Sermon for May 28th 2006

The Church is Pentecost …
(anne weems)

The Church – you and I in our common faith - are defined by three events … Christmas, Easter and Pentecost.

At Christmas God stepped outside the expected – God entered humanity’s existence in a startling new way. Rather than the powerful, majestic, warrior God who would conquer the planet, God instead entered our world quietly as a new born baby … The point of the Christmas story is not the details and whether the events actually happened as we read them in the Bible.

The point of the Christmas story is that God moved in a bold new and totally unexpected way by coming in the figure named Yeshua to offer the world – that is you and I – a new way of seeing, experiencing and living the HOLY.

Then we move to Easter where God confronted suffering and death and announced through the resurrection that death is NOT the end of the story. Again, we could get hung up on the details – or we can see God active in the face of death bringing new life – bringing the transformation that heals and returns us to wholeness.

Next in our church calendar, 40 days later we step into the story of Pentecost – the birthday of the Church, the very moment when the Church comes into being. Pentecost is when the spirit moved into history and began to undo what Babel had started. The story of Babel is when human egos took their first hit.

One commentary noted that the point of the Babel story and what we should preach on is not the confusion of language, but rather the simple fact that at Babel God’s vastness is revealed. God’s wisdom, understanding and grace go way beyond our comprehension and in the moment when the tower began to rise humanity had believed itself capable of being God. Hubris, ego and our own ambitions are slammed into reality in Babel – it’s never about us – it’s about God. It’s never our work – but God’s work.

Week after week we repeat the Lord’s Prayer – but I wonder if we ever really consider the implication of the words that escape our lips?

Thy kingdom come … thy will be done … we say the words, then we keep getting in the way. We try to build our own kingdom with our own rules and conditions. We try to limit the spirit and do things our way … We keep getting in the way …

So, at Pentecost we pause to step back and consider the three fold movement that is the Church … it begins with the unexpected … it moves to the transformational … and it then embodies the surprising …

But too often in the Church we are like the crowds who listened as the many languages of the Roman empire were being spoken in Jerusalem that morning: “They’re drunk … they’ve had too much new wine …”

It can’t be the work of the spirit. It can’t be something positive and wonderful and faithful … it was too radical and too unlike anything they had ever had before, so instead of trying to be part of it, they instead rejected it and began to criticize it. The crowds simply couldn’t embrace what
was happening before them. They dismissed it and tried to belittle it …

In that moment the Church was not only being born – it was becoming something that had NEVER been before … the heart of the Gospel is a radical message that is completely unlike anything that came before it. The language being spoken that could and would in time, invite in the whole of the known world was only the beginning of the radical nature of the Church.
The message the Church brought and brings is life altering and transformational. In the face of death and suffering the Church proclaims its certainty of the Resurrection. In the face of exclusion and condition the Church lives a message of acceptance and Grace. Where before you were born into a faith and you passed it on only to your children in the Church ALL were welcome and ALL were accepted.

The Church was and is totally radical … and so in the face of this the criticism began, and the criticism was petty and pointless … “look at them , acting like this – they must be drunk …” This is a scene of – “Nudge nudge, wink wink – say no more,” as Monty Python used to say – “we know ALL about those men,” the crowd winked, “they’re Galileans. They’re low class. They’re not one of us – they’re not like us …”

And sadly – this story – the response of the crowd – the scene itself is played out over and over and over … Too often the inability to embrace the work of the spirit marks the history of the Church.

The ordination of women … the new curriculum of the 1960s … the acceptance of Gays and Lesbians, the apology to First Nations people … over and over in the church, a decision is made after much soul searching and much prayer and the howls of opposition are launched … We thwart the work of the spirit …

On that street in Jerusalem, the languages of the Roman empire were being spoken – people of every stripe were being invited in … but what cut through it all was the comment – “They’re drunk …” The work of the spirit was in two words rejected and cast aside. And sadly, it happens all the time in the Church … criticism and fear take hold and our egos get in the way … the focus was on the negative …

I know of one case within the United Church where a potent and spirit filled ministry with the people of a depressed and struggling neighbourhood was simply killed because the good church people in the congregation and presbytery grew uncomfortable with the street people who were coming to be feed both physically and spiritually. The ministry died when the minister was arrested in a protest over a lack of affordable housing and was accused of not adhering to the terms of his call. The ministry died when the focus shifted to the petty little things that were dubbed and irritation rather than opening one self to the powerful work of the spirit that was unfolding around them … the mantra – “what will the neighbours think …” took priority over “are we being faithful?” Too many feathers were ruffled, fault was found and the minister was ousted … and the people of the street were once again conveniently ignored and stepped over … and now that Congregation wonders why they are simply struggling to survive …

In the Church when we focus on the negative – that is ALL we will see. When we’ve made up our mind that we don’t like this person, or they are not one of us, or they don’t belong – nothing else matters. We’ve set a course – we’ve made a decision – we’ve thwarted the spirit … and the negative is all we will offer to the world around us …

The Church today – in the 21st Century is in a place of great change. It is not the institution it was when we were growing up. It no longer has the ear of the leaders, it no longer speaks with authority, and it is no longer a social club held with high regard.

The church today is about being out in the world and living OUR ministry. Over coffee on Coffee Row – in the produce aisle – at the hockey rink or ball diamond – the church is where YOU take it.

The church is not the building – the church is you and I. If we bring to the moments where the Church is real and visible the Pentecost experience, the Church will grow and prosper … but if we are like the crowds – “they’re drunk … they’re Galileans … they’re not like us …” The church will rightly and justly die …

The church needs to speak the words of the people … Last week we had a brief exchange about the Linnea Good song – “Lying in my sleeping bag,” and whether it was a song or a hymn … The difference is time.

15 years ago the anthem the Choir shared last week was simply a song on a record album – today it is a hymn.

In early days of the Church the songs they shared were based on beer hall songs … Amazing Grace, Martin Luther’s hymns and even some of Charles Wesley’s hymns are set to music that was common in the beer halls of the day … One day Churches may sing John Lennon’s “Imagine” as a hymn … one day we may sing Green Day songs as hymns …

We MUST be open to the spirit and the very real possibility that WE’RE WRONG.
It is vital that we speak the language of the people around us, otherwise we become increasingly irrelevant …

It is vital that we let the Spirit do her work …
It is vital that we step out of the way when necessary …
It is vital that we live the values of Church in all things …
It is vital that we be the Pentecost Church – speaking the language of the people – reaching out beyond ourselves and being open to what the Spirit is wanting to do …
It’s vital that we be open to what’s happening around us, and where necessary simply step out of the way …

None of this is about me or you or any of us as individuals. It’s about being the people of God – the church … it’s about being our ministry of care and compassion and service to the world … and if our egos get in the way – my own included – it’s about letting the spirit go to work … May it be so … thanks be to God …