Burn the House Down

May 20^th, 2018          “Burn the House Down”       Rev. Heather Jepsen

Acts 2:1-21 with Romans 8:22-27

(Listen to “AJR – Burn the House Down” – through 1:15) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozbnTScWups

         Whoa!  Is Pastor Heather drunk?  No, it’s only 11:00 in the morning!

         I’m attempting to get you into the true spirit of Pentecost which is about so much more than celebrating the birthday of the church.  I want you to feel the wonder and the amazement the first Christians felt that morning as the Holy Spirit took over the people of Jerusalem.  Like this morning people were shocked and upset.  Some of them kind of liked it and others hoped it would just end.  The wind of Pentecost is a wind that uproots and challenges.  The fire of Pentecost is a fire that will burn the whole house down.

         Imagine that morning.  The disciples were gathered together when suddenly a huge rush of wind blew through the place.  It was a gust of sound and violence, a shocking, jarring event.  It grabbed everyone’s attention and put everybody on their knees.  Fire came down from the sky to light atop everyone’s heads and all were filled with the amazing fire of God.  Words poured forth uncontrollably from shocked mouths as men and women, all of them, began to speak different languages. 

         The people rushed into the square and all those gathered around are shocked at the sight.  Aren’t these people Jews, how come they know all of our languages?  As the people babble on, sharing the good news of salvation, some onlookers grow excited and others grow upset.  What is this whole scene about anyway?  These people are drunk, or simply trying to get our attention.  Many believe that surely this is some kind of stunt.

         Peter interrupts the scene of chaos.  This is no stunt, this is the power of God; a power to break down barriers that divide people and nations.  No longer will the Jews be the sole bearers of the love of God.  From this point forward, the Holy Spirit will rain down on all people; it will set fire to all of creation.  Young and old, men and women, rich and poor, slave and free; all our old walls of separation are blown down by the rush of a violent wind.  All the houses we hide in to separate ourselves from each other and from God will be set on fire.  God will burn this whole house down.

         As the church grows staid and settled in its ways we are tempted to forget about the fire of Pentecost.  We are happy to “celebrate good times”, eat a cupcake, and remember the church’s birthday.  That’s right up our alley and right in our comfort zone.  The church is nearly 2000 years old, how exciting can the birthdays be at this point? 

         We forget that the church was born in fire.  And we forget that more often than not, the power of God is the power to tear down existing structures and traditions.  God has always been about fire.  From the fire on the mountain as Moses receives the Ten Commandments; to John the baptizer who preaches sermons of fire warning that Jesus will baptize us with fire and the Holy Spirit.  God’s power is a power of radical transformation, and God is not afraid to tear down old temples to build a new church.

         God’s people have always felt dissatisfaction with the systems and structures of power.  We have always been longing and aching for more, for change.  When we pray that God’s kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying for a rush of violent wind.  We are praying for God to burn down the house of unjust power to give birth to new life and the kingdom of God.  God changes the world in fire.

         In his letter to the Romans, Paul is addressing this longing for change.  He compares his people’s pain and angst to the pains of a woman in labor.  The whole creation is groaning for rebirth.  We ourselves, born of the Spirit in fire, feel those pains of creation.  With the creation we are groaning, laboring, working toward new birth and change in our world.  We are longing for justice; for the end of racism, sexism, classism, and all the other isms.  We are longing for peace between the people of Israel and the people of Palestine.  We are longing for just systems of government, where health care and the safety of all are priorities.  We are longing for a just economy with fair wages and the end of poverty and hunger.  With sighs too deep for words the Spirit cries for change and is groaning in labor towards a new creation.  We are eager for God to burn down the unjust house we have built, and raise us up a new and healed creation. 

         The message of Jesus Christ is always one that burns the house down.   Jesus was a threat to those in power, to the religious authorities and to the Roman government and it got him killed.  The powers that be never like change.  But God always challenges us to change, God always pushes our boundaries, God always mixes it up, does something new, and makes a new way in the world.  The flames of God burn down our walls of separation and division, they burn down our structures of injustice, and they burn down the temples we have raised to honor ourselves.

         God is always doing a new thing, and today we welcome and honor the newest members among us.  Ana, Amber, and Claire join the church today.  Sure, they are not new in the sense that we have known them for years.  But today we welcome them as equals, as fellow believers, and as leaders of this church.  Today we invite them to have the same voice and vote as any of us.  Today we invite them to tell us what they think about who God is and who God is calling this church to be.  Today our young women see visions and dream dreams about the future of God’s church.

         We don’t like change and we don’t like challenge.  On Pentecost we would rather sing “Happy Birthday” and go about our business and forget that the church was born in fire and that the church is called to live and breathe fire in our world.  If we are to be the true church, if we are to be true followers of our faith, then we need to be willing to burn the house down.  We need to be willing to challenge unjust structures and systems.  We need to be willing to do something different in worship.  We need to be willing to welcome the stranger.  We need to be willing to follow where the Spirit leads, especially when we are led into uncomfortable places.

         This Pentecost we need to remember that we are baptized in fire, we live and breathe fire, we worship a God who burns the house down.  God challenges our yearning for familiar comfort with a wind and fire from heaven.  God blows us in new directions and sets our hearts on fire to change the world.  This Pentecost I challenge you to embrace the fire of your faith.  Harness that energy, live that fire, change the world, and work to bring about God’s kingdom of justice and peace. 

Let’s burn the whole house down!

(Listen to “AJR – Burn the House Down” – to finish)