Day of Pentecost 09

May 31, 2009

Ezekial 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

 Today is the day of Pentecost.  We celebrate the event that happened two thousand years ago.  Some call it the birth of the church.  This is kind of true, but there is so much more.

The events of that Pentecost day are very closely tied to two significant events in the Old Testament.  It recalls the story of Babel – when all the people of the world decided to build a tower up to heaven, so they could be like God. Do you remember what happened next?  God confused their language so that they couldn’t communicate.

But on this Day of Pentecost, we hear that when the Holy Spirit came, people who spoke many different languages were able to hear one another.

There is another connection with Hebrew Scripture.

The disciples were gathered in Jerusalem because it was the Festival of Shavuot.

The Festival celebrates God’s gift of the Torah to people  -- the gift of God’s Word – seven weeks after Passover.  After the liberation from slavery, God gave Torah.

I think being mindful of each of these predecessor stories is essential if we are to hear God’s Word today.

Essential, because this may not be an easy day to listen for God’s Word.  There may be too many other competing....anxieties in the way.

Like...my gas tank is on empty today.

I kept waiting this week for the price of gas to go down.  I found myself stopping each day to put a few gallons in my tank.  I was certain it had only increased because of the Memorial Day holiday.  I had heard on the news that the price of a barrel of oil had dropped.  So I kept waiting.  

But instead of dropping, it went up.

I started to feel that panicky feeling inside.

What if it, again, didn’t stop rising?

Many of us are also waiting to see what happens if/when GM goes into bankruptcy

 Do you feel the squeeze....the fear that comes with uncertainty?  When I feel that...pinch, m view gets smaller and smaller...  the fear gets bigger and bigger... 

Under such stress, people can get nasty with one another – judgments abound, people try to ease their anxiety by throwing blame on anyone they can think of – trying to make it stick.  Fear births ugliness, and division, and despair. 

But we are here today.  Not to escape from the world (although that may look like a very tempting option).

We are here to gather before God

            The one who Is

            The one who provides

            The one who revealed  himself in the world in Jesus....

And who then took it a step further on a day called Pentecost 

Pentecost was associated with the revelation on Sinai, becoming known as "The Season of the giving of our Torah".

The Torah is the gift of God’s Word, God’s guidance for all of life...          

On this particular day around 2000 years ago, God sent another gift to guide the people.

God finally breathed his breath into the gathered people – making us alive.

In the giving of the Spirit, God wrote his law of love and life on the hearts of people.          

We are here because when God’s people get together – things happen.  New things.  God makes people new.  Most especially when people feel the uncertainty of the future.

Quote of the day. "There's fire in the ashes and good things happening everywhere. There are reserves of life and strength in us that we never imagine are there until we absolutely need them." Jerry Smith, a Capuchin friar who runs two soup kitchens in Detroit that serve 2,000 meals a day. (USA Today)

 God is here.  Enabling us to graciously speak to one another, to listen to one another.

Grounding us in the gift of God’s Word – a living Word, through which the breath of God renews our spirits and bodies and minds – a living word through Jesus. 

The future may indeed feel fearful.  But God’s gift of the Spirit writes God’s Word in our hearts, brings God’s life in to our lives, transforms us with love.

There is no fear in love.

amen