Reconciling Sunday

This sermon manuscript is from Trinity las Americas United Methodist Church's Reconciling Sunday worship service.  The congregation worships bilingually, so the manuscript is bilingual with Spanish in bold and English in italics.  The sermon came from the queeries I did this week.

Mateo 5:21-37

²¹ »Ustedes han oído que a sus antepasados se les dijo: “No mates, pues el que mate será condenado.” ²² Pero yo les digo que cualquiera que se enoje con su hermano, será condenado. Al que insulte a su hermano, lo juzgará la Junta Suprema; y el que injurie gravemente a su hermano, se hará merecedor del fuego del infierno.

²³ »Así que, si al llevar tu ofrenda al altar te acuerdas de que tu hermano tiene algo contra ti, ²⁴ deja tu ofrenda allí mismo delante del altar y ve primero a ponerte en paz con tu hermano. Entonces podrás volver al altar y presentar tu ofrenda.

²⁵ »Si alguien te lleva a juicio, ponte de acuerdo con él mientras todavía estés a tiempo, para que no te entregue al juez; porque si no, el juez te entregará a los guardias y te meterán en la cárcel. ²⁶ Te aseguro que no saldrás de allí hasta que pagues el último centavo.

²⁷ »Ustedes han oído que se dijo: “No cometas adulterio.” ²⁸ Pero yo les digo que cualquiera que mira con deseo a una mujer, ya cometió adulterio con ella en su corazón.

²⁹ »Así pues, si tu ojo derecho te hace caer en pecado, sácatelo y échalo lejos de ti; es mejor que pierdas una sola parte de tu cuerpo, y no que todo tu cuerpo sea arrojado al infierno. ³⁰ Y si tu mano derecha te hace caer en pecado, córtatela y échala lejos de ti; es mejor que pierdas una sola parte de tu cuerpo, y no que todo tu cuerpo vaya a parar al infierno.

³¹ »También se dijo: “Cualquiera que se divorcia de su esposa, debe darle un certificado de divorcio.” ³² Pero yo les digo que si un hombre se divorcia de su esposa, a no ser en el caso de una unión ilegal, la pone en peligro de cometer adulterio. Y el que se casa con una divorciada, comete adulterio.

³³ »También han oído ustedes que se dijo a los antepasados: “No dejes de cumplir lo que hayas ofrecido al Señor bajo juramento.” ³⁴ Pero yo les digo: simplemente, no juren. No juren por el cielo, porque es el trono de Dios; ³⁵ ni por la tierra, porque es el estrado de sus pies; ni por Jerusalén, porque es la ciudad del gran Rey. ³⁶ Ni juren ustedes tampoco por su propia cabeza, porque no pueden hacer blanco o negro ni un solo cabello. ³⁷ Baste con decir claramente “sí” o “no”. Pues lo que se aparta de esto, es malo.

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Matthew 5:21-37
²¹“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that if you are angry with a sibling, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. ²³So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your sibling has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your sibling, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. ³¹“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Becoming One.’ ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is her footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great Queen. ³⁶And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

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La lectura de hoy es un poco difícil de oír.  Jesús tiene palabras fuertes para las personas con quien habla, pero no suena lo mismo por cada uno de nosotres.  Esta hablando en el sermón del monte a sus discípulos y a la multitud, pero la manera en que habla en esta parte significa que está hablando con personas con poder en su comunidad.  Está hablando sobre el poder—en la sociedad y,        sobre otras personas—y cómo restringirlo.

Today's reading is a little hard to hear. Jesus has strong words for the people he’s talking to, but they don’t resonate the same for each of us. He’s speaking in the sermon on the mount to his disciples among a growing crowd, but the way he speaks in this part means that he’s talking to people with power in his community. He is talking about power — in society and over other people — and how to restrict it.

As in many marginalized communities, the queer community knows a lot about power. In the sixties and seventies, when Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera led the resistance at Stonewall, they knew that the police and immoral laws against trans and queer people had the power in society. Today, while we hear of the laws appearing in Iowa and other states against trans youth in particular, we know where the power is.

