Tag Archives: pentecost

May 25, 2026 · 3:32 pm

What does the Spirit say? (Sermon)

Image: Shower of Rose Petals at the Pantheon in Rome, Liturgical Arts Journal

Readings for the Feast of Pentecost, Yr. A – Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; 5:6-11; John 20:19-23. This sermon was preached at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra, VA on May 24, 2026.

Some of you might recall a catchy, “so bad that it is good” song called What Does the Fox Say? from several years ago. The songwriters intentionally tried to make the most absurd song possible for a Norwegian talk show as a joke, and it turned out to be a hit. Last week, I happened to hear it as I was commuting to the church, and it struck me…The singers almost sound like they are speaking in tongues. Well, as a pastor’s brain can do, it was only a short “ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding” in the song later that a few important questions came to my mind…In all seriousness, it is a question not just for Pentecost but for each day of a Christian’s life, “What does the Spirit say?” And closely related to that, “How do we know and understand the Holy Spirit as it speaks and operates in our lives?”

The stories and letters that we hear on Pentecost reveal the supernatural, divine inbreaking of the Spirit into the world in a new way. The Holy Spirit as part of the Trinity always was, is, and always will be. At Creation, the Holy Spirit is encountered as a divine wind parting seas and breathing life into clay. Many ancients considered Holy Wisdom as a manifestation of God, personified in scripture as a woman I should point out. (So, the Holy Spirit can sometimes be called she, but God as a spiritual divine being is not truly of any sex.) We meet the Spirit in Psalms and in the lives of the Patriarchs, Matriarchs, and Prophets. (Both male and female prophets are in scripture). Even as Jesus is baptized by John, it is the Spirit that drives Jesus into the wilderness.

Yet until Jesus rose from the dead, there was a chasm between us and our Triune God…a brokenness since the Fall requiring more than just our efforts and repentance to fix. This suffering needed God’s activity to heal us – the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus in particular. With that, the Kingdom of God has been ushered into our world, but God’s not yet done with us or the world. There’s work left to do. The Kingdom is here but not in its fullness until Jesus comes again. As Jesus promised, he would not leave us orphaned in this in between time but would give us an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to help us and be with us forever (John 14:16). This was for the fulfillment of even more ancient promises to Abraham and the Jewish believers who followed pointing toward a new reality where God would someday ultimately dwell in our hearts instead of any temple.

As Paul clearly explains to the church in Corinth, faith is a gift of the Spirit, “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” This was Jesus’ teaching with Peter’s confession of faith as well. The Holy Spirit enters our life in a different way through our faith and baptism. It claims us as God’s own. It promises us abundant, eternal life. It has the power to free us from all that holds us back…our doubts, darkness, and sin…when we surrender to it and radically trust it. (It never forces itself upon us.) It is always at work for our welfare in order to sanctify us (make us holy), guide us, and it even prays for us. When our groaning can find no words (Romans 8:26), the Spirit lifts our concerns to the heart of the Trinity with groaning of its own. Even for those of us that have faith, it is always trying to draw us into new beginnings – “from one beginning to another” Br. Roger of Taizé used to say.

Yes, this is the Spirit that also guided Martin Luther as he was used to help reorient the Church more clearly toward the gift of grace. As much as with the Christians on the road to Emaus, the scriptures were opened to Martin Luther, and his heart was set afire. Or on this Aldersgate Day, an annual celebration of our Methodist siblings on May 24th, we might recall John Wesley’s heart being “strangely warmed” as he overheard Moravians reading Martin Luther’s preface to Paul’s letter to the Roman church. This finally gave John Wesley the assurance and peace that Christ had truly taken away his sins. Thus, the Spirit changed the direction of their lives, and in effect the Church’s direction, forever – setting one heart to another on fire.

Yet, we should remember with the growth of the Church that they and others touched by the Spirit that came before and after them often faced misunderstanding or hostility. Sometimes, they might face death because of this fire of faith burning in their hearts. And this reminds me, as Jesus shared, the Holy Spirit will teach us at every hour of challenge what we ought to say (Luke 12:12). And further as St. Francis urged his fellow friars, our actions and choices can proclaim Jesus, too. Our actions can prove a kind of sermon.

