A priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St Peter was at the Pearly Gates waiting for them.
“Come with me,” said St Peter to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver followed him to a mansion filled with luxury: a bowling alley, an Olympic-sized pool, you name it.
“Wow, thank you!” said the taxi driver.
Then St Peter led the priest to a rugged old shack with a bunk bed and a small TV.
The priest was stunned. “Wait, I think there’s been a mistake. Shouldn’t I get the mansion? I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God’s word.”
St Peter replied, “Yes, but during your sermons, people slept. When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed!”

I am pleased to say that as I speak to you today, this is my 10^th sermon at St Luke’s, and so far…to the best of my knowledge, no one has fallen asleep! This joke might be a little sacrilegious, but it also reminds us of a truth in our reading today: when the Holy Spirit shows up, people wake up. When Peter spoke on Pentecost, the people didn’t sleep, they leaned in, and thousands were stirred and transformed.

So today, on Pentecost, the birthday of the Christian church, let’s explore this powerful moment, and how it invites us to wake up to the movement of God’s Spirit. We’ll look at four themes from Acts 2:

1. The Disciples Waiting Expectantly
2. God’s Power Echoed from the Old Testament
3. The Fulfilment of Joel’s Prophecy, and
4. Acting on the Call of the Gospel

Let’s begin with waiting. Acts 2 opens with, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” (Acts 2:1) This waiting was not passive. It was prayerful, expectant. They remembered Jesus’ promise:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” (Acts 1:8)

Bonhoeffer once said: “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.” That’s exactly what the disciples were doing, waiting to be interrupted. And what an interruption it was! Wind, Fire and Tongues! We live in a world where we fill every moment of silence with distraction. But Pentecost reminds us: God often moves most powerfully when we stop and wait.

I will give you a personal example of this. In 2008, I was invited to join a friend on a Christian retreat weekend called Cursillo. The Cursillo experience is designed to help Christians to pause and reflect on their faith and wait on God expectantly. I am always surprised and amazed at the way God blesses the simple act of waiting in expectation for him to work. I have found that each time I go on one of these retreats and I stop, wait and remove myself from distractions, God moves with power and my life is transformed.

Following my first Cursillo in 2008 I became a school chaplain at Claremont College, following my 2^nd retreat in 2009 I became Father to my first child Beatrice, following my 3^rd retreat in 2012 I became a Prison Chaplain, following my 4^th retreat in 2017 I took on the responsibility of running a charity called Anglican Health and Welfare, and following my 5^th retreat in 2023 I left my 12 year career as a Prison Chaplain and discerned a call to come and serve here at St Luke’s. In two weeks’ time, three of members of our church are going on the next Cursillo, please pray that the weekend will help us to wait expectedly for God in our lives. Cursillo is one way I have practiced waiting for God, but there are many ways that we can all do this in our everyday lives.

So the disciples were waiting expectantly and then they saw God’s power! Suddenly, we read: “a sound like the rush of a violent wind… tongues as of fire… all of them filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues…” (Acts 2:2–4) These are not random special effects. They are deeply biblical signs of God’s presence and power. The wind reminds us of Genesis 1, where God’s Spirit hovers over the chaos like a wind, and in Ezekiel 37, when God breathes life into dry bones. Wind is the breath of life and creation. The fire reminds us of Exodus, where God appears to Moses in a bush that burns but is not consumed, and the pillar of fire that guides the Israelites safely through the night, and on Mount Sinai, where fire signals God’s descent. Fire is the refining presence of God’s holiness and guidance.

Lastly, speaking in tongues reminds us of Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel, where languages divided humanity. Now, at Pentecost, diverse tongues are used to unite people in the message of Christ. Theologian Fleming Rutledge puts it this way: “Pentecost is not a gentle breeze or a warm glow. It is a storm. It is God’s power shaking the foundations of the world.” Pentecost isn’t just a spiritual experience, it’s a cosmic collision. The God of Sinai, of Genesis, of the burning bush, this God is breaking into human history again.

The power God displays at Pentecost is not new, the people have seen and heard of it many times before, in their history but also within their prophecies. Peter’s first move in his sermon is to point this out, saying:

 “This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.” (Acts 2:16) Joel 2 said, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”  Not just prophets or kings, but all flesh. This is no minor detail! Until now, the Spirit had come selectively on Moses, on David, on Isaiah. But now…it was for all people.

“Your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.” This is a new covenant moment, a shift in how God relates to humanity. Theologian N.T. Wright describes it as “The launching of God’s new world in the midst of the old one.”. The Church doesn’t begin as a quiet prayer group or a theological debate, it begins with a prophetic outpouring of God’s Spirit that makes the crowds cry out, “What must we do?”.

And that brings us to the heart of it, the Gospel is for everyone. Peter says this gift is for men and women, young and old, slaves and free. This breaks every human barrier: gender, class, age, nationality. It is the reversal of Babel, the undoing of human division, and the declaration that no one is excluded. It echoes Jesus’ promise in John 14: “I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you… because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:18–19)

The Spirit of God doesn’t discriminate. The Pentecost event is the announcement that the Gospel is global, and the Church must be too. Anglican Bishop Stephen Cottrell writes: “The coming of the Spirit isn’t about individual ecstasy; it’s about equipping the Church to go out and change the world.” So, what does Pentecost mean for us today?

1. We must wait on God. We need to make space in our life for prayer and silence. The Spirit comes to those who watch and wait.
2. We must expect power. God can’t be tamed, and the Spirit still moves in wind and fire, in surprising, transforming ways.
3. We must choose to receive the gift. The Spirit of God is for each of us. Not because we are worthy, but because God is generous.
4. We must speak and act. The world is crying out for truth and hope. ‘Pentecost people’ don’t stay indoors, we go out and proclaim in words and action that Jesus is Lord.

So, this week, as we celebrate the birth of the Christian church, let’s embrace our identity as Pentecost people, awake, empowered, and ready to speak the language of God’s love to all.

Amen