[Peter said,] “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” –Acts 2:15
This weekend, I will be at Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS where I will be preaching at the Baccalaureate worship service prior to the school’s commencement ceremony. I was honored to be asked to be a part of the service! Bethany is a great liberal arts college in central Kansas that finds its identity in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage. The school’s mission is to “educate, develop and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead lives of faith, learning and service.” The small school has faced some significant challenges in recent years, but has emerged as a thriving, vibrant place that lives up to its stated mission.
On Sunday, the Festival of Pentecost, we’ll be sending Bethany’s newest graduates out into the world. Like all schools who are graduating seniors this season, Bethany’s graduates will be sent out to the four corners of the world to use the gifts they have honed at the school in a vast array of vocations. Sitting in the Presser Hall auditorium on Sunday, the graduates will experience the odd mix of elation and grief, eagerness and trepidation, excitement and uncertainty that most graduates feel as they say farewell to a significant time in their lives and look forward to whatever is next.
I wonder if that’s a little of what Jesus’ disciples were feeling as they sat in the upper room in Jerusalem at one minute to nine on that first Pentecost? Just before his Ascension, the resurrected Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father.” (Acts 1:4) He told them that they would receive “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8) and that they would be sent out as witnesses to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” At one minute to nine, I doubt that the disciples could have imagined all that awaited them and all that they would experience once the mighty, rushing wind of the Spirit began to blow.
And then, the clocked ticked nine, and it happened. The Spirit blew.
Like drunk fools they spilled out onto the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the healing, life-giving Truth of Jesus Christ, the unfolding of the Reign of God and the Good News that death had been swallowed up in life. Like Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit guided them, and directed them and gave them the words they needed to tell their story and invite others into it. Like Jesus had promised, they carried their message of Jesus’ love and life, grace and mercy from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Like Jesus promised, they met resistance, challenge, persecution and struggles, but persevered in their mission to become a thriving, vibrant, inclusive community of hope and compassion unlike the world had ever seen.
For us, it is a minute after nine.
Like those graduates who will gather at Bethany on Sunday, we can still feel that odd mix of elation and grief, eagerness and trepidation, excitement and uncertainty as we contemplate our varied futures. But, even though we know that the world may think us drunken fools, we dare to step into that future anyway. We step out, confident that the Spirit of Jesus goes with us, just as the Spirit always has, giving us the words and the wisdom we need to live and to share Jesus’ Good News of hope and compassion to the ends of the earth.
Blessed Pentecost!
Bishop Mike
Thanks for reading! Join me in praying that God would use graduates everywhere to bring justice, peace and hope to a hurting world.
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