The Real Miracle
Sermon
FORMED BY A DREAM
First Lesson Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost
All of you have heard stories of miracles. Some of you have experienced a miracle. The one which tops my list comes from several years ago. A woman I knew had been doctoring for stomach problems. Nothing seemed to be working. Her local doctor sent her to Rochester. The Mayo doctors ran her through a battery of tests and discovered cancer. They did surgery immediately. They took one look and closed her up. There was cancer everywhere. She came home to die. But she didn't get sick and weaker as we expected. We saw her in church every Sunday. Several months later, she was back at Mayo. The doctors were stunned. There was no sign of the cancer. We all knew we had experienced a miracle.
Another favorite miracle story comes from the life of Helen Keller. Over and over again, her remarkable teacher Ann Sullivan spelled words into the deaf and blind child's hand. But Helen couldn't make the connections. Finally, one day Ann was spelling the word "water" on one of Helen's hands while pouring water on the other hand. Suddenly Helen jumped up and raced around and shrieked for joy. She understood. That was the miracle that set her on a path of discovery that changed her life and inspired millions.
A short time ago I read about two men who fought in World War II. They were good friends. One was a Christian and one was an agnostic. One night the Christian man had a dream. The next morning he insisted that his friend take his pocket Bible into battle with him. He wouldn't take no for an answer. The friend gave in and slipped the Bible into his vest pocket. He caught a bullet on the battlefield that day. It hit him so hard it knocked him over. When he stood up he was startled to discover that he wasn't injured. The bullet had lodged itself in the center of the Bible. That man was no longer an agnostic.
We could trade miracle stories all day to see who had the most amazing one. But I think we have already heard it. It's the story of the first Pentecost. That was a miracle to top all miracles! Picture the setting. Scholars think it was probably May 25 in the year 33 A.D. Throngs of people were pouring into Jerusalem. They were gathering for the great Jewish Festival of Weeks, also called Pentecost because it fell fifty days after the Passover. This festival was a lot like our Thanksgiving. There were only 120 Christians in Jerusalem at that time. Many of them had gathered for prayer in a room in the city. Suddenly, about 9 a.m., a noise like the rush of a mighty wind swept into the room, filling the whole house with a whistling roar. Then something like flames of fire rested on the heads of the people, yet their hair was not burning. As though that weren't enough, next the language changed. Uneducated fisherfolk were speaking fluently in foreign languages they had never even heard much less learned. Fourteen different languages were being spoken. The miracle attracted others in a city that was already crowded. Peter started to preach and everyone was struck by the change in him. This wasn't the bumbling Peter. This was a new Peter, bold and confident. His weaknesses had apparently vanished.
And this is only half of the miracle. The response was the other half. The statistic is astounding: 3,000 people were baptized! The Christian community grew from 120 to a whopping 3,000 in one day! The next day, Peter and John healed a crippled man. Then Peter preached again and the number of believers increased to 5,000. Thirty years later the historian Cornelius Tacitus recorded that Nero, the emperor of Rome, began the first great persecution against "a vast multitude of Christians." From 120 to 3,000 to 5,000 to a vast multitude. Now that's a major miracle! For a philosophy or teaching to spread this far this fast in the ancient world was absolutely unheard of ... it simply had never happened before.
The pilgrims who were visiting Rome in the year 33 A.D. returned to their homes and became the human fuses igniting the fire of Christianity everywhere in the ancient world. At that time in history the church had no mission, it had no official evangelism committee, no educational program, no administrative structure. Rather, it left everything to the individual. This is the true Pentecost miracle: that anonymous persons, hundreds of them, were inspired by the Spirit to use their gifts and tell the story. They were just average people under threat of arrest or death who accomplished unbelievable feats on a scale never before imagined. Is not this the greatest miracle of all? People's gifts were set free. Like Peter, they became inspired people.
This still happens. The Spirit is still setting people free. Sometimes we resist it. We don't let the Spirit take hold of us. We don't even recognize that we have gifts to be freed. We're too shy or too busy, or afraid. But sometimes the Spirit finds a way to sneak in anyway. And people are still being set on fire.
Here are just a couple of examples of what can happen. Elizabeth Dole tells of her Christian grandmother: "My grandmother was an almost perfect role model. She practiced what she preached and lived her life for others. Although she was not a wealthy woman, almost anything she could spare went to ministries at home and missions abroad. When it became necessary for her, in her nineties, to go into a nursing home, she welcomed the opportunity. She said, 'There might be some people there who don't know the Lord and I can read the Bible to them.' " Now there was a woman on fire with the Pentecost Spirit!