Como en muchas comunidades marginalizadas, la comunidad queer conoce mucho sobre el poder.  En los años sesenta y setenta, cuando Marsha P. Johnson y Silvia Rivera dirigieron la resistencia de Stonewall, sabían que la policía y las leyes inmorales contra personas trans y queer tenían el poder en la sociedad.  Hoy en día, mientras que oímos de las leyes apareciendo en Iowa y otros estados contra jóvenes trans, sabemos dónde está el poder. 

Cada año cuando leemos los nombres y reconocemos las vidas tomadas de las personas trans, la mayoría de quienes son mujeres trans de minoría, sabemos dónde está el poder.  Este poder de matar y sacar derechos es poder individual y aun más es poder corporal.  Ese poder, en el sentido estructural, reside con personas que no son marginalizadas y se colocan en instituciones y organizaciones que ayudan a ciertas personas y oprimen a otras.

Every year when we read the names and recognize the lives taken of trans people, who are mostly trans women of color, we know where the power is. This power to kill and take away rights is individual power and moreso communal power.  That power, in the structural sense, resides not with people who are marginalized, but in institutions and organizations that help people with privilege and oppress others.

But power is not only a societal concern, but it also affects how we relate to each other.  In this part of the sermon on the mount, Jesus is speaking to people with more power on how to better relate to people with less power.

Pero el poder no solo es una cosa de la sociedad, sino también afecta como nos relacionamos unes a otres y en esta parte del sermón de la monte, Jesús está hablando a las personas con mas poder sobre cómo relacionarse mejor con personas con menos poder.

Cuando Jesús habla del homicidio y el enojo, está hablando a las personas quienes han ofendido a otra persona.  No es la responsabilidad de la víctima iniciar la resolución o reconciliación.  Es la responsabilidad de la persona que es perpetrador a pedir perdón y cambiar como actúa.  De esta manera, Jesús requiere algo de la persona con más poder en vez de añadir al peso que lleva la persona con menos poder.

When Jesus speaks of murder and anger, he is talking to people who have harmed another person. It is not the responsibility of the victim to initiate resolution or reconciliation. It’s the responsibility of the person who is the perpetrator to apologize and to change how he acts. In this way, Jesus requires something of the person with the most power rather than adding to the burden of the person with less power.

When Jesus speaks of divorce, he is telling men in a patriarchal society that they cannot divorce their wives for any old reason. Because the divorce will leave the woman without resources. When Jesus speaks of adultery, he is talking to men, who objectify gender minorities. Today Jesus would be talking about all the rules in schools about how young women can dress, about anyone who says she "was asking for it" or deserved the harm, abuse, or harassment she experienced because of how she dressed. Jesus is talking about each time someone tries to figure out the gender of a stranger or calls a trans woman a “man in a dress.”

Cuando Jesús habla del divorcio, está diciéndoles a los hombres en una sociedad patriarcal que no se puede divorciarse de su esposa por cualquier razón.  Cuando divorcia a una mujer, le deja sin recursos.  Cuando Jesús habla del adulterio, está hablando a los hombres, quienes objetivan a personas que son minores de género.  Hoy en día es que Jesús está hablando sobre todas las reglas en las escuelas sobre como pueden vestirse las jóvenes, sobre cada persona que dice que ella “estaba pidiendo” o mereció el daño que experimentó por como se vistió.  Está hablando sobre cada vez que se trata de averiguar cual género pertenece a una persona o le llama a una mujer trans que es un “hombre en vestido.”

En realidad, Jesús dice que el perpetrador tiene la culpa por un ataque.  La responsabilidad por no mirar con lujuria o meterse en sus asuntos cuando trata del género de otra persona es, en la sociedad heteronormativa, la del hombre, y si es difícil, Jesús dice “si tu ojo derecho te hace caer en pecado, sácatelo y échalo lejos de ti; es mejor que pierdas una sola parte de tu cuerpo, y no que todo tu cuerpo sea arrojado al infierno.” 

