Year B
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
Romans 8:22-27
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Genesis 11:1 says\u2026 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words<\/em>\u2026 but when those people\u2026 decided to build that tower\u2026 whose top was in the heavens\u2026 because they were getting a little too big for their britches\u2026 and wanted to make a name for themselves\u2026 God came down\u2026 and confused them\u2026 created different languages\u2026 purposely threw a wrench into the gears of their building project\u2026 and while Pentecost can be understood as the undoing of God’s action at the Tower of Babel\u2026 there’s another angle to it\u2026 another\u2026 deeper perspective\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only were the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit\u2026 and able to speak in the dozen or so languages of those present\u2026 from all those other places\u2026 not only were those who heard able to understand what was being said about God’s deeds of power\u2026 but by simply facilitating this understanding\u2026 the Holy Spirit implicitly affirms this linguistic diversity\u2026 celebrates it in fact\u2026 doesn’t try to go back to Genesis 11:1\u2026 with one language and the same words\u2026 and because this linguistic diversity was celebrated\u2026 then all of the subtle influences\u2026 all of the diverse factors which contributed to the creation and development of these languages\u2026 had to be celebrated too\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Hispanic pastor tells the story\u2026 that when he was young\u2026 a staff person at a Christian youth camp he attended\u2026 made fun of another Latino kid and him as they played together and spoke Spanglish\u2026 the staff person chided them\u2026 I bet you two can\u2019t even do math in American\u2026 you best be speaking English here<\/em>\u2026 the absurdity of that confounded him at the time\u2026 as if Spanish and English had different numerals or mathematical rules\u2026 but the racism was clear\u2026 the Christian counselor\u2019s scolding taught him\u2026 that to speak Spanish in the United States has been racialized as a refusal of U.S. Euro-nationalist culture\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So at Pentecost\u2026 God does not impose a common language\u2026 instead\u2026 God affirms human diversity as holy\u2026 I will pour out my Spirit upon <\/em>all<\/em>flesh<\/em>\u2026 <\/em> and the book of Acts tracks the migration of the Holy Spirit\u2026 as the Gospel of Jesus wanders through peoples\u2026 and across lands… flowing from one body to another\u2026 a nomadic gospel which trespasses borders and cultures\u2026 and which validates diversity by not avoiding it\u2026 and the people described in Acts\u2026 the Jews who had been dispersed\u2026 who were now gathered back together in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost\u2026 these Jews have been born into a new family\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And there’s another important aspect to the Gospel part of this story\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 if I don’t go away\u2026 the Advocate won’t come\u2026 because the Advocate will testify\u2026 will tell the Truth\u2026 and he instructs the apostles to do the same\u2026 tell the truth\u2026 even if your voice shakes\u2026 and as Bp. Satterlee pointed out\u2026 that if the Holy Spirit gives faith to those who receive the Gospel\u2026 then Jesus is the what of preaching\u2026 and the Holy Spirit is the how of preaching\u2026 then Jesus is the word of preaching\u2026 and the Holy Spirit is the breath of preaching\u2026 one of them without the other\u2026 just doesn’t work\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And let’s remember\u2026 the Holy Spirit comes on\u2026 falls on the company of apostles\u2026 on the community\u2026 and not just on individual apostles\u2026 the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to the church\u2026 and receiving and discerning the gifts of the Spirit\u2026 happens in the church\u2026 that’s why\u2026 for example\u2026 some things are discerned in the church community\u2026 like the discernment of gifts\u2026 and some things in the wider community\u2026 like whether mask-wearing remains prudent even when the CDC loosens restrictions\u2026 and some things which seem like great ideas\u2026 may turn out to be not-so-great ideas\u2026 and some things which seem like they’d be bad choices\u2026 may turn out to bring blessing…<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great wisdom of Pentecost is the recognition\u2026 through the Spirit\u2026 of an underlying unity amidst many differences\u2026 but diversity was never meant to be divisive\u2026 though there may be some exceptions\u2026 like selfishness\u2026 arrogance\u2026 greed\u2026 