Easter Season - Year C -- 2013
Indexed by Date. Sermons for Easter Year C
Acts 9: 1-20
Psalm 30
Rev 5: 11-14
John 21: 19
Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed!
Some of you may be wondering if I missed something; if I am behind the times. Easter Sunday WAS two weeks ago. You could say that the church likes to drag things our, for Easter is a season of 50 days, lasting till Pentecost which comes, this year,
on May 19. Christmas was 12 days; Easter is 50. We are in the season of Easter. Our Easter proclamation was, and is, “Christ IS Risen”. As a community of faith we take this as a statement of the present, not merely as a happening from the past. There is something about the resurrection that cannot be confined to a couple of weeks after the first Easter.
Today’s passages from Acts and from the Gospel of John each tell of an encounter with the Risen Christ. While the passage about Saul’s conversion on the Damascus road does not seem, at first, to be a “resurrection appearance” , but some time later, Paul, as he became know, in his first letter to the church in Corinth referred to this event as exactly that.
Jesus resurrection appearances, as recounted in the Gospels always have an air of mystery and un-believability about them - Jesus can appear and disappear, seemingly at will, and people often do not recognize him at the beginning of the encounter. Yet
there was something about the power of
these experiences, and the subsequent powerful experience of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that transformed a fear filled bunch of people that never quite understood what the living human Jesus was trying to teach them, into a fearless group of people who literally put their lives on the line to proclaim the way of Jesus to others.
Saul’s experience as recounted in today’s gospel has become synonymous with instantaneous, life changing experiences
Almost everyone knows that a “Damascus road” experience refers to something that changes someone completely and utterly. Often it is seen as an instantaneous thing.
Yet, I am not convinced that it was actually completely instantaneous for Saul. In the 7th chapter of the book of Acts we are told that Saul was present at the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. As the story goes, he would not stop preaching about Jesus so he was executed. I wonder what he was thinking and feeling as this
young man willingly died for his faith in the way and teachings of this carpenter from Nazareth. We are told that Saul was there, I suspect, as a way of telling us that the Spirit can take anyone and transform them.
You all know the expression, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!” And, of course, it is impossible to do that, if you mean it literally. Those who use this expression though are not talking about the manufacture of purses; they are talking about the potential of one person to become
something, “when they grow up” or “after they graduate” or at some point in the future. It is an expression of futility. Why waste your time! That person will never amount to anything.
Saul was, as the text so eloquently states, breathing threats and murder against any and all disciples of Jesus; followers of “the way”. I don’t know for sure, of course, but I would be very surprised if the Spirit was not working quietly and silently in his heart and mind
while he was doing this. Paul was a devout and religious man; a tentmaker by trade. He was not a bounty hunter but a man of scripture and of prayer. Surely the Spirit was showing him the faith of those in the early Christian communities he was persecuting so that when he did fall off his horse, it was not the complete and instantaneous conversion we sometimes like to think it was. Eventually, he put the same zeal into preaching Christ as he once did into persecuting his followers.
Throughout my life, I have occasionally encountered those Christians who believe that you have to be able to name the day and the hour that Jesus came into your life in order for you to be considered a Christian. It does not fit my experience, nor I suspect, does it fit the majority of people in the United Church.
I would venture to say that most of us here have been in church all of our lives, or we left for a while in our teens and came back when we had children who needed Sunday School.
We are all on a journey of faith and we are not meant to stop learning or growing when we leave Sunday school or when we finish conformation classes; the Christian faith is a journey of growth and change.
Whether we have always been a person of faith or whether we were brought to our knees, knowked off of our horse, “out of the blue”, the story of Saul / Paul does have some important advice for us. The rest of the story of Paul the apostle’s conversion from Saul the persecutor involves the faith, risk and support. Ananias had to take a leap of faith to even take the first step. Saul had made a name for himself as someone who was determined to stamp out this new interpretation of the faith of Abraham. Ananias had heard of him and was determined to steer clear of him. But the Spirit persisted and through time Paul became a leader in the church he tried to stamp out. Though the text tells us that it was only after several days with the
disciples that he began to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God, again he continued to grow over time as he continued to encounter others in his journeys.
