The Paradox of Pentecost

The feast of Pentecost is one of the three high holy days of ancient Israel.  During the feast that occurred right after Jesus had been crucified, many Jews had gathered in Jerusalem, including 120 Jews who were devoted followers of a Jewish prophet named Jesus of Nazareth.  On this feast day, these Jesus-followers experienced something that changed their lives, and our lives, forever.  The leader of this small band, Peter, delivered the first sermon in response to an unusual occurrence that day, the life-changing experience of the Holy Spirit come among them.  The rush of violent wind coming from and going nowhere, tongues of fire that did not burn, and diverse languages broke like a roaring river into their midst.  And bystanders asked, “What does this mean?”

Will you pray with me?  “Blowing God, enflamed God, breathe on us today like you blew on those who were there at the founding of the church, and paradoxically, in our gifted differences, make us One together.  Amen.”

We have all heard this powerful story before. The Holy Spirit descended on the new church.  What we sometimes forget is that in the next few verses of Acts, all that same first morning, the church grew from 120 to 3000.   Talk about New Member Engagement and church growth!  But think for a moment what happened that invited that growth.  Every single one of the original 120, filled with the spirit, listened to Peter’s sermon about God never abandoning us and God lifting Jesus up beyond death.  Peter preached that nothing will separate us from God using the words of the Prophet Joel, “I saw God always before me, for God is at my right hand and I will not be shaken…God has made known to me the ways of life.” And Peter transferred the promise of life triumphing over death to us. 

Here, Peter explained that in the death of the cross, Jesus came to life beyond the grave.  Jesus’ victory came because of the apparent defeat of the cross.  This is the paradox of the cross. Death before life.  Defeat before victory.  The story of Christ and the story of the church are both filled with twists and deep paradox.  Let’s us look at this old story with new eyes.

So imagine this scene in Jerusalem.  Fifty days after the crucifixion all of the gathered are missing Jesus deeply.  They get together daily to talk and remember and reminisce about the good old days when Jesus kept them jumping and always teaching them new things.  But now, after some weeks, I imagine some starting to think about returning home to Galileeto fish, or to the Jordanto take up their previous lives.  They yearn to return to making a living the good old-fashioned way.  Some begin to dream about settling back into simple lives again, away from all this constant agitation and change and newness and trying to speak truth to power.  “Soon,” they say, “we will get back to just being normal people doing normal stuff.”  That kinda sounds nice and comforting doesn’t it?   “Soon, back to normal.  No more change.  Ahhh.”

And then, wham [clap hands].  They are shaken by tongues of fire that paradoxically do not burn, blown by violent wind that paradoxically does not destroy, and all speaking different languages, but focused on one thing only: God’s deeds of powerful love.  Another paradox of Pentecost!  The Holy Spirit did not come that day to solve their problems, but, instead the coming Holy Spirit came creating new challenges.  They were all headed back to their homes and normal lives as fishermen and merchants and homemakers, but then, they are blown all over the world enflamed by the spirit spreading the Good News of God’s love to everyone, starting with the 3000 onlookers that first day.  The Holy Spirit does not come as a comforting dove, gently hovering over them all warm and fuzzy and comfy.  No  The Holy Spirit kicks them and pushes them and cajoles them and tugs them and prods them and wrangles them and urges them out into the new world.

And in that first morning, they grew 25 times.  That’s powerful kicking and cajoling!  But it took everyone speaking—not just Peter.  Each one invited another, and then another and then another.  “Come share this new life I have found!”  They could not be silenced in their joy and enthusiasm.

So when was the last time you invited someone to church?  Not to say “Come be a Christian”—but instead to just say, “Come share the joy and fun of community that I have found.  Come share unconditional love.  Come feel this community of seeking and caring.”  When was the last time YOU shared your enthusiasm for this church with a little fire and a little wind of enthusiasm?  Do your co-workers or book club members even know you come to church, or heaven forbid, why you come here?  And remember, it does not matter how people respond to your invitation.  All that matters is that you plant the seed in others.  The Holy Spirit will water and tend to that seed.  But if you do not plant, God cannot harvest.

