Pentecost, 2022
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost
June 5, 2022
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Despite our church body’s German heritage and general lack of emotionalism in our worship, the worship life of the Christian does include his entire body, his entire being, which includes emotions. I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. God created our senses first, to be use for worship and for communication with Him. All five senses of the body are used in one form or another during worship, during the Divine Service, at least some of the time. When we gather within the church for worship primarily by receiving God’s Word, given to us through various means and by receiving Bread from Heaven, there are various stimuli that are recognized by each of our five senses. Thus, our entire being enjoys the Divine Service and is benefited by it.
Now what I’m not saying is that we need a revivalism of emotion likened unto that of Pentecostal groups or non-denominational churches who use rock and roll band tactics in their worship or by waving hands around, lifting up our babies like Simba in the Lion King, playing with poisonous snakes, or speaking gibberish while claiming that it’s really speaking in tongues. Neither do we worship for the sake of gaining an emotional high like we see on TV or even, unfortunately, at certain congregations within our own church body. The way we worship, the manner of our worship confesses something about what we believe. What we believe is this: We are sinners, who in humility and meekness enter before the throne of God, while humbly begging Him for forgiveness. And we believe that out of His goodness and mercy, through the Divine Service of the Church, God serves us what He has promised to give us for the sake of Jesus Christ. And what He would give us, through the Means of Grace, for the sake of Jesus Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
We believe that God has made us and all creatures; that He has given us our bodies, and souls, eyes, ears, and all our members, our reason and all our senses. So, for example, the way that our sense of hearing is used in the Divine Service, in a different manner than if we were out at the grocery store or whatever, is that we hear things that are generally only heard in Church, such as hymns, sacred music, chanting, praying. Also, since we use predominately Setting 3 of the Divine Service, we hear words like “Thee,” “Thou,” and “Thine.” No one outside of the Divine Service speaks that way. But we do in the Church because the Church is not of this world. The Church is not of this world so we say and hear things that aren’t heard anywhere else and by this, we know that we are in a sacred space.
What we see in the church and within the Divine Service, should look different than any other place. In the church, we see things like crucifixes, stained glass windows, sacred vestments, and architecture. Now it used to be that you could display a cross or a crucifix wherever you wanted, but because our culture has become so secularized, it’s almost as if you display a cross outside of a church building—say in the public square for example—and all the unbelievers start screaming and screeching, just like demons do when they come into contact with holy things. But by this, we know that when we come into a church building and we see these things with our eyes—crucifixes, stained glass windows, pulpits, altars, and the like—that this place is a holy place, distinct from the world.
We use our hands, and in a sense, our sense of touch during the Divine Service when we fold our hands in prayer. I don’t know of any other use for folding your hands other than to make a gesture for prayer. Likewise, I know, many of you make the sign of the cross where you touch the four corners of the cross on yourself as an acted-out prayer. You probably don’t do that at any other time than at church, except maybe in and during your own devotions at home. But our sense of touch, using our hands is also included in our worship.
Church should smell distinct. I’m not just talking about the coffee that we usually serve after service. When it comes to our sense of smell, when we’re in the Divine Service, we often times might smell the flowers on the altar, or especially the Easter Lilies during the Easter season. We also smell the smoke from our candles and every once in a while, incense. The use of incense within the Divine Service has a longstanding tradition. Here, we only use it once, maybe twice a year. Some people think they’re allergic to it but that’s really not possible. But in any case, this goes to show that our worship in the Divine Service, actually encompasses all of our senses. Because when it comes to our sense of taste, what do we taste in the Divine Service? We taste bread and wine. Except we know that it’s not just bread and wine, but that the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself is there, in, with, and under the bread and wine. This is the central focus of our worship. This is the main reason we gather, to do as Christ bids us all to do, on the night when He was betrayed.
My point in all this is that we are not mindless machines. We aren’t robots. We are emotional creatures who are created with God-given senses and these senses are often used within the Divine Service. Now of course, we do worship differently than other Christians in other different church bodies. What does this have to do with the Holy Spirit? The point in all this, is that our worship differs from other Christians because we have a different understanding of what the Holy Spirit does. While Christian worship is sometimes an emotional experience, we experience these different emotions in the Divine Service not for the sake of gaining an emotional high, rather, we experience different emotions, brought on by our varying senses because we know our sins are forgiven. This might cause us to feel a certain way. Hearing Holy Absolution, listening to preaching, and receiving the Sacrament of the Altar might cause us, at times, to feel relieved or happy and you might feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, but perhaps not always. Just because we might not always feel a certain way when we come to worship does not mean that God isn’t working through the Means of Grace, bestowed in the Divine Service. He is. He always is. And to have our sins forgiven should cause us immense joy!
