Becoming One In A Divided World
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
When the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, it was a time of great unity. Jews from all over the known world came and heard the same gospel message in a language they could understand, and thousands responded, unified under Christ. Today, there are literally millions of Christians in the world. How unified are we? Can the same Spirit that unified those first believers unify us today? Paul Bresnahan will write the main article, with Stephen McCutchan writing the response. Illustrations, liturgical aids, and a children's sermon are also provided.
Becoming One in a Divided World
Paul Bresnahan
Acts 2:1-21
In the current political campaign, race has become an issue. In the last general election, sexual orientation was. It seems we can always find some way to pigeonhole folks. Where I grew up, there was an Irish Catholic Church, Italian Catholic, French Catholic, and a sprinkling of Portuguese Catholics shared by each. Black folks went to the AME Church, the Swedes went to the Lutheran Church, and the English origin folks went to the Episcopal Church. The Scots tended to be Presbyterians and on and on it went.
There are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox Christians... and the Jewish folks are also Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed. Even our brothers and sisters in Islam are Sunni and Shi'a.
However, on the day of Pentecost, there was one Spirit alighting upon the heads of the apostles. They were given the ability to preach the gospel in every language, to every race and ethnicity, and more still they were able to make themselves understood. Besides all this when Jesus came to them on Pentecost, he breathed on them the breath of God and said, "Peace be with you."
To this day, people of faith greet one another "Shalom" or "salaam alaykum," and of course, the Christians say "Peace." The root of the word "Jerusalem" means "peace," and is thus viewed as the Holy City. We say peace... but do we mean it?
As recently as today, there is division and warfare. Can we transcend race, ethnicity, and sexual politics? Will the measure of our wealth or the lack of it continue to divide or classify us? We are still, as it were, "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs" (vv. 9-11). All that is different in the dynamic of definition are the labels we use because now we are black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, Arab, Jew, Protestant, Catholic, and every ethnicity under the sun. If we listen to the still small voice of God, we'll hear that gospel message making us all one in Christ. Today let us pray for the Pentecost moment that it may alight upon us once again.
THE WORD
The peace of Pentecost is upon us. That peace that the world cannot give has been given to us. Whereas the disciples were gathered together in the upper room out of their fear of those who could do much violent harm, Jesus came and stood among them and breathed on them the breath of God... the gift of the Holy Spirit. In each of our readings today, there's a slightly different "take" or nuance to that gift inviting us to reflect on the significance of that gift.
In Acts, the marvelous catholicity of God's generous gift is emphasized. When I use the word "catholic" please note I use it with a small "c." I am using the word here not to denote a particular slice of Christian experience, but a truly universal event. The apostles were given such an overwhelming experience of the Holy Spirit that they were able to communicate to everyone around them in their own language the marvelous power of God. When our experience of Jesus is so complete as their experience was, then Jesus is lifted up, and when Jesus is lifted up, "the whole world will be drawn to him." The experience of the kind of love that Jesus bore toward us, when shared with others, draws them to Jesus. Thus, the "acts" of the apostles drew many to the church. Notice there is no room for petty parochialism in this kind of "catholicity"... there is only room for the "flames" of an ardent and joyous experience of the Holy Spirit.
The psalmist marvels at God's creation; it is so abundantly filled with the Spirit of God. Even the creatures of the sea, like the Leviathan that God made just for the fun of it, reflect the magnificent creative energy of God. The Holy Spirit "renews the face of the earth." The Spirit of God continues that creative work right into the present.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul dealt with party spirit and parochialism. But the way in which he did so was to remind folks in that wonderfully diverse seaport town that they were "one body, one spirit, and baptized into one body." Thus, no matter how many gifts and no matter how different they may appear to be to one another, there is still one Spirit. In the Pauline theological method, once you are "in Christ" you become an entirely new creation. Behold the old has passed away, and the new has come. Paul took baptism seriously, and those first generations of Christians did, too. After all, they changed the world!
THE WORLD
There was a time when if you were black you would be taking your chances walking into the Italian north end of Boston. Likewise, white folks walking anywhere on the south side of Chicago could expect to be taking their chances. Protestants and Catholics should be vigilant what parts of Belfast they might find themselves in. Arabs and Jews know to keep to their own quarters in Jerusalem. South Africans went to far as to create a formal system of "apartheid" to keep the races separate. There are so many ways to alienate people... and so many reasons to keep "others" at a distance.
Americans really are no different. Partisanship can be a bit dangerous even here. Patriotism, flags, and lapel pins have become a part of our political debate. It has become a matter of some controversy to find a definition for citizenship that we can all comfortably embrace. This is nothing new for nations. When the prophets of the biblical tradition questioned the kings of Israel, they found themselves rather shabbily treated. Vigorous debate in a time of post-traumatic stress is not easy for the body politic to embrace. We are governed so much by fear in the wake of 9/11 that open debate finds itself somewhat stifled. After the Assyrian assault on Israel or the Babylonian captivity, the national leadership was rather justifiably suspicious of the prophetic tradition.
