In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     In our second lesson from Acts, where we hear of the coming of the Spirit, and the gift of speaking in other languages, St. Luke tells us that many were amazed and perplexed at what they saw, while others sneered and said, "They've had too much wine to drink!" I have to admit, there was one time, and only one time in my life, when someone thought I'd had too much wine to drink. It was at one of our synod assemblies, in Fort Collins a number of years ago. And believe me, having just returned from our most recent synod assembly last week, if anything can turn a man to drink, it's a synod assembly! At this particular assembly, we had some free time one afternoon, so my seminary-classmate and friend, Pastor Dave Rockwood, who was pastor in Cheyenne, and I decided to go to a movie. Our delegates weren't interested, so we all agreed they'd all meet at a certain restaurant at dinnertime, and Dave and I would come after the movie. As it turns out, they all got there a bit early, and had a few glasses of wine, or whatever, before Dave and I arrived. So, when we showed up, we promptly ordered, and we were all sitting having a good time, laughing and joking around, as Dave and I were wont to do. And I don't think we'd been there fifteen minutes until the manager came over and told my friend and I, the two Pastor Daves, that he was cutting us off, because we'd obviously had too much to drink! Which made us roar all the more, because all we'd been drinking was Diet Coke! Which was pretty much all Dave and I ever had to drink! Anyone who knows Dave Rockwood and I, knows neither one of us are drinkers. Unlike some other Lutheran pastors, Dave and I prefer, pop, or iced tea, or just water.because we have just as good a time, surely a better time, NOT having alcohol! We always felt we didn't need to drink to have a good time, certainly didn't need alcohol to relax, and enjoyed ourselves more, just being ourselves and laughing with friends, and not having to worry about having too much to drink, or suffering the consequences the next morning. And I hope our young people hear that, and take that to heart-none of us need alcohol to have fun-in fact, we usually have more fun without alcohol! Nevertheless, the manager who wanted to cut us off got such a kick out of finding we were just drinking soda pop, that we had a great time that evening, and we enjoyed laughing about the fact that we were not drunk, as he supposed. Which brings us back to our Pentecost text, and the fact that in spite of what people thought, the disciples were not drunk, as some supposed, even though there was great commotion, what with the different languages being spoken, the rush of wind that filled the room, and the tongues as of fire. Of course, there might have been any number of explanations for what was happening-but it must have seemed quite natural to assume, even though it was but 9 o'clock in the morning, that the wine was flowing freely among these Christians, and that already, they'd had too much to drink!

     And, do you think anyone ever looks at our congregation, and thinks, "What are they up to? Do you think they've had a little too much to drink?" And I'm not talking about the guys at the Manly Men's weekend, or the Adult Fellowship at Three Margaritas. I'm talking about the regular, ordinary parish activities, where we're just about the work of ministry. Do you think folks would ever see us, and wonder if our behavior might be the cause of too much strong drink? I hope so. Because I think the message of Pentecost is that the gift of the Spirit, and the inspiration of the Spirit, and the Spirit being at work in the Church, is indeed supposed to stir us up, and enliven us to the point where folks on the outside looking in might just confuse our behavior with having too much to drink! And what is it like when someone has had too much to drink? How would you characterize drunkenness? This isn't a medical, or legal interpretation, but my experience would suggest that folks who've had too much to drink lose their inhibitions. And that's the problem. They lose their self-control, they aren't able to regulate how much they're drinking, they say things and do things they wouldn't normally do. Which, society, sometimes imagines as funny-like Dean Martin in later years, or the old comedian Foster Brooks, both of whom pretended to be drunk, because that was their schtick. But if you watch videos of them now, you see it wasn't really funny at all. Just like anyone who has had too much to drink isn't funny, but pathetic. Just as losing all self-control, losing reason and rational behavior because you've been drinking too much, isn't funny, but irritating, and sad. There are few things more sad, and tragic, than folks who have problems with alcohol-even if they're not clinically, alcoholics, any problem with drinking causes difficulties for the person, for their friends, and for their families. Because, if you want to lose your inhibitions, a much better way to do that, a much healthier way to do that, is by becoming inebriated by the Holy Spirit! Which is what happened at Pentecost! Maybe these disciples were drunk, not with wine or alcoholic drink-but with the Holy Spirit of God! Which meant for them, that they lost their inhibitions, and they were proclaiming and speaking about God's deeds of power, without concern for what those who were observing, were thinking. In that regard, we can learn something from our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, who sometimes get so inspired by the Spirit, that in some churches, in some places, you can find them not just lifting up their hands, but clapping and dancing, and yes, the holy rollers are even rolling on the floor! Now, that's probably not going to happen in most Lutheran congregations, nor does it need to.but another way that Pentecostals are generally free-er and less inhibited than Lutherans, is simply in the way that they are willing to actually talk about their faith, and their church-free-er to speak with others about God's deeds of power! The old joke goes, what do you get when you cross a Lutheran with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who'll knock on your door, but won't say anything! And there's some truth to that, isn't there? I'm not one to criticize the stoic, silent European forbears many of us have-we would have no Lutheran churches today, if it weren't for those great old Germans, and Swedes and Norwegians, and Finns and Danes, who may not have been comfortable speaking about God's deeds of power, but who were certainly inspired by the Spirit such that they gave of themselves to build churches, and call pastors, and spread the Gospel through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. It's not that you have to raise your arms and clap your hands, or roll in the aisles, as proof that you're inspired by the Spirit-nor is everyone called to stand on the streetcorner and preach. But everyone who has the Spirit, everyone who has been gifted with the Spirit, is called, and commissioned to spread the good news of God's deeds of power, somehow, in someway-in your own way! And for many of us, that means losing some of our natural, or unnatural, inhibitions. For some of us, it means having our tongues loosed, so that we can tell our family members about how God has worked in our lives. For some of us, it means getting up the gumption to invite someone to church with us, without concern for what they'll think of us, or whether they'll reject us. For others of us it means being empowered to live lives of faith, in spite of the secularism that tries to pressure us to fit in and get along in the outside world, without appearing distinctively Christian. For others of us, it means being inspired to give of ourselves to further the work of Jesus Christ, whether it's through gifts to alleviate world hunger, volunteering at the Soup Kitchen, or just sitting with a neighbor at the hospital. Pentecost means being so infused with the Holy Spirit, that our inhibitions are relaxed and relieved, so that we can act, and speak, and do, the work that God calls us to do-as the forgiven, redeemed people we are, in Jesus Christ. In our gospel lesson, Jesus says, "do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Jesus does not want us to be inhibited by our anxiety, our fear, our self-conciousness. He gives us His Spirit, and His peace, so that we can live, fully, as people who have been saved, and set free, by His death on the cross, and by His resurrection from death. So that now, we will act, and speak, and do, not to earn our salvation, but because we have been saved! Because now, we don't really care what others might think of us as we go about our Christian business. Now, we are going to give our all, in the power of the Spirit, in spite of what others might think. And as a congregation, we are modeling that very behavior. We have, again and again, stepped out in faith to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand our church building and ministry, when others were asking, "what in the world are you thinking?" We opened a Children's Center, and are expanding our Children's Center, to provide full-time Christ-centered, educational childcare, when others told us, "you know, it'll be expensive, it will wear out your building, and you'll be at risk, if you don't fill up." We had lots of members who volunteered to work at the last Habitat for Humanity/Thrivent homebuilding project, giving of themselves and their skills-but having such fun doing it, that we heard back that the family for whom the home was built said the Saint Luke's congregation was definitely the group that had the most fun working together! And while I don't want folks to be asking if our homebuilders were drunk on the job-I do hope folks see our congregation, and our members, in all aspects of our lives together-and ask, "Are they drunk with the Holy Spirit?" Yes, I hope that's what people see, when they see us-whether here at church, or at home, or at school or work or play. We are, truly, full of the Holy Spirit-and we are living like it! Showing God's deeds of power, in everything we think, do and say. And let's just keep it going! Let's keep Pentecost going day by day, and year by year-at Saint Luke's, and in our lives, and in all our churches, and in the Church throughout the world! Let us be a Pentecost people-drunk with the new wine, of the Holy Spirit!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!