Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.

“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (Acts 2:2-4).  This is how Luke described that first Pentecost.  Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon God’s people. Today we celebrate the empowerment we have received through the Spirit to become apostles.  This empowerment is what inspires us to proclaim the gospel without fear.  Today we celebrate Pentecost, the “birth day” of the Church.

Luke tells us that those that were in that house that day were filled with the Holy Spirit.  In Greek, the phrase is “hagios pneumatos,” hagios meaning “holy” and pneumatos literally meaning wind, breath or spirit.  In the Old Testament, the word used is “qodesh ruah.”  The very first words of Scripture are, “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).  Literally, we are told that God’s breath or spirit swept over the face of the waters and creation began.  Later in Genesis (2:7) we hear, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”  Or what about the story of King David, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13).  The ruah, the breath (spirit) of the Lord, was with David from that day forward.  God’s spirit came upon this shepherd boy and transformed him into a mighty king.
 
In the stories of the Old Testament, we see that  God’s Spirit (ruah) was a mighty, transforming power.  It had the power to create, the power to give life, the power to transform life, and the power to destroy life.  For the ancient Israelites, God was Wind, the Holy Ruah.  In fact, in the Holy of Holies in the Temple, a place similar to our chancel area, there were no images of God; after all, in the Commandments we are told that we are not to make graven images of God.  But in the Holy of Holies there was a wooden carving of cherubim, a bird-animal that had a seven-foot wing span that was overlayed with gold.  For the Israelites, God was not in the gold or the carving; God was the wind beneath the wings of the cherubim.  God was all around the cherubim.  For the Israelites, the most sacred object of their worship was a God that they could not see.  It was like the wind, going and coming as it pleased.  At times, it was a cool breeze; at other times, it was powerful and violent, but always present and always surrounding us. 

Now, I am not a meteorologist, but here in Kansas we certainly know about wind, don’t we?  Technically-speaking, wind is defined as “the movement of air.”  Air is all around us and inside of us.  Have you ever tried to go without air?  We can’t; without air, we will die!  Let’s do something together.  Take your hands and cup them around your mouth and blow.  What do you see when you do that?  Nothing!  What do you feel?  Yes, you feel hot air, which only goes to prove that we Lutherans are full of hot air.  Actually, it proves one other thing, that we are alive!  This is why the Israelites named God the Holy Wind, or later in Greek hagios pneumatos, the Holy Spirit.  It is in this imagery of wind that the Israelites understood this God they could not see.  As Jesus prepared his followers for his departure, he promised them that when he left they would not be alone, when he left to return to the Father he would send them God’s Wind.  This wind would be the one that would always be with them, it would be their Advocate, the One who would stand with them in the world.  It would abide in them, and guide them, and give them the power to do amazing things, things that would be even greater than that which Jesus had done.  On that night he was betrayed, Jesus promised peace would be present always in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Historically we Lutherans don’t like to talk about the Spirit; yet, the Spirit is what gives us life, both physically and spiritually.  That is why Jesus sent the Spirit, to continue to give us life.  Like the air that makes up the wind, God’s Spirit is what is all around us and in us and gives us life.  For many of us, since we cannot see the Spirit, we do not want to talk about it, or worse yet, we want to deny it.  But can you deny wind?  Not here in Kansas!  John put it this way, “The wind blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with every person who is born of the Spirit” (3:8).

God’s Spirit is like the wind.  It is all around us.  Just because we cannot see it does not mean it is not there.  In fact, whether we know it our not, it is working on us and in us right now.  How many of you have ever been to the sand dunes along the east shore of Lake Michigan?  They are an incredible sight.  You can walk across them to the lake, but it is a tough walk.  Part of the problem is that a path cannot be made across them because the wind is constantly changing them.  They never look the same from visit to visit because this wind that we cannot see but it is there is constantly shaping and reshaping them.  In the same way, we can describe the Spirit of God blowing across you and me.
 
Edward Markquart, a Lutheran Pastor in Seattle, puts it this way, “God is present with us, whether we feel him or not.  Whether we are thinking of him or not.  Whether we are good or bad, rich or poor, indifferent or concerned… working, playing, living, or dying God is here.  This is a statement of grace.  God is mysteriously near us, not because we are good or kind, or because we are religious.  God is graciously present in our lives because, well, God is God.  The purpose of the Spirit is to make God’s Spirit alive in us.”
 
God’s Spirit makes Christ alive in us, and when Christ’s Spirit is alive in us as individuals, then together, as the gathering of the faithful, we have the power to do incredible things.  In fact, in this morning’s text Jesus said that together we will have the power to do greater things than he did.  When we use the gifts God has given us in His name and for His Glory, we can do the unbelievable.  God’s Spirit has been given to us so that we may be transformed into those that have the power to share the Good News, which we can do by advocating for the poor, by standing with the oppressed, by living lives that foster creation, by living lives that are counter to the culture.  With this Holy Wind all around us, we are empowered to be the good stewards that we so often deny ourselves of being.  Brothers and sisters, God’s wind is all around us.  So often we complain about the wind here in Kansas, but I have a challenge for you today.  From now on when you feel the wind, remember God’s ruah, that life-giving, transforming wind from God.  As it blows across you, let it transform you like it transforms those dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Let God’s Spirit transform you every day, and as you continue to feel that wind, remember that you, too, are baptized, and as a baptized member of the Body of Christ we are given the power to do amazing things, things that are even greater that Jesus himself did.  Amen.