Human beings can be placed in every manner of racial, ethnic, economic, and sexual classification. They can be ostracized, marginalized, and persecuted for any number of reasons. The "witch hunts" are not confined to a peculiar period in Salem, Massachusetts. We've seen it come again and again.
With that, the ugliness of racism rears its ugly head in this year's political landscape. That is what makes the encounter with Jesus so compelling. All these dividing walls between fall like the walls of Jericho did so many years ago as we discover we are one with each other in Christ.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Cowering in fear in the upper room, they were... and then Jesus came to them. "Peace be unto you," he says and then he repeats it. Days later, that same room is filled with the sound of a mighty rush of wind. Flames appear over their heads, and they are filled to the brim with the power and the goodness of God. Going forth then, they speak the languages of a thousand tongues. Every division that humanity had known fall before breath of the Holy Spirit. They receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they become witnesses for Christ unto the uttermost parts of the earth (para. Acts 1:8).
It is so easy for us to classify human beings into every kind of convenient box. Then Jesus happens and all our sad divisions cease. When we allow Jesus to be the Christ, and when we find ourselves "in him," we are then no longer male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
Suddenly we are at peace when we are living a baptized life. In the prayer book service, the question is asked of the newly baptized, "Will you respect the dignity of every human being?" That really is an utterly astounding expectation. The baptismal covenant requires as much, however.
The Pentecost event proclaims that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the whole creation. It is a curious irony that Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. We have yet to fully embrace the power that Christ has poured out on us.
I suspect that when the world sees us so divided into all of our racial, ethnic, and economic pigeonholes, some of the power of our gospel loses its impact. That impact will weaken us until all our sad divisions cease.
I cannot help but think of my mother on this day. It is not just Pentecost; it is Mother's Day as well. When we said our prayers at night, my mother, not a particularly religious woman, would sit with me by my bed at night. I'd kneel beside my bed and say my prayers. At the end of those prayers we would say the "God blesses..." "God bless Mommy and Daddy. God bless Grandma and Grandpa, God bless the cat and the dog, and God bless my brother, Bobby," (that was a hard one...) and then we'd say something extraordinary: "God bless everybody in the whole wide world. Amen."
What my mother taught me quite by accident, I think was to wince just a bit when asking God's blessing on anything less that everything and everyone. If we choose to ask God to bless this nation, the Pentecost moment is also asking us to bless every nation. If we love our own, we are asked to bless our enemies as well. Pentecost is a very generous and magnanimous moment.
Again on Mother's Day, I would like to remember my grandmother for just a moment. When Thanksgiving Day came, she would get on the phone and call all the uncles and cousins and she would press them to into coming to the old family homestead for the holiday. After much grousing, they would relent. We would gather. We would be one. There would be gales of laughter, grand storytelling, a fair amount of gossip, and general agreement that we should do this sort of thing more often. My grandmother was the glue that held us together as a family. When she died, so did the "extended" family. We waited until funerals and weddings after that to gather.
Jesus, I would submit to you, is the "glue" that holds us all together as God's family. Pentecost is the power of Jesus in the resurrection to pour out the Spirit of God to gather us together to be one. In Pentecost, we speak and we understand all cultures, all languages, all races, all ethnic folks, male, female, gay, straight, rich, and poor. If Jesus is alive, then we are all one. If we are not one, then Jesus cannot truly live in us. Peace comes to us in the living of Jesus. The Holy Spirit descends on us and turns our souls toward God and toward one another.
It is truly a lifelong task to work out the details of our salvation. Thankfully, God has given us a lifetime to do that very work. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. The fires of the Holy Spirit hover above us not all that far away. When God chases away our fears, we will then realize how close we are to God -- how close we are to one another.
Come Holy Spirit, come!
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
Every once in a while, we arrive at a turning point in history. Often we don't even recognize it until we look back. It has become pretty clear, however, that we are approaching such a turning point in the history of America. Come November 11, the people of the United States will elect someone unique in the history of our country. We will either elect the oldest person ever to be President, or the first woman, or the first person of African-American descent. In the case of the latter, he will also be a second generation African. One of the barriers of prejudice will be shattered, be it ageism, sexism, or racism.
On Pentecost Sunday, Christians celebrate the power of God's Spirit to break down the barriers that humans have constructed to separate and divide us. Most people who are familiar with the Bible see in this event a reversal of the experience recounted of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. In that story, the arrogance of humanity drunk on their own sense of power wanted to invade God's realm of the heavens and immortalize themselves. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:4). The result was that they were scattered across the world in a confusion of languages. When people begin to play those power games, quick judgments come easily and divisions are often the result.
Now comes Pentecost, the Jewish holiday in which the people of God renewed their covenant with God. Only, in this experience of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:1-12, the power of God's creative Spirit was loosed in a manner that reversed the scattering and began to gather all peoples together. Without giving up their distinctiveness, they were still able to communicate across the barriers of culture and language. "In our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power," they reported. From that moment on, Christians were commissioned as ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20).
