Pentecost by Rebekah Jordan Gienapp

Pentecost by Rebekah Jordan Gienapp Shutterstock.com Today is Pentecost Sunday for Christians all over the world. What is Pentecost? How does the story of Pentecost inform how we communicate and empathize with one another? How does it speak to us about God s empowering presence? FaithLink is available by subscription via e-mail (subservices@abingdonpress.com) or by downloading it from the Web (www. cokesbury.com/faithlink). Print in either color or black and white. Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. Please do not put FaithLink on your website for downloading. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. What Is Pentecost? If you asked a typical churchgoer to name the three main festivals or celebrations in the church year, most would easily reply with Easter and Christmas. But how many of us know that Pentecost is traditionally considered the third central festival on the church calendar? At Pentecost, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and other followers of Jesus who were gathered in Jerusalem. After his resurrection, Jesus had advised the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49, NRSV). It was during the Jewish Festival of Weeks, referred to as Shavuot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek, that this gift was bestowed. Shavuot was a pilgrim festival, and according to Jewish law, all Jewish men were expected to travel to Jerusalem for the celebration. During Shavuot, the people celebrated God giving the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. Speaking in Our Native Language Acts 2 details the dramatic arrival of the Spirit upon Jesus followers. While we often compare the Holy Spirit to the gentle presence of a dove, at Pentecost the Spirit comes as wind and fire. The Spirit arrives with the howling of a fierce wind (verse 2), and the disciples see individual flames alighting on one another s heads. They were so filled with the Spirit that they were able to speak in languages that they didn t know. Because Pentecost was a pilgrim festival, there were Jews gathered in the city from all over, and they spoke many different languages. The loud sound had attracted their attention, and they were mystified by the sight of Galileans speaking the languages from their distant homes. While some assumed that the disciples must have been drunk, Peter insisted that they weren t. Instead, he pointed to a prophecy 1

Core Bible Passages In Genesis 11:1-9, we re told how the world came to have many languages rather than just one. During a migration, the descendants of Noah stopped in the land of Shinar and decided to build a city there. The problem arose when they decided the city should include a tower with its top in the sky and when they declared, Let s make a name for ourselves so that we won t be dispersed over all the earth (verse 4). Perhaps they were fearful of being dispersed after God s earlier instructions to Noah s family to be fertile and multiply (Genesis 9:7). Nevertheless, God was displeased and responded by mixing up their speech, creating new languages, and scattering the people across the earth. The city that they had begun was called Babel, based on the Hebrew verb for confuse. While it s easy to focus on the miraculous signs that accompany the Pentecost story in Acts 2:1-21, it s important to recognize what these signs are pointing to. People of many different nations are able to understand the disciples in their own languages, but what are the apostles preaching about? According to verse 11, the people hear about the mighty works of God. Then, Peter declares that God s Spirit will no longer be limited to a select few but will be given to young and old, men and women, servants and free people. Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. Permission given to copy pages 1 4 for use in a group setting. Please do not put FaithLink on your website for downloading. from the Book of Joel in which God promises to pour out [God s] Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams (Acts 2:17). It s important to note that while Paul writes about speaking in tongues in a few of his letters, what occurred at Pentecost was something different. Speaking in tongues, as described by Paul, was generally unintelligible speech, not an established language. At Pentecost, the apostles were speaking languages that those gathered for the festival spoke in their hometowns. In a sense, Pentecost is the unwinding of the division that happened in Babel. Genesis 11:1-9 tells us about how prideful humans, who at the time had only one language, decided they would build a tower that reached to the heavens. Their goal was to make a name for themselves (verse 4). God decided to throw a wrench into their plans by mixing up their languages so they could no longer communicate with one another. At Pentecost, the Spirit enabled people to understand one another despite language barriers. It s also interesting to note what didn t happen that day. The Spirit didn t enable all the listeners to speak and understand one language. Instead, the Spirit s presence empowered the followers of Jesus to speak in the native tongues of others. The particularities of language and culture are preserved in this story, even while they cease to be barriers between peoples. Communicating Across