Pentecost - May 24

Light a Fire Under Us
Acts 2:1-21

Today is Pentecost, the day that the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit. I’ve been thinking about some of the hymns that we associate with the Holy Spirit.

We’ve just sung a local favorite, “Breathe on me, breath of God… Fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do. Breathe on me, breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with thee I will one will, to do or to endure…” It’s a gentle, comforting hymn.

One of the better known Taizé chants is also about the coming of the Spirit: Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Come, Holy Spirit. Those of you who know the music of Taize know that it is simple and repetitive. Meditative. Veni, Sancte Spiritus… Veni, Sancte Spiritus… Veni, Sancte Spiritus. Another hymn that is comforting, reassuring.

There’s another hymn that may not be as familiar to many of you, but it is very frequently done at ordinations (Hymn 503). “Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire and lighten with celestial fire.” (“Celestial fire” sounds so very proper and elegant). “Thou the anointing Spirit art who dost the seven fold gifts impart.” It’s tune is gentle, too. Another hymn that conveys comfort and sustenance from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit certainly does bring us comfort, strength and sustenance. But these sound like upper room hymns. Hymns that the disciples might have sung in the upper room before Pentecost. If you think about it, we have quite a few stories that take place after Jesus’ death which show the disciples huddled together in the upper room or somewhere inside.

We heard one in the Gospel reading on the Second Sunday of Easter: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear…” The disciples are huddled together, afraid.

Last week, in Acts, we heard a story about the disciples after Jesus’ ascension: “Then they returned to Jerusalem…. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son James.” I can imagine them coming together in prayer and singing one of these hymns, seeking comfort and strength in the face of fear and uncertainty.

Then today, again from Acts: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…” Huddled together, sitting inside a house…

And then everything changes. Pentecost changes everything.

 Of all the images that we use for the Holy Spirit, Pentecost is about fire. It’s not a comforting image. But it is a good one. We ask the Holy Spirit to do a lot for us, but maybe there’s one thing we don’t ask often enough: Light a fire under us.

So often in artistic representations of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is depicted as individual flames hovering over each of us, sort of like a personal holy pilot light. And it’s good to remember the individual, personal gift of the Holy Spirit. But let’s also pray that the Holy Spirit will light a fire under us.

After Pentecost there is no more huddling in the upper room. Pentecost is the day that the disciples and the early church changed from being primarily inward looking to being outward looking and acting. Just after the portion of Acts we heard this morning, Acts relates that: “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.”

After Pentecost, the disciples still came together for prayer and thanksgiving, but remember that the book that tells the story after Pentecost is called “Acts.” The Acts of the Apostles.

Come Holy Spirit, light a fire under us.

It’s a vivid image… Light a fire under us. I was curious about the origin of the phrase. According to Wiki-something, the origin of the phrase came from when chimney sweeps were scared to go up the chimneys, the fire would be lit under them in order to motivate them to climb to the top.

Its contemporary meaning is “to get someone to act quickly or forcefully, especially someone who has not been doing enough before.”

Come Holy Spirit, light a fire under us.

The Holy Spirit does, of course, comfort, guide, sustain, and enlighten us in our Christian lives. But, on this day of Pentecost, let’s also remember the Spirit’s power to motivate, to light a fire under us.

As I was thinking about this, one more image came to mind. A geyser. You know how geysers work… they are quiet for some period of time while water is heated and pressure builds up under ground. Then they erupt, usually with a good bit of forth. Maybe coming to church on Sunday and praying for the presence of the Holy Spirit is a bit like that. Sitting on a geyser… Old Faithful erupts every 63 minutes. We’ve been here about 30 minutes at this point… So just about when this service is finishing…