As the history of the church makes clear, that task is not an easy one, and we frequently discover we are more influenced by the sins of Babel than we are the Spirit of Pentecost. As the late theologian Shirley Guthrie reminded us, what distinguishes the church from the rest of society is not that we are less sinful than others, but that we recognize and are dissatisfied with our state of sinfulness. In our dissatisfaction, we look to Christ for a better way. (See Shirley Guthrie, Christian Doctrine; Revised Edition [Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press] p. 357.) Pentecost Sunday is an appropriate time to reflect on the reaction to the comments of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The media has been quick to label Dr. Wright as a bombastic crackpot, and with the exception of the excellent interview by Bill Moyer, has done little to understand the man and his ministry. Here is a pastor who took a small struggling UCC church and built it into a thriving 8,000-member church. This church has built a vital ministry to members of its own community who have thirsted for good news in their lives. If you talk to people who know him and Trinity Church, this happened because, centered in Christ, he was able to speak to the particular needs of his community. Because many in the caucasian part of the Christian community have made little effort to be aware of both the challenges and the strengths of the black church, they quickly reacted, at least negatively if not in fear, to the few snippets of Dr. Wright's sermons that were lifted from his close to forty years of ministry. I would suggest that few pastors who have been preaching for forty years would want to risk having a skeptical group examine every sermon they had ever preached to see if they could find some sentence or paragraph that could be misunderstood. They also quickly criticized Barack Obama for having remained a member of this church. Again, I would ask how many pastors would want to suggest that anytime a member disagreed with a particular sermon that their pastor preached, even though the majority of sermons encouraged and challenged them, that person should quickly leave the membership of that church.
One of our scriptural passages, Numbers 11:24-30, describes another moment in the faith community when the Spirit got loose and refused to conform to the expectations of the community. We can quickly recognize in this story the stubborn presence of envy that continues to infect the faith community. On Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the infusion of the Christian community with the Holy Spirit, it is important to remember that we do not control the Spirit of God. When it is present, it empowers us to act on God's behalf in ways that transcend our limitations, but it is always a gift and not a possession. Moses' response to this expression of envy was, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit on them."
Depending on one's political inclinations, one might wish that the Reverend Wright's response to the public criticism had been more adept at easing the concerns of the general public, but we can also take advantage of this episode to recognize the importance of the Christian community becoming more familiar with the working of God's Spirit in communities that differ from ours.
ILLUSTRATIONS
In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther explains the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed (having to do with the Holy Spirit) in this way:
I believe that by my own understanding or strength, I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens and makes holy the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one, common true faith.
The work that Luther attributes to the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is almost precisely that which the gospel of Mark portrays Jesus doing in the lives of his disciples. Jesus calls them through the gospel he preaches, enlightens them with his teaching, gives them power to become holy, and, finally, keeps them when they fail him.
-- Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), p. 106
* * *
E. Stanley Jones says:
I am not surprised that at Pentecost the physical universe responded with a physical miracle of approval and co-operation to the moral miracle that was taking place in the souls of [believers]. If the spiritual fire of the living Spirit were going through the souls of [these followers of Jesus], why should not the cloven tongues like as of fire rest upon their heads?
If, in that decisive hour, the foundations of their spiritual lives were being shaken and rebuilt, why should not the place where they were sitting be shaken? If they were being infused and filled with the new life and power of the Spirit, is it any wonder that there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and that it filled all the house where they were sitting?
-- E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of Every Road (New York: Abingdon, 1930), pp. 161-162
* * *
The disciples loved Jesus to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not understand what he was after. In the Garden of Gethsemane, they slept for their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest intimacy, they "all forsook Him and fled."
"They were all filled with the Holy (Spirit)" -- the same "they," but something wonderful has happened in between -- Our Lord's Death and Resurrection and Ascension; and the disciples have been invaded by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had said -- "You shall receive power after the Holy [Spirit] comes upon you," and this meant that they learned to watch with Him all the rest of their lives.
-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 1963), p. 249
* * *
Just how many languages are there in the world? The 15th edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the World (published in 2005 by Summer Linguistics Institute, an organization that seeks to aid Bible translators) contains statistics for 6,912 languages. This up from 6,809 in the 14th edition (published in 2000).
-- Source: Wikipedia
One may imagine that, as improved communication and transportation technology "shrinks" the world, the number of languages would go down. Numerous languages do die out every year -- one of the most recent being Alaska's Eeyak language, whose last native speaker, Marie Smith Jones, died this past January.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/23/last_native_speaker_of_eeyak_dies_at_89/9517/
Yet, the more linguists travel to remote areas, the more previously uncatalogued languages come to light. We are far from realizing the promise of Pentecost -- at least, by human efforts.