This introduces yet another paradox of Pentecost.  God defines success differently than we do.  Look back at the cross.  Humankind defines the cross as complete ultimate failure.  Death and defeat.  But God re-defined the cross into the ultimate victory, overcoming death with love.  So our fear of rejection can be used by God also.  What if who you invite says “No?”  Will we be failures?  No, because in God’s Realm, the apparent failure takes that planted seed and makes a new thing.  People will wonder, “Is there really a place where I can be loved for who I am without judgment and condemnation?  Is there really a place where I can learn about life’s meaning?  Does such a place exist in this crazy 21^st century world?”  The paradox is that even our human failures can open the door for the Holy Spirit to work in the world.  And because we can admit our failures here, we can also begin to acknowledge that we all need the saving grace of God.

So give us an example, Jeff.  I am sure you remember my first sermon here with you.  On 9/11, I preached a sermon of peace and love and forgiveness.  And some folks walked out because they wanted to hear a sermon about patriotism and national pride.  My first sermon seemed to some to be a horrible human failure.  But in that failure were the seeds of new hope and growth, new seeds of dialogue and discussion about what it means to be a Christian in this country in this time.  New seeds about who and what we are.  A community of Christ followers and American citizens also—but sometimes those two conflict.  This is a paradox of Pentecost, that in the seeds of our striving and attempts at growth and being church that we might occasionally seem to fail, but it is our faithful journey with Christ that is our focus, and not success at every turn.  At my first Council meeting here, I asked the Council for permission to try some things that may not work.  I asked for permission to make some mistakes, to open up some space to be daring and bold and experimental and energetic.  They gave me permission to do that, and I am reminded today that the Paradox of Pentecost is that we do not know when the seeds we have planted are being used by the spirit for growth of the church.  The folks in our passage acted like they were drunk on wine as they babbled in many languages, but the seeds they planted in that humanly chaotic babbling meant the Spirit was able to bring 3000 people that first day into the new church.  We will not grow if we do not try new things. We will not grow if we do not dare to be foolish for Christ.  We will not grow if we do not spread our enthusiasm and love for this community into our wider community and dare to make a few mis-steps along the way.  We will not grow if we do not speak to the people in our lives about our experiences here at Spring Glen Church just like the 120 people in our passage spoke to the people around them.

Another Paradox of Pentecost is that it took everybody in the first church speaking in different languages to begin to realize they were unified in their message of God’s power of love.  It was when they expressed differences in their speech that they began to understand their unity!  When we are all the same, we do not comprehend the incredible power of our unity.  It is when we are able, though the power of love and compassion, to live through and beyond our differences, that the power of the Body of Christ as One becomes breathtakingly real in our lives.  Paradoxically, it is our very differences that demonstrate the power of our unity in Christ.  In the same way for us, the power of growth in this community will not be in attracting people exactly like us.  The real power of growth in the Spirit is when we reach out to those in the world who are not like us—and love them anyway.  It is easy to love those who are like us.  But when we follow the spirit of Jesus we learn to love everyone beyond our differences; because no matter who you are, and no matter where you are on your paradoxical journey to Pentecost, you are welcome here.

Our passage from Romans adds still another paradox to Pentecost.  It talks about groaning and speaking words of hope when we cannot see what we hope for.  But the Romans passage also talks about the Spirit helping us in our weakness.  It is when we are weak and confused that we can be most open to prayer asking for help.  When we are weak with not knowing where to turn, then we stop and walk with each other in the power of the spirit, discerning where God is leading us.  When we are humanly strong, we think we have the answers.  But when we are weak, we open ourselves up to community, a community of Spirit and Christ where we depend upon one another for communal wisdom and clarity.  Paradoxically, when we are weak and turn to one another, we become far stronger than we are alone.

So in this Pentecost season, we are faced with several paradoxes that focus on community and spirit. The defeat of the cross becomes ultimate victory over death.  The Holy Spirit comes to shake us up, not to make us comfortable.  The Holy Spirit uses our apparent failures to plant seeds of hope.  The spirit uses our diversity to demonstrate our greatest and most profound  strength of unity.    The spirit transforms us from individuals into a community of faithful believers.  In community, God’s fuller image is revealed to us.  We are each created in God’s image, but as we gather in community and add all of our individual images of God together, we begin to see a more complete image of God.  Each one of us brings a unique new language to our everyday Pentecost.  Each one of us adds to the Pentecost fire and wind.  Each one of us brings a unique and varied experience of the flame and blowing Spirit, and all of us together form the image of God’s church; the breathing, flaming, groaning, blowing church together.  Every time we gather together, we live the everyday Paradoxical Pentecost of God’s passionate flaming love.

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!  Unsettle us into action, here, today.  Amen.