May 24, 2026
Acts 2:1-21
“We thank you, O God, for the gift
of your fabulous Spirit.”
Many years ago, a moderator of
another presbytery was renowned for the rich and sometimes unusual language he
used in his prayers. He did not use language as a way to impress or to show off
to the people praying with him. His prayers were sincere and heartfelt. But
whenever he would lead us in prayer, I would be on the edge of my seat because
I knew his prayer would not only be powerful but beautiful and unique too.
I don’t remember what else we talked
about at this particular meeting of the presbytery, but I do remember that the
moderator closed the meeting with a prayer that began, “We thank you, O God,
for the gift of your fabulous Spirit.”
We thank you, O God, for the gift of
your fabulous Spirit. I have thanked God for the gift of the Holy Spirit
countless times, and I have referred to the Spirit in as many reverent ways as
I could possibly think of: powerful, enlivening, emboldening. But until that
prayer I had never considered describing the Spirit as fabulous.
Fabulous is a fabulous word. But I
know that it is often used in less weighty contexts, such as, “How does this
dress look on me? It’s fabulous!” Or “Oh my gosh, your new kitchen looks
fabulous!” We toured our son and daughter-in-law’s newly renovated house the
other day, and I think I may have used fabulous more than once. If you
want to sound a little Hollywood, a little dramatic throw in the word
“fabulous.” But that’s why this moderator’s decision to use the word fabulous to describe the Holy Spirit
seemed so wild, so radical. It’s not a word that I would have applied to the
Spirit.
But
what is the etymology of fabulous? While fabulous is a synonym for marvelous
and incredible, it is linked, language-wise, to fabled. Something
that is fabulous is fabled. It is legendary. Something that is fabulous is so
extraordinary that it is found only in the stuff of myth or it is almost
impossible to believe. Does this mean that the moderator who prayed that prayer
believed that the Holy Spirit isn’t real? No. Nor am I trying to imply that the
Holy Spirit is only myth or legend. But it is extraordinary.
The Spirit brings
about extraordinary events. The Spirit effects extraordinary change. But let’s be honest, if we were to hear the
story of Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, in any other context than
scripture, without any reference to the holy or sacred or divine, what would we
think? We might be incredulous at the events described, because the story of
Pentecost, as is the story of the Resurrection, is an extraordinary story. This
wild wind blows through a group of people gathered in prayer. It doesn’t just
swirl around the outside of the house, it fills the house where the disciples are
sitting, praying, eating, sleeping, waiting. But the wind is just the
beginning. After the wind fills the house, divided tongues of flame appear
above these peoples’ heads. Can you imagine what that must have looked like?
Can we even begin to understand what the disciples were feeling and thinking
when they realized that tongues of fire were dancing above their heads?
But this is not
the end of the strangeness, the seemingly impossible. The other folks
witnessing these strange, extraordinary events probably could not believe what
they were seeing, but then they must have wondered if they could grasp what
they were hearing. Each of these men began to speak in the languages of every
person represented in that large diverse crowd. If someone was from Medes, that
person heard the Spirit in his or her own language. If folks were gathered from Mesopotamia or
Carthage or Cappadocia, each person heard and understood the words of the
disciples in their own language. And the people gathered knew that these
disciples were from Galilee. They recognized that these were common people.
There was no way they had been taught to speak in any language other than
Aramaic, a little Latin, or maybe Greek. But the result of this strange wind
and the even stranger dancing flames above their heads was that they could
speak in the languages of every person gathered in that place. Whatever was
happening was beyond anything these people had seen, heard, or experienced. And
it makes me think that if the word fabulous stems from fabled,
then this was a fabulous Spirit indeed.