Instead, Jesus says that the perpetrator is to blame for an attack. The responsibility for not looking with lust or for minding your own business about another person´s gender is, in heteronormative society, that of the man, and if it’s difficult, Jesus says “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

In the queer community, we navigate a lot the ins and outs of consent and power, because not everyone has the same power or the same safety. While a cis white gay man can run for president, more and more trans people, especially trans women of color, are killed every year. More and more in this country people feel comfortable insulting and harassing queer people as well as all marginalized people. And every time, people in the community who are already the most vulnerable, receive the greatest harm from the abuse.

En la comunidad queer, navegamos mucho las entradas y las salidas del consentimiento y del poder, porque no todos tenemos el mismo poder o la misma seguridad.  Mientras que un hombre blanco y gay puede tratar de ser presidente, más y más personas trans, especialmente mujeres trans de minoría, están matadas cada año.  Más y más en este país personas sienten cómodas echar insultos y acosar a personas queer, como todas las personas marginalizadas.  Y cada ves, las personas en la comunidad que ya son las mas vulnerables, reciben el impacto más grande del abuso. 

Por eso, cuando Jesús está hablando a las personas con poder y sobre su poder, es importante para nosotres hoy.  Jesús está hablando a una comunidad sobre cómo funcionar en un sistema que refuerza la desigualdad y los abusos del poder.  Está hablando sobre cómo mitigar las diferencias de poder en las relaciones interpersonales. 

So, when Jesus is speaking to people with power and about their power, it’s important for us today. Jesus is talking to a community about how to function in a system that reinforces inequality and abuse of power. He is talking about how to mitigate power differences in interpersonal relationships.

In this conversation, Jesus isn’t talking about how to correct or change the unjust system, although we know that it is part of our work as followers of Christ. He’s talking about how to interact, how to survive in the midst of injustice. How to limit abuses of power. How to create space so that people with less power can use their power.

En esta conversación, Jesús no está hablando de cómo corregir o cambiar el sistema injusta, aunque sabemos que es parte de nuestro trabajo como seguidores de Cristo.  Está hablando de cómo interactuar, cómo sobrevivir en el medio de la injusticia.  Cómo restringir los abusos del poder.  Cómo crear espacio para que las personas con menos poder pueden usar su poder. 

Esto es parte de una cultura de consentimiento.  El consentimiento mitiga un poco la desigualdad dentro de una comunidad.  Cuando compartimos la paz, si preguntamos antes de abrazar o dar la mano, damos a cada persona la oportunidad de decir “no.”  Si alguien tiene dolor en la mano de artritis, si alguien tiene una experiencia de trauma que afecta a sus interacciones con otras personas, la oportunidad de decir no o decir sí, es muy importante.

This is part of a culture of consent. Consent works to mitigate inequality within a community. During the sharing of the peace, when we ask before hugging or shaking hands, we give each person the opportunity to say "no." If someone has hand pain from arthritis, if someone has a trauma experience that affects their interactions with other people, the opportunity to say no or say yes is very important.

When we teach kids that their bodies are theirs and they don't need to give a hug to a person if they don't want to, we teach them that if someone tries to do something bad that they don’t like, they don't need to accept it. We teach them that if another person says they don't want a hug, they need to respect that person’s desires. We support them in having autonomy over their own body and respecting the bodies of others.

Cuando enseñamos a niñes que sus cuerpos son suyos y no necesitan dar un abrazo a una persona si no quiere, les enseñamos que si alguien trata de hacer algo muy malo, no necesitan aceptarlo.  Les enseñamos que si otra persona dice que no quiere o sí quiere un abrazo, necesitan respetarle a la persona.  Les apoyamos en tener autonomía sobre su propio cuerpo y respetar a los cuerpos de otras personas. 

El mundo a que nos invita Jesús es un mundo donde las estructuras de desigualdad no existen.  Y, Jesús nos invita en este mundo en que todavía vivimos que todavía tiene las estructuras de desigualdad a portarnos diferentemente.  Nos invita a encontrar y construir maneras de interactuar que respeta a cada persona y que apoderar a personas más vulnerables.  Cuando preguntamos si podemos abrazarse, o darse la mano, practicamos un mundo diferente aun en el medio del mundo como es.

