Acts 2: 1-21 I am a big fan of e-bay. E-bay is a web site on which you can buy and sell almost anything; you could even buy a house if you were in the market for a ‘cash and carry house’. One of the last things I bought were packages of stickers that cost more to mail than they did to buy. I still think I saved money, and other than buying something you can’t find or don’t have the time to look for
locally, people primarily use e-bay to find good deals. Well for a couple of years I have been looking for a certain record album for a friend. E-bay is a great place for antique and obsolete items and records are almost antique and obsolete! Who even owns a working record player these days? They are ALMOST as rare as working 8-tracks! Every few months I give this search another try and on Friday I tried again and found what I think is the record my friend is looking for. However the seller of the
item lives in Germany and the auction information was written in German. I quickly decided that I needed a translator. I needed to know the condition of the record, the shipping and payment information and some other details. On e-bay, as in many other shopping ventures, you need to read the fine print or you may end up being very disappointed.
Language is an important aspect of our culture. We are a country with two official languages and, like it or not, that adds a
unique dimension to our lives together. I was at a conference yesterday and they provided simultaneous translation because not everyone there was fully bilingual. The only problem was that the laughter from a good joke drowned out the translator’s voice in your headpiece.
Of course many there are many other languages and ethnic groups in Canada and each brings a unique perspective on life.
In today’s passage from the book of Acts we find that the festival of Pentecost
has come. People from many parts of the world have gathered for this celebration of life and faith and it is at this festival that the amazing power of the Spirit to bring diverse people together is shown. The festival of Pentecost is widely considered the birthday of the church, the day on which the one fearful disciples are empowered to spread the good news of Jesus outside of their small tight knit group. When .we read this passage it is important that we don’t make the mistake of assuming that the Holy
Spirit was created on this day, THAT IS NOT SO. On this particular Pentecost, the Spirit of God, already alive and active in the world was made known to God’s people in a powerful and unmistakable way.
One of the things that we find hard to really and truly grasp is the cultural and social boundaries that the people of the first century took for granted. Life was defined by being ‘this’ and not ‘that’, so for the apostle to say that slaves and free were equal in the Spirit, to say that men and
women were equal, to say that people of all nations were equal n the eyes of the Spirit was to say something very revolutionary. It was so radical for some that it was quite offensive. The church has been trying since these words were spoken to live up to this vision because, like it or not, the reality of the church is limited by the humans who make it up.
On this Pentecost the power of the Spirit enabled the disciples to overcome the barriers of race and language. When it
comes to translating things from one language into another, we know that a person needs to grasp the nuances of the language before a true translation can be done.
You can go to the internet and find web-sites which will automatically translate a passage. I tried that one day with a french web site and the results that it came up with were hilarious because the resulting translation was devoid of the understanding of the nuances of the language.
We know also that some things are
harder to translate than others. Some of the hardest things to translate are poetry and song because rhythm, rhyme and metre are so tied to the original words and thoughts and feelings that you cant say it in any other language and do so adequately. The things of faith are some of these things that are very hard to translate accurately and completely.
Yet we are told that the Spirit is found blowing through the people in this passage and the things of faith are being translated
by the power of the Spirit and people are hearing and understanding.
In many cases, the Spirit blows all the stuff we cherish all over the place and we have to pick up the pieces and rearrange them because what we have had is getting in th way of the Spirit getting the job done. We often learn the hard way that we cant get too caught up in our own stuff, because more often than not, the Spirit has tremendous surprises in store for us.
Throughout the bible we read stories
of the most unlikely people doing the most unlikely things. We are confronted wit the destruction of human barriers and limitations and challenged with the ways of the Spirit. For example, Moses was not a great speaker and he was called to challenge Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave Egypt. To be blunt, each and every one of the disciples was almost completely unqualified for their work. The Apostle Paul even worked for the enemy, yet the Spirit of God enabled and changed them so that
those barriers were overcome and the work of the Spirit was accomplished.
And what is the work of the Spirit? It seems to me that from this passage, the work of the Spirit is about unity amidst the diversity that is all around us. It’s not about everyone acting and dressing the same and appearing the same! The vision presented to us today is one where the people of all groups are truly equal, not because they are the same, but because they are blessed by the Spirit of God and endowed with God’s
power. Remember that the spirit enabled the people to speak different languages; the spirit did not enable the foreigners to hear the same language, that’s important I think. It’s not about uniformity, it’s about the unity of the Spirit. Its not about everyone learning the same language or about everyone becoming like us; or even like any other group; its about being able to create a community which embraces diversity and works together for the work of proclaiming the good news of God’s love for all of
creation.
We are called to a wider vision, that is of proclaiming the Good News, and the Spirit enables all of us to overcome the barriers that keep us from hearing and understanding one another. Let us allow the power of God’s Spirit to blow through our lives and our communities so that we may be enabled to be the people God’s Spirit would have us become.
Amen.
Sunday of Pentecost - Year A -- 2005
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b
1 Corinthians 12: 3b -13
John 20: 19-23
Spirit of Power