Some of you will remember the movie, Mr. Holland's Opus. It's a wonderful story about a dedicated teacher who struggles to write a symphony while teaching high school. After mentoring thousands of young people, Mr. Holland was forced to retire because of budget cuts. Unknown to him, hundreds of his present and former students gathered in the high school auditorium to pay tribute to him and hear his symphony performed for the first time. At that point there wasn't a dry eye in the movie theater. I'll never forget what one of Mr. Holland's students said: "Mr. Holland, you have written the symphony, but we are your music."
You may not have as dramatic a finish as Mr. Holland. Real life doesn't always turn out like that. But, people can be your music too if you allow yourself and your gifts to be used by the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't have to be a splashy thing. People whose gifts are set free are teaching Sunday school and inspiring our children. Others are serving meals, visiting the shut--ins, planting the flowers, organizing the pew racks, helping with Special Olympics. It doesn't matter if you have one gift or ten. What matters is that you use them, that you allow the Spirit to set them free. Your gifts can change the world. Some of you will be skeptical. Think back to the time when you were a child. Back then you had big dreams. You can have them again! You can become a fuse that helps to ignite your part of the world. That's the real Pentecost miracle: people like you with gifts set free.
One of the most delightful books around is Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. At one point in the story, the wise, crusty old grandfather is having a conversation with the grandson. They live in a southern town called Cold Sassy. This brash old grampa had preached an impromptu sermon in church that morning. His grandson is arguing with him about the sermon and about which event was more important, Easter or Pentecost. Grampa says, "What's important is thet when the spirit a--Jesus Christ come down on them disciples later, they quit settin' round a--moanin' and a--tremblin', and got to work. They warn't scairt no more, and the words they spoke had fire in'im. Compared to a miracle like that, Jesus rollin' back a dang rock and flying off to Heaven ain't nothin'." Then the grandson asks Grampa what Gramma had to say about that. Grampa answered, "Nothin'. I didn't let her interrupt me again. I said thet same miracle is still a--happenin', right here in Cold Sassy. If'n a person can ketch aholt of the spirit of Jesus Christ, he can quit bein' scairt and be like risin' up from the dead."1
And that's the real miracle: the Spirit catching ahold of you and your gifts, like raising you from the dead to set the world on fire. Amen.
____________
1. Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 188.
Another favorite miracle story comes from the life of Helen Keller. Over and over again, her remarkable teacher Ann Sullivan spelled words into the deaf and blind child's hand. But Helen couldn't make the connections. Finally, one day Ann was spelling the word "water" on one of Helen's hands while pouring water on the other hand. Suddenly Helen jumped up and raced around and shrieked for joy. She understood. That was the miracle that set her on a path of discovery that changed her life and inspired millions.
A short time ago I read about two men who fought in World War II. They were good friends. One was a Christian and one was an agnostic. One night the Christian man had a dream. The next morning he insisted that his friend take his pocket Bible into battle with him. He wouldn't take no for an answer. The friend gave in and slipped the Bible into his vest pocket. He caught a bullet on the battlefield that day. It hit him so hard it knocked him over. When he stood up he was startled to discover that he wasn't injured. The bullet had lodged itself in the center of the Bible. That man was no longer an agnostic.
We could trade miracle stories all day to see who had the most amazing one. But I think we have already heard it. It's the story of the first Pentecost. That was a miracle to top all miracles! Picture the setting. Scholars think it was probably May 25 in the year 33 A.D. Throngs of people were pouring into Jerusalem. They were gathering for the great Jewish Festival of Weeks, also called Pentecost because it fell fifty days after the Passover. This festival was a lot like our Thanksgiving. There were only 120 Christians in Jerusalem at that time. Many of them had gathered for prayer in a room in the city. Suddenly, about 9 a.m., a noise like the rush of a mighty wind swept into the room, filling the whole house with a whistling roar. Then something like flames of fire rested on the heads of the people, yet their hair was not burning. As though that weren't enough, next the language changed. Uneducated fisherfolk were speaking fluently in foreign languages they had never even heard much less learned. Fourteen different languages were being spoken. The miracle attracted others in a city that was already crowded. Peter started to preach and everyone was struck by the change in him. This wasn't the bumbling Peter. This was a new Peter, bold and confident. His weaknesses had apparently vanished.
