“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”                                                                   (Acts 1:8)

For many years the road to our home in the North Hills led past a Duquesne Light power station. Or so I thought. Huge steel towers, heavy wires, fences all around, stern warning signs to keep off and keep out. The complex covered several acres.  

A man in my congregation at the time worked for Duquesne Light. One day I said to him casually, “That’s some power station there near our home.” His response was very quick. “Oh Brian, that’s not a power station. That’s merely a sub-station. It makes up a small percentage of the power grid in our area of Allegheny County.” 

I thought about that conversation as I prepared this message today. I thought, “We are a sub-station in a huge power grid.” That’s how I read the story of Pentecost in the 2^nd chapter of Acts. That’s how I read the promise of Jesus in our text for today: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Or earlier, when Jesus says something in Luke 24:49: he speaks to the disciples and says, “Stay here until you are clothed with power from on high.” 

Pentecost is about the gift of power to the believer. Pentecost is about the formation of a power sub-station in a community of believers. 

Today is Pentecost. This is the day the church exploded or began to do so. The color is red, symbolizing the fire of God’s Spirit. God has given to each believer more power than we acknowledge. God has given to each local church more power than we acknowledge. Someone once said, “Not one church in a hundred has any notion of its power. I think that is correct. 

I read a story about a church service where all the power went out in the middle of a service. The organ stopped playing. The lights went out. The P.A. system turned off. There was an eerie, uneasy silence. Quickly someone passed a note to the preacher which read, “After your morning prayer, the power will be back on.” 

It’s not quite that easy. But here’s the issue: how do we appropriate the gift of power? How do you and I interiorize, receive, and take delivery of that power? 

SPIRITUAL GIFTS 

First, you make spiritual gifts a high priority. Yes, I know I speak of this often. I deeply believe in the gifted community. I know that spiritual gifts are rooted in considerable mystery. I cannot fully explain it to you, but it is a part of the power grid of every local church. 

I pulled out my ordination certificate this week. I realized that it was 42 years ago today that I was ordained an elder in the United Methodist Church. My ordination took place at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland. That’s an awful place for ordination. It may be good for other events, but not for ordination. One of the main features of that day was that the sound system was offering horrendous feedback. Elaine was convinced it was the Holy Spirit anointing me for ministry. 

The following Sunday after my ordination I began my first full-time appointment. I remember now how I approached those years. I felt I had to do all things in the church, plus I had to do all things well. Then I discovered spiritual gifts. 

And upon discovering spiritual gifts I discovered that not only do I not have to do all things, and not only do I not have to do all things well, but that is not the way God intends it to be in the church. I do not possess all the gifts. I may have three or four at most, and my job is to use those gifts well over the years. 

I have watched the gifts blossom in you over these years. I have watched the discovery and the awareness and the ownership and the celebration of the gifts. I have heard you say, “I can’t sing the choir, but I can greet and usher.” I have heard you say, “I can’t really handle young children, but I can teach adults.” Another has said, “I cannot lead a meeting, but I can make blankets for Project Linus.” Or another has said, “I cannot serve on the Finance Committee, but God has made possible significant giving through me.” 

Part of the inner peace and high energy for Christian living comes from the Pentecostal awareness of spiritual gifts. 

A lot of burnout exists in our culture. It affects every age and segment of society. It even affects children and youth. Sometimes it even affects the church. But most of the time in the church, “burnout” means you are out of alignment with your spiritual gifts. 

Occasionally I have to have the tires aligned on my car. If I neglect alignment, the tires will wear unevenly or prematurely. If I am not in alignment with my spiritual gifts, the same thing happens on the Christian journey. 

Your gifts are different from those of others. Your gifts are different from your spouse or your children or your brother or sister or your friend. Maybe your special gift is the gift of encouragement. The Biblical word is “exhortation.” Paul talks about the gift of exhortation. I had a man in my first church who had an “exhorter’s license.” I had no idea what that was. Then I found out. An exhorter is a person who stands up after the preacher preaches, to tell the congregation what the preacher said. In some ways it was an attempt to help seminary-trained preachers speak more clearly to rural or less educated communities. But in another sense, it was an attempt to make sure that people got some added incentive to follow through on what the sermon had said. The real Biblical word, and the meaning of the word, I think, is “encouragement.” 

That may be your distinctive gift. During the 1960s Bart Starr was the legendary quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. He told how his son needed incentive at school. So his wife and he decided that for every good paper that came home from school, their son would get a dime. (Remember, this was the 1960s!)  

One Sunday afternoon the Packers lost a game. The play was awful. Starr was intercepted and sacked several times. The sportscasters had a field day with criticism of the team. It was a quiet and somber flight back to Green Bay. 