No, Pentecost with its ancient roots is not to be relegated to the past, for it is still unfolding in our presence. The very same Holy Spirit that touched the great saints and Apostles of the early Church is seeking similarly to heal and transform our lives in the present. It calls us to do miracles, not always supernatural mind you, but most often small things done in great love. Every effort and relationship becomes sanctified as we do so.

As we heard today, crowds had gathered for a great Jewish festival called Shavuot (or Pentecost by the Greek influenced, Hellenistic Jews) held fifty days after Passover. The Jewish celebration recalled the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and it served to give thanks for the summer harvest. During the festival, people would offer their first fruits to God. Yet despite the excitement, hidden away in an upper room, waited the disciples of Jesus.

Just ten days previously at the Ascension, Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit would come to them. Much as with the crucifixion or Easter, the disciples were likely pensive and unsure of what was to happen next…what it all meant. They might have even feared the vast crowds…Crowds had called for the death of Jesus after all. Little did they suspect that on a day marking God’s provision of daily bread and the Law, God’s gift of grace would overflow. A new life in the Spirit would begin.

Rightly, we imagine this momentous event with powerful wind and earthquake. We are told the Spirit descended as if tongues of fire, hence all the red that we wear and that surrounds us. Yet, the Spirit can be like the still, small voice Elijah heard as well or a subtle urging. We can be led to new opportunities as doors open or as we are redirected through our losses. The Spirit is not limited by our expectations or previous experience but is filled with surprises.

And so, although Peter and some others expected the Spirit to learn toward the Jewish people and their religious practices, forcing Gentiles to submit to ritual laws, the Spirit had other ideas. Immediately after the Spirit came upon the disciples, Gentiles would join them as Church through the Spirit’s intervention – nothing they did. Yet, Peter’s bias and hesitation could only be corrected through a vision and a Centurion’s request to know the Lord, itself inspired by the Spirit. Through this circumstance in Acts 10, Peter says, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” So should Christian Nationalism be a thing in any country? No, that’s not the Spirit’s work. It must be rejected. We are called to be a catholic (meaning universal) Church rooted in faith instead of politics.

And in our own time when the Southern Baptist Convention and others are trying to keep women away from the pulpit, or anywhere near the altar, or from teaching about Jesus, or in some cases voting or working outside the home (this teaching is back in style among some extremes), scripture indicates the Apostles were continually gathered in prayer alongside the women followers of Jesus (Acts 1:14). Joel foretold, despite common cultural practices and expectations, that the Spirit was to be poured on all flesh. Among the 120 believers (Acts 1:15) gathered in that upper room praying with one accord, women were present.

And today, we find a Spirit still reaching out to us from that first Christian Pentecost long ago…Rooted in the past, the Spirit further manifests itself in our lives. The fruits of the Spirit are at our disposal: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We might struggle or fail at living them out at times, but they remain available to us. We have access to the Spirit’s guidance, diverse spiritual gifts, protection and power as much as those first disciples…earthquake, wind, fire or no. Each of us as individuals and all of us as Christ’s body, are being called by the Spirit to use our gifts as given us by God…to offer our spiritual first fruits…not just once a year but throughout our lives…each day.

Thus, we, too, might have visions, dreams and prophetic moments, but the majority of the Church understands that the time of the Apostles and Prophets as offices in the Church has ended. And as Paul argues, the greatest gift of all is love, not tongues or teaching. So, how might we modern folk listen to the Holy Spirit?

  1. Test what you think you hear. God doesn’t contradict scripture. Evaluate the fruits from what is being said and done.
  • Seek peace – God’s voice is not one of anxiety, unsettledness and exhaustion: Trust God at all times, for God cares for you. Repent of errors, try to make peace with others and amends. Seek a quiet place when possible, to listen for God’s voice.
  • Look and listen; watch and wait for God might be in the booming as well as the still small voices of your day. Even a little child might lead us. Yet know that God’s voice is not the voice of obscurity requiring decoder rings and mental and scriptural gymnastics. Yes, we might need prayer and scripture study or even to consult friends or spiritual leaders to better understand things, but God will – when the time is right – make himself known to us. Be suspicious of those who speak of secret messages or claim new revelations, as some are doing. Just because someone says they are Christian, they may not be. 
  • Live in hope – Even if we are in need of correction, God’s voice is not one of threat, condemnation or abandonment. One spiritual seeker explained it this way. “Condemnation is vague and abstract. It says: ‘You are not OK. Something is very wrong with you.’ Conviction is specific. It says: ‘What you said to your wife just now on the phone was insensitive.’ Condemnation discourages and breeds hopelessness. It gives you the feeling that nothing can ever fix your problem. But conviction encourages us. It gives us solutions to our problems. Condemnation pushes us away from God. Conviction draws us to God. The goal of condemnation is to make us give up. The goal of conviction is to help us reach our maximum potential, to be all we can be in Christ” (Charisma Magazine. Learn to discern the voice of God).

