Decaffeinated coffee won’t wake you up, won’t perk you up, won’t keep you up, won’t get you up. It looks like coffee, smells like coffee, tastes like coffee; it just doesn’t do what coffee does for you!

There is a sort of decaffeinated Christianity. Ephesus was a good example. Apollos had ministered in Ephesus, had baptized believers. When Paul got there, he found “decaffeinated Christians.” They knew the doctrines but did not have the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul baptized them again, this time “into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19:5, 6)

Breathing is silent, and air is invisible. We take it for granted. We don’t normally appreciate it. But it is absolutely vital to life. We can’t live without breathing. Holy breath is as vital to our spiritual lives, to our witness, as air is to our physical bodies.

Someone said the church today is suffering from “shortness of breath” — SOB in common medical shorthand! We need Jesus to breathe on us the breath of the Holy Spirit.
This church, or any church, will never become the church of Acts 2 so long as we are SOBs, short of breath Christians!

Pentecost is that wild, weird, wonderful day that burst on Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.

Pentecost was a Jewish holiday before it was a Christian holiday. It was also called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Harvest, and came 50 days after Passover. It marked the end of the wheat harvest and the beginning of the season of first fruits. It also commemorated the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.

In Israel, the Torah is taken from the synagogue on Pentecost and displayed in the community. The people celebrate by singing and dancing in the streets.

The Pentecost celebration recorded in Acts was the day on which holy breath, the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, came into the lives of the disciples. “Spirit” is from the Latin spirare, to breathe. The words “inspiration” and “respiration” and “conspiracy” all include the syllable spirare.

Disciples preacher Gary Straub says someone stole the word “Spirit” from us back in the 1960s. He refers to the fact that we don’t talk much about the “Spirit.” We don’t, do we? Even more disappointing is that we don’t exhibit much of the Spirit! Have we become decaffeinated Christians?

Conspiracy means to “breathe together” (con = “with” + spirare = “to breathe”). Pentecost was a conspiracy, to breath together, to break down barriers. The gathered believers (probably some 120 of them) were consumed by the wild, untamed wind and the joyful, dancing flames. They were excited, exhilarated in the Spirit.

Please let us pray for the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, to cure us of shortness of breath. SOB is a fatal disease. We don’t want to be short of breath, decaffeinated Christians.

In the Old Testament, Pentecost was a feast to celebrate the blessings of the Spring harvest. It continues in the New Testament as a celebration of the spiritual harvest of souls, reaped as a result of Christ’s redemptive ministry.

The early Christians observed Pentecost as a season of rejoicing. They remembered (1) the resurrection of Christ, (2) his ascension, (3) the inauguration of his heavenly ministry, (4) the bestowal of spiritual gifts, (5) the birthday of the Christian Church.

German theologian Martin Dibelius said even the most cynical reader of the New Testament would have to postulate an “X-factor“ to account for the radical change in the disciples. X = Spirit, the Pentecost experience, and that indeed changed them radically from the previously scared crowd behind closed doors.

The Pentecost experience came to the disciples when they were all with one accord. That’s the heart of it.
Praise God for our UCC logo, with the words “that they may all be one”! If we want to represent Jesus Christ to the world around us, if we want to be lights in this dark world, salt in this bland world, we will have to put away any hostility and acrimony from our lives. The Holy Spirit will not bless us as individuals, as a congregation, or as the Church universal if we harbor ill will.

Unity, togetherness, brotherly love and fellowship are prerequisites to partnership with the Holy Spirit. At least 3 times Jesus said he would send a Comforter, an Encourager, the Holy Spirit. The word he used is paraclete (παρακλητοζ), which literally means “along side of.”

At our Dearborn Area Ministerial Association, an official of Church World Service showed us pictures of our CROP Walk and One Great Hour of Sharing money at work. It was thrilling. The thing that impressed me the most was that in our mission work, not only do Disciples and UCC work together, but we work with other Christians, Catholic and Protestant. Our joint ministry money builds clinics, digs wells, teaches farming methods, plants trees . . . Remember that when it’s time for the Crop Walk!

Of course, I’m sure Beverly Turner will see that you remember it! The annual Crop Walk is like fire in her bones!

Some may feel we have a mission to save the people of the Amazon, but don’t feel a burden to save the rain forests in which they live.
They feel the need to feed and clothe the poor, with little thought of the environmental factors which may contribute to their poverty. We are, thru our offerings, on a mission to save rain forests and to address environmental factors, and to preach the Gospel . . .

