Nothing much has changes since the first Pentecost

All the Christian archetypes were already in place on the very first day.

The story opens with that small group of believers isolating themselves all together in one place …Like in John’s gospel when they were all gathered  behind locked doors, as the text says for fear.  Fear of the people who didn’t get their church.  Fear of impurity.  Fear of reprisal.  Fear of dilution.   They were afraid of other people so they all stayed together. Had they actually known better they would have been even more afraid because what was about to happen would have freaked out even the bravest amongst us. The danger they were in wasn’t from outsiders – it was from a God who is about to crash the party and bring in everyone they’re trying to avoid.

         And here we all are still, just like at Pentecost.  See, we still have fear and isolation in the church. It’s called sectarianism.  So nothing’s changed there.  And those people who did the whole crazy speaking in tongues thing that frankly I don’t really get…well, there’s the Pentecostals.  Nothing’s changed there.  And then the  first time people started speaking in tongues there were probably also the polite people who know better than to lose control in ecstatic religiousity. We call them Presbyterians I believe. Nothing’s changed there.  Then that long list of how many different nationalities were present was of course added by the first UCC’er or other good liberal flashing their multicultural credentials.  Nothing’s changed there.  Then there were those who witnessed this powerful act of God---this Pente-chaos--- and, in an attempt at intellectualizing the experience of the faith, all they could think to say was “well what does this mean”. So they were like, the first Lutherans.  Nothing’s changed there.

   And those who said  “They are drunk on new wine” must have been some Evangelicals focused on the personal morality of others. Nothing’s changed.   Then finally there’s the nice but completely naive guy who says” O come on there’s no way they can be drunk…it’s only 9 o clock in the morning”  So there we have what we call the Methodists.  Nothing’s changed a whole lot. 

 

People are people. There are the emotional ones, the judgmental one, the naïve ones, the proud ones and of course the ones like myself who insist on categorizing and naming everyone as though people can be reduced to a label. I mean honestly…it’s ridiculous.

 So there we all are even from the beginning.  Flawed, smug, confused, embarrassed and embarrassing…and the very people to whom God sends the spirit. Because see,  God hasn’t changed either. Just like that first Pentecost God still messes up our plans and interrupts our pride.

This is what is so dangerous about the whole thing.

(excerpt from last year's sermon)

Comments

[Leanna]

As always. you blow me away.

[Rachel]

Funny your checklist had me thinking E: All of the above.
(There are the emotional ones, the judgmental one, the naïve ones, the proud ones and of course the ones like myself who insist on categorizing and naming everyone as though people can be reduced to a label.)

[Andy Squyres]

I have not laughed that hard in a really long time. Thank you for this wonderful observation. It's all true and still I love the Church all the more.

[Coffeepastor]

As a UCCer, "ouch." But also, "yeah..."

[Brad Evans]

How about the Stupid Ones who actually think that this happened and that it has anything to do with real life?
Do you know that traditional Lutheran lands are among the most secularized in Europe? What does that say for the "staying power" of your beliefs?
If your own people can't be bothered to show up except for funerals and the odd wedding, why would anyone else?

[Jason Bense]

Here's what I shared on the California capital steps for the first Harvey Milk Day:

It is fitting that this festival day marking Harvey Milk’s birthday incidentally coincides with Pentecost, a commonly known as the church’s birthday.On this vigil of Pentecost, on this natal day of Harvey, we can see a world transformed.

Today Harvey Milk would have been eighty years old were he not slain by Dan White in 1978. Today we mark him as a martyr of faith, of the hope and equality for all gays and lesbians, for bisexuals and the transgendered and all sexual minorities.

But hope is mere optimism if it does not know and take seriously its twin counter part: despair. Harvey named the true perversion he saw in the world: people slaughtering, dividing and hating one another on the basis of religion. Harvey is a true witness for today because he was human in every way; he did not lead an easy life.

Yet he was compelled to stand boldly to shatter despair and fear. He knew that such hope that was in him was unable to be silent. In his own words: “if a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.”

In the 20th chapter of John, we find disciples cowered in a locked room afraid, afraid of death, afraid of violence, afraid of responsibility, afraid of life. Then Jesus appears and with a movement of God’s spirit amidst locked doors and locked hearts, God’s Spirit breathes into them, onto the, among them, and the Word becomes flesh, they – we – become this resurrected body of peace in the world.

Today is that Pentecost movement, of that time when God’s spirit of peace comes to rest of the head of each to know and become enthralled into a movement of justice and equality with each hearing and declaring the truth in their own native tongue.

To be queer without fear is the life of Harvey and is the Pentecost promise.

So, we thank you, O God, for all your servants and witnesses of times past: for Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Deborah and Gideon, Samuel and Hannah; for Isaiah and the prophets; for Mary and Martha, for David and Jonathan, for Jesus and Beloved John, for Mary, mother of our Lord; for Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, and for all the apostles, for Stephen and Phoebe, and for all the martyrs and saints in every time and in every land. Especially this day, we give thanks for Harvey. In your mercy, give us, as you gave to them, the hope of salvation. Free us from prejudice and fear, that we may see your face, God, in the faces of people around us. So lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace so fill our hearts, our world, our universe. Kindle in us, O God, that your holy and life- giving Spirit of love to move every human heart; that the barriers dividing us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; and that, with our divisions healed, we might live in justice and peace. Amen.

[Alex]

Who are two women on the top left and right in this icon?