On Saturday night, we had our Pentecost Feast. Below is the homily I gave.
The Scriptures Lectionary for the night was:
Psalms 104:24-34
Genesis 11:1-9
John 14:8-17, 25-27
Acts 2:1-21
About twenty years ago, I went on one of my first extended stay to South America. I lived in Chile for three months, and then in Buenos Aires, Argentina for over three months. I had a passion to learn to Spanish, and could speak the language without much difficulty. I could conjugate in past, present, and future. I had no idea what the subjunctive was, but I did kind of know how to use it – not always but some. I wasn’t shy about learning a second language, I was excited, bold. I went into my South American experience with passion and excitement.
About a month into my time, my head literally hurt, my brain was on constant overload, and my heart felt lonely in ways I couldn’t quite explain. The language I was so excited to learn, so passionate about mastering, was hard. I felt like there was this barrier between me and the people, a barrier I didn’t understand.
Finally, after sobbing alone in my room and feeling like a social outcast, I remembered there was an English speaking family staying in Temuco that I’d briefly met at church the previous week. I asked my boyfriend at the time if he’d take me to their house after dinner. For one short lovely evening, I sat at this family’s kitchen island, with a cup of tea, and listened to the sibling squabbles, the couple’s chit-chat and the wife’s banter – all in my own heart langauge. That family spoke my heart language.
Now, I will be the first to tell you that our good God asks us to go outside our neighborhood and insists we take the time to learn other’s people’s cultures and ways, other people’s heart language … but I will also be the first to say, that God speaks to you in your own heart language.
Here, we have these three primary narratives from Scripture. We have the infamous story of the tower of Babel. How did we get all these languages?This chaos, where does it come from?
The story of the Tower of Babel assures us that if we try to reach God on our own, if we try to reach God in order to be God, or to use God for selfish ambition or selfish gain, God will not let God’s self be reached. God will confuse us, scramble our understanding, and chaos will ensue.
Then, we have this story in John, right before Jesus is about to go to the cross and Philip asks to see the Father, and Jesus, in classic Jesus style says … Do you understand anything yet? To be with me, is to BE with the Father. To reach God you simply have to sit in proximity to me. To be near God, come near to me. But there is actually more – more that you don’t even yet know about. If you love me, and stay near me, it’s only going to get better. There someone else. The Advocate, the Paraclete – which in Greek has many nuances, helper, encourager, advocate, counselor – will be given to you. And this helper will be with you forever.
Finally, we have the story of Pentecost in the book of Acts. Jesus has risen from the dead. And he’s left them – promising to return and also saying, “If I don’t go, I can’t send the Helper to you, and you all really want the Helper. I promise.”
They’re not exactly sure Jesus understands how much they’re going to miss him. How much they love him, or how much they need him – need his proximity. But he gets taken up to the sky anyway.
Weeks later, they’re all in this upper room, praying and The Helper, the Paracleton/paracletos – comes upon them in Power. This Helper who was so overwhelming in strength it felt like a hurricane was rushing through the house, descended upon them like a wildfire. The first thing that happened as the Spirit filled them, had to do with speaking other languages, with proclamation, with exuberant sharing.
It was such a happy, joyful party that they all ended up outside the upper room, and because all these Jews had come from all over the world for Pentecost, there were a bunch of foreigners in Jerusalem. They heard the happy Spirit-filled people declaring the wonders and goodness of God. Except it wasn’t in Hebrew – the language of Temple, the proper religious language of the Jews, nor was it in Greek, the common language of the day. Nope.
Instead, each person could hear the wonders, the goodness, the beauty of God being declared and proclaimed in their own heart language. This wasn’t chaotic confusion. This was joyful order. Not only was it joyful order, it was beautiful. But what did it mean?
Then Peter, our dear Rock, scans his memory of scripture and remembers the Prophet Joel, and gets up and preaches his best sermon and ushers in the era of Church.
This overwhelming story that gives us tingles and makes us wonder at the mysteries of God. Tongues of fire, rushing wind, and POWER. Dunamis. Dynamite. The Spirit falls and there is a whole new kind of chaos – not really chaos, abundant and overflowing joy. Understanding. Barriers falls in ways that we’re still trying to make sense of two thousand years later.
We don’t have time to go into all the wonderful nuances and implications of the gift of the Holy Spirit – the paraclete, our Helper. But we do have to say a few things.
The Holy Spirit is given to aid in communication – in our listening and in our speaking. Joan Chittister my very favorite Benedictine Nun, says, that “The spiritual life, in other words, is not achieved by denying one part of life for the sake of another. The spiritual life is achieved only by listening to all of life and learning to respond to its dimensions wholly and with integrity.” Jesus says the Spirit will lead us into all truth, and will tell us of things to come. Also Jesus says the Helper will convict us of our sin, and of right-living. The Holy Spirit is given to dwell inside of us, to be our friend and speak truth and goodness and love in our own heart language so that we might live well in this world, in relationship with God and others.
Our relationship with God, as the People of God, is not solitary. We are not islands unto ourselves. The communication is not a one-way street. The Holy Spirit does not simply tell us the truth and lead us into being the Beloved of God – the Holy Spirit also invites us to bear witness. To share the goodness and wonders, the stories of what God is doing in our lives, of what is saying. How is God leading you into all truth? Tell us about it. Bear witness to the work of God in your life. As you bear witnes, as you tell people – a neighbor, your sister, the really burned out pastor you know, the stuck up woman who drives you crazy, the homeless girl you met driving home one day faith gets sparked. You never know, The Spirit might make it that when you bear witness to God’s work in your life, they hear something about God in their heart language.
Finally, and perhaps, the most important piece of this entire homily. The thing I hope you will hear more than anything else I ever say is that the Gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all who call on the name of the Lord.
Peter declares that God will pour out God’s spirit on ALL the people, from the least to the greatest, even on the slaves and the servants.There is no caste system for receiving this good gift. The outpouring of God’s spirit levels the playing field, even the lowest servant girl will have the authority to prophesythe things of God.
This gift and its fruit are for ALL.
In an Empire where only the very rich and the very elite had power, Peter says … this Gift from God is the Gift of a whole different kind of Power, and this gift is availabe to any who call on the name of the Lord.
My friends, the ground at the foot of the cross is equal and the Gift of the Holy Spirt demonstrates and upholds this important truth. In the family of God, your family history, your class, your financial records … none of that matters. In Christ, all are One.
So, the question I ask, a little over two thousand years after that Upper Room wildfire, the radical, miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit … is what does it mean for you to walk in the power of the Spirit, today?
What is the Spirit saying to you?
What truth is God leading you into, what truth is God trying to teach you about God’s character, about the world aroud you, about your own personal calling and life?
How has God been trying to affirm you and speak to you in your own heart language?
Where or to whom is God asking you you to bear witness?
At the end of the passage in Acts 2 – we read some of the most powerful and tender words, a promise to any who would choose to hear: All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
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