paul said to peter you've got to rock yourself a little harder
pretend the dove from above is a dragon & your feet are on fire
Struggling over money and divisive arguments, worrying whether the children will have any faith or if the faith will have any children for that matter, handwringing over the fact that there are fewer and fewer gathered, and at whits end about the neighbors who are just so different anymore; they had dug themselves into a grave there was no getting out of…
…Oh! Wait.
Did you think I was describing Trinity?
Did you think I was describing Trinity?
No, I’m telling an older story. The story Ezekiel prophecies, the story of the Spirit’s intercession, the story of disciples as they huddled together in that room, waiting for the other shoe to drop, so deep was the grave they had dug for themselves.
That’s only half the story, though, because instead of driving the final nail in their coffin, God sent a violent wind, seemingly from out of nowhere, to tear everything apart, and do something unexpected.
Just like those bones in the desert, God sent the Spirit to go a create new life. In today’s Pentecost story the Spirit of God lit tongues of fire on all those in the room and each was filled with Jesus’ Spirit, telling the story of Jesus and mighty deeds, and wildly they were telling this story in all sorts of languages, so all their neighbors could understand.
Oh if only God would do something like that today, here even. Wouldn’t that be great? After all, we could use the help. We’ve been digging a grave for ourselves lately, too; haven’t we? What, with our bickering and bills.
I’ve told this story before, but it’s just too fitting not to tell.
A pastor I know tells this story about his first parish, a small one, out in the country. After he had been there a few months, he began planning a faith class for those who wanted to become members or anyone who just wanted to study the faith again.
Well, after promoting the class for weeks, on the day of the first class he got to his office early to prep. When it was time for the class, he swung open his office door to greet the students; and there stood two young girls. That was it…
He was disappointed, but tried not to show it. He went on with the class, and began teaching about the church-year. He went through the church seasons, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and then, finally, Pentecost.
When he came to Pentecost he explained to the girls that Pentecost is when the church celebrates the day the Holy Spirit blew in, lighting a flame upon the head of everyone gathered, and inspiring them to tell the story of God’s mighty acts in many and various languages.
At this, one of the girl’s eyes got big and she replied, “Oh Pastor, I don’t think I was here that day.”
Now that’s a funny story; but it’s also a tragic one. After all, the story is only funny to us because we’ve gone ahead and got busy with what we think is real business. We don’t expect for the Holy Spirit to do anything here anymore, all we expect is bigger bills and smaller attendance…
And when you look at it that way, you can’t help but wonder who’s really the foolish one; the girl who believed the stories she heard in the good book could be fulfilled in that shabby church her parents brought her to; or us, who gather here, at this place where Jesus had promised to show up week after week but don’t expect anything more than bills and bickering…
Luke includes the ominous detail that the wind of the Holy Spirit was a violent one that first Pentecost.
For comfortable and all too settled folks like us it seems an odd detail. Honestly, though, when you take a look at all the ways we’ve opted for ease and familiarity, you have to admit that only a violent wind will unsettle us enough from just nestling into this grave we’re busy digging ourselves into and going quietly into the night…
That’s what it was like for those disciples after the first Pentecost, too. Who knows what they were expecting, but we can be sure it wasn’t the Holy Spirit ripping through their ranks. In fact, for many of them there, that day was the last time they were in that room, because they Holy Spirit showed up and turned that grave they were digging into the exact place God went to work and sent them from the grave.
After all, like we say, God does the best work in graveyards.
Instead of putting the final nail in their coffin, the Holy Spirit showed up and gave them the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit that compelled them to step out of that grave and go out to the corners of the known world, telling about the mighty acts of this one who brings the dead back to life.
That finally, sisters and brothers, is the good and the bad news about Pentecost. The Good News is that God isn’t going to leave us to this grave we’re heading for if we’re left to our own devices. The Bad News, though, is that God isn’t going to leave us to this grave we’re heading for if we’re left to our own devices.
God is going to rescue us from the grave the way God always does; not by whipping us out and staring over new, but by coming amongst us.
God will rescue us from this grave by coming amongst us while we’re busy bickering over mammon, by coming amongst us while we’re spending all our time engaged in petty squabbles, by coming amongst us as the expenses exceed income yet again, by coming amongst us while our neighborhood continues to change.
God will rescue us by coming among us when we’ve been reduced to nothing more than old, dry bones laying out in the sun. With nothing more than those bones, God will breath new life back into us; and not just any life either, but the very life of Christ, the life that brings the dead back to life.
That promise is hard to believe, trust me, I know that.
Why this bursts upon us with the same force as it did for those disciples hiding in that room that first Pentecost. That promise rushes in and sets everything on fire. That promise gets loose and refuses to be kept within these walls.
I think the real reason this promise is so hard to believe is because deep down we all know that this grave we’ve dug for ourselves is all that we deserve. There’s no reason God should come amongst us, and rescue us from the bed we’ve made; except that God has will, not to be a God of merit, but a God of mercy.
Thanks be to God when the Father does look upon us, Jesus intercedes. Jesus says, “send the Holy Spirit there, take away their sin and give them my Spirit instead, I will go to their grave.”
And when that promise is given to sinners like us, it creates more force than those wind turbines you see barreling down the highway, it’s Pentecost all over again!
Sisters and brothers, we all have gotten a little too comfortable with that old foe, Death. Instead of leaving us to our choices, though, instead of leaving us to rot in that graves, Jesus shows up.
Sisters and brothers, receive Christ’s Spirit as the Holy Spirit gets to work right now, right here: With nothing more than these drying, brittle bones, God creates saints who can’t do anything other than rise from the grave and go out to tell the story that is our only hope, and, as it turns out, the hope of the world.
Sisters and Brothers, the Holy Spirit comes and gives us Jesus’ very Spirit and takes from us our sin and gives us Jesus’ very life, so that when Death shows us, our tomb, like Jesus’ will be empty.
It’s a violent promise, hard to believe, it puts flesh upon scorched bones, but isn’t that exactly what we need?
Amen.
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