act a certain way. But that makes no sense, in my humble opinion—God needs many kinds of people to fulfill his purpose—and many kinds of churches. The diversity among humankind, among worshiping communities, and among individual minds is one of the greatest gifts God gives. The differences are what gives God so many options and avenues for the transformation of the world. 2 And to the varied and diverse followers of God, the Holy Spirit gives common gifts—gifts that all of us manifest in many ways, but there’s no mistaking it when we see it. The first gift is the gift of passion. Otherwise known as zeal, fervor, enthusiasm, or conviction— passion is that element deep within us that inspires and energizes. It only comes from the Holy Spirit. “Several years ago, a young man sat is his pastor’s office between services. He had made some bad choices-was at the bottom of his class, in and out of jobs, a father at sixteen. He had come for help. “His pastor offered what help he could, prayed with the young man, and on the spur of the moment, the pastor invited this kid to help serve communion for the second service. So there they were, standing in front of everyone offering communion.

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