Sermon - 6/5/22

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, we celebrate the birth of the church. Today, we come and gather here in one place for a birthday party, and it is a dangerous one.  In fact, this party has been a dangerous event from day one.  </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our story begins on an ordinary day, roughly 2,000 years ago when a small group of despairing believers isolated themselves</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">all together in one place</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. These disciples huddled together in</span> <strong>isolation</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">because they were</span> <strong>afraid</strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">.  It is quite likely they were afraid of outsiders, so they stayed clustered and cloistered together as one group.  Now, honestly, had they known what was about to happen, they would likely have separated and spread out.  You see, after all they had been through, what was about to happen would have freaked out even the bravest amongst them.   As they clustered together in their small group, they</span> <strong><em>were</em></strong> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in danger but not from outsiders.  The danger they were in as they huddled all together in one place, was from a God who was about to crash the party and bring in everyone they were trying to avoid.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yes, God did crash that party and, with the force of a mighty wind and flames and voices speaking in many languages, God brought into that gathering of early believers people from</span> <strong>all</strong> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">nations.  And, in the midst of their bewilderment, their amazement, the chaos, and the cacophony of voices, that gathering exploded into the church – something the world had never before witnessed.  It was a whole new creation!</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Quite frankly, I think the present-day mainline church has, at times, been gathering in fearful isolation from soc