* * *
You do not know the power of the wind until you get into some high upland where it is always blowing. Then you see, in the sparse grass, the shining reflection of stones on which no lichen can secure a foothold. The rocks have lain there for ages while the wind has passed over them until, like pebbles in a stream, they have been polished by the mere passage of an unseen thing -- the air. Lift them up and turn them over and the underside has the rough, crusty appearance of the original stone. It is a testimony to time and the passage of invisible powers. The stones are hard, not the soft limestones, but chalcedonies, stones capable of taking a polish, of being cut like jewels. Here the wind is the only unknown. You can feel him at his task the moment you come into his domain. He plucks at your clothing and begins the long task of grinding you down. Stay and he will reduce you to a bone as effectively as the sea. And from a bone he will reduce you to grains of sand. I have been in similar winds for half a century, because, like a stone, I have been reduced and worn by another unseen thing called life.
-- Loren Eiseley, The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eiseley (New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1987), pp. 116-117
* * *
In one of his sermons, homiletics professor Fred Craddock tells of something that happened to him when he was giving a guest lecture at a seminary. Moments before the lecture began, a student stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal."
Craddock tried to understand what the student meant by getting him to refine his question. "Do you mean if I belong to the Pentecostal church... if I am charismatic... if I speak in tongues?" To each of these further questions, the student gave no answer, but stubbornly returned to his original question, "Are you Pentecostal?" Finally, he said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal," and left the room. It was a classic failure of communication.
Reflecting on the experience later, Craddock observes, "What are we talking about? In spite of the fact that the church doesn't know what the adjective means, the church insists that the word remain in our vocabulary as an adjective. The church is unwilling for the word simply to be a noun, to represent a date, a place, or an event in the history of the church; it refuses for it to be simply a memory, an item, something back there somewhere. The church insists the word is an adjective; it describes our church. The word, then, is Pentecostal."
-- Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), p. 22
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: The day of Pentecost is upon us.
People: Those who have been touched by tongues of fire
can speak as though in native languages.
Leader: In worship together, let us share with each other.
People: Let us share our bread, our wine, and our prayers.
Leader: We come to the Lord's table.
People: It is spread before us.
Prayer Of The Day
Leader: Spirit of the Living God,
visit us again on this day of Pentecost,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like a rushing wind that sweeps away all barriers,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With speech that unites the confusion of our languages,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With love that overlaps the boundaries of race and nation,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With power from above to make our weakness strong,
People: come, Holy Spirit, come as we pray, saying,
Our Father...
Call To Reconciliation
We admit that in our lives we forget to cooperate with each other, with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus, and with the Father. We forget to think of God and of God's grace. Please join me as we confess our lives to the listening God.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
We ask your grace in our lives for our many sins: for ignoring people who are in need, for disrespecting our loved ones, and for speaking harsh words rather than sympathetic ones to those who do not understand. We continually judge people by their actions instead of as children of God. We fail to do unto others in our communities and in our world as we would have them do unto us.
Forgive us now, for we repent, O God.
(silence is kept)
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: All the promises of God find their "yes" in Christ. That is why we utter the "Amen" through him, to the glory of God. It is God who has put his seal upon us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
People: In Christ, by the power of the Spirit, we are redeemed. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Breath of God
Object: breath (maybe a demonstration of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation using the connector between two mouths)
John 20:19-23
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you (v. 10).
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (v. 22)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you are breathing this very minute? (let them answer) All of you are breathing but what would happen if you stopped breathing? (let them answer) That's right, you would die.
I have invited one of our members to demonstrate for you something that is very important to people when they stop breathing. (this would be the time for a demonstration) Isn't that interesting? Usually the person that quit breathing still goes to the hospital even after they start breathing again. But just think about it for a moment. One person's breath into the mouth and lungs of another person that has quit breathing often brings the person that is not breathing back to life. We call this mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Breathing is very important. Most of the time we can't see our breath unless it is cold and as we breathe out, we will see a little cloud coming from our mouths. When you are breathing, you are living and when you quit breathing you will die. Everyone breathes, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the fat and the thin, the tall and the short, and the good and the evil.
The Bible teaches us that when God made a man and a woman he breathed the breath of life into each one of them. And then, like arms and legs and eyes and ears, a baby, when it is born, is given breath so that it can live. I think that breath is still a very important gift from God.
I want to talk about another kind of breath that was given to believers by Jesus. Jesus breathed on his disciples and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has been there since God began but Jesus knew that his believers needed something extra so he breathed on them and told them about this special gift. God still gives believers the same gift that he gave to the first disciples. The Holy Spirit is what God gives to us after Jesus returned to be with God in heaven. The Holy Spirit is a powerful gift and allows us to stay in touch with God. He gives us faith to believe in the promises of God. He teaches us when we read the scriptures or pray. He forgives our sins when we are baptized and when we take communion. The Holy Spirit lives within us and gives us courage and love.
