Fairhaven Sermon 6-8-2025

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, there was a popular TV game show called Let's Make a Deal. My husband reminded me yesterday that there's a new version of that that's probably in about its 16th season, but I like to watch those old reruns of the original show, and I'm sure you've seen that. You might remember then that the premise of that game is that the host presents the contestants with three doors. Behind one of the doors is a valuable prize, while behind the other two doors are what they call zonks, or less than desirable prizes.

And the host invites the contestant to choose which door he or she wants to open in order to win the prize hidden behind the door. And along the way, there's some trading and bargaining and some shenanigans, people dress up in crazy costumes, but ultimately the contestant must choose a door and the prize is revealed. And although there's risk involved, if you don't open the door, you can't win a prize. I was thinking about doors and thinking about how in literature there's some interesting doors that lead to adventure.

One of my favorite book series is the Chronicles of Narnia, written by theologian C.S. Lewis. You might, if you're familiar with that story, you might remember that there's a door, there's a wardrobe door through which the four Penvenci children are.

enter a magical world of Narnia where they experience life-changing adventures. And if they don't go through the door, they don't receive that prize. And of course, how can I not talk about Alice in Wonderland? Although I am an Alice with a Y. Alice enters Wonderland through a rabbit hole, but at one point in the story she finds herself in a room full of doors, all of which are locked except one tiny door that eventually leads her into a magical garden.

And she won't experience the garden unless she goes through the door. So as I was preparing today's message, I was obviously thinking about doors. And one day earlier in this week as I was thinking about doors, I decided to walk around my house and count how many doors were in my house. And I came to the total of 27.

Now that was entrance doors and doors to rooms and closet doors. Wow, I had not realized how many doors were in my house until I performed that exercise. And I probably missed a few that we would qualify as a door. Maybe you should do that someday.

Count how many doors are in your house. For doors are part of our daily lives, maybe not on game shows or in literature. We might not be opening doors to win prizes, but we do open doors to go outside of our homes, We step indoors to go into our homes and to places of work. We lock doors to keep ourselves and our possessions safe.

And we unlock doors to gain access to the world around us and precious things. We encounter metal and wooden and glass doors, and we see doors of all sizes and for all purposes. Some doors we need to manually turn in order to open, and other doors are automated for us. Some doors are wide, others are narrow.

Some doors are welcoming, other doors we want to avoid. Doors are part of our everyday life. And sometimes they even reveal prizes or lead to magical adventures. Doors are also an important part of the Pentecost story that we are celebrating today.

Now in Acts 2:1 we read, They were all together in one place. And so based on some other post-resurrection scripture passages, we can discern in this moment on the day of Pentecost that the disciples were behind locked, closed doors. If we read in John 20:19, it says, The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews. Following the ascension of Jesus to heaven, we read in Acts 1:13, They went to the room upstairs where they were staying.

You see, Jesus was no longer with them at this point. And even though Jesus had told them to wait for His Spirit to come to them, they were obviously afraid. Now, it's not explicitly stated in Acts chapter 2, but I believe that the disciples were in the same room referenced in these other scripture passages. And they were in that same room because they were hiding behind locked doors.

They were tucked away safely in home base behind doors that were shielding them from the world outside and the people who wanted them dead like they had killed Jesus. This But on this Pentecost Day, the doors were soon opened. The transition in the story is as abrupt and powerful as God's Spirit is. Scripture says, Suddenly from heaven there was a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Divided tongues as a fire appeared among them and a tongue rested on them. On all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability. God had sent the promised Holy Spirit to His followers and everything changed. Now, the interesting thing for me is that it's not directly written in our scripture lesson today, but after the Spirit came and the disciples were speaking in tongues, we hear that a great crowd gathered in the streets of Jerusalem.