I wonder how many people we discount
because of what we have heard about them or because of what we know to be their history? When we think of inviting people to church, for example, how many times do we say, “they would never be interested” How many times do we avoid reaching out to someone based on the reception we think we
will receive? How often do we avoid an opportunity to show God’s care for all because we assume we can’t do it, rather than working together in community to make it happen.
From the call of Jesus’s first disciples the story of the early church is one of the most unlikely group of people coming together and finding that the message of God’s love was for them. And when they had truly heard this message they found that they could have a part in proclaiming this
message, in various ways, to those they encountered.
May we know the message and may we be challenged and strengthened to proclaim the message individually and as a community.
Amen.
Acts 9: 36-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7: 9-17
John 10: 22-30
If you had asked me last Sunday what came to mind when I heard the words, “The Boston Marathon” I would say things like, “people who can run long distances, 26 miles to be exact”; “many people put a great deal of effort into it to train for it, with no hope of winning, but just to go the distance” and then I would think of William John Paul, a man from Scotchfort, who ran in the Boston Marathon at least twice, when we were kids we used to see him running along the St Peter’s Rd and my dad would say, “He he ran in the Boston Marathon” and I was very impressed, “wow”.
Google could have informed me that it was the oldest marathon in North America. While the Buffalo Turkey Trot is older it is a much shorter race - and until I did GOOGLE “Boston Marathon”, the only turkey trot I had ever heard of was the one in Souris!
My, how things can change in an instant.
On Monday about two hours after the winners crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon mayhem broke out as two bombs, housed in pressure cookers exploded causing three deaths, many injuries, both minor and catastrophic and much fear. Since 9/11 many Americans had been waiting for the “next attack” and when it came, on a holiday, on a day when the eyes of the world were on their city, it was devastating. By week’s end though one of the culprits was in custody and the other dead; but not before several days of of fear, lock-down and the death of a police officer. News stores carried comments by everyone from eye-witnesses to the President, himself.
I suspect that for a long time to come one will not think of “The Boston Marathon” without also thinking of “The 2013 marathon” when death and destruction cane calling.
In the passage from the book of Acts we encounter early Christian communities in their infancy; Peter, one of Jesus’ followers is still alive, Dorcas or Tabitha is well known in her community for good works and acts of charity. It appears that she was a seamstress, or used her talents in making tunics and other clothing for the community. We don’t know how old she was, only that she became sick and died. Her death is devastating to the community and they send for Peter at once. According to the story, she is brought back to life and presented to the community in that way. They have gathered in grief and now, presumably, they rejoice.
What does this story from the first years of the church have to say to us, in 2013 - almost 2000 years later? Presumably Dorcas, like Lazarus, did not live forever, and eventually would have died again.
We may ask why this does not happen now? Surely those we have gone from our midst are no less loved and no less needed. Is the power of God no longer at work in our communities of faith? Are these stories limited to a special time in the life of the church and have no relevance for us? Or can we glean something else, something very relevant from these stories.
In some ways the story of Dorcas is very much a story of the importance of the small and everyday things being of vital importance in the community of faith. This woman, Dorcas, was known and loved for making clothing for widows and orphans. While this ministry may never bring world peace or heal the economy or the environment, it does make a tremendous difference in the lives of those who receive those gifts.
Yet, as I struggled with this sermon this week, the events in Boston, and elsewhere, seemed to scream out for attention and for comment in the light of the gospel. I began to look at this passage in a different way.
Some time after I moved to a previous pastoral charge I began to be asked, “You remember so-and-so don’t you?” Actually I was asked about two women who were loved, revered even, and greatly missed. They had both died in the few months leading up to my move. The longer I was there, I guess it seemed to most that I just HAD to remember them. This is not an uncommon occurrence in a community of faith. You can all name people who are greatly missed because of their baking or UCW leadership or ability to crack open lobster by the ton or slice ham after ham and make bushels of scalloped potatoes with a smile.
When someone like this dies it is natural to wonder what we will do without them. When many of these folks have died it is an even more important question.
As a resurrection people though, we are defined, not be death, but by the God whose power was manifest in the new life; a new life that the people found through the presence of the Risen One. We are defined by hope; we are not to be limited by despair. Being defined by life and hope does not change the past and it does not change the omportance those people held in our lives, but it focuses on the call to be the people of God in the here and now, not in the abstract, or the ideal or the past, but in the here and now where we live - which is, if we are honest, is the only place we can live.
