June 8, 2003
|
|
|
|
Today is
Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is an ancient Jewish festival that occurs fifty days
after the Passover. In the Jewish community, the “Feast of Pentecost or the
Feast of Weeks as it is called in the Old Testament, marked the end of the
celebration of the spring harvest, a worship cycle that began at Passover and
during which devout Israelite families praised God for God’s grace and
bounty” (Texts
for Preaching –Year B. Westminster/John Knox Press. Louisville, 1993,
p.347). As we
celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into the church in a way it had not been
seen before, we remember that the first Pentecost after the resurrection is
about God showing the gathered people that once more God will do a new and
exciting thing. The new thing was experienced by the disciples and witnessed by
the others who had made the pilgrimage from their homes to the city of Jerusalem
for what they thought was one more Pentecost Festival. But the
resurrection of Jesus Christ changed everything, even the annual celebration of
this important festival. At this festival, the Holy Spirit showed up in an
unmistakable way. Most of
you know that I spent most of the past week in Hampton, Virginia at the 89th
Annual Hampton Ministers Conference, and its partner conference the 69th
Annual Choir Director and Organist Guild Workshop. The campus of Hampton
University is a Special
place for the people who attend the conferences. “Hampton” is the largest
ecumenical gathering of primarily, though not exclusively African American
clergy and musicians in the United States. The Holy Spirit was experienced there
in an emotional and visible way. The music was magnificent and ran the gamut
from gospel to spirituals, to hymn, to classical music. The preaching was
excellent and spirited. Among the 8,000 or so people who formed the
congregation, there were responses that were audible and appreciative. When the
Spirit moved, some people were led to clap their hands, raise their hands, or
dance in the aisles. Some nodded, some stood, some shed a tear or two. However
it was they were led to respond, they did. I
understand and honor the fact that not everyone is moved by the Holy Spirit to
respond in that ways and it’s all OK, it’s all good, because we are freed by
that same Spirit to respond in whatever ways we are led. So my great hope is
that we will all understand that the Holy Spirit can be at work in each of us. How does
it work? The readings from Romans and Acts give us some clues. The reading from
Romans says that the Holy Spirit helps us to be understood by God, even when all
we can utter is a deep sigh. Acts says the Holy Spirit can come to us like a
cleansing wind and fire. How does
the Holy Spirit work? First,
the Holy Spirit works as a gift from God.
Remember the disciples, the eleven whom Jesus called and commissioned
along with Matthias who replaced the betrayer Judas, have been waiting for this
moment. Jesus had promised them a gift, and now it is about to be received. Before he
went up to sit at the right hand of God, Jesus came to them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts
1.8). Just
wait, the Spirit will come to you. But we know that waiting is hard to do. We
don’t like waiting in lines, waiting for service, waiting for some good thing
to begin or for something awful to end. We do not like waiting for our
investments to pay off, our ships to come in, or for all that we long for to
come to pass. So as we wait, our impatience can grow and our nerves can get
frayed. Tempers grow short and bad decisions can be made in the heat of our
impatience, unless we wait with hope and anticipation. It
encourages us to realize that the disciples were not just waiting, they were
waiting and praying and all together in one place. The gift of God on that first
Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus was that the disciples discovered that
their stay in Jerusalem would yield far greater results than their leaving town
would have gotten them. It was all worth the wait. The
greater gift of God is that when the Holy Spirit came, it
came as a sign of God’s presence to the disciples, the gathered
community, the church and the world. Psalm 50.3 declares, “Our God
comes and does not keep silence, before God is a devouring fire and a mighty
tempest all around”. The fire and
wind of Pentecost, what a colleague calls a rough and cleansing wind was not
intended to harm the disciples. Rather its purpose was to make room for the
Spirit’s movement in their lives. In the upper room, in that moment, “things
are coming loose, breaking open. Can it be the same wind which on the very first
morning of all mornings swept across dark waters? Could it be the wind of
creation (Genesis 1)? The wind is once again bringing something to life” (Interpretation.
Acts. William Willimon. Atlanta. John Knox Press, p.30). But there
is more. Here they are, men who as far as we know speak Aramaic, and perhaps a
little Greek. Yet they are so moved by the Spirit that they receive another
incredible gift from God – they are able to speak in other languages as God
gave them the words. God has
prepared the disciples, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, to tell the good
news of Jesus Christ to a diverse group of people. Now Hebrews who have gathered
from all over the Greek and Roman empires, whose native languages are not the
same as the disciples, can not only hear them, but they can understand them as
well. How do we
know? We know
because the second
way the Holy Spirit works is this: it has the power to bring people together.
