I want everyone
to sit tall in your seats, as you are able. Feet flat on the ground. Hands on
your lap. Close your eyes, think about the readings you’ve heard today, and open
your mind to any imagery that might show up. Now, take a deep breath in….and
let it out. And again, deep breath in….and let it out. Let’s do that one more
time, deep breath in….and out.
Excellent! How do you feel after that? What kind of images
came to you?
Those deep breaths in and out? That’s what the church year
is like. We spend six months of the year, hurrying about in high holiday mode as
we muscle our way through Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Eastertide,
taking deep breaths and holding them in as we come into each holy season, praying
that we get everything right. And then the other half of the year we get to sit
in Ordinary time. And I don’t mean “humdrum” time. I mean a time to exhale, a
time to reflect on all that happened in the other six months, a time to grow
into the lessons we heard and learned.
Next week we will celebrate Trinity Sunday as the final day
before we exhale and head into Ordinary time. But first, there is today, Pentecost,
the fiftieth and the last day of Eastertide, and the birthday of the church.
Luke tells us that the community of disciples is gathered because of the Festival of
Weeks (Shavuot). Jesus had promised the arrival of the Holy Spirit not long
after his departure and sure enough, on the festival day itself, the Holy
Spirit arrives. The scene is spectacular and chaotic: a violent, rushing sound
like wind, evoking imagery of the creation in Genesis 1; and then
“divided tongues, as of fire” – not a fire that destroys, but rather
like the fire that Moses encountered at the burning bush, which was “blazing,
yet it was not consumed” in Exodus 3.
You see in these verses wind (or spirit) and fire, and as
each person was touched by these, we are reminded of the waters of baptism. Air,
fire, water. Three of the four ancient elements. But where is earth? Well, we
are earth! Human beings, the “adam”, the dust from which we are all created. We,
as earth, are incomplete without the other three elements.
God as Holy Spirit comes as fire, air, and water so that the
dust can be moistened, the air breathed in, and the divine spark put into us so
that we can become who we fully are – the messengers of God.
The Spirit’s immediate effect is
linguistic: many are empowered “to speak in other languages,” and at the same
time, each person hears each testimony in their native tongue. Think of a
meeting at the United Nations, in which everyone hears the proceedings (through
a headset) translated into their language. The upshot of all of this is a sense
of togetherness and unity: diverse as they are, everyone understands and can
communicate. Accordingly, they’re dazzled, bewildered, and taken aback: “What
does this mean?”
(Acts 2:12).
As if to answer this question, Peter
stands and speaks. He cites the prophet Joel, adapting those ancient words to
illuminate the present: the final and decisive chapter of history has arrived,
the dawn of God’s joyous Jubilee that Jesus declared early in his ministry, and now comes the long-promised
“pouring out” of the Holy Spirit upon “all flesh”. Jesus both heralded and
inaugurated this new era, and the Spirit will empower a community through whom
the movement’s message of healing, liberation, and joy will go out to the ends
of the earth. In
other words, the church is born!
But what is the church? To put it simply, the church is the people.
Not a building, or a specific membership or group of people, not a gathering in
a specific location. God’s people. All of them. And the first act of God’s
Spirit at Pentecost honors the diversity and individuality of the believers. God wants the Good News to be heard by
all people and in all languages, especially in God’s mother tongue, which is
love!
This radical new community about
which Joel speaks and which Peter says is realized in the earliest Christian
community is remarkably inclusive. It is gender inclusive: “your sons” and
“your daughters” (2:17); “servants – both male and female” (2:18). It is
age inclusive: “your young people” and “your old people” (2:17). And if we are
to take seriously the opening (“all people”) of this citation, then this
community is also destined to be ethnically inclusive.
Diversity is a blessed feature of the
Christian life.
And we have all been joined by our Baptism into
communities of faith that look for – and expect! – the Holy Spirit to come
along side us and shake things up, preparing and equipping each and all of us
to share the disruptive, surprising, and life-giving word of grace of the God
who will not rest until all people enjoy abundant life.
Breath means new life; new life means growth and change. The
Spirit is breathed onto us to protect, to challenge, to provoke, to push, and
to call us into action. The church is on a mission, God’s mission, to love and
protect our neighbours as much as God loves and protects us. The church’s
ministry begins with the gift of the spirit, not for the sake simply of the
church, but for the whole world.
The Spirit mobilizes us, the church, and opens up new horizons
for ministry. The Spirit makes visible and tangible God’s promise to be
present, to empower, and to compel testimony. We, as witnesses, testify about God who interjects
God’s self into diverse cultures, languages, and life situations making God’s
presence felt, heard, and seen, and compelling us to interpret, as best we can,
what we have felt, heard, and seen.
And this is what we will spend “ordinary” time doing.
To close for today, I’d like to share Malcolm Guite’s poem
called Pentecost.
Today we feel the wind
beneath our wings
Today the hidden
fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws
breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes
a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of
fire, air, and water
Poured out and
breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself
awakens to her maker
And is translated out
of death to birth.
The right words come
today in their right order
And every word spells
freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses
every border
All tongues are
loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are
found in His translation.
Whose mother tongue is
Love in every nation.
Almighty God, your Spirit brooded
over primordial waters, breathed life into dry bones, appeared as flames over
the heads of praying people. Breathe on us afresh; stir us to speak, hear, and
act as Spirit-filled people. Amen.
