Pentecost Sunday - June 4, 2006        

     It seems that one day the Trinity was planning a holiday.  The Holy Spirit, manifesting the creative part of the divine nature, was coming up with ideas about where to go.  “Let’s go to New York,” the Spirit suggested.

     “No, No, No,” said the Father, “They’re all so liberated, they’ll spend the whole time calling me ‘Mother’ and having me on all the talk shows, and it will just do my head in.”

     So the Spirit sat back and thought.  “I know, what about Jerusalem?  It’s beautiful and then there’s all that history and everything.”

     “No way!” the Son declared.  “After what happened the last time, I’m never going there again.”

     At this point the Spirit got annoyed and went off in a huff.  Sometime later the Spirit returned and found that the Father and the Son had an idea they both thought was excellent.

     “Why don’t we go to Washington, DC?” said the Son.

     “Perfect!” cried the Holy Spirit.  “I’ve never been there before!”

      Of course, the Holy Spirit has been to Washington, DC.  Probably spends a lot of time darting in and around the power offices there, waiting on those who are willing to receive.  But, that is the problem with power; receiving guidance, providing comfort, asking for directions and depending on that which is greater than self is usually at the bottom of the list.

     This is Pentecost Sunday, the day to celebrate that we have not been left as orphans in this world.  The unifying theme of Pentecost is the language of love.  God knows that the primary method we have for communicating anything is words.  God used words at the first Pentecost to communicate the giving of the Holy Spirit as comforter, guide, counselor, and corrector for those who would be God’s people in the world.

     Words are fascinating.  I worked as a bag-boy at a major grocery chain store between my middle and senior year at Virginia Seminary.  The store just happened to be located in a northern Virginia community where many staff people from the embassies from around the world lived.  I heard many languages during the course of a workday.  It was difficult to understand them and it was difficult for them to understand me, since I speak Appalachian English.  Very often we had to rely on non-verbal clues and gestures for me to know where to put the groceries.  This store was one of the first I had seen that did not allow the carts to be taken into the parking lot; those with only a gag or two carried them on to their cars but, many left their bags in the cart and the bag-boy had to place the bags into the cars as they drove up.  Usually people were very grateful and I received a few monetary tips (and a few non-monetary ones that I still do not understand).  I did learn how to say “danke,” “merci,” and “gracias.” 

     I also added some items to what I call “Mustard’s Laws” while working at that store.  Did you know that only the bag with the breakable bottles breaks as you pick it up?  Did you know that the person with the largest car always had just one bag of groceries that would be placed on the front seat and the person in the Peugeot or VW Beetle had 12 bags of groceries and wanted all of them on the back seat?  Did you know that it is not a good idea to place food items in the same bag as cleaning supplies?

     According to the United Nations, there are over 2,796 languages in the world, not including the one spoken by teenagers.  There are dialects within those languages that make it even more confusing.  Michael Cross said when he and Carol returned from abroad he had to listen hard to understand me. 

     We live in a world of words.  Language is important to us and honest word-craft will become even more important as the world grows smaller and smaller.  We confuse the central issue when we allow the discussion to be about whether certain things should be done in only one language.

     Pentecost means that the voice of God can be heard in each of those 2,796 languages.  The spiritual truth of love conquering all can be communicated regardless of the idiom, and that words can be the means, not the barrier, to hearing and understanding and imparting the language of God.  It has always been the work of the Holy Spirit to “renew the face of the earth” through the language of love.

     Jesus the Christ gives the order in which this renewal must take place if it is of God, as he stood in the midst of his disciples.  To “receive the Holy Spirit” we must accept the order in which this renewal comes. 

     First, the words are “Peace be with you.”  He says it over and over again.  God’s peace be with you.  It means open your heart and mind to that which passes your understanding.  Knowing God’s peace means we become more tolerant of human differences.  Words not like our own become mysteries to be appreciated, not problems to be solved.  We reach out our hands to those around us during the Exchange of the Peace, the hinge on the door that allows the Eucharist to happen.  The representative moment of reconciliation happens not because it is our will; it happens because it is God’s will.  There is no Pentecost without peace.  There is no Eucharist without peace.  It is God’s; not our own.  We can’t make it; we can only receive it.

     Then Jesus showed his scar to his disciples so they would know who he was.  He knew that without the scars he would have been unrecognizable.  If we would be effective carriers of God’s renewing word in this world we, too, must not be afraid to share our scars with others who have been equally wounded by the randomness of life, by making poor decisions, or by giving in to temptations.  The Church of Jesus the Christ must be a place where the wounded people are made to feel welcome, where other wounded people share their scars to begin the healing of the other.

     It is most difficult to remember that this is the place to come not when you have everything together and life is going well and all is right with the world.  This is the place to come when you have absolutely no place else to come.  This is the place where the “scarred people” gather, assured of God’s healing.

     Finally, we are sent into the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The world awaits those who will accept the Lord’s challenge to go.  The message of love and forgiveness must be proclaimed again and again in new times, in new places, in new languages, in new circumstances, and it is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that keeps the message alive and new. 

     Pentecost is the divine language of love, given in peace, by the scarred Savior of the world, who only asks that we share it with others.  We may hold our breath, we may attempt to grab hold selfishly, we may think it is meant only for people who speak, think, look, or behave as we do, or we may receive.  When we receive we go forth with a word that the world cannot take away and we become participants in “renewing the face of the earth.”  Amen.