Pentecost C, 5 June 2022, The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Acts 2:1-21. Like the rush of a violent wind.
Romans 8:14-17. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.
John 14:8-17, 25-27. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.

O God of our burning hearts, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with my 9 ½ year old great-niece for the first time in six years. She asked me what I do for work. When adults ask me that question, I like to say that I run a spiritual repair shop on Newbury Street. But I didn’t think that would make much sense to her, so I said, “I’m a minister in a church” and I asked her if she knew what church is, and she shook her head no. She knows what an intentional housing community is because she lives in one, so I said, “It’s an intentional community where people who live in all different places come together to give thanks and sing and meditate and learn to love and support one another with the idea of making the world a better place. She said, “cool!” And I said, “yes it is!” I love the challenge of talking about what we’re doing here without using theological or churchy language. It takes some of the stumbling blocks away and gets to the essence or core meaning of what we’re about.

While I’m on the subject of stumbling blocks, I’ll tell you that one of the things I love about the Church holiday of Pentecost (the birthday of the Church), is that it is a celebration that doesn’t come with a lot of the freight of commercial expectations. There’s no big Pentecost greeting card section in the drugstore; not much decorating to do (except for red clothing) and there are no presents to shop for or eggs to dye! Of all of our liturgical customs, I think hearing the story of the first Pentecost after Jesus’ death, read in many languages simultaneously, might be my favorite! I love how disturbing and exciting it is to hear the ancient story of the gift of the Word of God coming in the form of languages that people from all over the world could understand. In the cacophony, Peter proclaimed the promise of the prophet Joel that the spirit of holiness would pour out upon all flesh, and young people will see visions and old people will dream dreams.

The phrase “the sound of a violent wind” in the Pentecost story always makes me think about tornados because I grew up in a part of the country where the coming of summer meant the coming of tornado season. Some of you have heard me say that I spent a good deal of my childhood in the basement of our house, listening for (or to) the sound of the rush of violent wind. As a kid, being in the basement with my family during tornado warnings was thrilling – it was an adventure complete with games to play and special snacks to eat. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized that our special basement snack was a corn chip called “Bugles,” which, when held upright, strongly resembled a bite-sized tornado! I’m sure this was my mother’s subconscious effort to conquer her fear.

Violent is probably not the most useful translation, however. Strong or overpowering or even vehement conveys strength without carnage or devastation, and strength and not destruction is certainly what the Church should be encouraging and celebrating on a day like today. The word for wind and spirit and breath is all the same in Hebrew (ruach) or Greek (pneuma). So, like a strong wind, like an overpowering spirit, like a vehement breath, the house felt full with a holy or divine presence. It was as if the disciples were on fire with a new ability to communicate the love of God to people from around the world who were in Jerusalem for the festival.

You might remember that the Jewish holiday of Pentecost, Shavuot, was one of the three Jerusalem pilgrimage festivals in Jesus’ time. The Feast of Freedom (or Passover) was followed by the Feast of First Fruits, also known as Shavuot (weeks), or Pentecost, so called because it came fifty days later. During Shavuot, the first harvested fruits were offered to God in thanksgiving for God’s bounty. According to ancient custom, the first fruits were wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates – delicious! The instructions for the festival offerings can be found in the Torah, where harvest, thanksgiving to God, and concern for people who were poor and alien are inextricably linked. [1]

According to Leviticus, people who harvest food are prohibited from harvesting all the way to the edges of their fields or vineyards or orchards, because foreigners, refugees, and other poor people must be able to collect enough to eat. Note well, immigrants and other poor people are those who did not plant, or weed, or water, or prune. The Torah teaches again and again, that those who have been transported out of poverty and slavery are obligated to support those who do not yet experience abundance and freedom.[2] This is true whether one has experienced poverty and slavery, or one’s forebearers were impoverished or enslaved. By the way, that’s what the Gospel teaches too. We must never forget that the good news of Jesus Christ is that hungry people are to be fed, thirsty people are to be offered something to drink. People who are suffering are to be comforted (comfort=with strength). People who are stuck are to be set free. That is what the disciples were suddenly inspired to communicate, and the feeling of inspiration to reach out in love was suddenly more powerful than the fear that had kept them huddled together behind closed doors. What was burning inside them was the deep, deep truth that love was stronger than death, and it tumbled out of them in words that everyone could understand, even if their enthusiasm made them seem drunk! It was “a brave and disorienting act” to communicate this deep deep truth across barriers of race and ethnicity and culture.