In the last episode of er, as you know, one of my favourite shows, set in a Chicago hospital, Dr John Carter returns from volunteer work in Africa to open a medical centre, funded by his family’s foundation and named in memory of his infant son, Joshua. His wife and the mother of their child attends, but as they talk. it is clear that her heart is not in it. She cannot get beyond the grief over the loss of their son and he and the city are painful reminders of it. The opening of the Joshua Carter Centre is one of the ways in which he can move on with a positive hope. He says something like this to her, “We had a son and our son died, and nothing can change that, but it does not have to be what defines us”.
The story of Dorcas can be seen as a story of those whose despair can be overcome by the power of life.
This past week has been an interesting and disturbing one on Twitter and other social media. In the immediate aftermath of the bombings in Boston several people were targeted for harassment, arrest, detention and heavy questioning simply because they were middle eastern. As someone quipped, “they were found brown, near a bomb.” Calls are increasing to close the border to immigrants, or at least, immigrants from certain countries. International news agencies don’t seem to know from which country the detained suspect and his deceased brother come - and they have internet access! While there has been a small outcry over the suspension of the basic rights of all Americans to a fair trial I am not sure that outcry will be heard.
It seems that the kingdom of life will once again be challenged to make its voice heard over the din of death and destruction. While we are not Americans, Boston is close to many of our hearts. Are we a people who worship the Lord of love and life or have we been defeated by the culture of death and destruction. We can easily pray for those hurt by the bombs, but can we pray for the bombers? I might not want to, but I know that this is my call.
I think of the literature I have read about those who have been diagnosed with cancer or other such serious illness. I see a change in the way people are encouraged by fellow cancer patients. Instead of adopting the status of “dying from cancer” or “suffering from Parkinson’s or Alzheimer Disease” people are encouraging one another to “live with cancer” or to “live with .......” (whatever their diagnosis is) until they can do so no longer. It’s not the same as putting one’s head in the sand and ignoring all of the doctors but it is about embracing God’s call to fullness of life while we are here in the midst of our community of family and friends. Its certainly not about ignoring the often very harsh treatments but about embracing all that is important in life - the small things, such as the interactions with family and friends, not putting dreams off and trying to make a difference in the lives of others.
I think that this s what was remembered about Dorcas, the difference she made through the small but significant acts of charity for her community. It was the potential for making this kind of difference that was restored by the power of God at work in Peter.
May our community of faith be one which embraces life and which seeks to define life in terms of God’s love for all
Amen!
<;i> April 28, 2013 NO SERMON
Acts 16: 9-15 Ok folks, I have some good news. Or maybe its not. You get to decide. We’re all going on a trip! When are we going?
We will be going in mid-June. What do we take? First question: if we are leaving Canada do each of us have a current passport? Do we also need a visa? Next question: do we need to fly and how do we get the best price on our tickets? Third question: what’s the weather there like in
June? We don’t want to be too cold, or too hot and we don’t want to waste space packing stuff we don’t need.
What difference would it make to you if I told you that we’re going RIGHT NOW; we wont have time to go home first and water the plants or feed the cat. It sounds a bit like one of those surprise trip contests; come to the draw with your bags packed and your passport in hand. Where you will be at bedtime is a secret.
Not many of us would take a trip like
that; in reality not many of us could. We have jobs that expect us to show up on Monday morning or for our next shift; some of us have a boat waiting for its captain or crew member and lobster season is only so long! Some of us have children to get ready for school, family matters to attend to and a list of other real obligations. If this was a crisis we would find the time; otherwise, we would have to pass up on the trip.
I’ve never been to the Mediterranean
but it’s a large body of water surrounded by
islands and peninsulas lying between Europe and the north coast of Africa. (I talked to the children and showed them a map; all of PEI could fit almost anywhere in this “sea”.) A Mediterranean cruise is on my “so called” bucket list, after a few other places I’d like to go first.
In today’s passage from the book of Acts, Paul was summoned in a vision to go from where he was in Troas to Macedonia. He was already over 1000kms from home. It was a journey requiring several stops along
the way; there was no direct run, I gather.= no “non-stop cruise”!