And we are doing mission “with one accord.” Praise the Lord. Without losing our identity, we work together.

Early one morning an electrical short started a church on fire. As the church burned, the pastor noticed a member he had not seen for awhile. He couldn’t resist saying, “Well, John, this is the first time I’ve seen you at church for a long time!”

John’s answer was, “I know, preacher, but this is the first time I’ve seen the church on fire!”

The early church was on fire with enthusiasm. The Holy Spirit was the spark that ignited the people of God, and the fire was called Pentecost.

On Pentecost, the Spirit ignited the disciples, and the disciples turned the world upside down!

It was the birth of the Christian church. God, the attending Physician, helped 3000 people experience the new birth. The number 3000 may be a literal count of men (women and children didn’t count in those days) or it may be a symbolic indication of a great number of converts. In either case, there were literally a great many believers born by the Spirit that day. Pentecost is no fable, no metaphorical account!
The Holy Spirit blessed them with power. The Christian Church bears witness to that power. We are part of the proof! Praise the Lord. What a challenge! Power, which came from the Holy Spirit.

It was the same “breath of fresh air” that Jesus gave his disciples before he departed. He “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” John uses a pun: “He breathed on them” and then invited them to “breathe in the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22) The holy breath of God.

The quality of our breathing affects the quality of our lives. Health, moods, energy, creativity, all depend on proper breathing. The breath of God, the Holy Spirit, provides the spiritual “oxygen” to nourish quality spiritual health. Controlled breathing is an integral part of the worship of Tibetans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese. It was a feature of the ancient Egyptian cults. I suggest we think seriously of God’s call for us to have controlled breathing.

The Bible tells us that God, when he created Adam, “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7)

“Became a living soul.” You are a soul. I am a soul. My soul is a combination of dust (body) and holy breath (spirit). You and I were created by a loving God with his own breath! Thank you, Lord! When I die, the dust returns to dust, the breath returns to God . . . then I am a dead soul.
That is an important theological concept. I don’t have a soul — I am a soul. I am a soul because I carry in my body the breath of God! What an overwhelming concept! What a challenge to become self-actualizing, self-fulfilling!

On Pentecost, the disciples were “high” on God’s breath — the Holy Spirit. As God breathed into clay to form humans, God as Holy Spirit now breathed into human beings to form new creatures — born-again, disciples.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote about “peak experiences,” those moments of being fully alive, at one with the cosmos, the sacred, the really real! Heightened awareness, sensitivity . . . this is “self-actualization” and I believe this is the “abundant life” we were promised by Jesus. “High on life” as someone has said. Spirit-filled life. To be sure, they were excited that Pentecost day. Their excitement overflowed.

I recently read a prediction that very soon, one Christian in three will be a Pentecostal. Why do you suppose it is the fastest-growing Christian model, growing even faster than Islam?

Dear saints, you notice that our Pentecostal neighbors had to extend their building and their parking lot. And they are correct when they remind us that the early Christians were “guilty” of insatiable insanity — so devoted to Christ and his church they simply couldn’t get enough fellowship, couldn’t do enough for each other, couldn’t express enough love and power and excitement of life in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus invited his disciples to just such an experience by breathing into them the Holy Spirit. Paul later told believers to breathe deeply of the Holy Spirit; it would produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5)

These gifts of the Spirit are the qualities of character which vitalize the Christian life. Quit slouching! Breathe deeply the holy breath of God. Enjoy a more abundant life. Experience the peak experiences of life, which come only to the committed, the fully aware souls empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The “more abundant life” prepares us to be lights to the world, salt of the earth.

The public, who saw them from the outside that day of Pentecost, had their own urbane, sophisticated explanation for the diversity of languages and the excessive enthusiasm — “Those guys drunk”!

So would stand and face the mob? Who could explain their behavior? Ah! the coward who, when they arrested Jesus, “followed at a distance”! The same man who, when they tortured Jesus, said, “I never saw him before.” That coward was Simon, the now born-again preacher. Peter, the Rock!

We will soon celebrate Memorial Day, a day of sober remembrance. Pentecost is a day of remembrance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Both days honor peace.
Both days stress unity. One is to remember the tragedy of war, the other is to remember the triumph of truth.

