“‘Pentecost’ and other Weird Church Words”

John 14:8-27

Scripture:

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Sermon:

When I was thinking about my sermon over the course of this week, I came to a startling realization. I didn’t know what “Pentecost” was. Sure I knew that it was the day when we celebrate the story of the Upper Room. A story where the disciples are gathered together, after Jesus’ ascension, and a strong wind breaks in through the windows and suddenly flames of fire appeared above everyone’s heads. When I was a little boy I always imagined that must have made some bald guy really happy!

So then, after everyone gets their flame-on, a lot of them go outside and talk to people in languages that they didn’t know before. Everyone is, of course, startled. But Peter gets up and delivers a sermon and a bunch of people get saved. This was the coming of the Holy Spirit. But as I was preparing for this week, I realized that I had no idea why that had anything to do with Pentecost. I kept asking myself, “What five things are costing someone something?”

So I did some reading and discovered some pretty interesting things. One of the interesting things I found is that there’s a sharp distinction between a Jewish Pentecost and a Christian one. “The Jewish Pentecost was a harvest feast that commemorated the covenant and was assigned to the fiftieth day after Passover.”[1] The Passover is that time when the descendants of Abraham were stuck in Egypt as slaves and God instructed them to make a sacrifice and put blood over the posts to their front door in order to avoid a plague – story that symbolizes God’s provision and work of deliverance for his people.

But to get back on point, the Jewish Pentecost happens fifty days after Passover. So let’s think now… What were we doing fifty days ago? We were celebrating Easter!

At the time Jesus was alive Passover wasn’t just a one day thing. It went on for a while and that’s when Jesus was crucified and resurrected. So it is perhaps quite understandable that early Christians would draw a direct connection between Passover and the Resurrection. The harvest feast that occurred fifty days after the Passover wasn’t really all that important anymore, because the preceding and more significant holiday had changed. For Christians it was Easter.

So by the time we get to the year 300 AD, Pentecost had also become a Christian holiday. So much so that the Council of Elvira prescribed that we should all celebrate it.[2] But this new, reinterpreted, holiday was a bit different. Initially, it wasn’t really separated from Ascension Sunday (last week) when we recognize Christ’s ascension to heaven. But by the time we get a little further on it focused in on the story many of us are probably familiar with – the account from Acts.

One thing we might not remember though, is that Pentecost Sunday is the last day of the Easter season. You see Pentecost literally means “fifty days” and for a couple thousand years now, or at least 1700, Christians have celebrated Easter as a season for fifty days following the actual day we think of. In this time we’re supposed to be joyous and reflective on how we too will be resurrected. And it concludes with this day, today, where we in many regards recognize the birthday of the Church – the day when the Holy Spirit descended and inhabited the Church.

Consequently, there are a number of scriptures that are used on this particular occasion. As most of you probably realize, there are some scriptures that fit occasions better than others. One of the popular prophecies that’s used refers to the time when the church will become the anti-Babel, an assembly of formerly divided human beings who have been united by the work of the Spirit. As one early commentator wrote, “the Spirit brought all the estranged races into unity and offered to the Father the first fruits of all the peoples.”[3] The second Old Testament text that’s usually used refers to the time when the Spirit will write a new law onto the hearts of human beings. The third, prophecies to a day when the gift of the Spirit will cause a new people of God to rise from the dead.

The passage I decided to have read before us today records Jesus’ promise that the disciples will not be left alone. Its words of encouragement tell us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” We hear about peace precisely because Jesus wants to alleviate any tension or anxiety about a lack of guidance following his ascension into heaven. He wants to console his disciples and let them know that they won’t be alone – that the Spirit of God will reside with them and guide them in obedience and in truth. To my eyes, the passage seems to imply that obedience and truth exist together simultaneously – codependent, interrelated, and dialectical. To be obedient one must think, but to think clearly one must be obedient. But in both cases, we will fail unless we are given outside help – the work of the Holy Spirit.