Now as the Spirit begins to work in our lives, some people might indeed suspect we are drunk. They might look at us as fools as they did of St. Francis of Assisi and his followers. My own parents, never knowingly having met Lutherans in Massachusetts, at first asked if I had joined a cult. For as a young adult, I had a synthesizing of my own faith and decided to try to live a more concretely scriptural life. And as the Spirit works within us, we might prove more brave, generous, or wiser than we ever thought possible. We might be called to live differently or risk everything.

Some people will notice these changes made by the Spirit…even when they (or we) may not understand them. Some will be inspired to follow Jesus because of this, and some will still deny him or oppose us because of it. Yet, never stop trying to cooperate with the grace offered. For through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being grafted into God’s eternal story, not just some dusty history. With Augustine of Hippo, we might wish to pray each day:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit;
That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit;
That my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit;
That I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit;
To defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit;
That I always may be holy.

Amen.

Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 24:30 minute mark.(There was a medical emergency, so you will notice a break in the service. Also, someone accidentally picked up my manuscript during the emergency, hence the reference to my iPhone. It was quite the Sunday!

© 2026 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author unless under terms of fair use and properly attributed. Scripture passages when used are from the NRSVue translation unless otherwise indicated.

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June 9, 2019 · 7:55 pm

You’ve already passed

Pentecost. Image by Holger Schué from Pixabay
Pentecost Sermon, Year C
Texts: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17
Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA 
June 19, 2019

The great St. Paul, surprising Apostle to the Gentiles, once confessed, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Thanks to the Holy Spirit, his faith and understanding evolved, deepened and grew as he journeyed through life – as it intends to do during all of our lives.

As I turned to the Holy Spirit in prayer this week, I asked for help with today’s message. That’s always a good place to begin, and after some time, this particular passage came to my mind and just wouldn’t go away. It just seemed so appropriate in light of our reading on the Tower of Babel, as well as our having nine of our youth recognized as adults though the ritual of confirmation, and one adult choosing to affirm their faith this day as well. You’ve probably heard it before at a wedding or other community focused worship event, as Paul seeks to address the importance of the faith, hope and love we all share as Christians.

As I said, this quote came to my mind as I reflected on the Tower of Babel. I was fascinated by this story as a child with its dynamic images of a tall tower reaching towards heaven. I thought it was so cool. And then, we get to hear of punishment…or at least, that what it sounded like to me. In my juvenile mind, I saw the tower come crashing down in God’s anger with fire and brimstone or perhaps a mighty wind – much like I might have torn down my Lego towers while playing. I pictured this destruction even though scripture tells us no such thing. Scripture reveals that the tower survived unfinished, and the people were only scattered throughout the earth, never destroyed or abandoned. This was just as God intended when Adam and Eve were told to go forth and multiply and inhabit all the earth. The people of Babel would spread over time with new languages and eventually dynamic, beautiful new cultures. Each of these cultures conribute to a remarkable tapestry that makes our world a better place and helps glorify God. My childhood brain could certainly understand consequences for wrong behavior…but the wideness of grace and mercy? Apparently, I wasn’t quite ready to understand that.

This sacred story often shared even in preschools is at its depths no kid’s story. It is a mythic tale, and by that I don’t mean false, but a teaching story rooted in the past and revealing ultimate truths about ancient peoples, ourselves, and the sacred activity of God woven through it all. If you listened closely, you heard that the people of God, yet once again, have sought to be like God. They are chasing after the power, wealth and glory of this world and losing touch with who they were meant to become in the process. Much like Adam and Eve, they’ve reached for that unattainable fruit, and now, they face separation from God and one another. That’s always the way when we do such things, even today.

