Led by the Spirit of God
“Led by the Spirit of God”
Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Romans 8:14-17
Pentecost Sunday, Year C, June 9, 2019
Pastor Andy Kennaly
Sandpoint, Idaho
Welcome to summer! For many, summer is a change of pace, and might even include vacation, taking time to break with routines, relax, and maybe even travel to other places. I heard one definition of vacation as,
“Taking the time to go someplace in order to notice that which you ignore at home.”
One of the things I notice when doing bicycle tours on vacation is that having a bike loaded with gear is a great conversation starter. People come up to you at grocery stores, rest stops, and campgrounds, asking where your heading, how long you’re riding, and generally have conversations that would not have taken place if it wasn’t for being a cyclist.
For others, they couldn’t imagine trying something like a bike tour. They prefer the more leisurely pleasure of a motor home or camper, or just using their car and staying at bed and breakfasts or hotels along the way. Not everyone likes tent camping and sleeping on the ground, or sweating while pushing on the pedals; they prefer the gas pedal and brake pedal of a vehicle. And some people never go camping, let alone have vacations, because they can’t afford it or they prefer to work. For them, cycling down the highway is not an option they’d consider; travel is strictly business, and getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible is their goal. Cyclists actually slow them down, and some get irritated.
Riding a bicycle down the highway sometimes gets negative reactions, such as the occasional diesel pick up truck that drives up somewhat slowly from behind, then as they get next to you, the driver punches the accelerator, creating a huge cloud of black, sooty exhaust, leaving you in that dust to choke your way along. Don told me there’s a name for this: its called, “Rolling Coal.”
Rolling Coal is an environmental catastrophe and a relational failure, and it exacerbates the human species’ tendency toward idolatry, tyranny, and violence, as one human being allows their egocentric worldview to cause suffering toward another human being. Allowing either ignorance or stubborn pride to shape actions such as “rolling coal” from a pick up truck while passing a cyclist is just one small example of how we all selectively choose our allegiances, while through passive or active aggression, write others off as different, and therefore, not worthy of human dignity.
But it’s more than human dignity that gets denied. Even not recycling in this day and age, when we know resources are limited, products and consumption have impacts on natural cycles, and everything is connected in a web of life, and as one thing suffers it affects all other things; not recycling is a choice which actually denies our essence. Essentially, we are created beings, part of the earth’s system which is connected to a much larger cosmos, all of which is actually rooted in unity, a holy and divine unity where every thing is worthy of dignity simply by its being.
Today’s scriptures take us deeper into the abundance of life. They talk about Pentecost, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and they explore what life is like when we actively seek to be led by the Spirit of God. The Psalmist reflects on how amazing the works of God are, especially when we open our eyes and hearts to the miracle of creation and all creatures, great and small.
In the letter Paul writes to the Romans, there is the line that says,
“…we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ – if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” On one hand, we wonder about this “suffering.”
Am I to suffer in order to really follow Jesus? Am I not suffering enough to be deemed a real Christian? “If we suffer with him.” Suffer what?
In order to help this verse about suffering make sense we need to tie in the context Paul sets up in the prior verses. He says,
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but have received a spirit of adoption.”
That’s the context. Suffer what? Slavery. Oh, great! Does that mean we have to be slaves? If we’re not slaves, then we’re not suffering properly?
Remember the larger arch involved, the Christmas story. Jesus is born, God is incarnate, the living Christ comes from the heavenly realms and moves into the neighborhood, becomes flesh, and Christ’s humbling is often referred to as taking the form of a slave. We are co-heirs, with Christ, because we are enfleshed, divine beings! We are spiritual beings having a human experience, like Jesus did. We are suffering slavery simply by living as created beings, because it’s not easy to have intimate unity disrupted by sinful thoughts and behaviors which try to instill separateness and superiority in unhealthy ways.
“You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,”
which means we have received a spirit of slavery, but in the sense of adoption, which gets into the aspect of being children of God.
This morning’s passages, whether talking about the disciples gathered all together in one place when suddenly the Holy Spirit fills the entire house, or exploring how amazingly beautiful God’s creation is and we are blessed with an amazing earth as just a glimpse of God’s larger creativity, or that we are all children of God gifted with a Presence who delivers us from fear: all these passages lead us deeper into Relationship. The words, actions, and imagery are relational! Children. Joint heirs. With Christ. Spirit with spirit. All the earth is filled. This is active, relational language.
