Pentecost Sermon, May 19, 2013, Emmanuel, Mercer Island

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

     and kindle in us the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created,

     and you shall renew the face of the earth.  Amen.

Pentecost, the third major celebration of the church year,

            first there is Christmas, then Easter, then Pentecost.

Now, Christmas and Easter get a lot of popular support from the culture.

We have Santa Claus and gift giving,

            and the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts.

But Pentecost hasn’t caught the public’s attention in the same way.

We can quip about “C and E Christians,”

            those who show up only at Christmas and Easter,

but where are they today?

            Why don’t they show up on Pentecost if it is such a significant day?

I would say that it is because we really don’t know what Pentecost is all about.

Some say that it is the birthday of the Church.

Yes, that can be said; there is some accuracy in that.

But the word birthday immediately gets associated with birthday parties,

            each year having an occasion for an annual celebration

                        of an event from the past,

            marking the years as they go by, adding another candle to the cake.

Now, do understand,

            all these red candles surrounding the congregation

                                                                         are not birthday cake candles.

They represent the fire of the Holy Spirit above our heads.

What they represent is more like the burning bush that Moses turned aside to see

            and when he then heard the voice

                        he takes off his shoes for this is Holy Ground.

Let the soles of your feet come in contact with the Holy.

                                                                                                                        But I digress.

This isn’t a birthday party here today.

                        Pentecost is not to be celebrated as a memorial of some past event.

If we were to look more closely at the birthday idea,

            then we are looking at the process of birth.

And birth itself is much more interesting.

Here’s the context for the birth:

            After the gestation period, the pregnancy so to speak.

            in which Jesus had worked for a few years with his disciples

            preparing them for this birth which would be a huge transition for them.

His passion and death was active engagement in labor for us,

            blood and water flowing from his pierced side,

and then the bursting forth from the tomb, a cave, a womb for resurrection life.

And now,

            now that his disciples were finally grasping the reality of resurrection,

Jesus breathes that same Resurrection Spirit, his own Real Presence,

            into his spiritual sons and daughters

                        to be born into Resurrection Life.

Pentecost is the word that becomes associated with and names this birth.

You see, Pentecost is not a memorial or anniversary

            nor is it a doctrine, a particular article of belief held intellectually.

Pentecost was and is an experience

                                                                        and an identity.

It is coming to know through experience that one's life is in Jesus,

            that there has been a significant spiritual shift in the way of being,

            that one has in essence been born again

                                                                        or born anew.

Pentecost is not simply the historical event described in Acts, chapter 2.

There are multiple Pentecosts,

            as many as there are individuals who have been set on fire,

those who have experienced the Holy Spirit, the Resurrection Spirit of Jesus,

                        personally, directly, intuitively,

                        in prayer, in crisis, or in the midst of the mundane,

                        surprised and astonished,

those who know in the depths of their being that something has changed,

                        that everything is seen in a new way,

a colossal paradigm shift,

            like the radical shift from the confinement of the womb

            to the expansive and as yet unknown space of the beginning of new life.

                       

In the Gospels and in particular in the Gospel of John

            there are multiple Pentecosts:

Whenever we see the phrase, “in that day,” or “the day of his coming”

            know that “the day of his coming” is the moment of realization.

There is no Pentecost without realization. 

In that breakthrough moment

            the resurrection life of Jesus has come into them and is realized,

                        and everything is different.  There is no going back.

What I am talking about here is a spiritual process

            which is much more than having a great insight,

            more even than a holy moment or experience having an impact on you.

It is transformation.

Now, transformation is a word that has been devalued

               through overuse and application to what technically is on the level of insight.

One can have great insights and never change.

                                                                                    Transformation means change.

On the Day of Pentecost the disciples were forever changed.

It was a whole new life and a whole new way of being for them.

Now they were alive in a way they hadn’t been before,

            alive in a way that could not be contained,

                        and which overflowed out into the street.

Now they were apostles – useful agents

            through whom the Holy Spirit could work,

because, you see, the purpose of Pentecost is

            empowerment for ministry in the world,

            empowerment  for the sake of the world.

That is the immediate practical function of the new community.

The idea is to love one another, as John’s Gospel emphasizes,

            so the world will know that Jesus was sent by the Father.

