A Reading from Acts, the 2nd Chapter
When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a
sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where
they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a
tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from
every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd
gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native
language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are
speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native
language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and
Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of
Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds
of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does
this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the
eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in
Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these
are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No,
this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be,
God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your
old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those
days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show
portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and
smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before
the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved.’
The Holy Spirit came like the sound
of a rushing wind and appeared like tongues of fire on the disciples’ heads. To the other people in town for the festival,
the disciples didn’t exactly appear like stoic, logical, systematic Lutherans
and they didn’t look like reasonable, responsible, prudent and practical
Episcopalians either! NO!! What they looked like… was DRUNK… and drunk on
“new” wine… the cheap stuff!
Now the story doesn’t outline
exactly what sort of “DRUNK” the disciples seemed to be that day, and one of
the many dangers of the internet is that you can get distracted by a Google search
that insists there are 4, no 7, no 10, no 12 or even 15 different types of drunk,
and you can get deeply into the third article about the kinds of “drunk” there
are before you realize that the KIND of drunk the disciples were doesn’t really
matter. What matters is that the
presence of the Holy Spirit CHANGED THEM… and changed them in ways that people
from literally ALL OVER THE OUTSIDE WORLD could see more clearly than even the
disciples could see themselves!
They didn’t change themselves. The Holy Spirit changed them. Remember where the disciples had been up
until now. There had been Good Friday
and the crucifixion, which was no kind of SMALL, insignificant setback for the
disciples. They hid in fear after Jesus’
death, worried that they would be next.
Then Jesus came! Hard to believe
at first. (It’s not something you see
everyday after all) But after a few
visits by their resurrected Lord, things were looking up! And then with the disciples looking up… Jesus
left… again, this time ascending into heaven… but dead or ascended the disciples
were left alone… again… waiting in a lonely, less than joy-filled time yet
again. Jesus had promised the Advocate…
the Holy Spirit… but between the Ascension and Pentecost it was the doldrums… again. That place in between what was and what will
be, where even the smallest things seem to be oppressive and irritating. That place where even the air feels heavy and
impossible to breathe. A place without
even the lightest, faintest, most fleeting breeze.
We know a little something about
that place. We know a little something
about living in that heavy, impossible to breathe place, in between what was
and what will be. We know a little
something about things going not the way we had wanted, expected or hoped and
feeling caught in the doldrums.
This past fall we were so
energetic. As we planned for St. Matthew’s
and St. Barnabas to join us, it felt like we were planning a holiday at the
beach!! Packing, planning, making
reservations, buying stylish sun glasses and Hawaiian shirts! And it really was WONDERFUL planning. Such AMAZING work put into welcoming them. But even with the very best planning, somehow
sand got in the lunch. Flies flew in the
drinks. The bottle of sunscreen we packed
turned out to just be lotion and the beach was closed with sharks in the water. And the air got heavy… impossible to breathe,
and now here we are, in between what was and what will be, seemingly stuck in
the doldrums.
It’s good to acknowledge it. It’s good to talk about the disappointment. It’s even alright to rail against our best of
plans flying out of our control (and they REALLY were the BEST OF PLANS… the most
amazingly compassionate, well thought out and executed plans I’ve seen a church
plan and carry out in my whole career!) It’s
alright to rail against those best of plans and all that hard and passionate
work flying off the tracks in ways we never saw coming.
But just like the disciples on that
first Pentecost LOOKED DIFFERENT to the people outside their room even though
the disciples in their doldrums didn’t feel so different… Just like the
disciples didn’t realize that what they were SAYING was being HEARD by other
people in words the disciples themselves didn’t understand… I’m here to tell
you, Disciples of 209…. The Holy Spirit is HERE on this Pentecost as well! The Advocate has rushed in and even though it
feels like the doldrums, in between what was and what will be, YOU… ALL of you…
look and sound very different than the Episcopalians and Lutherans the people
outside these walls have ever seen or heard here in Augusta before.
The disciples didn’t think they were
speaking in Phrygian, Pamphylian or Meedish!
They didn’t THINK they were making the impact on the people they were
making, but the truth is that through the work of the Holy Spirit… they
WERE! And the truth is that through the
work of the Holy Spirit YOU ARE making a HUGE difference here in Augusta as
well!
You see, just like God had more in
mind for the disciples than just sitting in the doldrums in some lonely upper
room, God has more in mind for YOU as well!
God knows that YOU are not a doldrum people. And Jesus has sent you the Holy Spirit to
fill you again full of energy, plans, hopes and dreams. The Holy Spirit is continuing to make YOU
look different to the people of Augusta and even though YOU may not feel very
different… even though it feels more like the doldrums than a holiday for the
moment, the Holy Spirit continues to work in, with and under YOU in ways I don’t
think you realize or see. Just like the
disciples, no matter how it feels to you, you really do look and sound more
amazing to the people in Augusta, than you think you look or sound to
yourselves!
Prince of Peace and St. Mark’s coming
together has inspired our city! This collaboration
we are doing, the Holy Spirit has made infectious! The Holy Spirit is working, so that seeing
our collaboration at work, now the Jews and the Catholics have been inspired to
come together and do a public supper on the fifth Saturdays. The Holy Spirit working and the United Way wants
to partner with even more of the faith community, first through the warming
center, then with Addie’s Attic and Everyday Basics and now with a project to
reach out to our new neighbors who have moved here from Iraq. The Holy Spirit is working and now the Red
Barn wants to partner with us to match our diaper drive and the list goes on
and on and on! Unitarians, Muslims,
Jews, Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, Congregationalists and Quakers all are
doing more together in our community, because the Holy Spirit is working! And because of that we look different to the
people of Augusta! We look so different
it might look to some like we are drunk on new wine and here's the most amazing thing... the Holy Spirit is
CHANGING US, at work in us, both when we feel it AND when we don’t.
THAT is the Good News of Pentecost! The Advocate is at work in us and HAS BEEN at
work in us since our Baptisms, both in the times we feel it, BUT ALSO
through the times when it doesn’t. The
Advocate is continuing to light fires and fan the flames of the Gospel through each
and every one of us at the Church at 209!
My prayer for us is that like Saint Peter, we too might quickly come again
to that joyful, energetic place where we again realize what the Holy Spirit is
doing through us… That soon, we too would be blown out of the doldrums and into
the unknown future God is calling us toward, filled with joyful anticipation
for our Lord’s great and glorious day!
Amen.
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