May 24, 2026 · Elsa M. Tranfaglia · Acts 2:1-21
On Pentecost, Elsa M. Tranfaglia starts with a kindergartner waiting for Jesus to come and clean his room, then turns to the day the church was born: a rush of wind, flames like birthday candles, and a promise that everyone will dream dreams. As the Old Sloop begins its time between pastors, it's an invitation to dream about where the Spirit is leading.
Transcript
This church is obviously very kind. The clock where I last served was right where your exit sign is. So then when sermons ran long, you knew it. However, the clock in the corner is much larger than the clock we had at Maple Street.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer. And may they lead us all to love and peace. Amen.
When my son Cory was in kindergarten and he's now fifty odd. I sent him to clean his room. It seemed very quiet upstairs, so I went up to check and found. He was distracted by all the toys and nothing had been put away. I said, Corey, what did mommy ask you to do? Clean my room, he answered. And as a good mother, I said. And did you clean your room? No, he replied quietly. I restated that he needed to clean his room and that we couldn't go to the beach until his room was picked up. A motivation. By the third time I had been upstairs to check on Corey's progress, I was getting quite agitated. I raised my voice, I'm sure, and instructed him he must clean his room or we wouldn't be going to the beach today at all. This time, I stood in his room to make sure Cory would comply. Feeling irritated and knowing me, I must have mumbled something like, please, sweet Jesus, come and help this kid get this room picked up. But Cory just sat in the middle of the mess. He did nothing. In frustration, I finally asked K, what are you doing? He replied just as frustrated. I'm waiting for Jesus to come and help me clean up my room, mommy.
Today is Pentecost. The roots of Pentecost trace back to the days following Christ's resurrection and ascension. The early disciples, like my son Corey, were waiting for the return of Jesus. And just as Jesus had promised, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Jerusalem, transforming their fear into boldness. Some who were present at that first Pentecost formed a new community. They devoted themselves to solidarity, sharing what they held in common, giving to all in need, spending hours in the temple and breaking bread with gladness and generosity. A new humanity. They weren't to be called Christians for many more years. They were simply followers, people of the way, imitating a crucified Jewish rabbi named Jesus, whom they experienced as fully alive. Pentecost became a cornerstone of Christian doctrine, symbolizing a new beginning through the spirit.
For believers today, Pentecost is not something we just celebrate. It is a holy reminder of the Holy Spirit's enduring power, God's continuing work in the world, and a renewal for us through faith. So happy birthday to us. That's what Pentecost is, the day the church was born so long ago, birthed by the breath of God in a mighty rush of wind that filled the house where the faithful had gathered. It was the same breath of God that blew life into Adam and Eve, and the same breath of God that resurrected Christ, that the resurrected Christ breathed into the disciples on Easter night to calm their fears and to bring them peace. And then forty days later, the same holy breath by which Jesus left them on what we call Ascension Day, when he moved into the wind, sailing into eternity on Pentecost, the wind blows again. And though Jesus was not seeable hearable touchable in that house that day, the holy was the Spirit of God blowing, roaring through the house, ruffling their hair, breezing through their garments. And they are wondering, what is this wind? Because of course we like. They forget at times how untimely, how strangely God can come to all of us.
And here's how we know Pentecost is truly a birthday party. There are candles. The disciples looked at each other in amazement as all of them are living birthday candles, flames, dancing, dancing over their heads in the cool of the breeze, fed by the Holy Spirit, fed by the very breath of God. I suggest we at the First Congregational Church of Rockport, should not only refer to Pentecost as the birthday of the church, but also see that this day, Pentecost is much more interesting and risky. It's much more than just a birthday celebration.
Pentecost is a time for Christians. And remember, that's who we say we are. We Christians are reminded that we're a bunch of dreamers and prophets. All of us are. Whether we prefer to worship with our hands at our sides, as I kind of do. Or with a little more fervor in Christian tradition. Pentecost brings the fifty day Easter season to a close, but it also points towards new beginnings. On this day, we celebrate not only the coming of the Holy Spirit, but also the new horizons this event opens up. It opens up what God's ongoing commitment to the world might be.
The biblical story in chapter two of acts describing the imparting of the Holy Spirit goes something like this. Expect to hear prophecy, dreams and visions from all of us. This could get weird. Okay, I'm paraphrasing that in the description of the imparting of the Holy Spirit's dreams and visionary experiences. That is part of the discussion. Words like prophecy and visions evoked for some of us memories of wild eyed doomsaying doomsayers distributing leaflets all over the common in Boston or Pat Robertson evangelizing in times.
