Hearts Ablaze
Text focus: Acts 2:1-12
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Church today is a rare and special day. We are gathering at a beautiful intersection in the life of the church. Today is Pentecost Sunday, celebrated 50 days after Easter. It is the day we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Today is also May 24th, Aldersgate Day, it is the closest thing we have to a saint’s day in the Methodist church. On Aldersgate Day, we commemorate John Wesley's experience of his heart being "strangely warmed."
At first glance, these may seem like unrelated holy days. One happens in Jerusalem 2000 years ago with wind and fire and crowds of people from all over the world. The other happens in a quiet room on Aldersgate Street in 1738 London, 288 years ago, with a single discouraged man.
Today I’m hoping I can draw us a timeline and picture to help us see that these are not disconnected stories, they are different chapters of the same story. They are part of the long movement of God's Spirit through history that started before creation and continues even now. Today I want us to follow the Spirit across time, from Jerusalem to London to this church today, asking along the way: What has the Spirit been doing all along? Because the same Spirit that descended at Pentecost has stayed with us, moving through the history of the church, and has not stopped moving.
Let us begin at Pentecost.
First, it is important to note that Pentecost itself did not begin in Acts. Sometimes we read Acts 2 and think Pentecost suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But Pentecost was an existing Jewish festival, sometimes called the Festival of Weeks, celebrated fifty days after Passover. It was a harvest festival, and a time when Jewish people came together to celebrate the moment Moses was given the Ten Commandments and God made a covenant with the people of Israel. Jews came from many nations around the world, gathering in Jerusalem, so the city of Jerusalem was crowded.
And in the middle of that celebration, the disciples were gathered together in one place. Now imagine the emotional state of these disciples. Jesus had died, resurrected, appeared to them, and ascended into heaven, within the last 50 days. There was excitement, anxiety, fear, and anticipation. And before leaving, Jesus told them to wait for the coming power of the Holy Spirit. So they waited. We all know that waiting is difficult. Waiting means standing between what has been and what comes next. Waiting means being in a space of uncertainty.
Then Acts says, "Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind..." Then "Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them..." And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice Luke's language. He says it sounded like wind. He says there appeared tongues as of fire.
Luke is struggling to describe something beyond ordinary words. Wind in Scripture often symbolizes the Spirit at creation, the breath of God, the life of God moving among through the world and among the people. And fire throughout Scripture often symbolizes God's presence. Remember the images of the burning bush, the pillar of fire in the wilderness. The fire on Elijah's altar. Fire is often how God showed up for the Israelites.
And then suddenly these disciples began speaking in other languages, and they were swept out into the streets, where the people that had gathered in Jerusalem heard the good news in their own native tongues. I’ve actually got a map to help us get an idea of the wide range of people, cultures, and languages that were present at the Pentecost. The Parthians from the area of Turkey and Iran,
The Medes from Central Asia
People from Egypt and North Africa
The people from Syria and East Asia.
And from various areas of Modern day Europe.
People from everywhere in the known world. And everyone heard the good news, Everyone understood it in their own languages. The great miracle of Pentecost was that people who should have been divided by language and culture, were suddenly connected through an experience of the Spirit. God was tearing down barriers.
If you remember the story of Babel when people had become divided by language, you can understand Pentecost as the moment God begins the process of reconciliation, reuniting humanity across language barriers. People celebrate Pentecost as the birth of the church. Not because the disciples had a strategic plan, or documents of charter. Not because a building was raised or they finally had enough funding.
The church was born because the Spirit showed up and united the people. The disciples were changed. Fear became courage. Silence became proclamation. The waiting had ended and the movement began. The Spirit moved through ordinary people and sent them into the world witnessing to the good news.
And here's what matters for us today. Pentecost wasn't simply an event. It was the beginning of a movement. Because the Spirit did not stop in Jerusalem. The Spirit kept moving. Across generations. Across centuries. Across nations. Until eventually that movement found its way to a discouraged Anglican priest named John Wesley.
John Wesley is fascinating because before Aldersgate he already looked like a very good Christian. He was a priest.
He preached sermons.
He studied scripture.
He prayed regularly.
He cared for the poor.
He visited prisons.
He organized Bible studies.
