The
Park Road Pulpit
Sermons from Park Road Baptist Church
Russ and Amy Jacks Dean, Pastors
The Great “Aha”
Acts 2.1-21
May 30, 2004
Amy Jacks Dean
A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Knights baseball game. The boys wore their baseball uniforms and carried their baseball gloves. We were ready for a traditional, all-American night at the “old ball field.” The Youth Choir from FBC, Ashville, sang the National Anthem. We didn’t eat hotdogs, though; we had Chic-Fil-A and Subway instead. The larger than normal crowd cheered as the Knights made some good plays and got a few hits. It was appropriately hot. We tried to keep up with Homer, the mascot, and all of his crazy antics. A few foul balls came close to us, proving to be more unnerving than exciting. We got soft-serve ice cream in miniature baseball caps. We watched the game and we watched the people. But it was the 7th inning that united the crowd. The announcer said nothing, but somehow we all knew what to do. Men and women, boys and girls, old and young all stood and at just the right time - we all burst into song - in perfect unison: “Take me out to the ball game. . . Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks . . . and it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game.” We all knew what to do. We all knew the words, though I don’t recall ever teaching them to the boys. We all knew the tune, though I don’t know when I learned it myself. And somehow, in that one moment of a baseball game, there was a smile on everyone’s face. It was the 7th inning stretch and something swept over the crowd, and we instinctively knew what to do and how to do it.
Now I’m not one to use sports analogies very often - if ever. But I thought about that moment with our family as I read Molly Marshall’s new book Joining the Dance: A Theology of the Spirit. She says that “communal singing is fading away in our culture. Church and ball games are about the only places where it is regularly practiced.” (page 92)
Now, I’m not saying it was the Holy Spirit at the baseball stadium that called us all to stand and sing during the 7th inning stretch, but I am saying there was an American, emotional, cultural tug that brought unity for a brief moment. And I am saying that we are more comfortable talking about those kinds of cultural moments than talking about the Holy Spirit and the Church.
Today is Pentecost, so fear not. Today should truly be a day of celebration for it marks the birth of the Church. The word “Pentecost” literally means “fiftieth day.” (New Interpreters, Vol X, page 53) One of the great Jewish festivals known as The Festival of Weeks, or the Feast of Harvest, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread was always celebrated 50 days after Passover. It was a celebration of the wheat harvest. So the people had gathered expecting the usual hoopla, but they had no idea what was about to hit them. An inbreaking of the Spirit came upon them. It sounded like a rush of a violent wind. And their speech became like tongues of fire - each speaking a different language, yet everyone hearing and understanding in their own language. Oh, on that day, the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Molly Marshall puts it this way, “When the flesh of Jesus is no longer visible, the community of the Spirit becomes the enfleshment of God.” (page 75) The believers were 50 days without Jesus, and they needed something, anything to keep them going. And so on that first day of Pentecost without Jesus, the Spirit broke into their gathering and they became the enfleshment of God. It sounded like the wind and it looked like fire. Do not be afraid when you hear it and when you see it.
We are 50 days past Easter. 50 days post Resurrection. Pentecost. The only Sunday of the year that we wear red - symbolizing the tongues of fire. “Pentecost is not simply a historical event in the first century; it is also an eschatological event in that the vision of a universal experience of Spirit in power comes into view . . . Joel’s promise, finally realized, comes in the natural elements long associated with the presence of Spirit - wind and flame . . . the Spirit is poured out on all flesh . . ... Once again, in vulnerable nearness and humility, God chooses to make a home in the fragility of perishable life. Old and young, male and female, slave and free, Jew and Greek, educated and uneducated - all these are found to be a suitable dwelling by God’s Spirit. Indeed, notions of privilege and rank, domination and subordination, insider and outsider, are challenged by the leveling, integrating action of the Spirit. Michael Welker says it well: “When the Spirit of God is poured out, the different persons and groups of people will open God’s presence with each other and for each other . . . [and] will make it possible to know the reality intended by God.” (Molly Marshall, page 75-76)
Have you felt the inbreaking of the Spirit? No doubt about it, sometimes the Spirit moves, and it is tangible. It feels like an unexplainable lump in your throat. Sometimes it feels like chill bumps that run up and down your arms. Sometimes it feels like tears pooling in your eyes. Sometimes it feels as if you are being lifted - your body weight no longer matters - you feel light. It is the deep breath in and the slow exhale out. And it looks like the fire that dances on this communion table.
Have your heard it? Have you seen it, before? It is the Great “Aha” when you do. I will admit to you that sometimes I am aware of the Spirit in our midst and sometimes I am not. Our capacity to hear and see the Spirit is not determined by how and when God decides to come to us. God is always coming to us. The Spirit is always with us, among us, within us. It is a matter of us becoming aware of the Spirit’s presence and being willing to name it, acknowledge it, experience it. Not fearing it. Oh, I know why we fear it. It is not without good reason. We don’t want to become holy hand raisers who get tore up and slain in the Spirit and perhaps speak in tongues and run up and down the aisle or even handle snakes. And so we squelch the Spirit so that we don’t loose control. Let’s be honest. If you worship in this place on a regular basis, I think you would agree that we have a long way to go before we’ll be speaking in tongues or handling snakes. But sometimes I fear that we have a long way to go in allowing ourselves to feel something, anything, that we would be comfortable naming “Spirit.”
Our recognition of the Spirit is also a matter of intentional work. The Spirit of God is always coming to us. Are we quiet enough to hear it? Are we still enough to see it? Are we listening and looking, or are we too engrossed in our own lives. We do tend to be pretty self-absorbed with all the trappings of life. Let me encourage us all – be self-absorbed in listening for and looking for the Spirit of God in your life and in the life of the Church.
We are a suitable dwelling of God’s Spirit. Can you believe that? Some of us are broken. Some of us are distracted. Some of us tired. Some of us are apathetic. But . . . some of us are listening. Some of us are ready. Some of us living – really living. Did you notice that the Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost came to the gathered believers. It didn’t come just to Peter – the Rock. It didn’t come to just one or a few of the inner circle. The Spirit of God came to the gathered community. The Spirit of God came to the Church. And with it came great power. That is the Good News for this day. The Spirit of God came to the Church – so that on the days when I don’t hear it or see it – you hear it and see if for me and you tell me all about it. You allow me to experience the Spirit of God through your own enfleshment of the Spirit in this place. And hopefully, on the days when you don’t hear it or see it – I’ll tell you all about it.
Every now and then, I really catch a glimpse of it. Sometimes it is in the midst of preaching – something takes hold and I begin to speak words I have not thought of before. It usually causes me to loose my place in this manuscript. It is very unnerving. It is something beyond myself that I only know to call Spirit. But more often, when I really catch a glimpse of the Spirit, it is through music – when one phrase of one hymn speaks the truth, it is enough; when one note lingers in this great room after the singing has ceased; when a flute sounds like the wind and a trumpet sounds a call. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it when baptismal waters are stirred - “Buried in the likeness of his death. Raised to walk in the newness of life.” Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it in the breaking of bread and the pouring of the cup. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it in a few seconds of the 60 seconds of silence.
When I catch a glimpse of the Spirit, I want to hold on to it and never let it go. But no, it is too powerful, and God knows that I would try to control it, manipulate it, and eventually, squelch it. That is why the Spirit is of God and not of my own making.
Gertrud Mueller Nelson puts it this way: “Life in the Spirit is different. The Spirit wells up from the center of our very being. It founds us and breathes into our actions the enthusiasm of love and genuine creativity. Spirit means pneuma, breath, wind, air. Like the wind, we cannot see the Spirit, but we can see and feel its effect. We know when it is working . . . Suddenly there came a sound from heaven [like the rush of a violent wind.] The nature of an awakening, or of an inspiration is like that. Suddenly, it hits us. We say, `Aha!’” (To Dance with God, page 189) Have you heard it? Have you seen it? If not, don’t worry, don’t beat yourself up, but do find someone in this church who has and get them to tell you about it. And if you have heard it and you have seen it, quick – tell somebody in this place about it. The problem is – it is difficult to put into words what we feel and experience when it comes to the Spirit of God. So we need to be watching and waiting and ready – for the wind is blowing here and the flames do dance to the beat of God’s heart.
“I am praying for Pentecost! It is not so much about people speaking in `a strange tongue’ as it is about believers getting power to be faithful.” (The Living Pulpit, “Pentecost: The Power of Liberation,” Keith A. Russell, Volume 13, No. 2, page 13) When we receive the power to be faithful it will be the greatest “Aha!” of all.
May it be so!
Pastoral Prayer
O God, send your Spirit to us this day in overflowing portions.
For those who are broken and tired and weary – give the rest of us your generosity of peace to share.
For those who grieve – give the rest of us your generosity of compassion to share.
For those who feel nothing – give the rest of us your generosity of passion to share.
So that in our living, we might embody your Spirit. It is a high and holy calling, so keep us always listening and always watching so that we may all know your Love.