Pilgrims from more than twelve nations and cultural groups were in
Jerusalem. The place looked like New York City, or Los Angeles, or even parts of
Columbus. It was truly an international gathering of people. All of these people
are hearing in their own languages in Greek, and Latin, in the languages of
modern Iraq and Iran, Israel and Palestine. In their own languages, they heard
the disciples declare that Jesus Christ came that they might have life and have
it in abundance, they heard that the One who died for the sake of the world
lives forever more. They heard the disciples declaring that people had been
healed, justice had been proclaimed, and all people are equal in the sight of
God all in the name of Jesus. What is
going on here? How is it even possible that we hear them and understand them in
our own languages – what does it mean? Some were
curious and amazed. But others had a different reaction. Any time the power of
God is unleashed among people we don’t expect to have it there will be some
kind of negative reaction. The coming of the Holy Spirit, its power, its signs
from God, its amazement was not good news for everybody. For some it brought
nothing but fear and contempt. We can almost hear them saying, “if these
people have the gift of the Holy Spirit, they will feel powerful. They may
believe that by the power of their Lord Jesus they can be transformed from
people afraid to people affirmed, from people controlled to people courageous,
from persons defeated by circumstances to people delivered from everything and
anything that comes between them and God. These
Galileans are not smart enough, educated enough, faithful enough. They are not
spiritual enough, they are not good enough. If you
have ever been excited about something, only to have your excitement doused by
negativity, you understand what it was like as detractors jeered the disciples.
You understand that a fearful and contemptuous response is one that puts down,
belittles, dismisses and disrespects. It is to treat people as less than beloved
children of God. Look at those Galileans, they are just a bunch of drunks! But we
are here, thankful to God that there is another response. We are thankful today
that third, the Holy Spirit comes to us in a way that makes it
possible to stand on faith and at the same time to declare with boldness what
God is doing. Peter,
the zealot, all emotion, sometimes with an outsized ego, this same Peter who
promised to stand by Jesus till the end, and was among the first to deny him, is
the one who finds his voice. He stands with the wind and fire of God all through
his being; he stands loved, forgiven, and restored to say what it all really
means”. You have not understood what is going on. You are seeing without
recognizing what is at work here. You have assumed facts not in evidence. “It is
first of all way too early in the morning for these men to have been drinking
and they were not out drinking all night either. If you listen carefully you
will not hear slurred wine-induced speech, but God working through us to make us
understandable to you. This is not about too much alcohol, rather right here,
right now we are living out the truth of God’s promises. Remember what Joel
said, there would come a time when “in the terrible and wonderful last days
there would be an outpouring of the Spirit on everyone. The Spirit, once the
exotic possession of prophetic few, is now offered to everyone. “Now is
the time when God’s Holy Spirit becomes available to everyone. It is a time
when men and women proclaim a vision of utter newness. Gender, age, status in
life was of no consequence to God or to the people or to the people who will
receive this word”. What does it
mean? “For Joel, the signs of the outpouring of the Spirit are a prelude to
disaster, but for Peter these wonders have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ,
himself the greatest of God’s wonders and their purpose. Christ’s purpose is
nothing less than the redemption of humankind” (Texts
for Preaching, p. 348-349). What does
Pentecost mean for us? It means that the commission given by Jesus to his
disciples then is also a commission to those of us who call ourselves disciples
today. Like them our call is to go into our world, from our doorstep to as far
as we can go empowered by the breath of God moving in us. The question is are we
committed to letting the Spirit of God work in us? This is
your time on this Pentecost Sunday to say what dreams you dream for this
congregation. What is your vision for our best future? What hope does the Holy
Spirit give to you? (Here is where the
congregation responds). I thank
you for sharing your responses, now I want to share mine, which can also be
found in the June issue of The Good News from Broad Street Christian Church.
My dream, my vision, my discerning of what the Spirit is telling me leads
me to believe that we can increase our worship attendance significantly. We can
have a creative and comprehensive education ministry that teaches and reminds
all of us what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. And I
believe that we can increase our visibility in this city, by doing ministry that
matters to people in this city and by staying faithfully to what matters to us.
What is that? I believe that as we serve God by serving this community, we will
reach out to others by welcoming people from many backgrounds as they seek a
relationship with God here. We serve by handing out bread and participating in
BREAD, we do it as we share our building with community groups and couples who
get married here, and as we nurture and support each other. I believe that if we
will stay open to God’s spirit working through us, we will do all that we have
set out to do. The first
Pentecost was a gift, a sign, an affirmation of God’s love and care for the
church and the world. It emboldens our speech, it moves us to salvation. It is
about life renewed and revived. One writer describes Pentecost like this: “New
life for the church! New life for individuals within the church! New life
through the Spirit of God! That is the meaning of Pentecost” (Texts
for Preaching, p.348). So on
this day, remember that “in hope we are saved, that the Spirit helps us in our
weakness, intercedes for us, and guides us into all truth. God seeks to restore
us to the fullness of life, to offer us hope, to assure us of our worth and
value. Feel the flames of God’s love resting on us, empowering us to love and
serve in Christ’s name” (Lavon Bayler). Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
|
Broad
Street Christian Church
|
