Pentecost Day
By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Year A, Pentecost Day
11 May 2008
Text: John 20: 19-23; Acts 2: 1-21,
Other Readings: I Corinthians 12: 3b-13; Psalm 104: 25-35, 37b
As I began the reading in Spanish/As each reader read in another language this morning, I wonder how many of you sort of tuned us out, assuming that I/we didn't have anything to say to you since I wasn't/we weren't speaking your language. Some of you returned to listening when I switched to English, the language most of us consider our first—& some our only—language. Language is a powerful form of communication, but not the only one. Some of you are speaking clearly this morning with your eyes, attentive & anxious to hear what I have to share. Others—surely not anyone here—speak with bodies slouched against the pews, heads bowed & eyes closed. Today's readings on this Pentecost Sunday 2008 are for all of us, "every race & nation," as we prayed in the collect this morning. So we hear the story in the 2 most common languages spoken in our congregation.
The story of Pentecost is as multi-layered as it is many-languaged, so we'll look at 2 Biblical writers' versions of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the core event of the Christian celebration of Pentecost.
Notice that John's Gospel reading occurs on Easter evening, the 1st day of the week, we're told. The 1st day of the week has been celebrated by Christians ever since the beginning since the distinguishing event of Jesus' life—his resurrection—occurred on Sunday morning. Where do we find the disciples this very first Easter Sunday evening? Locked in the upper room, of course. Hidden & frightened of what will happen to them now that their master has been killed. When Jesus appears, he greets them with a fulfillment of one of his promises: "Peace be with you." Jesus offers them the peace which comes from belief in him. He offers his hands & side in proof that he is, indeed, the one who was crucified yet is alive again, bodily & not just as a spirit. Only when they see his hands & side do the disciples rejoice. Jesus gets right to the point, doesn't he, when he tells those gathered he is sending them out into the world. We don't know how many disciples are hovered there, but it must be a larger number than just the 12. He tells them they have to get up & get out & tell what they've seen & heard & touched. Mary Magdalene has told them the same thing earlier this day, but they are too paralyzed to act on her words yet. Anyway, she's just a woman, isn't she?
Then, Jesus breathes on them & gives them the Holy Spirit, right then on Easter evening according to John, for the express purpose of their exercising the gift of forgiveness. Lots happens in this scene, but notice that the Holy Spirit comes with Jesus' breath. Remember God created the earth & all that is in it & breathed into all living being life—breath—spirit. It's pretty clear that John's version of the Pentecost event is so the Holy Spirit can empower the disciples to do the work that Jesus expects them to do, & that's centered in forgiveness of sins.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases this last verse, "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?" One of the basic needs in most communities—or families, for that matter—is for us to learn how to forgive each other so that we aren't separated by old wounds & angers. For those resentments which you haven't been able to let go of in friends or family or church family, what are you going to do with them? Who is being hurt by them? What good is it doing to hang on to them? Jesus wants us to be relieved of all that, & he gifts us with the Holy Spirit to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves so we can get on with life as one body, one community.
Luke, writer of Acts, gives us the story the Church has chosen to celebrate with Pentecost 50 days after Easter. The disciples are in one place again together when God puts on quite a special effects' show—a rush of violent wind & then tongues as of fire rest on each of them. God does have some pretty amazing ways of getting our attention when we least expect it.
The first element through which God works in this story is wind. In Hebrew, the same word, "Ruach," is translated wind, breath, & spirit. The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit just as we may be right here today as we breathe in deeply to be invigorated to sing or pray or praise.
Second are the tongues of fire. How interesting that the fire appears in the form of tongues, & we usually emphasize that the disciples are empowered to speak in various tongues, or languages! These disciples—simple Galilean workers who have traveled with Jesus through his lifetime—communicate with people from all over the ancient Middle East who have come to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival. Language is no barrier as they share God's deeds of power. However, as we discussed with Eric Law last week in the adult Christian formation group, perhaps the miracle wasn't that the disciples spoke in various tongues but that those from throughout the known world could understand as if the disciples were speaking their language.
As a matter of fact, in September of 1986, I was privileged to serve on team for the first Cursillo in Spanish in this diocese. My Spanish was even more limited than it is today, but the team meetings were held in Spanish & those of us for whom Spanish was a 2nd language were blessed to have native speakers help us along. I didn't give a talk but was a gofer, liaison to the kitchen. When the weekend came around, I was amazed at the clarity with which I could keep up with the proceedings. No, I wasn't able to understand every word, but familiarity with the outline & an abundant measure of God's grace allowed me to participate fully. I was even Fr. Leo Alard's prayer partner during his talk—he hadn't become Bishop yet—& I found myself sometimes praying in Spanish! That experience was surely a miracle of the ear, as this one must have been, at least to some extent.
