Keri Anderson - Pentecost Sunday - June 4th

Co-pastor Keri Anderson's final sermon to the Root and Branch community on Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost Sunday marks the story in which the Holy Spirit (in wind and fire) was bestowed upon Jesus' disciples, and Keri breathes some fire on us about the feminine Spirit of God.

Readings:

A reading from the Book of Proverbs about the Feminine Wisdom of God:

God created me at the beginning of creation,
    the first of the creative acts of long ago.
²³ Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
²⁴ When there were no depths I was brought forth,
    when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped,
    before the hills, I was brought forth—
²⁶ when God had not yet made earth and fields,
    or the world’s first bits of soil.
²⁷ When God established the heavens, I was there,
    when God drew a circle on the face of the deep,
²⁸ when God made firm the skies above,
    when God established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when God assigned to the sea its limit,
    so that the waters might not transgress the Lord’s command,
when God marked out the foundations of the earth,
³⁰     then I was beside the Lord, like a master worker;
and I was daily God’s delight,
    rejoicing before the Lord always,
³¹ rejoicing in God’s inhabited world
    and delighting in the human race.

A reading from the Book of Acts:

When the day of Pentecost came, the disciples were all together in one place.² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a fierce wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard the sound of the disciples speaking, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

¹⁴ Then Peter stood up with the eleven other disciples, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷ “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit.