I have a hunch that this may have been the case with a group of folks who had just recently followed the leadership of a man named Jesus of Nazareth who, much to their distress, had only recently been killed by the Roman authorities.

So, here they are then, gathered in fear behind locked doors because they were only a small minority in he midst of a powerful empire. I can imagine them all sitting there, scared out of their wits, wondering what was going to happen next.

Well, you know the story: We’re all familiar with it. There was a strong and forceful wind whipping through the house. All of them gathered there felt the warmth of fire settling over them. But what happened next was even more important. They probably said: “Hey, something important is happening here; we have to talk about this to whomever will listen.

And that is exactly what they did: They couldn’t keep their mouths shut. They just had to tell people that this Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah was still with them and that his grand project he called God’s Good News was now meant to be preached throughout the world (or a least what there was of it in those days.)

So, what’s this all about? Well, any of us with a sense of history knows: It is the story of the beginning of the Church of Jesus Christ. Obviously, there was no record of it in Roman newspapers, no one standing on the street corner waving banners or signs.

So, how did the folks who experienced all this describe it? They remembered two signs, two phenomena: There was wind and fire. There is meaning and symbolism in those two events and it has all to do with spreading, scattering, dispersion, diffusion.

We all know the power of tornadoes or hurricanes. We know what happens when fire gets out of control: Whole city blocks are often destroyed. Forest fires wipe out thousands of acres of prime timber.

But in this instance wind did not destroy, fire did not destroy. Wind and fire were symbols of the power of Jesus’ Good News being spread throughout the land to bring something completely new into existence.

And all this happened, of course, not through the power of wind and fire alone, but through the courage and giftedness of some very ordinary people who just could not hold themselves back. They had to speak out.

So, what should we make out of all this? Here is my sense of it: Throughout the entire history of our church, from Pentecost to this Sunday in the year 2008, the power of Jesus Good News has been spread abroad in a very simple and ordinary way: By word of mouth! Given today’s means of communication, word of mouth does not seem very efficient, does it? But think of this: There is no mode of communication more powerful or more effective than the word that is shared between two people, two friends, nothing more powerful than the faith we share with each other. That’s the way it has been done since the first Pentecost, amazing, as it may seem.

What I think this also mean is that Pentecost is never over: We can’t simply fall back on the efforts of those few early Christians. Nor can we fall back on the words of the pope alone or the local bishop alone, we can’t fall back on the efforts of the preacher here today. All that will not get the Good News of the Church of Jesus Christ very far. Every one of us counts, every conversation we have with our brothers and sisters about what our faith means to us; all that is important for the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

So, what all this comes down to is this: There’s no stopping the effects of the wind, there’s no stopping the effects of the fire that comes from the faith we all profess as Christians. Above all, don’t be afraid to speak up. The future of your Church depends on you.

The scriptures: Acts 2: 1-11; 1 Corinthians 12, 3b-7, 12-13; John 20: 19-23