Like Adam and Eve, these people were sent out into the world, but just as Adam and Eve wouldn’t leave Eden without God’s grace and a plan for restoration, neither will the people of Babel. Adam and Eve would be provided clothing, protection and family. The people of the tower will receive something even better. God will make eternal good come from bad. Among all these new peoples, one people would be set apart. Remember the “children of Abraham?” Abraham would be given a trust in God that would rush and wind its way down through a very troubled, often sinful family line. This was often a family that fought amongst themselves, who were selfish and lazy, or sometimes meanspirited and lacking faith. They struggled with faith and often sinned. Yet, they spread out into the world and became what we know as the people of Israel. The Jewish people, a small, enslaved and often conquered people, would be used to fulfill promises delivered by the prophets. Through the Jewish people, all nations would become blessed. It was the Jewish people who lead us to Jesus, and some from this people will number among his first followers. Today, our confirmands claim their share in that sacred inheritance.

Yes soon, moments from now, our confirmands will be welcomed as adults in the church. They have been offered a choice to affirm the promises of their baptism…to seek to love Jesus by following his commands. Yet as they have hopefully learned (and all we Christians should understand), we can topple as easy as the people on that tower of Babel. We are they, and they are us…flawed, sinful, never able to be perfect on our own…people. We are just people. And so as we set off in the world with good intentions, Jesus offers us hope, help and a way forward. An Advocate was sent to live with us and in us. It came to us through the promises of our Baptism whether we feel it or not; understand it or not. For, it is God’s promise to us!

Now, as a child (even into my young adult years), I understood this wrongly. Yes, people promise (or have sponsors promise on their behalf when too young to do so themselves) to seek to follow Christ. Publicly proclaiming and affirming our faith is a great and appropriate thing to do each and every day, but if we are honest, we know our promises will break now and again. Fortunately, baptism is not ultimately about us. It is more about God’s reaching out to us. And so daily through our lives, the Holy Spirit…the One who came upon us at our baptism…who claimed us as God’s own at our baptism…who set us apart to bless nations…that very same Spirit will seek to affirm and fulfill a godly, perfect promise again, and again and again…even when we goof up… even when we don’t deserve it. With that Spirit’s first coming to dwell in the hearts of the Apostles, we were given a sign to help us believe. Recall, “All of [the disciples] were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:4).” What had seemed a curse for the people of Babel had now become blessing in the hands of our God…a gift meant to unify and call people of all nations home. They would be called through the voices of ordinary people.

Yes, it is true that through the ages we have inherited a sometimes fractured, imperfect faith skewed by human sin, but the Spirit makes even faith much smaller than a mustard seed “count,” or in other words have a powerful affect. Faith can impact us and transform our life. Our shared faith has made it to us through torture and persecution, corrupt church government and fallen preachers, and even our ancestors (sinner-saints all; people just like us). it couldn’t be stopped. It has come to rest upon us all these centuries later…lives inside us. Yet while the Spirit invites us to faith, it never forces. It challenges us each day to say publicly we believe (and also live like it too). God’s deep desire is to have all nations and peoples praise him in those many languages. And today on Pentecost, we are reminded that we have been chosen to become part of God’s story, the one who spoke us into being with a purpose.

When I was seeking to become a police officer, I had to take a complete physical exam testing both mind and body. I was younger back then, and I had no glasses. As I went through the eye test looking through a scope to read those small, random, letters in a line, they grew smaller and smaller. “What do you see know?” the technician asked over and over and over again. As it went on and on, I became confident that I had failed the test, and I finaly gave up. I was defeated, and I assumed my dreams were dashed. And so, I finally admitted that I could no longer make any letters out. It was only then the technician laughed and said, “No worries. You have excellent vission. I was just seeing how far we could go.” I share this story with you, because I had already passed the test without even knowing it.

As you, our confirmation candidates, come to profess your faith publicly today, you might not see clearly where your future lies. You might not fully understand how God intends to use you or has been using you already. You might even fear you are not up to the test before you or have doubts or struggle with even the idea of faith…so might we all admit such things at times if we are adult about it…but fortunately that’s not the key to this day or any of our days with Jesus. Jesus has passed the test for us. We need not worry, only believe.

Yes, we are already declared acceptable to God and deeply loved through this gift of our faith and baptism. As the head of our Synod’s Youth Council rightly proclaimed yesterday before the assembled “wiser” adults, youth are not the future of the church, they are already the church – now and into the future. With the Spirit’s presence in your lives (in all of our lives), I trust that even greater things are yet to come just as Jesus promised. I urge you to seek out the Spirit, and try to hold onto it. For when you have faith, you are in for one amazing ride. Amen.

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