The world Jesus ultimately invites us to is a world where structural inequality doesn’t exist. And, Jesus invites us, in the midst of this world that still has structural inequality and oppression, to behave differently. Jesus invites us to find and build ways to interact that respect each person and empower the most vulnerable people. When we ask if we can hug, or shake hands, we practice a different world even in the middle of the world as it is.

The Holy Spirit Stirs us up: pentecost a

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.

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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 15^th 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 500^th 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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[i] https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-04/may-24-day-pentecost

god gathers us in the margins: 21st after pentecost

The first reading was 2 Kings 5:1-15c.

The holy gospel according to Luke (17:11-19)

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem

      Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

            ¹²As he entered a village,

                  ten people who had leprosy approached him.

                  Keeping their distance,

                        ¹³they called out, saying,

                              “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

                  ¹⁴When he saw them, he said to them,

                        “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

                              And as they went, they were made clean.

                                    ¹⁵Then one of them,

                                          when he saw that he was healed,

                                                turned back,

                                                      praising God with a loud voice.

                                                ¹⁶He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

                                                      And he was a Samaritan.

                  ¹⁷Then Jesus asked,

                        “Were not ten made clean?

                              But the other nine, where are they?

                                    ¹⁸Was none of them found to return

                                          and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

                  ¹⁹Then Jesus said to the Samaritan,

                        “Get up and go on your way;

                              your faith has made you well.” [greek: your faith has saved you]

The gospel of the Lord.

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Today we encounter Jesus “going through the region between Samaria and Galilee,” on his way to Jerusalem where the cross awaits. In this space between, on the journey and not yet there, an encounter takes place.  Because where else but in the space between Samaria and Galilee would a Samaritan with leprosy spend time with 9 Jews with leprosy? 

So often we think about Jesus as the one who brings together disparate groups and forms community, but in today’s readings the disparate groups are already there and together.  The 10 people with leprosy gather together in this village. While in their culture, Jews and Samaritans would be enemies of the highest degree,                      because all 10 are outcast for their leprosy, they connect on a level otherwise impossible.

As they find themselves at the margins, in this village between places, the people with leprosy find some community, even as they seek the deeper healing Jesus will provide.

In our first reading as well, it is only when those who are foreign encounter each other that a path to healing is discovered.  Namaan is powerful. He is commander of King Aram’s army, which means not only power and authority, but also considerable wealth.

Unlike the people with leprosy in the gospel, Namaan has enough wealth and power that even his leprosy doesn’t earn him the role of outcast.  The leprosy still plagues Namaan, but it’s not until a young girl speaks up that Namaan finds hope for healing. The young girl, a foreigner to Namaan, since she was taken captive and enslaved during an Aramean raid in the land of Israel, is at the lowest of positions, serving those who captured her.  And yet she is the one to point Namaan to healing.

And so, in these spaces of encounter between estranged groups and even enemies, between foreigners and long-time inhabitants of the land, new experiences of the divine, chances for healing, take place. 

A couple of weeks ago we had our first bilingual dinner church.  We gathered as people who only spoke English, only spoke Spanish, and spoke some amount of both.  We were not enemies coming together, but we were people from different cultures and countries, different stations in life, and different languages gathering together.  We made food, ate, and talked together.  We drew pictures, showed pictures, made hand motions, and used translation apps on our fancy phones.

Y’all reached outside of your comfort zones.  You made intentional decisions to be ok sounding funny, making mistakes, and even being laughed at, because you would be laughing too.  These months that we, both collectively and individually, have gotten to know folks who work locally on the farms, have been exciting, and regular.

Like Namaan we have stretched ourselves and our expectations. We have learned a lot.  Sometimes the simplest things have worked the best.  As we have grown and gotten to know our neighbors, the foreigners in our midst, we have found life together.  Like our dinner church experience, it has been boisterous and full of laughter and good food.

