May 15, 2016

Pentecost

I have had the opportunity of worshipping with other people in other languages. A big difference is that in many cultures, there is not so much stress on praying together. When the congregation says the Lord’s Prayer, for example, they don’t all recite it at the same pace. Some people pray quickly and others at a more majestic pace. There are many ways to communicate, and we often only rely on a narrow range of possibilities. Consider our difficulty in speaking any language other than the one we grew up with. We are a little afraid. We don’t want to look foolish. How much we miss because of our fear or our pride!

God does not care about pronunciation. We can fumble and mumble and God will still hear us. At the same time, God has news to share. God desires to touch the center of our souls and speak words that can comfort and inspire and transform us. Today we remember how God can overcome all our limitations of language. There is no barrier of word or culture or time or distance that God cannot overcome.

The Feast of Pentecost has ancient connections. It is the fifty days after Passover (and the resurrection.) It is a festival of early harvest. There is a connection to Moses and the giving of the Law. There is a connection to David – this traditionally is the birthday and death-day of King David. It is a festival of blessing and a festival of gratitude. It is the day when God descends as the people come up to worship and rejoice.

This explains why so many people are in Jerusalem to hear the disciples. This explains why so many come from so far away. It is a festival of identity and joy. At the same time, we know what happens to all our celebrations. We become burdened by the weight of expectations. There are customs to be followed. There are cultural demands. The cost of food, travel, and housing are at a premium at holiday-time. We do what we must and hope we get something out of it.

God breaks through al our expectations and does something else. It’s not the same old thing (even if the same old thing was cherished and lovely.) God uses odd people to participate in a new work. God inspires the uneducated Galileans to speak in many languages so that people from around the world can hear God’s good news.

This is just a beginning. Even the disciples do not yet anticipate the worldwide spread of this new message. God uses them anyway. God also inspires Peter to make meaning of this. God’s Spirit is being poured out on everyone. The same old story is being re-told. We’re going to hear a new message – God’s promises are going to be made real in our time.

There’s a shift. Where now is God’s Spirit? In the past, we might have said, “up there, with God.” Over time, God offered a little of God’s Spirit to a few people – to Moses, to David, to the prophets. Then people recognized God’s Spirit in Jesus. Now what? God’s Spirit is everywhere.

I think we have forgotten this. For too long we have taken for granted that everyone around us is Christian, and everyone around us has all that they need from God. We tamed God. God was part of the landscape of America. How limiting and small! God is not under our control or our understanding. God is always working. God’s creative Spirit is always transforming people and the world towards a perfection we have yet to see.

This is the Spirit that God has given to us. This is the same Spirit that God gives each of us at baptism. God is always sending us out to share good news in words we hardly know. God sends us out to encourage and to recreate. God uses each of us to transform the world where we find ourselves.

Certainly, God’s Spirit is sent to encourage us and to instruct us. This is just the beginning. It is not enough for us to build a comfortable nest for ourselves here – so that we who choose to gather can feel good about ourselves and nothing more. God is saving the world. God is reconciling all people to God and to each other. God’s Spirit is active and is always creating new things. This is the Holy Spirit that is now in us.

Jesus promises extraordinary things. He proclaims his unity with God and that he is going to God (do we find this easy to believe?) Jesus promises an advocate. The Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf – but do we only limit this to our judgment? For what else does the Holy Spirit advocate? How about the saving work of God and the reconciliation of all people? Do you know that we have this Spirit in us now?

We cannot control the reactions of others. Some people will make fun of us (they are drunk! They are crazy!) Others will marvel at the goodness of God. We share this message with words and with other paths of communication. We share our gestures, our acts of kindness, our welcome, our respect for others. We share our hopes and we share our listening ears for the hopes of others. We show our love of God in how we love others. We act as if we were children of God so that we might encourage others to join us.

It is like a new language for us. How do we learn a new language? We practice. We make mistakes. We sound foolish. Some of us are fools anyway, so we may as well look the part. God’s Spirit directs us for God’s purpose. God chooses to use us to share good news. We have to risk discomfort beyond the walls of this church to share good news wherever we find ourselves.