Eric asked us last week how the church would have been different had it seen this story through the centuries more as a miracle of the ear & less of the tongue. Would we be more willing to listen to others more intently, to await their input, to pause during meetings in silence to await the breath of the Holy Spirit to inform us? As we enter a new stage in our work with one another to re-envision how God would have Hope Episcopal minister in this diverse & changing world, I will make a commitment to anticipate the Spirit's guidance, sometimes through others & however else the Spirit choose to become manifest. My prayer is that you, too, will be open to the powerful miracle of the ear awaiting us.
Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can these Galileans break down the boundaries of differentness to tell Jesus' story. Don't you imagine the disciples are as amazed & astonished as those who hear them? Peterson says they all were thunderstruck, & so we might be. Of course, the rest of Acts describes the spread of the gospel throughout their world, in some cases despite persecution & in other cases because of it. The Holy Spirit didn't descend on those early disciples of Jesus just for this one event of Pentecost, however. We would assume far too little of the living God if we thought the Holy Spirit only present in that one time & place.
Indeed, the whole point of the story—whether the one John told or this one from Luke—is that this gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us today as the Spirit has been with Christians throughout the ages. Further, the Spirit isn't given to you or me or the guy over there individually in order that any of us might be a super Christian who is to do Christ's work better than anyone else. No, the Spirit & the gifts the Spirit brings are for the purpose of empowering the Church to do Christ's work in the world. We all need the Spirit, & we all need each other to do the work we're called to do. The passage from 1st Corinthians we read today reminds us that we all need each other for none of us is given all the gifts of the Spirit but the gift each of us is given is a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, as Paul says.
Paul's Corinthian passage ends thus: "For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—& we were all made to drink of one Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be baptized in the Spirit, & Pentecost is one of the traditional baptismal days in the church. In 2 weeks, Bp. Wimberly will confirm 4 of our youth into the Hope community. That day, we will support them in their maturing profession of faith by renewing our own baptismal vows. Our youth need our support, but we ourselves need to be regularly reminded of the promises that guide us in our own continual spiritual maturity & in growing more fully into a totally loving & accepting Christian community. I invite you to open the ears of your heart to hear the Baptismal Covenant anew for yourself & for this parish today & to meditate the next 2 weeks on how we can invite these & our other young parishioners to make the fulfillment of them the beginning of their life mission.
Year A, Pentecost Day
11 May 2008
Text: John 20: 19-23; Acts 2: 1-21,
Other Readings: I Corinthians 12: 3b-13; Psalm 104: 25-35, 37b
As I began the reading in Spanish/As each reader read in another language this morning, I wonder how many of you sort of tuned us out, assuming that I/we didn't have anything to say to you since I wasn't/we weren't speaking your language. Some of you returned to listening when I switched to English, the language most of us consider our first—& some our only—language. Language is a powerful form of communication, but not the only one. Some of you are speaking clearly this morning with your eyes, attentive & anxious to hear what I have to share. Others—surely not anyone here—speak with bodies slouched against the pews, heads bowed & eyes closed. Today's readings on this Pentecost Sunday 2008 are for all of us, "every race & nation," as we prayed in the collect this morning. So we hear the story in the 2 most common languages spoken in our congregation.
The story of Pentecost is as multi-layered as it is many-languaged, so we'll look at 2 Biblical writers' versions of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the core event of the Christian celebration of Pentecost.
Notice that John's Gospel reading occurs on Easter evening, the 1st day of the week, we're told. The 1st day of the week has been celebrated by Christians ever since the beginning since the distinguishing event of Jesus' life—his resurrection—occurred on Sunday morning. Where do we find the disciples this very first Easter Sunday evening? Locked in the upper room, of course. Hidden & frightened of what will happen to them now that their master has been killed. When Jesus appears, he greets them with a fulfillment of one of his promises: "Peace be with you." Jesus offers them the peace which comes from belief in him. He offers his hands & side in proof that he is, indeed, the one who was crucified yet is alive again, bodily & not just as a spirit. Only when they see his hands & side do the disciples rejoice. Jesus gets right to the point, doesn't he, when he tells those gathered he is sending them out into the world. We don't know how many disciples are hovered there, but it must be a larger number than just the 12. He tells them they have to get up & get out & tell what they've seen & heard & touched. Mary Magdalene has told them the same thing earlier this day, but they are too paralyzed to act on her words yet. Anyway, she's just a woman, isn't she?
