May 15, 2016 – Pentecost: May God’s words alone be spoken, may God’s words alone be heard. Amen.
Happy Pentecost!
Today is one of the most important Sundays of the Church. In fact, Pentecost & Easter were central to Christian communities for centuries. But, it seems in modern times that Pentecost has been lost to many in the church. It is such an important celebration, but the timing being as folks begin to head outdoors for mini-vacations, means that is lost on many – not to mention that there aren’t a whole lot of Pentecost cards in the Hallmark stores wishing you a windy day of fire dancing on your heads. Sadly, as one pastor put it, “To me personally, as religious observances go, Easter rates a 10, Pentecost an 8 and Christmas a 6. But the average member of my church would probably say Easter was a 10, Christmas an 8 and Pentecost a 3.” But you may have noticed over the past few years, I love this day (something about dancing up and down the aisle to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” my first Pentecost here probably gave that away), and while I won’t do that this year, I want to share with you why.
Now, before we get to all of that, I want to tell you what happened when I was working on this sermon. I had done all my research but still hadn’t written a word. It was now Saturday late morning, and I was hungry. I hadn’t had breakfast, and it was already about 10:30 in the morning, so off to the local deli I went. Now, you all know by now that I live out in Sussex County, a rural part of our great state of New Jersey, near the Pennsylvania border. Out that way you will see a lot of wildlife – pheasants, foxes, bears, hawks, snakes, cows, goats…you name it. And, crossing the roads a lot at this time of year are turtles. I once had to stop traffic in both directions on a road to let a huge snapping turtle cross the road – which was hilarious because once they get scared and hunker down in their shell, it is a challenge to get them to move (and you don’t want to pick those fellas up – not if you value your fingers).
So yesterday, as I was heading toward the main road, near the entrance of my neighborhood, I spotted a small turtle near the side of the road. I pulled over and stopped to pick him up to move him to safer territory. But, when I got to him, I saw that this little guy was hurt. Somebody had clipped him, and a piece of his bottom shell was missing (I could see his body) and he was bleeding a bit. I picked him up, put him in my truck, and raced him to the local vet. They looked at him, placed him in a box for me, and sent me to the local turtle rescue in Hardwick, about 7 miles down the road. I took him there, and they will care for him. It turns out that he is an adult male painted turtle. I pray he will be okay.
I named my new reptilian friend “Penty,” partly because he was found on the eve of Pentecost (I know, only a priest). Partly also because painted turtles live in and around the water, and we celebrate Oskar Sweet receiving the sacrament of baptism today too, in which water is the outward and visible sign of this inward and spiritual grace. But mostly because the whole time I wished I could speak to Penty – to tell him it would be okay, to ease this little fella’s fear. But, I am not the Turtle Whisperer.
Every pet owner in the world, I think, has the same wish from time to time – to be able to communicate with our animal companions. Of course, sometimes I KNOW I don’t want to hear what my cat Bogart is saying to me, but that’s another story.
But the miracle of Pentecost isn’t really about speaking, but about listening…or really about both. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles being good Jewish men and women were gathered in Jerusalem. Jews from all over the world, gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Weeks and the giving of the law, one of three times they were required to make pilgrimage and gather – the other two being Passover and the ingathering of the harvest. But for the followers of Jesus, this was a time of uncertainty. Jesus had departed, telling them that the Spirit of Truth would be with them always – but what would that look like? What did that mean? In that house in Jerusalem, they found out – a rush of wind, and tongues of fire rested on each of them – they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other languages – speech that was unfamiliar to them. It was all so strange that when they began to speak to the crowds that had gathered outside of the house in response to the noise, folks thought they were drunk. Now, that led to perhaps one of the funniest lines in all of scripture, as Peter says to them “…listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.” Apparently Peter never visited New York City – the city that never sleeps.
Now how many of us have wanted to learn a new language? I love learning languages, but unfortunately, they fade because I don’t use them regularly. When we learn them, say for a trip, it isn’t just so we can ask “Wo ist die Damen-Toilette?” or “Quanto costa questo?” – where is the ladies room or how much is this? It is also so we can understand what is being said to us too, right? The miracle wasn’t that they could speak a new language, or at least, that isn’t the entire miracle. It was that they could now listen to ones who spoke differently than they did.
This is a story that is as much about listening than about speaking. At my seminary, there is a quote that hangs on the wall. It was by the feminist theologian and former professor Nelle Morton, and it was this: “We empower one another by hearing the other to speech.”
“We empower one another by hearing the other to speech.”
That is what God is doing on Pentecost, and what God is doing now. God empowers us by hearing us into speech, so that we may in turn hear others in the same way. Or, as another commentator noted, “Pentecost isn’t about speaking incomprehensible languages. We can only speak from who we are in our totality. Pentecost is about hearing incomprehensible languages. We can hear and understand new amazing things if we know where to listen. We will be amazed if we widen our antenna range.”[1]
The importance of this empowering listening and speaking is the gift of Pentecost, and it can be profoundly life giving for ourselves and for the world around us. Because people yearn to be heard, and they also yearn for us to speak the love of Christ.
