Day of Pentecost - Year C

Welcome Statement

Good Morning Church. My Favorite liturgical day has arrived. The day we get to celebrate the birth of the church, Pentecost. This time is a time of great Joy, with a rooting in both the New And Old Testaments. We are familiar witrh the Acts reading, but there is an interesting connection the Lectionary wants to take us through in the Old Testament, to show the parallels and contrasts of each of the time periods.

Old Testament Reading - Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1–9 NRSV

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

The Demand to become equal to God

The Old Testament is full of ironies when one sees how it makes it way to the Cross. We see here the people of all stripes, shapes, and colors, with a unified language, trying to reach the heavens. There is many different interpretations of what God is doing here. The traditional narrative, the one I probably hold to the most, is that the people desired to become like God, an echo of the original sin of Adam and Eve to become like God in utility, but not by grace. At this point in history, all of the people of the world were united under a single banner, not necessarily a bad thing, but it does multiply the effect of how we are naturally antagonistic, and must find a new cause to rally against. Just as Adam and Eve basically rallied against God through ignorance, so did these people rally in ignorance, believing by creating an idol of all their achievements, they could become like God. This is not how people become God. The world says, you can become divine or god-like through utility and means. God says the only way you can become like God is through grace. What do I mean becoming like God in this context? We will take a page out of the theology of the Eastern Orthodox tradition to understand, a tradition John Wesley became intimately familiar with

Theosis - Ultimate Union With God

The aEstern church has a concept called Theosis, a fancy word simply meing to become one with God, or be in union with Him. This concept comes from the fact that because we are in Christ, God only sees Christ when he looks at us, we are enjoined to him, and because we are enjoined to him, we are lower case gods by grace. This radical notion takes purification and sanctification a step further, we aren’t just cleansed by the blood, we are resurrected into the New Humanity, which is a step closer to the Divinity in Christ, so close in fact, it’s hard to distinguish, just as Christ has a single nature of Divinity and Humanity, we find ourselves, receiving a gift of grace. The EO call this concept gods by grace with a little g, it simply means that we receive the grace of God, and inherit His Kingdom, being co-heirs to the throne. I promise this is Biblical, it is not saying that we are equal to God in stature or authority, but that he has called us to partnership and desires relationship. What would it truly be like to be in union with God? We see concepts such as Israel being referred to as the Bride. In this metaphor, it means God has built an intimate covenant with each of us. This is hard to believe that the Father isn’t just off in the clouds, like renaissance paintings show with the fingers pointing to eachother, as if there is an infinite distance between the too, and we only see echoes through the spirit. No this is not the case. I will show you why in the New Testament, we will now go to Acts and read what many call, the birth of the church.

To set the stage for our New Testament reading, this account in Acts takes place 50 days after passover in the Jewish Calendar, during a feast day called Shavout. Shavout celebrates the day when Moses was given the Torah on Mount Sinai, recall that there is a great storm on this mountain, howling winds, etc. So the parallels here become quite clear, and makes the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost significant both liturgically and Historically, rooting us to an ancient and resilient faith.

New Testament Reading - Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:1–21 NRSV

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.’

A Script is flipped

The first thing to note here, is it is almost as if the script has been flipped from the Old Testament. We are now one in Spirit, languages only make the appearance of separation, culture, origin, nationality, these are all markers that only the world has described, but it becomes clear through the spirit, we are all joined to one body. This single body transcends any institution, and denomination. That term we see in the creeds, Catholic, meaning the Holy Catholic Church, is describing a church that is universal. For example, when we celebrate world communion sunday, we are reflecting on how we are all one body, partaking in the blood and body of Christ, that we are one with God, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the present moment.

Early Church Letters

We can look to church history, through the blood of the martyrs before us, to recall what has been a consistent witness of the Spirit, even in times of imprisonment. We look back to the years between 110-117 AD. During this time, St. Ignatius, the third bishop of Antioch, on his way to be martyr’d in Rome due to persecution, he wrote a letter to Polycarp, another Christian Bishop, in smyrna. named, you guessed it, To Polycarp. In this letter, in section 7.2, he writes how a “messenger of God” or angelos in the greek, needs to be appointed to “...go into Syria, and glorify your ever active love to the praise of Christ.” Even in this low point of St. Ignatius’s tenure as a Bishop, as a Church leader, he finds urgency that the Good News must be spread all over the world, that setbacks cannot be the final word. My commentary explores a similiar word to angelos, theodromos, which means “God courier”, to give help give this idea, we really are the mail men and women for God. I think to how a while ago there was a program to mail a little tiny cross with an inscription on it to each and every household in the USA. While I don’t know if it produced any fruit, personally receiving that reminder through the mail, had a very literal irony to it about how we are supposed to be unsolicited messengers of the word. I am not saying, to go break through doors and scream jesus Loves you, but that our actions of kindness, should not be prompted except by the Holy Spirit, that our words of encouragement are genuine, as if we are sending a little cross into each neighbor’s hearts, knowing they are cherished by the lord.

Closing Statement

These past two years I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on what I’ve seen in the modern church. I see problems, of course, but I also see resiliency of the spirit to show a new thing. Christ’s community isn’t something that can be dismantled overnight, the very rocks would still cry out even if it did! WE know that all of creation groans for God in some way, and so do we.

This church, was not some historical accident, it was a promise, that God would unite with us once again, through spirit, through resurrection. We need to hold that truth dear to us, if we are to get through the valley of the shadow of death relatively unscathed. That is Good News! That we can become fearless in the faith of death, because of days like Pentecost, where we are inflamed with the Holy Spirit to speak with conviction, to speak with Love, with Truth, and with Grace. God has called us to be that voice, to be that temperment in a society that is fractured. We can see reconnection happening, healing. We certainly are still allowed to grieve for what we lose in the body, for those we’ve lost, those connections that are broken. But the Church is greater than any denomination or institution, God isn’t going to let go that easily. He’s the proclaimed end of all pain, division, and sorrow, so that’s what we can look forward to, and participate in today. Let Us Pray

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We thank you that you have given us the gift of the holy spirit, that we might become vessels of which your grace can refine like a fire through the hearts of those around us. Convict us again this pentecost sunday to recognize the Church is a timeless body, one that was ordained by you through the indwelling of the Spirit through the apostles, all the way to us today. We know we see broken chains, we see division and despair, but you somehow hold all of us together, in tension, refusing to let go. Lord we thank you for your faithfulness and trust in us by giving us this gift to wield, of the law on the heart. Help us to imprint that law of love onto others through our words and actions, indwell in us today Lord.

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

Church, know that as you exit these doors today, you cary with you, a timeless gift of spirit, throughout all of your days, a gift that has been going on for 2000 years. I now leave you with this benediction of rom Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Church of Rome:

Romans 15:13 NRSV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!