Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, Trinity Episcopal Church

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1 Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, Trinity Episcopal Church The Day of Pentecost May 23, 2010 The Rev. Linda Spiers Can you imagine what our world would be like if we could all understand each other? When one travels in another country, you can hear the languages of many peoples. I m always struck by listening to people speak in their native language. When I ve visited Israel, especially in an around Jerusalem, it s fascinating to hear the many languages spoken by busloads of peoples. In a sense they are much like the people we hear about in Acts peoples who hear and understand in their own language the story of God. Israel is that place where Christians, Jews, and Muslims come from all over the world to their respective holy sites. Whereas they speak their native tongue, they also speak a common language of faith. They know the Gospel in their own language or they understand the Torah not only in Hebrew but also in their native tongue or they know the Koran in Arabic while also speaking their own language. Pentecost was that time in the early church when peoples from many families, languages, and nations gathered and could all understand the story of God in their own native tongue. Pentecost was the festival of weeks one of the three great festivals for Jews. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths. They shall not appear before the 1

2 Lord empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. (Deut 16:16-17). The festival of weeks, Shavuot or Pentecost as it is now called, was a joyful festival where the first fruits of the harvest were brought to be given to God. Shavuot is also the time of celebrating the giving of the Torah, especially the Ten Commandments. Just before our passage in Acts, we re told that the number of believers at that time totaled around 120 a number not unlike what we experience here at Trinity across two services. The Apostles had just cast lots for their 12 th member, Matthias. The Apostles had remained in Jerusalem just as Jesus had ordered. But this group would have included women and men. Suddenly the sound of the rush of a violent wind filled the place where they were gathered a house church. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Acts 2:3-4). For those of us who have studied another language, we know how challenging it can be to learn to speak a language other than our native tongue. The power of the Holy Spirit came upon those early believers and gave them the gift of speaking another language immediately. Can you imagine the excitement and the thrill of those people to discover what they now could do? 2

3 There was another large group of devout Jews in Jerusalem at that same time, and they were baffled at what they saw and heard. They were people who had emigrated from other parts of the world of their world of the Roman Empire. Their language would have been Greek and yet they would have also had their own native tongue. Through the power of the Holy Spirit those early believers could now speak in the languages of these immigrants. I can imagine the awe and wonder on the parts of both the hearers and the speakers. What was going on? How could each hear in his/her own native language? Each was able to hear the story of God the Gospel could now be preached and spoken in many languages. Certainly not everyone bought into what was happening, but many did. In a sense the church was expanded beyond it bounds of those early Christians. Now all could hear and be given a chance to understand. Then Peter points those early Christians to the prophet Joel the prophet many of them would have known the eschatological truth that Joel prophesied. In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your young men shall see visions.your old men shall dream dreams..then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:17-21). The early church that day grew exponentially by about 3,000 people. The Apostles filled with the Holy Spirit told the story, and all who gathered understood 3

4 the story in their own language. The believers were given the power to tell the story of the good news of God in Jesus Christ. In the story of the Tower of Babel tongues divided peoples one from another, and now a tongue rested on each of the gathered such than many could hear in their own language. The Holy Spirit gave people power that first Pentecost. Words and language were tools of power. Frederick Buechner defines word in a fascinating way in his little book Wishful Thinking: A Seekers ABC. He says the following. In Hebrew the term dabar means both word and deed. Thus to say something is to do something. I love you. I hate you. I forgive you. I am afraid. Who knows what such words do, but whatever it is, it can never be undone. Something that lay hidden in the heart is irrevocably released through speech into time, is given substance and tossed like a stone into the pool of history, where the concentric rings lap out endlessly. Words are power, essentially the power of creation. By my words I both discover and create who I am. By my words I elicit a word from you. Through our converse we create each other. 1 The Holy Spirit gave those early Christian believers the power to speak words that had meaning for all who gathered that day. You and I are given the power of the Holy Spirit in our baptism and marked as Christ s own for ever. 1 Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seekers ABC (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993),

5 Those early believers created something in each other with words spoken in native languages. You and I are called to speak words of our faith in our time. We are also multilingual in that we speak the language of faith and we speak the language of our secular culture. Through our converse we create each other. The boldness of tongues, as of fire, also rests upon each of us. That power of the Holy Spirit is ours to behold this day and always. We have power to use and power to create together. May we use it responsibly and with the boldness of those early Apostles. Let us pray to God who gives us that power. We remember that your church was born in wind and fire, not to sweep us heavenward like a presumptuous tower, but to guide us down the dusty roads of this world so that we may lift up the downcast, heal the broken, reconcile what is lost, and bring peace amidst unrest. 2 Amen. 2 John Garden, ed., With All God s People: The New Ecumenical Prayer Cycle (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1989), 15. 5