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!
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