Sermons Preached at Wooster First Presbyterian Church

Though I’m not always so careful now, growing up in the 60s and 70s in a conservative southern town, we were taught not to cuss, or as northerners might put it, we were taught not to "swear". Unlike the pottymouths we constantly hear on television and in the movies today, we were expected to find alternatives to four-letter vulgarities and their like. You didn’t take God’s name in vain. So you said, "gosh almighty" or "my gosh" or "dad gummit." You didn’t say "damn." You said "dang." You didn’t say "hell." You said "heck." And you didn’t say "kiss my . . ." Oh, never mind.

Our text today is found within the long farewell discourse that Jesus has with his disciples in the 4^th Gospel. Jesus teaches his disciples throughout this Gospel with many signs and miracles. These are found in the first 12 chapters of the Gospel of John. In Chapter 13, Jesus begins his farewell discourse in which the next seven chapters reveal the last teachings Jesus left for his disciples. All of which probably left the disciples confused. Jesus spends the night before his arrest pointing to all that was to come.

Fifty days after we celebrated Easter in this sanctuary, we come this morning to celebrate the fulfillment of Easter’s promise.  We come to celebrate Pentecost, when extraordinary things happened to ordinary people, when patient and prayerful waiting yielded to the frightening and overwhelming arrival of God’s Spirit.