A Pentecost Sermon

She Flies On

Pentecost – 2014               Acts 2:1-21  and 1Corinthians 12:3b-13

What a week – my oh my – who would have thought we in Canada could ever spend time living in fear and trepidation as the a part of the city of Moncton, NB was in lock down mode for over 24 hours this past week searching for a cop killer – hiding in the bushes of the city.  I can’t imagine what it was like for the people of Moncton – it must have been horrific – and what is it that disenfranchises a 24 year old man so much that he straps a number of of knives, guns and ammo to his body and goes out to purposely hunt and kill police officers?  How do you even make sense of such an event?  My sons are this age, had we lived in the same area they would have gone to school with him…I am asking myself what is so different that the choices made by one young man and the choices made by another are so different– and in sharp contrast to the event unfolding in Moncton – the other major news story focused on the beaches of Normandy.d – we also celebrated – maybe that is the wrong word – we paid homage to the young men who were roughly the same age as Justin Bourque, who on June 6, 1944 risked their lives and participated in the D-Day operations that eventually turned the tide in World War 2.  It was the beginning of the end.  It was such a strange juxtaposition to watch the television and see both stories happening simultaneously – on one hand a angry scary freaked out man killing cops and on the other, men who gave their lives to a cause of peace, justice and democracy, and fought for their country.  Humans are such complicated creatures that in one instance we can focus our power and strength hate and discrimination or we can band together as one to use our power and strength to combat hate and discrimination.  The power of one with an idea in his mind that is about hatred for other human beings is a destructive force.  The power many with the noble idea to liberate a nation for oppression is a constructive force.

Our readings today are about the power of many – and how all together we can be a force of love and justice and liberation and creation – we can be a constructive force.  And what binds the groups as  we witness today has nothing to do with uniformity or conformity -  is not that they are all the same, nor that they have all the same ideas or skills or abilities – what they have that binds them together that makes them a force to be reckoned with – is the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit – this gift of divine love that is part of this world and has been part of the world since its beginning…. 

And so the spirit comes…and the world was created, and God’s hands was in the beginning when all was a formless void and the spirit began its dance on the earth, God came into the world in so many different ways – the scriptures records just a few, God encounters with Abraham and Moses and David and Deborah – and God being there and with God’s people as they struggled to know God, so God sent prophets, prophets to speak for God, prophets with words that were sometimes difficult to hear.

The prophet were inspired to share the word of God to the people to offer them hope and to offer them reminders about who they were – and who God was and how they were deeply connected to their creator – it is easy as we all know so well that when we get caught up in our every day lives and things get challenging it is sometimes easier to think that going it alone is preferable to going it with God and we can get distant and we can get disconnected – but God was not done with the world yet – and God was not done with his people yet…
And then came Jesus – then came Jesus into the world a baby, born into humble circumstances and the spirit is unleashed like never before.  And this fully human man, and his ministry becomes a testament to the work of the Holy Spirit,

·       And the lame walked

·       And the blind regained their sight

·       And the deaf could hear again

·       And the outcast and the sinners are invited to the table

·       And woman are treated as equals, and food is shared with those whom society deems as unworthy

·       And he tells stories about grain falling on the ground and lost pearls and mustard plants and the world is turned upside down.

God sent Jesus and the world has never been the same since…let us sing about the spirit moving in the life of Jesus…

She Flies On – chorus, verse 3,4 chorus

She comes sailing on the wind,

         her wings flashing in the sun;

         on a journey just begun, she flies on.

         And in the passage of her flight,

         her song rings out through the night,

         full of laughter, full of light, she flies on.

To a gentle girl in Galilee, a gentle breeze she came,

         a whisper softly calling in the dark,

         the promise of a child of peace whose reign would

                 never end,

         Mary sang the Spirit song within her heart.

4       Flying to the river, she waited circling high

         above the child now grown so full of grace.

         As he rose up from the water, she swept down from the sky,

         and she carried him away in her embrace. 

She comes sailing on the wind,

         her wings flashing in the sun;

         on a journey just begun, she flies on.