But
if the story of Pentecost was merely the stuff of legend or fairy talks, then
we might walk away from it thinking, "That was cool. Hope they make a
movie version." But we do believe that this story of the Spirit’s descent
is true. Why? Because the consequences of the coming of the Spirit are also
extraordinary. The disciples are transformed into men of courage and strength
that they did not exhibit before. The Peter who stands in our story and speaks
to the crowds is not the Peter who impulsively tried to walk on water as Jesus
did, only to be distracted by waves and wind. The Peter who preaches this
powerful, persuasive sermon that opened hearts and minds is not the Peter who
told Jesus to wash not just his feet but his whole body. This is not the Peter
who swore he would never deny Jesus, then denied him three times as Jesus
waited to be crucified. This is a transformed Peter.
They are all transformed. They all
find their voice, their courage, their call with the coming of the Spirit. And
their transformation leads to others being transformed as well. And it is no
secret that the gospel spreads like wildfire. Those burning rings of fire above
the heads of the gathered disciples, that wild wind that filled the upper room,
were signs that the Holy Spirit, the wondrous, marvelous, astonishing, fabulous
Spirit, was set loose in the world, and nothing, nothing would ever be the
same.
But something that we don’t often
realize in our celebrations this day is that the events of Pentecost, the
powerful descent of the Holy Spirit, that we read about in Acts does not stop
with the end of our chosen verses. That day continues through the end of
chapter 2. Peter continues to preach. Yes, some thought they were drunk or just
off in general. But others continued to listen. Others continued to hear, and
they believed. And when they believed, something even more powerful happened.
They began to live as they believed. Not only were they baptized, but they also
threw themselves into becoming a community. That’s where the Spirit led them.
The last verses of this chapter reveal that the disciples and the new believers
lived as one community, as one family of faith. They sold their possessions and
put the money into a common pool. They made sure that everyone was taken care
of, that everyone had what they needed. They prayed together. They praised
together. They ate together. They worked together. They built their new life
together.
The profound gift of this fabulous
Spirit was community, and that community was built on people hearing the good
news in their own language. People sometimes preach the coming of the Spirit on
Pentecost as the reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel. If you
remember that story, all the people spoke one language and they used their
ability to communicate not as a way to live together harmoniously, but as a way
to become more like God than God. They wanted to build a tower that would
elevate them to the same height as God. So they were given different languages
and scattered across the world.
Yet the coming of the Spirit at
Pentecost does not reverse that. When the Spirit comes, it does not bring about
one language again. When the Spirit comes all the languages are still there,
but no one is excluded because of their language. They could all hear the good
news in their language. Language is no longer a barrier. Language does not
provide the means to exclude but to include. In fact language opens the doors
to a new community and a new community spirit. The Spirit provides a bridge
between all these different languages, between all these different people. The
differences in language and culture and custom are still there, but they are
honored and recognized. The community spirit does not suffer because of the
differences. The community spirit grows because of them.
I was in college the first time I went
to New York City. I traveled with a group from the campus radio station. We
made the long drive from Clarkesville to New York for a convention of college
radio and communication programs. When we finally made it to the Big Apple, I
called my parents to tell them we had arrived safely. This was long before cell
phones, so I went to find a pay phone. There were many pay phones in the lobby
of this hotel, and as I waited to call my mom and dad, I realized that I was
hearing a cacophony of other languages being spoken. I think I detected French,
German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and so many more than I could recognize. I
remember that I stopped and just listened, fascinated and excited at so many
languages being spoken at once.
It was the greatest thing I had ever
heard, and even though I was not particularly religious or church driven at
that point in my life, I understood that I was getting just a glimpse of the
kingdom of God. God’s world, in all its glorious, messy, fabulous diversity was
there in that place, and I was a small part of it.
Thank you, O God, for the gift of your
fabulous, extraordinary Spirit, which has the power to transform us into the
people you created and call us to be. Thank you, O God, for the gift of your
fabulous and amazing Spirit which has the power to bring people from every
corner of this world to your abundant table. Thank you, O God, for the gift of
your fabulous Spirit which has the power to open our hearts and minds and ears
and eyes to the work you call us to do, the love you call us to share, and to
all the children you have created. We thank you God for the gift of your
fabulous Spirit which brings us into community and reminds us that the good
news really is good.
Let all of God’s people shout out,
“Alleluia!”
Amen.
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