Sermon for Pentecost 2026

 

Acts 2: 1-21
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. Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

John 7: 37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive, for as yet there was no Spirit because Jesus was not yet glorified.
 

 

Out of the Believer’s heart shall flow streams of living water.

May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In my humble opinion, the best stories begin with an ancient book being opened and a wise old voice telling us that they were just a young girl, or boy, when the story began. Pentecost is a story that can be told in exactly that way. So, are you sitting comfortably?

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a people who had everything they could need. They had community, land, homes, identity as the descendants of Noah, and a loving God. But they were proud and stubborn. They grew restless and decided to build a tower reaching up to heaven, so that they could make a name for themselves. As they built, God gave them a gift they were not expecting: different tongues, different languages. Suddenly they could no longer understand one another. Their tower fell into ruin because no one could agree on how to finish it, and the people were scattered across the earth. Nations grew, and those nations became rivals; with them came war and destruction, injustice and despair, chaos and division. But God did not leave them. God stayed with them and called them, still, “My people.” There were those among them who longed to do good: leaders such as Esther, Deborah, Hannah, Elijah, and Daniel. Yet every faithful leader seemed to be followed by another who led badly, and so the people of God lived with conflict, discord, and the pain of being set apart from other nations. Still, God loved them, and over time they grew.
Many thousands of years after the fall of the Tower of Babel, a small gathering of God’s people huddled together in an upper room, praying and worshipping. They were waiting for the gift Jesus had promised before he ascended into heaven: the Advocate, God’s own Holy Breath. But they did not know what to expect. They knew the stories of God’s Spirit giving Samson strength and overshadowing Mary, but they were not prepared for a rushing wind and flames of fire. Yet God had a plan. To reunite his divided people, God sent divided tongues of flame, and with each tongue came words in which to proclaim God’s love. To reunite his divided people, God divided his own voice into many tongues, so that all could hear and know the love of God.
And so, as we know, the people of God were united and lived happily ever after. There was no more enmity or strife, no more violence or conflict, no more jealousy, war, bitterness, hatred, or evil...
…Except, of course, that it didn’t end like that.
At Pentecost we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate of God, the unity of believers, and the birthday of the Church. But notice how the Spirit works: God divides tongues so that God’s people may be united in proclaiming the good news.
This is the wonder of Pentecost: God does not make one language for everyone. God makes the gospel heard by everyone. The Spirit does not flatten difference. The Spirit creates harmony out of many voices.
And that is why the Church must be careful. We are always tempted to mistake our language, our nuances, for thelanguage of God. We are always tempted to imagine that our corner of Christianity is the truest corner, the safest corner, the corner nearest heaven. We can be tempted to believe that if other people really prayed as we pray, read the Bible as we read it, and listened as we listen, they would end by agreeing with us. But that is not Pentecost. That is Babel wielding a bible as a weapon. Even now we see forms of Christianity warped by fear, sharpened by anger, and emptied of love. Pentecost stands against all of that. Pentecost is not a sameness but a holy multitude. Pentecost is not one voice crushing all the others but many voices lifted in praise. Pride, slander, envy, and arrogance belong to Babel. Unity, devotion, faithfulness, and worship belong to Pentecost.
The gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of unity amid great diversity: rivers of life and living faith pouring out of people who may have little in common except their love for God in the person of Jesus Christ.
So what does it feel like to have living water pouring out of our hearts? Perhaps you imagine the overflowing stone jars at the wedding at Cana, or the rushing deep waters in the book of Ezekiel, or perhaps you were baptised by immersion and remember the feeling of being plunged into the deep. When we spend time learning from God, listening for God’s voice, receiving from God in word and Sacrament, and adoring God in worship, our hearts both receive and overflow with the love of God. And then, brimming with confidence in the love God has for each of us, we share that love with those we meet, without condition or judgment, because, as the God says through the prophets, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy... and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Amen.