August 7, 2005
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The fire burned, the wind blew and the people who were touched by the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus were never the same. Neither was the church as they spread their table and their message for all who wanted to be part of the community of the faithful. On that Pentecost day, some in the crowd mistook their joy in the spirit for drunkenness. Peter responded to the accusation and made a bold declaration that has remained true to this day. The story of Pentecost is told in the second chapter of the book of Acts, and a good bit of the chapter is a sermon by Peter, the Peter that Jesus commended for his faith in our reading from Matthew. Peter begins by responding to the accusation of drunkenness. “We are not drunk, it is too early in the morning. No it is not new wine in us, it is the acts of God at work in our spirits. We are not inebriated, we are enthusiastic, we are literally filled with God, that is what enthusiasm means. It is God in us that makes us so excited. Peter begins his sermon with a defense of the people, he ends it with a bold declaration about Jesus in whom our spirituality finds its foundation: “Therefore, let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified”(Acts 2.36). The people who heard Peter asked, what should we do? The answer for them and for us is the same, we can commit ourselves to being a spiritual people. Today begins the first of three sermons on this congregation’s Core Values of SPIRITUALITY, RELATIONSHIPS, AND JUSTICE. Our core values form the vision of Broad Street Christian Church: to know God, to build relationships, and to do justice. They have also helped us to articulate our mission – what we will do because of the vision we hold. So at its July meeting, the board approved the following as the mission of this congregation: “building on a heritage of diversity, to spread a welcome table for all members of God’s family – today.” We cannot be true to our mission if we are not committed to the core values from which we claim our vision, and we begin today with what it means to be a spiritual people. Spirituality is about deepening our relationship with God and even the most deeply spiritual among us need to be about the business of getting to know God as intimately as we can. During the long plane rides to Portland, Oregon last month, I read a little book called Uncovering Your Church’s Hidden Spirit by Celia Hahn. A case study of five Episcopal congregations, the book explores the unique spirituality of each congregation. I saw our congregation in these churches’ desire to be among other things, a spiritual home for people who have been hurt; who have children with special needs and need a congregation that understands and accepts their family; and I saw us in congregations that have emerged from life changing and church changing crises. The book begins with a quote I believe all of us can relate to. A woman says, “I don’t want just to believe in God; I want to know God.” And in that same study, “80% of people surveyed said that what they most needed from their church was food for their spiritual hunger” (Uncovering Your Church’s Hidden Spirit. Celia Allison Hahn. Alban Institute, first page of the preface). At the very core of us, we are spiritual people. That is true for us each as unique, made in the image of God people, and it is true for us as a congregation. Congregations have a hunger to be fed too. Celia Hahn says: “Congregations do have a discernible spiritual identity. Your church’s spirit is not unlike yours; the core of who you are – where you really live, where your heart is, your history with God and an identity known to God, who keeps calling you back as well as calling you out to the work you’ve been given to do” (Hahn, p. 4). At the core of us is a spiritual desire, we live in the love and presence of God in Jesus Christ, our heart is in being faithful believers, our history with God is one of presence and unending love and care from God who “through every change remains faithful” (“Be Still My Soul” written by Katrina von Schlagel, translated by Jane Borthwick; #566 in Chalice Hymnal, 1985), and our call is to continue to grow in spirit as we grow in appreciation of each other. We want to people of deep spirituality because we have deep spiritual needs, look at how we have come to church today. We have come looking for a word of hope, clarity, insight, encouragement, affirmation, and challenge; all in the context of the good news of Jesus Christ and the love of God. And we have come in all kinds of spiritual conditions: Somebody has come filled with joy; some else is filled with grief. All the hope in the world is in someone, another is deep in despair. Among us are people filled with eager expectation; and there are some who are filled with cynical boredom. Some of you have come seeking community; some others are waiting for alone time with God. There is someone out there for whom the church presents an opportunity for outreach; and in the next pew is someone longing for nurture. We all have spiritual needs. Some of you remember when I shared a spiritual need of mine. It was a January day in 2004, when we I told you that my call here was to preach the life into this congregation, many of you joined me around the communion table and we prayed for the Holy Spirit to entire our lives and the life of our beloved church. That is still my call and my prayer. You will feel some sermons more than others, I do too. Someone told me recently that they thought my sermons dragged sometimes, I responded that I know when that happens before anyone else does. The truth is that sermons provide different food for the spirit and different ways of serving that spiritual food. Some will be story based, others will be based in history. Some will say here is what God is calling us to do, and others will require us all to discern for ourselves what God is saying to us. But never doubt that if you come with an open spirit, all of them, along with the music and the prayers we offer here will feed our spirits. We can remember when God opened up our spirits. I’ll bet there was a song, a word of encouragement; something that made room in your spirit for God’s spirit to enter. What was it that