The next time you take a deep breath or watch your cold breath making a small cloud, I want you to remember that as a follower of Jesus you have the great gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 11, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Becoming One in a Divided World
Paul Bresnahan
Acts 2:1-21
In the current political campaign, race has become an issue. In the last general election, sexual orientation was. It seems we can always find some way to pigeonhole folks. Where I grew up, there was an Irish Catholic Church, Italian Catholic, French Catholic, and a sprinkling of Portuguese Catholics shared by each. Black folks went to the AME Church, the Swedes went to the Lutheran Church, and the English origin folks went to the Episcopal Church. The Scots tended to be Presbyterians and on and on it went.
There are Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox Christians... and the Jewish folks are also Orthodox, Conservative, and Reformed. Even our brothers and sisters in Islam are Sunni and Shi'a.
However, on the day of Pentecost, there was one Spirit alighting upon the heads of the apostles. They were given the ability to preach the gospel in every language, to every race and ethnicity, and more still they were able to make themselves understood. Besides all this when Jesus came to them on Pentecost, he breathed on them the breath of God and said, "Peace be with you."
To this day, people of faith greet one another "Shalom" or "salaam alaykum," and of course, the Christians say "Peace." The root of the word "Jerusalem" means "peace," and is thus viewed as the Holy City. We say peace... but do we mean it?
As recently as today, there is division and warfare. Can we transcend race, ethnicity, and sexual politics? Will the measure of our wealth or the lack of it continue to divide or classify us? We are still, as it were, "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs" (vv. 9-11). All that is different in the dynamic of definition are the labels we use because now we are black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, Arab, Jew, Protestant, Catholic, and every ethnicity under the sun. If we listen to the still small voice of God, we'll hear that gospel message making us all one in Christ. Today let us pray for the Pentecost moment that it may alight upon us once again.
THE WORD
The peace of Pentecost is upon us. That peace that the world cannot give has been given to us. Whereas the disciples were gathered together in the upper room out of their fear of those who could do much violent harm, Jesus came and stood among them and breathed on them the breath of God... the gift of the Holy Spirit. In each of our readings today, there's a slightly different "take" or nuance to that gift inviting us to reflect on the significance of that gift.
In Acts, the marvelous catholicity of God's generous gift is emphasized. When I use the word "catholic" please note I use it with a small "c." I am using the word here not to denote a particular slice of Christian experience, but a truly universal event. The apostles were given such an overwhelming experience of the Holy Spirit that they were able to communicate to everyone around them in their own language the marvelous power of God. When our experience of Jesus is so complete as their experience was, then Jesus is lifted up, and when Jesus is lifted up, "the whole world will be drawn to him." The experience of the kind of love that Jesus bore toward us, when shared with others, draws them to Jesus. Thus, the "acts" of the apostles drew many to the church. Notice there is no room for petty parochialism in this kind of "catholicity"... there is only room for the "flames" of an ardent and joyous experience of the Holy Spirit.
The psalmist marvels at God's creation; it is so abundantly filled with the Spirit of God. Even the creatures of the sea, like the Leviathan that God made just for the fun of it, reflect the magnificent creative energy of God. The Holy Spirit "renews the face of the earth." The Spirit of God continues that creative work right into the present.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul dealt with party spirit and parochialism. But the way in which he did so was to remind folks in that wonderfully diverse seaport town that they were "one body, one spirit, and baptized into one body." Thus, no matter how many gifts and no matter how different they may appear to be to one another, there is still one Spirit. In the Pauline theological method, once you are "in Christ" you become an entirely new creation. Behold the old has passed away, and the new has come. Paul took baptism seriously, and those first generations of Christians did, too. After all, they changed the world!
THE WORLD
There was a time when if you were black you would be taking your chances walking into the Italian north end of Boston. Likewise, white folks walking anywhere on the south side of Chicago could expect to be taking their chances. Protestants and Catholics should be vigilant what parts of Belfast they might find themselves in. Arabs and Jews know to keep to their own quarters in Jerusalem. South Africans went to far as to create a formal system of "apartheid" to keep the races separate. There are so many ways to alienate people... and so many reasons to keep "others" at a distance.
Americans really are no different. Partisanship can be a bit dangerous even here. Patriotism, flags, and lapel pins have become a part of our political debate. It has become a matter of some controversy to find a definition for citizenship that we can all comfortably embrace. This is nothing new for nations. When the prophets of the biblical tradition questioned the kings of Israel, they found themselves rather shabbily treated. Vigorous debate in a time of post-traumatic stress is not easy for the body politic to embrace. We are governed so much by fear in the wake of 9/11 that open debate finds itself somewhat stifled. After the Assyrian assault on Israel or the Babylonian captivity, the national leadership was rather justifiably suspicious of the prophetic tradition.
Human beings can be placed in every manner of racial, ethnic, economic, and sexual classification. They can be ostracized, marginalized, and persecuted for any number of reasons. The "witch hunts" are not confined to a peculiar period in Salem, Massachusetts. We've seen it come again and again.
