5.19.24 "Suddenly from Heaven" - Pentecost Day = Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Acts 2.1-11; John 15.26-27; 16.12-15

It’s Pentecost Sunday … 

In our reading today, a Jewish Festival … a celebration of the first fruits … a harvest festival, a spring-time event … a time to kick up the heels and have a good time … giving thanks to God for a new season of life and prosperity.

Jerusalem is a madhouse … 

Tourists from all around the Roman world … every nation under heaven, says the Bible … a cacophony of tongues, clothing and cultures … sort of like downtown LA … food stalls, souvenirs, shouting children, and tired parents … 

The word, Pentecost, means 50 … 50 days … 50 days after Passover.

50 days after the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection from the dead … Jesus came to them and taught them for the first 40 days … 

Then, the ascension … with instructions: Wait for the Holy Spirit.

The disciples return to Jerusalem - to wait … they appoint a replacement for Judas, they devote themselves to prayer … they wait.

Wait for the LORD, says the Psalmist; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

The LORD is good to those who wait … 

For God along my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from God.

When the Day of Pentecost arrives, the disciples are all together in one place … there is strength in the company of one another …

Suddenly from heaven … a sound of a rushing, violent, wind … flames above each head … and they begin to speak in other languages … 

Here is where the story opens up to a whole new chapter in God’s story … 

The Spirit has always been present … the Spirit hovers over the restless waters, in the darkness of the void … the Spirit comes to the prophets … the Spirit comes to Jesus in his baptism … 

And now the Spirit comes with the gift of language!

Everyone everywhere can hear the Good News of God’s love in their own language … their own tongue, their own culture … 

A tremendous affirmation … every language important to God … God, the creator, of every tongue … every accent, every form and shape of language … precious in the ears of God. 

Not so with us … we hop into an Uber driven by an immigrant, and we have difficulty communicating … in a doctor’s office … at a restaurant … maybe we’re impatient, frustrated, even angry.

It’s okay … patience is needed, and maybe we all can learn a few words from one another … but the point here is for the church, for it’s teachers and missionaries … learn the language of others … but more than just words … its feelings, attitudes, culture and music … a rich anthology of humanity in all of its diversity and creativity.

And if we can’t speak another language, maybe we can at least be mindful … maybe be can give the other person the benefit of our kindness, maybe we can appreciate how hard it is for them, too …

I remember the very first time I was in Europe … for several weeks of study, and how glad I was to return home, turn on the TV and hear English.

I remember my father’s parents, immigrants from the Netherlands … their heavy brogue … was it hard for them? I’m sure it was.

Yes, it’s hard … but the world is God’s world … and the world is a better place with a thousands tongues to sing God praise.

Just like the Bible … the Bible doesn’t speak with one voice; it speaks with many voices … all over the map … 

some see God this way, others see God some other way … 

those who love the laws of faith, and those who love the spirit of faith … 

those who are wary of the stranger, and those who welcome the stranger to the table … 

those who see the practical side of things, and those who dream the dreams … 

those who know how to pick up a shovel and get a job done, and those who quietly sit in prayer and meditation.

Like a choir - with all its voices: sopranos, altos, tenors, bases … a symphony, with all of its instruments; strings and brass, percussion and reeds … an organ with all of its ranks and stops and pipes … 

The best sounds are the sounds of many voices … 

An impossible dream?

Of course it’s impossible!

That’s why we dream dreams.

But think for a moment:  how many impossible dreams have come true because people dared to dream … 

And if not all the dream, then some of the dream … 

even a little of it is more than good … 

and every little bit, every time we realize any of it, the world is better, our souls are better, the light of goodness and happiness shines a little brighter.

It comes down to this: a man learns the language spoken by a woman, and the woman of the man … 

the people of the suburb learn the language spoken by a farmer, and the farmer learns the language of Wall Street … 

we all speak our own language, shaped by culture, race, color, gender, ethnicity, status, education, religion, experience, and work … 

rich and poor, rural and urban, north and south, east and west, gay and straight; the sad and the glad, the weary and the wondering … the hopeful and the distraught … we each and all have our own language.

But we can learn to listen … we can learn something of the other … we can learn how to learn from one another … 

and realize, the stranger over there is pretty much like me, and I’m pretty much like them … 

I get up in the morning with mussed hair and things on my mind … 

I sometimes see things clearly, and then I’m in a fog … 

I love deeply, yet there are times when darker thoughts and bitter feelings have play … 

we’re more alike than we are different … 

different we are, but at the core of our being: 

we want to love and be loved … 

we have great ideas and profound ambition … 

we want to be with friends, and have a decent meal … 

we want to lay down at night and feel safe … 

we want to get up in the morning, and have some toast and peanut butter.

What we do best is what we do in the strength and goodness of others … 

We’re stronger, together …  

Have you ever tried to tie a shoe with one hand?

How much better with two hands … together, we make the world better.

Suddenly from heaven …

The need for Pentecost … and we can help … 

we can help humanity tear down the walls and ease the tensions …  

when we make the faithful trek to this place, to worship the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ … 

and if we’re bedfast and homebound, if the flesh is no longer able, but the spirit is willing, we make the trip within ourselves … 

it’s the same trip … we walk with Christ in Galilee, we walk with him in the streets of Jerusalem, we sit at Table with Christ, and we hear his voice … and beside us, and all around us, the saints of bygone days, the angels of heaven, and the voices of the earth.

The church has done much good on all of this, but more is needed … more must be done … let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

Suddenly from heaven! 

Whatever happened that day, I’ll leave to your imagination …

Hallelujah and Amen!

5.12.24, "Where There Is Love" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Exodus 1.15-21; Luke 8.1-3

 

It’s Mother’s Day … and Happy Mother’s Day to all.

Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, colors and cultures, and personalities, and experience … some even have children and grandchildren.

Not all mothers have children … some are mothers of great ideas and hope … some are the mothers of invention … some are alone because of death, some are single by choice or  circumstance … some are tall and some are short … some are bold and some are old … but each and all, one-by-one, share God’s gift at work and home, in their creation and their course - to give life unto life.

Women take up art and music … song and dance …

Women do research and write big books … 

Women twist wires together on an assembly line …

Women serve in government, and church, and public life … 

Women go to work …  

in a factory … in the home …

by the stove … or in a courtroom, a boardroom, a laboratory … 

a school cafeteria, a fast-food restaurant, or JPL …

By a sickbed … at someone’s side, drying some tears, even as she weeps within …

At a graveside … or at a bus stop … in the midst of a rainstorm, or in the light of a bright sun …

A diversity of choice or circumstance … some with ease, and some in hardship … but each and all, giving life to life.

Mother’s Day … a good day to celebrate women … women of the Bible … after all, we are people of the book!

In the Bible, women play a central role.

Though to hear some men go on about it, you’d think women didn’t exist, or if they do exist, it’s merely to please men, rear children, look pretty and be quiet.

Evangelical leader, John MacArthur, says: “A woman, whether she is married or single, must recognize the fact that in general, as a woman, she must have a spirit of submission to all men.”

“Women who pastor, women who preach in a church are a disgrace,” he says, “and they openly reflect opposition to the clear command of the Word of God.”

What does the Bible offer?

The women of the Bible are fiercely independent … they are prophets, they are seers, they are poets and lovers, they are wives and mothers, they are queens, they are entrepreneurs, they are soldiers … they are muses and musicians …they are all over the map … strong, creative, smart, savvy, inventive, clever, dramatic, determined, resilient, and dangerous … they are devoted, clever, cantankerous, prayerful, resourceful, and sometimes, even a little devious, to pull the wool over the man’s eyes.

From the Book of Exodus, one of my favorite stories:

There’s a “population explosion” for the Hebrew People … Pharaoh is worried, so he tells the Hebrew midwives, “destroy the baby boys at birth” … the midwives “fear God” more than then fear Pharaoh, so they tell Pharaoh, the Hebrew women are so healthy, they give birth before we get to them.

The midwives are named: Shiprah and Puah … they’re clever, resourceful, and defiant.   

And then the three Patriarchs, of course, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob … but the Scriptures are clear; woman play a vital role in all it; Sarah & Hagar, Rebecca … Leah and Rachel …  

We have Miriam the Prophet … sister of Moses and Aaron …  

We have Deborah, a judge … she guides, rules, and helps her people.

We have Hannah, the mother of Samuel the Prophet.

An enemy commander flees the battlefield, seeks shelter with a family he thought to be a friend … Jael welcomes him to the tent … while he’s fast asleep with exhaustion, she dispatches him … 

Jael doesn’t have a weapon - she has only the household tools of hammer and tent peg.

I’ll spare you the details …

Abimelech, a cruel and vicious man, wages war again and again … besieging a city, a certain woman threw a millstone on Abimelech’s head - he’s mortally wounded, but couldn’t bear the idea - a women who did him in, so he calls his sword bearer to finish him off. Better to die by the sword than a bump on the head delivered by a woman.

And who can forget the woman of Jericho, Rahab, she welcomes the Israelite spies into the city, because she honors their God, and when the city is taken, her life is spared, and that of her family … centuries later, we find her name in the geneology of Jesus.

There is Ruth, a young widow devoted to her mother-in-law … the great grandmother of King David.

There is Esther in faraway Persia, Queen Esther, who puts her life at risk to save her people.

The women of the New Testament … Mary the Mother of Jesus, a young girl with a mountain of faith, a keen mind and plenty of questions … Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist … Mary Magdalene … and who can forget the woman who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears and hair?

A woman beset with physical needs, touches the hem of his garment … Jesus stops and blesses her with healing.

Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward … and Susanna, and other women, funnel money to the disciples.

A Canaanite woman comes to Jesus on behalf of her daughter … she and Jesus engage in serious banter, about who’s in and who’s out … Jesus “challenges” her, with a wink, and she responds with cleverness, frankness, and faith … Jesus honors her.

The “immoral” woman brought to Jesus to be stoned by the mob … the Samaritan woman at the well, all alone, because of her “immorality” … Jesus responds with kindness and mercy.

Jesus is crucified … it’s the women who remain.

It’s the women who go to the Tomb early in the morning, and to the women, the first announcement, He is risen! 

During the Middle Ages, two women, leaders in the early church, lost their names in translation … because monks, with the flip of a pen, thought it improper to have women in authority:

Junia, becomes Junias,  …

Euodia becomes Euodias … 

Newer translations have corrected this!

Throughout church history, women have played a prominent role.

But often at great cost … 

Women who spoke out were forced into convents by church and family, or worse … one thinks of Joan of Arc, and the Salem Witch Trials.

Women were denied the priesthood and the pulpit … to this very day, in too many churches, women are still denied their rightful place in the sunshine of God’s love …

On this Mother’s Day, I celebrate the progress women have made in the last 150 years …  

The women of our world.

All are mothers … givers of life to life.

Some have children, some have dreams.

Some have calloused hands, some have bruised hearts.

Some are celebrities and in the news.

Most go about their lives quietly, creatively, as best they can.

God be praised for each of you.

God be praised for your work and faithfulness, 

your love, your intelligence, 

your goodness, your wisdom … 

your determination, your vision.

your skills, your abilities, your faith, hope, and love.

May burdens be lighter, 

may barriers be removed, 

may respect and honor increase; 

may the benefits of life be yours … 

may the light of Christ shine all around you.

Because you - give life to life.

You are woman!

Amen and Amen!