Opening the Hand of Love

The sermon preached by Fr. Ernie on Pentecost, May 28, 2023.

Opening the Hand of Love

by Ernest Boyer

“I’m not drunk.… I’m not drunk.” That, my friends, is how Christianity’s first sermon began.

Really. Just look at today’s reading from Acts. It describes Christianity’s very first church service —the very first one. Let me tell you what it was like. There were no pews, no rows of seats with people sitting quietly. There was also no organ music. There was no processional, no Book of Common Prayer, no written words at all. There was that sermon, though.

The fact is, it all started in an upstairs room with a few believers —men and women — gathered in prayer. Then suddenly their hearts were opened and they became simply unable to stand still. They ran down the stairs and rushed out the door and into the street, shouting and laughing, and flooded the open market which was crowded with those buying and selling everything imaginable. It was about this time of day and the market was very busy, but this group of believers brought it all to a standstill. Each one of them ran around turning to everyone they saw and instantly began to talk to them in just the way each person was able to understand, telling them of the great miracle of love that was filling their hearts. Everything else stopped as all those in the market began to listen. No one had ever seen or heard anything like it.

“Look at them,” someone said. “Look at how all these people are acting. They must be drunk.”

 That was Peter’s cue. That’s when he knew it was time for a sermon.

 “You’re wrong,” he said holding up his hands. “I’m not drunk. None of us are. “It’s only nine in the morning after all.” 

“That never stopped me,” someone in the crowd probably muttered, but by then Peter was on a roll. He was quoting scripture and telling everyone how the Spirit had come upon them, opening their hearts, filling them with a vision of justice and hope and eternal life. What Jesus had first described to them, the Spirit had suddenly made their own. It had become part of who they were and they wanted to share their joy with everyone. They had just received something precious and they wanted to pass it on.

Because this is what the spirit does for us. The spirit opens our heart. Because we need help with that.

Let me show you what it’s like. Do this for me. Take moment and look down at you hand. Hold it up it that would help. Look at it a moment then slowly close it into a fist.… Now, make it a little tighter.… Now a little tighter still and hold it there. … Look at it. It looks sort of angry doesn’t it. Fists are how we fight one another.… It also looks closed, doesn’t it? You can’t hold anything with a fist, can you?. … Also, if you think about it, it’s a little uncomfortable too. It takes a lot to hold it like that, to keep it closed and really tight.

The thing is, many people’s hearts are like that fist. Many people around the world. Many people in our country now. Their hearts are angry. They’re closed off and hard. There is nothing they are able to receive, nothing they are able to hold.

Ok, now release that fist. Slowly open up your hand again. It feels much better, doesn’t it. It feels good to release that anger, the anger that always seems to come when you make a fist. It also feels good to feel that you are able to receive any gift that God and the world chooses to give you. It feels good to be that open.

The thing is, this is the first and greatest gift of the spirit, the ability to open up our hearts the way we can open up our hands. When we allow our hearts to grow tight and hard we really can’t open them alone. We need help. And there’s times when all of us need that help. That’s because all of us allow our hearts to close at one time or another. Sometimes it comes when someone says something that hurts us. Other times it comes with things we say to ourselves, times when we repeat the words we might have heard in our childhood that made us think we were not good enough or not worthy of love. Then too there are those moments when life just feels unfair and we think, “Why me? Why should this happen to me?” and allow ourselves to grow discouraged or bitter.

That’s when we need to call on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit it there to gently stoke our closed fist of a heart and help us to coax it open again.

 It’s so freeing! So wonderful! No wonder those believers were so happy. No wonder some people thought that they were drunk. They had simply let go. They had allowed themselves to just be who they really are. They felt such peace, such joy, such acceptance, such love, and they wanted everyone else to experience those things too.

So let’s join them today. Is your heart open? I mean right now. Do you feel the peace of that, the joy, the wonder and the love? If not, take a moment and pray to the Holy Spirit. She’s right here. 

So yes, this is how church begins. We’re not drunk. We’re just filled with the Holy Spirit. And it’s all we need. Amen.

 If you like this Sermon, feel free to leave a comment below or follow us on vimeo.