With that, the ugliness of racism rears its ugly head in this year's political landscape. That is what makes the encounter with Jesus so compelling. All these dividing walls between fall like the walls of Jericho did so many years ago as we discover we are one with each other in Christ.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Cowering in fear in the upper room, they were... and then Jesus came to them. "Peace be unto you," he says and then he repeats it. Days later, that same room is filled with the sound of a mighty rush of wind. Flames appear over their heads, and they are filled to the brim with the power and the goodness of God. Going forth then, they speak the languages of a thousand tongues. Every division that humanity had known fall before breath of the Holy Spirit. They receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they become witnesses for Christ unto the uttermost parts of the earth (para. Acts 1:8).
It is so easy for us to classify human beings into every kind of convenient box. Then Jesus happens and all our sad divisions cease. When we allow Jesus to be the Christ, and when we find ourselves "in him," we are then no longer male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
Suddenly we are at peace when we are living a baptized life. In the prayer book service, the question is asked of the newly baptized, "Will you respect the dignity of every human being?" That really is an utterly astounding expectation. The baptismal covenant requires as much, however.
The Pentecost event proclaims that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the whole creation. It is a curious irony that Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour of the week. We have yet to fully embrace the power that Christ has poured out on us.
I suspect that when the world sees us so divided into all of our racial, ethnic, and economic pigeonholes, some of the power of our gospel loses its impact. That impact will weaken us until all our sad divisions cease.
I cannot help but think of my mother on this day. It is not just Pentecost; it is Mother's Day as well. When we said our prayers at night, my mother, not a particularly religious woman, would sit with me by my bed at night. I'd kneel beside my bed and say my prayers. At the end of those prayers we would say the "God blesses..." "God bless Mommy and Daddy. God bless Grandma and Grandpa, God bless the cat and the dog, and God bless my brother, Bobby," (that was a hard one...) and then we'd say something extraordinary: "God bless everybody in the whole wide world. Amen."
What my mother taught me quite by accident, I think was to wince just a bit when asking God's blessing on anything less that everything and everyone. If we choose to ask God to bless this nation, the Pentecost moment is also asking us to bless every nation. If we love our own, we are asked to bless our enemies as well. Pentecost is a very generous and magnanimous moment.
Again on Mother's Day, I would like to remember my grandmother for just a moment. When Thanksgiving Day came, she would get on the phone and call all the uncles and cousins and she would press them to into coming to the old family homestead for the holiday. After much grousing, they would relent. We would gather. We would be one. There would be gales of laughter, grand storytelling, a fair amount of gossip, and general agreement that we should do this sort of thing more often. My grandmother was the glue that held us together as a family. When she died, so did the "extended" family. We waited until funerals and weddings after that to gather.
Jesus, I would submit to you, is the "glue" that holds us all together as God's family. Pentecost is the power of Jesus in the resurrection to pour out the Spirit of God to gather us together to be one. In Pentecost, we speak and we understand all cultures, all languages, all races, all ethnic folks, male, female, gay, straight, rich, and poor. If Jesus is alive, then we are all one. If we are not one, then Jesus cannot truly live in us. Peace comes to us in the living of Jesus. The Holy Spirit descends on us and turns our souls toward God and toward one another.
It is truly a lifelong task to work out the details of our salvation. Thankfully, God has given us a lifetime to do that very work. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. The fires of the Holy Spirit hover above us not all that far away. When God chases away our fears, we will then realize how close we are to God -- how close we are to one another.
Come Holy Spirit, come!
ANOTHER VIEW
Stephen McCutchan
Every once in a while, we arrive at a turning point in history. Often we don't even recognize it until we look back. It has become pretty clear, however, that we are approaching such a turning point in the history of America. Come November 11, the people of the United States will elect someone unique in the history of our country. We will either elect the oldest person ever to be President, or the first woman, or the first person of African-American descent. In the case of the latter, he will also be a second generation African. One of the barriers of prejudice will be shattered, be it ageism, sexism, or racism.
On Pentecost Sunday, Christians celebrate the power of God's Spirit to break down the barriers that humans have constructed to separate and divide us. Most people who are familiar with the Bible see in this event a reversal of the experience recounted of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. In that story, the arrogance of humanity drunk on their own sense of power wanted to invade God's realm of the heavens and immortalize themselves. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves" (Genesis 11:4). The result was that they were scattered across the world in a confusion of languages. When people begin to play those power games, quick judgments come easily and divisions are often the result.
Now comes Pentecost, the Jewish holiday in which the people of God renewed their covenant with God. Only, in this experience of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2:1-12, the power of God's creative Spirit was loosed in a manner that reversed the scattering and began to gather all peoples together. Without giving up their distinctiveness, they were still able to communicate across the barriers of culture and language. "In our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power," they reported. From that moment on, Christians were commissioned as ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20).