Iit seems that, on this day at least, he is open to going where he is needed at the drop of a hat. You all heard the passage read - you heard the short, direct, and urgent plea to come to Macedonia. “Come over to Macedonia and help us”. Yet, if you notice, you never heard anything more about Paul meeting this mysterious “man of Macedonia” while he was there; only the woman Lydia is named. That’s one of those questions for which there is no
answer; perhaps the encounter with Lydia was what the man in the vision had in mind anyway.
In the early days of the Christian movement the majority of those who came to believe in Jesus were Jews - they were part of the faith of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachael. They were part of a community who observed the law of Moses and whose hope for the messiah was part of who they were. Even outside of Israel there were significant communities of those who followed this faith that really came together
in the wilderness of Sinai with the giving of the ten commandments to Moses. Like residents of the various towns and villages of Israel, they went to the Synagogue for weekly worship on the Sabbath and, if they could, they went to Jerusalem for Passover. Even this far from Jerusalem there were communities comprised of significant numbers of faithful Jewish people seeking to follow God in this way. It is likely that there
were synagogues in Macedonia but for some reason, on the Sabbath, Paul went to a place
which, he was told, was a place where people gathered for prayer.
Eventually most of the new converts to Christianity had never been Jewish but the change to that situation is a bit of a long story.
Perhaps these women who gathered for prayer were not Jewish at all. What religion they followed, we do not know. We know only that this riverbank was “a place of prayer”. Lydia, at least, showed an openness to the message that Paul brings about Jesus. She
could be termed what some churches these days call a “seeker”. There is a great deal of
“mystery” in these passages. This gives them so much scope for relevance in our situation.
It’s interesting to note that the person
who seems to be in leadership this day is a woman, and not only that, she is a woman of business and that she is in charge of an entire household. In an era in which men would have controlled commerce and society in general, she is a leader where one would expect her to be a follower; she is no ordinary woman! She is
a dealer in purple cloth which, as I understand it, was very expensive for various reasons. Perhaps the equivalent today would be the designers whose clothing is marketed to royalty and movie stars. I read recently that some of the dresses worn by Kate, Prince William’s wife. at official engagements can cost over £1100 each. She does wear many of her dresses to more than one event though; its called being frugal!!!!
One of the commentators I read on this passage indicates that Lydia was someone who
combined the “doing” of a Martha with the “contemplation” of a Mary.
We are told that on the Sabbath Paul and his companions sought out this “place of prayer” instead of going to the synagogue. It seems to me that the movement of the Holy Spirit is at work in this story taking Paul outside of his comfort zone AND opening Lydia’s heart and mind to the Good News of Jesus.
The text tells us that she became a believer and she and her household were
baptized. She became their hostess and her house, a base of operations. Again, Lydia is a most extraordinary woman, with a great deal of influence.
What does this passage say to us, all these years later.
One of the struggles within the early church centred on the question, “Who is eligible to become a follower of Jesus?” Since so much of what Jesus did and so much of his preaching and teaching was firmly grounded in the Jewish faith there were many who
believed that of someone was not already a Jew, one had to become Jewish first and then, after that, a follower of Jesus. For many years The Way of Jesus was a movement within Judaism but eventually when they were no longer welcome in the synagogues, the Hood News began to spread, by necessity, to those who had never been Jewish.
While we don’t have precisely the same issue we do run the risk of excluding those who might potentially become part of our community, because we assume they “wouldn’t
be interested” or they are different from us in some way and we think they would not fit in. In a place where there are no other United Church options we need to be able to be welcoming and embrace diversity.
In the past few years there have been training sessions held to help congregations become more welcoming. Most of us would say that our congregations are very welcoming, but occasionally we need to step back and take a look at our church through the eyes of a stranger. A number of years ago the
congregation I was serving welcomed a family from a non English speaking country. I assumed that since they were regular church goers the adults in the family knew the Lord’s Prayer as well as any adults accustomed to going to church! They did! But they did not know it well enough to say it in ENGLISH , at the speed we were accustomed to praying it. Printing it out for them in English was a simple step and so important for them at that time.
