"Come, Spirit of Understanding" - a Sermon for Pentecost Sunday

 

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday 2021

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger

NOTE: 

This was written and recorded on Wednesday, the day before a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Gaza

Acts 2:1-21

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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable unto your sight O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.

Dear friends in Christ, I’m recording this sermon in my garden in Jerusalem, just a few minutes north of the Old City. These are very very difficult times for us. Rockets have been bombarding Gaza for days. More than 200 people have been killed there, including 50 children. Rockets have also been shot toward Israel, killing 10 Israelis. There are protests and clashes nightly. Today Palestinians participated in a general strike to protest the situation. As I walked into the Old City this morning, the tension was thick and people looked afraid.

It was just days ago that I preached an Ascension sermon using a favorite country song: “You picked fine time to leave me, Lucille!” I noted that Jesus sure picked a fine to leave us and ascend into heaven—in the middle of a pandemic and at the beginning of the war!

I wish I could say I had a fun country music reference for this sermon, and for this moment. Sadly, I don’t! But I will say that when we pray today “Come, Holy Spirit”, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt these words so deep in my heart. God, Jerusalem needs you today. Gaza needs you today. The world needs to know you are with us.

And, thanks be to God, we are gathered today (virtually, at least!) to celebrate how God did not leave us abandoned, but came to us on Pentecost! As we heard in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles were all gathered together in one place. And suddenly, there was a rush of wind, and tongues of fire appeared, and all the people in the streets heard the disciples speaking in their own languages.

I’ve thought a lot about the fact that this event happened here in Jerusalem, the city I now call home. On a daily basis, I hear English, Arabic, Hebrew, and German spoken in my church offices. There are many more languages spoken in the streets. Because I don’t speak most of these languages, I spend a lot of time walking quietly, sometimes lost in my thoughts.

But sometimes, I’ll hear an American English accent somewhere nearby. And it never fails, immediately my head will pop up and I’m searching for the source of the sound. Where did it come from? Do I know this person? These moments are always special, especially during the last year when there have been no tourists allowed in the country. Hearing my own language, spoken in my own accent, always makes me happy. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think English is any better language than others (in fact it definitely lacks the lyrical beauty of Arabic, for example!) but that moment when my ears recognize my mother tongue feels a bit like coming home.

So I’ve been thinking about that day, when suddenly all the people of Jerusalem heard words spoken in their own languages. Scripture tells us they were from many different places and spoke many different tongues. I wonder if they, too, often felt out of place in this city. I wonder if they, too, felt a moment of dread in the supermarket, when they forgot the words for the ingredients they needed for supper. I wonder if they, too felt embarrassed when someone rolled their eyes at their accent.

And I wonder how that Pentecost moment must have felt, as they suddenly heard their own language being spoken. It must have felt so good to finally understand—and maybe, even more importantly, to feel understood.

In our Lutheran baptismal liturgy, after the person is baptized in water, the pastor places their hands on the newly baptized person and prays for the Spirit to come upon them. We say:

“Sustain this sister (or brother) with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence both now and forever. Amen.”

Isn’t it interesting that the first thing we pray for us the spirit of wisdom and understanding? It seems to me that this is the gift of the Spirit the world needs most today. We certainly need a spirit of understanding in Jerusalem today. We need the spirit of understanding to blow through this city like a mighty wind, opening hearts and minds so that all of us – Israelis and Palestinians, Christians, Jews, and Muslims, can finally hear one another, see one another, and understand one another. Only then will we ever achieve peace and justice.

 

I imagine you could use such a mighty wind in your city, too. People are so divided in the world today—politically, culturally, religiously. Even if most people in your part of the world speak your language, you probably know what it feels like to walk around and feel that we may live and work side by side, and speak the same tongue, but sometimes it feels we inhabit completely different planets!

It’s not easy to live like this. Furthermore, such extreme division is simply not sustainable, and it’s certainly not the vision of the Beloved Community that God desires for us. Misunderstanding, and feeling misunderstood, leads to frustration, and anger, and sometimes to hatred, and sadly often to violence and war. We must do better.

Which is why I feel those words so deeply today: Come, Holy Spirit. God, we need the Spirit of wisdom and understanding—in Jerusalem, in Chicago, in Rapid City, and in every other corner of the world.

Did you know Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church? Some churches even celebrate with a birthday cake during coffee and fellowship time after worship! That’s maybe a silly idea, but I like it, and not just because it involves cake! I like it because it reminds me that something was born in us and among us on Pentecost. We may not always be able to see it, we may not always practice it, but by the coming of the Holy Spirit what was born in the church was understanding. Or, at least, the potential for understanding! This Spirit is a gift from God that lives in and among us, a gift that we have both the responsibility and opportunity to share with others.

What would it look like to truly embrace that particular gift of the Spirit of God? This doesn’t mean we need to learn to speak multiple languages (unless that’s a gift and desire of yours, which I heartily support!

But I want to point out that just like that first Pentecost here in Jerusalem, there are people waiting just outside the door of our churches, of our homes, of our communities, who are hungry and thirsty to be understood. There are people whose hearts will leap in their chests when they hear, finally, someone speaking in a way they understand. There are those who will smile to know that someone is listening, and at least trying to understand their experience in the world—as a refugee, as a veteran, as a trans person, as an indigenous person, as a divorced person, as a person in recovery, as someone who was hurt by the church.

Maybe today it is you who just wants to be heard, and understood.

Of course, listening and understanding is not easy. Speaking a new language is not easy. But we are not in it alone. As Jesus promised, God has not left us abandoned, but has sent the Spirit to accompany us, to sustain us, to bring us peace. We have with us this day and every day the gift of the Spirit—the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence. Both now, and forever.

Thanks be to God. May this spirit be alive and active in your life, in your church, and in your community.

And please, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem – we need it now more than ever.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.