Made in the Image of the Holy Spirit - a Sermon for Pentecost Sunday May 24 2026

Narrative Lectionary Reading: Acts 2:1-21

A reading from Acts.

Pentecost was a Jewish harvest festival that marked the fiftieth day after Passover. Luke portrays the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the disciples before the gathered and astonished people assembled in Jerusalem for the festival. Filled with the Spirit, the disciples were able to witness to the power of Christ’s resurrection.

¹ When the day of Pentecost had come, [the apostles] were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
  ⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹² All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

  ¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵ Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶ No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
 ¹⁷ ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
 that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
  and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
 and your young men shall see visions,
  and your old men shall dream dreams.
 ¹⁸ Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
  in those days I will pour out my Spirit,
   and they shall prophesy.
 ¹⁹ And I will show portents in the heaven above
  and signs on the earth below,
   blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
 ²⁰ The sun shall be turned to darkness
  and the moon to blood,
   before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
 ²¹ Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ”

Word of God, word of life.

Thanks be to God.

Today is the Day of Pentecost:

the culmination of the season of Easter,

which is a week of weeks, 49 days

of celebrating And declaring that

Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50 or fiftieth.

Jews would mark the feast of Pentecost

50 days after the Passover feast.

Passover is one of the high holy feasts for Jews,

a remembrance of Israel’s freedom from captivity in Egypt,

a remembrance of the final plague,

and a promise that by the blood of the lamb,

death shall pass over Israel.

God cares about the wellbeing of God’s people.

50 days after Passover comes Pentecost;

also called the festival of booths, or Shavuot:

A remembrance of the gift of the Torah,

living in booths in the wilderness,

and a wheat harvest celebration.

Today, Jews mark Shavuot by reading the book of Ruth,

and we will begin a series on Ruth next month.

The Christian feast of Pentecost is rooted in the Jewish festival,

but Christian’s recall the Day of Pentecost

recorded in the book of Acts

as that great day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,

in a multitude of languages,

for a multitude of ethnicities,

God’s Spirit for any and all people to the ends of the earth,

and the birth of the Christian Church.

So - happy birthday, Church!

Next Sunday is Holy Trinity Sunday.

Here is my teaser for next week,

and a helpful thought for today…

We are created in the image of God.

In the words of the beloved Marty Haugen Hymn,

“All Are Welcome”;

“Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face.”

Do we know what we are saying

when we say “I am made in the image of God”?

A teaser - next week I will invite you to consider what it means

to be created in the image of the Triune God.

For that is who God is - one in three, three in one.

And so, a question for us to ponder today,

what does it mean to be created in the image

of God, the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean for you

to be created in the image of the Holy Spirit?

That question ought to be freeing,

and it might cause some confusion.

If there’s one person of the Trinity that Lutherans focus on,

it’s Jesus.

We are pretty good at knowing about Jesus,

we tend to know less about the Holy Spirit.

After all, the Holy Spirit is often called the “Shy person” of the trinity. 

But Shy, doesn’t mean unknowable.

The Holy Spirit is called “shy” because she points to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit does not lift itself up,

but instead points to Christ crucified and risen,

and points to God the Creator.

If you want to know about the work of the Holy Spirit,

I suggest you can simply remember the cross and the creeds.

The Holy Spirit is all about the cross and the creeds.

The Word of God, Jesus Christ, conceived by the Holy Spirit,

was led, or dragged by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness,

a time of temptation,

and a time of preparation for the cross.

The Spirit led, or drove Jesus to the cross in Jerusalem.

And the Spirit raised Jesus from the grave.

Put another way, the work of the Holy Spirit

always points to Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

The Spirit is in the resurrection business.

The Spirit is about the cross,

and the creeds - particularly the Apostles and Nicene creeds.

If you’re willing, you can take out your red hymnal,

turn to page 104…

Some read the third article of the creed,

that begins with “We believe in the Holy Spirit…”

and think that the rest is just church stuff added in.

But this is the work of the Spirit.

The Spirit is the giver of life.

If it is not about abundant life for all God’s creation,

it’s not about the Spirit.

The Spirit spoke through the prophets.