Now you need to get this – the Pentecost experience of the Holy Spirit

            is not a repair job.

It is not to make us better, more effective persons

            with the same ego by which we have heretofore identified ourselves.

Not a repair job, but a new way of being.

If we take our personal encounters with the Holy,

            and try to apply that like a cosmetics

                        to our mortal bodies

            with whom our self identity is so tightly linked,

what we have is something old wearing a mask.

There has been no transformation.

One way to tell whether there really has been any transformation here

            is that one test by which the world will know –

                        Do they love one another?

Do we love one another?

            really love one another in that agaph love,

            that love that unites one with another and one with God,

            that love which enables differing persons to be one in heart and mind.

As long as there is even one word that disparages another,

                        directly or indirectly,

            here in this place,

we are not yet transformed,

            we are not yet the Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered Church.

Look at the first church community,

            burning with Holy Spirit fire.

The Acts of the Apostles gives the account of this new way of being,

                        this new community.

What happens in this community?

Acts 4:24-35

24   When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea,

and everything in them,

25   it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:  'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?

26   The kings of the earth took their stand,

and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.'

27   For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,

with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

28   to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

29   And now, Lord, look at their threats,

and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness,

30   while you stretch out your hand to heal,

and signs and wonders are performed

through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

31   When they had prayed,

the place in which they were gathered together was shaken;

and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and spoke the word of God with boldness.

32   Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul,

and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions,

but everything they owned was held in common.

33   With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection

of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

34   There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned

lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

35   They laid it at the apostles' feet,

and it was distributed to each as any had need.

They were of one heart and mind.

The basis for this was Jesus giving the Holy Spirit.

Now they had become a Resurrection Community.

            They loved one another.

One result was holding all things in common.

And this was a way of saying, “We are all in this together.

So today, look beyond the flashy banners and lights and candles and altar frontal.

Don’t let the dramatic effect of the decorations

            stand in lieu of the authentic meaning of Pentecost.

It’s all so much theater,

            unless in some small way it helps to move us into Holy Spirit experience.

So may our prayer some day truly be:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful

     and kindle in us the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created,

                                                we shall become new beings,

     and then you shall renew the face of the earth.  

Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter, Emmanuel, Mercer Island

We have had a rough week.

First Boston.

            Then the little town of West, Texas.

Also from the news Thursday a suicide bomber

killed 15 and wounded 32 in Baghdad.

-       That’s farther away from us, but more died there than in Boston –

Remember Syria? – 327 killed there this last week.

And statistically there have been 322 homicides in the US last week,

            and 708 suicides.

Also statistically this last week there have been 1,706 reported rapes,

                        but this is only 15% of the actual rapes that have occurred.

We also have had a major earthquake in western Sichuan, China

            with at least 186 are dead and more than 6700 injured.

And I have not said anything about the negative impact

humans have had on the planet in the last week,

            remembering that tomorrow, April 22, is Earth Day.

As I said, it’s been a rough week.

The Gospel of John, chapter 10, the Good Shepherd chapter.

In this passage the Pharisees and religious leaders are trying to work with Jesus.

“When will you stop holding us in suspense.  Are you the Messiah?” they ask.

They are the good “church-goers,” the religiously upright folks,

            the ones serious about the observance of their faith.            BUT

They want from Jesus what fits their expectations, their hopes and their desires.

And Jesus won’t let them have that.

So many of the Gospel passages are about confrontations between Jesus

            and the Pharisees or religious leaders.

What Jesus is offering, what he came for

            is much more expansive than what they are asking for, what they want.

So their encounters with each other are confrontations.

Now always on the 4^th Sunday of Easter

                                    the Gospel lesson is about the “Good Shepherd.”

This year in the eucharistic lectionary we get the last section

            from this 10^th chapter of John.

It’s not the part we might really prefer hearing at the moment,

the part where Jesus says,

            "I am the good shepherd.

            The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” etc.

The image or metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd

            is tremendously comforting for many people.

It is always good to know that your Savior is compassionate and kind

            and cares for you and provides your needs and protects you.

But that is a rather limited view of what is implied here.