The majority of people in the United States, if you asked them if they believe in God, most of them would say yes. “God who?” is a different question, and even for Christians who are regular church attenders, long-time religiously observant, that operative belief in God is mostly from the head, a cognitive ascribing to some sort of idea about God. Faith becomes rather doctrinal or dogmatic. That’s why the 10 commandments have such appeal, while the Beatitudes go largely ignored. Most people who say they believe in God are less Christian and more Deists. They believe in a God, as some sort of heavenly being in charge of the big picture, or their image of God is just like Santa Clause, keeping a list of who is being naughty or nice, and when they die the list gets pulled out and the chips fall where they may.
Pentecost draws us beyond being deists, and into the more intimate, relational space of the Trinity. Not just deists, but as trinitarians, Christians are called to claim relationship based on the very model of God, often referred to as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is language expressing relationship. Trinity, in a relational sense, is love, self-giving, outpouring to the other, yielding, supporting, and not just limited to the human sphere, but all things, all creatures, plants, minerals, air, water, space – there is no thing and no place outside the living presence and intimate interest of God as love.
In the passage from Acts, there is the typical sneering as people accuse the disciples of having too much wine, not recognizing God’s Holy Spirit at work right before them. This is a classic literary technique which recognizes the human tendency to hold God at a distance, lest we be challenged to change.
Peter gives the rebuttal, saying they are not drunk for it’s only nine in the morning. This is kind of a unique aspect of this text. Nine in the morning, for us, means nine hours after midnight, and we can look at our watch or a clock and see the minutes and hours going by exactly the same, day after day. We have chronological time dialed in to our worldview, our economics, our cultural understandings and biases. But in the culture of first century church, nine in the morning simply means it is the third hour; not like our clocks, but based on the length of each day, with that particular day’s actual sunrise and sunset. The sun comes up, and then the hours begin. This is three hours after the sunrise of that particular day in that specific season.
Two things about that. One is that they are celebrating the feast of Pentecost, probably the biggest festival of their year. However, and this is the other thing, Peter knows for certain that they are not drunk. It’s customary to not eat prior to worship. Only in the sixth hour, or mid day, half way between sunrise and sunset, after public worship, would someone begin eating and drinking. As the sun rises fairly early this time of year, all morning one could focus on public worship. Peter is confident because this is a strong tradition that people observed, especially on festivals, and Pentecost was a feasting festival, one of the biggest of the year, giving thanks for the harvest, like our Thanksgiving.
This mention of it only being nine in the morning, or the third hour, is less of a chronology statement as it is a quality statement. The community is together, everyone is focused on worshiping God, together, and lesser needs are set aside in order to focus and create purity of heart. It’s relational!
What kind of God do you believe in? A separate deity? A supreme being? A presence in heaven? A separate object to direct worship toward, usually upward? We are not created as human beings in order to perpetuate idolatry and tyranny, or a sense of separateness that fails to grant dignity. We are created in the image of God to reflect the relational love of the Trinity, where each person of the trinity is unique, distinct, and particular, yet intimately connected, and eternally pouring out love which has no end, in ways which unite and weave together. We are co-heirs, with Christ, participating in the divine dance of the Trinity, and like all created things, are filled with energy and life, animating creative power, grace, and love of God.
Once you experience this deep, abiding love, why would you want to slip back into thinking you’re separate and superior, better than any other life form? Why wouldn’t you walk softly on the earth, and try to keep your carbon footprint low? Why wouldn’t you honor the dead, like those who were remembered recently on the anniversary of D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe on the beaches of Normandy in WWII? The number of American soldiers killed in that invasion was 2,501. In the United States, for this year, 2019, it took until March 6th to reach that 2,501 number for people killed by gun violence. How do we live our lives today in ways that share God’s love with a hurting world that go beyond our selective idolatries and false allegiances, lesser appetites that leave us hungry? Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/06/more-americans-were-shot-death-by-march-this-year-than-died-d-day/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.291d2f3f1b57).
Paul, Peter, Luke, they share a gospel message drawing us deeper into mystery. The gift of Pentecost is the equipping, loving intimacy of God with us. May we look beyond the sneering of our ego limitations and allow enlightenment; to awaken to the miracle of grace in all things. As we come together in community, focusing on worshipping God, releasing those lesser, ego-driven agendas; then the Spirit that blows where it will can speak to the heart of those around. Some will sneer, but not all. Some will be changed forever.
As we celebrate loving relationship, from the Godhead into the details of the smallest atom and molecule, may the gift of unity and peace be with us, as God’s humble and amazing gift, both NOW, and forever. Amen.