Pentecost, May 24, 2015

Collect for the Day

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

First Lesson: Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and they shall prophesy.

And I will show portents in the heaven above

and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

The sun shall be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood,

before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.

Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 

Reflections: An interesting note: the English “tongues” follows the wordplay in the Greek text between tongues as flames and tongues as language.

          The gift of prophecy does not entail foretelling the future (except inasmuch as the future can be anticipated from the present). Instead, biblical prophecy involves discernment of the truth and the proclamation of that truth. Both dimensions of prophecy depend on the Holy Spirit.

Left to ourselves, we succumb to the influence of the agendas and assumptions of our culture and our own interests. Discernment is seeing the truth—as opposed to seeing what we are conditioned to see, or what someone convinces us to see, or what we want to see . . . to see what is true we must transcend ourselves. Discernment—seeing what is true—is to see with the eyes of the Spirit.

But prophecy is, of course, more than discernment. Many of us can see what is wrong around us in the world today, but unless we point it out, it remains a private observation. Therefore, prophecy goes beyond discernment to proclamation. And it takes courage to name what we see. That’s risky business. Just look at what happened to prophets throughout the bible. Or look around the world today. 

Psalm 104:25-35, 37 Benedic, anima mea

O LORD, how manifold are your works! * in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, * creatures both small and great.

There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, * which you have made for the sport of it.
All of them look to you * to give them their food in due season.
You give it to them; they gather it; * you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
You hide your face, and they are terrified; * you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.
You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth.
May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; * may the LORD rejoice in all his works.
He looks at the earth and it trembles; * he touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; * I will praise my God while I have my being.
May these words of mine please him; * I will rejoice in the LORD.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. * Hallelujah!

Reflections: What’s not to love in a psalm that proclaims God’s hand in the whole of creation? The accounts of the birth of the church (as well as Christianity) usually focus so closely on the human story that we forget the context of God’s universe. We forget that we are not apart from creation, but a part of creation. Nowhere in the Bible does God eschew the larger creation in exchange for an isolated humanity. The very idea that God delights in a terrifying sea monster  puts our human preoccupations in perspective.  

Epistle: Romans 8:22-27

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Reflections: This Pauline text proclaims the continuity of the human and the nonhuman to be not only evolutionary and ecological, but also spiritual. It starts with the eager longing of the whole creation. What a thought—that we are not alone in yearning to find and fulfill our purpose. Indeed, that we are not alone. Would that have any implications for how we live in the world? For who turns out to be our “neighbor”? In fact, if we meditate on the universe as science unwraps it to us, whole vistas of sacred possibility open up.

          But above and beyond those reasons, this passage in Romans touches me more deeply than any other of the writings of Paul. That’s because I know—and I’m sure that at your most honest moments you know, too—the experience of being so awed that we are silenced—unable to pray. Like you, sometimes I have stood before the terrifying majesty of nature (like our recent floods and tornadoes?), or I been too exhausted to carry on, or I found myself powerless in the face of terrible suffering. . . . In such dark places—especially where I have felt most alone—I have discovered God already present, waiting for me.

          When we don’t know how to pray, when we can’t, the Spirit prays in us. 

 

Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Jesus said to his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But, now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?'

But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." 

Reflections: Because they love him, the disciples grieve that he will leave them. In his remark, “Yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’” it’s clear that Jesus knows the disciples are more focused on themselves than on him. Reading this, I am prompted to reflect how often my first thought about someone’s news is how it affects me.

Jesus, on the other hand, isn’t concerned about himself; he doesn’t nurse resentment or hurt that the disciples are not focused on him first. Even now he puts them first. He knows that at the moment, this is the most they can bear.

          The promise of the Advocate who can come only if Jesus goes away must seem like cold comfort. But the disciples, for whom this whole experience is new, cannot be expected to understand. Now they want to hide away, lick their wounds.

But in fact, now the need to incubate. Something in them is dying; something in them is being born. Ultimately, the disciples will find in the very events that caused them incomprehensible pain a significance they cannot now imagine.

          As God draws us from darkness to light, from dullness to wisdom, from isolation to communion, from self-absorption to love, we cannot really understand, either. But the Holy Spirit is with us, working to bring us discernment and the courage to prophecy.