As the history of the church makes clear, that task is not an easy one, and we frequently discover we are more influenced by the sins of Babel than we are the Spirit of Pentecost. As the late theologian Shirley Guthrie reminded us, what distinguishes the church from the rest of society is not that we are less sinful than others, but that we recognize and are dissatisfied with our state of sinfulness. In our dissatisfaction, we look to Christ for a better way. (See Shirley Guthrie, Christian Doctrine; Revised Edition [Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press] p. 357.) Pentecost Sunday is an appropriate time to reflect on the reaction to the comments of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. The media has been quick to label Dr. Wright as a bombastic crackpot, and with the exception of the excellent interview by Bill Moyer, has done little to understand the man and his ministry. Here is a pastor who took a small struggling UCC church and built it into a thriving 8,000-member church. This church has built a vital ministry to members of its own community who have thirsted for good news in their lives. If you talk to people who know him and Trinity Church, this happened because, centered in Christ, he was able to speak to the particular needs of his community. Because many in the caucasian part of the Christian community have made little effort to be aware of both the challenges and the strengths of the black church, they quickly reacted, at least negatively if not in fear, to the few snippets of Dr. Wright's sermons that were lifted from his close to forty years of ministry. I would suggest that few pastors who have been preaching for forty years would want to risk having a skeptical group examine every sermon they had ever preached to see if they could find some sentence or paragraph that could be misunderstood. They also quickly criticized Barack Obama for having remained a member of this church. Again, I would ask how many pastors would want to suggest that anytime a member disagreed with a particular sermon that their pastor preached, even though the majority of sermons encouraged and challenged them, that person should quickly leave the membership of that church.
One of our scriptural passages, Numbers 11:24-30, describes another moment in the faith community when the Spirit got loose and refused to conform to the expectations of the community. We can quickly recognize in this story the stubborn presence of envy that continues to infect the faith community. On Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the infusion of the Christian community with the Holy Spirit, it is important to remember that we do not control the Spirit of God. When it is present, it empowers us to act on God's behalf in ways that transcend our limitations, but it is always a gift and not a possession. Moses' response to this expression of envy was, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His spirit on them."
Depending on one's political inclinations, one might wish that the Reverend Wright's response to the public criticism had been more adept at easing the concerns of the general public, but we can also take advantage of this episode to recognize the importance of the Christian community becoming more familiar with the working of God's Spirit in communities that differ from ours.
ILLUSTRATIONS
In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther explains the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed (having to do with the Holy Spirit) in this way:
I believe that by my own understanding or strength, I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens and makes holy the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one, common true faith.
The work that Luther attributes to the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is almost precisely that which the gospel of Mark portrays Jesus doing in the lives of his disciples. Jesus calls them through the gospel he preaches, enlightens them with his teaching, gives them power to become holy, and, finally, keeps them when they fail him.
-- Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), p. 106
* * *
E. Stanley Jones says:
I am not surprised that at Pentecost the physical universe responded with a physical miracle of approval and co-operation to the moral miracle that was taking place in the souls of [believers]. If the spiritual fire of the living Spirit were going through the souls of [these followers of Jesus], why should not the cloven tongues like as of fire rest upon their heads?
If, in that decisive hour, the foundations of their spiritual lives were being shaken and rebuilt, why should not the place where they were sitting be shaken? If they were being infused and filled with the new life and power of the Spirit, is it any wonder that there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and that it filled all the house where they were sitting?
-- E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of Every Road (New York: Abingdon, 1930), pp. 161-162
* * *
The disciples loved Jesus to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not understand what he was after. In the Garden of Gethsemane, they slept for their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest intimacy, they "all forsook Him and fled."
"They were all filled with the Holy (Spirit)" -- the same "they," but something wonderful has happened in between -- Our Lord's Death and Resurrection and Ascension; and the disciples have been invaded by the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had said -- "You shall receive power after the Holy [Spirit] comes upon you," and this meant that they learned to watch with Him all the rest of their lives.
-- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour, 1963), p. 249
* * *
Just how many languages are there in the world? The 15th edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the World (published in 2005 by Summer Linguistics Institute, an organization that seeks to aid Bible translators) contains statistics for 6,912 languages. This up from 6,809 in the 14th edition (published in 2000).
-- Source: Wikipedia
One may imagine that, as improved communication and transportation technology "shrinks" the world, the number of languages would go down. Numerous languages do die out every year -- one of the most recent being Alaska's Eeyak language, whose last native speaker, Marie Smith Jones, died this past January.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/01/23/last_native_speaker_of_eeyak_dies_at_89/9517/
Yet, the more linguists travel to remote areas, the more previously uncatalogued languages come to light. We are far from realizing the promise of Pentecost -- at least, by human efforts.
