The Spirit Gave Them Voice: Pentecost and the Power to Speak

Church, think about what happened at Pentecost. A group of Galilean fishermen — uneducated, unpolished, from the wrong side of the tracks — opened their mouths and spoke with power that shook a city. They did not have degrees. They did not have platforms. They did not have connections. They had the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit gave them voice. The Black Church has always understood Pentecost this way. Our people have been silenced for centuries — silenced by slavery, silenced by Jim Crow, silenced by systems that said our voices did not matter. But the Spirit said otherwise. The Spirit fell on the enslaved and they sang. The Spirit fell on the oppressed and they preached. The Spirit fell on the marginalized and they prophesied. Joel's prophecy is radical: "Your sons AND daughters will prophesy." Daughters! In a culture that did not value women's voices, the Spirit said: daughters will speak. "Even on my servants, both men and women." Servants — the enslaved class. Even on them. The Spirit is the great equalizer. The Spirit does not check your credentials. The Spirit gives voice to whoever will receive the fire. Sojourner Truth stood before a crowd of white men and said, "Ain't I a woman?" That was the Spirit speaking. Fannie Lou Hamer sang freedom songs in the Mississippi jails. That was the Spirit speaking. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke of a dream. That was the Spirit speaking. The Spirit gives voice to the voiceless — and when the voiceless find their voice, empires tremble.

Jesus opened His ministry by reading from Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free." The Spirit is a liberating Spirit. At Pentecost, this liberating Spirit was poured out on all flesh. And the result was a community that "had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need." That is not capitalism. That is not communism. That is the economy of the Spirit — where the haves share with the have-nots because the Spirit of liberation makes hoarding impossible. The Black Church has always been a Pentecost community — a community where the Spirit's power breaks chains. Not just spiritual chains (though those too) but social chains, economic chains, political chains. The same Spirit that empowered Peter to preach empowered Harriet Tubman to lead. The same fire that fell in the upper room fell in the churches of Montgomery during the bus boycott. Pentecost is not just about speaking in tongues. It is about speaking truth to power. It is about being empowered by the Spirit to say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, and go where nobody else will go. The Spirit of liberation is the Spirit of Pentecost — and the Spirit is still falling on every church brave enough to receive the fire.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." The Black Church has been this community since its birth. Teaching — in the sermonic tradition, the most powerful oral theology in Christianity. Fellowship — in the bonds of a people who survived together. Breaking of bread — at the church dinner, the potluck, the communion table. Prayer — in the prayer meetings that powered the freedom movement. The Black Church is a Pentecost community because the Black Church was born in the Spirit. Not in a denomination's headquarters. Not in a seminary. In the Spirit — in the fields, in the praise houses, in the brush arbors where enslaved Africans gathered in secret to worship the God who was going to set them free. And the Spirit is still here. When the choir sings and the organist catches fire and the church is on its feet — that is Pentecost. When the preacher proclaims and the people respond "Amen!" and "Say it!" and "Help him, Lord!" — that is Pentecost. When the altar is filled with people weeping and praying and receiving — that is Pentecost. Church, we are a Pentecost people. We have always been a Pentecost people. And the Spirit who fell in the upper room is the same Spirit who falls in this room — today, right now, if we are willing to receive the fire. Let the fire fall!