Barriers True communication, in which we are listened to and understood and where we listen and understand our partner in turn, can be challenging. Even between people who are close such as spouses or friends, understanding each other can be a difficult task. When we add in differences in culture, language, faith, or political views, real communication can appear impossible to achieve. With such great differences, it can be hard even to attempt communication. Clifton Stringer, a theologian at Boston College, writes that the fear of persons of other races he felt as a child, and that he sometimes still feels as an adult, is both a failure to communicate and a fear about communication s failure. Will I be able to hear and understand? Can I talk and be understood? Or will I misunderstand or misspeak and so offend, or mishear or miscommunicate and so expose my ignorance? However, through the events of Pentecost and the Spirit s outpouring upon us all, we can break down these barriers and discover a level of understanding we never thought possible. As poet William Loader writes, O wind, wind, / you breathed upon the clay and there was life, / you danced down to the forehead of a Galilean / and there was hope, / you shook the foundations of community / and there was Pentecost. While we might assume that the first Christians had more in common than we do today, consider that the early church was 2

The Holy Spirit For many of us, the Spirit is the person of the Trinity whom we find most difficult to understand. What do Scripture and tradition tell us about the Holy Spirit? In the Old Testament, the Spirit is referred to using the Hebrew word ruach. According to theologian Jurgen Moltmann, ruach is the breath of God s voice. Rather than something supernatural, ruach is a tempest, a storm, a force in body and soul, humanity and nature. Pneuma, the Greek word used to refer to the Spirit in the New Testament, shares this connotation. The image of the Spirit as a dove is drawn from the Gospel stories of the Spirit descending upon Jesus at his baptism. The dove reminds us of how the Spirit s presence can bring us peace. Yet the Spirit is also presented as fire, both when God speaks to Moses through the burning bush and when flames rest upon the heads of the apostles at Pentecost. Through the use of fire, we remember the Spirit s strength and power. Conversely, the Spirit is also experienced through water, particularly the waters of baptism. One image of the Spirit in the Christian tradition that might surprise us doesn t come from the Bible. In Celtic Christianity, the Spirit is envisioned as a wild goose. The noisy, untamed bird cannot be controlled and moves where it will, just as we cannot predict or control the Spirit. Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. Permission given to copy pages 1 4 for use in a group setting. Please do not put FaithLink on your website for downloading. made up, as the Reverend Joy Moore describes it, of people who had a heritage as both conquerors and captives, wandering seekers and warring soldiers. They came from every language and nation. Nonviolent Communication Even when the Spirit s presence isn t announced with roaring winds, paying attention to the presence of God in others can allow us a new level of understanding. In an article titled It Matters How We Disagree, Sarah Ann Bixler urges her own Mennonite Church, rooted in the pacifist tradition, to embrace nonviolent communication. In recent years, her denomination has faced deep divisions, and she found herself cornered by the amount of violent communication that was taking place. Bixler states that when we speak to one another with the sole purpose of judging who is right and who is wrong, it s a sign of violent communication. The Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process developed by Marshall Rosenberg, founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, offers a way to talk through disagreements with empathy. There are four steps in the process: (1) Making observations that affect our well-being, without judging the behavior of others. (2) Stating our feelings about what we ve just observed. We don t blame others for making us feel a certain way. (3) Expressing our core values that create our feelings. (4) Making requests that will improve our lives, rather than demands. When discussing deeply held differences about biblical interpretation, Bixler says these four steps might be expressed like this: When you cite biblical references for your point of view (observation), I feel uneasy (feeling) because I ve always understood the Bible to say something different. I value a different kind of biblical interpretation (value). Would you be willing to hear my perspective and then share how you came to another understanding (request)? Another key aspect of nonviolent communication involves listening to the other person fully without planning what we will say next. This kind of listening enables us to understand the other person s values and needs. Communicating in this way doesn t mean that disagreements will always be resolved, but it can allow us to bear witness to God s love even when we have profound differences. Empowered by the Spirit When Peter preached about the death and resurrection of Jesus at Pentecost, the troubled crowd asked, What should we do? Peter urged them, Change your hearts and lives. He invited them to receive the outpouring of the Spirit through baptism. Peter told the crowd that this promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away as many as the Lord our God invites (Acts 2:37-39). 3

