I Will Pour Out My Spirit On All Flesh
Children's sermon
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Dear Fellow Preacher,
President Bush has set for himself a difficult task. With his Road Map for peace, the president is seeking to bring together Jews and Palestinians. Years of hostility and violence certainly pose serious challenges to this endeavor.
We at The Immediate Word believe the Pentecost Sunday lectionary text from Acts 2:1-21 offers a vision of a different sort of Road Map for bringing diverse people together. We have asked guest writer Dr. Richard A. Jensen to explore this text, along with others, to help us understand how the gospel might contribute to healing our world's divisions. This installment also includes comments from team members, worship resources, a children's sermon, and an alternative approach to the text.
I Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Flesh
By Dr. Richard A. Jensen
Acts 2.1-21
Introduction
Road map. That's a big phrase in the news these days. President Bush is presently putting much of his energy into a road map: a road map for two peoples to live in peace. Two peoples: Jews and Gentiles. Actually we call them Jews and Palestinians today, but in biblical terminology it would be Jews and Gentiles. Surprising as it may seem, the old, old story of Pentecost in the Book of Acts gives us as Christians a particular angle of vision on this road map for peace. The Pentecost story also gives us assurances concerning our own personal relationship to God.
Acts 2:1-21
The day of Pentecost was a Jewish festival. Jewish people from all over the known world were in Jerusalem on the Pentecost celebration that followed the first Easter day. And what a day it was! The disciples began the day huddled together. They were waiting: waiting for their empowerment. Just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus had told them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to every nation, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things," Jesus told them. "And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city of Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24.47-49).
And they were there. In Jerusalem. Waiting. Just as Jesus commanded. And there was the sound of the rush of a violent wind. Wind! The biblical word for "spirit" comes from the "wind family" of words. Wind, breath, air. These words are close cousins of "spirit." So the disciples would have known immediately that the sound of a violent wind was the sound of the Spirit of God! And all of them were filled with the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit anointed them so to do.
The disciples then ventured forth in the power of the Spirit to the streets of Jerusalem. The streets were filled with people gathered for the Jewish festival of Pentecost. To the crowds the disciples proclaimed God's deeds of power. And everyone there understood what they were talking about. That's the miracle of Pentecost. It's a miracle of hearing. The multitude heard in their own languages the deeds of God's power.
The crowds were amazed and astonished. "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" they wondered. "And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?" You heard the names of all their nations in the reading of the text. Most of the people in the crowd were Jews. Some were proselytes. Proselytes were those who had converted to Judaism. Some Cretans and Arabs were also there. They were all amazed and perplexed. "What does this mean?" they asked of each other. "What is going on here?'' Some, of course, thought it was all a hoax. God's miracles, after all, are never self-evident to everyone! They thought the speakers must be full of too much wine and were just babbling on and on. That's a safe way to think! Can't be bothered by any miracles after all. God just doesn't do stuff like that anymore.
Peter (who else?) got up to answer their questions. He starts with the obvious: "We're not drunk. It's too early in the day for that!" Peter then turns to their own Scriptures for an answer to their question. "What is going on here?" the crowd had asked. "Fulfillment of prophecy is going on here," Peter replied. "What you have heard and seen, is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh....'
On this Pentecost Sunday we are going to focus our attention on this: all flesh. God pours out God's Spirit upon all flesh! In this Pentecost story from Acts 2, "all flesh" is basically representatives of the Jewish people from all over the world. We could probably call this the Jewish Pentecost. There were proselytes there to be sure. And some Cretans and Arabs. But Acts 2 is fundamentally about the Jews. God is going to do a new thing with the Jewish people by fulfilling an old prophecy. God will pour out God's spirit upon them. "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh...." says the promissory God.
Acts 10-11
Acts 2 says what we might have expected. God is fulfilling God's promises to the Jewish people. We would miss the whole character of Pentecost, however, if we remained so focused on the Jewish people that we failed to see the wider circles of Pentecost portrayed in other places in the Book of the Acts. There is a Jewish Pentecost in Acts, to be sure. But there is also a Gentile Pentecost in Acts. Jews and Gentiles. That's how the biblical people divided up the peoples of the world. One was either a Jew or not a Jew. The name for "not a Jew" is Gentile.
The classic story of the Gentile Pentecost is told in Acts chapters 10 and 11. The central figure in this story is Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman Centurion, a Roman Centurion who "fears" God. He was a devout man. He gave alms to the needy. He prayed to God constantly. One day he was praying about three o'clock in the afternoon and an angel appeared to him. "Cornelius," the angel said. You can imagine that this powerful centurion buckled at his knees at the sound of this voice. Cornelius was terrified. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel said to Cornelius: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter... ." (Acts 10:4-5) Cornelius, in terror, obeyed. He called two of his slaves and one of his soldiers and sent them off to find this man called Peter.
Now let's face reality here. Peter is not going to be very interested in meeting with some Gentiles! For Peter to meet with Gentiles will require a conversion on his part. God had just such a conversion ready for Peter. Peter fell into a trance and God sent a vision. "Peter saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane and unclean" (Acts 10:14). Peter is right, of course. It's against Jewish law to eat such animals. So Peter says, "No," to God. God asks him to do something and he is so stubborn that he says, "No." In his sleep he says, "No." This is going to be a tough conversion event for God!
God had an answer for Peter. The answer was simple. "What I have made clean, you must not call profane." In other words, God was saying: "Look, Peter, I created the four-footed creatures. Don't you dare call them profane." God said this to Peter three times. This is no easy conversion! But, God won the day. Peter had been overwhelmed by God and called to relate to one of God's two-footed creatures, a Gentile named Cornelius. "What I have made clean, you must not call profane."
To make a long story short, Peter went with the slaves and the soldier. He entered Cornelius's house. That sounds simple enough. Peter entered Cornelius's house. You can be pretty sure, however, that that was the very first time in his entire life that Peter had entered a Gentile house! Peter had been converted to the Gentiles. He entered to meet Cornelius. He made it very clear to his host that he was there by God's converting work. Peter said: "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean" (Acts 10:28).
Cornelius proceeded to tell Paul about his own vision and how in the vision God had told him to invite Peter to his home. Peter continued his conversion speech: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (vv. 34-35). Peter proceeded to tell Cornelius and all who were gathered the good news that is in Jesus Christ for all people. Repentance and the forgiveness of sins can be offered even to the Gentiles! And then something incredible happened. The Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard Peter's word! They, too, spoke in tongues. We witness here a Pentecost for Gentiles. One minute Peter entered a Gentile home for the first time in his life. The next minute the Holy Spirit fell upon Gentiles as they heard the good news of Jesus Christ. What happened to Gentiles is just like that which happened to the disciples on the day of Pentecost.
When Peter next arrived in Jerusalem he really got put on the hot seat by his Jewish Christian colleagues for his indiscretions in Caesarea. They were astonished that Peter had eaten with Gentiles. Eating was a sign of deep fellowship in the ancient world. A Jew would never eat with a Gentile. It would take a miracle of miracles to make that happen. Peter tried to explain himself. He told them of the miracle: The miracle of his conversion. The miracle that the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles just as the Spirit had fallen on the disciples on Pentecost. At his wits' end in trying to justify himself to the good old boys in Jerusalem, he said: "... who was I that I could hinder God?" (Acts 11:17).
When the Jerusalem crowd heard Peter's story, they, too, were converted. A Gentile Pentecost converted them. They praised God, saying: "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11:18).
God is the author of Pentecosts! Pentecosts are fulfillments of prophecy. Pentecosts are fulfillments of God's promise: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. I will pour out my Spirit on the Jewish people. I will pour out my Spirit upon Gentile people. I will pour out my Spirit upon all people."
Genesis 16:1-16
We hear these stories today at an interesting juncture of human history. A road map for peace has been set before two peoples in the Holy Land. Jews and Palestinians are now to take counsel together over this road map with the aid of the United States, the European Union, NATO, and Russia. There is, of course, deep enmity between these two peoples. Jews and Palestinians have been at war with each other for as long as any of us can remember. Is there any hope for their future? Looking at the matter from the perspective of Pentecost, we have to say, "Yes!" There is hope. God wills to pour God's Spirit on both Jews and Gentiles; on both Jews and Palestinians; on both Jews and Arabs. God wills to pour God's Spirit upon every human being.
The peace talks that are in process actually represent a three-way religious dialogue. There are Jews there. There are Muslims there. There are Christians there. We must remember that there is a vital Christian community in Palestine. There are at least two common threads that link these peoples to one another. We've seen the one common thread. Pentecost means that God wills to pour God's Spirit upon all flesh, upon all of these peoples. The second common thread between these peace partners is Abraham. Each of the religions represented in these talks claims Abraham as their first human ancestor.
The Jewish link to Abraham is grounded in God's promise of land, blessing, and people-hood. That promise is given to Abraham in Genesis 12. The people of Israel still today await the final fulfillment of this promise. In so doing, the Jewish people claim Abraham and Sarah as the great ancestors of their faith.
