The first reading is Acts 2:1-21.
The second reading is 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13.
The
holy gospel according to John (20:19-23)
19When
it was evening on that day,
the first day of
the week,
and
the doors of the house where the disciples had met
were
locked for fear of the religious authorities,
Jesus came and
stood among them and said,
“Pokoj
vám!”
“La
paz sea con ustedes.”
“Frieden
sei mit euch.”
“Peace
be with you.”
[“Peace
be with you.” in ASL]
20After
Jesus said this,
he
showed them his hands and his side.
Then
the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus
said to them again,
“Pokoj
vám!”
“La
paz sea con ustedes.”
“Frieden
sei mit euch.”
“Peace
be with you.”
[“Peace
be with you.” in ASL]
As
the Father has sent me,
so
I send you.”
22When
he had said this,
Jesus
breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive
the Holy Spirit.
23If
you forgive the sins of any,
they
are forgiven them;
if
you retain the sins of any,
they
are retained.”
The
gospel of the Lord.
-----
I
love birthdays! They are the one
day of the year that a person—unless they’re a twin—gets to be the focus. For that one day, everybody celebrates
this person’s life, the ways they’re meaningful to them, and hopes for their
life to come.
I
also love the ways that different cultures celebrate birthdays. Some cultures have unique parts of
every birthday celebration.
Growing up, we always sang happy birthday—holding the last note purposefully
off-key for as long as we could—the birthday person made a wish, and then
attempted to blow out all of the candles on the cake in one breath.
While
I was in Slovakia with the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program, I
learned of a tradition that had been lost in my family since my dad’s ancestors
came over from Central Europe. It
is a tradition that I have carried with me since my time in Slovakia to varying
degrees. In Slovakia and other
Central European countries, it is customary to bless the birthday person.
While
I usually leave the shot of palinka or slivovica out of my blessings, with
close friends and family, I make a point of blessing them and the new year of
life that they are beginning. I
try to be realistic and hopeful in
my blessings, so that someone who gave birth or is pregnant might be blessed
with new experiences, and also sleep, or that someone who has been at the
forefront in work towards a moral and just state budget is blessed with and in
the struggle and also with triumph.
Each blessing becomes its own unique celebration.
In
some cultures, certain birthdays are particularly important. In Mexico, quinceañeras, or 15th birthdays,
are a particularly big deal. As I
was reflecting on and reading about Pentecost, which we typically consider the
birthday of the church, I was reminded of Korean traditions around first
birthdays. In Korean culture, the
first birthday is a big deal.
I’m sure D told many of you about her granddaughter’s first
birthday, so I will just mention the thing that most stuck with me, especially
as Rev. Theresa Cho wrote about her family’s celebrations in an article in the Christian Century.[i]
One
main part of the first birthday dol
or doljanchi, “a ceremony in which
the child is blessed with a prosperous future,” is a table set out with a
variety of different objects. The
objects represent types of prosperity.
The child is then placed before the objects and whichever object the
child chooses represents the destiny that child claims.
What
captivated me in Rev. Cho’s explanations of the objects was the openness to
interpretation: the golf ball her first child chose could be a symbol for
athleticism or for being a quick thinker.
When her other child chose grapes instead of any of the items laid out,
it could signify a healthy appetite or the self-assuredness to determine their
own destiny—to take the less obvious path.
As
we celebrate the birthday of the universal church and particularly this year’s
momentous 500th Reformation anniversary and the accidental birth of
Protestantism, we too have destinies laid out for us. And these destinies are the ones that have been laid out for
millennia.
In
Acts, Peter points back to the prophet Joel, saying, “In the last days it will
be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your children
shall prophesy, and your youth shall see visions, and your elders shall dream
dreams. 18Even upon my slaves of all genders, in those days I will
pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” This destiny is laid out for us and though we may not know
what it will look like or what Joel and Peter mean, it is a destiny of new
hope, change, and new life.
In
1 Corinthians, Paul sets before us some of the gifts of the Spirit: the
utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working
of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and
interpretation of tongues.
None
of us possess all of these. Many
of us possess at least one of these, and some of us possess other gifts that
aren’t listed here. But as we sit
with them spread out before us, not knowing quite what they will mean or how
the Holy Spirit will use us or our destinies, one thing is certain: the Holy
Spirit is at work. She has come as
tongues of fire and rushing wind, she has come in languages we do and do not
understand, she has come in water, wine and bread, and she brings with her
upheaval of the systems that harm us and all of creation and she brings new
life to everyone.
Sometimes
the work of the Holy Spirit makes us uncomfortable, sometimes defensive, and
sometimes confused. But these are
good things! They are blessings,
because it is in struggling and being uncomfortable that we learn from each
other and about ourselves. The
Holy Spirit rarely calls people to what is comfortable, but she does bless us
with what is meaningful, which is ultimately life-giving.
The
gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit on this birthday of the church and each
day are gifts of diversity and difference—new ways of being and
connecting. The Holy Spirit
changes us and gives us new ways to proclaim with Jesus, “Pokoj vám.” “La paz sea con
ustedes.” “Frieden sei mit euch.” “Peace be with you.” [Peace be with
you in ASL].
Amen.
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