racism\u2026 white supremacy\u2026 any of those unholy spirits which put oneself… or one’s group\u2026 over and above all others\u2026 and which are unholy to God because they don’t lift up the unity that Jesus and God and the Spirit shared\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Kathleen Walker\u2026 who serves the black ministries in the Diocese of North Carolina\u2026 writes\u2026 that after Dorothy arrives in the land of Oz\u2026 she makes three new friends\u2026 the Cowardly Lion… the Scarecrow\u2026 and the Tin Woodsman\u2026 the lion is seeking courage… the scarecrow wants a brain\u2026 and the tin man is pleading for a heart\u2026 but what the Wizard reveals\u2026 is that they already possess the very things\u2026 for which they were searching\u2026 the qualities they desire are already within them\u2026 and these three archetypes remind me of what Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool provides us\u2026 the courage to break from tradition when it no longer serves us well… the reasoning brain which is capable of new insights and creativity\u2026 and the prophetic heart which calls us back to the Word when we’ve strayed too far afield\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s another story\u2026 about a peace ceremony which included Native Americans and Europeans\u2026 and when one of the white men began to speak\u2026 one of the Native Americans began to translate for the Chief who spoke no English\u2026 and immediately\u2026 the Chief hushed the translator\u2026 and said in his own language\u2026 please don’t\u2026 I love to feel where the words come from<\/em>\u2026 I wonder if he wanted to listen for the sighs of the Spirit\u2026 which are too deep for words\u2026 you see\u2026 whether there’s one language and the same words\u2026 or a thousand languages and a billion words\u2026 God understands them all\u2026 and understands the heart from which they arise\u2026 as Jesus said in Matthew 15:11,18\u2026 it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles\u2026 and what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are our truths\u2026 and there’s God’s Truth\u2026 there are our experiences\u2026 and there’s God’s experience\u2026 and sometimes they’re just not the same\u2026 that’s why today’s reading from Romans refers to our birth pangs\u2026 to the light that’s inside of us and that is just clamoring to get out\u2026 though because of fear\u2026 ignorance\u2026 and heartlessness\u2026 we can become more concerned about political correctness\u2026 than truth telling\u2026 but the Spirit invites us into unity\u2026 prays for us in our weakness\u2026 the Spirit helps pull us out of ourselves\u2026 and helps us to love our neighbor as ourselves\u2026 the Spirit helps us discern the diversity which is of God\u2026 and that which goes against God’s will for us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And sometimes\u2026 it takes courage\u2026 a brain\u2026 and a heart\u2026 to speak God’s truth\u2026 even though our voice may shake\u2026 and to hear the Spirit reassure us\u2026 that God and not the ruler of this world\u2026 will be victorious\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104:25-35, 37 Romans 8:22-27 John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 Genesis 11:1 says\u2026 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words\u2026 but when those people\u2026 decided to build that tower\u2026 whose top was in the heavens\u2026 because they were getting a little too big for their britches\u2026 and wanted to make a name for themselves\u2026 God came down\u2026 and confused them\u2026 created different languages\u2026 purposely threw a wrench into the gears of their building project\u2026 and while Pentecost can be understood as the undoing of God’s action at the Tower of Babel\u2026 there’s another angle to it\u2026 another\u2026 deeper perspective\u2026 Not only were the disciples filled with the Holy Spirit\u2026 and able to speak in the dozen or so languages of those present\u2026 from all those other places\u2026 not only were those who heard able to understand what was being said about God’s deeds of power\u2026 but by simply facilitating this understanding\u2026 the Holy Spirit implicitly affirms this linguistic diversity\u2026 celebrates it in fact\u2026 doesn’t try to go back to Genesis 11:1\u2026 with one language and the same words\u2026 and because this linguistic diversity was celebrated\u2026 then all of the subtle influences\u2026 all of the diverse factors which contributed to the creation and development of these languages\u2026 had to be celebrated too\u2026 A Hispanic pastor tells the story\u2026 that when he was young\u2026 a staff person at a Christian youth camp he attended\u2026 made fun of another Latino kid and him as they played together and spoke Spanglish\u2026 the staff person chided them\u2026 I bet you two can\u2019t even