Global Perspective It s difficult to communicate fully with others and understand them when we re only used to looking at things through our cultural perspectives. Increasingly, education experts are calling for students to be equipped with tools that will help them develop global perspectives. They see a growing need for this as the United States itself becomes more culturally diverse and as emerging technologies allow us to have more contact with the rest of the world than ever before. Homa Sabet Tavangar, author of Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be at Home in the World, describes the process of becoming a global citizen as being a friend to the whole human race. Rather than giving up our own cultural identities, it involves learning about and caring deeply for other people, no matter where they live. Tavangar believes that we must teach our children global citizenship because our world needs [them]. We need to raise peacemakers, those who display moral courage, who embrace diversity, who practice the Golden Rule and love others, despite differences, who can think outside their boundaries. She suggests we start in our homes and at our tables. Having conversations with children exploring difficult issues is essential, and Tavangar believes that inviting friends from different backgrounds to share a meal is key to developing a global perspective. Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. Permission given to copy pages 1 4 for use in a group setting. Please do not put FaithLink on your website for downloading. How is the Spirit calling each of us today to lovingly share the gospel with others who seem so different from us, whether because of language, culture, or beliefs? What can we do to ensure that we truly hear the gospel message that others are sharing with us? How can we communicate the gospel not just with our lips but with all of our lives? What will we do today to cross a barrier and extend a listening ear and a compassionate heart? United Methodist Cross and Flame How did the cross and flame insignia become a marker of The United Methodist Church worldwide? And more importantly, what does it symbolize? In 1968, two denominations in the Wesleyan tradition, The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren Church, merged to form The United Methodist Church. One of the tasks of the uniting conference was to commission an insignia. As they considered possible symbols, the group working on the project agreed that it should include a symbol that signified the Holy Spirit since the work of the Spirit was so central to John Wesley s teachings. In particular, they wanted a way to convey John Wesley s experience of finding his heart strangely warmed at a famous meeting on Aldersgate Street. The cross and flame design that was adopted signified how we relate to God through both Jesus (the cross) and the Spirit (the flame). The flame was given two tongues to represent the two denominations that were uniting. It also brought to mind the Spirit s presence through fire at Pentecost. In 1970, Bishop J. Gordon Howard urged United Methodists to allow the cross and flame to take hold of us until we become sources of the life which is reconciled with both God and man. Helpful Links Read William Loader s poem Wind, Wind A Reflection on the Spirit at http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/wind.htm. Learn more about the Nonviolent Communication process at https://themennonite.org/feature/it-matters-how-we-disagree/ and at https://www.cnvc.org/about/what-is-nvc.html. Rebekah Jordan Gienapp is an ordained deacon in the Memphis Conference. FaithLink: Connecting Faith and Life is a weekly, topical study and an official resource for The United Methodist Church approved by Discipleship Ministries and published weekly by Cokesbury, The United Methodist Publishing House, 2222 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., P.O. Box 280988, Nashville, TN 37228-0988. Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Common English Bible, copyrighted 2011 Common English Bible, and are used by permission. Permission is granted to photocopy pages 1 4 of this resource for use in FaithLink study groups. All Web addresses were correct and operational at the time of publication. Fax comments to FaithLink, 615-749-6512, or send e-mail to faithlinkgroup@umpublishing.org. For fax problems, fax FREE to 800-445-8189. For e-mail problems, send e-mail to Cokes_Serv@umpublishing.org. To order, call 800-672-1789, or visit our website at www.cokesbury.com/faithlink. 4

volume 23 number 5 OPEN the Session Pray Together Loving Jesus, pour out your Spirit upon us this day. Blow away our fears of one another. Dismantle the barriers we have set, so that we might praise your mighty works with all of your peoples. Amen. Poll Participants About Pentecost Using a markerboard or large piece of paper to jot down answers, invite the group to share what they knew about Pentecost before today, as well as any questions they might have. Ask: What does Pentecost celebrate? How do churches observe the day? What symbols or images are connected with Pentecost? After everyone has shared, read What Is Pentecost? together. Pentecost How does the story of Pentecost inform how we communicate and empathize with one another? How does it speak to us about God s empowering presence? CREATE Your Teaching Plan Keeping in mind your group members and your group time, choose from among the OPEN, EXPLORE, and CLOSE activities or from Teaching Alternatives to plan the session. Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. EXPLORE the Topic Do a Bible Study Read or review Speaking in Our Native Language. Then form teams of three to four, and invite participants to read and discuss Acts 2:1-21. With your teams, answer the following questions: Which characters in the account do you identify with? Why is it significant that each person is able to hear what the apostles are saying in their own language? What are Peter and the other apostles preaching about? How do the events of Pentecost speak to the church today? When you re finished discussing, read Core Bible Passages with your team, and consider how Pentecost is related to the tower of Babel. Explore Barriers to Communication Refer to Communicating Across Barriers. Ask: What communication barriers did early Christians likely face? How are these similar to or different from today s communication challenges? What fears do you have about communicating with others, especially people who are different from you in either their backgrounds or beliefs? Practice Nonviolent Communication Review the main principles of the Nonviolent Communication process outlined in the section with the same name. Brainstorm a contentious conversation topic, whether it s one that would take place in a personal relationship, in the workplace, or at church. Come up with an example of violent communication for that scenario (something that would be said for the purpose of judging another and validating ourselves). Then brainstorm ideas for Nonviolent Communication for that same scene, using all four steps of the process. Afterwards, talk about whether you d find this to be a helpful tool for the difficult communications you have to have in your own life. 5

Consider The Holy Spirit Reflect on The Holy Spirit. Talk about the following questions: In your spiritual life generally or in your prayers specifically, do you often think about the Spirit? Why or why not? Which images of the Spirit from Scripture are you drawn to the most? Can you think of times when the Spirit s presence has been more like that of a wild goose than a dove? Examine the Cross and Flame Read United Methodist Cross and Flame. Ask: Before reading this history, how would you have described the meaning of our denomination s insignia? Had you ever connected the symbol to Pentecost? Bishop J. Gordon Howard urged United Methodists to allow the cross and flame to become incarnate in them until we become sources of the life which is reconciled with both God and man. Ask: What does the church look like when that empowerment takes root in our lives? Discuss Developing a Global Perspective Examine Global Perspective. Name some examples of how we have to be more globally aware than in past generations. Ask: What do you think of the description of global citizenship? How often do you have conversations with others about global issues? Do you feel like you have sources of information that help you understand how people around the world live and what they believe? Have you experienced the power of sharing a meal with another person from a different cultural background from yours? CLOSE the Session Consider Where the Spirit Is Empowering You Invite your group to take a few moments for quiet reflection. Light a candle to remind you of the Spirit s presence in this time and place. Invite participants to write down one way they can ask for the Spirit s empowerment in the coming week. In particular, ask them to think about an individual or group of people they want to understand better and to consider what they can do to be open to the Spirit s guidance in this area. Pray Together Spirit of fire and howling wind, too often we fail to realize your presence and refuse the gifts you offer. Forgive us and renew us, so that we might receive your call and your guidance. Help us to listen more carefully, to love more deeply, and to act more courageously. Remind us that we are no longer trapped in Babel but are invited to join your beloved community, made up of every nation and language. Amen. Teaching Alternatives Create Pentecost art for your worship space. Possibilities include making origami doves to represent the Spirit s presence or creating red, orange, and yellow streamers as reminders of the tongues of fire. Collect birthday gifts for your church to give. Pentecost is sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church. Invite members of your congregation to bring gifts that can be used to serve others, whether for a food pantry or a missions project that you re supporting. Next Week in Humor, Happiness, and Faith Research has shown that happiness and humor have positive benefits for physical and emotional well-being. What are the benefits? How does our faith guide our understandings of happiness and humor? How can we express our joy when circumstances in our lives are challenging? Copyright 2017 by Cokesbury. 6