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Pentecost Sunday

Sermon by Dr. Kit Schooley
given May 27, 2007

Are you part of a family that has a clustering of birthdays or anniversaries? In my family, we are in birthday season. I have been out at the card store looking for birthday cards. My oldest daughter and wife were born the same day, next Saturday, and I was born 6 days before.

Haven’t we all been out, of late, for Mother’s day and Father’s day cards; and of course, there is graduation day, and grandparents day, and children’s day; there’s administrative assistant’s day and Boss’s day (each sort of cancel one another out), but the holy day cards—outside of Christmas and Easter—and not big. I didn’t see a single Pentecost card this week. Here we are, with a holy day to celebrate, and our culture hasn’t given it even a place in the pantheon of worthy days.

Indeed, the American culture is celebrating one of its important holidays, memorial day in remembrance of those who have sacrificed. But even that isn’t quite so. We are really celebrating “put-the-boat-in-the-water-get-out-the-hotdogs-and-where’s-the-sunscreen-from-last-year” day.

For Christians , this is Pentecost, symbolized for us by fire. You heard it in the Acts reading, where fire alighted on the shoulders of the 120 who were there. Fire can be a friendly comforting thing—one of the necessary elements of life along with air and water and earth. It is also a mysterious thing, because fir is just as capable of being dangerous and deadly as it is being friendly and comforting. Fire is the stuff of religious belief.

Before the Pentecost story, we listened to the Tower of Babel story. There is a connection between them. In the Babel story—a skyscraper story—the audacious plan is to rule the world...then reach to heaven. Humanity exploits unity from one language as well as construction skills. All is harmony of purpose and language, The tower gives what today we call “ “Street cred.” It doesn’t give harmony with God’s will. The tower’s goal is to mark an intersection of humanity’s will and God’s will… and one of the wills—”won’t”; if you understand me.

In an wonderfully ironic moment, the writer of Genesis speaks of God coming down to see the city and the tower. Here is humor: God coming down to see a tower whose top is in the heavens. Can you imagine God stooping down with hand cupped over squinting eyes—”Oh...so there it is. Jolly good folks, cute tower, guys.” Humanity’s efforts brought a head-on clash with God, and God confused their language, scattering them abroad.

In the Acts scripture, we are 50 days after Easter, in Jerusalem. It’s the Jewish feast of pentecost and 120 disciples are there. They hail from places all over the known world, speak differing languages—all scattered at Babel.

Luke, taking hold of the telling of the story, remembers that in his translation of the Babel story, a word stood out: the greek word synchein, meaning “to pour together,” to mix,” “to confuse.” The Lord had confused the tongues of all at Babel.

Now, in Acts ,the crowd reacts to the sights and sounds of the Spirit: gather together, confused, bewildered —synchein— each person hears others speaking in their own tongue. Luke wants you to recognize that the same confusion is present in Jerusalem. The voices— poured together, mixed—the fire accompanying them not the combustible and dangerous kind, but rather the friendly, comforting kind. The confusion of Babel is reversed.

Our age could be called an age of Babel, of towers. Did you know there is actually a “tower society” in the world? It’s members keep track of the height of towers and scatter around the world viewing them. Towers are humanity’s oldest dream.

Today we build cellphone towers on tower’s tippy tops, as well as revolving restaurants: so one can see into the world below, if not the heavens above. The World Federation of great Towers views our fascination with tall buildings as a way to generate revenue. If you put five football fields, end to end, or stack 11 Statues of Liberty foot-to-crown that’s what it would take to eaqueal the height of the tallest building in the world. 1667 feet tall. It was built to eclipse all other buildings. It is the Taipei 101 Skyscraper. That is the tallest building our world has produced. So far.

Our world values what we produce or do. What’s the first question you ask when getting to know a new person: “What do you do?” If they say something impressive, we’re impressed; something ordinary?—we judge them to be ordinary. The slogan of our age is “That’s nice, but what does it do?” Even towers which used to just stand there, now do something with their cell-phone crowns.

Christians note the ways of their faith: the great truths of the Gospel; the affirmation of our belief in God’s plan through his son JesusChrist; learning the Bible; confessing together that when we believe we are changed, forgiven, healed, made new. Yet, great as they sound to us, we still hear the worlds’ question: “But what does your faith do?”

How does faith do in everyday life? Does the question trips us up? Without faith “doing” something, it doesn’t make the Hallmark lineup.

Jesus coming down, dying, rising, leaving; the Holy Spirit’s coming—all strike our age as a bygone era; not timely, new, nor “doing.”

Have we all wondered if that fire would have infused us if we were there? Have we learned to be filled with the spirit’s fire…to be content with the Spirit filling us with this fire—rather than building towers and taking on heaven?

A former friend from Seminary tells of when she was listening to an uninteresting lecture on a Spring day when everyone would rather have been outside. The professor sensed nobody was being attentive because suddenly he closed his notebook and said: “I’m not going to waste one more breath on you.” On the way out of the lecture hall, the professor picked up a piece of chalk and drew a huge arrow pointing straight down. He stood back, looked, then said: “If you understand that, you understand everything you need to know about what it means to be Christian.” With that, he left.

The students remained, staring at the arrow. It had everyone's complete attention. Some concluded: “He thinks we’re all going to hell.” The next time the class met, the professor began by drawing that same arrow on the board. “Know what that means?” he queried. “Here’s what it means: ‘God always comes down. God always comes down.’ There is never anything that we can do to turn that arrow around and make our way UP to God. God came down in Jesus. And God still comes down, in the bread and the wine, in the water, and in the fellowship of believers. God ALWAYS comes down.”

I’m reminded of an old fable about an angel who, returning to earth, is upset seeing the tragic errors and suffering of human beings. When the angel is once again in the presence of God, she asks God: “Why don’t you intervene and solve the problems of the world? The world needs you to do something; isn't there anything to do?” The answer comes back: “We have given them everything they need. We have given them fire and love. Now they have to learn to be fire and love.
Amen and Amen.

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