I was at a workshop Friday evening and we were talking about the cues in the bulletin
which tell people when to stand and what parts are leader parts and what parts are minister parts. The leader of the workshop was talking about services in which the words are projected on screens at the front of the sanctuary. In the church she usually attends the leader part was in yellow text and the people part in white, on a black background. She attended another church one Sunday as a guest and the colour scheme was the exact opposite - with no guide to tell her otherwise - because “everybody knew that”.
This passage can remind us that outreach of any kind involves two people going outside of their comfort zone - Paul had to take a long and perhaps dangerous journey and Lydia had to be open to the new spiritual truth in the message of the Good News about Jesus from Nazareth.
This line has stuck with me all week, “Lets not make our God too small”. Let’s allow God to be God and be open to new ways of being church and being Christian, lets be open to new people, lets entertain some new ideas.
The Spirit may be calling us to another Macedonia or calling another Paul to talk to us.
Let us be open to the winds of the Spirit; only God knows what can happen when we are.
Amen.
Acts 16: 16-34 Hogan’s Heroes is the wacky tv series from the ‘60s and ‘70s, set in “Stalag 13", a Prisoner of War for camp in Germany. Presided over by the totally inept Colonel Wilhelm Klink and Sargent Hans Schultz this camp is apparently the only one from which no prisoner has ever escaped; a fact which Klink is always reminding his sceptical superiors. In fact, there has been no escape from Stalag 13 because underneath this
camp is a network of tunnels and the prisoners can practically come and go as they please.
We all know that the reality of a POW camps was very, very, different and those involved in resisting the Nazis took much greater risks than Colonel Hogan and his band of merry prisoners.
The story of Paul and Silas in jail could be billed as “the story of the prison beak that never was”. It is part two of the story of the apostles work in Macedonia that we
began last week with the story of meeting Lydia at a riverside “place of prayer”.
This week’s reading has them returning, once again, to that same place of prayer and encountering another woman whose healing lands them in jail where an earthquake takes place leading them to other converts and leaving town to proclaim the Good News of Jesus elsewhere.
What can we learn from the somewhat odd story told in this passage. First, this passage calls us to reflect upon the nature of power and freedom. Secondly it asks us to look at the cost of discipleship and exercising that freedom. Thirdly, the true freedom offered by Christ breaks down the barriers human beings have constructed.
First, what does this text say about the nature of power and freedom. Last week we met Lydia, a wealthy woman of business able to make decisions, both for herself, and for her entire household. This slave girl we meet today does not even have a name and is not able to make any of her own decisions. In a way she represents all of those “nameless” and “voiceless ones” around the world who cry out for our attention. We are the only ones who can grant them freedom.
Mentally, this girt is possessed by what is referred to as a “spirit of divination”, which gives her the ability be a fortune teller. Physically, she is a slave, a possession and must do what she is told. We are told that she has made her owners wealthy.
You could say that this story proves
the rather cynical proverb that “no good deed goes unpunished”. Paul’s “good deed” of healing this woman, has deprived some people of their lucrative source of income. These people apparently have the ear of the magistrate and Paul and Silas are brought to the marketplace to be tried on charges of being a danger to peace, order and good government - when we know the real reason is that in liberating this slave girl from her illness they have interfered with someone’s pursuit of unbridled profit. (a thinly veiled reference to the “un”-official mottos of Canada “peace order and good government” and of the USA “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.)
They are sentenced to serve time in the most secure area of the local prison.
What do they do? They stay up all night singing hymns The rest of the inmates stay awake, having no choice but to listen to these crazy prisoners singing. I can’t imagine most of them being all that happy about the noise. But, about midnight, when an earthquake destroys the prison, and the prisoners could have escaped, they just hang around! Weird.
The jailer is ready to fall on his sword certain that he will be punished for the prisoners escape but Paul stops him because there has been no escape.
This turn of events would have contradicted everything the jailer knew to be true of prisoners; they can’t wait to be released, and all of them would escape if they could!
It is clear to him that Paul and Silas men know something, or have something he does not! He wants that! It seems to me that this is what is behind his question about being saved. I Don’t think it has anything to do with where he is going when he dies! He wants to know how one lives like a free person, while in prison.
We have, in this passage the beautiful mutuality of him washing their wounds and then he and his household being baptized; or washed with the waters of salvation.
