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 a gentile pentecost
- Clearly, Luke wants to trigger the readers/listener’s memory of the Jerusalem
Pentecost vis-à-vis this event at Caesarea. Similarities include the signs of
glossolalia, the extolling of the mighty works of God, and the chaotic disruptive quality
of the Spirit’s arrival. Differences are also apparent: here, the Spirit practically
interrupts Peter’s proclamation while in Jerusalem, the Spirit first creates a holy
chaos that draws the questioning public into hearing the Gospel.
A 2nd disruption? - F.F. Bruce sees the events at Caesarea as being
corroboratory of the Jerusalem Pentecost: "Apart from such external manifestations,
none of the Jewish Christians present, perhaps not even Peter himself, would have been so
ready to accept the fact that the Spirit had really come upon them." [1]
text and experience - Some congregations view Scripture as "the
only source of divine revelation . . . some faith traditions dismiss human experience of
God’s truth as inherently flawed by human depravity. Such a theological perspective
is at odds with Acts, where God’s word often takes the form of a surprising
phenomenon rather than a biblical text. In fact, when testimony of God’s new
direction is asked for in Acts, the prophet-like Jesus typically cites a saving event
before a sacred text . . . for all our proper attention to careful Bible study, God’s
prodding is sometimes felt within us or first observed in the bustle of life around us . .
. in the mess and muck of ordinary living." [2]
 What lies at the core of the
astonishment that the Jewish group registered at the signs of glossolalia and the pouring
out of the Spirit on Cornelius’ household?
What keeps our own faith communities often impenetrable by outsiders?
How clearly can our typical congregant/worshipers discern between what is gospel and
what is simply the culture within which we’ve wrapped the gospel?
 Please refer to the DPS
sermon archives below.
Acts 10: 34-43
God Does
Not Play Favorites, by the Iowa Star;
Don't fence me out by T. Hall;
God's Has No Witness Protection Plan, by Randy Quinn
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