Then, Jesus breathes on them & gives them the Holy Spirit, right then on Easter evening according to John, for the express purpose of their exercising the gift of forgiveness. Lots happens in this scene, but notice that the Holy Spirit comes with Jesus' breath. Remember God created the earth & all that is in it & breathed into all living being life—breath—spirit. It's pretty clear that John's version of the Pentecost event is so the Holy Spirit can empower the disciples to do the work that Jesus expects them to do, & that's centered in forgiveness of sins.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases this last verse, "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?" One of the basic needs in most communities—or families, for that matter—is for us to learn how to forgive each other so that we aren't separated by old wounds & angers. For those resentments which you haven't been able to let go of in friends or family or church family, what are you going to do with them? Who is being hurt by them? What good is it doing to hang on to them? Jesus wants us to be relieved of all that, & he gifts us with the Holy Spirit to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves so we can get on with life as one body, one community.
Luke, writer of Acts, gives us the story the Church has chosen to celebrate with Pentecost 50 days after Easter. The disciples are in one place again together when God puts on quite a special effects' show—a rush of violent wind & then tongues as of fire rest on each of them. God does have some pretty amazing ways of getting our attention when we least expect it.
The first element through which God works in this story is wind. In Hebrew, the same word, "Ruach," is translated wind, breath, & spirit. The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit just as we may be right here today as we breathe in deeply to be invigorated to sing or pray or praise.
Second are the tongues of fire. How interesting that the fire appears in the form of tongues, & we usually emphasize that the disciples are empowered to speak in various tongues, or languages! These disciples—simple Galilean workers who have traveled with Jesus through his lifetime—communicate with people from all over the ancient Middle East who have come to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival. Language is no barrier as they share God's deeds of power. However, as we discussed with Eric Law last week in the adult Christian formation group, perhaps the miracle wasn't that the disciples spoke in various tongues but that those from throughout the known world could understand as if the disciples were speaking their language.
As a matter of fact, in September of 1986, I was privileged to serve on team for the first Cursillo in Spanish in this diocese. My Spanish was even more limited than it is today, but the team meetings were held in Spanish & those of us for whom Spanish was a 2nd language were blessed to have native speakers help us along. I didn't give a talk but was a gofer, liaison to the kitchen. When the weekend came around, I was amazed at the clarity with which I could keep up with the proceedings. No, I wasn't able to understand every word, but familiarity with the outline & an abundant measure of God's grace allowed me to participate fully. I was even Fr. Leo Alard's prayer partner during his talk—he hadn't become Bishop yet—& I found myself sometimes praying in Spanish! That experience was surely a miracle of the ear, as this one must have been, at least to some extent.
Eric asked us last week how the church would have been different had it seen this story through the centuries more as a miracle of the ear & less of the tongue. Would we be more willing to listen to others more intently, to await their input, to pause during meetings in silence to await the breath of the Holy Spirit to inform us? As we enter a new stage in our work with one another to re-envision how God would have Hope Episcopal minister in this diverse & changing world, I will make a commitment to anticipate the Spirit's guidance, sometimes through others & however else the Spirit choose to become manifest. My prayer is that you, too, will be open to the powerful miracle of the ear awaiting us.
Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can these Galileans break down the boundaries of differentness to tell Jesus' story. Don't you imagine the disciples are as amazed & astonished as those who hear them? Peterson says they all were thunderstruck, & so we might be. Of course, the rest of Acts describes the spread of the gospel throughout their world, in some cases despite persecution & in other cases because of it. The Holy Spirit didn't descend on those early disciples of Jesus just for this one event of Pentecost, however. We would assume far too little of the living God if we thought the Holy Spirit only present in that one time & place.
Indeed, the whole point of the story—whether the one John told or this one from Luke—is that this gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us today as the Spirit has been with Christians throughout the ages. Further, the Spirit isn't given to you or me or the guy over there individually in order that any of us might be a super Christian who is to do Christ's work better than anyone else. No, the Spirit & the gifts the Spirit brings are for the purpose of empowering the Church to do Christ's work in the world. We all need the Spirit, & we all need each other to do the work we're called to do. The passage from 1st Corinthians we read today reminds us that we all need each other for none of us is given all the gifts of the Spirit but the gift each of us is given is a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, as Paul says.
Paul's Corinthian passage ends thus: "For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—& we were all made to drink of one Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be baptized in the Spirit, & Pentecost is one of the traditional baptismal days in the church. In 2 weeks, Bp. Wimberly will confirm 4 of our youth into the Hope community. That day, we will support them in their maturing profession of faith by renewing our own baptismal vows. Our youth need our support, but we ourselves need to be regularly reminded of the promises that guide us in our own continual spiritual maturity & in growing more fully into a totally loving & accepting Christian community. I invite you to open the ears of your heart to hear the Baptismal Covenant anew for yourself & for this parish today & to meditate the next 2 weeks on how we can invite these & our other young parishioners to make the fulfillment of them the beginning of their life mission.
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