         And in the passage of her flight,

         her song rings out through the night,

And after it was finished, the trail, the death, the resurrection the ascension – those that lived with Jesus, those that walked and talked and were the closest to him – well they struggled, they struggled to figure out how they were to live in the world in this new reality ---and then the Spirit came –
There they were Jesus disciples and others who witnessed to the Christ, other who were touched by who Jesus was and what he came to say – there they were – locked in a room again.  It is about 50 days past Passover, and they are once again in Jerusalem, and once again gathered in a room and once again they have locked the door – fear is pervasive, and the memory of the death of their leader is deep and present – the city is once again teaming with people from all over – they are gathered to celebrate Shavuot – which is the celebration of the day that God gave the law, the Torah, to the Jewish people.   The city is full of Jews and here they are as people who are challenging the traditional way that God is worship at the temple, and by the Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes and Rabbis – they are becoming more Christ focused and less Law focused so it is understandable that being out sight might and out of mind might be a good idea as the celebration of the “Law” goes on around them.  And then the spirit come – the spirit of God – the Holy Spirit descends like flame and wind – imagine – imagine what this must have been like for all those in that room in that moment – how awesome – how terrifying – how liberating, how amazing –

It must have been pretty incredible because this wind and flame, this Spirit of God was able to these scared, unfocused disciples and friends and spurred them on and shook them up and transformed this rag-tagged group of disciples into preachers and teacher and prophets and the church was born – in that moment – these men and woman unlocked that door and walked or more probably ran out into the streets to share with anyone who would listen the transforming love that Jesus, their friend had shared with them.  And the Spirit flew into the streets and enlivened and enraptured the people.  Out of that moment the church was born and people began to gather in homes and support one another, and share food, and care for others, love and Jesus loved and do and Jesus did…but it wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t always good.

Let me tell you about the church in Corinth – it is a mess – it has just barely begun – just barely gotten its feet wet as a Christian organization  and already there is conflict, there is chaos, there is the body of Christ spending more time and energy dealing with it’s internal issues that the message of Christ is getting lost.  By the time Paul writes his letter, the church is dividing because of jealousy, and quarrelling amongst themselves.  There are some who are boasting about their personal spiritual gifts, at least one of their members is guilty of a sex scandal, the whole community is guilty of tolerating immorality.  Some of the believers are using outside judges to settle internal conflicts.  There were some who were thoughtless to their brothers and sisters and eating food that had been offered to pagan idols.  Some wealthier Christians were using the Lord ’s Table to humiliate poorer members.  They also were ranking spiritual gifts as being more important than others and the list goes on and on and on – that why it takes Paul a couple of letters to set things straight.  But God does not give up on the church when it becomes a cesspool of problems -  no, in fact this is when the Spirit comes the most – for it is when we are struggling and when we are challenged and when we face fear and discomfort, this is the time when we are most open to the Spirit moving in our midst.  Look what Paul reminds the Corinthians this morning – he reminds them that they are the ones that are the gifted ones, they are the ones that God has graced with the ability and the resources that they need to live both in the church and in the world as God wants.  Paul reminds us that the gifts that we need to live a godly life, to be the church – they are here – here in this room.

Cause you know what – you are the church – you are the body of Christ – you sitting right there in that pew – and even if you think – not me, not here – cause I only come a few months of the year – or not now – cause there is too many other things going on in your life at the moment or not yet cause you are not ready– or even if you believe that you do not have enough faith to be part of this body of Christ – even if all those things – you are a too busy, occasional worshiper who is not prepared and is more of a doubter than a believer – you too are part of the body of Christ – you too are the church – and you too have gifts – gifts from God that we in the church need to keep going. 

What if you are the eyes of this body of Christ and you can see in the distance some obstacle that we are approaching – what would happen to the body without those eyes?

And what if you are the index finger of this here church – and we need to point out the direction to go in out in the world– what would happen if you decided to curl you finger up and not use it – where would we go?  Back inside ourselves?

And what if you are the knee cap of this operation – and we need an opportunity to bend and move and you decide that you have nothing to offer so that the legs of your church would stiff leg-a-dly and in pain and discomfort, move slowly forward?

And what if you are the ears of this place and you have heard a message from God, but you choose not to share it, how are we able to hear the full word of God if you withhold this information?

And what if you are the big toe – you may think – well that’s not important – the big toe – but what if we need you to stabilize us and without you we are tripping all over out feet.  

From the eyes to the ears, from our fingers to our toes – we are all part of the body of Christ and we all have a part to play in being the church.

You are part of the body of Christ – and we need you! 

The spirit comes and comes and comes – it is Jesus promise to us.

In Moncton yesterday, when the killer had been caught and charged and the lock down ended, the people did not remain in their homes contemplating the unsafe world that that we live in – no the people of Moncton, and more, people from all over New Brunswick left their homes and went to RCMP headquarters and left flowers, and tokens, one woman even left an small maple tree – all to let the police know that they cared and felt for them in their loss.  And in the neighbourhood where the lock down occurred, the people of that area gathered together and made speeches about how it was still a safe place and how they will not let fear ruin their neighbour and a bunch of boys decorated their bicycles and drove around with coloured streamers and flags and signs happy and safe in their neigbourhood…and the Spirit come again and again and again…she flies on.  Happy Pentecost everyone!