HERE COMES THE SON
Psalms 63: 1-4
1 Corinthians 12: 4-13
ACTS 2: 1-21
MAY 24th 2026 PENTECOST
YES!!! Today, marks the celebration of the birth of the Christian church … it’s a party day … it’s a day when those early Christians truly sensed what it meant to have the Holy Spirit alive and well and in them, around them and for them!!! The promise of God … the promise of Jesus Christ … a gift from the heavens destined for deep in our souls!!! PENTECOST; one of my favorite days of the year!! REJOICE in the LORD with me!!
This morning amongst the Scripture readings for the day I chose to include the first verses from my Psalm … the 63rd Psalm, which of course is a Psalm of David … DUH … a Psalm that I believe the Holy Spirit directed me to during a Bible study some years ago. When I flipped my Bible open on that day lights went on … a warmth struck me.
You remember that HOLY SPIRIT, right … God’s gift … a changing force that can connect us to our faith, connect us with God and cause us to rise up each day so that people see the Son of God in us!! That Spirit said to me, WELCOME HOME BABY!
Today’s Bible … from my collection is the Bible that I received in SECOND GRADE … from my church because I was a Sunday School regular … in fact, most kids back in those days were Sunday School regulars … most families’ Sunday mornings were aligned with church and Ernest Hollenbach, the Sunday School Superintendent signed this Bible … I have no idea who he was but I had God’s Word in my hand … my first Bible and today when I open up God’s Word … when I consider who God wants me to be … you know the same person God wants each of you to be … a Jesus believer … a Jesus follower … a JESUSIAN … God wants others to discover HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST … in us and through us and when we walk down the street … when we head into a meeting … when we interact with others in person or online …when we join our family gathering for meals or celebrations God is intensely directing God’s Holy Spirit towards us so that others think upon looking in our direction HERE COMES THE SON of GOD’s active representative in this world who is known for our love. And our faith. For our belief in justice and our humble walk with GOD.
A reminder if you are willing to do some Bible exploration this week … Jesus Christ clearly stated as noted by John … in the 13th chapter of John’s Gospel … after Judas had stormed out of the upper room … the betrayal in full motion … Jesus said,”I give you a new commandment … LOVE EACH OTHER … JUST as I HAVE LOVED YOU… so you ALSO MUST LOVE EACH OTHER … Remember when Jesus said Commandment number one is to love God and He added that number two to is to love our neighbors well here’s Jesus pushing the concept so that the faithful … the believers … the Jesusians … would get it for all time … He finishes his directive … knowing that arrest and the cross await Him by stating “THIS IS HOW EVERYONE WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES … WHEN YOU LOVE EACH OTHER! Love all our neighbors … like Jesus … gifted by the Holy Spirit. In that same conversation He told His disciples that the Spirit would be God’s gift to humanity.
The Holy Spirit came down into that room in Jerusalem to change the world … oh yea, back to my favorite Psalm. How many of you … have a favorite Psalm? Or just a favorite Bible selection … a verse or two. When someone dies and I sit down with the family I always … always … even if it is someone who I never met but I was there in a room at Inspira with them when they died and I don’t know the family that has asked me to lead the Celebration of Life … I always ask … what was the person’s favorite Bible verse, did they have one? Their favorite Bible story? Something please give me something where they showcased their faith story to you their family member … and rarely if ever does their child or even their spouse know … HAVE YOU TOLD ANYONE what your favorite Bible verse is … I know that most of you here today know mine! Do they know your favorite Bible story … has the Holy Spirit’s nudge given you enough energy to have a Bible on your dining room table when family come to call? Do they know you own one?
Believe me I want to party today … and every day … you know those Pauline words from Philippians and First Thessalonians … must have been a Paul thing … to REJOICE in the LORD GOD … CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE … GOD of JESUS … GOD OF MOSES, ABRAHAM, ESTHER and RUTH … our GOD … REJOICE in the LORD ALWAYS … And AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN I SAY REJOICE … REJOICE so that the HOLY SPIRIT GUIDES YOUR LIVES friends … then according to Paul, you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves … what the EVIL ONE is trying to do through you.
And, when the Holy Spirit guides us … well this takes me back to my favorite Psalm … that even in this Bible is labeled a Psalm of David. It is pretty cool when Bibles are printed with your name on specific chapters to remind you … “GOD!! MY GOD … I search for you!!! My whole being thirsts for YOU!!! I’ve seen you in the sanctuary!!! I’ve seen your glory!!! YOUR FAITHFUL LOVE IS BETTER than life itself!!!”