The Christian community also claims the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12. Our understanding of this old promise to Abraham is that the promise of land, blessing, and people-hood has been fulfilled in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's blessing upon us. The new community of Christians called the church becomes for us the fulfillment of the promise of a new people. This community gathers worldwide! The whole earth is the place of God's fulfillment of the promise of land. This new people-hood comes into being through the events we celebrate today. This new people, the church, comes into being through the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
St. Paul has given Christians a second key link to the Old Testament person of Abraham. In Genesis 15 we see Abraham at his wits' end. The promise of land, blessing, and people-hood that God has made to Abraham had not come to pass. Abraham and Sarah had no children. Without at least one child, there could be no great people! God reassures Abraham that Abraham's own son will be his heir. Abraham believed the Lord. "Abraham believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
In Paul's letters to the Romans and to the people of Galatia, he uses this story of Abraham as the perfect story of what faith means. Christians are saved by faith alone, says St. Paul. If you want to know what it means to be saved by faith alone look again at this old story of Abraham. Abraham heard the promise of God with his ears. He believed the promise in his heart. That's the meaning of faith. Hear God's word of promise. Believe God's word of promise. This Abraham did. He heard with his ears. He believed with his heart. Abraham is of vital importance to Christians as the model of faith and trust in God.
But the Muslim community also claims Abraham as ancestor. The story they look to is told in Genesis 16. The problem in this story is the same problem as in Genesis 15. Abraham has no heir. Sarah has a plan. If God is not going to fulfill the promise, then we will have to take matters into our own hands. That was Sarah's attitude. Now Sarah had a maid named Hagar. Sarah couldn't conceive, but maybe Hagar could conceive the child of the promise. Sarah proposed, therefore, that Abraham have relations with Hagar. This may be the only way to get God's promise fulfilled. Abraham agreed with Sarah. The deed was done. Hagar conceived and bore a son. At this point Sarah got mightily jealous of Hagar. Abraham told Sarah to take charge of Hagar and treat her any way she chose. And Sarah did so. She dealt harshly with Hagar. It was too much for Hagar. She fled to the wilderness: she and her son.
Hagar was alone and forsaken in the wilderness. She was not, however, forsaken by God. An angel of God spoke to Hagar there in the wilderness: "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?" (Genesis 16:8).
Hagar replied: "I am running away from my mistress Sarah" (Genesis 16:8). That was her only answer. She knew where she had come from. She didn't answer the question of the angel about where she was going. That may be true for anyone who lacks faith and tries to take the task of fulfilling God's promise into their own hands.
The angel had a surprising word for Hagar. "Return to your mistress, and submit to her," the angel said (Genesis 16:9). That was probably the last thing Hagar wanted to do. She was certainly furious with such words from such an angel. But the angel was not finished speaking. The angel had a promise from God for Hagar. "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for the multitude ... Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction" (Genesis 16:10-11).
In Genesis 17 we hear a second time of God's blessing of Ishmael. "As for Ishmael," God declares, "I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous ... and I will make him a great nation" (Genesis 17:20).
Hagar was overwhelmed by her encounter with the angel. "So she named the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are El-roi ... Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?'" (Genesis 16:13).
God spoke a word of promise over the life of Hagar and over the life of her son, Ishmael. We barely remember this event from the Genesis stories. But Muslims remember! They count Ishmael as their founder just as the Jews count Isaac as their great ancestor in the faith. Muslims claim Ishmael. Muslims claim Abraham.
It is very important for us as Christians and for us an American people to remember this story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. This is a story at the very heart of the Muslim faith. It's a story that comes right out of the Old Testament which we share not only with Jews but with Muslims as well. When Christians and Muslims and Jews meet to discuss a road map to peace, therefore, they meet as peoples who have much in common. We have Abraham in common. We have in common, as well, God's Pentecost intention to pour out God's Spirit upon all flesh. These common threads do give us a unique angle of vision on the peace talks. We can see these peace talks as conversations between peoples with much in common. That's not always easy for us to see. In fact, it may be very hard indeed for us to see the common threads. After all, it wasn't easy for God to get Paul to see that Gentiles were not profane. God had to convert Paul to the Gentiles. God may have to convert us as well as we view these peoples in the Middle East. God has spoken words of promise recorded in Scripture that all three of the major religious groups hold in common. Palestinians are not just profane. Muslims are not just profane. Arabs are not just profane.
"What God has made clean [we] must not call profane" (Acts 10:15). The God of the Bible has a passion and a promise for these peoples, for all peoples of the world.
"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." That's the Pentecost word of promise that also gives us a new angle of vision for the peoples of the Middle East.
The Pentecost story fills us with hope for these people of the Middle East.
The Pentecost story calls us to prayer on behalf of these peoples.
The Pentecost story gives us a vision for mission with these peoples.
The Pentecost story calls us to creative dialogue with these peoples.
The Pentecost story calls us to work together with the people of the Middle East in making God's world a place of peace for all humankind.
"[Jesus] has poured out this that you both see and hear" (Acts 2:38).
Let's get back to the Pentecost story. Let's get back to the work of God to pour out the Spirit on all flesh. What is it God is doing when God pours the Spirit upon us? What is going on here? Our clue here comes at the end of Peter's sermon to the crowd. Remember that Peter got up to preach a sermon to explain the Pentecost events to the crowd that had heard of the mighty deeds of God in their own languages. Peter opened his sermon with a reference to the prophet Joel. It was Joel who had prophesied that God would pour out God's Spirit upon all flesh. Peter's sermon goes on. We expect it will be a sermon about the Holy Spirit. But, no. Peter's Pentecost sermon is not a sermon about the Spirit. His Pentecost sermon, rather, is a sermon about Jesus. Peter gives the crowd a summary of the work of God as it was manifest in Jesus' ministry. The climax of God's work in Jesus was the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, Peter announces. And it is Jesus who has poured out this that you have seen and heard. It is Jesus who has poured out the Spirit upon you. It is Jesus who is the author of Pentecost. The Spirit poured out at Pentecost is the Spirit of Jesus! That is what is going on at Pentecost.
This story is told to us by St. Luke. For Luke, the Spirit of Jesus has a clear definition. We heard it at the beginning of the sermon. At the end of Luke's Gospel, Jesus commissioned his disciples to "... proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to every nation, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). Luke summarizes Jesus' ministry by talking of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
There is mighty good news here. Pentecost means that God is going to pour out God's Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, on all flesh. We have applied this passage to Jews and Gentiles. God's Spirit is intended to be poured out on all peoples. This is the missionary imperative of the Christian Church! All peoples!
All peoples, of course, include you and me. The promise of Pentecost is a promise to you. A promise for you to hear. A promise for you to believe. God's Pentecost promise is God saying to you:
"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.
I will pour out my Spirit upon you.
I will pour Jesus upon you.
I will pour Jesus upon you in response to your cry of repentance.
I will pour Jesus upon you to wash away all your sins."
Celebrate this promise. Share this promise with all the peoples of the world. Give thanks to the God of Pentecost who declares: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." Amen.
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: (1) I think the radical character in the New Testament of the inclusion of Gentiles pretty much goes right past most Christians today. The great majority of us are, as far as our biological descent is concerned, not Jewish, and come from cultural backgrounds that have been well represented in the church for a long time. So we think it's natural to view the situation from inside, and when we hear about God's inclusion of "all flesh" we think of ourselves as being asked to invite or welcome outsiders -- something we may do with varying degrees of enthusiasm, uncertainty, or reluctance.
But if we think back to the situation of Acts, we have to see ourselves as the outsiders. We are the anomaly that gives rise to surprise and debate in the church when it begins to dawn on those Jewish Christians -- as in the story of Cornelius -- that we're supposed to be included too! Gentiles are the ones who were "aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise" (Ephesians 2:12), who have been "grafted in" (Romans 11:17-24). Realization of this may help people to look at some of the familiar texts in Acts with fresh eyes.
(2) The mention of "proselytes" in Acts 2 and of "god fearers" like Cornelius should remind us that before the beginning of the Christian church there had been fairly extensive Jewish missionary efforts. (Matthew 23:15 notes this, though a negative spin is put on it there.) This meant that in many cities throughout the Mediterranean world there were Gentiles who had some familiarity with the Jewish tradition, and who were therefore in a sense primed for the Christian mission. The Holy Spirit didn't just start to work on Pentecost.
And the fact that there were proselytes also reminds us that being a member of God's covenant people never was understood as strictly a matter of biological descent. But proselytes were expected to obey the regulations of torah, including circumcision. The question the church had to wrestle with wasn't whether a person had to be a physical descendant of Abraham but whether Gentile converts, like proselytes to Judaism, had to obey the Mosaic law.
(3) The primary implication of God's Spirit being poured out on "all flesh" in Acts is on the inclusion of the Gentiles. But the passage from Joel which Peter quotes also points in other directions: "Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." The idea that the Spirit is given without regard to economic status or gender was pretty radical. This, together with the inclusion of Gentiles as well as Jews, points toward Paul's classic statement in Galatians 3:28.
Carter Shelley responds: Dick, your work on the lectionary passages for Pentecost and the words they offer to attentive Christians, Jews, and Muslims in 2003 are so fine, my initial desire was to write admiring comments in the margins and leave it at that. I particularly like your use of "hearing" as it moves the action of the Spirit on Pentecost from a focus upon what happened to Jesus' followers on to those, like ourselves, who initially marvel at the "drunken chatter." Many a sermon has stopped at that point. You recognize the next crucial move. This initial reaction of puzzlement and awe that the foreign visitors experience in hearing words spoken in their native languages moves beyond that to the far greater miracle of Pentecost, the ability to hear God in the hearing Jesus Christ proclaimed.
