[Propertalk] Pentecost b rcl 2009

[Robert P Morrison]

This was rough-drafted early in the week and tweaked a little, with more tweaking to follow, no doubt.

Thanks to Dr Black, as mentioned, for the comment.

May the Spirit fill you with joy!

Bob

THE EPISCOPAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES, LINCOLN CITY     THE FEAST OF PENTECOST “B” RCL
ACTS 2:1-21	           	  31st MAY, 2009   
ROMANS 8:22-27                  PSALM 104:25-35, 37        
JOHN 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

	There’s one, very basic reason why we celebrate today. Pentecost is NOT a Feast of Confusion. Despite the multitude of languages at that first Pentecost; despite the multitude of languages, and customs, and culture today; the Feast of Pentecost makes clear to us all that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News Jesus taught and lived - that God loves each one of us without exception - the Gospel HAS been, and must CONTINUE to be, spelled out loudly and clearly to everyone. And as one more seemingly unknown/chaotic language being battered at our ears along with all the other ones, is the concept, the life, of Ubuntu. However, I would suggest that Ubuntu is a clear new way of saying that we're open to and for all. 1 More about that shortly.
	One of the very enjoyable features of The Episcopal Church is that no service, no event, is closed. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Baptism, as we celebrated last week, or a funeral, or a wedding, ALL Episcopal liturgies and meetings and groups are celebrations of openness and acceptance and, as such, no matter who you are, you are welcome.
	Basic rules DO apply, of course, but they’re spelled out in the Baptismal Covenant, which we’ll repeat right after I stop talking. In that Covenant we talk about belief in the Trinitarian God, but there ARE no pop quizzes. We talk about forgiveness of sins, and there ARE no limits to what can be forgiven. We talk about being faithful in attendance, in joining in corporate prayer with the entire family, and in celebrating Communion with God and one another through Jesus.
	There’s more, though. We talk about the way we live - resisting evil and repenting when we succumb to its seduction. We talk about the way we live as being a demonstration of our status as followers of Jesus. We talk about seeing Jesus in absolutely everybody, and about serving each and every one, again, without exception. We remind ourselves that Jesus brought the issues of justice, and peace, and dignity right to the centre of our worship and ministry in the world.
	Other than that, though, there are no rules - only that we make people welcome; that we tell them about God’s love as revealed in Jesus. So anyone who is able can come in through these doors, whether it be to a worship service, a study group, a reception - anyone should be able to come into our midst and made to feel welcome, to have the bulletin offered, or the action or business explained, and the resources necessary offered, and nourishment shared, in whatever form it may take - Bread and Wine, Words of Scripture or Prayer, or the latest delicacy from the refreshment table.
	What if someone walks in and one of these is refused? What if someone is told that he or she can’t come in or participate because it’s a private group? What if someone shows up and isn’t made to feel able to participate? Then that CAN’T be The Episcopal Church. For that matter, it shouldn’t be ANY Church, but I can only speak for The Episcopal Church, and, really, probably only for this family right here.
	Pentecost, then, is the celebration that ALL are welcome in God’s family, and however many languages it takes, however many people it takes, however long it takes to help someone understand this, then that’s what our life is to be about. We can never do anything to say, “We’re exclusive. You’re not welcome.” We can’t even suggest, “You probably won’t like it. We use a Prayer Book.”
	So, just in case someone tries to tell you and me anything different, we’re a Pentecostal Church. We speak, think, act, sleep, dream openness and love - or we should. And we believe very seriously in the gifts of the Spirit. Otherwise, quite frankly, we wouldn’t stand a chance of accomplishing anything.
	But more than saying that Pentecost is not a Feast of Confusion, Pentecost is also not a Passive Feast.
	Let me state this positively. Pentecost is the celebration of Understanding and being Understood. Pentecost is the recognition by the Church and the adoption by every congregation of just how powerful God’s desire to include everyone is. It’s one thing to say that “Jesus stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that all might come within the reach of his saving embrace.” But Pentecost is about the act of making this tangible, to accept that this is a practical challenge that’s been given to us, through the Gifts of the Spirit, to be able to communicate this loving openness to absolutely everyone.
	In a moment, when Deacon Kristina leads us in the Prayers of the People, she’ll say “The confusion of Babel has been undone with the gifts of Pentecost. May our community mature in wisdom as we come to understand the language of the Spirit.”  2
	One of the things that Jesus may have implied, when He said there were things too deep for the disciples to grasp at that stage in their understanding, is that He may have been thinking ahead to the way that God opens up people’s hearts and minds to different possibilities of talking about, and demonstrating, and communicating love.
