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Sermon for Pentecost Sunday – May 24, 2026
Acts 2:1-21, John 20:19-23
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have two Holy Spirit stories before us on this Pentecost Sunday, and they couldn’t be more different from one another. One is loud: The Spirit comes with a sound like the rush of a violent wind! The other is quiet: It comes as a whisper, as a breath. Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the disciples by breathing on them.
One Holy Spirit story, the one we hear in the book of Acts, is showy and dramatic and full of fireworks: Tongues of fire rested on the disciples. A large crowd gathered, people from all over the world who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish harvest festival. The disciples miraculously began to speak other languages, proclaiming God’s deeds of power in the native languages of those who were there. It was such a big, loud public spectacle that the scoffers accused the disciples of disorderly conduct. They were accused of being drunk – which Peter countered by pointing out that it was only nine o’clock in the morning.
The other Holy Spirit story we hear, in the gospel of John, is more intimate and simple: Jesus met the disciples in the Upper Room. He showed them his hands and his side. He gave them the Holy Spirit quietly and softly, with a breath. He spoke to them, saying, “Peace be with you,” gently calming their fears.
In both stories, the Spirit is at work through language, through speech, through talking, through a Word. In one, the Spirit is loud and dramatic, in the other, the Spirit is quiet and calm, but in both, the Spirit uses language to change hearts, to change minds, to change lives. In both, the Spirit uses verbal communication to bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to people by telling them of God’s deeds of power through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I love it when we have these two Holy Spirit stories back-to-back on Pentecost Sunday because it shows us that the Holy Spirit works in a variety of ways. The predominant view in popular American Christianity is that the Spirit is always flashy, always dramatic. There is this idea out there that if you haven’t had some kind of flashy, dramatic, usually highly emotional experience, then you don’t truly have the Spirit. Some Christians even say that if you haven’t had a flashy, dramatic experience of the Holy Spirit, the really loud kind, then you aren’t truly saved. This idea is what Lutheran theologians call, “horse pucky.”
But this idea even sneaks in among Lutherans from time to time. It sneaks in when we think the Spirit is more present in big crowds than it is in small gatherings. It sneaks in when we think the Spirit is more at work when things are loud and upbeat than when things are quiet or reflective. It sneaks in when we think that other Christians have more of the Spirit than we do.
I also notice this idea sneaking in when people hear that someone has become a Christian, or when they hear that someone has had a renewal of their Christian faith. There is often an assumption that something big must have happened. There must have been a sound like the rush of a violent wind. Usually though, what has happened instead has been more like a series of whispers, a series of small breaths.
I love how C. S. Lewis spoke of his conversion to the Christian faith. He spent much of his adult life as an atheist. He had lots of conversations with Christian friends, including his good friend J.R.R. Tolkien. He read a lot of G.K. Chesterton, the great British Christian intellectual. And through words on a page, through speech, through quiet conversations, God slowly changed his heart. God slowly changed his mind. God eventually changed his life. There were no loud sounds, no dramatic experiences. Lewis recounted that one day he was riding a motorcycle to spend the day at the zoo with his brother. He said that when he left his house, he didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but when he arrived, he did. That’s the Spirit at work too!
Just this past week I had someone ask me about my call to ordained ministry. Often people assume that there’s some dramatic Holy Spirit story lurking in the background of a pastor’s life. I’m kind of embarrassed sometimes that there isn’t for me. Instead, it was a series of whispers, a series of breaths, a series of quiet nudges. I was thinking about it this week after I was asked about it, and I remembered that the first time that being a pastor ever crossed my mind came when I was talking to my mom while she was in the bathroom. I was really excited about some theological insight I’d had after a conversation with the pastor of my home church, and I was telling my mom about it through the bathroom door. As the conversation ended, she said, “Maybe you should be a pastor.” And then she flushed the toilet. That’s my Holy Spirit story! There was more to it than that, of course, but my call to ministry was a series of quiet, simple, unremarkable, ordinary moments. The Holy Spirit got to me through whispers, through breaths.
Now maybe God got to you through something loud and flashy and dramatic. Maybe God got to you through a sound like the rush of a violent wind. Maybe God got to you through fireworks. If that’s your story, God bless you! God be praised! The loud story in Acts is indeed an example of God pouring out his Spirit on all kinds of people. The loud story in Acts has sometimes been called the birth of the Christian church, which seeks to speak loudly of God’s deeds of power to people of all nations and tongues, changing peoples’ lives in powerful ways.
But the loud story isn’t the only Holy Spirit story we have. It isn’t the only way God pours out his Spirit. In fact, I think it is more often the case that the Spirit works quietly, in whispers, in breaths. I think it is more common for the Spirit to work in ways that are simple, ordinary, even unremarkable.
The Spirit is at work in those seemingly unremarkable conversations you might have with a friend, maybe when they’re driving you to a doctor’s appointment, or coming to see you after a surgery, or inviting you out to lunch at a time when you really needed the company.
The Spirit is at work in those quiet moments with your Bible or book of devotions, when a passage lands right where it needs to, easing your fears, giving you perspective, giving you peace.
The Spirit is at work whenever we gather around the scriptures, whether that’s in Sunday school or Adult Bible Study or Lydia circle or Deborah circle or the Brotherhood of St. Bernard. Those conversations around the Word, even when we go down rabbit holes, are the Spirit’s workspace.
The Spirit is at work each and every Sunday when we gather for worship, no matter how routine or ordinary it might seem. What happens here in worship is sometimes boisterous and loud and celebratory, but more often than not it is quiet and simple. But don’t be mistaken when it is quiet and simple. What is happening in our routine Sunday services is a powerful work of the Spirit too! Our quiet, simple Sunday morning moments are an echo of what we see happening in the Holy Spirit story we hear today in our gospel reading. Jesus comes to us. He breathes on us, giving us his Word, coming close to us. Like the disciples, we often come to this Upper Room confused or afraid or troubled, and Jesus says to us, “Peace be with you.” And then, because he knows how badly we need his peace, he says it again, “Peace be with you.” On our ordinary Sunday mornings, Jesus shows us his hands and his side, he shows himself as our crucified and risen Lord. What is he doing in the Lord’s Supper if he isn’t showing us his wounds? Giving us his body and his blood? He shows us that he has taken care of everything necessary for our salvation. Jesus comes to us to assure us that our sin is forgiven, and then he renews us in our calling to share that forgiveness with others. This all comes through breaths, through whispers, through ordinary words spoken in a more quiet, intimate setting. This is the Spirit at work too!
There’s a saying I like very much. It isn’t a biblical saying, but it is still pretty good. You’ve probably heard it. It is a quote from the writer Kurt Vonnegut, who said, “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.”
We can apply this to the work of the Spirit in the little things. We should pay attention to them. We should notice them. We should treasure them. We should enjoy them. Because one day we will realize that those little things – those little breaths from Jesus over the course of our lifetime – those are the big things.
I pray that that day of realization for us is today. My prayer for each of you is that you know that the Spirit is at work in your life even now. In the little things of a pastor’s meager voice, in the little things of bread and wine, in the little things of ordinary Christians gathered together to share conversation and consolation, the Spirit is at work – right here, right now.
The Holy Spirit is at work in many ways. Don’t overlook the little ones. They are bigger than you might think.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church