The active versus passive reception of the Holy Spirit distinction made me think about various Pentecost hymns. It is tempting to leave the onus of action upon the Spirit. "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me," "Spirit of God, Descend upon my Heart," "Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Fill Me with Life Anew" are hymns that suggest passive reception more than active acceptance or seeking. Pentecost hymns in which the singer actively seeks the Spirit include: "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," "Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost, Taught by You, we covet most, Of Your gifts at Pentecost, Holy, heavenly love," or "Like the Murmur of the Dove's Song."
Not only do I like the way you emphasize hearing as a central theme and faith response in your sermon, I am also struck by how crucial hearing is to any form of mediation and peacemaking. A husband and wife who are so busy stating their individual views cannot possibly grasp the spouse's position or feelings. The same is true if one works for a boss who won't listen or if one has a pastor who would rather talk than hear. The road map for Israelis and Palestinian peacemaking cannot happen without such divine inspiration and Spiritual intervention. The ability to hear is the first step to settling differences. The ability to hear another person, another perspective, another experience, and yes, another understanding of God makes possible the move from self-interest and self-injury to insight. In the best of all worlds, such insight would then lead us to empathy, compassion, compromise, and a relationship, not only with formerly sworn enemies but also with God.
Here are a few thoughts and questions I had that the person in the pew might share.
From biblical studies most of us know of the conquests of the Assyrians of Northern Israel and the eventual merging of peoples, some of whom were later identified as Samaritans in Jesus' day. When did the term "Arab" become an identifying term for peoples living in the Middle East? It is true that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity share an understanding that Abraham through Ishmael is the father of the modern Arab peoples. How long has such an understanding been part of Judaic and Christian tradition? Did this identification come into existence with Mohammed? Is it a 20th century concept and label placed upon peoples in the Middle East from the times when European nations claimed colonies in Africa and Asia in the 19th century? I don't expect you to answer these questions yourself, but your excellent materials made me wonder when the connections were first established.
Your discussion of Peter's initial disinterest in evangelizing Gentiles led me to recall the threatening words inscribed on the Temple in Jerusalem. Gentiles were free to worship and pray in the outer recesses of the Temple or in its courtyard, but entry beyond those public sections by any non-Jew was penalized by death to the unclean intruder. Also, PBS sponsored a piece on Peter and Paul in April that dealt very thoroughly with the debates and divisions caused by the issue of Gentile conversions. It seems as though the Jewish apostles understood Christianity as an extension of Judaism and a fulfillment of God's plan for Israel. The notion of evangelizing and accepting Gentiles as Christians was a hard transition for all, with Peter and Paul at the center of the struggle. I think it's interesting that for both of these men it took direct, divine intervention (blinding light and voice on the road to Damascus and rooftop vision) to convince them that Christ's salvation was for all.
As for the Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar narratives in Genesis 16:1-16 and 21:9-21, it illustrates several important things about God and human beings -- even the ones who help God found world religions. Those narratives remind us that Abraham and Sarah had their faithless moments as well as their faithful ones. God's promise of offspring has been so long delayed, that Sarah cannot believe she will ever be a mother. In their lack of trust in God's promise, Sarah and Abraham take matters into their own hands and use Hagar as a surrogate mother, with no intention of allowing Hagar to be a mother in reality or in status. Such faithlessness may be forgiven by God, but it does not erase the consequences of the sin committed against both Hagar and God. The consequences are persecution of Hagar by Sarah and abandonment in the desert of her and Ishmael by Abraham, the first deadbeat dad. What is most redemptive about that narrative is Hagar's own encounter with God in both texts. In the first she, a mere woman and slave, hears God and responds to the message she receives. In the second, Hagar and Ishmael are saved from death in the desert by God's intervention and provision of water and a future. In both instances it is God who seeks Hagar and not the other way around. In my book Preaching from Genesis 12-36, I offer a first person sermon "Call Me Hagar" based on Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror reading of Hagar's story as rape. In response to the multiple protests of such a depiction of wise, faithful Abraham because it was a different time, place, and culture, I agree with African American Presbyterian minister, Dr. Carlton Eversley's words on this text: "Institutionalized rape is still rape."
For ministers who want a little more insight into the theological and cultural dynamics in the Middle East, Terry Gross interviewed Dr. Charles Kimball, former Council of Churches Middle East mediator and current Department of Religion Chair at Wake Forest University. Dr. Kimball is a Baptist minister who served as one of the team working with Iran in the late 1970s and with other Middle East countries in the 1980s. His comments and insights in this interview that occurred on May 6, 2003, might prove enormously helpful to ministers wanting a better understanding of the dynamics at work. This interview can be found by going to the NPR website, clicking on Fresh Air and typing in Dr. Kimball's name and the date.
Dick, your materials offer a plethora of insights skillfully expressed. I'm a big one for crediting resources from the pulpit and not plagiarizing other ministers' materials, but this sermon is so splendid, I confess I am tempted. May our President, the Israelis, and the Palestinians be equally moved by God's Spirit.
Alternative Approach
The UniversalTranslator
By Carlos Wilton
On the popular Star Trek television series, there's one technological device that's absolutely indispensable to everything the crew of the starship Enterprise does. It's a little machine that's rarely mentioned, but that functions quietly in the background. It's called the Universal Translator.
This little gizmo is, as the computer geeks say, the "killer ap" -- the killer application -- of all killer aps. It's a machine that effortlessly translates, in real time, the spoken words of a language it's never heard before. It matters not if the language is composed of mellifluous phrases or guttural clicks and grunts. Nor does it matter if the alien race speaking it looks more or less like human beings (though perhaps with pointy ears and bumps on their foreheads), or if they look more like a cross between an alligator and a kangaroo. The handy-dandy Universal Translator takes on all comers, and renders their speech into perfect English.
Not bad, eh? Don't you wish you had one?
Many folks who've used the Internet have come across something called a "translation engine." It's a keen little program that lets you type a line of text into a box, hit the "enter" key, and see it instantly translated, before your very eyes, into another language. The only problem is, the translation engines on the Internet leave something to be desired. They have a long way to go before anyone could mistake them for a Universal Translator.
In fact, there's a little game you can play with these computer programs. It involves running a phrase through the translation engine, going from English into various foreign languages and back again, just to see what comes out in the end. It's kind of like the old parlor game of "Telephone" (the one that has people whisper a sentence from one person to another). What you get out is definitely not what you put in.
I decided to try it. Going to the website, freetranslation.com, I typed in this phrase that the Vulcans on Star Trek (that's Mister Spock's people, the ones with the pointy ears) must have uttered when they encountered human beings for the very first time: "Live long and prosper."
Going from English to Spanish and back again, I came up with, "Alive long and prospers."
Next, I translated "Alive long and prospers" from English into Dutch and back. I got, "Living long and blossoms."
Translating that, in turn, from English into Portuguese and back again, I got, "Live long flowers."
Trying the same thing with Italian, I came up with, "I live long flowers." And from English to French and back again, the machine came up with, "I live a long time flowers." It's a far cry from "Live long and prosper," isn't it?
Well, maybe that was a fluke, I thought to myself. I tried it again with the familiar proverb, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." By the time I'd run that one through four or five languages, the result was: "It takes is able to a horse irrigate, but you do not be able to the reason of beverages."
Gibberish! That's what you get, if you try to make a Universal Translator out of today's technology.
The sad truth is, there probably never will be such a thing as a Universal Translator -- not even in the 23rd century. It may be a convenient device for the Star Trek writers (as they gamely try, each week, to squeeze a whole intergalactic expedition into a fifty-minute time slot), but it's just not practical. Human language is too complex for that.
Which makes the story of Pentecost, as related in the second chapter of Acts, all the more remarkable. Luke tells us that "each one heard them speaking in the native language of each." Then he reels off a huge list of nationalities, all of whose languages were suddenly made intelligible by the Holy Spirit:
"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 Arab...."
All these people, speaking a vast array of languages -- many of them now extinct -- can suddenly understand each other! When you consider what's involved here, it's got to be one of the greatest miracles in all the scriptures.
On another level, it's a miracle when any two human beings can understand each other. Take a husband and wife, for example. Any husband and wife. Those two have sought each other out and married because they love each other, and because they've discovered in each other a kindred spirit -- but even then, it's a rare couple indeed that never encounters difficulties of communication. There's a whole cottage industry, in fact, that publishes self-help books to make it easier for men and women talk to each other. The men come from Mars and the women from Venus, and so they complain to each other, You Just Don't Understand.
And those two people speak the same language! It gets even more dicey in matters of negotiations between nations. When Ariel Sharon of Israel sits down and talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the new Prime Minister of the Palestinians, how many possibilities there must be for misunderstanding!
Anybody remember that embarrassing incident of years past, when President Jimmy Carter traveled to Poland and made a speech there? His remarks had been translated by an American diplomat who wasn't very good at speaking Polish. What Carter meant to say was, "I have a great love for the Polish people." What came out was, "I have carnal lust for the Polish people." Enough said: human communication is a real minefield.