The Prophets called God’s people into repentance,

to care for the outcast, the orphan, the widow,

into right relationship with God and people.

The prophets call the people into justice and equity.

The Spirit’s work is justice and equity.

The Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy

the One, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

The Spirit is about unity found in diversity.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

The Spirit raises us from death to life.

Looking at the Apostle’s creed,

the Spirit is the one who gathers the communion of saints.

The fellowship of the faithful here in this life,

and the feast to come in life everlasting

is the work of the Spirit.

Martin Luther teaches us that it is only by the Holy Spirit,

called through the Gospel,

that we come to believe.

The Spirit gives us faith in the Son.

The Spirit, continuing the work of Jesus the Son,

is forgiveness.

After Jesus rose from the grave,

and appeared to the disciples,

Jesus breathed on them -

receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

if you retain the sins of any,

they are retained.

This is perhaps a touch simplified,

but that’s what the Spirit is all about,

the cross and the creeds;

pointing to Christ crucified;

striving for the kingdom of God

and God’s righteousness;

Resurrection and new life;

Forgiveness, justice, equity;

fellowship of the faithful

and life everlasting.

So what might it mean, then,

for you, dearly beloved child of God,

to be made in the image of God, the Holy Spirit?

You are filled with the Holy Spirit in baptism:

the anointing with oil signifies the Spirit in the baptized.

You are charismatic!

to be charismatic is to be gifted by the Holy Spirit,

and I’m not limiting that to speaking in tongues.

you are gifted by the Spirit,

and called to share your gifts in community.

God’s very self, God’s very Spirit is in you.

Our God is the one in whom we live,

and move,

and have our very being.

Breathe in the air,

and you are breathing in the very breath of God.

You, dearly beloved child of God,

are created In the image of the Holy Spirit,

God’s Spirit resides and lives in you.

This means you are forgiven.

Your past failures,

your sins of omission - the things you’ve failed to do,

the ways in which you’ve broken trust,

the times you held onto power at the expense of others,

the times you put your foot in your mouth,

Whatever holds you back need not hold you back any longer,

for you are freed by the Spirit,

no longer bound by shame and guilt,

but commissioned with the Spirit

to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ.

This means forgiving others

as we have been forgiven.

Being made in the image of God’s Spirit means

death need not hold you back,

for resurrection and everlasting life with our God are yours.

They are promised,

you don’t need to earn it.

And knowing that your everlasting future is secure,

you can join the work of the Spirit

in ushering in the Kingdom of God in our midst.

Now, when I say you - it is the plural “You”,

not so much you in the singular.

It is not particular humans that are made in God’s image;

It is humankind that is made it the image of God,

it is the community, the neighbourhood

that is made in the image of God,

and we’ll talk about this more next week;

For now: God cares about the community

because God in Godself is community.

So being made in the image of God the Spirit,

means striving for loving community,

welcoming diverse members into the Body of Christ;

knowing that the pinky toe is as welcome and important

as the arm pit and the heart.

Being made in the image of the Spirit

means striving for abundant life not just for me,

not just for any and all members of the body,

but for all - humanity and creation.

You could say that the Holy Spirit can’t sit idly by.

The Spirit is wind, breath, fire - Ruah in the Hebrew.

Wind blows - and it gets everywhere.

Breath in our lungs means life.

Fire means refining and purifying.

God’s winds blow,

God breathes life into creation,

and when abundant life is threatened,

God’s Spirit calls us into justice and equity,

And sometimes that means some purifying.

Sometimes God’s Spirit does the hard work

of calling us into repentance,

and into transformation and change.

Anytime we gather in Jesus name,

or better, anytime that we are gathered together by the Holy Spirit

there is an opportunity for transformation

and for change.

We don’t like change,

but a Christian, gifted by the Spirit,

who is unwilling to be changed by God,

is kind of like someone saying

“I’ll go swimming with you just so long as I don’t have to get wet.”

May God’s Spirit change us,

move us,

transform us,

that we may be and become the Body of Christ.

May you bear the image of the Holy Spirit,

and live forgiveness,

fellowship and communion,

justice and equity.

By the breath of the Spirit,

may we live in the resurrection of Christ, today and always.

Thanks be to God. Amen.