Acts 2:1-21
Charles Dickens began the book David Copperfield with these words: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”1
While we are celebrating Pentecost our nation is remembering the brave women and men who went off to war in service of our nation. We call them heroes but if you ever talked to one or be honoured to spend time in the presence of one, you will quickly discover that, while they became heroes, when they were drafted, they weren’t all what the “stout hearted men” the old World War II song romanticized.
I had the honour of knowing one.
Dick Miller was a member of my parish in Aurora who in an interview with The Aurora Beacon News recalled his experiences when, his ship the USS Drexler was sunk in the Battle of Okinawa.
“I was a spotter for Japanese kamikaze planes,” Miller said. “We were hit twice, and the second one blew our ship to pieces. It started to roll over and was said to have gone under in 49 seconds. I was in the water, and we couldn't swallow because of all the oil and diesel fuel.
He grabbed an canister with another sailor, and was picked up after a couple of hours, which Miller said, “seemed like an eternity.”
Miller would be the first to tell you he did not set out to be a hero.
He remembered that he was a young man when he was first deployed and was standing by himself on deck looking at the darkened San Francisco Bay with tears in his eyes thinking “Where am I going, and when am I coming back?’ I was missing my sweetheart and family already.”2
A D-day survivor, Corporal John McHugh, when asked about his “big picture considerations back then, such as that they were fighting for freedom.” replied “I was in the Army, and they told me to go that way, and I went that way,” adding “You know, you get drafted. You had to do it, and I did it. Did it pretty good, too."3
That is the way it is with heros, real heros. They don’t get up at nine o’clock in the morning and say to themselves: “Today I am going to do something heroic.” Heroism is something that gets thrust upon you and whether you become one or not only the pages of you own life can show.
The disciples didn’t set out to be heroes on the morning of what we now know as Pentecost. In fact, when day dawned, they were anything but heroes.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when we find the disciples huddled in their room not knowing what they should do next. For now, they were doing what Jesus told them. They were waiting for some kind of gift. They didn’t know what it would be or how it would be delivered but then it came.
The wind came. What was first heard was then seen. Tongues of fire appearing among them and resting on the head of every believer as if they were human candles.
Sufficiently frightened while, at the same time, inspired by the Holy Spirit they began to speak in other languages. This was not gibberish, this was not babble, they were speaking in other languages each of which could be understood by all the curious onlookers who gathered around.
It was nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit was at work.
It was nine o’clock in the morning and some of the awestruck bystanders concluded that the followers of Jesus were tipsy. That’s the only kind of conclusion we can make if we focus on the mayhem coming from the disciples at that early morning hour.
Pentecost is more than wind, fire, and a crash course in foreign languages. It is the announcement that God’s involvement with human life did not end with Jesus’ Ascension. It is the startling realization that God is going to be involved in your life and mine no matter who we are or, frankly, even what we believe. God is going to bring out the best in us just as God was doing in Peter.
Here, before the half-inquiring, half-mocking crowd, Peter is the first, the very first, to lift up his voice and proclaim openly the word that only a few weeks before he could not speak to a serving woman at midnight. The Spirit had breathed new life into a cowardly disciple and created a new man with a gift of bold speech.4
Peter was becoming a hero at that nine o’clock hour.
For us, Bible scholar Gail O’Day was right on the mark when she wrote:
There are days, oh so many days, when we are “sore afraid.” Afraid of the decisions we have to make, the risks we have to take. Afraid of what happens when we do listen to Jesus’ promises, afraid of what happens when we do not. Afraid that the world ... is the victor and we will live forever without hope and joy. Afraid we will be crushed before we find the strength to be faithful to God’s promises for our lives and our world.5
It is then the Spirit comes to write new chapters in the pages of our books. The Spirit comes to make us heroes in our own way.
We’re not all going to be a Churchill or an Eisenhower, or even heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy like Corporal McHugh or float around in the waters of the Pacific for a couple of hours like my friend Richard {Thanks be to God!} but that doesn’t mean that the Spirit isn’t at work in us and in our lives.
Pentecost was a unique event within the life of the church. Pentecost was a dramatic sign to show that the Spirit’s work is bringing all people to a unity of understanding in Jesus Christ.
Whenever people come together and community happens in families, churches and neighbourhoods, it’s nine o’clock in the morning and the Spirit is at work making heros.
Whenever fresh winds blow, and you feel like you did the first time you saw Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. It’s still the same sky that you’ve seen but everything is different, better, more passionate. The blues, the yellows, the swirling stars, everything has feeling, movement and even the colours seem alive.
Whenever life is like lying on one of Monet’s water lilies. Or feeling the warmth of a Georgia O’Keefe flower wrapped around you. Or you feel, really feel, the power and strength of a Degas dancer. When you feel that, it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work, making heroes.
“Where human life is most human - when athletes and physicians, dancers and attorneys, teachers and politicians and homemakers reach deep inside to give more, and create more, and be more human...”6
“And when our own life is depleted and we are literally and figuratively out of breath and quietly we feel restoration happen and vitality return...”7 it’s nine o’clock in the morning and God’s Spirit is at work, making heroes.
When individuals come together and celebrate their differences and see in those differences unity in the Spirit, God’s Spirit, is at work making heroes.
Hey! It’s almost 10:15! God’s Spirit must be at work making heroes. Let’s go find out where and how we can be one too.
____________
1. Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (Harlow: Penguin, 2008), p. 1
2. Tom Strong, “Memories of World War II Still Strong for Aurora Veteran,” The Aurora Beacon News, May 27, 2019, https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/opinion/ct-abn-tom-strong-world-war-ii-st-0526-story.html.
3. David Chrisinger, "The Man Who Told America the Truth About D-Day," The New York Times, June 05, 2019, published June 5, 2019 , accessed June 08, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/magazine/d-day-normandy-75th-ernie-pyle.html.
4. William H. Willimon, Acts: Interpretation Bible Commentary, vol. 21, 33 vols. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010). p. 33.
5. Gail R. O'Day, "From Fear to Joy," Pulpit Digest 73, no. 515 (May/June 1992). p. 11.
6. John M. Buchanan, "Like a Breath of Fresh Air" (Sunday Morning Sermon, The Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, June 4, 1995).
7. ibid
Sermon preached at The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke
28 May 2023
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