May 31, 2009 at Saint Mark in Norman, OK
Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11 + Psalm 104 + Galatians 5: 16-25 + John 15: 26-27, 16: 12-15
Wind and Fire is something we know about in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, because of the destruction wind and fire bring in this climate, there is not much positive thought provoked by the thought of the two. But for people rooted in the images and stories of the Scriptures it is different. From the Bible’s Book of Beginnings: “Genesis” wind brings life sweeping over the primordial waters bringing with it order and wondrous harmony in the universe.
An east wind at their back enabled the Israelites to cross a Sea. For Job an experience of the living God occurred in a whirlwind. Ezekiel’s prophetic visions were carried on winds, and when his ministry ended Elijah assumed his role only to be swept up to God in a whirling wind.
Over and over again, fire breaks out in the history of God’s presence with his people. A covenant with Abraham is sealed with a sacrificial fire. Moses is summoned to his mission and purified before a burning bush. He leads Israel through the desert with a pillar of fire assuring all who followed that their path was God struck and protected.
To this day, a torch of fire initiates Olympic Games, candlelight vigils mark tragic deaths, and “eternal flames” burn at sacred places and tombs. We get the idea, but yet we somehow do not make the deeper connections. Saint Luke in Acts of the Apostles, Saint Paul in his Letters, and Saint John give us a way to connect the dots, so to speak, and move ahead because Pentecost is not a feast or day on the Calendar. It is a people who live by the Spirit, who are filled with the Spirit, who more than knowing something about Jesus have begun to do something about Jesus.
In our fascination with things, we can hold, touch, and control, our Baptisms leave some to wonder and even ask if we have been Baptized by the Spirit. The question bears witness to the lack of fire in our lives. Water flows on the outside, but Spirit must burn within not to destroy but to purify, to cleanse, and fortify. We listen to the evidence of the Spirit Luke describes with rich biblical images in Jerusalem but we get all distracted by silly details only made worse by the rendition of that day artists have left us with a carefully arranged group of over-robed people sitting around with their eyes rolling up in surprise at tiny flames overhead as though they were afraid their hair might catch fire!
That is not Pentecost! What Luke and Paul and John describe as Pentecost consists of people who take courage, who have burst out of their individualistic private little selves to become one, and a people who know peace. Pentecost is the consequence of the incarnation: this day is the reason we celebrated Christmas. It is the presence of God in human life. Pentecost is the indwelling of God’s Spirit, God’s Life in the human family.
We shall have that Spirit and know that Spirit when we live with courage in the face of anything that is opposed to God’s Life and Presence. That Courage does not mean there is no fear. Only a fool has no fear. Courage means that fear is not in control and we are not afraid to speak, to act, to live as people of God while remembering that every other living being holds the same spirit making their lives precious and holy in God’s sight. The Spirit of God is not selective, exclusive, nor contained or controlled by anyone but God. That promised Spirit has come upon the whole earth to renew the earth and everyone on the earth. That Spirit is not the privilege of a few or an institution; for our history reveals countless times when a single spirit-filled person of courage said: “No.” or “There is another way.” They are the likes of Francis and Catherine, Ignatius, or Becket. Pentecost People have the Spirit, and we know them by the fruits of their lives more than by their names. Paul gives us some clues to look for.
We shall have that Spirit and know that Spirit when the human family is more important than nationalistic self interest. People everywhere from here to pirates in Asian Seas are so involved in their national interests that they fail to consider other national interests. In an interconnected world, local effects have global repercussions. Riches in another region result in poverty elsewhere. The good life in one country is financed by impoverishing lives in another. A coffee picker in one country could eat for a week with what we spend of mocha late. Africans live in chaos today because colonizers wanted the resources of that land to live more comfortably at home, so they arbitrarily divided up that continent into manageable artificial countries without respecting ancient tribal enmities, and then we get shocked when tribes kill each other
All of this is beyond our personal control, and huge injustices spring from structural evil; but we are not without guilt because we benefit from the system that creates our wealth and live in a sinful situation. If one of the fruits of the Spirit is oneness it has something more to do with the whole human family than with patriotic songs or team spirit over a game. That Spirit awakens us to a moral obligation to spend less on ourselves separating us from evil structures and leading us to give to the poor strengthening our communion with them. As long as we are divided between us and them, we are separated from the Kingdom of God.
The dying breath of Jesus was the breath of peace and forgiveness. The beginning of peace is in the human heart, and a heart that refuses forgiveness knows no peace. It is in a peaceful heart that Christ dwells, and from that heart flow joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity and self control. When we grow in the spirit of peace, peace will come, and not until then.
When the wind blows, the seeds of Good News are scattered everywhere. With the wind at their back, that crowd in Jerusalem: all of them, not just twelve began to spread seeds of unity and joy, life and hope, justice and peace. With fire in their souls, they started something that caused every empire of the world to take notice. If what happened in Jerusalem is just a story from a day long ago dissolving into distant memory with no bearing on our present experience then it’s time for a new Pentecost in this place, in our lives. God’s wind still blows and God’s fire still burns, and the Spirit of Jesus still breathes on us. Knowing this however is not enough. What are we to do? we must ask.