This story challenges all of our notions about power and freedom. The jailer was a man of power, at least to the prisoners, he was free, but in his own mind he knew that he was just a cog in a much bigger and completely heartless machine. Through the actions of Paul and Silas he encountered the God who could give the power to live as free people, even while in the deepest of prisons.
When reflecting on the “”cost of discipleship” it is clear that sometimes doing the right thing has a cost for the one doing it, after all their good deed landed them in jail. Their action also had ripples in the social fabric as well.
The news of late has been focussed on the Bangladeshi garment industry. On Friday it was reported that a woman was pulled alive from the rubble of a factory which had collapsed 17 days before. We could try to dismiss this as a far away problem having nothing to do with us, but we would be lying to ourselves. All of us probably own some clothing made in factories like this one or even this specific factory. Western companies, which includes those who operate in Canada, have contracted with various agents in Bangladesh whose garment factories come no where close to our safety standards.
It seems to me that this is simply unacceptable. We can’t turn a blind eye to it, even it it takes a while until we are annoyed enough to change where our clothes are made. How do we change this?
What if we refuse to deal with companies whose factories do not meet safety standards of any kind and whose treatment of factory workers is inhumane?
It would be like Paul saying to the slave girl: peace upon you, be made well! But after that it will require constant vigilance so that these factories do not move elsewhere and enslave others. It will most likely require that we pay more for clothing. The reason the factories are there and not here is money - plain and simple.
Churches such as the United Church are accused of meddling in politics if we talk about justice for garment workers, native rights, environmental issues or the power of empire but when our answer the question, “What is salvation” has anything to do with living this life, we are making political statements. We cannot avoid it. If we support the status quo we are making a political statement; if we push for societal change in any way, we are making a political statement. It does not matter if we stick to our traditional anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-gambling stands or if we branch into human rights and environmental issues - we are making political statements.
The jailer wanted to know how these men in his prison could be free even while they were bound, but salvation also has
something to do with removing the bonds that make life more difficult for people in the first place. A religion that does not seek justice and freedom for people who have been denied it is indeed an “opiate of the people” as Karl Marx stated long ago.
We believe that caring for creation is part of our Christian duty. Scientists tell us that reducing fossil fuel emissions is the most critical thing we need to do in order to avert environmental catastrophe. The question is: “Are we prepared to pay the cost?”
We all know we are in the midst of a lobster protest. Boats have been tied up, which is the only way the lobster fishers can think of to demand a fair price. They cannot be forced to fish! Yet it is not just those who hold the lobster license who are affected; by not hauling their traps - the people who depend upon the fish plants are out of work, especially because blockades have been organized to prevent the
companies from processing lobster bought elsewhere.
How do we sing the songs of our faith when we feel trapped by forces beyond our control. Where is the good news?
Like Paul discovered everything has repercussions. We have to ask ourselves what is right in this situation?
Canadian farmers are having a very hard time because the globalization that has changed the garment industry has also changed the food industry. Our large grocery chains are catering to a customer who wants low prices and consistent availability. I like to find things on sale at the grocery store, but quite often can’t find out where it comes from and thus what safety standards its growers had to follow
If we are not prepared to address these questions AND pay fair prices for local products this will not change.
The stories about the spread of the gospel in these early years is a study in the breaking down of barriers that divide humans from one another and barriers that keep people from being the people they were created to be. They speak to our basic fears of meaningless and fill our spirts with hope, purpose and true freedom.
Amen.
Genesis 11: 1-9 A former parishioner assured me that this really happened. Many years ago a minister went by horse and buggy from Rexton travelling north to Kouchibouguac, a distance of about 25 km. It was a cold and blustery day and he was driving straight into the raw and bitter wind the entire way. When he arrived at the service he said, “I hope the wind changes direction before I have to go back”! Note what exactly he
wished for; because we all know the adage about being careful what you wish for because you just might get it! He did get his wish! He drove all the way home, this time going south, facing the raw and bitter wind.
There are a number of movies and TV shows in which the characters have to endure a hurricane, tornado or a blinding snow storm. There are even people, I would call a little nutty, who go out in search of storms, especially tornadoes! In certain areas of the country people have storm
cellars on their property because the only safe place in a twister is underground.
I love wind and wind tossed waves but only when all the boats are safely inside the breakwater and the winds, the winds are not hurricane force AND I am watching the wind from a safe vantage point. I like the feeling of a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day but the kind of wind that freezes your cheeks and makes your eyes hurt, I can do without.
