June 4, 2017
Day of
Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm
104:24-34, 35b
1
Corinthians 12:3b-13
John
20:19-23
Please pray
with me,
May the
words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and
suitable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Kelly Fryer,
has written many books and Bible Studies about what it means to be church in
the world around us today. She is a
little shorter than me, and a little rounder than I am…but we have the same
spunky personality. She and I both like
to tell stories when we share our faith journeys.
One of my
favorite stories that Kelly shares is an experience she had back in November
2001, when she was flying to Washington, D.C.
As you can imagine, things in the airport in the months following 9-11
were a bit stressful due to heightened security.
While Kelly
arrives at the airport three hours early, she is still the last one on the
plane, shuffled to the back by the bathroom as she carried her little suitcase,
a guitar and a briefcase….
After
squishing into her tiny back row seat, one of the flight attendants starts
chatting her up, asking about the guitar, why she’s traveling to Washington,
you know the normal flight attendant chit-chat.
Then he goes off to do something else…
As the plane
is backing up, preparing for take-off, Kelly is in her seat, eyes closed, and
trying to relax for the flight. When she hears, “Kelly.” She slowly opens up
her eyes and sees the attendant crouched down next to her.
He says to
her, in a soft voice, “You see that man two rows in front of you? If he does
anything suspicious, let us know.” And he stands up and walks away.
Kelly’s mind
starts spinning….woah, this attendant is hyper-alert…and then woah…what if this
guy actually does something suspicious!?!?!
Well, she
pulls out her laptop, because it’s the heaviest thing she’s got with her, (and
I guess easier to wield than a guitar) and settles in for the flight, keeping a
solid eye on the guy, two rows up.
The plane
lands and she is the last one off, following this guy, where as they enter the
terminal is surrounded by a huddle of D.C. police officers and FBI and hauled
off in handcuffs.
And Kelly
thought to herself, “Are you kidding me? You must be kidding….I’m the best plan
you’ve got??”
And yet in
that moment, she was called…and chosen to be the best plan in that
situation.
How often do
we wonder if we are the best ones for the job?
We, like those apostles who were nearly knocked over the by the wind,
breath and fire of the Holy Spirit are flawed, smug and confused…yet we are the
very people to whom God sends the Spirit.
Because see, God just like that Pentecost, God still breaks in to do the
work God is prepared to do. And we will
accomplish that work, powered by the Holy Spirit.
And why does
God do all this?
Well,
because God is not kidding.
We are the
best that God has to work with…
Sometimes I think we let
ourselves get in the way of the movement of the spirit. When the spirit blows we can have a sense of
doubt or concern or uneasiness when thinking about letting go and letting
God. It’s almost as if when the Spirit
blows, we hold our breath. We hold our
breath, hoping the Spirit will blow right by and we can continue on our own
path.
Yet this celebration of
Pentecost calls us to keep breathing. It
challenges us to keep ourselves open to the Spirit who seeks us.
The Spirit
that, in the beginning, brooded over the chaos and brought forth creation; the
Spirit that drenched the community with fire and breath on the day of
Pentecost: this same Spirit desires to dwell within us and among us.
Amidst the
brokenness and chaos and pain that sometimes come with being in community, the
Spirit searches for places to breathe in us, to transform us, to knit us
together more deeply and wholly as the body of Christ, and to send us forth
into the world.
The Spirit moved through the
Pocono retreat last weekend. Laughter
and stories were shared, relationships were build and strengthened, songs were
sung, prayers were prayed, scripture was lived out and food was eaten…lots of
food was eaten. And while there were so
many moments when the Spirit was at work…here are two that I want to share.
In the rec hall, we
gathered for games and ice breakers. The
volume in that hall was overwhelming with laughter, shouting, running, laughing
and singing. But after finishing the
games and the goofiness, with a verse or two of the song Sanctuary, we moved as
a group of 60 people from chaos to quiet study and prayer. We dove into a passage from Romans and shared
what it meant to each of us that we cannot ever be separated from the love of
God. Those responses are on this
cross. The Spirit blew in our midst, in
our living space and in our hearts to share the love God has for us.
On Sunday morning, the
spirit moved in a completely different direction…with a little music, our
breakfast was rockin’. Yes, we started
of slowly…with a favorite tune…(Angel of the Morning) and ended with this…. Ballroom Blitz
The whole dining hall
was chanting, tossing a stuffed teddy bear around the room and laughing. The energy in that place…was amazing.
And that was our prelude to worship. Good times, right?
But here’s the thing…again,
through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we were united in silliness
and shenanigans and enjoying the moment.
We were united as a community who was ready to laugh and have fun
together. We were also united as a
community ready to worship, ready to praise God and ready to pray.
The Ballroom Blitz moment
was the presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not to
be confused with a gentle spring breeze, it’s a full force gale!
The Spirit will blow as God
wishes and we are to go along for the ride, out of these pews and into the
community, to serve the poor and needy, to share the good news of Jesus Christ,
to proclaim the good news about a God that loves us unconditionally.
The Spirit will move us and
shake us. It will comfort us when we are
scared or frightened, as it did when Jesus breathed on his disciples in that
locked room.
When we are situated and
comfortable, the Spirit will move and shake us into areas outside our comfort
zone.
The Spirit will comfort the
terrified, and terrify the comforted.
As the Spirit moves and
shakes us, we give thanks to God that we are always being moved in ways for our
faith to grow and for Jesus’ good news to be shared with all.
So with the wind of the
Spirit at our backs, may we be strengthened at this meal, and blown out of here
to serve God within our community.
And now may
the peace, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.
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