do math in American\u2026 you best be speaking English here\u2026 the absurdity of that confounded him at the time\u2026 as if Spanish and English had different numerals or mathematical rules\u2026 but the racism was clear\u2026 the Christian counselor\u2019s scolding taught him\u2026 that to speak Spanish in the United States has been racialized as a refusal of U.S. Euro-nationalist culture\u2026 So at Pentecost\u2026 God does not impose a common language\u2026 instead\u2026 God affirms human diversity as holy\u2026 I will pour out my Spirit upon allflesh\u2026 and the book of Acts tracks the migration of the Holy Spirit\u2026 as the Gospel of Jesus wanders through peoples\u2026 and across lands… flowing from one body to another\u2026 a nomadic gospel which trespasses borders and cultures\u2026 and which validates diversity by not avoiding it\u2026 and the people described in Acts\u2026 the Jews who had been dispersed\u2026 who were now gathered back together in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost\u2026 these Jews have been born into a new family\u2026 And there’s another important aspect to the Gospel part of this story\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 if I don’t go away\u2026 the Advocate won’t come\u2026 because the Advocate will testify\u2026 will tell the Truth\u2026 and he instructs the apostles to do the same\u2026 tell the truth\u2026 even if your voice shakes\u2026 and as Bp. Satterlee pointed out\u2026 that if the Holy Spirit gives faith to those who receive the Gospel\u2026 then Jesus is the what of preaching\u2026 and the Holy Spirit is the how of preaching\u2026 then Jesus is the word of preaching\u2026 and the Holy Spirit is the breath of preaching\u2026 one of them without the other\u2026 just doesn’t work\u2026 And let’s remember\u2026 the Holy Spirit comes on\u2026 falls on the company of apostles\u2026 on the community\u2026 and not just on individual apostles\u2026 the Holy Spirit is Jesus’ gift to the church\u2026 and receiving and discerning the gifts of the Spirit\u2026 happens in the church\u2026 that’s why\u2026 for example\u2026 some things are discerned in the church community\u2026 like the discernment of gifts\u2026 and some things in the wider community\u2026 like whether mask-wearing remains prudent even when the CDC loosens restrictions\u2026 and some things which seem like great ideas\u2026 may turn out to be not-so-great ideas\u2026 and some things which seem like they’d be bad choices\u2026 may turn out to bring blessing… The great wisdom of Pentecost is the recognition\u2026 through the Spirit\u2026 of an underlying unity amidst many differences\u2026 but diversity was never meant to be divisive\u2026 though there may be some exceptions\u2026 like selfishness\u2026 arrogance\u2026 greed\u2026 racism\u2026 white supremacy\u2026 any of those unholy spirits which put oneself… or one’s group\u2026 over and above all others\u2026 and which are unholy to God because they don’t lift up the unity that Jesus and God and the Spirit shared\u2026 The Rev. Kathleen Walker\u2026 who serves the black ministries in the Diocese of North Carolina\u2026 writes\u2026 that after Dorothy arrives in the land of Oz\u2026 she makes three new friends\u2026 the Cowardly Lion… the Scarecrow\u2026 and the Tin Woodsman\u2026 the lion is seeking courage… the scarecrow wants a brain\u2026 and the tin man is pleading for a heart\u2026 but what the Wizard reveals\u2026 is that they already possess the very things\u2026 for which they were searching\u2026 the qualities they desire are already within them\u2026 and these three archetypes remind me of what Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool provides us\u2026 the courage to break from tradition when it no longer serves us well… the reasoning brain which is capable of new insights and creativity\u2026 and the prophetic heart which calls us back to the Word when we’ve strayed too far afield\u2026 There’s another story\u2026 about a peace ceremony which included Native Americans and Europeans\u2026 and when one of the white men began to speak\u2026 one of the Native Americans began to translate for the Chief who spoke no English\u2026 and immediately\u2026 the Chief hushed the translator\u2026 and said in his own language\u2026 please don’t\u2026 I love to feel where the words come from\u2026 I wonder if he wanted to listen for the sighs of the Spirit\u2026 which are too deep for words\u2026 you see\u2026 whether there’s one language and the same words\u2026 or a thousand languages and a billion words\u2026 God understands them all\u2026 and understands the heart from which they arise\u2026 as Jesus said in Matthew 15:11,18\u2026 it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles\u2026 and what comes out of the mouth proceeds from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1233,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}