Today is considered by some to be the
birthday of the church. While Jesus was born at Christmas and was raised from the dead at Easter it was only at Pentecost that the disciples were enabled, by the power of the Spirit, to proclaim the gospel to the gathered crowds. Thus, the church was born!
The text tells us that there were people from all over the known world in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost. Pentecost was a pilgrimage festival which commemorated the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai and was also related
to the harvest. When the plants were still young farmers would mark the fist of the fruits to form and when they ripened they were taken in joyful procession to Jerusalem to be presented at the temple.
Since this powerful experience of the Holy Spirit occurred on the day of Pentecost I suppose it only seems natural that the name was transferred to the Christian celebration.
We are not sure what happened; we have only these few verses from Luke, the
writer of Acts. He described it as “divided tongues, as of fire, coming to rest on each person”. Every disciple in the room was turned into a little candle; every person in the room was transformed from fear-filled to fearless and the good news was proclaimed.
We note several things -
People were there from everywhere!
These people had different mother
tongues! BUT they could
understand what the
disciples were saying about Jesus.
The disciples took their text from the
Book of Joel, a prophetic passage that spoke of the so called “end times”, not necessarily what we would call, “Good News”. Things would be radically changed when the dreaming and visions came to pass.
The gathered crowds who heard the wind and heard the sermons, if you could call them that, were quite bewildered. Obviously
the divided tongues as of fire were not visible to everyone or they would have run for buckets of water and not accused them of being drunk.
When I was much younger I memorized the “Primary Catechism” at least twice and on page one was the question, I think, “Why
cant we see God” and the answer was “because God is a spirit and has not a body as we have” (I looked it up and that question IS on the first page)
English poet, Christina Rossetti has
written, Considering this is a communion Sunday, this sermon has to make its point quickly. So here goes!
In this instance the most obvious thing I can see in this passage is the power of the Spirit to overcome barriers. The passage from the Hebrew Scriptures talks of the Tower of Babel being the occasion for God mixing up the language of the people so that
they had to move away from the first place they settled and scatter over all the earth. Scholars tell us that it is a story which explains why one family with one language and one common goal eventually became diverse people with diverse languages and goals.
Pentecost reverses all this and seeks to unite all people in common goals of a vision for all people. The exact mechanisms are unclear here - were they speaking different languages, languages they had never learned
or where they being heard in the language of the hearer?
Does it matter? Probably not. The message was about the fulfilment of God’s promises. The good news speaks of visions and dreams of both the old and the young. I don’t know about you, but I find the young and the elderly the most interesting people to talk to, the people who have the most exciting ideas. The young have not learned that some things are regarded as impossible ad n the elderly are trying to get the young to see that they should not waste time on things that do not really matter. Someone once wrote, “no one on his or her deathbed wishes they had worked harder; the dying person wishes they had taken more time with family and less time at work. The dying person wishes they had loved more and given more, not amassed more wealth for themselves. The dying person may wish they had not wasted as much on things that don’t really matter.
What does matter?
One could say that the world’s most famous dream speech was delivered from the Lincoln Memorial 50 years ago this coming August, the Rev Martin Luther King spoke of the dream that all people in his country, regardless of the colour of their skin would be treated equally and have an equal opportunities in their nation.
It was not a dream that would come to reality without cost and the privileged people resisted it most because they saw only the cost to them; they saw only their loss of their privilege. Many would say the the dream is not yet realized but it is in the process! Dreams can’t be about just one group; this kind of dream is for everyone.
A professor of mine at Atlantic School of Theology used to quote this little prayer that sums up the way of Babel:
The way of Pentecost is that the blessing of God will be poured out on all flesh and that the world of our dreams, the world in which all of creation is blessed will come to pass.
What is your dream - not just for you and your family; not just for human beings but for all of creation?
May the Spirit help us as we proclaim this dream in a way that all can understand.
Amen.
Psalm 67
Psalm 97
Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17: 20-26
Psalm 104
Romans 8: 14 - 17
Acts 2: 1-21
The Wind Blows Where It Wills - Will We?
“Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
“God bless me and my son John
my wife, his wife, us four, no more”