Today, we are celebrating the Day of Pentecost where we commemorate the Holy Spirit being poured out on the disciples in Jerusalem after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many Christians mark this date as the beginning of the Christian Church as we know it.
Pentecost
comes from a Jewish harvest festival called Shavuot. The apostles were
celebrating this festival when the Holy Spirit descended on them. It sounded
like a very strong wind, and it looked like tongues of fire. Ministers in
church often wear robes with red in the design as a symbol of the flames in
which the Holy Spirit came to earth.
The
apostles then found themselves speaking in foreign languages, inspired by the
Holy Spirit. People passing by at first thought that they must be drunk, but
the apostle Peter told the crowd that the apostles were full of the Holy
Spirit.
A
lot of sermons will be preached on the "reversal of Babel", or the
reunification of God's people under one language. (Do you remember the story
about Babel? God punished humans for not doing God's biding of populating the
world by giving each other different languages so that they couldn't understand
each other and then sent them out into the world in isolation from each other.)
However, interpreters have moved away from the traditional views of sin and
punishment and have begun to examine the story’s theme of cultural and
linguistic origins. A new emphasis is being placed on the diversification of
humanity after the flood.
It
states quite clearly within the passage that the people are building the tower
and city in order to stay in one place and to avoid being scattered around the
earth. The story then becomes less about pride and more about the desire to
preserve the cultural homogeneity of the human race. God’s response to
humanity’s actions is to create the world’s cultures by introducing new
languages and dispersing the people around the earth. God created us all
differently, wanted us to experience life on earth differently from one
another, and wants us to embrace our uniqueness.
Pentecost
almost always falls in the month of June and, therefore, is almost always
celebrated during Pride Month. It is interesting to me to think of these two
events happening in concurrence. Celebrating Pride Sunday, Pride Week, and
Pride Month is all about celebrating diversity. It is a month where the 2SLGBTQIA+
community gets to celebrate who we are, how we live, how we raise our families,
and so on and so on. But it's more than just the parties and parades. It's
about celebrating that we are still here even though the world doesn't seem to
want us around.
As
a transgender priest, celebrating the Day of Pentecost while celebrating Pride
month reinforces the idea that the Holy Spirit was sent to us by God as a call
to action. The word Jesus uses in John’s Gospel for Holy Spirit is Paraclete,
a Greek word that means “to come alongside another”. The word is often
translated as “comforter” but looking at the Pentecost texts, the Holy Spirit
isn’t comforting anyone or anything. Instead, the Holy Spirit is shaking things
up.
This
is most pronounced in Acts. There’s nothing particularly comforting about the
rush of a “violent wind,” let alone descending tongues of flame. And once the
disciples take their new multi-lingual ability into the streets of Jerusalem,
pretty much everyone who witnesses their activity is described as “bewildered,”
“amazed”, and “astonished.” Again, the Spirit didn’t comfort anyone but instead
prompted the disciples to make a very public scene with the troubling good news
that the person the crowds had put to death was alive through the power of God.
The
Holy Spirit is as much agitator as advocate, as much provocateur as comforter. Paraclete
as the one who comes along side of us to encourage and equip us for the
task of ministry is such a perfect name for the Holy Spirit. If we heed the
word and work of the coming-along-side Holy Spirit, we will inevitably be
pushed beyond what we imagine and end up stirring things up.
We
tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the answer to a problem, but what if the
Spirit’s work is to create for us a new problem: that we have a story to tell,
mercy to share, love to spread, and we just can’t rest until we’ve done so! God
sends the Paraclete, the one who comes along side us, to encourage,
equip, strengthen, provoke and, at times, to comfort us so that we can get out
there and do it all again. I’d even suggest that our job is to “come along
side” other people to encourage and equip them as well.
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.
So,
on this Day of Pentecost, I encourage everyone to embrace the fiery winds of
the Holy Spirit and allow her to push you in directions you may not want to go,
to places you may not be comfortable being, but to places where you are needed.
And on this month of Pride celebrations, God is calling you into action as a
defender of God's creation that is full of diversity.
I
want to close today’s sermon with a sonnet for Pentecost written by Malcolm
Guite.
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.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment