May 11, 2008 – Day of Pentecost
Acts 2 & John 20:19-23
Click here to download the accompanying May 11 Prayers of the Church.
Many of you are familiar with author, Robert Fulghum (Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten; It was on Fire When I Laid Down on It) but how many of you knew that before he became a bestselling author, he was a preacher? Seems that Pastor Fulghum learned a truth very early in his pastoral career, and that is, “When it’s Mothers’ day, you had better preach something about mothers!” So Fulghum determined to find out how to celebrate the integrity of the third great festival of the Church year, Pentecost, which often falls on the same day as Mothers’ Day. What he discovered is the simple fact that when a first child is born, a mother is born also. For just as baby Jesus "gave birth" to Mother Mary, she gave birth to him. Therefore, Mothers’ Day is a birthday celebration (just like Pentecost, the celebration of the birthday of the church!) And with every birth, two new, miraculous creations emerge out of one event: a baby, who is wholly without worries, and a mother, who will never again be without worry. And that’s all I have to say about Mothers’ Day. Except for the fact that on the day described in the 2nd Chapter of Acts, God used the disciples, the believers, and yes, even us, as the “mothers” of the Church that was being birthed at Pentecost.
So perhaps, as good Christian “Moms” we should be worrying a little bit more about Our Baby! I know that it is no surprise to any of you that church numbers are declining all around the world. Our ELCA has contin-uously lost membership as have all of the mainline denominations in the US and Europe. In fact, the only places the church is growing are Africa and Asia. Yes, we here at Advent have been blessed with continued growth, yet even with the addition of those non-denominational mega-churches, Christianity is on the decline. And most folks would agree that it is simply because we have not learned how to reach those who are coming after us.
Christian author Barbara Brown Taylor says, “The next generation walks right past our doors without even looking in. If they are searching at all, they are searching for more than we are offering – for a place where they may sense the presence of God, among people who show some sign of having been changed by that presence.”
So I have been thinking this week about some of the reasons this might be. Why do we not show the signs of the presence of God in our lives? Why are we not transformed and more passionate about God? I came up with a couple of reasons: First and most simply, perhaps we have NOT experienced God’s presence, and therefore we could not have been changed by it. But I think I addressed that last week – and I know that those of you sitting here have been in the presence of God. Then maybe it’s that we are afraid to show our “passionate spirituality” to the world. Maybe we don’t want to be seen as Bible-thumpers or labeled as “evangelical Christians.” Maybe it’s just our northern European heritage that keeps us comfortable with our Lutheran identity as the “frozen chosen.” Finally, it might just be that we are the teensiest bit preoccupied with Our Own Journey. Once we have our own friend Jesus, and we are sure that God is hooked in to our immediate family circle, we just might not go any further.
Reminds me of the story about a man on vacation at the beach. He stood there for long periods of time upon that beach, facing away from the ocean, pressing a seashell against his ear. The water lapped at his feet, the sun beamed down upon his head and shoulders, and the waves crashed just behind him. Firmly, he pressed the seashell against his ear. He wanted to hear the powerful surge of the ocean as it heaved and rolled. See the picture in your mind's eye: a man standing with his back to the ocean, attempting to hear the ocean in a seashell. Although in the presence of the very thing he was seeking, he was oblivious to the actuality. Some people have difficulty in recognizing that they have caught up to what they have been chasing, or are in the presence of the object of their desire. And some people just miss the overwhelming power that is all around them.
Those are just a couple of reasons that I came up with as I pondered why the world doesn’t know we have been changed by God. But perhaps it’s something else entirely. Staffer John Holt just recently gave me a book by Shane Claiborne called, The Irresistible Revolution. It’s about a young man’s search for the best way to follow Jesus. He talks about an experience of a camp-type meeting in which he and some friends answered an altar call and were born-again. It felt so good, that the next year they went back to be born again, again. And so it went year after year. He says,“preachers kept telling me to lay my life at the foot of the cross and they weren’t giving me anything to pick up…I was a believer, but I had no idea what it means to be a follower.”
So maybe we just don’t KNOW HOW to be followers. So I’m going to help you out today. First of all, I want to reintroduce one of Pastor Roger’s ideas, the “interactive part of the sermon.” For that I’d like you all to stand (if you are able.) Now move out so you are just touching fingertips with the person next to you (move into the aisles if you need to.) Now, just to make sure you know which one it is, raise your left hand. Good! Now with your arms extended at your sides, I want you to twist around to the left as far as you can comfortably go. Stop there and point with the index finger of your left hand, and then remember the spot you are pointing to. Now face front again. Ok. I want you to take in a deep breath of the Holy Spirit. Breathe in! Now imagine that the Spirit has attached a string to the top of your head and is pulling you gently up towards heaven. Your spine straightens out, your chest lifts up and you feel very tall. Now breathe in again. Now, if you are able, please twist around again. AHA! If you are like most people, you will go about 8-12 inches further than you did the first time. End of interactive part of the sermon. You may be seated. (Last night when I asked Pastor Roger to try this he said, “So, what’s the point?!” The point is that once you stretch, you can go a lot farther than you did before you stretched.)
So let’s see how far you can go if you take these three stretches home with you today. They come from the three texts appointed for today: (1) from Acts: Proclaim the Good News; (2) from First Corinthians: Use your gifts; and (3) from John’s Gospel: Your call has purpose and power. As you can imagine, I have a few more things to say about these three stretches:
Stretch #1 – Learn to speak another language. Did you notice in the story in the 2nd Chapter of Acts that it says, “They each understood in their own tongue.” Now the disciples, all men of Galilee, spoke Aramaic, like Jesus. What they didn’t say is, “Y’all go home now, learn Aramaic, and come back next Sunday at 8:30 for worship, where we’ll teach you all about being Christian.” So why should we imagine that folks will come rushing in here unless they understand in their own tongue while they are still out there? Any fishermen will tell you, you need the right BAIT, then you can reel ‘em in!
Stretch #2 - See yourself through God’s eyes. You are a Spiritual being, with gifts to share for the good of the community. God calls you beloved and precious, and has claimed you as a Child of God forever. And nothing will ever take that away from you! Nothing will ever separate God from you! Here’s a wonderful idea: We are not HUMAN BEINGS going through a temporary spiritual experience, but SPIRITUAL BEINGS going through a temporary human experience. Wouldn’t it be grand if we could all see ourselves as those beautiful spiritual beings that are temporarily here in this human life, just waiting to return to our spiritual homeland?
Keep stretching #3 – Learn how to forgive, then DO IT. (That’s one you don’t hear on Pentecost very often…) Jesus says to his disciples, “Peace be with you. (Do not have any more fear.) God has sent me, and now I am sending you. (There’s “God’s will for your life”--being sent.) Receive the Holy Spirit. (Anything I ask of you will have my own power behind it.) And now here’s the really surprising part: The Peace, the Sending and the Power are all there for the purpose of forgiveness. “If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven.” So what say we have a Festival of Forgiveness? How about you recall your entire autobiography and make a list of everyone in your life who has hurt you, betrayed you, disrespected you, not lived up to your expectations, didn’t love you enough or disappointed you. Look at your family, your friends, the nation, the world – and don’t forget God! (For all those times God didn’t live up to what your expectation of God might be – for all those times God didn’t act like God for you.) Now, stretch yourself and FORGIVE. Forgive them all. Don’t think you can? Then ask for the power of the Holy Spirit – it’s like that ocean, massed right behind you. So don’t miss the overwhelming power that has always been all around you, if you would simply turn around and see it!
Can we really stretch OUTSIDE OURSELVES? YES, WE CAN! Can we really speak a word that EVERYONE will understand? YES, WE CAN! Can we really have hearts transformed with the fire of God’s passionate LOVE? YES, WE CAN! Perhaps you need to start close in: How about those Confirmands who are at this moment, serving breakfast in the Fellowship Hall? They are already fearing the Statement of Faith they will need to make this coming fall for their Confirmation Day. Heck, they don’t even know who they are, how can they know what they believe? What kind of language could you speak to them? Or what language would you speak to those in deep grief, or those who are mentally ill? What language will first-time parents understand, or can the sandwich generation hear? What do we have to say to the young people who are finding ways to change the world-but not within the church? What language will comfort the financially unstable or those who will never be anything other than poor? And how will we learn that language? How can we learn to love them? When will we forgive them for not being just like us? And how can God change us in ways that can be understood in any language?
(At this point I picked up the candlelighter from the acolyte pew, lit it from the Christ Candle and moved the flame to a red candle that was sitting in the middle of the water in the Baptismal font.)
“The power is available from God, the Sovereign Creator of the Universe – who has given it to you.”
(With the flame now residing in the font, I extinguished the Christ Candle.)
“And now you have the power of the Holy Spirit, to do God’s work, with your hands.” Amen.
Resources: Leonard Sweet on Robert Fulghum; Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way,
Lutheran World Relief “stretching” activity.
