Hearing, Understanding, Breathing (An Interrupted Series - Where Understanding Pentecost Matters)

Pentecost is often celebrated as the birthday of the church…

…that is an occasion that might lend itself to much rejoicing – a time for singing with gusto, for banners and balloons, for welcoming new members, for confirmation and wearing red. 

 

And yet, those of you who have given birth or witnessed birth know that while there is something to be celebrated in birth, it is not a walk in the park.

 

It is hard labor.

It is sweaty and earthy.

It is painful.

It is loud.

 

So…if Pentecost marks the moment the church was born, then let’s remember it wasn’t necessarily a walk in the park. It continues to not be a walk in the park…and in fact, in this season, when it seems like the church is being reborn – perhaps as something we don’t recognize as our own – I am reminded that birth is hard and long work. 

 

But still the Holy Spirit is whipping in and out among us.

 

What happened at Pentecost was a great disruption. A shift in the action. A disturbance in the Force. A change of the winds. A promised fulfilled. A charge given.

 

After Jesus’ resurrection, he spent a period of time walking again with the disciples, helping them process what they had seen, helping them get clear on what might come next.  Advising them, coaching them, encouraging them.

 

And after Jesus had been with them a while in Jerusalem, they begin pressing him – is now the time when you are going to restore the Kingdom of Israel?

(Let’s remember that at this point, the disciples are still waiting for and hoping for some sort of political and social and economic restoration – a change of leadership rather than a change of hearts you might say.)

 

But Jesus tells them that they don’t really get to know the time – but he promises them power and gives them a charge. “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth….”

 

And then….poof.

He’s lifted up into a cloud, out of their sight.

 

Our reading for today picks up after this moment when Jesus ascends.

 

The disciples have chosen a new 12th disciple to replace Judas, and they are gathered with all that follow them – as many as 120 we’re told earlier in Acts - in a room in Jerusalem on the Jewish festival of Pentecost, which marked the 50th day after the Passover. 

 

Jerusalem was a bustling city, and Jews would gather there from far and wide for Temple obligations or for business.  So the believers are gathered together in a busy city, surrounded by many people from many places, speaking many languages.

 

And in a rushing of wind, something strange happened.

 

In the streets, for those people from many places with many languages, those different languages were no longer a barrier.  People could suddenly understand, no matter their native tongue, what the gathered followers of Jesus were saying about the mighty acts of God that they had witnessed. 

 

In the midst of the chaos, some people in the crowd speculated about the soundness of the disciples. There are always doubters and detractors, right?  “These folks must be drunk on new wine. Crazy ideas they have…miracles, wonders…right.” 

 

But Peter calls everyone’s attention to the words of the prophet Joel in which God says that God’s Spirit will be poured out. 

 

And many will prophesy and see visions. In the scripture, the voices of the prophets exist as a critique of the institutionalized status quo. The promised pouring out will be prophetic.

 

The gathered people have seen mysterious flames and felt the rushing wind and heard and understood in new and amazing ways. They have encountered their own miracle in Jerusalem. Peter encourages them to repent of their sin, to be baptized in the name of Jesus, and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

All of this on the heels of a rushing wind…

A kind of breath that surrounds them all…

A kind of breath that brings them together in mysterious ways…

A breath that creates a common understanding, a common vision, a common concern.

 

This week I have spent a lot of time pondering the violent death of another black man at the hands of the police. The widely seen video depicts George Floyd pleading…I can’t breathe.  Please officer. I can’t breathe.

 

Today those words alongside our claim on Pentecost jar me. Jar me and convict me. Call me back to the oneness of the Pentecost moment. Call me to action.

 

“I can’t breathe.”

 

“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 the ability.”

 

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit united Jews and people from all different places who speak different languages and wear different clothes and eat different foods. And they are brought together by the voice that they all understand…

 

The voice is God’s voice poured out through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

 

What a gift to be gathered with people who experience a revelation of oneness.

