June 8, 2025
MESSAGE & READINGS
ACTS 2: 1-21
The first scripture passage this morning is what has been called the “Pentecost” passage and I find it rather interesting that it is in direct opposition to the passage in Genesis which deals with the Tower of Babel…when God intervened in the construction process of folks building this tower to the heavens…God makes it so no one understands the other…in the Acts passage, everyone speaks in tongues which are recognized by all…and the miracle of Pentecost is not that everyone now understands the same language, but that the good news is available in all languages…it reminds us of diversity…let’s listen to the words of the Day of Pentecost or in Greek “pentecoste”….
ROMANS 8: 14-17
We do not pray by ourselves, says Paul…the Holy Spirit, the very power of God, empowers us to speak as beloved children of God…and what’s indicated in this passage is that followers of the Way are no longer enslaved to the world’s criteria of success which is sometimes based upon fear and scarcity…but we are freed by the power of the Spirit to always act in love toward a vision of abundance for all…this is Christ’s vision anyways, isn’t it?...lets listen to some of Paul’s words…
JOHN 14: 8-17, 25-27
The Gospel passage this morning is from John…the visionary…and he offers to us words of clarity….there is a temptation here to get caught up in the language of Jesus being one with his Father or Abba and that word belief….if we read deeply into the passage or listen intently, it is clear that Jesus is instructing his disciples how to act, not what to believe…if any day in the liturgical year shows the divine vision in all of its fullness, it’s Pentecost…what’s happened in the past, the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus is only foundational…it is what makes our work now, here, and in every future and every place…possible… but the work isn’t done…Jesus didn’t do it for us… and he says this unequivocally…what we need to do is to look closer at our traditions, doctrines, creeds, and sometimes “sealed” versions of our scripture interpretations and open ourselves to the Spirit teaching us new truths and new ways of being beloved children of God….
HOW DID WE ALL GET HERE TOGETHER?
How did we get here?...and I don’t mean how we traveled here maybe in our vehicles…how did we all get here…together?....
Not how did we get here with all our differing opinions…or our conflicting doctrines which we may have…or possibly our opposing ideas of how truly to be ‘church’….that’s sometimes easy to explain… human beings are diverse…and that’s us…differences among people, even Christian people…particularly Christian people…and that’s sometimes thoroughly understandable.
And if you look at our biblical text which can be very complex – often conflicting – multi-vocal book…no wonder there are disagreements over biblical interpretation…and we always need to remember that we don’t’ read the Bible – it reads us…
Not, how did we get here, together, this morning?....but, how do we all get here together at this common table?...how did this ‘motley crew’, all of us, called “God’s people”, all get here today, here in this sanctuary, or for that matter, any other communities of faith in this massive world of Christianity? …Well let me tell you a story…it has to do with humankind’s wanderings..
We had all been scattered to the four winds….we began as one family… all descended from one common ancestor….but then we scattered… maybe our herds got too big and we needed to find new grazing land… maybe the food became scarce and some of us had to move onwards… maybe some of us just needed adventure and needed to journey to lands unknown?...we took up different ways of talking…different dialects… different ways of living…different clothes…different customs…we were separated by race and tongue and culture…we were scattered…
Then…on Pentecost…we were all gathered in one place…of course, we were not much more than a conglomeration of strangers…we couldn’t understand one another…we had little in common with one another… we could hardly be called much more than a ‘gathering of strangers’… Then, without warning, without being requested….the Holy Spirit descended…and what happened?... people began to talk in our many different languages and wonder of wonders….people began to hear one another…we who were strangers were made into one family…it was the birthday of what we call, the church…
Now do you see how we got here?...we are here, all together, not because we share the same opinions…oh heavens no!...not because we are all of the same socioeconomic level…heaven forbid!...or have the same backgrounds….we are here as a miraculous, unexpected work of God’s Holy Spirit…
You’re here gathered as you are – our church is but one of the many miracles of the Risen Christ….
Maybe there are things that I don’t especially like about you, and as you have been listening to me for the last few minutes you may be reminded that there are things that you don’t especially like about me…but this is all quite beside the point…Jesus called us to be his disciples, that is, Jesus has put us here in church, together…yikes!..
Well earlier Jesus told us a parable that portrayed the reign of God like a great banquet…the first…the “big” people are invited to the feast… but they find other things to do…and so in desperation the master of the banquet goes out and invites anybody and everybody…those who are maimed…those who are lame…blind people…those with broken hearts, those who are failures…the people who have not been invited to join the country club or the garden club…so how’s this for the reign of God?... do you get it?...this parable is being reenacted right now in Acts 2 at Pentecost and right now in this place…the Holy Spirit descends and gathers a crowd, makes a family out of anybody and everybody…. And what we have is us….the church…
In Genesis the world began when the Spirit hovered over the dark and brought forth creation…the Holy Spirit is life-giving…loves to make something out of nothing…so today, Pentecost, it’s like creation all over again…God is gathering up all of us diverse people and is making us into a family…a church family…and it reminds me of a meeting I was at a few months ago where we were sitting around the table and telling why we enjoyed the United Church…some liked the fellowship…some the friends…some the music…hey, some even liked their minister!...
And then one person said, “Part of me hates the United Church because before I became United, my life was my life…then I went to Haiti and was made to stare at people who are dying because of their dire poverty and who were undeniably richer in faith than I ever would be….I could have had a fairly happy life without the church”…now, these strangers in Haiti have become her obsession…she sees them as her family…
What a wonderful Pentecost moment…evidence of the descent of the Holy Spirit…God’s Holy Spirit continues to make something out of nothing, continues to make a family where there were once only strangers, and continues to empower ordinary people to preach like saints…
Pentecost continues….right here….right now….
Thanks be to God…..Amen.