SUNDAY SERMON: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin

NT: Acts 1.1-21

“Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” 

That’s one of the principles US Special Operations lives by. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” Which seems a bit counterintuitive, since their very lives sometimes rely on speed. They need to move fast, think fast, decide fast, execute fast. But what they’ve found is that if they slow down, do things smoothly, then they make fewer mistakes and complete their mission as quickly as possible. Then over time, they get faster. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 

We can apply that same principle to most aspects of our lives. Take exercise for example. You want to get in better shape. You’re not going to go from walking a quarter mile to running a 5K in a day. But if you start walking, go a little farther and a little faster each day, in a couple of months you’ll be miles ahead of where you were. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 

The same principle can apply to learning how to cook or learning carpentry. Do a little bit each day over an extended period of time, and you’ll progress. What about our spiritual life? 

We want our spirituality like we want our Burger King–my way, fast. And to be fair, that’s the precedent Pentecost sets. 

The Holy Spirit blows through a room where all the faithful are assembled, and they immediately are all filled with its power. “A rush of violent wind” changed them. Everyone watching could feel the change, instantly. It was so bewildering they wondered what had happened? They thought they had to be drunk or high or something. Because it all happened too fast. Not slow-smooth-fast. Fast-fast.

Those mountaintop experiences, like Paul on the road to Damascus, where we are blinded by truth in an instant are powerful. They are life-changing moments. But they are also rare. Seldom does the Holy Spirit change everything in an instant. 

More often, change is slow, change is smooth. You step on the scale day after day showing little results that over time grow into a much larger result. That’s especially true in our spiritual life. You have to make room for the Holy Spirit day after day, study day after day, pray day after day, serve your neighbor day after day, worship day after day, speak the truth day after day, and listen day after day. Little steps that produce big results over time. That’s how you get a little bit better each day. 

Because…slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. You keep grinding away, day after day. You focus on your purpose. You find your rhythm. And rhythm is powerful. 

Pentecost is powerful. I know it’s not on the level of other holy days in the church. We don’t make special plans. We don’t hold special services. We don’t exchange gifts. We don’t tell stories. And we’re missing out, because Pentecost is powerful. 

Pentecost marks the arrival of the Holy Spirit in this world. It’s on par with God’s creation story and the birth of Jesus. When the Spirit arrives, it changes everything. Fast. Before things eventually went back to the old ways, and we’ve been trying to recover the power of Pentecost ever since. 

How do we get back there, to the place where we can feel the Spirit in our midst? How do we get back there, to the place where we are all united by the Spirit’s power? How do we get back there, to the place where we understand and appreciate each other? 

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. We get back there one day at a time, one prayer at a time, one faithful decision at a time, one good deed at a time. By being a little bit better today than we were yesterday. By giving our kids a chance to be a little bit better than we are. By making room for the Spirit to move in our lives. 

Pentecost is the church’s birthday. Set fifty days after Easter, it’s the day the public ministry of Jesus’ disciples began. It began through the power of the Holy Spirit, and it continues through the power of the Holy Spirit today. 

You won’t ever be alone. Whenever you feel the wind blow, know the Holy Spirit is part of you, moving you to be a little bit better today than you were the day before. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Amen.