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Today we honor Dads and Grads, and it seems right to talk about adventures.

Living With Spirit: WELCOME -Acts 2: 37-42 - June 21, 2009 - Cicero United Methodist Church - Everett J. Bassett

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Today we honor Dads and Grads, and it seems right to talk about adventures. It is an adventure into the unknown to become a father - whether it is a biological father or a father-figure in some other way. I remember those times I wished it was not quite such an adventure. I comforted myself by saying that the adventure with your children lasted through the early years, and to graduation. Then you could relax your vigilance a little. But now I realize that parenthood is an adventure that just keeps giving. It doesn't end.

And as for graduation, that too marks a continuing adventure. Who knows what wonderful journeys await these young people we honor today? Life, itself, is an adventure into the unknown. The world is full of surprises.

And I say, if life is going to be an adventure no matter what, then make it a great one! Live your life with spirit. Be passionate about good things. Be dedicated to great causes. Shake the world up, and make it a better place. Don't waste your body on unhealthy things, your mind on garbage, or your spirit on things that bring death. There are a lot of people today who are living their lives without spirit, without energy, without joy. That's one way we can go. But there's another way. I believe it is possible to have great energy and joy in life. And - no surprise here - I believe that faith holds the key.

Now, let me be clear about what I mean by living with spirit and energy and joy and passion. Those things might make you think of the people in a beer commercial - you know, the ones who are always laughing, always at a party, always doing fun things. That's not what I mean. It can be part of what I mean, but not all of it. The fact is, some of the most spirited, energized, passionate people I've ever met could hardly get out of bed. They weren't physically able. But their spirit was unbreakable, because they had deep faith and deep love and inner peace. On the other hand, I've met some people who were big timers on the party scene, but desperate inside for some true passion for life.

What makes life a great adventure is not about the fun you're having at a given moment - although it's great to have fun. What makes life an adventure is something that comes from deep inside - deep faith, deep love, inner peace. Those are the things that Jesus offered, and the things the crowds fell over themselves to get close to.

Jesus, I think, is a great model for an adventurous life. I think Jesus enjoyed life, and loved to have fun. He loved to play with children, he loved to sit and tell stories, he loved a good party. So much so, that he made the religious people pretty nervous. Life was supposed to be serious, not a party. Yet Jesus, as much as he enjoyed things, was not just living day to day, on the surface of things. His joy was deeply rooted in his faith and trust in God. He was a devout and faithful person, paying attention to religious customs, deeply rooted in prayer, passionate in his love for others. It was not an easy life; he sacrificed to follow his calling; he felt the pain of those around him; he suffered terribly, and he died for what he believed in. Yet I absolutely believe that he gave us the example of a perfect way to live - full of faith; full of passion; full of adventure; full of spirit. .

That scripture lesson we read from Acts 2 tells about people who wanted to be in on that kind of life. First there were the disciples who had known Jesus best. In Acts 2 we read about how they were filled with God's Spirit, and it was like a big party. People thought they were drunk at nine o'clock in the morning. But it was much better than that. They were drunk on God. They were experiencing something they never wanted to end, something deep and wonderful. So much so, that after Peter gave his sermon, according to Acts 2: 41, "... that day about three thousand persons were added."

3000 people! God was thinking big. But let's try to picture that. Adding 3000 people on the very first day pretty much changed everything, didn't it? It redefined the church. Here are twelve disciples, and who knows, maybe another couple dozen or more that have gathered around Jesus over time. And suddenly 3000 people join! How do you even begin to deal with that? From a tiny band to a huge church in one moment. One of the trainings I attended for pastors of larger churches was called "Waltzing with the Gorilla." Well ... suddenly those twelve disciples had a gorilla on their hands.

And it's the nature of a radical new adventure that part of us is likely to get excited, and welcome it. And another part of us does not. So I picture Peter giving that _ invitation, and then his eyes growing wide and him thinking, "Holy Smokes! This must be 3000 people responding. Praise the Lord!" Meanwhile, on the other hand, there must have been at least one of those disciples thinking, "Oh great! Now the Welcome Center's too small again. And where are they all going to park? And who's going to fold all of those extra bulletins on Sunday? And where are we going to find that many ushers and offering baskets? (Actually, they probably went to work on that one right away.)