So it seems to me that this passage is a message of comfort precisely because it’s a moment when Jesus tells his disciples that they don’t need to fret or worry over their ability to follow and be obedient once Jesus is gone. God’s presence and guidance never leaves our side. Instead, we can rest assured that the Holy Spirit rests with us and helps guide us towards the best decisions we can make, so long as we open our hearts to a state of obedience and searching.

In some ways, I think that a theology of the Holy Spirit inevitably leads to a theology of humility. When we learn and think about the work of the Holy Spirit, we learn about our own incapacities to live a righteous life apart from grace both individually and collectively. We learn about our limits and the way God acts in our lives to overcome of deficiencies and heal us. The Holy Spirit dwells with us precisely so we can grow into and participate within that weird thing Jesus always referred to – the Kingdom of God. If we let it, the Holy Spirit will lead us towards a place within God’s continuous work of recreation and rejuvenation.

As some of you know, my father’s family has deep roots in the Assemblies of God. My father and I went to the oldest Assemblies of God college in the country –Bethany University. When he went there it was called, Bethany Bible College. So I would say that I’ve spent a lot of time in Pentecostal chapel services and services. As the name even implies, Pentecostals take Pentecost very seriously. They celebrate it because they think it can be a call to revival. If you’d like, we can have a conversation about ‘tongues’ and all that rather eccentric stuff a later on.

But needless to say, I don’t consider myself Pentecostal. I was always the kid who sat in the back of chapel and cracked jokes with the debate team. For many people, it’s a tradition rich with emotional appeal – it brings the heart into a wondrous cornucopia of feelings, both highs and lows. But for me, I also tend to think that it’s a tradition that lacks a life of the mind. Some within it are trying to become more thoughtful and many others are trying to take the Bible seriously. The details of their internal fight between Evangelicals (who are driven by the missionary community) and the Fundamentalists (who are driven by American mega-churches) is their own thing and something we could talk about later if you’d like.

But there’s one thing I think the Pentecostals get right and that’s the significance of Pentecost. I think that focusing in too much on the flames of fire and tongues thing might miss the point a bit, but the recognition and reorientation around the event seems appropriate to me. It’s the day when the Spirit of God descended to dwell with humanity. It’s the day when the Church gained the guiding voice, not just of the scriptures, but of the Spirit which propels us – if we let it – towards all things good. It’s the day when peace came to dwell in our hearts because we know that God stands within and among us. So in this respect then, I think that it’s a glorious holiday – the last day of the Easter season. It’s a time to celebrate.

So I’d like to conclude with a poem from T.S. Eliot entitled Little Gidding:

. . . The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one dischage from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre of pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.
Love is the unfamiliar Name
Behind the hands that wove
The intolerable shirt of flame
Which human power cannot remove.
We only live, only suspire
Consumed by either fire or fire . . .

---

[1] Pierre Jounel, The Church at Prayer: An Introduction to the Liturgy, ed. Aimé-Georges Martimort (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1986), p. 59.

[2] H.T. Bruns, Canones Apostolorum et Conciliorum (Berlin: Reimer, 1839) 2:7.

[3] St. Irenaeus.

Foucault and Humanism

"Man is disappearing in philosophy," he explained in 1968, "not as an object of knowledge, but as the subject of liberty and of existence."

Foucault, "Foucault répond à Sartre" (interview with J.-P. Elkabbach), in Dits et écrits, vol. I, 1954-1969, p. 664.

"In a 1979 letter to the Iranian Prime Minister, Paras points out, Focault mentioned 'human rights' no less than four times, and 'rights' and additional seven." 

Michael C. Behrent, "Liberalism without Humanism" in Foucault and Neoliberalism, eds. Daniel Zamora and Michael C. Behrent (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2016), p. 28.  Citing: E. Paras, Foucault 2.0: Beyond Power and Knowledge (New York: Other Press, 2006), p. 97.

Foucault's Rejection of Humanism

"Our task, is to emancipate ourselves definitively from humanism."

Foucault, "Entretien avec Madeleine Chapsal," in Foucault, Dits et écrits, vol. I, 1954-1969, ed. D. Defert, F. Ewald, and J. Langrange (Paris: Gallimard, 1994), p. 516.