So what was it that really happened, that first Pentecost? Was it a miracle of linguistic translation -- God the Holy Spirit creating, for the first and only time, a Universal Translator, and loaning the contraption to the human race for a day? Or is it perhaps something a little more subtle, and a lot more symbolic?
Only someone who was there to witness that remarkable event can say for sure -- and I'll leave it to you to decide whether to take the Pentecost story literally or symbolically. Yet -- real or symbolic -- there's meaning to be distilled from this well-loved story: meaning that can spill over and season our lives, if we but pay attention to its lessons.
Suddenly that wild assortment of people, with all their languages and cultures, find common ground. I'd like to think the common ground they discover has something to do with love -- the love of God, demonstrated in a man who let himself be nailed to a cross for the sins of the world, and who then returned from the grave to show them his wounds and promise he'd be with them always.
Standing there on Calvary and looking up at that man, a hard-bitten Roman centurion was led to confess, "Surely this is the son of God." You can't get a wider chasm between two human beings than that: a career military man, officer of an occupying army, and the criminal he's just ordered executed. Yet those two men -- one who will not live out the afternoon, and the other who will go home to a warm supper and a soft bed -- look each other in the eye, and experience a sort of communion. That's a miracle -- and it has nothing to do with a Universal Translator.
It has everything to do with love. I think that's what's at the heart of the Pentecost miracle: love. The love of God, mediated through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. As those knocked-down, dragged-out, hard-luck excuses for evangelists got together in that nondescript Jerusalem house, and began to recall the things they've heard and seen in recent days, something comes over them. Something far bigger than they are, coming from outside themselves and taking possession of their dispirited hearts. Suddenly the world becomes much bigger than the dusty villages with their mud-brick houses, the lakes with their fishing-boats, the sheep on the hillsides, and the Roman coins clinking in the tax-collector's purse. Suddenly the gospel they've only recently come to understand becomes much more than a Jewish gospel. It becomes a tale that they just know -- who knows how they know it, they just do -- will travel swiftly to the ends of the earth.
They will take it there: these flawed, hesitant, fearful disciples will take it there, personally. They know then, in the bright, flame-lit clarity of that moment, that they can do it: because the Holy Spirit of God will travel with them.
I experienced something of a Pentecost moment when I traveled to Cuba --as I've done now twice, representing Monmouth Presbytery in our mission partnership with the Central Presbytery of Cuba. I went there not speaking the language, wholly dependent on the several members of our little group who had come along as translators. The Cuban church leaders I met had a bit more English than I had Spanish, but still they were far from fluent. What we had in common was Jesus Christ -- and I'd like to think the Spirit of Christ was present and active in those moments, as we came together, people from a communist dictatorship and a capitalist democracy, and forged a friendship.
What other explanation could there possibly be for that, but the Holy Spirit?
We didn't speak in tongues -- other than our own native languages, and our hesitant efforts to risk speaking the other language. But we didn't need to. We had Jesus.
Is there something you'd like to do -- for God -- but aren't sure you have it in you? The good news of Pentecost is that you don't have to have it in you. The Lord will provide. The Spirit will inspire. So relax, and let it happen. As the prophet Joel says, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28).
May it be so for you -- by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit!
Worship Resources
By George Reed
OPENING
Hymns
God of Many Names
All Creatures of Our God and King
Many and Great, O God
Songs
As We Gather
Sing unto the Lord a New Song
Awesome God
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: O Lord, how manifold are your works!
PEOPLE: WE SEE YOU AT WORK IN ALL CREATION.
Leader: When you send out your Spirit
PEOPLE: WE ARE RECREATED AND RENEWED.
Leader: Behold the many ways the Spirit moves among us.
PEOPLE: WE UNDERSTAND YOU, O GOD, IN OUR OWN LANGUAGE.
Leader: Sing to the Lord as long as you live.
PEOPLE: I WILL SING PRAISES TO GOD WHILE I HAVE BREATH.
COLLECT/OPENING PRAYER
O God who is the Creator Spirit of all creation: Grant us ears to hear and eyes to see you working in the midst of all your creatures; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, you created us and have given us your own Spirit. In our stories of creation we learn that we have a common beginning. Help us to see the unity of creation as you see it. Open our eyes to see you at work in many ways. Open our ears to hear you calling us to share your love with all your creatures. Amen.
RESPONSE MUSIC
Hymns
O Spirit of the Living God
Where Charity and Love Prevail
In Christ There Is No East of West
Songs
You Are
Spirit Song
For the Gift of Creation
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION/PARDON
All:
O Spirit of the One, True God: we confess that we have not listened to your voice, we have not seen the signs of your work among us, we have not felt the gentle tug of you drawing us to wholeness for ourselves or for others.
We expect you to act only in ways that we understand using the language that we comprehend. We expect you to use those we deem to be fitting vessels of your Spirit and no others. We suspect any experiences or ideas that differ from our own.
Forgive us, we pray, and renew us with yourself that we might be in tune with your song and in line with your actions. Help us to celebrate as each one hears you speak in their own language. Amen.
(All pray in silence.)
Leader:
Hear the Good News of God. The Spirit comes to all of us offering a new life. In the Name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven and empowered to share God's love. Amen.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC
God of Wholeness and Completeness, we worship and adore you for you are what we hope to become. God of Creation, we worship you for you are the one from whom we came. God of eternity, we worship you for you are the one to whom we trust we shall return.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
Lord, we confess that we are not only broken but we break one another. We are not only incomplete but we seek to tear down one another. As you create, we destroy. As you live forever, we allow our brothers and sisters to have their lives taken away early through hunger, terror, retribution, war, and injustice. Forgive us for not understanding your way of bringing salvation to our world. Forgive us where in our ignorance and self-centeredness we have opposed your work. By the power of your Spirit, blow away from us the mists of ignorance and complacency. Fill us again with the vibrant word of your salvation for all your people.
We give you thanks, O Lord, for all the wondrous ways you are active in our world: for the beauty of nature, the joy of friendship, the nurture of family, the unity of your Church. We thank you for the folks who have been willing to share your Good News with us and who have loved us in your Name.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We lift up to your loving Spirit those who are in need this day. We pray especially for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. As your Spirit of peace and unity moves among them and their leaders, give them wisdom and calm and perceptive hearts. Open their minds to the possibilities before them. Help them to hear in their own words and images the glorious words of peace and life.
We pray for all who need your Spirit of wholeness. We remember those who are broken in body, mind, and spirit. We remember those who have relationships that are broken. We pray for the hurts of this world and for wisdom and courage to be part of your healing presence.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
We ask that you would unite our hearts and spirits with yours that together we might see your reign of love, grace, peace, and life come to its fullness; through Jesus Christ our Lord who taught us to pray together, saying,
Our Father....
Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: Acts 2:1-21
Object: A map (included with presentation). If possible, bring a larger map from the Sunday school of the area described in Acts 2.
Good morning, boys and girls. The land where the Bible was written is in the news today. President Bush and leaders from Israel and Palestine met this week to work on a plan for peace. As the leaders prepared for this meeting, they talked about a "road map for peace." How many of you watch the news? (let them answer) Do you know where the land of the Bible is in the world?(let them answer) It is a long way from here, but it is close to countries that we hear about all of the time. Have you heard of Iraq? (let them answer) Have you heard of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iran, and Turkey? (let them answer) What happened in this area of the world recently that we all know about? (let them answer) That's right, war! It was a big war and now that war is over in many ways, but there are still very big problems. Our hope is that the people who live there will work very hard for peace.
I have a map that I want to share with you. It is a map of the same area, only many of the names are different today than they were at the time. Every year on this Sunday we read the names of cities and countries that were represented at a very big event called Pentecost. In the Bible it talks about people who ran out into the streets because they heard the sound of a great wind. They were afraid that it might be a huge storm, but instead the wind was the Spirit of God. Everyone was shouting at the top of his or her voice. Now many people were visiting Jerusalem on that Sunday because it was a religious holiday. People came to Jerusalem from many nations and cities. Each one of them spoke his own language. How many of you speak German or French or Russian? (let them answer) Can anyone understand Chinese or Portuguese or Polish? (let them answer) (point to the map if you can) Could you speak the language of the Parthians, the Medes, or the Elamites? Have you ever talked to anyone from Egypt, Phrigia or Pontus? (let them answer) Neither have I and neither had Peter. But a strange thing was happening and everyone was asking each other how it could happen.
Peter spoke in his language and everyone could understand him. First, there was no storm; secondly, they understood what each other said even though they did not know each other's language. I forgot to mention one other strange thing that everyone was watching: there were little red flames dancing over the heads of people. It was a really strange day. But the best part was the coming together of people and the worship of God. Thousands of people heard Peter preach about Jesus and thousands of them became Christians.
The last couple of days people from different nations including our United States sat down together and traded ideas of how people from many different nations could work for peace. It is very difficult to have peace when everyone thinks they are right or when one nation believes it can win a war. Today we pray for peace. We pray for the people who live in the cities that are shown on our map. We pray that God will work peace in their hearts. When the road map for peace becomes the changed heart for peace, then we will know that men are listening to God as well as to each other. Amen.
