The God We Meet At Pentecost
It's been a minute since I've last posted here on my blog. I've actually been in the process of writing a blog about mask-wearing as we go back to in-person worship services, but of course, the death of George Floyd has turned my focus to a more complex issue at hand.
It's hard not to be discouraged by this event, but even there I sense God's comfort. Especially when I read the story of the Day of Pentecost as depicted in Acts 2:1-21. This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. It's when we look back on the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of fulfilled prophecy from Joel's writing in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28-32).
The thing that struck me most this Sunday was the part of the Scripture where the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to speak in different languages (2:4). It struck me because it seems to present God as a being who desires to be known and who welcomes people from different cultures and identities. Even those on the margins. It wasn't only Greek, Latin, Hebrew, or Aramaic that the Spirit was enabling the Apostles to speak in. Those were likely the commonplace languages. It was a bunch of languages, representing cultures that were probably viewed as insignificant at the time (2:9).
The Triune God made a statement that day. This statement broke the divides of culture, race, and language as an opening for God's amazing invention: the Church. It shattered the idea that God is only interested in transforming one race or having a group that's "in" and a group that's "out". It's a glimpse of what seems to be what God had willed from the beginning of creation: togetherness, unity, and peace under God's generous care, and leadership. God desires we would be a new type of people, governed by God. These people on the first day of Pentecost, are called out of their first culture and into a new identity. This Holy Spirit is given to God's people regardless of age, gender, and status (2:17-21). It's a great equalizer.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the ones who started and breathe life into the Church. Our world seems so divided. However, I know that the Church, through the Holy Spirit's enabling, has the power to be a role model working towards a more equal and just culture. Those ideals are at the root of the founding of the Church at Pentecost. These ideals, I believe, can ooze over from a Christian's life to the people around them. It can make a significant difference. The Holy Spirit in you can make a significant difference.
So how can we, the Church, continue in the process that God started? C.S. Lewis writes in a chapter in Mere Christianity titled Morality and Psychoanalysis about recognizing our own faults. He describes that we can tell when we are getting "better" (more wholly Christian) when we see the evil still left in us. When we are getting "worse" (further from God's principles for a good life) we understand our own badness less and less. Sometimes that is seen in our defensiveness. To give a more clear idea of what Lewis is saying he writes, "You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them." What is he proposing? It seems Lewis is recommending a good dose of personal reflection in which we "check" the work like you do with Math and measurements. The more we just allow life to happen to us and stop checking our work, the more we drift away from the gift we can be as Christians to each other and the world.
The Holy Spirit is guiding us, even now, to look in the mirror and look toward our neighbor with welcome. God goes out of the way to speak our languages. His Spirit, if we yield ourselves to it, will enable us to do the same, to God's glory and likeness.
It's hard not to be discouraged by this event, but even there I sense God's comfort. Especially when I read the story of the Day of Pentecost as depicted in Acts 2:1-21. This past Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. It's when we look back on the coming of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of fulfilled prophecy from Joel's writing in the Old Testament (Joel 2:28-32).
The thing that struck me most this Sunday was the part of the Scripture where the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to speak in different languages (2:4). It struck me because it seems to present God as a being who desires to be known and who welcomes people from different cultures and identities. Even those on the margins. It wasn't only Greek, Latin, Hebrew, or Aramaic that the Spirit was enabling the Apostles to speak in. Those were likely the commonplace languages. It was a bunch of languages, representing cultures that were probably viewed as insignificant at the time (2:9).
The Triune God made a statement that day. This statement broke the divides of culture, race, and language as an opening for God's amazing invention: the Church. It shattered the idea that God is only interested in transforming one race or having a group that's "in" and a group that's "out". It's a glimpse of what seems to be what God had willed from the beginning of creation: togetherness, unity, and peace under God's generous care, and leadership. God desires we would be a new type of people, governed by God. These people on the first day of Pentecost, are called out of their first culture and into a new identity. This Holy Spirit is given to God's people regardless of age, gender, and status (2:17-21). It's a great equalizer.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the ones who started and breathe life into the Church. Our world seems so divided. However, I know that the Church, through the Holy Spirit's enabling, has the power to be a role model working towards a more equal and just culture. Those ideals are at the root of the founding of the Church at Pentecost. These ideals, I believe, can ooze over from a Christian's life to the people around them. It can make a significant difference. The Holy Spirit in you can make a significant difference.
So how can we, the Church, continue in the process that God started? C.S. Lewis writes in a chapter in Mere Christianity titled Morality and Psychoanalysis about recognizing our own faults. He describes that we can tell when we are getting "better" (more wholly Christian) when we see the evil still left in us. When we are getting "worse" (further from God's principles for a good life) we understand our own badness less and less. Sometimes that is seen in our defensiveness. To give a more clear idea of what Lewis is saying he writes, "You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them." What is he proposing? It seems Lewis is recommending a good dose of personal reflection in which we "check" the work like you do with Math and measurements. The more we just allow life to happen to us and stop checking our work, the more we drift away from the gift we can be as Christians to each other and the world.
The Holy Spirit is guiding us, even now, to look in the mirror and look toward our neighbor with welcome. God goes out of the way to speak our languages. His Spirit, if we yield ourselves to it, will enable us to do the same, to God's glory and likeness.
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