This is the gift that God provides when we let down our guard, put away our “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments,” the markers of our status that can too often define us.  When we do this, we open ourselves up to God’s unexpected presence—discovering the simpler and smaller ways that God shows up.  When we reject our assumptions about the “right way” to do things—from worship to community, to language and even politics, God shows up and surprises us.

The holy moments surprise us in making food and cleaning up together, in wandering school halls during breaks in ESL classes, and in trying our hand at communicating and learning even with language barriers.  It is in these moments that the presence of the Divine becomes more palpable.

And it’s amazing the healing and wholeness that takes place.  In those shared spaces and moments of lowered walls, Jesus shows up and gives us another glimpse of community, of friendship, and of neighbors.  Jesus greets the people with leprosy and affirms the faith of the foreigner, the one despised by his own people.  Namaan’s healing comes from the foreigner in his midst, the young girl captured and enslaved, and yet she is the one who knows where God’s healing can be found.

God shows up      in the margins, the in between spaces. 

God shows up and upsets our expectations. 

God upsets our expectations and opens us to new life, community, and even healing. 

Jesus gathers community in new and powerful ways

and God will always gather us anew—

      today at Chicken and Biscuit dinner,

      Tuesday at sewing and ESL,

      and forever,

            because that’s what God does.

The Holy Spirit comes to us: Pentecost!

The first reading is Genesis 11:1-9.

A reading from Acts (2:1-21)

When the day of Pentecost arrived,

       The apostles all met in one room.

       Suddenly they heard what sounded like a violent, rushing wind from heaven;

              the noise filled the entire house in which they were sitting.

       Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire;

              these separated and came to rest on the head of each one.

       They were all filled with the Holy Spirit

              and began to speak in other languages as she enabled them.

Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem

       from every nation under heaven

       and at this sound they all assembled.

              But they were bewildered to hear their native languages being spoken.

                     They were amazed and astonished:

                            “Surely all of these people speaking are Galileans!

                            How does it happen that each of us hears these words

                                   in our native tongue?

                            We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites,

                                   people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,

                                   Pontus and Asia,

                                   Phyrgia and Pamphlyia,

                                   Egypt and the parts of Lybia around Cyrene,

                            as well as visitors from Rome –

                                   both Jewish-born and converts to Judaism –

                                   Cretans and Arabs, too;

                            we hear them preaching,

                                   each in our own language,

                                          about the marvels of God!”

All were amazed and disturbed.

       They asked each other,

              “What does this mean?”

       But others said mockingly,

              “They have drunk too much new wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd:

       “People of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem!

              Listen to what I have to say!

                     These people are not drunk as you think –

                            it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!

                     No, it’s what Joel the prophet spoke of –

‘In the days to come –

       it is our God who speaks –

              I will pour out my Spirit on all of humankind.

                     Your children will prophesy,

                     your young people will see visions,

                     and your elders will dream dreams.

              Even on the most insignificant of my people,

                     upon all of them,

                            I will pour out my Spirit in those days

                            and they will prophesy.

              And I will display wonders in the heavens above

              and signs on the earth below:

                     blood, fire and billowing smoke.

              The sun will be turned into darkness

              and the moon will become blood

                     before the coming of the great and sublime day of our God. 

              Pero todos los que invoquen el nombre del Señor, alcanzarán la salvación.

              Alors tout le monde que les appels sur le nom du Seigneur seront épargnés.

              A vtedy každý, kto bude vzývať meno Pánovo, bude zachránený.

              And all who call upon the name of our God will be saved.’”

Word of God, word of life.

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Happy Pentecost!!  Pentecost is one of my favorite days of the whole entire year!  I love Pentecost because on it we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit and she’s my favorite.

Pentecost gathers our story of faith, bringing the various parts of the story together and capturing what it means to be the church together—the body of Christ in the world.

From the beginnings when God creates the whole cosmos, the Spirit brooding over the waters, until today.  God continues to create as the universe expands and we all continue to live and grow.  Again and again God creates humanity in our full diversity, in the image of God.  God promises to love us, even as, throughout the ages, we have done our best to take God’s place.