The Immediate Word, June 8, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
President Bush has set for himself a difficult task. With his Road Map for peace, the president is seeking to bring together Jews and Palestinians. Years of hostility and violence certainly pose serious challenges to this endeavor.
We at The Immediate Word believe the Pentecost Sunday lectionary text from Acts 2:1-21 offers a vision of a different sort of Road Map for bringing diverse people together. We have asked guest writer Dr. Richard A. Jensen to explore this text, along with others, to help us understand how the gospel might contribute to healing our world's divisions. This installment also includes comments from team members, worship resources, a children's sermon, and an alternative approach to the text.
I Will Pour Out My Spirit on All Flesh
By Dr. Richard A. Jensen
Acts 2.1-21
Introduction
Road map. That's a big phrase in the news these days. President Bush is presently putting much of his energy into a road map: a road map for two peoples to live in peace. Two peoples: Jews and Gentiles. Actually we call them Jews and Palestinians today, but in biblical terminology it would be Jews and Gentiles. Surprising as it may seem, the old, old story of Pentecost in the Book of Acts gives us as Christians a particular angle of vision on this road map for peace. The Pentecost story also gives us assurances concerning our own personal relationship to God.
Acts 2:1-21
The day of Pentecost was a Jewish festival. Jewish people from all over the known world were in Jerusalem on the Pentecost celebration that followed the first Easter day. And what a day it was! The disciples began the day huddled together. They were waiting: waiting for their empowerment. Just before his ascension into heaven, Jesus had told them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to every nation, beginning from Jerusalem. "You are witnesses of these things," Jesus told them. "And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city of Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24.47-49).
And they were there. In Jerusalem. Waiting. Just as Jesus commanded. And there was the sound of the rush of a violent wind. Wind! The biblical word for "spirit" comes from the "wind family" of words. Wind, breath, air. These words are close cousins of "spirit." So the disciples would have known immediately that the sound of a violent wind was the sound of the Spirit of God! And all of them were filled with the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit anointed them so to do.
The disciples then ventured forth in the power of the Spirit to the streets of Jerusalem. The streets were filled with people gathered for the Jewish festival of Pentecost. To the crowds the disciples proclaimed God's deeds of power. And everyone there understood what they were talking about. That's the miracle of Pentecost. It's a miracle of hearing. The multitude heard in their own languages the deeds of God's power.
The crowds were amazed and astonished. "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" they wondered. "And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?" You heard the names of all their nations in the reading of the text. Most of the people in the crowd were Jews. Some were proselytes. Proselytes were those who had converted to Judaism. Some Cretans and Arabs were also there. They were all amazed and perplexed. "What does this mean?" they asked of each other. "What is going on here?'' Some, of course, thought it was all a hoax. God's miracles, after all, are never self-evident to everyone! They thought the speakers must be full of too much wine and were just babbling on and on. That's a safe way to think! Can't be bothered by any miracles after all. God just doesn't do stuff like that anymore.
Peter (who else?) got up to answer their questions. He starts with the obvious: "We're not drunk. It's too early in the day for that!" Peter then turns to their own Scriptures for an answer to their question. "What is going on here?" the crowd had asked. "Fulfillment of prophecy is going on here," Peter replied. "What you have heard and seen, is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh....'
On this Pentecost Sunday we are going to focus our attention on this: all flesh. God pours out God's Spirit upon all flesh! In this Pentecost story from Acts 2, "all flesh" is basically representatives of the Jewish people from all over the world. We could probably call this the Jewish Pentecost. There were proselytes there to be sure. And some Cretans and Arabs. But Acts 2 is fundamentally about the Jews. God is going to do a new thing with the Jewish people by fulfilling an old prophecy. God will pour out God's spirit upon them. "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh...." says the promissory God.
Acts 10-11
Acts 2 says what we might have expected. God is fulfilling God's promises to the Jewish people. We would miss the whole character of Pentecost, however, if we remained so focused on the Jewish people that we failed to see the wider circles of Pentecost portrayed in other places in the Book of the Acts. There is a Jewish Pentecost in Acts, to be sure. But there is also a Gentile Pentecost in Acts. Jews and Gentiles. That's how the biblical people divided up the peoples of the world. One was either a Jew or not a Jew. The name for "not a Jew" is Gentile.
The classic story of the Gentile Pentecost is told in Acts chapters 10 and 11. The central figure in this story is Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman Centurion, a Roman Centurion who "fears" God. He was a devout man. He gave alms to the needy. He prayed to God constantly. One day he was praying about three o'clock in the afternoon and an angel appeared to him. "Cornelius," the angel said. You can imagine that this powerful centurion buckled at his knees at the sound of this voice. Cornelius was terrified. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel said to Cornelius: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter... ." (Acts 10:4-5) Cornelius, in terror, obeyed. He called two of his slaves and one of his soldiers and sent them off to find this man called Peter.
Now let's face reality here. Peter is not going to be very interested in meeting with some Gentiles! For Peter to meet with Gentiles will require a conversion on his part. God had just such a conversion ready for Peter. Peter fell into a trance and God sent a vision. "Peter saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane and unclean" (Acts 10:14). Peter is right, of course. It's against Jewish law to eat such animals. So Peter says, "No," to God. God asks him to do something and he is so stubborn that he says, "No." In his sleep he says, "No." This is going to be a tough conversion event for God!
God had an answer for Peter. The answer was simple. "What I have made clean, you must not call profane." In other words, God was saying: "Look, Peter, I created the four-footed creatures. Don't you dare call them profane." God said this to Peter three times. This is no easy conversion! But, God won the day. Peter had been overwhelmed by God and called to relate to one of God's two-footed creatures, a Gentile named Cornelius. "What I have made clean, you must not call profane."
To make a long story short, Peter went with the slaves and the soldier. He entered Cornelius's house. That sounds simple enough. Peter entered Cornelius's house. You can be pretty sure, however, that that was the very first time in his entire life that Peter had entered a Gentile house! Peter had been converted to the Gentiles. He entered to meet Cornelius. He made it very clear to his host that he was there by God's converting work. Peter said: "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean" (Acts 10:28).
Cornelius proceeded to tell Paul about his own vision and how in the vision God had told him to invite Peter to his home. Peter continued his conversion speech: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (vv. 34-35). Peter proceeded to tell Cornelius and all who were gathered the good news that is in Jesus Christ for all people. Repentance and the forgiveness of sins can be offered even to the Gentiles! And then something incredible happened. The Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard Peter's word! They, too, spoke in tongues. We witness here a Pentecost for Gentiles. One minute Peter entered a Gentile home for the first time in his life. The next minute the Holy Spirit fell upon Gentiles as they heard the good news of Jesus Christ. What happened to Gentiles is just like that which happened to the disciples on the day of Pentecost.
When Peter next arrived in Jerusalem he really got put on the hot seat by his Jewish Christian colleagues for his indiscretions in Caesarea. They were astonished that Peter had eaten with Gentiles. Eating was a sign of deep fellowship in the ancient world. A Jew would never eat with a Gentile. It would take a miracle of miracles to make that happen. Peter tried to explain himself. He told them of the miracle: The miracle of his conversion. The miracle that the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles just as the Spirit had fallen on the disciples on Pentecost. At his wits' end in trying to justify himself to the good old boys in Jerusalem, he said: "... who was I that I could hinder God?" (Acts 11:17).
When the Jerusalem crowd heard Peter's story, they, too, were converted. A Gentile Pentecost converted them. They praised God, saying: "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11:18).
God is the author of Pentecosts! Pentecosts are fulfillments of prophecy. Pentecosts are fulfillments of God's promise: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. I will pour out my Spirit on the Jewish people. I will pour out my Spirit upon Gentile people. I will pour out my Spirit upon all people."
Genesis 16:1-16
We hear these stories today at an interesting juncture of human history. A road map for peace has been set before two peoples in the Holy Land. Jews and Palestinians are now to take counsel together over this road map with the aid of the United States, the European Union, NATO, and Russia. There is, of course, deep enmity between these two peoples. Jews and Palestinians have been at war with each other for as long as any of us can remember. Is there any hope for their future? Looking at the matter from the perspective of Pentecost, we have to say, "Yes!" There is hope. God wills to pour God's Spirit on both Jews and Gentiles; on both Jews and Palestinians; on both Jews and Arabs. God wills to pour God's Spirit upon every human being.
The peace talks that are in process actually represent a three-way religious dialogue. There are Jews there. There are Muslims there. There are Christians there. We must remember that there is a vital Christian community in Palestine. There are at least two common threads that link these peoples to one another. We've seen the one common thread. Pentecost means that God wills to pour God's Spirit upon all flesh, upon all of these peoples. The second common thread between these peace partners is Abraham. Each of the religions represented in these talks claims Abraham as their first human ancestor.
The Jewish link to Abraham is grounded in God's promise of land, blessing, and people-hood. That promise is given to Abraham in Genesis 12. The people of Israel still today await the final fulfillment of this promise. In so doing, the Jewish people claim Abraham and Sarah as the great ancestors of their faith.