One big question that may arise for us in this selection about the Good Shepherd

            has to do with just who IS one of the sheep and who is not,

because Jesus says to these religious leaders,

                        “…you do not belong to my sheep.”

How much are we like the Pharisees? – good folks, here in church,

            leading decent lives, I assume.

We want from Jesus what fits OUR expectations, OUR hopes and OUR desires.

            The way we can accept him is in how he fits what we need.

We have our own ideas about what the Good Shepherd should be like,

            but – and I’m going to say something tough here –

            what we need to do in our own best interests spiritually

is to stop thinking of Jesus in that metaphor of Good Shepherd

                                                            in terms of what will be a benefit for me.

Stop this metaphoric talk about who Jesus as Good Shepherd is

            and what he is for

            and why he is valuable to me.

Let him do the revealing.

Let Jesus reveal himself to you.

People want to look at this metaphor of Good Shepherd

            as some kind of affectionate leader

            who is patting the sheep on their cute little wooly heads

            and leading them beside still waters

                        in pastures of lush green grass.

Look, folks, we’ve got to see what the sheep are for,

            because if you want Jesus to be your Good Shepherd

            then you gotta be one of his sheep.

The sheep are not there just to be taken care of,

            to enjoy the green pastures and still waters.

Why would someone own sheep?  --  for their wool and for their mutton.

            These sheep are for sacrifice.

            The sheep are food for the Life of the world.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, is sending them just as he was sent,

            to be food for the life of the world.

The metaphor of the Good Shepherd is about both the Shepherd and the sheep,

            their relationship to each other,

            and just as much about the sheep and their part in this passage.

The sheep are being called into Jesus and his life offered discipleship

            extending the ministries of Jesus and his truth

            as creative revelations of the Kingdom of God present and active.

In this Gospel reading Jesus says to the religious leaders,

            you do not believe the works I do in my Father’s Name,

            so you do not belong to my sheep.

This truth of the situation is obvious throughout the text.

It is about the Lamb of God, his being the Shepherd,

            and sending as he was sent.

But that understanding of the character of the sheep

                        – hearing his voice and following him –

            is excluded by the simple, sentimental, self-interested

                        and presumably democratic and just idea

            of why isn’t everybody included?

They are not sheep

because they can’t see or participate in this other thing:

             to be a sacrifice for the sake of food,

                                                            spiritual food in revelation of the truth.

So the question of the day is:                          Do you really want to be a sheep?

Are we open to being led by the voice of the Good Shepherd?

            Do we have ears to hear?

It is his Holy Spirit breathed into us that is that Voice.

            That is revelation in us.

We have had a rough week.

We need to take time to exam our own reactions to these occurrences this week,

            and then consider our response.

Can we be sheep of the Good Shepherd to the world?

What can we do to respond in Life-giving ways?

How can we provide ourselves, as the Lamb of God has, as food for the world?

We need a lot more people whose lives radiate love,

            who are vessels of the Holy Spirit,

            who are awake and aware and sensitive to the wounds and the needs

                        that are all around us,

            and who are willing to engage with others on the level of their suffering.

These are the sheep,

            the sacrificial sheep offered up like the Lamb of God,

            sheep who will feed others with themselves.

Now wouldn’t you really want to be a sheep?

May we be good sheep of the Lamb of God

            offering ourselves to a world in need of                                                                                                            comfort, healing, reconciliation

                                    and guidance to the streams of the waters of life.  Amen.

Easter Vigil Sermon at Emmanuel

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

This year with our vigil lessons from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament,

            we did something a little different, if you noticed.

Jack had an idea:

“My thought (he said) was to combine the idea of "retelling our stories"

            with the way that we tell our stories seasonally –

            Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, etc. 

So, I chose four stories from the vigil selections and paired it with a season,             starting with Advent and running through Lent. 

The stories…had a …connection to …seasonal themes. 

Then, at the end of the story, we sing a hymn from that season…

What I like about the idea, from a musical perspective,

            is that by singing songs that everyone loves and has sung many times before,

            we really connect people emotionally to this idea of story telling.  

…Feeling the different feelings that arise with the songs of the seasons

            after one of the stories, I think, could be very profound.“

Well, Hunt and I liked the idea and were engaged.