As we read today in Genesis, humanity has a penchant for trying to take over for God.  As they gather in the area that will become known as Babel, the group of humans attempt to build a city and a tower to heaven, where God was understood to reside.  The humans, bless their hearts, justify their actions, saying, “and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”  They want to be in control of it all.  They don’t want to risk God’s intervention, wrecking their plans for power and prestige.

Ironically it is precisely this desire for control and power that leads to God scattering them and confusing their languages—a blessing for those of us who enjoy learning new languages J

So we are scattered.  And we develop different languages, cultures, and customs.  We find different ways to praise our God and to live our lives.  Our different languages are informed by our cultures, the many words for snow or sand, depending on where we live, words for wintertime coziness and experiences unique to various cultures.  And in turn our different languages inform our cultures as we continue to come up with new words and definitions, new ways of speaking to and about others, even God.

And throughout it all, God continues to come to us, sending prophets and leaders, calling us back to God’s ways of love, bringing us out of captivity into freedom, and celebrating those new chances at life with us.

And ultimately God comes to us by taking on our very flesh.  God chooses to come to us, born to a poor homeless couple, spending the first part of life undocumented, living as a refugee in Egypt, and returning to Palestine to live under Roman rule and occupation.  In the midst of it all, God in Jesus continues to love us, seeking the lost, oppressed, and outcast.  He goes to “those people” the rest of us would rather avoid.

For all of the love and compassion Jesus shows, the response from the powers of this world, humanity’s own response, is to choose death over the life God freely offers us in Jesus.  We choose the violence of the cross and Jesus takes on the cross, dying to destroy death and then rising, bringing to life the ultimate covenant of love, bringing new hope and everlasting life to begin anew every day.

And then even as Jesus ascends to heaven, God’s love is so great that God promises us the Holy Spirit.  Our Advocate will come to be with us.  The Holy Spirit is promised and she delivers!

At Pentecost, the beginning of the first harvests, the apostles gather in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit comes CRASHING in!  The roar of a violent wind in everyone’s ears, flames like fire appearing before everyone’s eyes.  If this is not a recipe for full sensory overload, then I don’t know what is.

The Holy Spirit comes with the chaos that reigned when she moved over the waters at the beginning of creating.  As the room fills with chaos and confusion from heaven, the gathered apostles add to the confusion, confessing faith and proclaiming the love of God.  Heaven breaks into the earthly gathering of followers of Christ.

At Pentecost, God’s presence in the Holy Spirit is experienced with chaos and uncertainty.  People are bewildered, amazed and astonished, amazed and disturbed, snarky, and prophetic.  Out of this chaos, in many songs and languages is sung the love of God made manifest through the Holy Spirit. 

And even as it all settles back down, the Holy Spirit remains.

Jesus has ascended and yet the Holy Spirit remains to breathe among us, to move as we move and grow as we grow.  And so the Holy Spirit continues to move even into today, calling us with the prophets to lives of justice and peace.   

Four years ago, the Holy Spirit moved among us, calling these two congregations into one worshiping community.  The Holy Spirit calls us and claims us as one community of faith.  This month we also mark the 60^th anniversary of women’s ordination in the Presbyterian Church.   

As we have prayed on street corners and with folded pieces of paper, the Holy Spirit has continued to breathe among us, calling us into deeper relationships, boldly guiding us into the future, even remaining with us in our uncertainty.

The Holy Spirit moves with us in our discomfort.  When we don’t understand.  Cuando alguien habla un idioma diferente.  When we disagree and even when we are afraid.  One of the key ways that I discern that the Holy Spirit might be at work is if I’m nervous, afraid, or a little anxious, especially if mixed in with those feelings there’s an inexplicable hint of excitement or pull toward something. 

That’s how the Holy Spirit works, coming in with chaos and confusion, calling us and moving with us into new life and new ways of being the church together for the sake of the whole world.

Thanks be to God.