The Christian community also claims the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12. Our understanding of this old promise to Abraham is that the promise of land, blessing, and people-hood has been fulfilled in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's blessing upon us. The new community of Christians called the church becomes for us the fulfillment of the promise of a new people. This community gathers worldwide! The whole earth is the place of God's fulfillment of the promise of land. This new people-hood comes into being through the events we celebrate today. This new people, the church, comes into being through the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
St. Paul has given Christians a second key link to the Old Testament person of Abraham. In Genesis 15 we see Abraham at his wits' end. The promise of land, blessing, and people-hood that God has made to Abraham had not come to pass. Abraham and Sarah had no children. Without at least one child, there could be no great people! God reassures Abraham that Abraham's own son will be his heir. Abraham believed the Lord. "Abraham believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
In Paul's letters to the Romans and to the people of Galatia, he uses this story of Abraham as the perfect story of what faith means. Christians are saved by faith alone, says St. Paul. If you want to know what it means to be saved by faith alone look again at this old story of Abraham. Abraham heard the promise of God with his ears. He believed the promise in his heart. That's the meaning of faith. Hear God's word of promise. Believe God's word of promise. This Abraham did. He heard with his ears. He believed with his heart. Abraham is of vital importance to Christians as the model of faith and trust in God.
But the Muslim community also claims Abraham as ancestor. The story they look to is told in Genesis 16. The problem in this story is the same problem as in Genesis 15. Abraham has no heir. Sarah has a plan. If God is not going to fulfill the promise, then we will have to take matters into our own hands. That was Sarah's attitude. Now Sarah had a maid named Hagar. Sarah couldn't conceive, but maybe Hagar could conceive the child of the promise. Sarah proposed, therefore, that Abraham have relations with Hagar. This may be the only way to get God's promise fulfilled. Abraham agreed with Sarah. The deed was done. Hagar conceived and bore a son. At this point Sarah got mightily jealous of Hagar. Abraham told Sarah to take charge of Hagar and treat her any way she chose. And Sarah did so. She dealt harshly with Hagar. It was too much for Hagar. She fled to the wilderness: she and her son.
Hagar was alone and forsaken in the wilderness. She was not, however, forsaken by God. An angel of God spoke to Hagar there in the wilderness: "Hagar, slave-girl of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going?" (Genesis 16:8).
Hagar replied: "I am running away from my mistress Sarah" (Genesis 16:8). That was her only answer. She knew where she had come from. She didn't answer the question of the angel about where she was going. That may be true for anyone who lacks faith and tries to take the task of fulfilling God's promise into their own hands.
The angel had a surprising word for Hagar. "Return to your mistress, and submit to her," the angel said (Genesis 16:9). That was probably the last thing Hagar wanted to do. She was certainly furious with such words from such an angel. But the angel was not finished speaking. The angel had a promise from God for Hagar. "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for the multitude ... Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction" (Genesis 16:10-11).
In Genesis 17 we hear a second time of God's blessing of Ishmael. "As for Ishmael," God declares, "I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous ... and I will make him a great nation" (Genesis 17:20).
Hagar was overwhelmed by her encounter with the angel. "So she named the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are El-roi ... Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?'" (Genesis 16:13).
God spoke a word of promise over the life of Hagar and over the life of her son, Ishmael. We barely remember this event from the Genesis stories. But Muslims remember! They count Ishmael as their founder just as the Jews count Isaac as their great ancestor in the faith. Muslims claim Ishmael. Muslims claim Abraham.
It is very important for us as Christians and for us an American people to remember this story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael. This is a story at the very heart of the Muslim faith. It's a story that comes right out of the Old Testament which we share not only with Jews but with Muslims as well. When Christians and Muslims and Jews meet to discuss a road map to peace, therefore, they meet as peoples who have much in common. We have Abraham in common. We have in common, as well, God's Pentecost intention to pour out God's Spirit upon all flesh. These common threads do give us a unique angle of vision on the peace talks. We can see these peace talks as conversations between peoples with much in common. That's not always easy for us to see. In fact, it may be very hard indeed for us to see the common threads. After all, it wasn't easy for God to get Paul to see that Gentiles were not profane. God had to convert Paul to the Gentiles. God may have to convert us as well as we view these peoples in the Middle East. God has spoken words of promise recorded in Scripture that all three of the major religious groups hold in common. Palestinians are not just profane. Muslims are not just profane. Arabs are not just profane.
"What God has made clean [we] must not call profane" (Acts 10:15). The God of the Bible has a passion and a promise for these peoples, for all peoples of the world.
"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." That's the Pentecost word of promise that also gives us a new angle of vision for the peoples of the Middle East.
The Pentecost story fills us with hope for these people of the Middle East.
The Pentecost story calls us to prayer on behalf of these peoples.
The Pentecost story gives us a vision for mission with these peoples.
The Pentecost story calls us to creative dialogue with these peoples.
The Pentecost story calls us to work together with the people of the Middle East in making God's world a place of peace for all humankind.
"[Jesus] has poured out this that you both see and hear" (Acts 2:38).
Let's get back to the Pentecost story. Let's get back to the work of God to pour out the Spirit on all flesh. What is it God is doing when God pours the Spirit upon us? What is going on here? Our clue here comes at the end of Peter's sermon to the crowd. Remember that Peter got up to preach a sermon to explain the Pentecost events to the crowd that had heard of the mighty deeds of God in their own languages. Peter opened his sermon with a reference to the prophet Joel. It was Joel who had prophesied that God would pour out God's Spirit upon all flesh. Peter's sermon goes on. We expect it will be a sermon about the Holy Spirit. But, no. Peter's Pentecost sermon is not a sermon about the Spirit. His Pentecost sermon, rather, is a sermon about Jesus. Peter gives the crowd a summary of the work of God as it was manifest in Jesus' ministry. The climax of God's work in Jesus was the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, Peter announces. And it is Jesus who has poured out this that you have seen and heard. It is Jesus who has poured out the Spirit upon you. It is Jesus who is the author of Pentecost. The Spirit poured out at Pentecost is the Spirit of Jesus! That is what is going on at Pentecost.
This story is told to us by St. Luke. For Luke, the Spirit of Jesus has a clear definition. We heard it at the beginning of the sermon. At the end of Luke's Gospel, Jesus commissioned his disciples to "... proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to every nation, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). Luke summarizes Jesus' ministry by talking of repentance and forgiveness of sins.
There is mighty good news here. Pentecost means that God is going to pour out God's Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, on all flesh. We have applied this passage to Jews and Gentiles. God's Spirit is intended to be poured out on all peoples. This is the missionary imperative of the Christian Church! All peoples!
All peoples, of course, include you and me. The promise of Pentecost is a promise to you. A promise for you to hear. A promise for you to believe. God's Pentecost promise is God saying to you:
"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.
I will pour out my Spirit upon you.
I will pour Jesus upon you.
I will pour Jesus upon you in response to your cry of repentance.
I will pour Jesus upon you to wash away all your sins."
Celebrate this promise. Share this promise with all the peoples of the world. Give thanks to the God of Pentecost who declares: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh." Amen.
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: (1) I think the radical character in the New Testament of the inclusion of Gentiles pretty much goes right past most Christians today. The great majority of us are, as far as our biological descent is concerned, not Jewish, and come from cultural backgrounds that have been well represented in the church for a long time. So we think it's natural to view the situation from inside, and when we hear about God's inclusion of "all flesh" we think of ourselves as being asked to invite or welcome outsiders -- something we may do with varying degrees of enthusiasm, uncertainty, or reluctance.
But if we think back to the situation of Acts, we have to see ourselves as the outsiders. We are the anomaly that gives rise to surprise and debate in the church when it begins to dawn on those Jewish Christians -- as in the story of Cornelius -- that we're supposed to be included too! Gentiles are the ones who were "aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise" (Ephesians 2:12), who have been "grafted in" (Romans 11:17-24). Realization of this may help people to look at some of the familiar texts in Acts with fresh eyes.
(2) The mention of "proselytes" in Acts 2 and of "god fearers" like Cornelius should remind us that before the beginning of the Christian church there had been fairly extensive Jewish missionary efforts. (Matthew 23:15 notes this, though a negative spin is put on it there.) This meant that in many cities throughout the Mediterranean world there were Gentiles who had some familiarity with the Jewish tradition, and who were therefore in a sense primed for the Christian mission. The Holy Spirit didn't just start to work on Pentecost.
And the fact that there were proselytes also reminds us that being a member of God's covenant people never was understood as strictly a matter of biological descent. But proselytes were expected to obey the regulations of torah, including circumcision. The question the church had to wrestle with wasn't whether a person had to be a physical descendant of Abraham but whether Gentile converts, like proselytes to Judaism, had to obey the Mosaic law.
(3) The primary implication of God's Spirit being poured out on "all flesh" in Acts is on the inclusion of the Gentiles. But the passage from Joel which Peter quotes also points in other directions: "Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." The idea that the Spirit is given without regard to economic status or gender was pretty radical. This, together with the inclusion of Gentiles as well as Jews, points toward Paul's classic statement in Galatians 3:28.
Carter Shelley responds: Dick, your work on the lectionary passages for Pentecost and the words they offer to attentive Christians, Jews, and Muslims in 2003 are so fine, my initial desire was to write admiring comments in the margins and leave it at that. I particularly like your use of "hearing" as it moves the action of the Spirit on Pentecost from a focus upon what happened to Jesus' followers on to those, like ourselves, who initially marvel at the "drunken chatter." Many a sermon has stopped at that point. You recognize the next crucial move. This initial reaction of puzzlement and awe that the foreign visitors experience in hearing words spoken in their native languages moves beyond that to the far greater miracle of Pentecost, the ability to hear God in the hearing Jesus Christ proclaimed.
