The Spirit's Whoosh
Pentecost, June 12, 2011 (Acts 2:1-21 with Numbers 11:24-30 and John 7:37-39 in the bg
Do you ever wonder? Do you ever wonder if you can do it? "It" being whatever God is calling you to do and be? Can you fulfill your job – I mean really the way it is supposed to be done? Can you be the friend that another so desperately needs? Can you be the son or daughter that your parent may need or saw the potential of? Can you be the spouse/partner that you would like to be? Can you be the mother or father that loves your child unconditionally and yet also gives them the guiding hand they need? Can we actually follow Jesus – loving our enemies, abiding in him as He abides in the Father, being honest with ourselves and others about reality including ourselves, underlined and infused with hope? Can we grow older learning from the past, anticipating the future with joy, trusting that God is leading?
Those early apostles, those ones sent out by Jesus were wondering. I mean they had seen Jesus. They had heard Jesus. Jesus had actually touched them. And then - he died. Just when they felt all had been lost, He appeared to them. In reappearing, He commissions them in many ways. But then He had left them again. They continued to gather together regularly. They fervently are praying together. But I suspect that they were also wondering. What next? How can we follow Jesus? They may have had all kinds of doubts. They weren't the most educated, the most sophisticated, or even the wisest. Many of them were common, seemingly ordinary folk. And yet God/Jesus had entrusted them with His touch, His love, the life-changing news of His suffering, death and resurrection. I mean holy mackerel, holy smokes, jumping jehosaphat – it was so amazing. They were to do this?
They continued to come together. They continue to pray. One day the sound of wind whooshes upon them. Then they all begin to speak – but in different languages.
Have you ever noticed how certain spectacles tend to draw people? Fires can do that – whether it's a house fire, a forest fire or even a car on fire. Rushing water can also draw people – like Niagara Falls or any water rushing, gurgling, plunging down a mountain side. We as people, want to see, want to touch, want to put at least our toes in that water... Other people's misfortune can also draw us. In the aftermath of a car accident everyone just "has to" look.
Well all these "sent out" people, the apostles, are speaking in languages in the middle of this incredible wind. And the amazing thing is that even though the apostles didn't probably know any other of these other languages that they are now speaking, the people who are drawn by the spectacle of the wind now hear what the apostles are saying. For those apostles were speaking in the native languages of those who had been drawn to this spectacle. Even more amazing is what those listeners hear those early apostles proclaiming in many different languages. The proclamation is all about the mighty deeds of God.
Now the apostles may have been wondering how they were ever going to follow Jesus' mandate: to go and tell, to serve, yes to enflesh the very love of Jesus. The apostles were not necessarily wonderful speakers/orators or even wise, or educated. But now the Spirit of God moves. As a result of the Spirits action the apostles proclaim the mighty deeds of God.
We live in times that are anything but easy. There are incessant demands upon our time, our resources, our faith. There are ongoing challenges. People rob others. People shoot others. People claiming to be people of faith, harm and even seek to exploit or even kill others. Still others, many others in our society, claim that God is irrelevant. These say or imply that any who gather in the name of the triune God are deluded by fairy tales, out of touch with reality. These say that there are more important things to do, to be about: real things, things of consequence and substance like making a living, turning a profit, holidaying, recreating, even winning.
But I have to wonder about that. Can there be anything more important than being created, loved and forgiven by God – both yourself and all those you care for, even those you struggle with? Can there be anything more important than being embraced by the risen Christ who encourages us, "not to be afraid" – for He is with us, calling us to follow Him, to love and serve as He has loved and served.
If that's all true, how will we share, enflesh such reality. Sometimes, thankfully we have and we do. But other times, we react, we shut down, we seek to shut out. We are overcome by fear or anger or even selfishness. I look at myself realizing that this is true.
So, we also do well to wonder and pray. Lord, help us to proclaim your deeds of power. These – are often so different than how we envision power. Love when many hate. Service when many want to dominate. Patience and hope when the temptation is to race and despair.
Maybe those early apostles weren't so lost after all. They were still coming together to pray. During one of those seemingly ordinary gatherings, the Spirit of God whooshes in and touches them in ways that defy explanation, understanding or description. Did you hear the author of Acts try to describe – "tongues AS OF FIRE!" Then under the breath, the fire, the nurturing impetus of God's very Spirit the apostles are moved beyond their prayers to speak out – proclaiming not themselves, but the very power of God to love and care, to transform anyone into following Jesus.
This isn't just a story. This is the ongoing reality of the work of the triune God to reach out and embrace, to reconcile humanity to God's very self and then to each other and all of creation. We are being called to be active, willing, intentional participants of that story. We too may wonder how this can be because of our own limitations, doubts, fears, and apprehension.
But let me tell you, the very Spirit of God is not dead but alive, seeking to continually move in and through our world. And that Spirit bestowed on us in our baptism, moves both to have us hear but also to bear God's creative and redeeming word to the world.
By God's grace may the Holy Spirit whoosh upon us and among us, that we may begin and continue to proclaim God's mighty deeds. That you are even reading this today is a testimony to that Spirit's work. We all need this Spirit – the Spirit's breath, warming fire and living water. Our world does too.
Come holy Spirit, come! Without you we may be stuck only in wondering, too timid to actually seek to love the world with the love that Jesus so richly gives. Amen.