Day of Pentecost A May 31, 2020
Lectionary Link
Pentecost means fiftieth and on the Christian calendar is the 50th day after Easter. It parallel as Jewish feast of Shavuot, or feast of weeks which is the day after the 7 weeks after Passover. So, Judaism and Christianity have Pentecosts but they have diverge with completely different meanings.
In salvation history, Pentecost is seen as the "coming" out day of the Holy Spirit. If Christ is the Word who is God from the beginning, then the Holy Spirit is the Eternal Word translated and spoken in every language; meaning that Christian faith was a strategic plan to make God, through Christ universally accessible to the world, and it meant that an understanding of God could no longer be exclusive to the synagogue for only the ritually adherent members of the Jewish faith. Although, we see an uneven chronology about the Holy Spirit because according to the Gospel of John, the 11 disciples did not have to wait until Pentecost to receive the Spirit; Jesus breathed the Spirit on them in the Doubting Thomas encounter. And those pre-filled disciples were speaking in different tongues on Pentecost.
Pentecost is the healing of the event of the Babel tower, when God confused the languages of humanity because a "united" humanity planned a prideful overthrow of God by building a great city with a great tower unto the heavens. A polyglot world of people was seen as God's punishment; but in Pentecost the revealing of the Holy Spirit meant that Christ could be known in all languages and hence it was a celebration of a unity of harmony in differences. Humanity can indeed be united in the right way and the right way is for everyone to come to know the nature of Christ, the eternal Word within them.
What does the use of metaphors tell us? It tells us that metaphors reach their limitation when one tries to convert poetry into literalism. So, what is the limitation of Spirit or Holy Spirit? What does it mean to say Holy Special Wind or Breath? Or Holy Dove? Or Holy purifying Fire? Or Holy Anointing oil? When we try to speak of Spirit we just keep adding metaphors and similes; but are we getting to substantial insight about the meaning of Spirit?
As you know, I like to go off the reservation of textbook and cliche theology and doctrine because I'm too curious about how and what Spirit can mean and evoke meaning for me in this post-modern age that has brought us to skepticism of skepticism.
A pragmatic and graspable insight about Spirit, is to understand it as the mystery of receiving the identities of our lives. Our group identities are mysteries. What do we call group mystical identity? esprits de corps. Spirit of the body. We experience esprit de corps in families, in nationality, in school and colleges, hometown cities and town, with our sporting teams and in our faith communities. We experience esprit de corps in any significant identity we come to have in our lives. We admit that it is something of a mystery about our group identity. E pluribus unum. Out of the many, one. How does this oneness of group identity happen?
To understand spirit, we might look at an entire continuum of kinds of identities. We know that there can be evil "esprit d'corps, known as mob behaviors. One can see when dictators and prejudiced leaders can create mob behaviors and people will shout and do hateful things as a group which they would not necessarily do as an individual. A bad "spirit" can possess a mob. Other public group identities are more benign or even beneficial. A sporting event or even a partisan political rally can be benign. A rally of people supporting a cancer fundraiser or patriotic causes can result in a beneficial group "esprit d'corps." In the Christian context, the diversity of believers in Jesus gathering and uniting in that belief through prayer, teaching, singing and liturgy represent what we understand to be the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit can be evident in the effervescence of a gathering. It is the numerical strength in numbers which shows itself in a qualitative palpable feeling of identity among people. It is expressed as the mystery of experience another person, as in "whenever two or three are gathered in Christ's name," Christ is present and can be known as giving wisdom and insight within the group experience.
The Bible also includes "spirit" and individual personal self-knowledge. The Psalmist cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me." It is a goal in life to be "pure in heart." And we know how hard it is for us to know ourselves as being "pure in motives" in all things. We also know that in the purity code certain people of wildly erratic public behavior deemed as anti-social were said to have "unclean spirits." Part of the ministry of Jesus was to whisper people to a place of peaceful "cleanliness of spirit."
But further, the Gospels indicate that Jesus not only invited us to know ourselves as children of God in knowing our heavenly Parent, he also promised that his absence would not leave us disconnected from Him or His Father. He would send, he would breath, he unveiled that knowing of an inner Advocate, a Spirit of Truth who would help us in the task of replicating the life practices of Jesus with us.
The Feast of Pentecost sums up the very best of knowing within ourselves the Clean Heart of knowing the Holy Spirit within us. The Feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the spark and effervescence which happens when people knowing the Holy Spirit gather together to reinforce their identity with Christ. Sparks happen. It is as though everyone's spirit surfaces and then there is an experience of the further identity of knowing Christ in our midst. This is why we gather. This is why we miss gathering now. We want each person's experience of the Holy Spirit to be evident in a physical gathering so as to realize the group identity of being the body of Christ. As we celebrate being quite different members in gifts and calling, yet finding enlightened and peaceful reciprocity in pooling our spiritual gifts to make Christ known in our world.
Today, we long for gathered effervescence of the Holy Spirit, even while we make the most of our virtual gatherings. Don't diminish them and their importance. The entire holy Scriptures are virtual. We weren't there when Scriptures were written to their specific communities but by the technology of writing, the Scriptures are virtually available to us and they have been important in the transmission of the presence of God and Christ across history. And who can we give credit to for this transmission of the Good News of God in Christ across history? The Holy Spirit, of course.
Let us be thankful for the unveiling of the Holy Spirit for us, as the Clean Heart which we can experience within us. But also let us renew the effervescent group identity of knowing ourselves socially as the Body of Christ.
We say today again, "Come Holy Spirit, our hearts inspire and enlighten with celestial fire." Let us know the most significant inner Advocate and affirming presence in our lives today. Amen.