The active versus passive reception of the Holy Spirit distinction made me think about various Pentecost hymns. It is tempting to leave the onus of action upon the Spirit. "Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me," "Spirit of God, Descend upon my Heart," "Breathe on Me, Breath of God, Fill Me with Life Anew" are hymns that suggest passive reception more than active acceptance or seeking. Pentecost hymns in which the singer actively seeks the Spirit include: "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," "Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost, Taught by You, we covet most, Of Your gifts at Pentecost, Holy, heavenly love," or "Like the Murmur of the Dove's Song."
Not only do I like the way you emphasize hearing as a central theme and faith response in your sermon, I am also struck by how crucial hearing is to any form of mediation and peacemaking. A husband and wife who are so busy stating their individual views cannot possibly grasp the spouse's position or feelings. The same is true if one works for a boss who won't listen or if one has a pastor who would rather talk than hear. The road map for Israelis and Palestinian peacemaking cannot happen without such divine inspiration and Spiritual intervention. The ability to hear is the first step to settling differences. The ability to hear another person, another perspective, another experience, and yes, another understanding of God makes possible the move from self-interest and self-injury to insight. In the best of all worlds, such insight would then lead us to empathy, compassion, compromise, and a relationship, not only with formerly sworn enemies but also with God.
Here are a few thoughts and questions I had that the person in the pew might share.
From biblical studies most of us know of the conquests of the Assyrians of Northern Israel and the eventual merging of peoples, some of whom were later identified as Samaritans in Jesus' day. When did the term "Arab" become an identifying term for peoples living in the Middle East? It is true that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity share an understanding that Abraham through Ishmael is the father of the modern Arab peoples. How long has such an understanding been part of Judaic and Christian tradition? Did this identification come into existence with Mohammed? Is it a 20th century concept and label placed upon peoples in the Middle East from the times when European nations claimed colonies in Africa and Asia in the 19th century? I don't expect you to answer these questions yourself, but your excellent materials made me wonder when the connections were first established.
Your discussion of Peter's initial disinterest in evangelizing Gentiles led me to recall the threatening words inscribed on the Temple in Jerusalem. Gentiles were free to worship and pray in the outer recesses of the Temple or in its courtyard, but entry beyond those public sections by any non-Jew was penalized by death to the unclean intruder. Also, PBS sponsored a piece on Peter and Paul in April that dealt very thoroughly with the debates and divisions caused by the issue of Gentile conversions. It seems as though the Jewish apostles understood Christianity as an extension of Judaism and a fulfillment of God's plan for Israel. The notion of evangelizing and accepting Gentiles as Christians was a hard transition for all, with Peter and Paul at the center of the struggle. I think it's interesting that for both of these men it took direct, divine intervention (blinding light and voice on the road to Damascus and rooftop vision) to convince them that Christ's salvation was for all.
As for the Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar narratives in Genesis 16:1-16 and 21:9-21, it illustrates several important things about God and human beings -- even the ones who help God found world religions. Those narratives remind us that Abraham and Sarah had their faithless moments as well as their faithful ones. God's promise of offspring has been so long delayed, that Sarah cannot believe she will ever be a mother. In their lack of trust in God's promise, Sarah and Abraham take matters into their own hands and use Hagar as a surrogate mother, with no intention of allowing Hagar to be a mother in reality or in status. Such faithlessness may be forgiven by God, but it does not erase the consequences of the sin committed against both Hagar and God. The consequences are persecution of Hagar by Sarah and abandonment in the desert of her and Ishmael by Abraham, the first deadbeat dad. What is most redemptive about that narrative is Hagar's own encounter with God in both texts. In the first she, a mere woman and slave, hears God and responds to the message she receives. In the second, Hagar and Ishmael are saved from death in the desert by God's intervention and provision of water and a future. In both instances it is God who seeks Hagar and not the other way around. In my book Preaching from Genesis 12-36, I offer a first person sermon "Call Me Hagar" based on Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror reading of Hagar's story as rape. In response to the multiple protests of such a depiction of wise, faithful Abraham because it was a different time, place, and culture, I agree with African American Presbyterian minister, Dr. Carlton Eversley's words on this text: "Institutionalized rape is still rape."
For ministers who want a little more insight into the theological and cultural dynamics in the Middle East, Terry Gross interviewed Dr. Charles Kimball, former Council of Churches Middle East mediator and current Department of Religion Chair at Wake Forest University. Dr. Kimball is a Baptist minister who served as one of the team working with Iran in the late 1970s and with other Middle East countries in the 1980s. His comments and insights in this interview that occurred on May 6, 2003, might prove enormously helpful to ministers wanting a better understanding of the dynamics at work. This interview can be found by going to the NPR website, clicking on Fresh Air and typing in Dr. Kimball's name and the date.
Dick, your materials offer a plethora of insights skillfully expressed. I'm a big one for crediting resources from the pulpit and not plagiarizing other ministers' materials, but this sermon is so splendid, I confess I am tempted. May our President, the Israelis, and the Palestinians be equally moved by God's Spirit.
Alternative Approach
The UniversalTranslator
By Carlos Wilton
On the popular Star Trek television series, there's one technological device that's absolutely indispensable to everything the crew of the starship Enterprise does. It's a little machine that's rarely mentioned, but that functions quietly in the background. It's called the Universal Translator.
This little gizmo is, as the computer geeks say, the "killer ap" -- the killer application -- of all killer aps. It's a machine that effortlessly translates, in real time, the spoken words of a language it's never heard before. It matters not if the language is composed of mellifluous phrases or guttural clicks and grunts. Nor does it matter if the alien race speaking it looks more or less like human beings (though perhaps with pointy ears and bumps on their foreheads), or if they look more like a cross between an alligator and a kangaroo. The handy-dandy Universal Translator takes on all comers, and renders their speech into perfect English.
Not bad, eh? Don't you wish you had one?
Many folks who've used the Internet have come across something called a "translation engine." It's a keen little program that lets you type a line of text into a box, hit the "enter" key, and see it instantly translated, before your very eyes, into another language. The only problem is, the translation engines on the Internet leave something to be desired. They have a long way to go before anyone could mistake them for a Universal Translator.
In fact, there's a little game you can play with these computer programs. It involves running a phrase through the translation engine, going from English into various foreign languages and back again, just to see what comes out in the end. It's kind of like the old parlor game of "Telephone" (the one that has people whisper a sentence from one person to another). What you get out is definitely not what you put in.
I decided to try it. Going to the website, freetranslation.com, I typed in this phrase that the Vulcans on Star Trek (that's Mister Spock's people, the ones with the pointy ears) must have uttered when they encountered human beings for the very first time: "Live long and prosper."
Going from English to Spanish and back again, I came up with, "Alive long and prospers."
Next, I translated "Alive long and prospers" from English into Dutch and back. I got, "Living long and blossoms."
Translating that, in turn, from English into Portuguese and back again, I got, "Live long flowers."
Trying the same thing with Italian, I came up with, "I live long flowers." And from English to French and back again, the machine came up with, "I live a long time flowers." It's a far cry from "Live long and prosper," isn't it?
Well, maybe that was a fluke, I thought to myself. I tried it again with the familiar proverb, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." By the time I'd run that one through four or five languages, the result was: "It takes is able to a horse irrigate, but you do not be able to the reason of beverages."
Gibberish! That's what you get, if you try to make a Universal Translator out of today's technology.
The sad truth is, there probably never will be such a thing as a Universal Translator -- not even in the 23rd century. It may be a convenient device for the Star Trek writers (as they gamely try, each week, to squeeze a whole intergalactic expedition into a fifty-minute time slot), but it's just not practical. Human language is too complex for that.
Which makes the story of Pentecost, as related in the second chapter of Acts, all the more remarkable. Luke tells us that "each one heard them speaking in the native language of each." Then he reels off a huge list of nationalities, all of whose languages were suddenly made intelligible by the Holy Spirit:
"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 Arab...."
All these people, speaking a vast array of languages -- many of them now extinct -- can suddenly understand each other! When you consider what's involved here, it's got to be one of the greatest miracles in all the scriptures.
On another level, it's a miracle when any two human beings can understand each other. Take a husband and wife, for example. Any husband and wife. Those two have sought each other out and married because they love each other, and because they've discovered in each other a kindred spirit -- but even then, it's a rare couple indeed that never encounters difficulties of communication. There's a whole cottage industry, in fact, that publishes self-help books to make it easier for men and women talk to each other. The men come from Mars and the women from Venus, and so they complain to each other, You Just Don't Understand.
And those two people speak the same language! It gets even more dicey in matters of negotiations between nations. When Ariel Sharon of Israel sits down and talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the new Prime Minister of the Palestinians, how many possibilities there must be for misunderstanding!
Anybody remember that embarrassing incident of years past, when President Jimmy Carter traveled to Poland and made a speech there? His remarks had been translated by an American diplomat who wasn't very good at speaking Polish. What Carter meant to say was, "I have a great love for the Polish people." What came out was, "I have carnal lust for the Polish people." Enough said: human communication is a real minefield.