You know, in our sacred stories of creation, the whole world comes into existence through God’s act of speaking. In ancient Hebrew, there is no distinction between word and deed. “In the beginning was the Word,” is how the Gospel of John’s love story begins. On Sunday mornings, we use beautiful language in our prayers and music, asserting that language is powerful. Blogger Debie Thomas says: [3]

Words make worlds. And unmake them, too. There is nothing easy about substituting one language for another. Languages are intricate and messy. They carry the full weight of their respective cultures, histories, psychologies, and spiritualities. To attempt one language as opposed to another is to make oneself a learner, a servant, a supplicant. To speak across barriers of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, culture, or politics is to challenge stereotype and risk ridicule…[and yet] Something happens when we speak each other’s languages. We experience the limits of our own words and perspectives. We learn curiosity. We discover that God’s “great deeds” are far too nuanced for a single tongue, a single fluency.

That is what the Pentecost story presses us to learn by heart.

The Church’s custom on Pentecost is to celebrate commitment to the giving and receiving of the love of the Holy One, also known as a spirit of holiness. At Emmanuel Church, we have the particular honor of celebrating the baptism of Elijah Anthony Ellis Rolle – that’s a kid with four strong names! Ellis and Rolle, the names of his mighty mothers, Anthony means priceless one or highly praiseworthy, and is the name of his godfather and uncle, and also his grandfather; and Elijah, the mighty prophet revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, meaning “the Holy One is my God” was a gift from his great-grandmother. In his baptism, we are recognizing and affirming the spirit of holiness in Elijah Anthony, and welcoming him into the family of Jesus followers, into this branch of the Jesus movement, working to make the world a better place. We are celebrating his arrival, by immersing him in a spirit of hope and redemption, bathing him in a spirit of Love, in Jesus’ name.

We are living in a time of so much fear, aren’t we? Extreme racism, misogyny, xenophobia, intolerance, shaming, violence – so much violence. Fear is such an arch enemy of love, of compassion, of generosity, of peace. Surely Jesus knew this because he said “do not be afraid,” more than anything else he is reported to have said. He knew that his followers were afraid, and he encouraged them to not get lost or swallowed up by fear, but rather to use love as their truthful and moral compass. Even as he was facing his certain execution, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus had joy and peace enough to give away, because of the Love that was in him, indeed the Love that he was. In the aftermath of his violent execution, his followers, inspired by a spirit of holiness, remembered and recommitted themselves to practicing Jesus’ teaching about the Love of God in individual and communal and cosmic ways.

A teaching often comes to my mind from the late Audre Lorde, self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” I’ve re-cast it in first person plural. I hope Lorde would apprecia

te the collective expansion of her words. She said, “When we dare to be powerful, to use our strength in the service of our vision, then it becomes less and less important whether we are afraid.” Emmanuel Church, we have a vision that needs to be shared with others. We are a people who know where some good bread is, who know where some healing prayer is, who know where some beautiful music is. We are a people who know that we are stronger together than any of us is on our own. We know what it feels like to feel inspiration like strong wind, like an overpowering spirit, like a vehement breath, to be in a house filled with a heavenly or divine presence. We must offer food to someone who is hungry and set someone who is captive free. We must speak across borders that separate us from others, especially with those with whom we disagree. Rather than talk about issues or positions, we must talk about experiences – theirs and ours. Listen to what matters most to others and speak about what matters most to us. We must pay attention to our visions of love, no matter how young or old we are. Let our hearts be filled with the lightness of joy and peace. Do not let our hearts be troubled. Do not let them be afraid, because a spirit of holiness is our advocate, defender, and guide when we walk in love.

1. Leviticus 23:15-22.
2. D. Mark Davis, leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/05/Pentecost-is-justice-revived
3.  Debie Thomas, journeywithjesus.net/essays/959-words-on-fire 08 May 2016