Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: 24 May 2015

Sermon for Day of Pentecost

24 May 2015

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer,Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie B. Smith

Acts 2:1-21

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am currently finishing up my second semester of Arabic language lessons (the “Advanced Beginner” level), which means lately I’ve been praying a lot for the gift of tongues. “Shway, shway” say my Palestinian friends, but seriously, if God would see fit to grace me with the gift of tongues about now, I would welcome it. Bring on the divided tongues of fire. Bring on the sound of violent rushing wind. Bring on the instant Arabic fluency. In fact, we have a big test in class on Tuesday evening, so I’m holding out hope that today is the day. I’m counting on you to sing loud this morning! Come, Holy Spirit! Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me! Amen!

Fun at Arabic class!
Polis Institute, Jerusalem
Photo by Carrie Smith

Today is indeed the Day of Pentecost, and it’s a special privilege to be celebrating the feast of the Holy Spirit in the place where the big event actually happened. It’s thrilling to be in Jerusalem and hear the account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which began the movement which took the Good News of Jesus Christ from this city to the rest of the world. As I was preparing for worship and preaching this week, however, it struck me how different the Pentecost story sounds in this particular context: Redeemer Lutheran Church, Jerusalem, 2015.

In more homogenous contexts, Pentecost is the Sunday when preachers uncover the Norwegian and Spanish and German and Japanese speakers in the congregation and invite them to share their linguistic gifts during a prayer or a reading. In white North American churches, this is the day that the drums are dusted off and worshippers might consider clapping during the sending hymn! Once a year, in honor of that moment long ago when the faithful received the gift of tongues, many congregations put on their Pentecost finery and practice what it means to be a church for all people in all places.

Here at Redeemer, our situation is a little different. We already pray and sing in multiple languages. At Christmas, we heard “Silent Night” sung in Zulu. During communion, our “Sanctus” is sung in Spanish, and we pray the Lord’s Prayer in our mother tongues. Most of our Sunday School speaks Dutch! The gift of tongues is alive and well in our little congregation, on Pentecost and every other Sunday of the year.

Pentecost can also be an opportunity to remind a congregation of its place within the global church and to lift up its connection to believers in other countries. Therefore, on Pentecost it’s common to pray for missionaries and for partner churches. We pray for our sisters and brothers in Christ in other lands, and for those who have not yet heard the Good News. We sing songs from other cultures, and we remember that people from every place under heaven heard the Good News in their own languages on the Day of Pentecost.  

But here at Redeemer Lutheran in Jerusalem in 2015, we’re well aware of being a global church. Gathered again in Jerusalem from Finland, Sweden, Kenya, Germany, Canada, the United States, and many other places on map, we don’t need Pentecost Sunday to remind us of the diversity of the followers of Jesus Christ. And because people come and go frequently from our midst—we must say “farewell” to the Stayton family today, even as we say “hello” to our many visitors—we are constantly reminded that we are part of the One Body of Christ. One bread, one body. One Lord, one baptism. What a gift it is to be a part of a global faith community such as this.

So then, what does it mean to celebrate Pentecost in the city of Pentecost?

On this day, in this place, in this community, how do we receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues?  

We are not poor in cultural diversity. We are not lacking in languages.

But…we may be at a loss for words.

I’m at a loss for words when I see a ten year old Palestinian boy shot in the face by an IDF soldier, now in danger of losing his eye.

I’m at a loss for words when the government unveils a plan to enforce separate bus systems for Palestinians and Israelis—and equally at a loss when it is cancelled not because it’s wrong, but because it’s “bad publicity.”

I’m at a loss for words when I hear of new settlements being approved, more olive trees chopped down, more young Palestinians running their cars into crowds, more politicians advocating extremism, more Christians leaving the Holy Land for good.

A popular aphorism told around here says if you visit Israel and Palestine for two weeks, you go home and write a book. If you stay for three months, you go home and write an article. If you’re here longer than that, then you just don’t know what to say.

I suspect those of you who are living and working here in Jerusalem and the West Bank may agree with that assessment.

