Bonhill Church of Scotland
FROM THE MINISTER: "You must be brave to come down in a one hundred mile per hour gale like this in a parachute" the farmer said to the young soldier. "I didn't come down like this in a parachute" said the soldier, "I went up in a tent".
This month we celebrate Pentecost… a time of excitement, of winds and fires and speaking in strange languages. The very birthday of the church. I remember reading of a church in England where they were looking for volunteers to help care for people who got too worked up and excited during the service. Yes they were carrying folk out in stretchers! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. I know some ministers who have thought about getting in the paramedics to see if some are still alive during the service. I love the laughter we sometimes enjoy in Bonhill. I love the singing. Even the odd ‘Hallelujah’ or ‘Praise the Lord’ or ‘Amen’ I can cope with, but if someone started to speak in strange languages I would probably be stumped. Yet that is what happened on that first Pentecost.
I sometimes wonder if we haven’t lost something in the church. Maybe that sense of God’s power that so characterised that group of Christians so long ago.
You know the story. You have heard it often. The disciples were having a prayer meeting. Suddenly they heard this wind. It was not blowing just outside but inside. Then there were tongues of fire all around the room. Then they all began to speak in other languages. Whatever happened in that prayer meeting spilled out into the street. And suddenly those Jews who had gathered in Jerusalem, from all over the world were hearing the disciples tell their story in their own language. And they were both amazed and baffled. It was all a mystery. They decided that drink must be the cause.
It would be nice to welcome you to church. No one will speak in strange languages. Today there will be no tongues of fire. If there are, I’m sure someone will rush forward to put them out. No-
(Pentecost is the festival when Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is celebrated on the Sunday 50 days after Easter (the name comes from the Greek pentekoste, "fiftieth").