Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
"When the day of Pentecost came, all of them were together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Yes, it's Pentecost again, my friends - my favorite feast of the Christian year!
And I know that the joys of Pentecost tend to be somewhat overshadowed by our other two great holy days - Christmas and Easter - but to my mind, while Christmas and Easter celebrate life and death (and life again) it is Pentecost that celebrates what life is all about - namely, wind and fire and passion!
And you pick this up in the colours of these seasons, which are white for Christmas and Easter but which for Pentecost are red - the colour of blood and hot emotion!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
And you pick this up in the Biblical texts that are associated with the events that lie behind our holy days. Whereas the Christmas stories are set in an atmosphere of contemplative wonder, and whereas the Easter narratives lead us from despair to faith and hope, the Pentecost narrative is given to us as a scene of undiluted chaos, with the disciples shouting and carrying-on in such a way that most of the onlookers thought that they were drunk!
And of course you get that immortal defence from St Peter that I reckon was one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' sort of things to say - "these people are not drunk! It's only nine in the morning!" (Acts 2:15).
I have a feeling that Peter bit his lip right after saying that. Indeed, I can see James and John and Bart and some of the others saying to him afterwards, "Pete, did you really have to add that quip about opening hours?"
Jesus, as we know, had a reputation as a glutton and a drunkard (Matthew 11:19). It seems that at least this latter part of that reputation was inherited by His disciples.
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
The disciples, at any rate, were behaving outrageously - singing and shouting and carrying-on like a group of happy larrikins who had had far too much to drink - but it wasn't alcohol that was affecting them on this occasion.
Mind you, I don't want to let this moment pass without taking a quick stab at those who would insist that we serve grape juice instead of wine at the Eucharist.
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
I remember my preaching mentor, Will Willimon, pointing out that while grape juice is indeed a refreshing (if somewhat insipid) thirst-quencher on a hot day, wine is volatile stuff! It affects not only your palate but your emotions. It can relax, loosen the tongue and arouse amorous feelings, and imbibe too much it and you can end up doing crazy things! Which, he said, sounds more like the Gospel to you?
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
The disciples, at any rate, are acting in a crazy and excitable fashion when we come across them in Acts chapter 2, but it's not alcohol that has them so full of passion. It's something far greater than that! It's the spirit of God that is affecting them - that's for sure - but dare we say that it is something far greater than just an ecstatic experience of God that is on display here too?
It's the birthday of the church - the public launch of the Christian community - and that is something that we could all get excited about, and yet there is something even greater on view here.
And we start to pick up what that 'something greater' is when we read and re-read the central part of the narrative in Acts chapter 2:
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians - we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." (Acts 2:5-11)
Everybody was there - that seems to be the message - and there was room for everybody there, as each person, regardless of their background or language apparently heard the proclamation of the Apostles in their own tongue!
Everybody was there, and while I won't read through the list of peoples represented again, the list is comprehensive, and if your knowledge of the globe didn't extend much further than that of the average first century Jew, you could be forgiven for thinking that every country and every people in the world was represented there!
Moreover, if you read that list carefully, even from the perspective of a first century Jew, it's hard to believe that all of those people could have possibly been there - most obviously the Medes and the Elamites!
The issue for the Medes and the Elamites was not so much that they would have had to travel a couple of hundred miles to be there, but a couple of hundred years as well, as the kingdoms of Media and Elam were long gone by the first century AD!
Now, whether Luke (the author of the book of Acts) really thought that some of the participants at Pentecost had travelled across time, or whether he was simply choosing to refer to these peoples by their ancient names, the implication is the same - that everybody was there, and that what was taking place that day was certainly of global, if not cosmic, significance!
And I do believe that to see the full picture here we have to look beyond the scene taking place in Jerusalem, and even beyond the ancient kingdoms of Elam and Media that are somehow dragged in there, and look all the way back to an ancient curse that was spoken of at the very beginning of the Bible, and I'm talking of course about the curse of Babel that is spoken of in Genesis 11.
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:1-4)
I trust that you're familiar with the story, as it is a significant story in the Biblical narrative as a whole.
Those who have studied the Bible for any length of time know that the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis are a rather unique unit, containing a sort of 'pre-history' of the people of Israel and of humankind as a whole.
Even if you're not familiar with this particular narrative in Genesis chapter 11, you are nonetheless likely to be very familiar with some of the other ancient stories recorded in the chapters that precede it: Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the flood €¦
As I say, these ancient stories, taken as a group, make up a sort of pre-history of the people of God and of humanity as a whole, and taken as a whole it is a pretty dismal story - the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis - as things just seem to go from bad to worse! What we see indeed in these early chapters is indeed the story of the ongoing degeneration the human race, where humanity seems to be caught in an unbreakable spiral of tragedy and violence.
The cycle begins with Adam and Eve, who fail miserably to fulfil their calling as responsible custodians of The Garden. Things then get worse with their children, Cain and Abel, where the older brother murders the younger, and from there on things just continue to degenerate until we reach the point in Genesis 6 where we are told that "The Lord saw how great the wicke
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
"When the day of Pentecost came, all of them were together in one place. Suddenly, a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Yes, it's Pentecost again, my friends - my favorite feast of the Christian year!