Today is Pentecost, after all. Today, we celebrate the gift of the sending of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the disciples in the upper room that He would send the Holy Spirit to His church and the Holy Spirit would take what is Christ’s and give it to us. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. He takes what is Christ’s and gives it to us, all that belongs to Him is bestowed on us. It was Christ who defeated death, who won victory over the grave, who blunted death’s sting and took away its victory. He is the one who claims victory over sin, death, and the devil. He is the one who hallows our graves and leads us out of them. The Holy Spirit takes Christ’s victory and gives it to us so that we also, just like Jesus, claim the victory. We’re not the ones who actually accomplished it, but it is attributed to us. The victory is ours.
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Another translation translates this as “Advocate.” An advocate is a person who publicly supports someone else. So, for example, in a court room setting, an advocate might be a lawyer because a lawyer represents and supports the one who is on trial. So it is with the Holy Spirit. He brings to us what we could never gain. He sheds light on what was hidden. None of us could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. Thus, St. Paul, “Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” So also St. Paul says in Galatians 4, “and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” Consider the disciples. How many times is it recorded for us that they did not understand the things they witnessed or the teachings of Christ that they heard? But now, on the day of Pentecost, they are given the Holy Spirit and they preach in many tongues and languages about the great deeds of Christ. Now they fully understand.
If the Holy Spirit had not been sent to us, we would have no knowledge of God’s saving love. We wouldn’t know what Jesus accomplished for us. If the work of Christ remained concealed so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost because faith comes through hearing, and hearing what Jesus did for all men. And so that this treasure might not stay buried, but be received and enjoyed, God has caused His Word to go forth, to be proclaimed, and to be heard. In the Word, He has the Holy Spirit bring this treasure home and make it our own. When you hear God’s Word proclaimed, when you receive the Sacrament, you are receiving the Holy Spirit who brings this Word of Christ to you so that you might be made wise to salvation.
Think of the Holy Spirit also in this sense: much of our hymnody describes the Holy Spirit as a Divine Light who burns and by which, He shines His light, which reveals the truths about God that were once hidden. First, consider the processional hymn: “Come down, O Love divine; seek Thou this soul of mine, and visit it with Thine own ardor glowing; O Comforter, draw near; within my heart appear, and kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.” So also, the next stanza, “O let it freely burn, till worldly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; and let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.”
Consider also hymn 500, one of our communion hymns, the second stanza, “O Source of uncreated light, the bearer of God’s gracious might, Thrice holy found, thrice holy fire, our hearts with heavenly love inspire; Your sacred, healing message bring, to sanctify us as we sing.” And even hymn 497, “Come, holy Light, guide divine, now cause the Word of life to shine. Teach us to know our God aright and call Him Father with delight. Form every error keep us free; let none but Christ our master be that we in living faith abide, in Him, our Lord, with all our might confide.”
In my opinion, one of the greatest strengths of our hymnody is that our hymns and sacred music educate us. By singing these hymns, not only today, but everyday, God’s Word is put into song form and we learn things about our faith. Today, we learn that the Holy Spirit, who appeared as a dove sent from heaven at Jesus’ Baptism but also appeared as tongues of fire and rested on the Apostles on Pentecost, is Himself heavenly light. He shines in our darkened souls and minds and enlightens us with the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, who was crucified, buried, but was raised. There would be no other way to know this unless it was revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That’s what we understand the Holy Spirit does. His mission is not to arouse us to a variety of positive emotions. He is not a feeling in our stomachs that gives us emotional highs. Rather, He takes what is God’s and gives it to sinners. He is the Paraclete, our Comforter, our Advocate. We have Him now and forever as a gift sent from heaven. And we know we have this Holy Spirit because we can confidently say that God is our Father and thus, we confess, “Jesus is Lord.”
In +Jesus’ name.