So what was it that really happened, that first Pentecost? Was it a miracle of linguistic translation -- God the Holy Spirit creating, for the first and only time, a Universal Translator, and loaning the contraption to the human race for a day? Or is it perhaps something a little more subtle, and a lot more symbolic?
Only someone who was there to witness that remarkable event can say for sure -- and I'll leave it to you to decide whether to take the Pentecost story literally or symbolically. Yet -- real or symbolic -- there's meaning to be distilled from this well-loved story: meaning that can spill over and season our lives, if we but pay attention to its lessons.
Suddenly that wild assortment of people, with all their languages and cultures, find common ground. I'd like to think the common ground they discover has something to do with love -- the love of God, demonstrated in a man who let himself be nailed to a cross for the sins of the world, and who then returned from the grave to show them his wounds and promise he'd be with them always.
Standing there on Calvary and looking up at that man, a hard-bitten Roman centurion was led to confess, "Surely this is the son of God." You can't get a wider chasm between two human beings than that: a career military man, officer of an occupying army, and the criminal he's just ordered executed. Yet those two men -- one who will not live out the afternoon, and the other who will go home to a warm supper and a soft bed -- look each other in the eye, and experience a sort of communion. That's a miracle -- and it has nothing to do with a Universal Translator.
It has everything to do with love. I think that's what's at the heart of the Pentecost miracle: love. The love of God, mediated through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. As those knocked-down, dragged-out, hard-luck excuses for evangelists got together in that nondescript Jerusalem house, and began to recall the things they've heard and seen in recent days, something comes over them. Something far bigger than they are, coming from outside themselves and taking possession of their dispirited hearts. Suddenly the world becomes much bigger than the dusty villages with their mud-brick houses, the lakes with their fishing-boats, the sheep on the hillsides, and the Roman coins clinking in the tax-collector's purse. Suddenly the gospel they've only recently come to understand becomes much more than a Jewish gospel. It becomes a tale that they just know -- who knows how they know it, they just do -- will travel swiftly to the ends of the earth.
They will take it there: these flawed, hesitant, fearful disciples will take it there, personally. They know then, in the bright, flame-lit clarity of that moment, that they can do it: because the Holy Spirit of God will travel with them.
I experienced something of a Pentecost moment when I traveled to Cuba --as I've done now twice, representing Monmouth Presbytery in our mission partnership with the Central Presbytery of Cuba. I went there not speaking the language, wholly dependent on the several members of our little group who had come along as translators. The Cuban church leaders I met had a bit more English than I had Spanish, but still they were far from fluent. What we had in common was Jesus Christ -- and I'd like to think the Spirit of Christ was present and active in those moments, as we came together, people from a communist dictatorship and a capitalist democracy, and forged a friendship.
What other explanation could there possibly be for that, but the Holy Spirit?
We didn't speak in tongues -- other than our own native languages, and our hesitant efforts to risk speaking the other language. But we didn't need to. We had Jesus.
Is there something you'd like to do -- for God -- but aren't sure you have it in you? The good news of Pentecost is that you don't have to have it in you. The Lord will provide. The Spirit will inspire. So relax, and let it happen. As the prophet Joel says, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28).
May it be so for you -- by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit!
Worship Resources
By George Reed
OPENING
Hymns
God of Many Names
All Creatures of Our God and King
Many and Great, O God
Songs
As We Gather
Sing unto the Lord a New Song
Awesome God
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: O Lord, how manifold are your works!
PEOPLE: WE SEE YOU AT WORK IN ALL CREATION.
Leader: When you send out your Spirit
PEOPLE: WE ARE RECREATED AND RENEWED.
Leader: Behold the many ways the Spirit moves among us.
PEOPLE: WE UNDERSTAND YOU, O GOD, IN OUR OWN LANGUAGE.
Leader: Sing to the Lord as long as you live.
PEOPLE: I WILL SING PRAISES TO GOD WHILE I HAVE BREATH.
COLLECT/OPENING PRAYER
O God who is the Creator Spirit of all creation: Grant us ears to hear and eyes to see you working in the midst of all your creatures; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, you created us and have given us your own Spirit. In our stories of creation we learn that we have a common beginning. Help us to see the unity of creation as you see it. Open our eyes to see you at work in many ways. Open our ears to hear you calling us to share your love with all your creatures. Amen.
RESPONSE MUSIC
Hymns
O Spirit of the Living God
Where Charity and Love Prevail
In Christ There Is No East of West
Songs
You Are
Spirit Song
For the Gift of Creation
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION/PARDON
All:
O Spirit of the One, True God: we confess that we have not listened to your voice, we have not seen the signs of your work among us, we have not felt the gentle tug of you drawing us to wholeness for ourselves or for others.
We expect you to act only in ways that we understand using the language that we comprehend. We expect you to use those we deem to be fitting vessels of your Spirit and no others. We suspect any experiences or ideas that differ from our own.
Forgive us, we pray, and renew us with yourself that we might be in tune with your song and in line with your actions. Help us to celebrate as each one hears you speak in their own language. Amen.
(All pray in silence.)
Leader:
Hear the Good News of God. The Spirit comes to all of us offering a new life. In the Name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven and empowered to share God's love. Amen.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC
God of Wholeness and Completeness, we worship and adore you for you are what we hope to become. God of Creation, we worship you for you are the one from whom we came. God of eternity, we worship you for you are the one to whom we trust we shall return.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
Lord, we confess that we are not only broken but we break one another. We are not only incomplete but we seek to tear down one another. As you create, we destroy. As you live forever, we allow our brothers and sisters to have their lives taken away early through hunger, terror, retribution, war, and injustice. Forgive us for not understanding your way of bringing salvation to our world. Forgive us where in our ignorance and self-centeredness we have opposed your work. By the power of your Spirit, blow away from us the mists of ignorance and complacency. Fill us again with the vibrant word of your salvation for all your people.
We give you thanks, O Lord, for all the wondrous ways you are active in our world: for the beauty of nature, the joy of friendship, the nurture of family, the unity of your Church. We thank you for the folks who have been willing to share your Good News with us and who have loved us in your Name.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
We lift up to your loving Spirit those who are in need this day. We pray especially for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. As your Spirit of peace and unity moves among them and their leaders, give them wisdom and calm and perceptive hearts. Open their minds to the possibilities before them. Help them to hear in their own words and images the glorious words of peace and life.
We pray for all who need your Spirit of wholeness. We remember those who are broken in body, mind, and spirit. We remember those who have relationships that are broken. We pray for the hurts of this world and for wisdom and courage to be part of your healing presence.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
We ask that you would unite our hearts and spirits with yours that together we might see your reign of love, grace, peace, and life come to its fullness; through Jesus Christ our Lord who taught us to pray together, saying,
Our Father....
Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: Acts 2:1-21
Object: A map (included with presentation). If possible, bring a larger map from the Sunday school of the area described in Acts 2.
Good morning, boys and girls. The land where the Bible was written is in the news today. President Bush and leaders from Israel and Palestine met this week to work on a plan for peace. As the leaders prepared for this meeting, they talked about a "road map for peace." How many of you watch the news? (let them answer) Do you know where the land of the Bible is in the world?(let them answer) It is a long way from here, but it is close to countries that we hear about all of the time. Have you heard of Iraq? (let them answer) Have you heard of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iran, and Turkey? (let them answer) What happened in this area of the world recently that we all know about? (let them answer) That's right, war! It was a big war and now that war is over in many ways, but there are still very big problems. Our hope is that the people who live there will work very hard for peace.
I have a map that I want to share with you. It is a map of the same area, only many of the names are different today than they were at the time. Every year on this Sunday we read the names of cities and countries that were represented at a very big event called Pentecost. In the Bible it talks about people who ran out into the streets because they heard the sound of a great wind. They were afraid that it might be a huge storm, but instead the wind was the Spirit of God. Everyone was shouting at the top of his or her voice. Now many people were visiting Jerusalem on that Sunday because it was a religious holiday. People came to Jerusalem from many nations and cities. Each one of them spoke his own language. How many of you speak German or French or Russian? (let them answer) Can anyone understand Chinese or Portuguese or Polish? (let them answer) (point to the map if you can) Could you speak the language of the Parthians, the Medes, or the Elamites? Have you ever talked to anyone from Egypt, Phrigia or Pontus? (let them answer) Neither have I and neither had Peter. But a strange thing was happening and everyone was asking each other how it could happen.
Peter spoke in his language and everyone could understand him. First, there was no storm; secondly, they understood what each other said even though they did not know each other's language. I forgot to mention one other strange thing that everyone was watching: there were little red flames dancing over the heads of people. It was a really strange day. But the best part was the coming together of people and the worship of God. Thousands of people heard Peter preach about Jesus and thousands of them became Christians.
The last couple of days people from different nations including our United States sat down together and traded ideas of how people from many different nations could work for peace. It is very difficult to have peace when everyone thinks they are right or when one nation believes it can win a war. Today we pray for peace. We pray for the people who live in the cities that are shown on our map. We pray that God will work peace in their hearts. When the road map for peace becomes the changed heart for peace, then we will know that men are listening to God as well as to each other. Amen.
The Immediate Word, June 8, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 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., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