The scripture tells us that the crowd gathered because they heard the sound of the disciples speaking in their own language and they wondered how this could be. And the scripture tells us that Peter stepped up and began to preach, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in a stirring sermon. And the scripture tells us that that day 3,000 people were baptized and became followers of Jesus Christ. On that first Pentecost day, there was a powerful, powerful movement of God's Holy Spirit.

it. So here is what strikes me as interesting, and I think what we as God's people need to pay attention to today. If the disciples had remained behind locked doors, how did all of the people in Jerusalem hear the sound of their voices speaking in their own languages? Okay. The only explanation that I can come up with is that when the Holy Spirit rushed in, the doors of that house were blown open and the disciples were compelled to go outside.

to walk through the doors that were once locked and leave behind their closed-in, locked-up existence of fear and uncertainty and uncertainty. You see, the doors of that house were no longer entrance doors, they were exit doors. Doors that urged the disciples to follow Jesus' command to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching people to obey everything that Jesus had commanded. So the unwritten part of this story is that the disciples left the building.

And for us Pittsburghers, we know that that means that, like at a hockey game, that Elvis has left the building. The disciples left the building. You see, this story in Acts chapter 2 reminds us that the doors of our church need to be Pentecost doors, not closed doors designed to hide the prize or to protect the occupants. but doors that swing outward and that lead God's people to go into their neighborhoods to live out the good news of Jesus Christ in both word and deed.

. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the mission of the church moves from behind locked doors into the streets of communities and neighborhoods where citizens of the world are ready to hear and receive the gospel. The open doors that the Spirit blows open leads us into that magical adventure of being witnesses of Jesus Christ, of being people who share God's love and tell others about the grace of Jesus Christ. So in this Pentecost Sunday, I invite you to consider what are the ways that the doors of your church, the Fairhaven United Methodist Church, can be opened? See, God continues to come and to pour out on his sons and daughters yet today the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that means that that Spirit is poured out upon you and me, those of us in the pews, in the building this morning. The Spirit has come to us, God's people, in 2025. Okay? Now, I know the world is filled with challenges, many of which concern us, some that even frighten us, yet the same spirit who transformed the frightened, locked behind closed doors, disciples on that first Pentecost, is the same spirit which breathes into us a passion for making disciples and transforming the world. And so today, on this Pentecost Sunday, I believe the Spirit can still come and blow open the doors of our churches so that lives can be changed and hope can be found.

Discipleship Ministries, which is one of our United Methodist agencies, has a resource page for preaching. And on the information for today, they tell a story about an advertising campaign in Baltimore many years ago that featured a story called Keys to the Kingdom. It was about two boys who broke into a church to play pool in the basement. When the pastor found them, instead of reprimanding them, he gave them a key to the church.

And he told them they could come at any time and play pool whenever they wished. The story goes on to say that one of those boys grew up to be a United Methodist pastor by the name of Richard K. Swanson. That's a story that doors were opened, not closed, and a life was changed.

And so how can the doors of your church be opened, literally and figuratively, so that the grace and mercy of Jesus can be shared with those who are hurting and afraid? How can the doors of your church be welcoming and welcoming? to those who need good news and hope? How can the doors of your church be opened so that God's people can go and make a difference in this neighborhood and beyond? How can the doors of your church be revolving doors designed for members to go out and new friends to come in? I would invite you to think about the doors this morning on this Pentecost Sunday, and to think about how we can make those doors open by the power of the Spirit so that the good news can continue to be proclaimed and that we are not disciples who are locked up, but that we are free to go and make disciples in the name of Jesus Christ. So as I close this morning, I want to share with you a prayer that was written by a woman named Terry that I found on a website that's called RevGal Blog Pals. It's a place for online prayer sharing and conversation. and Let us be in prayer as I share with you Terry's prayer for us today.

O God, you who are always doing a new thing, we confess that we sometimes close windows and doors against the fresh air of new ideas, against the noise of other people's worries, against the winds of change. God of every place and time, we confess that we often draw the curtains against people who are different, against world news or community concerns. is Forgive us our insulation in our locked homes, our shuttered churches, the security systems on our hearts. Open up our lives and let your spirit blow through.

In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. May it be so, friends, on this Pentecost Sunday.

• They told us we only would have read and we did and all of them. - Yeah, well, it was just time, 'cause then we have my favorite way. - I'll ask you about it. - Okay.
• I'm gonna get this old. - She was kind of in the room. - I would like us to help with her to that staple up in the door. - You're great.
• Yeah. - You're seeing that? - Yeah. - You're putting out the window left? - No.