“Extraordinary Miracles”

Today’s scripture lessons raise a question I bet not one person in here was asking when you got up to go to church this morning.  I mean, did anyone stop in the middle of shaving, or in between bites of oatmeal, to ask yourself, “Hey, I wonder if I received John’s baptism of water for repentance of sins or if I received the Holy Spirit of Jesus when I got baptized?”   No?  But then again, I don’t think anyone one back there in Ephesus was asking it either, until Paul paid them a visit.  But it’s a question worth thinking about, because as it says in Acts, the difference seems to be in that “⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” and “¹¹God did extraordinary miracles.”  Now I know we are not a Pentecostal church where we call down the Holy Spirit to do faith healing or inspire people to testify, but in the broken down, messed up world we live in today, couldn’t we all use an “extraordinary miracle”? Don’t many of us pray for deep-down, real spiritual transformation?  So isn’t it worth considering what it might take to accomplish that?

Let’s start small with a healing miracle – what would it take to lose 10 pounds?  This time of year, many of us know very well the baptism of John, the baptism for repentance of sins – all those delicious cookies and chocolate... Lord, have mercy, we repent!  As the New Year arrives, many of us know John’s baptism all too well – as we repent of our sins, and we make all those resolutions. We try our best to make a fresh start.  But changing ourselves through sheer willpower is exhausting – and not very effective, if you look at the statistics for diets and weight loss.  I believe 12-step and other group programs are so much more successful than individual effort because they rely upon a “higher power” revealed in the spirit of love and concern found in the group – in the “Holy Spirit” made manifest through all the compassion and wisdom of kindred souls.  Through that sacred power, souls seeking transformation are called into relationship, into community with others on the same path – yes, a lot like our church.

What are the “extraordinary miracles” you are praying for in this New Year? What would it take to heal a broken marriage, or get an addict into recovery?  What would it take to save a child with an eating disorder or get an elder to accept with grace the need to give up driving?  What would it take to exorcize the anger that possesses a bully or release a victim of depression from despair? What would it take to motivate our congregation to give more this year when the economy is so much worse?  Many problems call for “extraordinary miracles,” and yet Christ’s church might not be the first place we go to find solutions – the Holy Spirit may not be the first source we turn to for help.  Could it be true that, baptized with the power of the Holy Spirit, God can accomplish an “extraordinary miracles” not just through Paul, but even through us?

I believe it’s true, because I’ve seen the Holy Spirit in action. The power of Love binds us together in covenant when we are baptized into the faith family of Jesus Christ.  And it’s not all about holy water – this sermon is not about condemning anyone who has NOT actually been baptized.  The Holy Spirit lives in Christ’s church, and wherever this powerful union of souls is found. And it can cast out demons and heal people.  That is true now, just as it was in Paul’s day, back in Ephesus.  I even saw an “extraordinary miracle” once on a youth mission trip back when I was still in seminary.

There was a cruel prank that one brother had played on the other in the middle of our mission trip talent show. Earlier in the night, the adult leaders had done a “The Wizard of Oz” skit, and my mentor in youth ministry – Margie – had been playing Glinda, the good witch.  Her “magic wand” was a glittery cardboard star taped to a wooden spoon she found in the church kitchen.  I’ll get back to that, but when she got the group together to try to make peace and resolve all the hurt feelings – we gathered all together in the sanctuary, and she opened with prayer.  And then, one youth after the other spoke as the Holy Spirit guided them to speak. It was all deadly serious and many tears of remorse were shed before real forgiveness was offered and this miracle of reconciliation was achieved. It was a true epiphany – a revelation of the amazing grace of God that those of us who were there that night will never forget.

We got all the way to the end of that whole, angst-ridden peace process before we noticed that Margie had been calling on us one by one with that goofy wooden spoon with its glitter-glue star.  We couldn’t help but laugh out loud with her when she noticed.  Her “magic wand” was not magic, of course, but because of the holy love we knew from her hand, it became a sacred relic of great healing power.  So at the end of that mission trip, she gave each of us a wooden spoon so that we would never forget the power of the Holy Spirit to work “extraordinary miracles” in our ordinary, everyday lives. And I still have it.  I carried it with me into my ecclesiastical council when it came time for me to be examined for my fitness and readiness for ministry.  It gave me courage!

Do you have holy artifacts from epiphany moments like that?  Things like Paul’s “handkerchiefs and aprons” that have the power to cast out evil spirits and heal us? I believe they work because they remind us of how we’ve known God’s saving love made manifest in our own lives.  Sometimes it is only a small token, or a little thing that someone who loved you has touched, that holds within it the power to remind you of Christ’s redeeming love – the Holy Spirit poured out upon you through the actual touch of a human being – someone who had received the gift of that love before and had the grace to pass it on to you. 

Every year at this time I pull out a few of my family’s relics to make my “Epiphany cookies.” I use my grandmother Ada’s heavy green mixing bowl and wear my grandmother Lela’s plaid apron, two sacred relics of holy love, which they used when they taught me to bake.  They shared holy love with family members every year with their Christmas goodies – the sacred “vessel” for the Holy Spirit might have been mere flour, butter and sugar, but the power of Christ’s love was carried in them nonetheless.

The Good News is that every one of us can participate in the work of the Holy Spirit.  As we receive our baptism into Christ Jesus and accept the power of Holy Love to save us, we can reach out to others with redeeming love and accomplish extraordinary miracles.  What are the tools the Holy Spirit is using in our church to accomplish “extraordinary miracles” today, if not the sanctified aprons of Saint Paul and my grandmother?  What are the utensils of your faith? As the Holy Spirit calls us to share our time and talents I believe it also places the hammers and saws in the hands of Morrison’s Gang and others who go on mission trips and accomplish extraordinary, even barn-raising miracles, of construction and repair.  Deacons and other “Caring Angels” accomplish “extraordinary miracles” with their “holy casseroles,” flowers, and prayer shawls that heal the hearts of people are sick or grieving.

How about the contents of your wallet?  Your checks and $20 bills become holy objects when they are touched by your hands and are placed in the offering plate.  As the Holy Spirit calls us to pray and worship, it moves us to give as we are invited, “with joy in our hearts.”  Cynics of this greedy world would call that an “extraordinary miracle,” right?  What else but the mighty power of the Holy Spirit could work the “extraordinary miracle” of getting all our church bills paid with money voluntarily offered?

How about things like glitter and glue, and paper?  They work “extraordinary miracles” too. An usher may accomplish an “extraordinary miracle” if he or she places a folded paper bulletin in a visitor’s hand with a smile and a warm welcome.  Church school teachers work “extraordinary miracles” when they guide a child’s hand to glue glitter to paper cut in the shape of an angel.  That angel might grace a family’s Christmas tree for years to come and retain its holy power to remind them all – even the most jaded teenager – of the joy of a childhood at church, lived in the bright glory of God’s love. 

Yes, we have witnessed “extraordinary miracles” of spiritual transformation here in our own congregation.  We have known evil spirits to be cast out – we have heard the tone of a church meeting change when a wise and loving spirit offers a kind word.  We have seen human flesh receive new life when the peace of Christ is pressed upon it in a hug.  This is the work of the church of Jesus Christ, and thank God, it is work that we have been given the power, and the necessary tools, to do – because we have been baptized into Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us. 

Thanks be to God for this Good News.  Amen.

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Acts of the Apostles 19:1-12

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. ²He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” ³Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” ⁴Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” ⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— ⁷altogether there were about twelve of them. ⁸He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. ⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord. ¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, ¹²so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

Mark 1:4-11

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” ⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”