Today is Pentecost! While it is one of my favorite days in the seasons of the church calendar, it is also one of those weird words that we never use outside of the church. This means that, outside of the church, it probably has little to no meaning to most people.
In fact, even those raised in the church may be hard-pressed to tell you what it means and where it comes from. Some of us just know it as “the day to wear red,” which also loses its meaning when you live in a college town that has red as a school color.
Yet Pentecost is so much more than a day! Pentecost is the recognition of the gift of the Holy Spirit that formed the church. It connects us to our Jewish roots in that it comes 50 days after Easter, just as the Festival of Shavuot – the celebration of the gift of the law – happens 50 days after the Festival of the Passover.
Why is that? Make no mistake in thinking that God intended to wipe one tradition out with another. No, what God intended was to make it clear that the one who had been crucified was the one who is the fulfillment of the law. The law and its people were not to be abolished. They were being embraced, and that embrace – God’s embrace – was now being enlarged to include everyone whom God had created.
As we begin to explore what that means for us, let’s take a step back and talk about what actually happened. Each gospel has a slightly different take on the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit, but through their witness, we understand it to be real and true that Jesus was the one who made it possible for us to know and understand what it is like to stand in the very presence of God and not be destroyed.
In that sense, the disciples became like the burning bush that God used to speak to Moses. They became consumed with God’s love and God’s active presence and yet they were not destroyed by it. That was a real fear in their day and time. For God to be ‘holy’ meant that God was complete in such a way that any other person or thing could not be in the same place without diluting the holiness of God and would, therefore, be destroyed.
The Pentecost moment changed all of that, and we describe it in the way it felt and with words that point toward a reality that we barely understand. God poured God’s Holy Spirit over them. A fire was lit under, inside, and above them! The wind blew in a way that felt dangerous and comforting all at the same time, and they came out of hiding and began to speak as they never had before!
The people responded with fresh new commitments of baptism by the thousands, devoted study to the way of Jesus, and sharing resources at the most basic level – eating together around tables.
While I can tell you that every preacher hopes for a repeat of that event on any given Sunday, we especially long for it on Pentecost. Even so, I don’t think that’s what God longs for on Pentecost. God is not waiting around for the right group of people to say or do the right things in order for them to have a specific encounter with the Holy Spirit. If God is waiting on anything, it is for us to realize that the gift has already been given!
In that sense, we have all become like the burning bush that God used to speak to Moses. We all may become consumed with God’s love and God’s active presence. We all may become messengers and proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
When we hear the news of injustice done to others; when we see armed protestors bully and threaten while unarmed demonstrators are tear-gassed; when we see division being sewn between neighbor, friend, and family; we must remember that the Holy Spirit of God has already been unleashed, and we have a choice.
We can be cut to the quick, like those in the crowd, saying, “What can we do?” or we can respond with fresh devotion, speaking life-giving words, and sharing resources on the most basic level.
I say these things knowing that they are not new or revolutionary ideas. That’s kind of the point of Pentecost. We aren’t begging for a second helping. We are recognizing that we have already received everything we need to sustain us and inspire us for the things we are called to do today in response to God’s grace.
When we do that – when we fulfill that Pentecostal calling – it might just be that others are blown away by the movement of the Holy Spirit! At least, that’s how I felt this week when there were so many people arguing about what it meant to be the church versus going to church, and whether the church is a building or a congregation, and whether we are actually open or closed just because our buildings are open or closed. Yes, I participated in all of that.
In the midst of that, I saw and heard from members of this congregation who were advocating for the needs of those experiencing homelessness – even delivering food to the hotels they are staying in due to overcrowded shelters. I saw and heard from members of this congregation who were working for the release of those detained without cause. I saw and heard from members of this congregation who were making, wearing, and distributing masks as a statement of God’s love.
I saw and heard from members of this congregation who were praying together, thanking God for one another, and seeking to grow in faith regardless of age or stage of life. Then, as if on cue, a volunteer in our Meals on Wheels program who is a Roman Catholic stopped by my office with her mask covered face to remind me that God’s embrace is so much larger than I ever have in mind.
She gave me this card. It says, “A smile for you.” Then she said, “My daughter used to go to storytime when your wife read to the children at the bookstore. She wrote a bunch of these for the elderly who we deliver meals to, but I wanted to be sure your wife got one. We always loved her stories, and it was great to have some support as a parent.”
What a good and wonderful thing to do! If only we could all be as intentional in our actions of care as a child. Perhaps it is, as my colleague Bruce Reyes Chow is apt to say, “just that simple, and just that hard.”
While I do think the point of Pentecost is to remind us to be intentional about our response to God’s grace – and to connect our faith and actions in a way that makes it clear to others that God loves them – the reality is that the unleashed and sometimes conspiring Holy Spirit of God still moves through us, whether we like it or not.
The beauty in that is that God’s Holy Spirit is not limited by our limitations. God’s Holy Spirit moves us beyond them – everywhere and always whether we like it or not! Even so, those who follow Jesus are the ones who have been called to proclaim God’s grace in ways that all may hear and understand.
Beloved of God, know this: God is still holding, speaking, pushing, advocating, and proclaiming God’s love through the church. We do not proclaim or prop up the status quo. We proclaim the life-giving word of Christ in the hope that all may be one, that justice might be done, and that each may know that they, too are standing in the presence of God, consumed by the very same love that sustains us all.
I pray that it may be so for you, and for me, that all may know of God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness on this Pentecost day, and all the days that follow. Amen!
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