“There is story from Africa, a Swahili story, that tells of a chief who has a wife and children who are not thriving. They are sad, listless and unhappy. He sees a poor man with a wife and children who are plump and happy, always smiling. The chief asks the poor man what he must do to help his wife and children thrive. The poor man tells him, “Feed them the meat of the tongue.” The chief has his cook prepare the tongue meat of every animal in the marketplace for his wife and children to eat. But to no avail. When this fails the chief is angry. He returns to the poor man and demands that they trade wives and children. The poor man obliges. However, the chief’s new wife and children begin to grow thin and unhappy, while the poor man’s new wife and children thrive. Finally, the chief confronts his now thriving former family and demand that they return to him. When they refuse, the chief learns that “tongue meat” is the manner in which the poor man listens to his family, listens to how they feel and what they think…and to the way he speaks to his family, with kindness and compassion, telling them stories that are wondrous and funny, loving them with his words. This is why they are thriving – they are heard and they are loved. The chief learns he must change the ways in which he relates to his family if he wants them to thrive.”[2]
The gift of Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is to listen before we speak – to hear the story of the one we are meeting eye to eye, before we tell them ours. To empower them by listening them into speech – not ours, but their speech that is uniquely their own.
That is the gift of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Pentecost – but the Spirit is not a one time thing. We cannot confine her to that moment with the disciples, any more than imagine that it was the first time the Spirit was present in creation. Everywhere the Holy Spirit is at work. Even in the bible, the Holy Spirit wasn’t limited to this story in Acts, but was there at creation, and throughout our faith story. And, the Holy Spirit is at work here – right here – at Christ Church, and all around us too. The Spirit is calling us to speech, calling us to listen, calling us to action – actions that speak of what we believe, actions that lead us to new ways of being, new ways of loving in this broken world.
We will baptize Oskar. And as is our tradition, we will all process with him and his family to gather around the font as a family. When we do that, we go singing Veni Sancte Spiritus “Come Holy Spirit,” because in baptism, Oskar will be “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.” The same Holy Spirit at work from beginning of time – the same Holy Spirit that descended upon the disciples during the Festival in Jerusalem – the same Holy Spirit that continued to be at work in the world through the centuries – that Holy Spirit will be with us, with Oskar, now and always.
And over the years, Oskar, and all the other children here, will grow in this place where they are nurtured and taught that they are beloved children of God – just for being who they are. But just as important, we will empower them – we will listen them into speech – their speech – that they can be all that God intends for them in their life. That is the commitment all of us make to all who are baptized here, and it is a commitment we make to one another too.
Imagine that – a world where we are heard, yes, but where we listen to those so very different from us. Lord knows that in this time of deepening divide in our country, and all around the world, where people tend to yell over one another, or go to a weapon before stopping to listen – we need this gift of Pentecost now more than ever. And, it is there for us. It is – and the world waits in hope that we open ourselves to it.
And that is why I called this little turtle I found Penty. Penty is a reminder of the way in which the Holy Spirit seems to work in the world – unexpectedly leading us to new places, new people, new life, even new life out of brokenness. And leading us to a longing to be heard, and to be able to listen into healing.
Now, I called the Turtle Rescue later yesterday, and there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that Penty has a fracture. The good news is that the layer between the shell and the body (something the Turtle Rescue person, Harriett, called the sea loam I think?) was not punctured. I think that was the part I could see peeking out from the shell break (which was about an inch long). Anyway, Harriet said that the important thing for a wild animal is to reduce the stress levels and it is now a wait and see thing. We won’t know for another 24hrs. if Penty will survive. Harriet said that if they die from the injuries, it is usually within the first 48hrs.
Whether he lives or dies, Penty is a Pentecost story. He is a symbol of a world in much pain, of so many in need of healing love – needing to be seen, and not passed by – needing the healing tongues of loving words, and empowering ears, and the gift of healing touch.
As we gather here at our festival – the Feast of Pentecost – let us commit to opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit alive in the world today – alive here, now, in this place – and to joining her in the world – listening to those who speak differently – speech that is not only words, but how they think, and live, and love.
Let us empower them to speech by meeting them where they are in theirs – empowering them to speak not as we speak, but as they are called to do.
Let us empower them to live as well, not as we want them to live, but as God created them to live.
And let us also be heard ourselves by those around us – speaking our own joy and pain, but also of the love that Christ showed us – and living that out – looking for the ones by the side of the road that go unnoticed, and loving them into new life through God’s grace.
Amen.
For the audio of the sermon from the 10:30am service, click here:
[1] Bob Eldan. https://preachingtip.com/archives-year-c/pentecost-year-c/pentecost-day-year-c/
[2] Adapted from a story on http://sermon-stories.com/tongue-gifts/
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
May 15, 2016
The Feast of Pentecost – Year C
1st Reading – Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:25-35, 37
2nd Reading – Acts 2:1-21
Gospel – John 14:8-17, (25-27)
