Feel the Spirit

Feel the Spirit 

Written and Delivered by: Rev. Ashley Bair 

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 

Prayer - Spirit of God, fall afresh on us today. May we be stirred by your presence. May these words offer a connection to you and to each other as we strive to be a part of the work of God while we are here on this earth. Amen.  
 

Happy Pentecost. Welcome to Pentecost, the day that the church celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit - and the way she has moved through the people of God for centuries and continues to move through us today; bringing us together, calling us to be united, as a community of people living in the grace of God, working to fulfill Christ’s mission on earth, and moving with the Spirit as she guides us.  

Pentecost is the “revolution of the intimate” as Dr. Willie James Jennings, who I quoted last week and am going to quote again because he’s that wise…the revolution of the intimate: “this is the beginning of the Church, which is a community broken open by the sheer act of God, and we are yet to comprehend the extent to which God acts and is acting to break us open. Indeed, it will be a community created by the Spirit precisely in the breaking open.”

And the “breaking open” means opening the scope of what it means to be the community of God. It means opening ourselves to know each other and to be known by those around us as we are known by God. Because that’s what a community is - a group of people who know each other. You can’t have a relationship with someone you don’t know. And what does it take to get to know someone? And for someone to be known?  

When I was studying for my social work degree, I was in a cohort of fellow classmates who were counseling and sharing experiences and best practices with each other on how to begin building trust with someone new - and one day one of my classmates brought in the book called, “The Fine Art of Small Talk.” On the back cover it says, “Do you spend an abnormal amount of time hiding in the bathroom or hanging around the buffet table at social gatherings? Does the thought of striking up a conversation with a stranger make your stomach do flip-flops? Do you sit nervously through job interviews waiting for the other person to speak? Are you nervous when it comes to meeting new people?”2 Well then, this book is for you.  

There is true skill in small talk, we all likely know someone who can carry a conversation with anyone, anytime. There are quite a few in this room today. It’s a gift. And what lies underneath the talk and the attempt of the talk, is the desire to know and be known.  

Whether you are good at small talk, or you’re not -because you would rather talk about the big things and the existential questions and get to know someone deeply right away, or you would rather wait in the back until you see someone in the same place for 5 months and you decide to say hi and see what happens - whatever tactic is comfortable for you, underneath is that same desire. Because to know someone and for them to know you is to have a relationship with them, and that is the foundation of community. To welcome someone into your life and feel welcomed in return.  

When we know people, we get to know their food, their faces, their plans, their practices, their songs, their happiness, their sadness, their ambiguity, their truth, and their place on this earth. The things that make them who they are.  

The question for us, as a church, is what does it mean for us to be this community of God, how do we, collectively, welcome people in, and be welcomed in return?  

That is what Pentecost is all about. It’s a guideline to the community of God. One that is invitational and inclusive, the community that feels the movement of the Spirit and hears the people in its midst. The Holy Spirit filled them ALL, with the languages for ALL to hear and be heard. It’s by God’s own grace that this happens, truly a revolution of the intimate.  

Because it’s one thing to be seen, it is one thing to be loved, it's another to be understood. To be with people who understand you and your language. Learning someone else’s language is a humbling experience, letting someone know yours requires vulnerability. That’s what I find so powerful about the Church - that it’s not meant to be a popularity contest, it's not meant to be based on numbers, how many people you can get to come, it's not meant to be for one kind of people…. it's a community that is called to be humbled toward each other and united in God alone - and God’s desire for everyone to know and experience grace and love through God’s people who are alive in the Holy Spirit.  

For now, as the scripture tells us: God continues to dwell with us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be in this kind of community, and with the Spirit we are united as siblings, within this congregation, with other churches worshiping right now in our area, to all over the world. 

The arrival of the Holy Spirit unites believers across many languages, many nations, and with this message of this unity, we need to be talking about what sheer act of God is breaking us open, through the power of the Spirit. That conversation is ongoing and, hopefully, changing as we listen for the Spirit’s direction. 