Foucault's Interview with Paul Rabinow

"I think I have in fact been situated in most of the squares on the political checkerboard, on after another and sometimes simultaneously: as anarchist, leftist, ostentatious or disguised Marxist, nihilist or secret anti-Marxist, technocrat in the service of Gaullism, new liberal, etc... None of these descriptions is important by itself; taken together, on the other hand, they mean something. And I must admit I rather like what they mean." M. Foucault, "Polemics, Politics, and Problematizations," trans. Lydia Davis, in The Foucault Reader, ed. P. Rabinow (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), 383-4.

Foucault, Biopolitics, and Liberalism

"With the emergence of political economy, with the introduction of the restrictive principle in governmental practice itself, an important substitution, or doubling rather, is carried out, since the subjects of right on which political sovereignty is exercised appear as a population that a government must manage."

"[p. 32] This is the point of departure for the organizational line of a 'biopolitics.' But who does not see that this is only part of something much larger, which [is] this new governmental reason? Studying liberalism as the general framework of biopolitics."

Michel Foucault, "Footnotes" in The Birth of Biopolitics, ed. Michel Senellart, trans. Graham Burchell (New York: Picadore, 2008), p. 22

Seneca on Freedom

"The soul stands on unassailable grounds, if it has abandoned external things; it is independent in its own fortress; and every weapon that is hurled falls short of the mark. Fortune has not that long reach with which we credit her; she can seize none except him that clings to her. Let us recoil from her as far as we are able." Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, pp. 82 & 5.

Foucault on Socrates's Unexamined Life Quote

"In order to formulate what is both a general principle and an attitudinal schema, Epictetus refers to Socrates and to the aphorism stated in the Apology: 'An unexamined life [anexetastos bios] is not worth living.' In reality, the examination Socrates was talking about was the one to which he intended to subject both himself and others apropos of ignorance, knowledge, and the non-knowledge of this ignorance. The examination Epictetus talks about is completely different: it is an examination that deals with representations, that aims to 'test' them, to 'distinguish' (diakrinein) one from another and thus to prevent one from accepting the 'first arrival.' [...] This inspection is a test of power and a guarantee of freedom: a way of always making sure that one will not become attached to that which does not come under our control." Foucault, "The Care of Self," in The History of Sexuality, Vol. 3 (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), pp. 63-64.

Seneca on Training for War

"In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself with gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil. If you would not have a man flinch when crisis comes, train him before it come." Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, pp. 18 & 6.

Foucault speaking of Artemidorus and Greek Sexuality

"Sexual dreams foretell the dreamer's destiny in social life; the actor that he is on the sexual stage of the dream anticipates the role that he will play in the theater of family life, professional endeavor, and civic affairs."

"There exists in Greek - and in many other languages as well, to varying degrees - a very pronounced ambiguity between the sexual meaning and the economic meaning of certain terms."

Foucault, "Dream and Act" in History of Sexuality, Vol. 3 (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), p. 27.

Plato - Spirit, Appetites, and Wisdom

"When he has quieted both spirit and appetites, he arouses his third part in which wisdom resides and thus takes his rest; you know that it is then that he best grasps reality." Plato, The Republic

Walking In God's Promises

Isaiah 30:18-21

Scripture:

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹ Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. ²⁰ Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹ And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 

Sermon:

Introduction – As most of you know, I tend to have a normative form or style that I fall into when I preach. When I interviewed here with the search committee I even mentioned that I’m a teaching pastor. Or to put it another way, that my sermons are often educational in nature.

That’s part of who I am and what my ministry is about. But I also know that the work of a pastor is not limited to education. It’s not limited to the moment I get up here to deliver a profoundly rich exegetical understanding of some obscure biblical text and some hermeneutical extrapolation about how that’s relevant to your life. I certainly I hope I do that sometimes! 

