My grandson, Cooper, was supposed to be confirmed last Sunday, but it was cancelled.  I had arranged to take last Sunday off so we could attend in the cities, but at the last minute, we got a text from our grandson saying He was sorry, but due to “circumstances” (some personal stuff he’d rather not talk about, he said)  there wouldn’t be a  confirmation party after all.  I think he was bracing himself for reactions of shock, disappointment or disapproval, but I know Cooper…I know his heart and his depth of personal integrity, and so, without knowing what was going on, I texted this back:  “OK Cooper…we love you always, forever, and NO MATTER WHAT!”  

I’ve come to learn his reasons are complex.  Cooper’s parents divorced when he was very young.  His father grew up in a conservative, doctrine driven church, but in recent years has rejected organized religion.  As a dad, he has been lukewarm in his approach to fatherhood, and we have all watched Cooper long for more attention and love than he has been offered.  His dad is a journalist and writer, so his opinions and questions are well expressed.   And Cooper, at 15, is naturally looking to his father to answer his own questions of what it means to grow up and become his own man,

Meanwhile, his mother, our daughter, has always been VERY active in her church communities. and enthusiastic in living and sharing her faith.  She’s been a youth worker in several churches, and currently is a program director for a multi-state church camp program, so if anyone can speak or respond to a youth in crisis…it is her.  But still, it was a crushing blow to her parenting.  Yet she too knows Cooper VERY WELL.  And she could hear the integrity in his questions.  She could see his genuine struggle for truth and spiritual meaning.  When Cooper told her that the only reason he even went to confirmation classes was to please her, she knew it rang true.  The youth programming at their church…the worship…the rules and expectations…none of it brought a genuine, authentic “spark”  to prove God’s presence in Cooper’s 15 years of life and experience.

I had several long phone conversations with Sonja that week as together we grappled with how to both understand and calmly support Cooper’s decision and honesty.  This is a major milestone of faith development, that has always been considered an important means of passing along faith to our children.  Yet this “milestone” ritual  is, it appears,  no longer relevant…or even believable to this next generation.  How could we fault Cooper for the courage and integrity to say…I WON’T FAKE IT!  I want the real thing…a real experience of God.

This week, a new question emerged as Cooper and his mom continue to talk about how he might seek a REAL relationship in Christ.  Cooper asked this “What if God has left the church?  What if God is no longer found there?”  Whew!  What a challenging question to contemplate when at the same time I am working on a sermon for Pentecost Sunday…the day we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit  and the BIRTH of the church on earth.  

Today…we declare as followers of Christ, that God has NOT abandoned us.  While we experience a culture that resists his love…God has JOINED us with a Holy Presence and power that cannot be extinguished.   Ever since that moment that Jesus “BREATHED ON US” …. Ever since that moment that a mighty wind and tongues of fire and unleashed voices breathed in the very essence of God’s presence…. the CHURCH has been trying to define itself.  

As I thought about the history of the church, it seems we have always been going through defining movements that give us some way to say…THIS is who we are as Christians in this world….and THIS is what we believe.  The church began with the apostles…Peter among the Jews and Paul among the Gentiles.  (The story of Acts) For hundreds of years, to be a follower of Christ (People of the Way)  meant survival against hostility and persecution.  Until a ruler named Constantine in the 4th century converted to Christianity and turned the tide, Christians had to meet in hiding.  They looked to the Holy Spirit to shelter, comfort and embolden them as some were dragged into the huge colosseum in Rome to be ravaged by lions. Much later, as warring nations fought over control of lands and masses of starving people, the church was defined by an elite class of religious authorities that conspired with kings to lead crusades and force Christianity on the people to grab sovereignty over them.  It was called the DARK AGES. Finally, a humble, God seeking priest named Martin Luther, was led by the Holy Spirit to study and fully grasp the truth of GRACE in the story of Jesus.  He was empowered to take a stand and demand a reformation…a radical change of direction and understanding of what it means to be the church.  While fighting for his own life, Martin Luther used his intellectual skills and knowledge to translate scripture from Latin into the vernacular of the people, and with the invention of the printing press, ignited an explosion of change. Kings and priests were called to account by intellectual arguments and doctrinal understanding was under great debate.  Out of that time, the Holy Spirit led the church to become defined by our Nicene and apostle's creeds…I BELIEVE THIS because THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE!?  But rather than reform the one CATHOLIC church as Martin Luther intended, differences in doctrines led to the church breaking into various faith denominations:  Lutherans, Baptists, Calvinists etc. etc. 

