May 24, 2026 - One Spirit; Many Members. Guest Speaker: REV. David Lucey

But this morning is the morning we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.

Fifty days of Easter celebrations end with the giving of the Holy Spirit.

We call it the birthday of the church because of the reading in Acts of the Apostles in chapter two, beginning in verse one.

[baby crying] I thought that about my sermons, too.

No. [laughing] "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

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." Must've been a confusing day.

Um, I don't know about you, other languages are not a core competency of me.

I struggled with my high school German and struggled with it in college.

So the idea that the people gathered in Jerusalem for a Jewish feast, Pentecost, 50 days after the end of Passover, must have been confusing to the pilgrims as well.

And yet people seeking God experienced the Holy Spirit of God rushing upon them in ways that had never been offered by God before, and it changed the world.

Now, in my tribe, we read three s- scriptures on Sunday morning.

So there's another scripture that would have gone with this, and it comes from the Gospel of John, and this is what it says in chapter 20 of the Gospel of John.

And it's read on this day, as you will s- hear, because it's a Holy Spirit verse.

"When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' After he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them, 'Peace be with you.

And as the Father has sent me, so I send you.' When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you are forgiven the s-- If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'" So the first story, the story in Jerusalem, in the square 50 days after Jesus's resurrection, we see a crowd of people gathered.

But before that, actually this is an Easter story.

It's the first day of the week.

It's the same day that Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus for the first time in the garden.

Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the disciples.