June 4, 2017
Pentecost Sunday
Acts 2:1-6,12-21
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
(prayer)
As many of you know, this fall (as I approach my seventeenth year as
your minister) I will be taking a sabbatical time to engage in study, learning,
personal spiritual nurture and the blessing and opportunities of a less full
schedule.
I hope that when I return to this pulpit at Advent Time, I will have
expanded my ability to effectively minister among you.
Your Worship Committee and Church Council are organizing a schedule of
guest preachers to lead services and some of my nearby minister colleagues will
be happy to offer ministry services as needed mid-week.
Who we are as a community of faith is always more about the ministry
than the minister.
The general theme that I plan to explore this fall is “Being Church In
Times of Transition”. At the back of the
of the church is a (free-for-the-taking) brochure that I have made up to give
you some info about that.
//
The history of faith is dotted with experiences of change … of the
people of God and their institutions being in the midst of transitions.
Biblical scholarship, archeological finds, world events, scientific
discoveries, calls for justice and more have all driven change within the life
of The Church.
Some transitions have been embraced; some resisted. Some have been fueled from within the church:
others because of outside factors.
//
//
It is human nature for people to think that the time in which they are
living is the most pivotal in all of history.
The truth is that we are part of a universe that is expanding at an
ever-accelerating rate. We are (literally)
star dust on the move.
Certainly true in the realm of physics, but also at the metaphysical
levels of thought and emotion.
//
Greek philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus, is often
attributed as originating the saying The
only constant is change. While that
assertion is disputed, we do know that Heraclitus did write… Everything changes and nothing stands still and You cannot step twice into the same river.
//
Yes, the church has always been a dynamic entity… we have changed and will
change, but it is fair to say that some eras have involved times of more
intense or significant change.
//
This past week, I was gratefully involved in two significant rites of passage in the life of our
congregation: a funeral on Wednesday and a wedding on Saturday.
Junie had a
vibrant life that spanned more than 103 years.
Her family helped establish the United Church at Telfordville before the
UCCan even existed. As people shared
stories from her life it was amazing to think of how different her world was at
the bookends of her life.
Kristy and Hannah embraced some of the most
ritualistic marriage traditions in this sanctuary yesterday. A couple of their genders could not have been
legally married in Alberta a dozen years ago and many churches, today, would still deny them the opportunity to
celebrate their union as a religious act.
Things are changing.
//
Truly, you cannot stand in the
same river twice.
//
//
Some of us move easily through changes, others find change among life’s greatest challenges.
Transition - even the most welcome of transitions - involves some
measure of loss. And loss creates grief.
That is why - whether welcomed or resisted or begrudgingly accepted -
change is hard.
//
//
//
You will notice that the table clothes and banners (even my stole) have
changed colours from recent weeks. Since
Easter Sunday, we have seen White
as the liturgical colour. Today it is Red.
These textile changes mark the fact that we are transitioning into new
season.
Each year, seven weeks after Easter,
the church calendar comes to the day of Pentecost. Pentecost (shavuot - the feast of weeks) is a
Jewish festival originally celebrating the spring harvest.
●
Feast of Weeks: it is held the day following
seven weeks after Passover.
●
Pentecost: greek for fiftieth - seven weeks plus
a day equals 50 days
This hebrew holiday became part of the Christian calendar because of the
story we heard in Acts, chapter two.
//
It had been less than fifty days since the women discovered that Jesus’
body was missing from its tomb.
It had been less than fifty days since two agrieved followers of Jesus
walked (unknowingly) with the Risen Christ along the road between Jerusalem and
Emmaus.
It had been less than fifty days since Cleopas and his companion rushed
back to Jerusalem in the dark to tell the others that Christ was made known to
them in the breaking of the bread. They
arrived in time to see Jesus appear to the gathered group there with the words Peace Be with You and an invitation to
view his crucifixion wounds.
It had been less than fifty days since they had witnessed Jesus carried
up into heaven.