I am not a Church history scholar, but the ways the church keeps evolving is indeed fascinating.  Poverty and  oppression of life in Europe led explorers to seek new lands here in America.  Those hungry, seeking masses came and settled here, bringing with them their cultural rituals and traditions, and a longing to be the church.  The Holy Spirit sheltered and contained them in safe familiarity as they established their churches as Norwegians, or Swedes, Germans or Poles.  Church meant a familiar sharing of rituals.  The Liturgy is called the “work of the church” and was shaped by an order of worship and a hymnal with standardized formats for seasons of the church year.  Now God’s people had a book besides the Bible in which prayers; organized readings of scripture, and services to shape baptisms, weddings, funerals and celebrate seasons of the church year were readily at hand.  Hymns that represented our mixed traditions were also secured in books so that each denomination, in our case, Lutherans, would worship with the same format, the same hymns and the same order of worship.  Sunday school, confirmation classes, new member classes, Bible studies, mission trips followed….the next decades were times of growth for the church.  It seemed the Holy Spirit was fanning flames to build bigger and more active church communities.  When I entered seminary, the big potential on the horizon was the MEGA Church movement.  We were told we needed to become pastors who could administrate and lead congregations through building programs and mission development.  I had entered ministry to be a shepherd ... .but it seemed that model was being replaced by “church developer.”  

Ironically, I did my internship at a mega church in the cities that had 4000 members at that time, and grew to 8000 plus.  They had 10 Christmas eve services to accommodate all the people wanting to come to worship!  Was THIS the church born on Pentecost I wondered? Is this the work of the Holy Spirit unleashed to build Christ’s church…or just the current trend?   I remember going to conferences where dynamic speakers told us to look for where the Spirit was stirring up growth and go there.  And frankly, many are doing just that.  Today, we have a new trend.  All around the country,  thousands of people gather in huge auditoriums where a worship band gets them jumping in praise for about 20 minutes.  Then they pass a basket of crackers in Jesus’ name and listen to a teaching dynamo preach via a large movie screen telecast to multiple site gatherings.  The message is often about securing the good Christian life and a Christian’s God-given role to save souls.  To save souls….  From what?  Ourselves?  Didn’t Christ already die and rise to save souls?  It gets rather confusing, doesn’t it?  

Maybe Cooper has a point.    Maybe God has left our current human constructs of the church and His Holy Spirit is stirring up something new.  Scripture reminds us that the Spirit goes where it wills and sometimes we cannot know where it leads. 

So here we are…19 brave souls…clinging to this church..this moment of worship and community where we seek faith together.  And today is Pentecost.  Is the Holy Spirit with us…or not?

I think that maybe…just  maybe…the Holy Spirit has been hanging out at my bird feeder this spring.  I’m not kidding!  I have had so many amazing flocks of birds of every color and size and temperament…Red bellied Grosbeaks; purple finches;  yellow goldfinch, blue jays, black and white wood peckers, brown and white throated sparrows, nutmeg nuthatches, ruby throated hummingbirds and white capped chickadees.  I even had a Baltimore oriole!  

My daughter has been sending me videos on my phone of all kinds of birds, singing, playing, making their nests.  One was of a gorgeous blue bird that the viewer could watch as it tenderly constructed its amazing, cozy nest to perfectly fit its body and then gently laid its eggs, kept them warm, and finally welcomed its new born chicks.   

Frankly, lately with all the bad news, chilly weather and fires around us…those videos of birds and cute little dogs talking at me have brought me more joy than anything else.  

So what if God’s Spirit was being poured on me where my heart had drifted…to a simple moment of shared life and purpose with His creation?   

I don’t have a human answer for you this morning.  I don’t know where and how the Holy Spirit is being poured out upon all flesh so that our sons and daughters will prophesy and young and old will see visions and dream new dreams.  There is one thing and one thing only that I can promise each of you.  You are LOVED…you are children of God…Jesus is our Savior and will NOT leave us orphaned.  Our Lord’s Spirit does search us out…He knows us.  And just as Jesus came to those disciples, hovering behind closed doors in fear…He comes to us in bread and wine…and in each moment of life saying “Peace.”  And He breathes on us.  I promise!  Amen.