But even if you’ve been in Jerusalem no longer than a day, here on a visit or a pilgrimage, you too may be at a loss for words. How does one communicate to others the situation here? How do we share the beauty of the holy sites, the ugliness of the Wall, the hope and strength and resistance of our sisters and brothers, and the seemingly intractable problems and institutionalized injustice keeping the people of this land from experiencing peace?

Words fail us. We don’t know where to begin. We’re not sure of the syntax, the grammar, or the vocabulary to speak of truth, justice, peace, and equal rights for all people. Here in the Holy Land, and back home in our own contexts, we want to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and his Gospel of love, but we find ourselves stuck. Silent. Confused. At a loss for words.

When the disciples gathered in Jerusalem more than two thousand years ago, all together in one place, they too were confused. They too wondered what the Lord would have them say or do in their situation. Remember, the crucified and risen Jesus had just ascended into heaven, leaving them only with the instruction to stay in Jerusalem and “wait there for the promise of the Father.” After all they had seen, after all they had witnessed on the road, at the cross, and at the empty tomb, they were alone. What could they do? What could they say? Who would give them the words?

And it was into that room full of faithful confusion that the Holy Spirit made her spectacular entrance. A sound like a rushing wind brought the breath of God to people gasping to keep hope alive. Tongues of fire fell on disciples whose only qualifications were open hearts and a desire to be faithful.

Pentecost, He Qi

“And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability…

Through the Holy Spirit the Father gifted the disciples with power to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that all may hear. Through the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, every believer is empowered to be an instrument of peace, a broker of justice, and a minister of reconciliation. By the power of the Holy Spirit, each of you gathered here today is uniquely gifted to share the Good News, wherever you call home, and wherever the Spirit sends you. Amen!

In our usual celebrations of Pentecost, this is the Good News we most often proclaim. The wind, the fire, the gift of tongues, our mission to the ends of the earth—these are the gifts of the Holy Spirit about which we pray, sing, and dance…at least once a year.

Thanks be to God, the church has received the gift of tongues. But even so, sometimes we find ourselves at a loss for words. Sometimes, more often than we would like, we find ourselves without a voice even to pray, much less preach or sing or speak truth to power.

And in those moments when we feel the weakest, when we don’t know even how to pray, this is when we truly know the power of the Holy Spirit and the Good News of Pentecost.

When we are at the funeral of a friend or a beloved relative, and we haven’t the strength left to sing the hymns, by the power of the Holy Spirit our sisters and brothers sing the Gospel of love for us, surrounding us in the songs of faith and filling us with hope.

When the weight of the world is upon us and we can’t seem to catch a breath much less share the Good News with others, by the power of the Holy Spirit we experience the Gospel of love through the smile of a shopkeeper, the kindness of a stranger, the support of a friend, or the words of Holy Scripture.

"The Body of Christ, given for you"
Photo from a worship service at Capron Lutheran Church
 Capron, Illinois, USA 2009

When our faith has been shaken, and we can’t imagine the words which could make a difference in the presence of the Wall, the Occupation, religious extremism, or the persistence of racism and sexism and violence even among the people of God, then by the power of the Holy Spirit we hear the Gospel of love in the words, “This is the body of Christ, given for you. This is the blood of Christ, shed for you.”

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, sometimes we forget that the most precious gift, the most astonishing work of the Spirit, in fact the fire that sustains the Church across the world today is not only our ability to speak in tongues, but also the gift of ears to hear the Gospel on the lips of others.

For after the rushing wind, after the tongues of fire, and after the disciples started speaking in tongues, then it was the crowd who received the gift of Pentecost:

“The crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” They said, “And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

The story of Pentecost, then, comes to us today as a reminder that when we’re confused;

when it feels like Jesus has left us alone in the room;

when we feel underqualified and overwhelmed;

when the world’s injustices and the evils of our own human sinfulness put us at a loss for words;

even then we are not left orphaned.

Even then, we will not lose hope.

Even then, it is Pentecost.

For by the power of the Holy Spirit the church has received the gift of tongues, and now each of us can hear the Good News on the lips of our neighbors, our friends, and even strangers. 

Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Open our ears to hear. Open our mouths to speak. Open our hearts to be filled with your grace. Amen.