* * *
You do not know the power of the wind until you get into some high upland where it is always blowing. Then you see, in the sparse grass, the shining reflection of stones on which no lichen can secure a foothold. The rocks have lain there for ages while the wind has passed over them until, like pebbles in a stream, they have been polished by the mere passage of an unseen thing -- the air. Lift them up and turn them over and the underside has the rough, crusty appearance of the original stone. It is a testimony to time and the passage of invisible powers. The stones are hard, not the soft limestones, but chalcedonies, stones capable of taking a polish, of being cut like jewels. Here the wind is the only unknown. You can feel him at his task the moment you come into his domain. He plucks at your clothing and begins the long task of grinding you down. Stay and he will reduce you to a bone as effectively as the sea. And from a bone he will reduce you to grains of sand. I have been in similar winds for half a century, because, like a stone, I have been reduced and worn by another unseen thing called life.
-- Loren Eiseley, The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eiseley (New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1987), pp. 116-117
* * *
In one of his sermons, homiletics professor Fred Craddock tells of something that happened to him when he was giving a guest lecture at a seminary. Moments before the lecture began, a student stood up and said, "Before you speak, I need to know if you are Pentecostal."
Craddock tried to understand what the student meant by getting him to refine his question. "Do you mean if I belong to the Pentecostal church... if I am charismatic... if I speak in tongues?" To each of these further questions, the student gave no answer, but stubbornly returned to his original question, "Are you Pentecostal?" Finally, he said, "Obviously, you are not Pentecostal," and left the room. It was a classic failure of communication.
Reflecting on the experience later, Craddock observes, "What are we talking about? In spite of the fact that the church doesn't know what the adjective means, the church insists that the word remain in our vocabulary as an adjective. The church is unwilling for the word simply to be a noun, to represent a date, a place, or an event in the history of the church; it refuses for it to be simply a memory, an item, something back there somewhere. The church insists the word is an adjective; it describes our church. The word, then, is Pentecostal."
-- Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), p. 22
WORSHIP RESOURCE
Call To Worship
Leader: The day of Pentecost is upon us.
People: Those who have been touched by tongues of fire
can speak as though in native languages.
Leader: In worship together, let us share with each other.
People: Let us share our bread, our wine, and our prayers.
Leader: We come to the Lord's table.
People: It is spread before us.
Prayer Of The Day
Leader: Spirit of the Living God,
visit us again on this day of Pentecost,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like a rushing wind that sweeps away all barriers,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With speech that unites the confusion of our languages,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With love that overlaps the boundaries of race and nation,
People: come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With power from above to make our weakness strong,
People: come, Holy Spirit, come as we pray, saying,
Our Father...
Call To Reconciliation
We admit that in our lives we forget to cooperate with each other, with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus, and with the Father. We forget to think of God and of God's grace. Please join me as we confess our lives to the listening God.
Unison Prayer Of Confession
We ask your grace in our lives for our many sins: for ignoring people who are in need, for disrespecting our loved ones, and for speaking harsh words rather than sympathetic ones to those who do not understand. We continually judge people by their actions instead of as children of God. We fail to do unto others in our communities and in our world as we would have them do unto us.
Forgive us now, for we repent, O God.
(silence is kept)
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: All the promises of God find their "yes" in Christ. That is why we utter the "Amen" through him, to the glory of God. It is God who has put his seal upon us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
People: In Christ, by the power of the Spirit, we are redeemed. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Breath of God
Object: breath (maybe a demonstration of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation using the connector between two mouths)
John 20:19-23
And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you (v. 10).
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." (v. 22)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you are breathing this very minute? (let them answer) All of you are breathing but what would happen if you stopped breathing? (let them answer) That's right, you would die.
I have invited one of our members to demonstrate for you something that is very important to people when they stop breathing. (this would be the time for a demonstration) Isn't that interesting? Usually the person that quit breathing still goes to the hospital even after they start breathing again. But just think about it for a moment. One person's breath into the mouth and lungs of another person that has quit breathing often brings the person that is not breathing back to life. We call this mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Breathing is very important. Most of the time we can't see our breath unless it is cold and as we breathe out, we will see a little cloud coming from our mouths. When you are breathing, you are living and when you quit breathing you will die. Everyone breathes, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the fat and the thin, the tall and the short, and the good and the evil.
The Bible teaches us that when God made a man and a woman he breathed the breath of life into each one of them. And then, like arms and legs and eyes and ears, a baby, when it is born, is given breath so that it can live. I think that breath is still a very important gift from God.
I want to talk about another kind of breath that was given to believers by Jesus. Jesus breathed on his disciples and gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has been there since God began but Jesus knew that his believers needed something extra so he breathed on them and told them about this special gift. God still gives believers the same gift that he gave to the first disciples. The Holy Spirit is what God gives to us after Jesus returned to be with God in heaven. The Holy Spirit is a powerful gift and allows us to stay in touch with God. He gives us faith to believe in the promises of God. He teaches us when we read the scriptures or pray. He forgives our sins when we are baptized and when we take communion. The Holy Spirit lives within us and gives us courage and love.
The next time you take a deep breath or watch your cold breath making a small cloud, I want you to remember that as a follower of Jesus you have the great gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 11, 2008, issue.
Copyright 2008 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