But I’m also concerned with making time and space for other kinds of moments in our weekly time together. We are, after all, people and people are complicated and sometimes we don’t need to hear rich theology from the book of Romans, although that is certainly edifying and profitable. It’s a wonderful book.

Sometimes though, we need to be spoken to on another level. Sometimes we need to hear a voice from the scriptures that reaches out and gives us a hug and a word of wisdom. That’s what I think this morning’s passage does for us.

The passage I chose from Isaiah has a context and those things are important, but it’s also intuitively simple. And sometime that’s the kind of message we need to hear. Sometimes we just need to be told that we are loved and this morning God is telling you that you are loved.

So it is with this in mind that I want to switch things up and do things differently. This morning we’re going to take time to hear four stories from the NPR show Story Corps. In between these stories I’ll reflect a bit and maybe even ask you to turn to someone near to you and discuss what you may have heard or what’s sitting on your heart.

Our first story comes from my childhood and perhaps some special element of your life as well. There’s a very special Presbyterian minister who we all probably have some exposure to, even though he passed away in 2003. He was educated at Dartmouth College and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and testified before the U.S. Senate on behalf of public funding for children’s television. By now you may have guessed that I’m referring to Fred Rogers the host of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

When I was growing up I didn’t have a lot of access to T.V. In the first grade, I would sneak over to a neighbor’s house to watch Power Rangers both because my family didn’t have cable and because I wasn’t allowed to watch it. But one show my family was always happy to see me in front of was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

This first story that we’re going to listen to is told by François Clemmons, the actor and singer who played Officer Clemmons on the show. In fact, François was the first African-American actor to have a recurring role on a kids TV series in the United States. So it with that in mind that we might perhaps hear something from his story:

["I was not excited about being Officer Clemmons at all."]

Some of the memories François just spoke of might bring back memories of our own. Of difficult times perhaps, or maybe a time when we had to empathize with someone else’s place. Or perhaps most miraculously, when we may have experienced that kind of expression of love and acceptance.

Though we may sometimes eat the bread of adversity and drink the waters of affliction, the Lord answers our cries and longs to be gracious and merciful to us. We are, and you are, loved.

This second story takes place in the course of a conversation between Janet Lutz, a hospital chaplain, and Lori Armstrong her friend.

["We go around and we bless the hands of all the people who work in the hospital."]

I’d like to ask you at this point to turn to someone near you and talk for a moment. Think about these two questions and then share with your neighbor:

·        How did those stories affect me?

·        How might I grow to take more care of moments like those?

Our third story might surprise you a little bit. It’s a conversation we’ll overhear between an older man, who’s possibly full of life experience, and a very young man who’s just now starting to turn his life around from some poor choices. I think you might find it a bit moving.

["At the age of 18, I didn't know what I was going to be doing with my life."]

I’m sure that one may have surprised all of you a little bit. I know that I chuckled when I heard it for the first time. But I never felt a sense of inauthenticity to it. Perhaps it’s my own background and childhood, but it spoke to me and some of the difficult times I went through as a kid.

Perhaps it’s a story that can help us reflect a bit on the last verse we heard from this morning’s scripture: “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

Finally, I want to conclude with a very powerful story between two brothers who came into such a relationship through unusual means. In my mind this next story illustrates the kind of love that Jesus talks about, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount.

["My American soldier became my Iraqi brother."]

Perhaps after hearing that story we can think about how we too might come to love those who we might think of as different or even enemies. We won’t go too deep into the idea today, but what does it mean when Christ calls us to love everyone, even our enemies. This story wasn’t even about enemies. It was about two men who overcame their prejudices and fears to become such close friends that they’d call each other “brother.” War has a funny way of cementing tight bonds between men. Perhaps it’s the horror and that drives our fundamentally social natures to seek something human amidst all the pain. Or perhaps it’s something else. I’m not in a position to speak to that, but I can say that this story illustrated the kind of relationship that can grow when we embrace love.

Conclusion:

I want to close this morning’s time of reflection with another reading of this morning’s scripture passage. May we be blessed with this reading from the prophet Isaiah.

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹ Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. ²⁰ Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹ And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Amen.