A Common Day
“A Common Day” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning. Happy Pentecost Sunday! Every year when this Sunday comes around seven weeks after Easter, I look forward to sharing about the Holy Spirit, and standing here on the chancel to see you arrayed in the colors of fire and Spirit. Waving scarves is pretty fun, too — thank you.
As you know, Pentecost is the day that the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the apostles who were gathered in Jerusalem. “Pentecost” was a Jewish agricultural festival, fifty days after Passover, or for Christians, seven weeks — 49 days — after Easter. The festival of Pentecost was a day or so long, kind of like Thanksgiving in the US, but just as being thankful people and giving thanks to God is more than a one day event, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church, and the charge to make disciples and to live as followers of Jesus Christ takes up a lot of space in the life of the church — as it should. This Sunday begins a season of remembering, celebrating, and renewing our commitment to the mission of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
So in that Spirit, we are going to look at Acts chapter 2 with kind of a broad lens today. Steve Barton shared the beginning and end of Acts 2, the bookends which tell how the church started, and how it lived into its mission. In between those bookends is an amazing sermon from Simon Peter — amazing for a number of reasons. First, it is a combination of Old Testament references from the prophet Joel and the psalms, as well as more contemporary references to the power, wisdom, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, all spoken by an uneducated fisherman. Second, as a result of hearing this sermon, about three thousand people devote themselves to learning more about Jesus Christ and living as part of the community of believers. And third, this sermon is amazing because this group of folks gathered in Jerusalem are from all over the Roman world, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Pamphylians, Egyptians, and they each hear this sermon in their own language. I will leave it up to you to decide which of those three things you find to be the most amazing, but it’s a great sermon by any measure, and a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit, rather than Peter’s talent or preparation. Thanks to our readers Tim Morphew, Grace Mishler, Katy Carlson and Tim Lund who gave us a little sense of how people from Mexico, Vietnam, Indonesia or Germany might have heard that sermon. I would commend the reading of the entire sermon and all of Acts 2.
We don’t know how much time passed between that day of Pentecost when Peter preached and verses 43-46 when Luke tells us believers spent time and shared possessions and had meals together: it probably took a year or two for this to be the practice of the church — if it every happened exactly that way. There is some evidence that this is an idealized description of the life of the church. In other words, the Spirit came, Peter preached, lots of people believed, and the Church lived happily ever after.
Idealized or not, we are the church living in that ever after. I hope you’re happy. Pentecost is certainly an inspiring vision of what the Church can be when the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us and we see and hear and follow what it says. As I have studied Acts 2, there is a word which catches my attention — partly because it can be interpreted exactly the opposite of how we typically use it.
The word is “common,” and I most often use this word to describe things which are frequent, familiar, routine, and unexceptional. The day of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter’s sermon, the response of thousands of people, and the practice of the Church do not fit this definition at all. These things are unique, miraculous, amazing, and inspiring — at least I think they are. Wind, tongues of fire, and history-changing events are not part of my daily round. But there is another meaning for the word “common” which is more relevant to Acts 2. Luke uses this word in verse 43, which is what started me thinking about it. Common also means shared by, coming from, or done by more than one. And in the sense of this of being shared, there are some very significant Pentecost things which are common: common Spirit, common language, common purpose, common possessions, and perhaps most of all, common Savior.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of these common things: it is miraculous to think of speakers of different languages all hearing the same message at the same time. The previous time the Bible records everyone hearing the same language was in Genesis 11, pre-Tower of Babel. That was because everyone spoke the same language and it was God who confounded them with different languages to foil their ill-advised project. Pentecost is the opposite of that Genesis story: the Holy Spirit is using language to unite people with a common understanding for a common purpose.
That common purpose is to believe in and follow Jesus of Nazareth, who is lifted up at the right hand of God, and who has received from God the power of the Holy Spirit which is poured out on all who see and hear. And those who see and hear on Pentecost are not only Jews, God’s chosen people, they are all those other folks — Egyptians, Parthians and such — who hear the same message at the same time. God’s mission in Jesus Christ is for everyone: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slave and free. That reality shakes up Jewish believers and plays out throughout the book of Acts and the letters of Paul. Jesus died and was raised for all who believe — and we are all invited to believe, wherever we come from, whatever our culture, and whatever language we speak.
There is a common theme not only in what folks believe, but in how they behave. Verse 43 says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” That is presumably talking about a shared pool of resources, so that those who had more than they needed shared with those who did not have enough. I probably don’t need to tell you that this has always been a challenge for communities of faith, large and small, but it is certainly a New Testament ideal — caring for those who have less and need more has been a hallmark of the Church since the day of Pentecost.
But that’s not all! There’s more common stuff going on: eating together, giving thanks together, praying together. There is another version of the word “common” which is more often used in British English; a shared thing. For instance a village common is open land, often a lawn in the middle of town, for shared use. And those of you who are familiar with Anglican or Episcopal worship know there is a Book of Common Prayer. This doesn’t mean these are unexceptional prayers, although they may happen regularly. Common prayer is prayer which is shared and held and practiced by a number of people. That too, has been part of the life of Christians as the work of the Spirit.
Pentecost is a common day because it reminds us of how much believers share. We share with each other, we share with our neighbors, we share in worship and giving thanks. But the wind and the fire — the power of this day — is that we share the promise of Jesus Christ. That promise is for our personal salvation, but it is waaaaay bigger than that; salvation is something we hold in common. We are expected, we are compelled to participate in the mission to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is a day to remember, to celebrate, and to be sent out in the name of the Spirit who makes us One and makes who makes us whole. Rejoice in this common day and the Spirit we share. Amen!