The point is, it's not a foregone conclusion that everybody is going to be happy at first about 3000 new people. But what we see in Acts is that those disciples welcomed this new multitude, and rolled along with this radical new development in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And it's absolutely clear that one of the great talents of the early church was the welcoming of new people. And it still is our greatest joy. Most every Sunday we are blessed with new faces in our congregation, and it is fabulous. Every group of new members that have joined over the years have brought wonderful new life to our church, and we pray that we will always be welcoming as the Holy Spirit moves to add to our group. The ministry of welcoming is one of the oldest and most significant activities in the life of the church, and I pray that every member will take it seriously.

But when we talk about living with spirit, and the importance of welcoming, I want to apply it more widely than just welcoming new people in church. I think it's also about welcoming new things in our lives. Being ready for the adventure of life. For the past few weeks, I've been using Acts 2 to talk about living with spirit, and we've listed three things those disciples did on Pentecost Day to live with spirit: first, they gathered - we can't do it on our own; we need each other. Second, they proclaimed - we can only live with spirit if our lives are proclaiming something worthwhile and lasting - and for Christians that means proclaiming what Jesus stood for. Third, they remembered - they remembered what they had been taught, and their heritage as people of God in that time and place. That's a big part of what school is all about - learning who we are, and what

knowledge and wisdom sets the foundation for our lives. It's so important that we have that schooling not only in grades K-12, or Freshman through Senior in college. We are in school every day of our lives, learning new things and, hopefully, remembering the important ones.

But it's also important that we graduate. Graduating means taking what we've been taught and jumping into the adventure. And every time we do that, we change the world. And if we do it right, we change the world for the better - we bring it closer to what God wanted it to be in the first place.

So the fourth thing those disciples did, and the fourth thing we can do, to live with sprit, is to welcome. Welcome new people; welcome new challenges; welcome new dreams and hopes and adventures. Don't close the door on the new possibilities that are endlessly unfolding in life. Don't be the caterpillar looking up at the butterfly and saying, "You'll never get me up in one of those things." The thing to remember about Acts, chapter 2, the story of Pentecost, is that it is something that God is doing all the time. God is always sending His Holy Spirit to bring adventure to our lives.

Let me draw to a close with a story about welcoming new things. Some of the

younger people here may not know that not so longer ago, if you wanted to listen to music of your own choosing, you bought this big black round thing called a 'record.' And after you used it for a while, it was likely to be scratchy, and there was background noise, and so on. Then, in 1981, a man named Mickey Schulhof presented recording industry leaders with a new concept - digitally reproduced sound, and said that one day music could be heard on a 'compact disc.' And he pushed a button, and they listened to the most brilliantly clear reproduced music they had ever heard. And then they told him it would never work. And they sent Mickey and his idea away.

So Mickey said to himself, "Those people are concerned about money. I need to take this idea to people who are concerned about sound. Who is that? Musicians." So he made an appointment with Stevie Wonder. And Stevie listened to the digital recording, and then went out and bought $100,000 worth of new digital playing equipment. Paul Simon listened to it, and other performers, and they were all sold. Finally, the business folks caught on, invited Mickey back, and made a fortune on compact discs.

They almost missed out on the wave of the future because they failed to welcome a new vision. And time and time again opportunities are missed because we close the doors on new things God is doing, and fail to welcome the Holy Spirit flowing around us.

The apostle Peter closed his sermon with an invitation for all who could hear to 'repent', or 'have a new start.' To let Jesus forgive your sins, which means the slate is wiped clean and you can start anew. And to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, which means you can live your life with passion, hope, and energy. And then he says, "For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." Those are words of joy for you and me. Life is not empty. It is full of promise and joy. Let each of us believe and welcome the new day.