 

That sounds like such a beautiful breakthrough and also like a distant dream to me right now.

 

Have we lost the ability to hear and understand God’s voice speaking to us? I can be attuned myself, but if I am not tuning in with others, does it matter so much?

 

I can’t breathe…

 

Surely we all hear the fear. The primal fear that one is being deprived of breath.

 

I can’t breathe…


How is it that we could be immune to that cry?

 

I am painfully aware of my whiteness in this moment.  I am painfully aware of this congregation’s collective whiteness in this moment.  I want to share the voice of a black colleague – Rev. Jasmine Smothers, who leads a large congregation in Atlanta and has served as a powerful young adult voice in the conversations about the future of the church.  Jasmine’s father, Rodney Smothers took me under his wing in 2015 and has walked beside me as I have become a pastor.  She comes from great folk. And I am reading her full post – even the parts that I know will make people angry. Because we have GOT to learn to listen to one another and understand. Jasmine writes:

 

“This is my EVERYDAY reality.

 

Every time I leave my house, I wonder if I will make it home safely. Every time my brother or father are out, I worry that they won’t make it home. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!

 

God’s people are precious. Black people are precious. Black Lives Matter. Black people deserve to get home safely every day!

 

The truth of the matter is this: Racism is rampant in America. I saw a quote: “Racism is so American that if you fight racism, people think you’re fighting America.” Yet, we know from the experience of life that if you are not fighting the problem, you are part of the problem. It’s not enough to be “good people” anymore. We need- I need- anti-racist people to speak up and fight for justice.

 

I see your outrage over Colin Kaepernick. (By the way, his kneeling was never about the flag, the anthem, or America. It was always about the murder - the modern day lynching - of black people just for breathing (or not breathing) in America.) I see your outrage over having to wear a mask. I see your armed militias allowed to take over government buildings with no consequences, excessive force, or arrests. I see you threatening people because they don’t agree with your politics. I see you. We see you. God sees you, too.

 

Yet, I long for your outrage regarding the death of #GeorgeFloyd and #AhmaudArbery and so many others. I long for your outrage toward #AmyCooper. I long for your outrage toward politicians who use racist language and hide behind executive privilege and legislation to ensure black, brown and red people stay in their “place.”

 

I long for your #prolife outrage for people who can’t eat, jog, walk, watch birds, or breathe without fear of death. I long for you to check your own #whiteprivilege and use it to “do good.” I long for you to stand up and act to end this nightmare. I long for you to fight for equity and justice.

 

Lip service is as awful as silence.

 

When you choose silence, you choose the side of the oppressor. And when you choose the side of the oppressor, you are not choosing to follow God. This, the Bible IS actually clear about. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it in abundance.”

 

Thank you, Rev. Smothers.  Thank you.

 

 

Can we hear and UNDERSTAND and respond to the words, “I can’t breathe?” To the words of my colleague as she expresses her daily fear and asks us to step up? As she asks for us to fight for equity and justice?

 

Because if not, then we are part of the problem, creating a division that is not of God. We are broken and wrong. And it is time to repent. To turn. Not just to apologize but to act. To become.

The Pentecost story goes on from what we read today - it does not end until we get a glimpse of what life in the newly united community looks like… Shared fellowship and public worship, worship gathered together in homes, service, shared meals, learning and teaching. Prayer, generosity, service, shared resources. Commonality. Among people who might seem wildly different from one another.  Commonality – called by God’s voice.

 

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

 

What happened at Pentecost was a great disruption. A shift in the action. A disturbance in the Force. A change of the winds. A promised fulfilled. A charge given.

 

Folks, the good news is that we have the Holy Spirit as our guide.

Our call is to recognize that the power is not ours, but it surrounds us and is available to us.  It requires shared listening, shared understanding.

 

It requires action that testifies to God’s unifying power of love poured out for all.

 

May it be so.

Amen.



 

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