Happy Pentecost! Today we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit – and the gifts the Holy Spirit empowers in us. The gift of the Holy Spirit came on that first Pentecost like the wind. They could not see it. But they could hear it come “like the rush of a violent wind” – and they could feel the effects of it.
If you have ever driven along the interstate in Nebraska you might have seen a highway sign that says, “Watch for the wind”. That might seem like a silly thing to say – because you can’t see the wind. But as those who drive that freeway know, when the wind gets going on the prairie, it is a powerful force and can easily tip over huge semi-trucks, uproot trees and change the landscape.
I learned this the hard way years ago when I was going to visit my sister in South Dakota. When we were half way there, she called and said, “You may not want to come. There’s a blizzard brewing”. I was young and thought that I knew how to drive in snow so I dismissed her warning as that of my overly protective sister – she had just had a baby and so I figured it was her maternal instinct on overdrive. But.. of course. She was right. It wasn’t the snow – it was the wind that made it impossible to drive. They closed the freeways and I think we ended up staying in a little motel 6 for the night. In the morning – that fierce wind was nowhere to be found—but the evidence that it had been there was written on the drift of snowy mountain drifts covering the cornfields.
One of the gifts that the Holy Spirit brought was the gift of language. This was not the gift of spiritual tongues that needs an interpreter. This was the opposite. The Holy Spirit gave the apostles the gift of being able to speak in the native language of all the pilgrims and expats who had gathered in Jerusalem for the festival.
Have you ever tried to learn another language? If you began when you were two or less, it wasn’t a problem at all. Your brain simply made space for more than one language. But as we age, it becomes harder. I know this from experience. This past summer we were going to travel in Germany so I thought I should learn the language. I made a valiant attempt. And, the people were very gracious when I tried to speak, but often, what I said came out as a mixture of German, my high school Spanish and English.
Learning another language does not come easily. The pilgrims and people from other lands were amazed and astonished when Galilean fishermen who would not have picked up foreign languages from travel or study began speaking fluently in their native languages. They
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? 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?”
They recognized that a miracle had just occurred. The gift of the Holy Spirit came in with the rush of a mighty wind, lit a fire that did not burn up and allowed Galilean fishermen to speak in the native languages of this diverse group of people. Befuddled, the pilgrims ask, “What does this mean?” It is also the question for us today. What does the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost mean for us?
It is tempting to treat Pentecost as the amazing coming of the Holy Spirit, a unique event that happened in the past. We sometimes celebrate it as the birthday of the church – which it is. But… friends, let us not think for a moment that the Holy Spirit is confined to history and simply count the candles since that holy day – and then blow them out. The Holy Spirit hasn’t left and is not content with a simple birthday party.
So “What does it mean?”
In order to answer that question – for the pilgrim and for us today – I think we need to ask another question: Why? Why did the Holy Spirit come and give Galilean fisherman the ability to speak in the native language of all of the pilgrims?
Many interpreters have understood the giving of languages in Acts as the antidote to the story of Babel in Genesis in which all of the languages of people were confused. But as Professor Eric Barreto argues, at Pentecost, God doesn’t choose or create one single language that everyone can understand but instead, meets us in the midst of our differences of languages and cultures and experiences.1 And in enabling the disciples to speaking the native, the home language of each, the Holy Spirit creates community. The Holy Spirit creates community between, across and despite differences. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Community in Christ, being one in Christ, does not mean being the same. Together, with all of our varying gifts, talents, abilities and languages, we are all one in Christ. As we read in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. We are all parts of one body – in Christ. This is through the gift of the Holy Spirit, again as Paul writes, “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free” – different heritages, different economic status, different nationalities, different traditions – and yet, we are all one and all valued in Christ.
So again, what does that mean? What does it mean for us? Maybe we need to watch for the wind of the Holy Spirit, for like the wind, it blows where it will. Where and how is it blowing us today?
In the midst of a world that is being torn apart by differences, how can we, as people who belong to Christ – who are Christ’s body –proclaim the Good News of God’s love and grace in our words and in our actions? That is the Holy Spirit’s challenge for you today. But the good news for is that the Holy Spirit has not left us but is with us, each day to lead us, guide us and bless us as we seek to be God’s witnesses today & each day
1 Eric Barreto: Can't We All Just Get Along? Sunday June 04, 2017Day One