cut you to your heart releasing in you the love and desire you have to be enthusiastic, filled with God? Who is that person so full of love and light and spirit that you wanted what they had and so you asked the Pentecost question, “what should we do?” We can remember and celebrate and share the news we know. We can share the joy of the Spirit in us. We can celebrate that God’s spirit has so touched our spirits, and the spirit of this congregation that there is no question about how enthusiastic we are…when people come in here to worship with us, to hear a concert, when they encounter us in the hallways on AA nights, when we share our building for community groups, and for weddings, no one will doubt that we are filled with God because we are enthusiastic about all that we do. I believe we can, I pray we can, let’s work so that we can, let’s let God’s spirit touch ours so that we can. Each of us can bring our spirit to the congregation’s spirit, here where we have this glorious spirit of welcome and inclusion, we can continue to welcome Christ into our hearts. We can know Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah, and come to the waters of baptism. Baptism is a symbol of the spirit in us that leads us to the waters where we might be washed clean of our sins, of that which separates us from God and where we might rise from the waters hearing the world Jesus heard: “This is my son, this is my daughter, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3.17). We can claim the promise of God to be present in our spirits. What should we do? There are four things the early church did in response to the Spirit, and they are what we are called to do too as we live in a spiritual place. Spiritual people devote themselves to the apostles teaching and learning about their faith. Like them, those of us who confess Christ, who are baptized and who are thinking about baptism can gather to learn more about what it means to be a follower of Christ. We can do what they did and listen to the stories of Jesus. We can hear again how he gathered children to himself, how he welcomed the outcast, how he offered himself for baptism, how he loved without condition, and how he spoke in love as he said to the newly redeemed – go and sin no more. We can learn about and follow the one who laid down his life, who rose again, who will come back when God gets ready for him to return, and who has left us with some work to do, then we can do the work. We can learn about our own faith and the church; we can worship and study and rejoice in our spiritual growth and we can continue to grow. Spiritual people devote themselves to fellowship, to building up their community and to reaching out to others, and we can too. We are a community of believers here. Then they cared so much for each other that they sold all they owned and held all things in common because no thing was more important to them than the love they knew and shared in Jesus Christ. Now we have lived in the 20th and 21st centuries, in a grand time of individualism and consumerism. We are encouraged to live for ourselves and to measure our worth by the volume of stuff we have. So we don’t want anyone talking to us about give up everything – our property, our stocks, our savings accounts, IRA’s, 401k’s and the deed to our homes an the title to our cars, and lay them at the feet of this chancel. Communes exist, but we do not live in them – though I did share a house and household expenses with six other students for a year and a half when I was in theological school. But, our sense of community does ask us to share what we can in whatever ways we can to reach out to people in need and to be the body of Christ offering itself to the world for the sake of the world. And our spirit filled faith calls us to do no less. The way we live in spiritual community and practice fellowship is by being together for worship, planning and participating in events that bring us together for fun and growth, by caring for each other always, and being faithful stewards together for the good of the church. We want the church to be a place of true community and invitation that we come to when we want to be in the company of spiritual people. We are the community of Jesus Christ, called to be in spiritual relationship with each other, and to be friend and family, shelter and safety for all who enter here. Spiritual people break bread together at the communion table, at home, in potlucks and church picnics because we know that “eating together is a mark of unity, solidarity, and deep friendship…in good Jewish fashion, when the blessing is said at the table, the table becomes a holy place and eating together a sacred activity” (Interpretation. Acts. William Willimon. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988, p.41). Sharing food with beloved family and friends and with people who will become friends feeds us body and soul. And spiritual people pray. Regular prayer is a sign of our spirit trusting that the spirit of God is available to us. There is no correct way to pray. Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession, prayers for others and for ourselves, for the world and for the nation, for what we want God to do in us, and prayers for what God has already done…prayers in words, and prayers with sighs too deep for words, are all acceptable to God if offered with a genuinely open heart and spirit. Prayer connects us with the source of all our spirit’s need. We are people of prayer, community, fellowship, and teaching. We are a spiritual people deepening our connection with God. As the community formed on that Pentecost day and then opened their spirits to God, God grew their church. Day by day as people in Jerusalem saw how their lives had purpose and vision, and they felt their own spiritual hunger and found food for their spirits. The good news for us is that the church at its most spiritual is still the community that at its core is about being open to the Spirit of God moving through us as refreshing wind and cleansing fire. Let it be so for us now, let the wind blow and the fire glow, and as our own spirits grow, may we feel the spirit here, and may Jesus Christ be praised. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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