If there were such a thing as a "perfect church member," Wesley probably would have looked like one. He had gone as a missionary to Georgia, hoping to bring Christ to others.
Outwardly, Wesley looked like the perfect Christian. But inwardly, things were different. Wesley struggled. He wrestled with doubt and uncertainty. His trip to Georgia had gone terribly. His ministry struggled there. Relationships fell apart, and he returned to England feeling defeated.
There is a famous moment on the ship coming back from America where Wesley encountered Moravian Christians during a violent storm at sea. As everyone panicked around them, these Moravians calmly sang hymns and prayed. Wesley was deeply shaken by their peace. He began asking himself difficult questions:
"Do I have faith like that?"
"Do I truly trust God?"
"Do I really believe what I preach?"
He had devoted his life to ministry, but inwardly he felt empty. He once wrote: "I who went to America to convert others was never myself converted to God."
Imagine that. A preacher wondering if he himself really knew grace. Eventually, things became so difficult that Wesley seemed ready to give up. His confidence had collapsed. And then on May 24, 1738, Wesley wrote that he went "very unwillingly" to a meeting on Aldersgate Street. Something akin to what we might call house groups or bible studies today.
I love that phrase, "Very unwillingly." Because Wesley wasn't expecting a life-changing moment. He wasn't searching for fireworks. He wasn't anticipating some dramatic experience. He almost didn't go, he was nearly ready to hang up his preaching collar.
That night at the meeting someone was reading aloud from Martin Luther's introduction to Romans. Not exactly thrilling material. No dramatic music. No emotional buildup. Just someone reading. Then Wesley wrote these words: "I felt my heart strangely warmed." Later he clarified it saying, "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine."
"Even mine."
Those words matter. Because Wesley already knew the facts of faith. He knew Jesus died for sinners. He had preached that message. He had studied it. But now it became personal. Not just sinners generally. Not just humanity broadly.
"Even mine."
The Spirit had taken truth from his head and moved it into his heart. And after Aldersgate Wesley changed. Not overnight into perfection. Not into someone who never struggled again. But he became energized by grace.
After that moment, he returned to America. He rode thousands of miles on horseback. He preached thousands of sermons. He organized small groups and communities. He helped birth a movement that spread through colonial America and eventually the Wild West. That movement is was has made a way for us to gather in this place in this way today.
The disciples at Pentecost and Wesley at Aldersgate had very different experiences. One involved rushing wind and tongues of fire. The other happened quietly in a room. One involved crowds. The other involved one person. But underneath them was the same Spirit. The same Spirit that moved fearful disciples. The same Spirit that warmed Wesley's heart.
That same Spirit took people who felt uncertain and gave them courage. That same Spirit took people who felt defeated and gave them purpose. And that same Spirit has kept moving all through history.
Through the early church.
Through reformers.
Through revivals.
Through movements of justice and mercy.
Through faithful people whose names history forgot.
Through parents teaching children to pray.
Through Sunday school teachers.
Through churches gathered in small towns.
Through people who kept showing up.
Through ordinary believers.
The Spirit never stopped moving.
And it is that same Spirit that dwells among us and moves us to hope today.
But what about us? We are not gathered in Jerusalem. We are not sitting on Aldersgate Street.
But we are here with the same Spirit today. The spirit that sits with us in our fears and questions and uncertainties. And perhaps some of us feel more like Wesley than Peter today.
Maybe we know the stories. Maybe we have sat in church for years. Maybe we know the words. But perhaps faith feels tired. Maybe life has worn us down.
Maybe disappointment has crept in.
Maybe we wonder whether God is still moving.
And the good news today is that Pentecost says yes. Aldersgate says yes. Our history says yes. The Spirit has moved since it hovered over the waters at creation, and it still moves today. The Spirit still brings life and breaks barriers.
The Spirit still changes hearts and gathers people.
The Spirit still calls disciples and sends them out.
The Spirit still takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things.
Because God's story did not stop in Acts, and it did not stop with Wesley. It continues with us today. The question is not whether the Spirit is moving. The question is whether we are willing to move with and be moved by the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, Come renew us today, warm our hearts, and move us to witness with you.
Amen.
Comments