It had been less than fifty days since Matthias (who had followed Jesus
from the time of his baptism) was chosen to replace Judas as one of The Twelve.
//
Fifty days earlier, when Jesus and his followers took part in Passover
festivities, they had no idea how much change they would have experienced seven
weeks later when the day of Pentecost came.
//
As day dawned on Shavuot, the
group of Jesus’ followers were still together in Jerusalem (numbering more than
120 by that time).
The Spirit moved in a special way among the believers that day … so special that it was noticeable to
others in that section of the city.
As Jesus’ followers were praising God in the streets, people in the
crowd were impressed with their communication skills: preaching in non-Aramaic
languages… until it was realized that they appeared to be speaking in several
different languages simultaneously.
As people spoke about this experience, cynical onlookers wrote it off as
the effects of a drunken stupor.
Simon Peter offered a different interpretation... this (he said) was a
fulfillment of old words from the Prophet Joel: Afterwards,
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see
visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my
spirit. (Joel 2:28-29)
An broad outpouring of God that did not discriminate by age or gender or
status.
//
This is a powerful message that became a central part of the ethos of
the Jesus Movement.
A few decades later, the Apostle Paul would expand it beyond the Hebrew
people by saying that there is no longer
Jew or Greek, along with there being no longer slave or free no longer male and
female; for all are one in Christ Jesus (Galations 3:28). Paul also preached that there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit… To each is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good... All these are activated by
one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit
chooses. (1 Corinthians 12:4,7,11)
//
//
Acts tells us that there were foreign Hebrew pilgrims from every
direction in Jerusalem for the feast of weeks.
They were drawn together for a common religious practice, but their
ability to inter-relate was limited by their different languages.
It would be an overstatement of the text to say that the Movement of the
Spirit removed everyone’s language barriers - all Acts claims is that the
Aramaic words spoken by Jesus’ followers were understood by people who did not
speak Aramaic.
The first Christian Pentecost gives us a glimpse of what is possible
when we experience the gift of
understanding.
//
//
A couple of weeks ago, some world leaders met in Europe for NATO and G7
meetings. A few of them are
multilingual, but I don’t know if any of them are fluent enough in all of the
relevant languages to be able to forgo the translators.
You can always get a sense of who is truly not listening if they don't
bother to keep their earphones in when others are speaking.
//
Last weekend, I took part in a special United Church Conference
gathering in Olds. We explored the
themes of deep and authentic listening… putting in the efforts to move beyond
simply hearing and truly understanding.
This requires us to not be so focused on what we are going to say (when
it is our turn) and just be in the moment with open ears and an open mind.
//
We are living in an era when people have the ability to communicate more
quickly and directly than ever before.
With so many people carrying phones with them, we almost expect instant
responses.
I don't begrudge this… most of the time.
I am still learning to know when I should respond asap and when I need
to ignore the thing.
And yet even the most up-to-date method of electronic communication
pales to the possibilities that come from being with someone in the same place
at the same time.
Words of a page or screen offers less than
Voices over a phone, but is still less than
A video call, which is close, but not as full as
Face to face.
//
//
On this Pentecost Sunday, we are invited to appreciate what a wonderful
gift understand is.
To know and be known.
However else we might be skilled or gifted, it is central to being part
of community that we grow our desire to understand the others who share the
faith we hold. In doing so, they will
better know us, which means we can discover the best of ourselves along the way
as well.
We live in a world right now where a lack of understanding - an unwillingness to live peaceably leads to horrible violence and a call to write off whole swaths of people because they look the violent ones.
Understanding is not as easy as blanket bigotry.
But it is theasy of Pentecost.
We live in a world right now where a lack of understanding - an unwillingness to live peaceably leads to horrible violence and a call to write off whole swaths of people because they look the violent ones.
Understanding is not as easy as blanket bigotry.
But it is theasy of Pentecost.
//
//
Let us
pray:
Holy
Wind, Flame of Life, blow among us today and warm our souls so that we might be
made the whole person we can be. Amen.
***offering***
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