Acts
2:1-21
The
Wind Blows
We need to make sure that everyone
has the basic information in their heads about Pentecost. Pentecost is the Christian Festival on which
we observe the sending (or arrival) of the Holy Spirit among the
disciples. All of this happens on “the
day of Pentecost.” “Pentecost” is not an observance added to the calendar. Pentecost is another Jewish festival onto
which Christian tradition is added. This
is a rather common practice. The events
we observe each Easter are intertwined with the ancient observance of Passover. It during Passover that the Christian story
of the Last Supper occurs. In John’s
account, it is on the day of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs that Jesus dies
an innocent death.
Pentecost was being observed, in
Jerusalem, on the day that the events described in Acts 2 are depicted. The people of God were assembled, to remember
God’s activity in the past and to commit themselves to living in accordance to
God’s hope for the future. This
celebration was already underway, and the people of God were comfortably
repeating their liturgies and carrying out their traditions. They were happy and content. Comfortable in their relationship to God.
Then. Something happens. Acts tells us that there was “a sound like
the rush of a violent wind.” The whole
house was filled with it. And soon,
those gathered in the house were filled as well. And they began to speak. And as they spoke devout followers of God
from every corner of the world heard them and could understand. Peter steps forward and tells them that all
of this is God’s doing. And he tells
them that this sound, like the rush of a violent wind, is announcing good
news. God is adding to their stories and
their traditions. God is bringing them
an update and God is inviting them to see Pentecost in a whole different light.
That is what happens. On the Day of Pentecost. As recorded in The Acts of the Apostles.
One advantage of being in a new
parish is you can retell stories. This
story was from three years ago – the week of Pentecost.
In the border between my yard and
the neighbors, there was the beautiful bed of tiger lilies. Early in the week, they were in full bloom. Beautiful and lovely and a testimony to the
work of the homeowner. The craft of the
steward showed forth. His efforts were
seen in each bloom and blossom. Then came
one of those early summer thunderstorms.
There was the sound of pounding rain and strong winds. The kind when you worry that limbs will fall
or trees be toppled. It was all over
that bed of lilies showed the effects.
Many had weathered the storm, but a goodly number were blown to the ground.
Even an armchair agronomist knows
and would quickly point out that the wind is not to blame or be feared. In fact, without the wind, those beautiful
blooms could not scatter their seeds.
Without the wind, rain would not come, and rock would not be transformed
into rich, fertile soil.
The vision, the revelation which I received
that Pentecost was an acknowledgement that these faithful stewards had used all
their craft and devotion in order to craft a thing of beauty; and then God’s
wind came. When the wind came, some of
what they had worked so hard to build was torn down. That tearing down disappointed me, Laura, and
others who were admiring what had been built up. But it is God who makes the wind to
blow. And when God’s wind blows, that
expression of God does what it is that God is doing.
We need to be careful, that we are
too limited in our ability to see. We
need to be prepared, to accept the change which comes when something like the
rush of a violent wind comes. We may be
too quick to stomp our feet and complain at the disruption this wind has
brought upon that which we have crafted.
That wind is absolutely necessary to bring to completion that which God
has created.
I didn’t do the work; but I was
still disappointed when I saw what happened to the flowerbed my neighbor had
worked so hard to establish. I caught
myself, but I did initially think “What a tragedy.” That’s when it became a vision, a revelation. Like those verses in Job when Job complains
about the worm that kills the tree that had given him shade, God reminded me
that I had not created those lilies nor had I tended them. Who was I to place my desire for a thing of
beauty above the designs and intricacies of God’s creation and the ends toward
which God is calling that which God has made?
The devout followers of God who
were gathered in Jerusalem on Pentecost were no doubt content with the world as
God had made it and revealed it to them.
They liked the beauty of their rituals and their Temple and their
understanding of God’s involvement in their lives. Then, there came a violent wind. And it filled the whole house, and eventually
it filled all those who were gathered in the house and then it began to fill
the streets and the city and eventually the whole world.
Those who were there, that first
day, probably would have liked to put that wind back in a bottle. But they couldn’t. And they didn’t. They allowed the wind to violently remake the
world and the understanding God’s people have of what that world is to be like.
They started gathering on Sundays
rather than Friday evenings. They
started making the sign of the cross when they prayed. They would not neglect the widows and orphans
– particularly the orphans and widows of those who did not share family blood
lines and/or skin tones. They begin to
write new, sacred books and they instituted new religious festivals and
reinterpreted old ones.
That wind was violent. It disrupted so much of what they had come to
know as God’s pattern for their lives.
It blew down their daylilies, and wreaked havoc on the beautiful gardens
they had planted and tended.
On this Pentecost Sunday, in the
year of our Lord 2020, we would do well to prepare ourselves for an expression
of that same violent wind. (Actually,
the text doesn’t say it was a
violent wind, but a sound, like
the rush of violent wind. I also need to
insert a reminder that the Hebrew word for “wind” is the same word as is used
for “Spirit” and “Breath.” So, this
“wind” is to be understood as God’s “Spirit,” even God’s “breath”.)
We would do well to prepare ourselves
for an expression of that same violent wind.
Let us pray that we don’t simply emerge from this experience of a world-wide
pandemic but that we move to something better.
We have experienced a remaking of what it means to be Church and to
church together. Where is God’s Spirit
moving us? Will we note the effects of
that wind and act in accordance?
We would do well to prepare ourselves
for an expression of that same violent wind.
How have we allowed another unarmed man of color to die will under
police custody? If the Church is the
bedrock of American society then the soil from which all things grows needs
some tending and attention.
The form taken by God’s agent of
change is up to God. What we need to do
is to be ready to experience it; we need to be prepared to embrace it; and I would
go so far as to say that we need to be praying for its arrival.
The thunderstorm which destroyed
the tiger lilies was of God and from God.
The disruption which began in
Jerusalem on that Pentecost Day some 2000 years ago was of God and from God.
As people of The Reformation, we
ought not be surprised at the suggestion that God’s presence among us is
calling forth additional understandings and interpretations of the ancient
writings and rituals. God’s presence is
being experienced among us; some of the daylilies may fall; but let’s make sure
we are welcoming this expression of God rather than attempting to put it back
in the bottle.
Exactly like the devout persons
gathered in Jerusalem on the very first Pentecost of the modern era, I don’t
want any wind or spirit to come and disrupt the Church, this congregation, my
life. I like things the way they
are. I have tended and crafted much of
what surrounds us today, as we gather in this place. But scripture won’t allow me to ignore how
God acts. And that bed of daylilies is an
image I can’t get out of my head. I will
work to preserve and enhance the beautiful things we have built in the name of
Christ. But I will pray, and invite you
to join me in praying, for the ability and strength to perceive, accept, and
give thanks for the change which occurs when God’s Spirit blows among us.
Amen.
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