I thought about all of those who derided this community and, in my mind, they were using the words of the mockers in today’s scripture, saying that you were filled with new wine, that how you were being community was not how community should be, that you were changing the taken for granted, challenging the status quo, that you had gotten it all wrong.

I thought about those in this community who may have and may still have a different theological understanding that put you in the minority in this congregation, perhaps at odds with decisions being made by the community. How did you all learn to hear one another, just as the community in Acts heard one another in their own language?

I was not your pastor. I was not present. I was not here for the times of uncertainty, the tears of pain or the tears of joy. I was not here just a few years ago. So, I wondered. What was it like for you? Did you feel the Spirit here? What kept you together unless it was the Spirit? Now I don’t want to keep you living in an event that occurred four years ago. But, it seemed from this outsider’s viewpoint, that the Spirit could be seen above your church as a great flame, beckoning all, challenging many. A great wind seemed to rush about this place. So, it made me wonder…

What happens when the Spirit comes among a people? What happens when things get turned topsy-turvy, upside down? What happens when things settle down and the world gets a little more easy? Can we experience the Spirit in the more mundane times of our lives with the same kind of intensity and with the same sense of urgency? What’s it like to be marked by the Spirit? What’s it like to watch the flame, to be part of the flame, to burn with the flame, especially when things are just moving along?

Maybe we need on a daily basis to be filled with the Spirit in more intimate and less awesome ways – a quiet Spirit. While today we hear about the rush of a mighty wind, in another scripture Elijah finds God in a still small voice, a whisper. But, the question still remains, “How can we be marked by the Spirit” in the good times, in the less conflict-fraught times? First, how can we be filled with the Spirit? And then, how can we be marked by the Spirit?

On Pentecost, the Fiftieth Day after Easter, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and those gathered. Traditionally, we recognize this as the birth of the church universal. We also celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit among us now. The gift of the Spirit, God’s very breath, is a sustaining and perpetual gift, never abating, never subsiding, never depleting. The Spirit is alive in the world. On that day of Pentecost so long ago, a miracle occurred – not just the things that stand out to us – the flames, the speaking in many languages or the hearing in native tongues, but something exponentially more holy and important: the very breath of God, the mighty wind of life, fell upon people isolated and afraid with uncertainty and it moved them to boldly face the uncertainty of this world with the certainty of God’s abiding presence. It moved them forward as prophets, teachers, and healers. It transformed them into Christ’s very body for the world. A sad group of people were marked by God. A dejected band of Jesus’ followers were claimed by God. A rag-tag remnant of “what once was” was transformed into the hope of what can be. The Spirit marked them and they flamed with God’s passion. The Spirit marked them and a faction of Jews became the seed of the church. The Spirit marked them to change the world – to bring God’s reign. The Spirit marked them and the world has not been the same since.

Pentecost occurred on Shavuot, a Jewish festival celebrating the gift of the Torah – the Law of Moses. This festival came fifty days after Passover, which is why Pentecost is called Pentecost – it means fifty. On this day, Jews of the Diaspora – Jews living in many countries, representing many cultures – gathered in Jerusalem to thank God for the Law. It must have been difficult to impossible for these folks to understand each other, because while they shared the same faith, they did not share the same language.

“They must be drunk” was the first response of some watching. They were amazed and confused; others mocked, saying, “They are filled with new wine.” This is out of place. It’s not the way things have been. Pentecost has never been like this before. We have a way of doing things and this is right out of our expectations. We don’t understand and we can’t control. It must be bad.

Peter, always the brash and haughty one, the one who denied Jesus when the situation got a little tough, the one who always answered Jesus’ questions first and never got them right, Peter, now more emboldened with the Spirit, plucks up his courage and gets it right by quoting the prophet Joel to the nay-sayers. Of all of the scriptures that he could have selected, why this apocalyptic message? Why this story with God’s Spirit falling upon all flesh, on sons and daughters, with visions and dreams, on slaves, in heaven and on earth, with prophesies, and a moon turning to blood, and the sun turning to darkness? Why this of all passages?

At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. Jesus, in that holy moment, declares his intentions. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of Jubilee.” Jesus uses the words of the prophet Isaiah to tell us right up front his mission and purpose for being here. It is to rearrange the power structures of this world and to bring in God’s reign. Peter calls upon the images found in Joel to tell those assembled that all that is one way will soon be another way. The world is going to be turned upside down – and that it’s the work of God, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was marked. Peter was marked. Those assembled were marked. The Holy Spirit marked them all with mission and purpose.

All of us are marked or feel marked in some way in this world. Sometimes we are proud of this marking – we put stickers from our universities on our bumper stickers, we wear t-shirts sporting logos and insignia, we wear rings and other jewelry, we wear ribbons commemorating causes. Sometimes we are ashamed of or have fear concerning labels that seems to mark us – we have been patients in psychiatric hospitals or take medicines for mental or emotional health reasons, we struggle with or have struggled with addiction, we have been incarcerated, we can’t read well, we struggle with something that others appear to face with great ease. And still there are times when others mark us because of the color of our skin, our age, our ethnicity, our religion, our sexual orientation, our educational background, our regional background, our physical ability, or our gender. All of us move through the world as marked people. At times we are at ease with these markings; at other times we are conflicted and troubled. But today we talk about being marked in a different way. Today we talk about being claimed by God, marked by the Holy Spirit – and this marking supersedes all of the others. This marking takes us out of our limiting and self-limiting world and sets before us a challenge to use our gifts to create a community built upon God’s imagination – God’s world.

We may select different scriptures or words to identify our mission. But our mission marks us. Our mission in the world determines how we understand ourselves and, ultimately, how the world sees us. Each of us in this room can feed the flame of the Spirit in our lives, to go forth as Christ’s body, and to be bearers of the reign of God. Each of us can choose to hear one another – in all of our strangeness – and to find commonality in the Spirit.

How can we be marked by the Spirit in this time in this place? The Spirit changes things, so before we can be marked by the Spirit, we need to be honest about that fact. The Spirit, when let loose is not controllable or predictable. It changes our very core. First we must answer, do we want the Spirit? Then, we have to have the Spirit among us. Sometimes the Spirit just erupts like it did in the story of Acts or as it did here in 2001, but more often than not our relationship with the Holy Spirit is like any other relationship…we have to nurture it. We have to be intentional and invitational. We have to seek the Spirit. We invite the Spirit in praise and in prayer. We seek the Spirit in silence and quiet. We invite the Spirit to be among us.

Once the Spirit is among us, we are marked in ways we cannot imagine now. Many will not understand; some of us will not understand. But when God pours the Holy Spirit upon us, we will prophesy. We will preach. We will dream dreams and see visions. Slaves will be free. The world will no longer be as it is. We will live in God’s world. Amen.