And so what I want to do here in a very short time

            is run a thread through all the readings as a sort of short catechism

            describing the spiritual rationale of the Church Year,

and especially to help us be clear about what we are doing here and why.

                        So fasten your seat belts.  Here we go!

The first lesson: the Valley of Dry Bones

God said to Ezekiel “These bones are the whole house of Israel.

They say “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost…”

Therefore prophesy, and say to them,

I am going to open your graces, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.  I will put my spirit within you and your shall live…

then you shall know that I, the Lord have spoken and will act.

Advent is a time of hope and anticipation of what is coming. 

When the Holy Spirit was poured out to all those waiting in Jerusalem

            after the Resurrection on that Day of Pentecost,

the Holy Spirit came as the second advent of Christ, this time as Christ in us.

We have waited with advent anticipation

            for the Resurrection Spirit of Jesus to become incarnate in us.

Hope.

The second lesson:  The Genesis Creation Story

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

On the sixth day God said,

“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.”

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them.

And God saw that it was good.

Each Christmas either as the Gospel reading for Christmas Day

            or for the first Sunday of the Christmas Season we hear the Prologue of John:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

All things were made through him,

and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of the world.

To as many as received him, he gave them power to become children of God…

And the Word become flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth;

and we have beheld his glory…”

In the Christmas season we celebrate the Incarnation, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

Incarnation, when you come to think of it, is an act of self-creation.

The uncreated Light from the God-head, the fountain head, the Source,

takes form and manifests among us.

Resurrection, when you come to think of it, is also an act of self-creation.

Christmas – Christ in us, the hope of glory.

The third lesson: The Exodus Story

The story of God’s mighty acts that bring about the liberation of an enslaved people:

“Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians.

Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians.

So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord.”

Epiphany is the manifestation of God.

The parting of the Red Sea was another Epiphany/manifestation/a showing forth             of God’s power and glory in a long line of such manifestations.

The purpose of this story is for us to have an epiphany,

            a revelation, an awakening and get it that our salvation is an act of God                                     and we are liberated from bondage and death.

We are delivered from death through the waters into new life – Resurrection Life.

The fourth lesson: A New Heart

“Thus says the Lord God:  I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.

A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.”

Lent is a time of penitence and repenting,

but it is God who works the action of repentance in us,

            turning us around from the destructive ways we go when on our own,

                                                            the ways that complicate our own suffering.

God intervenes by putting a new heart in us,

            a heart that is open to turning to God,

            and a new Spirit, the Spirit of Resurrection Jesus.

And we are cleansed, purified and changed from stone to flesh

            so that we may grow into our full human potential, which is the image of God.

Lent:  God works in us the process of repentance into new Life.

Now, the Epistle Reading from Romans chapter 6:

            This is the quintessential choice for baptisms at the Easter Vigil.

These words contain the glorious and mysterious truth embedded in Baptism.

“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again;

            death no longer has dominion over him.

The death he died, he died to sin, once for all;

            but the life he lives, he lives to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

This is the definition of baptism, what has just happened for Ron.

Our task is to realize this truth of our being,

            not just as an intellectual idea, nor a liturgical ritual,

            but as a heart knowledge, an experienced reality,

            the ultimate answer to the question, “Who am I?”

And finally the Gospel.

The women come to the tomb, and hear from two strange men

            in dazzling bright clothes that the body of Jesus is not there.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

The women remember what Jesus had been teaching them,

            although the men won’t believe them and don’t get it yet.

This is only the beginning of the Resurrection story.

Notice that there is no actual Resurrection appearance by Jesus yet. 

We need to read the whole 24^th chapter of Luke for it all to make sense.

The story builds and builds slowly

            as the disciples are being prepared to grasp what has happened.

You must go read the rest of Luke 24.

May the recognition of Jesus in Resurrection build and build in us

            and come to fullness in our hearts, our inmost being.

There you have it, the Church Year as a deliberate progression of hope.

The Easter Season, the season of Resurrection,

            begins now and continues for 50 days, culminating on the 50^th day

                        with the ultimate Resurrection appearance on Pentecost.

Resurrection is the realization of our hope.

As it says in Colossians 1:27  Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed!  Alleluia!