The very nature of the Spirit is mysterious, defying our attempts to explain or control. What we know is that the Spirit breathes life. And the life-giving power and presence of the Spirit is a gift to us - “unsolicited, unexpected, undeserved.”3 The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost marks the dawn of the Church, but it is not the dawn of the Holy Spirit; she births creation, she was hovering over the lands and waters in Genesis, resting on the prophets and those praying in the temple, and she breathes through the scriptures to us every day. The Spirit has been with us, creating, moving, empowering us, since the beginning and is God’s promise for the coming generations. The same Spirit who is the wind and breath of the Pentecostal fire - is moving the wind around us and is our own breath.4 Breathing into us our own language and giving us the tools to listen.  

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were gifted with the ability to speak other languages, the languages of those around them. In this act, the communication barriers were broken and suddenly all were heard, language was shared.  

With the ability to “hear” each other's language the disciples did not have to nudge the person next to them and ask, “What are they saying? What does that mean?” Nor did they have to take on the shame that often comes with having to confess, “I don’t understand.” They could hear it for themselves. No one had to abandon the culture that gave them an identity to hear from God. No one had to be ashamed for being misunderstood.  

“We can only imagine how the disciples felt when they noticed that they had been misunderstood. The languages were so different from what was expected that some suspiciously dismissed the holy work as the result of too much drinking. They could not even begin to think that God might be at work in it. Nevertheless, the disciples carried God’s word forward, in spite of how it even made them different, in spite of how the inevitability of life that always put them at risk of being misunderstood. By inviting each other’s language, they were not alone, in Spirit or community.”

And it's true that not all communities operate like this. History is full of examples of what has happened when the body of Christ has separated itself from each other and from God by its word or actions. We don’t need to look far to know that divisiveness is abundant. It's a tactic we use, too, sometimes. When we do not know the language, we often respond with intolerance, rather than affirm our differences as reflective of God’s will. Here in the US our languages and people are not learned out of a desire to understand, but out of necessity. We require mastering a language in order to master people.

Community for its own sake is not necessarily a good thing, but a Spirit filled community working for God is world changing. Because the body of Christ is called to disrupt division, and to disrupt suspicion and difference, by centering the good news of Jesus in a way that prompts us to extend toward people who are unlike ourselves. The power of different languages is the power of God. As a community, we have our own language. That is why it is so important to celebrate Pentecost. 

On Pentecost Sunday, we remember the Spirit of God is with us, has descended upon us, and breaks us open, breaks our community open, and we are the ongoing creation of the Spirit. We remember that ALL were included in the celebration. That the disciples desired to know and be known because they wanted to build relationships. In hearing each other and knowing each other, they were forming community. They were doing God’s work in the world by being together. As are we.  

We are a community that comes together from different places with different backgrounds to be the people to spread the news and work of Jesus Christ. How do we know each other? When we know each other's language, we get to know the people, the food, the faces, the plans, the practices, the songs, the happiness, the sadness, the ambiguity, the truth, and the place. The little circle of earth people call their home. The things that make us who we are.  

As we celebrate our new members and remember our heritage members today, it feels especially poignant to name the importance of the kind of community we are, and that no matter how long we have been here, we are the descendants of the disciples. And we all, as members of the body of Christ on earth, have the power of the Spirit with us. Wherever we share our language, and hear others, the Holy Spirit is at work.  

All who come in earnest worship, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

All who teach and come looking to learn, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

All who serve in the food pantry, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

All who listen, especially those who have gone long without being heard, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

When we are humbled; when we are vulnerable. When our doors are open, our hearts are open, our ears are open, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

Every time we grow, fully, truthfully, share our language, and our place, the Holy Spirit is at work. 

If you want to greet each other today with small talk, or big questions, or with a wave from afar, do it, and hear each other. That is our seeking to know and be known, that is the Holy Spirit at work.  

The Spirit is with us, is upon us, moves us, enables us. Bringing us together, calling us to be united, as a community of people living in the grace of God, working to fulfill Christ’s mission on earth, and moving with the Spirit as she guides us. Spirit, may we feel you here, together, today.  

Amen.