Highlighted Text: Acts 2:1-21

Summary of the text:

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sang, “Every day you get one more yard, you take it on faith, you take it to the heart, the waiting is the hardest part.” 

Waiting in love, in life, in most anything, is difficult, isn’t it? 

Sure. I know what you’re thinking. I am, too. We’ve all heard the old saying, “Good things come to those who wait.” 

It all depends, though, right? 

Will our waiting achieve what we want? Will there be a payoff to standing in line for those concert tickets or will we be the one standing behind the last person in line to get a ticket when they’re all sold out? 

I’ve done a good share of waiting in my life and I’ve observed that most people, including me, don’t like to wait. Ticket counters, breezeways, alleys, galleys, doctor’s offices, telephones, and freeways aren’t fun places to wait. Waiting, difficult as it may be, is an inevitable part of life.

Even in church. 

I could fill several DMV waiting rooms with folks whom I know can’t wait to get up and off the pew.  I’ve looked one of those guys straight in the mirror before and more than a few from the pulpit. 

Why is that? 

We don’t expect anything good. 

Of course, when we expect something good, we tend to have the patience to wait. Take Christmas as a child. While it was still hard not to peek, if we knew our parents planned to put something good under the tree for us, waiting was a bit exciting and well worth holding out for it. Rarely have I seen that with church!

But we should!

Back in the day, there was a corporate worship service unlike any that I’m sure we’ve experienced, a space in which folks wanted to be and in which they were more than willing to wait. 

How long? As long as it took to get something good. 

What was the good thing they were waiting to get? They weren’t really sure, but they knew firsthand that Jesus had promised to give it to them and that they had to first wait.  

Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, in the Jewish calendar, comes on the 50th day after Passover. It originally marked the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. There was a countdown that began the day after Passover and led all the way up to Shavuot. 

Leviticus 23 prescribed families to bring an omer (sheaf) of barley to the temple and to count down the days until Shavuot when another offering would be made. The Septuagint translated the Hebrew word Shavuot (seven or weeks) into the Greek word Pentecost, which means 50. Fifty days of waiting. Later Jewish tradition would count down the days or the omers/sheaves and eventually the Feast of Shavuot became associated with the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  

Now unless we have amnesia like Lucy Whitmore, Drew Barrymore’s character in the 2004 movie with Adam Sandler, 50 First Dates, days squeeze together and we get quite bored waiting for something to happen, just like the people got antsy waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain in Exodus 32. So, they got busy and built themselves a bovine friend out of their golden jewelry. Because none of them were patient enough to wait and see what would be on God’s playlist that Moses would bring down from the mountain, they decided to create their own. 

Bad move!

If we know that there is something good coming or hope that something good will come, like Sandler’s character Henry Roth in his longsuffering for Lucy, we will wait it out. 

In Acts 1:4, Jesus tells the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and “wait for the gift [his] father promised them.” And, they wait it out, not really because they know what will go down, but because they have 100% hope and trust in Jesus. 

The wait is worth it!

A mighty wind, tongues of fire, languages that the Galilean crew never knew they could speak, a spot-on-sermon by Peter explaining the new movement of God (that was a gift in itself, since Peter had a hard time waiting and an easy time putting his foot in his mouth!), and above all they received God’s Spirit to fulfill the dreams and visions described by the prophet Joel. Later, in chapter 2, we read that about 3000 souls were added to the number of Jesus’ followers that day. Well worth the wait. If the eleven had only been on social media! That would have been a great time to BeReal! 

Here is the thing: in God’s measurement, waiting is a good thing, especially when we wait upon him. The proclivity of the human heart is to go all out and usually on our own strength.   

Think for a minute about another “multiple language” scene in Genesis 11. A bunch of church folk think it would be great to build a tower to God. They  roll up their sleeves to do it without asking whether or not God might agree with them. He confuses their language so they can’t complete their task because he knows they only seek to pat themselves on the back. Now, I frankly believe multiple languages are good, but in that case, the languages became a symbol of a people who couldn’t wait, whose pride made them grasp for God rather than listen for him. 

I resonate with how Shane Claiborne contrasts the Tower of Babel story and that of Pentecost in his new book Rethinking LIfe: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person, “Babel is about the power of a monoculture—people impressed with themselves and the possibilities of uniformity. Pentecost is about the power of God to bring people together across all that divides them” (Claiborne, 17). 

And, Pentecost is about waiting on the Lord to renew our strength. It is about reliance, not on ourselves, our ingenuity, creativity, cleverness, and will power, but on the inferno of God’s Spirit burning from within, energizing us to live like Jesus and to go forth in his power, to walk across divides and to speak a language that others can understand of a God who loves them and us. 

So, on the Sunday of Pentecost, don’t rush. Let the Spirit do the rushing. Don’t think you’ve got to act to fill the space or move the ball forward. Provide some space for holy waiting. Give time for the Spirit to move in you and your people. It will be worth the wait!

May our movement be that of the Psalmist, “[We] wait for the Lord, [our] whole being waits, and in his word [we] put our hope” (Psalm 130:5). 

Scott Bullock is a Board Member and Contributor with The Pastors Workshop. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister who has served churches in Illinois, New Jersey, and California. He holds an MA in New Testament Studies from Wheaton College, an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a ThM in New Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary. Scott is married with three teen-aged children.

Call to Worship

Adapted from Acts 2 

Leader: Come, sing a new song of worship.

People: Come, sing a new song of praise.

Leader: Today is a day of a promise fulfilled.

People: With joy we celebrate Pentecost.

Leader: Pentecost – a day when power and comfort flowed.

People: Pentecost – a day of hope and inspiration.

Leader: A day when the Holy Spirit was revealed in flaming glory

People: and the glory was given to the people.

Leader: The fire of the Holy Spirit lives on in us.

People: Sing praises!

All: We sing praises, indeed!

AnnMarie Kneebone

Prayer of Confession

Almighty God, you poured your Spirit upon gathered disciples creating bold tongues, open ears, and a new community of faith. We confess that we hold back the force of your Spirit among us. We do not listen for your word of grace, speak the good news of your love, or live as a people made one in Christ. Have mercy on us, oh God. Transform our timid lives by the power of your Spirit, and fill us with a flaming desire to be your faithful people, doing your will for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Time of silent reflection and confession…

Submitted by Austin D. Hill

Assurance of Pardon

Leader: The good news is that Christ calls us to new life and enables us to begin again and again and again and again. Friends, believe the good news of the gospel.
People: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven! As Jesus healed the afflicted and restored those who have died, he also forgives our sins and gives us new life.
Leader: Friends, believe the good news of the gospel.
People: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!

Benediction

May the Holy Spirit empower you now and always

to speak and live the Good News of Jesus

for you and for all. Amen.

Lisa Degrenia, www.revlisad.com