And this is only half of the miracle. The response was the other half. The statistic is astounding: 3,000 people were baptized! The Christian community grew from 120 to a whopping 3,000 in one day! The next day, Peter and John healed a crippled man. Then Peter preached again and the number of believers increased to 5,000. Thirty years later the historian Cornelius Tacitus recorded that Nero, the emperor of Rome, began the first great persecution against "a vast multitude of Christians." From 120 to 3,000 to 5,000 to a vast multitude. Now that's a major miracle! For a philosophy or teaching to spread this far this fast in the ancient world was absolutely unheard of ... it simply had never happened before.
The pilgrims who were visiting Rome in the year 33 A.D. returned to their homes and became the human fuses igniting the fire of Christianity everywhere in the ancient world. At that time in history the church had no mission, it had no official evangelism committee, no educational program, no administrative structure. Rather, it left everything to the individual. This is the true Pentecost miracle: that anonymous persons, hundreds of them, were inspired by the Spirit to use their gifts and tell the story. They were just average people under threat of arrest or death who accomplished unbelievable feats on a scale never before imagined. Is not this the greatest miracle of all? People's gifts were set free. Like Peter, they became inspired people.
This still happens. The Spirit is still setting people free. Sometimes we resist it. We don't let the Spirit take hold of us. We don't even recognize that we have gifts to be freed. We're too shy or too busy, or afraid. But sometimes the Spirit finds a way to sneak in anyway. And people are still being set on fire.
Here are just a couple of examples of what can happen. Elizabeth Dole tells of her Christian grandmother: "My grandmother was an almost perfect role model. She practiced what she preached and lived her life for others. Although she was not a wealthy woman, almost anything she could spare went to ministries at home and missions abroad. When it became necessary for her, in her nineties, to go into a nursing home, she welcomed the opportunity. She said, 'There might be some people there who don't know the Lord and I can read the Bible to them.' " Now there was a woman on fire with the Pentecost Spirit!
Some of you will remember the movie, Mr. Holland's Opus. It's a wonderful story about a dedicated teacher who struggles to write a symphony while teaching high school. After mentoring thousands of young people, Mr. Holland was forced to retire because of budget cuts. Unknown to him, hundreds of his present and former students gathered in the high school auditorium to pay tribute to him and hear his symphony performed for the first time. At that point there wasn't a dry eye in the movie theater. I'll never forget what one of Mr. Holland's students said: "Mr. Holland, you have written the symphony, but we are your music."
You may not have as dramatic a finish as Mr. Holland. Real life doesn't always turn out like that. But, people can be your music too if you allow yourself and your gifts to be used by the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't have to be a splashy thing. People whose gifts are set free are teaching Sunday school and inspiring our children. Others are serving meals, visiting the shut--ins, planting the flowers, organizing the pew racks, helping with Special Olympics. It doesn't matter if you have one gift or ten. What matters is that you use them, that you allow the Spirit to set them free. Your gifts can change the world. Some of you will be skeptical. Think back to the time when you were a child. Back then you had big dreams. You can have them again! You can become a fuse that helps to ignite your part of the world. That's the real Pentecost miracle: people like you with gifts set free.
One of the most delightful books around is Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. At one point in the story, the wise, crusty old grandfather is having a conversation with the grandson. They live in a southern town called Cold Sassy. This brash old grampa had preached an impromptu sermon in church that morning. His grandson is arguing with him about the sermon and about which event was more important, Easter or Pentecost. Grampa says, "What's important is thet when the spirit a--Jesus Christ come down on them disciples later, they quit settin' round a--moanin' and a--tremblin', and got to work. They warn't scairt no more, and the words they spoke had fire in'im. Compared to a miracle like that, Jesus rollin' back a dang rock and flying off to Heaven ain't nothin'." Then the grandson asks Grampa what Gramma had to say about that. Grampa answered, "Nothin'. I didn't let her interrupt me again. I said thet same miracle is still a--happenin', right here in Cold Sassy. If'n a person can ketch aholt of the spirit of Jesus Christ, he can quit bein' scairt and be like risin' up from the dead."1
And that's the real miracle: the Spirit catching ahold of you and your gifts, like raising you from the dead to set the world on fire. Amen.
____________
1. Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), p. 188.
