Sermon: “It’s Good to Be Back Home” (Acts 2)

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

 

John Denver said it best:

Hey, it’s good to be back home again

Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend

Yes, and hey, it’s good to be back home again

It’s good to be back at the farm.  God’s farm.  God’s vineyard.  It’s been far too long.  These eleven weeks have felt like eleven months, haven’t they?  All along I’ve been saying that we’ve been separated physically, but united spiritually.  Well, now we are both.  Sort of.

Not all of us are here.  Some are still home because they have respiratory problems or compromised immune systems.  Some are still maintaining social distances out of fear.  We are far from being back to normal, but this is certainly a start — a good start.

What a time this has been.  I can think of nothing in my 52 years that compares to this.  We do not know the long-term effects of this pandemic.  Many people have lost their jobs.  Our economy is already suffering and will continue to do so for a long time.  Some churches, that are not nearly as healthy as we are, will be forced to close permanently.  This does not even touch upon the over 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in the United States and over 320,000 globally.  There are many survivors who will suffer permanent damage to some of their vital organs.  No.  Normal is not going to return for a long, long time.

But today is a day to rejoice.  The Lord’s deliverance is unfolding.  We can see it.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read the Bible cover-to-cover.  I’ve read all of Scripture throughout my life, not to mention during my seminary education, but I wanted to follow one of those “plans” and read everything in order: from Genesis to Revelation.  I purchased a copy of the One Year Bible and have been making my way through.  Each day, you read a portion of the Old Testament and a portion of the New — as well as selections from the Psalms and Proverbs to break it up a bit.  Two Mondays ago, the Psalter reading was Psalm 115, which begins:

Not to us, Lord, not to us

but to your name be the glory,

because of your love and faithfulness

This passage hit me right between the eyes.  When we use words like “faith” and “faithfulness,” we often speak of humans (us) being faithful to God.  We do not think of God being faithful to us.  We just assume that this is always the case.  But why?  Why do we assume this?  Better yet, what is so amazing about us that God needs to be faithful to us?  These questions are obviously rhetorical.  God does not need to be faithful to us.  When you look at the way we behave — throughout history and today — it is easy to conclude that God would have every reason not to be faithful to us.  And yet, he is.  God remains faithful to us.  God’s love is constant.

Think of Jesus.  God in the flesh comes to earth to show us the way, and yet the people rejected him.  Eventually, they nailed him to the cross.  There’s even more reason for God to abandon us.  Yet God remained faithful to his creation.

After Jesus ascends to the Father, he gives his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, which he promised he would do all along.  Look, for example, at the Gospel of John: “If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth” (14:15-16).  This promise comes to fruition at the beginning of the Book of Acts.

Today is Pentecost: the day we read about in today’s reading from Acts 2.  Jesus had ascended to heaven in Acts 1 and now the disciples — along with a multitude of other followers — are gathered in Jerusalem.  Just then, all Heaven breaks loose.  People began speaking in tongues and tongues of fire appeared over their heads.  It is a strange story, indeed.  Moreover, the crowd included people from several other nations — residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia…the list goes on and on.  The key is that they each heard what others were saying in their own language: those who were speaking in tongues.

Why is this the birth of the Church?  Maybe because the message has now been translated (so to speak) into so many other languages.  Everybody is supposed to hear it.  This suggests that the Good News of the Gospel is for everyone to hear, not just a specific group of people in a specific place.  It is global.  It is God’s revelation to the world!

The COVID-19 pandemic, as you know, is also global.  It affects everyone.  Although the effects of it will be felt for a long time, we are (hopefully) on the downslope.  That said, the Church needs to roll up its sleeves and get to work.

There is much that needs to be done.  Too much to list in one sermon.  I will, however, touch upon a few points.

• I may have mentioned in one of my recorded sermons that a colleague of mine believes that many people will suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic street disorder) once this is all over. On one hand, there are people who have been cooped-up at home who suffer from cabin fever.  On the other hand, there are people who lost loved ones or have been ill themselves.  Still, there are others who have been afraid of getting sick all this time.  Those who suffer from respiratory problems or have compromised immune systems have been living in fear.  How do we offer a word of comfort to these folks?
• We need to get the word out to people that we have reopened for worship (not that we ever completely closed) and that we are following state guidelines to be as hygienic as possible. As you can see, people are wearing masks and are sitting six-feet apart.  The sanctuary will be sanitized before we return next week.  In other words, this is a safe place for people to gather to praise God and to hear God’s Word together.  We need to disseminate that word.
• Members and friends who have suffered financial losses at this time may need our assistance, too. Our Deacon’s Fund, which is used at my discretion as well as the discretion of the chair of the Worship Team, this fund is currently quite healthy.  That may change depending on the requests that are sure to come in.  In the past, we have solicited pledges to this fund on Communion Sunday.  Unfortunately, celebrating Communion is on hold until we find a safe way of distributing the elements.  We will also have to find another way/time to solicit pledges to the Deacon’s Fund.

These are just a few ways that we will be called to respond to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.  There will be other challenges and other callings that will come our way as well.

For now, it is important to focus on who we are and why we are.  Today is our birthday.  We were formed by the Holy Spirit to serve God in the service of others.  Today, we celebrate that.  We celebrate that we are back home.  Tomorrow, we will need to roll up our sleeves and respond to the cries of the world.  In both our celebration and our work, though, the Living Spirit of the Living God is with us to form, inform, and reform.  At a time when we cannot embrace one another, embrace the Holy Spirit.  Amen.