And I know that the joys of Pentecost tend to be somewhat overshadowed by our other two great holy days - Christmas and Easter - but to my mind, while Christmas and Easter celebrate life and death (and life again) it is Pentecost that celebrates what life is all about - namely, wind and fire and passion!
And you pick this up in the colours of these seasons, which are white for Christmas and Easter but which for Pentecost are red - the colour of blood and hot emotion!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
And you pick this up in the Biblical texts that are associated with the events that lie behind our holy days. Whereas the Christmas stories are set in an atmosphere of contemplative wonder, and whereas the Easter narratives lead us from despair to faith and hope, the Pentecost narrative is given to us as a scene of undiluted chaos, with the disciples shouting and carrying-on in such a way that most of the onlookers thought that they were drunk!
And of course you get that immortal defence from St Peter that I reckon was one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' sort of things to say - "these people are not drunk! It's only nine in the morning!" (Acts 2:15).
I have a feeling that Peter bit his lip right after saying that. Indeed, I can see James and John and Bart and some of the others saying to him afterwards, "Pete, did you really have to add that quip about opening hours?"
Jesus, as we know, had a reputation as a glutton and a drunkard (Matthew 11:19). It seems that at least this latter part of that reputation was inherited by His disciples.
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
The disciples, at any rate, were behaving outrageously - singing and shouting and carrying-on like a group of happy larrikins who had had far too much to drink - but it wasn't alcohol that was affecting them on this occasion.
Mind you, I don't want to let this moment pass without taking a quick stab at those who would insist that we serve grape juice instead of wine at the Eucharist.
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
I remember my preaching mentor, Will Willimon, pointing out that while grape juice is indeed a refreshing (if somewhat insipid) thirst-quencher on a hot day, wine is volatile stuff! It affects not only your palate but your emotions. It can relax, loosen the tongue and arouse amorous feelings, and imbibe too much it and you can end up doing crazy things! Which, he said, sounds more like the Gospel to you?
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
The disciples, at any rate, are acting in a crazy and excitable fashion when we come across them in Acts chapter 2, but it's not alcohol that has them so full of passion. It's something far greater than that! It's the spirit of God that is affecting them - that's for sure - but dare we say that it is something far greater than just an ecstatic experience of God that is on display here too?
It's the birthday of the church - the public launch of the Christian community - and that is something that we could all get excited about, and yet there is something even greater on view here.
And we start to pick up what that 'something greater' is when we read and re-read the central part of the narrative in Acts chapter 2:
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians - we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." (Acts 2:5-11)
Everybody was there - that seems to be the message - and there was room for everybody there, as each person, regardless of their background or language apparently heard the proclamation of the Apostles in their own tongue!
Everybody was there, and while I won't read through the list of peoples represented again, the list is comprehensive, and if your knowledge of the globe didn't extend much further than that of the average first century Jew, you could be forgiven for thinking that every country and every people in the world was represented there!
Moreover, if you read that list carefully, even from the perspective of a first century Jew, it's hard to believe that all of those people could have possibly been there - most obviously the Medes and the Elamites!
The issue for the Medes and the Elamites was not so much that they would have had to travel a couple of hundred miles to be there, but a couple of hundred years as well, as the kingdoms of Media and Elam were long gone by the first century AD!
Now, whether Luke (the author of the book of Acts) really thought that some of the participants at Pentecost had travelled across time, or whether he was simply choosing to refer to these peoples by their ancient names, the implication is the same - that everybody was there, and that what was taking place that day was certainly of global, if not cosmic, significance!
And I do believe that to see the full picture here we have to look beyond the scene taking place in Jerusalem, and even beyond the ancient kingdoms of Elam and Media that are somehow dragged in there, and look all the way back to an ancient curse that was spoken of at the very beginning of the Bible, and I'm talking of course about the curse of Babel that is spoken of in Genesis 11.
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:1-4)
I trust that you're familiar with the story, as it is a significant story in the Biblical narrative as a whole.
Those who have studied the Bible for any length of time know that the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis are a rather unique unit, containing a sort of 'pre-history' of the people of Israel and of humankind as a whole.
Even if you're not familiar with this particular narrative in Genesis chapter 11, you are nonetheless likely to be very familiar with some of the other ancient stories recorded in the chapters that precede it: Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the flood €¦
As I say, these ancient stories, taken as a group, make up a sort of pre-history of the people of God and of humanity as a whole, and taken as a whole it is a pretty dismal story - the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis - as things just seem to go from bad to worse! What we see indeed in these early chapters is indeed the story of the ongoing degeneration the human race, where humanity seems to be caught in an unbreakable spiral of tragedy and violence.
The cycle begins with Adam and Eve, who fail miserably to fulfil their calling as responsible custodians of The Garden. Things then get worse with their children, Cain and Abel, where the older brother murders the younger, and from there on things just continue to degenerate until we reach the point in Genesis 6 where we are told that "The Lord saw how great the wicke
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
Pentecost 2015 - the Party That Nobody Missed!
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