Gen. 11:1-9Ps. 104: 25-32
Acts 2:1-11 John 14:8-17, 25-17 Lectionary Link
Pentecost means fiftieth and on the Christian calendar is the 50th day after Easter. It parallel as Jewish feast of Shavuot, or feast of weeks which is the day after the 7 weeks after Passover. So, Judaism and Christianity have Pentecosts but they have diverge with completely different meanings.
In salvation history, Pentecost is seen as the "coming" out day of the Holy Spirit. If Christ is the Word who is God from the beginning, then the Holy Spirit is the Eternal Word translated and spoken in every language; meaning that Christian faith was a strategic plan to make God, through Christ universally accessible to the world, and it meant that an understanding of God could no longer be exclusive to the synagogue for only the ritually adherent members of the Jewish faith. Although, we see an uneven chronology about the Holy Spirit because according to the Gospel of John, the 11 disciples did not have to wait until Pentecost to receive the Spirit; Jesus breathed the Spirit on them in the Doubting Thomas encounter. And those pre-filled disciples were speaking in different tongues on Pentecost.
Pentecost is the healing of the event of the Babel tower, when God confused the languages of humanity because a "united" humanity planned a prideful overthrow of God by building a great city with a great tower unto the heavens. A polyglot world of people was seen as God's punishment; but in Pentecost the revealing of the Holy Spirit meant that Christ could be known in all languages and hence it was a celebration of a unity of harmony in differences. Humanity can indeed be united in the right way and the right way is for everyone to come to know the nature of Christ, the eternal Word within them.
What does the use of metaphors tell us? It tells us that metaphors reach their limitation when one tries to convert poetry into literalism. So, what is the limitation of Spirit or Holy Spirit? What does it mean to say Holy Special Wind or Breath? Or Holy Dove? Or Holy purifying Fire? Or Holy Anointing oil? When we try to speak of Spirit we just keep adding metaphors and similes; but are we getting to substantial insight about the meaning of Spirit?
As you know, I like to go off the reservation of textbook and cliche theology and doctrine because I'm too curious about how and what Spirit can mean and evoke meaning for me in this post-modern age that has brought us to skepticism of skepticism.
A pragmatic and graspable insight about Spirit, is to understand it as the mystery of receiving the identities of our lives. Our group identities are mysteries. What do we call group mystical identity? esprits de corps. Spirit of the body. We experience esprit de corps in families, in nationality, in school and colleges, hometown cities and town, with our sporting teams and in our faith communities. We experience esprit de corps in any significant identity we come to have in our lives. We admit that it is something of a mystery about our group identity. E pluribus unum. Out of the many, one. How does this oneness of group identity happen?
To understand spirit, we might look at an entire continuum of kinds of identities. We know that there can be evil "esprit d'corps, known as mob behaviors. One can see when dictators and prejudiced leaders can create mob behaviors and people will shout and do hateful things as a group which they would not necessarily do as an individual. A bad "spirit" can possess a mob. Other public group identities are more benign or even beneficial. A sporting event or even a partisan political rally can be benign. A rally of people supporting a cancer fundraiser or patriotic causes can result in a beneficial group "esprit d'corps." In the Christian context, the diversity of believers in Jesus gathering and uniting in that belief through prayer, teaching, singing and liturgy represent what we understand to be the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit can be evident in the effervescence of a gathering. It is the numerical strength in numbers which shows itself in a qualitative palpable feeling of identity among people. It is expressed as the mystery of experience another person, as in "whenever two or three are gathered in Christ's name," Christ is present and can be known as giving wisdom and insight within the group experience.
The Bible also includes "spirit" and individual personal self-knowledge. The Psalmist cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me." It is a goal in life to be "pure in heart." And we know how hard it is for us to know ourselves as being "pure in motives" in all things. We also know that in the purity code certain people of wildly erratic public behavior deemed as anti-social were said to have "unclean spirits." Part of the ministry of Jesus was to whisper people to a place of peaceful "cleanliness of spirit."
But further, the Gospels indicate that Jesus not only invited us to know ourselves as children of God in knowing our heavenly Parent, he also promised that his absence would not leave us disconnected from Him or His Father. He would send, he would breath, he unveiled that knowing of an inner Advocate, a Spirit of Truth who would help us in the task of replicating the life practices of Jesus with us.
The Feast of Pentecost sums up the very best of knowing within ourselves the Clean Heart of knowing the Holy Spirit within us. The Feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the spark and effervescence which happens when people knowing the Holy Spirit gather together to reinforce their identity with Christ. Sparks happen. It is as though everyone's spirit surfaces and then there is an experience of the further identity of knowing Christ in our midst. This is why we gather. This is why we miss gathering now. We want each person's experience of the Holy Spirit to be evident in a physical gathering so as to realize the group identity of being the body of Christ. As we celebrate being quite different members in gifts and calling, yet finding enlightened and peaceful reciprocity in pooling our spiritual gifts to make Christ known in our world.
Today, we long for gathered effervescence of the Holy Spirit, even while we make the most of our virtual gatherings. Don't diminish them and their importance. The entire holy Scriptures are virtual. We weren't there when Scriptures were written to their specific communities but by the technology of writing, the Scriptures are virtually available to us and they have been important in the transmission of the presence of God and Christ across history. And who can we give credit to for this transmission of the Good News of God in Christ across history? The Holy Spirit, of course.
Let us be thankful for the unveiling of the Holy Spirit for us, as the Clean Heart which we can experience within us. But also let us renew the effervescent group identity of knowing ourselves socially as the Body of Christ.
We say today again, "Come Holy Spirit, our hearts inspire and enlighten with celestial fire." Let us know the most significant inner Advocate and affirming presence in our lives today. Amen.
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