Bart Starr walked into the house with his chin on his chest. He was really low. He was low until he walked into his room and found a note on his bed pillow. The note was from his son. It said, simply, “Dear Dad, I thought you played a great game.” And taped to the note were two dimes. 

Your gift may be encouragement, or it may be any of two dozen others. But it is your energy on the power grid of the Christian journey, and it is a source of joy and peace and fulfillment. You cannot create your own spiritual gift. You cannot apply for spiritual gifts like filling out an application for college. You can’t earn spiritual gifts like a scouting merit badge. You don’t accumulate spiritual gifts like frequent flyer miles. All you can do is unwrap, and train, and use the gifts to the glory of God. 

JESUS IS YOUR COMPANION 

How do you appropriate the power of Pentecost? Secondly, you take Jesus as your companion for the journey. Here is another piece of the Pentecost power grid. Jesus said to the disciples, “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20) At another point he said, “I will give you a comforter who will be with you.” (John 14:25; 15:26) 

We have peace in the storms of life because of Jesus as our companion. We have confidence in the struggles of life because of Jesus as our companion. We have assurance in times of uncertainty because of Jesus as our companion. 

Some years ago a man told a story of his open-heart surgery. It was a long time ago, when the surgery was far riskier than it is today. A nurse came into his room before the surgery. She said to him, “Take my hand. Hold my hand. I want you to feel my hand in yours.” While they joined hands she told him about his surgery. She said his heart would be stopped. The damage would be fixed. And then his heart would be started again. She said he would end up in a very special recovery room. He would be there about six hours. He would be unable to speak, and probably could not open his eyes. He would be completely helpless, but fully conscious. And then she said this to him: “Here is what I want you to remember. I will be holding your hand during this time, just like I am right now.” The man reported this was exactly what happened.[i] 

When I was doing youth ministry years ago, our youth group had a favorite song. The song still works for me, especially in the Pentecost story. I think it is a song by Joan Baez. These are the words:

Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water.

Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea.

Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently,

by putting your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee. 

You have power for the journey. You have peace in the storm. You have an energy grid for abundant living, if you take the hand of Jesus as your companion for the journey. 

JUSTICE IS THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION 

How do you appropriate the power grid of Pentecost? Thirdly, you make justice one key outward expression of your faith. 

We have a superb daycare ministry here at Christ Church. Parents who need full-time care for their children bring them five days a week. They have great confidence in us and they entrust their children to us. Someone had suggested that Jesus did not give us daycare for this life. Rather Jesus came to give us something called “DARE care.” 

Someone has written, “There is no safety in safety; there is only safety in the risk and dare of a life of faith. Faith is but another word for trust.” 

When the disciples received the Spirit of Pentecost, they did not rent the Upper Room and hold holiness meetings. Rather they went everywhere with courage and with boldness. Later in this series on “Acts Alive” I will preach a message on Holy Boldness from a text in Acts 4. For now, let me simply say that Pentecost is about bold justice. Pentecost gives us power and energy for just living and just causes. 

William Sloane Coffin was one of my heroes in ministry. He was a truly prophetic voice in the modern world. He died about a month ago at the age of 82. Coffin called for something he termed a “politically engaged spirituality.” I find that an interesting phrase. 

I received a phone call this week from one of our shut-ins. She called to thank me for my pastor’s column on Iran in the Reporter this week. Frankly, I wasn’t sure how that piece would be received. But I tried to make it a “politically engaged spirituality.” I recalled the words of another contemporary Christian prophet.

It is when we are weak that we can be strong. It is when the false gods fail that the God of grace and glory has a chance. It is when old balances of power shift and leave us vulnerable that the power of the Spirit can give us the vision of a world at peace. It is when we have spent and spent for that which cannot satisfy that the Bread of Life, proclaimed in love, can nourish a weary people back to health.[ii] 

Remember, not one church in 100 has any notion of its power. Probably not many individual Christians have any notion of what we can be. God gives us power and enabling far beyond our own human resources. The power grid is still available. 

We are a people transformed by a Transcendent power. Pentecost is the story of the church exploding into the world with enormous energy. The Book of Acts is one small piece of that story. Acts is “alive” with a witness to the power grid of God. 

I began this message with an illustration from Duquesne Light. Let me end it with another illustration from that same source. It was printed in a Playbill from the Pittsburgh Public Theater this past Thursday night. Listen to the words.

Bringing new energy to Pittsburgh.

There’s a new energy coming to Pittsburgh.

The kind of energy that can propel this region

and the people who live here, well into the 21^st century. 

I hope you can see the parallels in that statement. You and I are called and equipped to be a power sub-station. We can be a sub-station of Pentecost energy. Join me! It is a worthy call and a great adventure.