But Pentecost isn't about that kind of prophecy. Peter is explicit that the spirit helps make sense of the present. That's what his whole Pentecost speech does. It offers an explanation of what God is making possible in the here and in the now. He's naming places and ways in which God is active and visible in the world. Now that Jesus is gone and the spirit has arrived. Peter is offering a clarification of the crowd's experience. It's a theological explanation, saying that the day's events point beyond themselves to suggest something about God and God's purposes for the world.
Peter, drawing from Joel, characterizes the community of Jesus followers as a community of prophets, male and female, old and young, slaves and free persons. It's a community of meaning makers, interpreters, dreamers. What a scary thing to assert that people might dare to speak about how events and circumstances could connect to God's desires. That might be downright dangerous. Unusual, unusual stuff is definitely afoot. It's what happens when God shows up. The details of this special event might seem weird and strange to. Not only that crowd that day, but also to us. Hopefully, Pentecost should also make us expectant, eager to play a part in the emergence of God's hopes and God's dreams.
And so Pentecost, Pentecost observances are more than a celebration of that day in the past. Pentecost is not merely an end to Easter or a chance to launch summer programming. Nor is it an opportunity for stoking a nostalgia about the church's supposed glory days. We don't need that. Pentecost is an invitation to us, to us to dream. Our Christian faith has had lots of rosters of exceptional dreamers who, like Jesus, insisted that God could make possible the things other people could not see. The last century gave us Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Fannie Lou Hamer, my beloved Oscar Romero, and so many others.
But dreams not need not always be dramatic. And the prophetic task of describing how a new God given possibility is coming to life is never restricted to public figures with magnetic personalities. Remember, according to our reading, God promises the spirit to all flesh. Peter vows to the crowd and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then he says, the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. It belongs to all of us. All of us.
We here at the First Congregational Church of Rockport have begun a time of discernment, a time for dreaming, dreams of possibility, a time for listening. Our beloved pastor has resigned. We now move into this time of listening to one another, to the community, to the callings and whisperings of the Holy Spirit, to where we are being led. It is a time of beginnings, just like the beginnings professed and provided on that very first Pentecost. And this time, this interim time is a holy time for us as a congregation, as we share our hopes, visions, and dreams for this church, this body of Christ.
As we look back in time on Pentecost, we will also need to be looking at the present and the future, dreaming with our eyes open, daring to consider where God may be found today and where the Holy Spirit is calling us. Like any good dreaming, these dreams involve adopting a new perspective on what's possible, rousing our creativity while respecting traditions. Maybe this time might help us see that we thought what we thought was not possible, might actually lie within our reach. Maybe we can find freedom from what? That which binds us. Maybe we can make a difference. Maybe our mission is to understand and connect with neighbors near and far. Maybe some dreams and visions are not just valued or are determined by our budget.
This is indeed not the time for us. For the sake of caution or in the pursuit of respectability, to totally disregard our prophetic vocation. This interim time is a time that can be rich and full of visions, promise, hopes and dreams. The future of our beloved church and our congregation, and this little tiny corner of the planet is not yet determined. Even when our dreams are smaller, more localized, or slower to develop, they can still be revolutionary. The spirit is blowing. God is here with us.
This week's passage points towards the church, points a portrait of the church as a dynamic community of people following Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out God's mission of healing, liberation, and joy for the sake of the world. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. In an age of polarizing fear and division. Content. Content. Contempt and conflict. The church and all of us here at the old sloop. Our mission, which is the essence of Pentecost, has never been more pressing. Happy birthday. Yes. And also, let's go.
The church is not a building. At its heart, the church is a mission. God's mission. A mission to listen and learn and speak to each other in love so all can understand. To celebrate and serve with the Spirit's winds in our sails. We are stronger together than we are alone. When our congregation functions as an interdependent web of care, we become a force that interrupts harm and cultivates healing.
Let us be a church that dreams, dreams of justice and prophesies Christ's love. Let us be a church that refuses to be silent. Let us be a church that protects. Let us be a church that heals. Let us be a church that holds one another accountable. Let us be a church that changes lives through mercy, compassion, kindness, and love.
So listen my friends. Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The spirit is blowing. God is with us. May it be so. Amen.