	Jenny Plane Te Paa, a theologian and the Dean of St. John’s College, the Anglican Church of New Zealand’s Seminary in Auckland, wrote some comments about a book that was sent to all the Deputies who’ll be attending General Convention in about a month’s time. She wrote that the book’s author, “strains time and again - and ever more urgently - to have us see what he has seen, to hear what he has heard, to feel as he now feels, to sense more intuitively, to internalize more instinctively, to actualize more spontaneously, the blindingly simple yet inexplicably elusive Gospel imperative to love one another.” 3
	That may sound like a huge mouthful, and it puts a great burden on both the author and the reader of the book to grapple with it. But, in essence, Jenny Plane Te Paa is saying that this writer, now in Los Angeles, has been successful in putting into words what Jesus meant by His command to love with incredible abandon.
	The theme of this book is that of this year’s General Convention - “Ubuntu”, “an African way of seeing the world - and the people in it - as an intricate web of relationships. … For Christians, especially, practicing Ubuntu means entering deeply into the compassionate, forgiving love of the Gospel … ‘I am because we are’.”
	And this understanding is only possible through the action of the Holy Spirit within us and within creation. Only by the work of the Spirit can we truly release all our prejudices, all our anger, all our fear, all our suspicion. Only through our conscious acceptance of the Spirit as our guide can we find the strength and the will to rid ourselves of everything that divides us from one another in the pews; and in the streets and stores; and in political discussions; and in the way we handle our economic resources.
	The Spirit is calling to each of us today to open our hearts and our minds to all the possibilities that we can accomplish towards building up the reign of God. In other words, the Spirit is Present to help us set aside all the negative thoughts and energy that threaten to set a force field around everything we do, and everyone to whom we speak, and everyone with whom we interact. The Spirit is Present, as promised, to give us not only a whole new outlook about living, but to show us the gifts we already have which will make possible our work of living the Gospel imperative of loving one another. 
	Jesus knew full well how much His friends could and can stumble around. That’s another part of “You can’t understand everything right now.” So Jesus set out to reassure us that when we needed the inspiration to renew ourselves and to establish or revitalise our relationships, the Spirit would be there for us.
	Just as in everything else in life, however, there is choice attached to this. We CAN refuse the gifts God offers. We CAN turn our back on our neighbours, if it means not getting our own way. We can even turn our backs on ourselves, on who we can be. We can allow ourselves to be sucked into such a Black Hole that not even the imagination of Star Trek writers will be able to make us reappear in another time and another place.
	Or we can invite the Spirit to infuse our lives, and to guide our thoughts, and our actions, and our words, to help us live the wonderful world of relationships which our Pentecostal faith reveals to us.
	One way or another, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it, “The good news … is that God’s love will not leave us alone.” - will not leave us comfortless or rudderless. Archbishop Tutu went on, “It is my prayer that, in the same way, Ubuntu will not leave us alone.” 4
	The danger about this, of course, is that Pentecost, Ubuntu if you will, does not stop at the doors of this or any other Church. Pentecost, in fact, is hardly meant for what goes on inside this room, beyond the Spirit’s infusion of our worship and refreshing of our own spirits. Pentecost - Ubuntu - is meant for the minute we put our foot outside into the parking lot, and on down the hill. Pentecost is about the way we talk to and react towards whoever may be riding in the car with us. Pentecost - Ubuntu - is about how we inter-relate with the people in the store; and the people asking for help; and the people who call you on the phone, or are called by you. Pentecost - Ubuntu - is about how we react when we pick up a newspaper or switch on the TV. Pentecost - Ubuntu - is about how we reach out to those who are ignored, or abused, or are physically hungry. Pentecost - Ubuntu - is about how we work tirelessly to safeguard the dignity of EVERY human being, and how we live as a baptised member of God’s family.
	And, perhaps most important to remember - Pentecost is about living out the way in which God is getting personal with you and with me. And it’s on this act of personal love that God wants us to base our relationships, to draw us into Ubuntu, into a life of relationships that never end.


NOTES:

1  	Thanks to Dr. Katharine Black of Boston for suggesting mentioning Ubuntu “up front”!
2	“Prayers of the People: Pentecost B” from “Intercessions for the Christian People” edited by Gail Ramshaw. A Pueblo Book. The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN © 1990.
3	Book Jacket reviews and comment on “Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me” by Michael Battle. Seabury Books. © 2009.
4	Desmond Tutu in Foreword to “Ubuntu” by Michael Battle. Page viii.

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Robert P. Morrison
The Episcopal Parish of St James,
PO Box 789
Lincoln City, Oregon, 97367

541-994-2426 (Church)