Acts 2: 1-21
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.’
Today is Pentecost. The second holiest day of the Christian year. It’s celebrated fifty days after Easter Sunday and marks God’s gift of the Holy Spirit. Most years, I confess, Pentecost is NOT on my mind on Easter Sunday. Easter itself is usually plenty for my little noggin to process on Easter Day! But this year, when I got home after a wonderful Easter Sunday, my attention was violently shifted… shifted to the news of nearly 300 people being killed by the bombings in churches in Sri Lanka.
That bombing had, of course, followed the shootings in the synagogue in Pittsburg in October and in the mosques in New Zealand in March. The natural, very normal response in the wake of this sort of terror, is to lay low, stay inside, and not go out! But right there on that Easter Sunday afternoon, all I could think about was the very first Pentecost when the disciples, who had hid in equally justifiable fear, were blown out of their safe upper room by the Holy Spirit… out into the streets to gather people from all over the world and become the Church. It would not stop swirling in my head.
Three days later it was St. George’s day. St. George is the saint who killed a dragon. A dragon who had demanded human sacrifices. Was it a literal dragon? I think St. George’s dragon was actually much bigger than just a single, literal dragon. I think his dragon was a symbol for the Evil in his world. These days Evil has taken on new names… names like “Gun Violence,” “Racism,” “Greed,” and “Climate Change.” But regardless of their names, these modern dragons still demand the sacrifice our young. Aye, thar still be dragons.
So with all of that swirling in my head and the inability to stop it swirling I wrote a thing. Maybe it’s a poem? Someone with an English major rather than a Biochemistry degree might help with that, but whatever it is, I shared it on Facebook and it seemed to resonate with folks so I wanted to share it today as well because I think it shows how the power of Pentecost was not only meant for the disciples or saints named George, but the power of the Holy Spirit... the power of Pentecost is also for US… TODAY as well! So here it goes…
It is not like Evil to make a mistake. Yet that is what he has done. He has shown his hand. With Pittsburgh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka.
It was greed that did it. It was Evil treating us all as equals that tore off his mask! You can see it now, can’t you? Tell me you can see it too! Tell me my Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighbors; Give me a knowing smile, my Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist friends;
Tell me that this choking smog is lifting for you as well. Give me a sign that you too can see the thick poisonous vapor, that has covered the earth, forever like a shroud; Tell me that you too can see it, thinning now through translucency, fading into transparency. Can’t you see more clearly now?
Can’t you see that Evil doesn’t care which ritual you use? Evil doesn’t care about doctrines or denominations, liturgies or litanies, what we sing or what we wear. Evil doesn’t care for one of us more than another. Evil only cares, that you stay at home, lock the door, and hide, in fear.
Evil knows that when we are alone, regardless of our faith, we all drown, in exactly, the same way.
Alone is the only place, Evil can slowly, methodically, torturously, replace the breath, the wind, the spirit in our lives day after day, drip by drip, with the dirty, murky, dank and putrid,
liquid-darkness… of fear.
Alone is where liquid death fills our lives dram by dram, until the last, fleeting whisper of wind, of breath, of spirit... passes across our lips, in a single, tiny, final, lonely, bubble.
But we’ve now seen Evil’s hand! We now see the madness of his method! We see clearly how easily Evil is undone! It is now SO clear! You see it, don’t you? All each of us needs to defeat Evil once and for all, is to unlock the door, walk one door down, and be with each other.
THAT... is the full and unreacted message of Pentecost! By violent wind, flame, or through the waters of Baptism… HOWEVER IT HAPPENS... the Holy Spirit has given us the power to go out the door, walk down the street and BE WITH THE OTHER. THAT’s the dragon’s weak spot. THAT’s Evil’s Achilles heel. By the power of the Holy Spirit, NOW WE KNOW! Whether we’re given the power to speak in tongues, a sword and lance, or hot dogs, lobster rolls and chicken salad… whether we go out the door to the sound of a violent wind, a midivil chant or to a Beatles tune… whether it is out into the streets of Jerusalem, on our trusty charger to the roads of England or out to a set of rainbow Adirondack Chairs in Sheffield. The message of Pentecost is that the un-doing of the world’s greatest Evils... Evils that often feel overwhelming and invincible... Evil’s ENTIRE UNDOING is just as simple (and just as hard) as walking out the door and being with one another in the world.
Locked away in dark upper rooms, castles or even in our churches... living in fear... THAT isn’t how we were created to live and it’s certainly not the faithful way to live on this side of the resurrection! On this Pentecost, God has once again sent the Holy Spirit to whisper into our hearts, light a fire under our backsides and to blow us out into the world!
So on this Pentecost, let us once again, with the power freely given to each of us by the Holy Spirit in our Baptisms... Let us together, once again, step out into the world, not only to bring it the kindness, compassion, love and empathy it desperately needs, but also knowing… KNOWING we have the power to undo every evil and slay every last one of the world’s most terrible dragons. Amen.
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