The fruit of the Spirit is peace. But we live in a world which will not inhale the gentle air of peace, but prefers rather the lung-searing winds of war. Like the enemies of the psalmist, we “breathe out violence.” (Psalm27:12)

One of the most heart-breaking stories of American history is Woodrow Wilson’s failed attempt to have our country ratify the Covenant of the League of Nations. In 1919, Wilson was a world hero. We had entered World War I just in time to swing the balance of power to the Allies.

After the war, Wilson had gone to France to represent us at the peace conference. He sponsored the Covenant, and the world saw him as the leader of a nation that wanted peace, and to make the world “safe for democracy.”

But when he came home, the Senate refused to ratify the Covenant. The president toured the country.

He tried to convince people that the “winds of war” must give way to the “gentle breezes of peace.” He drew on his teaching years at Princeton, calling the nation to inspire, “breathe in” the fresh spirit of peace. But most were not willing to breathe in that spirit. Even then, violence pervaded our mentality!

The broken president suffered a stroke on that trip. Just imagine the emotions that weighed on his heart!
He bemoaned how easy it had been to inspire the nation to war, yet how difficult to inspire the same people to peace. (deja vu?)

What a travesty; what a tragedy! Such is human nature. We talk peace, but we glorify war. Just look at our “defense” budget! Just look at the violence, hatred, revenge in society. Violence in crime, violence in video games, violence in sports, violence in homes, violence in the movies and on TV. We thrive on violence. What a sad commentary on our culture!

A boy in an Arab village was playing a flute. Someone saw that the flute was made of a gun barrel. The boy had found it on a battlefield, filed it down, drilled holes in it to transform a weapon of death into an instrument of peace, peaceful music!

A few weeks ago I reminded you that ruach, a Hebrew word for wind, breath, spirit, is a feminine word! The Holy Spirit — patient, positive, nurturing, caring, loving — is the epitome of traditional feminine characteristics.

The New Testament is a book of love and tenderness, but it is not a tepid book. It is fiery. If you are among God’s frozen chosen, let the Pentecost spirit thaw your apathy. “Causes without passion are lost causes.”

“The word of the Lord came . . .” to Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Peter, Paul . . .
They responded with a reckless holy zeal, because they were filled with the relentless Holy Spirit.

Theologian Sören Kierkagaard said the Holy Spirit is the unexplored continent of the Christian faith. Let’s go exploring . . .

Pentecost is evangelism. Today’s revival preachers can’t hold a candle to the early Christians for enthusiasm! Sigmund Freud characterized religion as a neurosis, an intoxicant. Karl Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses.” William James characterized religion as “white hot heat.” Well, for Pentecost Christians, religion is the amphetamine of the born-again! Such saints are not decaffeinated Christians! I really covet that description, that experience, for us.

On this day of Pentecost, let us ignore any differences, dwell together in unity, prepare our hearts and lives to receive the Holy Spirit, with the consequent power to live the holy life and to portray the Jesus life-style before a world so in need of the peace of the Prince of Peace.

Peter’s Pentecost sermon was the first Christian sermon. He preached Christ’s peace.

The passion and power of the early Christian preachers derived, I believe, from two bases: (1) They were united, had put away their differences, and (2) they believed intensely in the literal, soon-coming of Jesus.

Every time we say the Apostles’ Creed, or our UCC Statement of Faith, we affirm that we believe Jesus is coming again. If and when that affirmation becomes a passion for us; if and when we are united by love and mutual concern for a better world, we will again experience the Pentecostal blessing, the power of the Holy Spirit.

That will bring true revitalization. Who knows what God has in mind for us . . .

Let us pray . . .

In a Bible study recently, someone asked, “Does God get angry?“ Someone else asked, “Is it proper for us to get angry?“

Dr. Lynn Wood was one of my professors at the seminary. He told us that the word for “anger“ comes from a word which originally meant “nose,“ and the verb means “to breathe heavily thru the nose.“

What do you do when your child is disobedient? You stand with your hands on your hips and “breathe heavily thru the nose“! You sigh, “Is that the best you can do? After all I’ve done for you . . .“

That, in fact, is exactly what God said to the Israelites. In Isaiah 5 we read how God describes his people as a vineyard which he planted and tended, but which bore only wild grapes. So God said, “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I am going to remove the protecting fence I had built, and then you will be vulnerable. In fact, you will be devoured.“

Breathing heavily thru the nose! Now, that makes sense, doesn’t it? That is an acceptable description of “anger,“ isn’t it? And it is consonant with the whole tenor of the Bible.