Church … do you believe … are you willing to allow God’s Holy Spirit to descend again like a dove from the heavens onto you personally … not the pastor … not the music director … not the guy sitting in another church somewhere but on you? Are you willing to rejoice in the Lord because the rush of God’s wind has lifted you up higher than you were living when you were just part of the world … disconnected from the Holy … do you THIRST FOR GOD … do you cry out for GOD … are you willing to be the LIGHT OF CHRIST out in the world because you know … throughout your body, mind and deep into that soul of yours … that will last forever somewhere … that you know that Jesus came into this world out of God’s love for you PERSONALLY …. Oh church do you THIRST FOR GOD … with your WHOLE BEING … remembering Jesus’ lessons for living … perhaps the verse from John 13 is yours … THEY WILL KNOW YOU ARE MY DISCPLES by YOUR LOVE … maybe it’s the story of the Good Samaritan that tells us what kind of human will be spending eternity with God rather than in the bad place down below where temperatures are even hotter than last week’s miserable hot days … Do you remember HOLY WEEK … the darkness of Good Friday when He went to the cross … the wait … then EASTER morning the brilliant light out of an empty tomb … the women shouting HE IS RISEN <<HE IS RISEN INDEED>> to the disciples and the world had changed.
So this is PENTECOST … the power of the Holy Spirit unfurled, unleashed, poured out on individuals who would be the first to call themselves followers of the Risen Jesus Christ … the first who would go into the world shining Christ’s light of love and telling His story … the first even at risk of their lives who called out MY GOD MY GOD … MY LIPS PRAISE YOU BECAUSE YOUR FAITHFUL LOVE is better than life itself!! I WILL BLESS you as long as I am alive .. I will lift up my hands in Your name … I will play my KAZOO with fervent energy and make as Kirk Franklin calls it a HOLY GHOST KIND of NOISE! They were the first … willing to share the Good News out into their corners of the world and others came to Him in faith … they saw the Son of God in their neighbors and their friends and their family members.
And, Paul reminds us that we each have spiritual gifts from that same Pentecost Spirit … Did you hear his words … a demonstration of the Spirit is given to EACH PERSON for the COMMON GOOD … for the sake of the world out there … for the people who are brutalized … for the hungry … for those needing consoling … ALL THINGS ARE PRODUCED by the ONE and SAME SPIRIT who gives what GOD wants to each person … God knows God’s plan for each of us … a plan filled with a future of hope but we are called to act … we are called to be the faithful … FAITH without works is plain and simply dead that’s why we call on the Spirit to lead us … but in taking on the Spirit of God we lift up our hands in God’s name and bless God as long as we live.
When George Harrison wrote HERE COMES THE SUN … he was at Eric Clapton’s country house. As Harrison told the story he needed to get away from all the rush of the world just to be in a peaceful setting to get his head together. So, he went to his friend’s house we can imagine the beautiful English countryside … and he walked, and he breathed in the air, and he experienced restoration and the words to a song …
Here comes the sun … Here comes the sun … And, I say it’s alright
Little darling it’s been a long cold winter … it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun … doo-doo-do (Got to have the doo doo’s)
Little darling … I feel the ice is slowly melting … it seems like years since its been clear
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
How long has it been since God’s love has touched you … how long has it been since you have allowed God’s Holy Spirit to direct you … what’s that cold winter been like for you … do others see the Son of God when they see you headed their way … do they reflect upon your faith when they hear your name or see your image or hang out with you?
We are IN CHURCH … it’s an easy place to connect with God … with Christ and if we allow ourselves to let go of our inhibitions … we can truly experience God’s Holy Spirit. No, flames are not going to pour down from the sky and the wind today is rather quiet … we don’t need to put our Google translators to work because unlike those gathered on that Pentecost Day we speak the same language but do we? … Are we speaking the language of our faith … are we bringing the Son of God out into the world?
The prophesy from Joel still holds true … God is ready to pour God’s Spirit out on ALL people … on everyone who calls on the name of the Lord … changing who they are to live as followers of Jesus taking on the Spirit and being saved by God!
I handed out KAZOO’s. … and streamers … and there is an old hymn of the church that calls for marching … and joy and actually REJOICING … so I am asking you to get on your feet, to play your kazoos and MARCH and sing and celebrate and CALL on the HOLY SPIRIT here at St. Paul’s … let those watching online wish that they could be here amidst our joy in the Spirit … perhaps they will march too … LET THE SAINTS GO MARCHING … AMEN