St. Mark’s Lutheran, Spokane, WA

May 22-23, 2026 – Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

Grace to you and peace St. Mark’s Lutheran. It is so good to be with you and bring greetings from the synod staff and your siblings from across our vast Northwest Intermountain Synod. And blessed Pentecost!

Part way through this famous text from the Book of Acts, we hear the disciple Peter quote Joel: “Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” There is a lot in this verse that I would rather ignore: the mention of slaves to begin with and the whole notion of prophecy to continue with. But sometimes what I want to avoid about a biblical text is exactly where the Spirit we celebrate today is pointing me to go.

The story and Peter’s address from the Book of Acts reminds us that a prophet is neither a fortune teller nor a foreteller. Prophecy is truth-telling. It is naming the places and ways where God intervenes or initiates in the world. Prophecy is part of proclaiming the word of God and identifying God’s restoration and healing at work. 

Today, we learn what it means to be a prophet by watching Peter do it. He speaks to the present question, “What does this mean?” He finds promises and images from the past. And Peter also points to the future, the day of the Lord. Prophets show how present events might connect to God and God’s purposes. 

All of us who claim to follow Jesus, all of you, are prophets of a sort. We are interpreters of both our present time and the good news of Jesus Christ. This role should not surprise us. Peter refers to a community full of visionaries and dreamers. He is not the only one equipped to make meaning. The work belongs to all who receive the Spirit, which is what we proclaim happens in the waters of Holy Baptism. 

That may seem daunting, to be a truth-teller, a prophet. We can be grateful that the message is always more powerful than the messengers. And yet, it takes care, this meaning making. We continue to trust that the Holy Spirit is among us whenever we invite her presence into our individual and communal deliberations. We cannot be messengers without her power. And so, we pray for each person who comes to the font to receive the Holy Spirit.

German Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “speaking the truth must be learned.” I know who my closest friends are because they give me room to learn and practice speaking truth. I say, “considering my lived experience, what I read in the gospels, and this story about my neighbor next door or across the globe that I believe this, or I wonder this.” And my friend will perhaps raise their eyebrows or not or try telling a truth themselves. The Celts call this soul friendship Anam Cara—soul friends. I think Anam Cara is essential fro the life of the baptized.

This weekend Bridget Ann Kurth will be baptized here at St. Mark’s. Oh, how I love baptisms. Last year I spent Holy Week with our siblings at St. John’s Lutheran in American Falls, in the southeast corner of Idaho, a church that’s been waiting for a pastor for over two years and keeping its lively and life-giving youth ministry going all along. It’s a long story, but I ended up presiding at 14 baptisms on Maundy Thursday. And each baptism was amazing. I never got bored. The promises I spoke for the last child of God were just as powerful as the promises I spoke to the first, just as they will be this weekend for Bridget.

We will pray, Sustain Bridgett with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both now and forever. If we want to test prophecy, put it side by side with that that prayer, which is full of humility and hope.

I think the sacrament of Holy Baptism is amazing because it is once and for all, but also something we can and must remember again and again. During our rural ecumenical events: United at the Font: Partnering for the Future we end each day with Affirmation of Baptism by the Assembly. I cannot explain the metaphysics of holy baptism, but I know for myself that returning to the font is life-giving, life-giving because of water, because of promises God makes, promises made by my parents and later affirmed by me, and promises made by you, the Body of Christ. 

To affirm our baptisms is something all Lutherans do, but it lands differently for individuals and communities. As a guest preacher, I do not know what each of you brought into the sanctuary today, what you are carrying. But being a human being is simply a lot right now. It’s been that way before and it’s good to recognize that history. But that long view does not make the heaviness of this moment less for each of you. And that’s the world; the vast cosmos we are citizens of. You may have brought a very personal burden: a new diagnosis, a fractured relationship, a reality of unemployment. The Holy Spirit has been given to you also, for this time: the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence, both now and forever

I believe that right now the world needs as much enlightenment and wisdom and listening as we can bear. Oh, how we need the Spirit’s power. We need multiple conversation partners and stories of lived experiences. We need to reflect on individual scripture passages and keep in mind the entire biblical narrative. 

We need to hear how our next-door neighbors are experiencing daily life and we need to be aware of what it is like on the streets of Hong Kong, rural Tanzania, Patagonia, and across our synod from Jackson, WY to Chelan, WA. We need to listen intently to those who are currently suffering the most. And we are wise to be silent and still and listen to what is in our very own hearts. We might find a truth that becomes a gift of God to the world. 

You, people of St. Mark’s, take that listening very seriously, as evidenced by your offering and relationships with Communidad Cristiana and the children they serve, including those who have parents currently detained after their immigration status was questioned. Thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit through these neighbors. Thank you for listening to your neighbors. One of my favorite theologians (Willie James Jennings), commenting on the Acts 2 story, says that love of neighbor will take on Holy Spirit dimensions. He writes, “This is a love that cannot be tamed, controlled, or planned, and once unleashed it will drive the disciples forward into the world and drive a question into their lives: Where is the Holy Spirit taking us and into whose lives?”

God is not contained in any one people, in any kind of place, or in any one tradition, as that cosmopolitan crowd in Jerusalem surely began to discover. Today we give thanks for your conversation partners. And we give thanks for the Holy Spirit, who transformed Peter from a faithful but sometimes blundering disciple to a prophetic apostle. The same Holy Spirit moves through the church and Jesus’ many followers this day, helping you make meaning, call out injustices, and speak a word of love and hope that the world so desperately needs.