Sermon Sunday 15 May, 2016

Pentecost Sunday

LessonsActs 2: 1 – 13Romans 8: 14 – 17St John 14: 8 – 17

Prayer of Illumination

Let us pray.

Holy Spirit, descending Dove, touch us with tongues of fire, burn within our soul, fill us with the Spirit of Jesus, with life in all its fullness. Enliven us that we may live for You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

‘They were all with one accord in one place….Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house….There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them….They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.’ In the most dramatic and magnificent imagery, the writer of Luke and Acts tells the story the coming of the Holy Spirit: it is the day of Pentecost.

Set in a house in the holy city of Jerusalem, in the story, the Spirit of the Living God descended on the followers of Jesus, followers from ‘every nation under heaven.’ In this rich, imaginative story of Scripture, the crowd gathered from every corner of the known world and heard the Galileans speak, not in the dialect of Galilee, but each in his or her native tongue, in the languages of the world from regions throughout Judea, Asia, Egypt and Rome. Those who ‘witnessed’ this cacophonous sound asked, ‘How hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?’ Imagine for a moment, if you will, you, there, seated in that house, in that room, feeling that mighty blast on your face, your whole vision filled with flames of the Spirit and your heart exhilarated by the energy of the Eternal. What are we to make of this mind-blowing narrative?

In the Orthodox tradition, the readings for today are taken from the Book of Numbers and the Book of Ezekiel. In Numbers, we read that the LORD came down in a cloud, a symbol of mystery and hiddenness, took the spirit of Moses and gave it to the seventy elders, to the leaders of Israel. In Ezekiel, the LORD said, ‘A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you….I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes…’. The tradition of the East, like that of the Roman Catholic Church, is very mindful of the wisdom taught by the saints and mystics of the past. In the Orthodox tradition, St Seraphim of Sarov said that ‘the goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.’

What are we to make of the story of Pentecost as told in the Book of Acts? If we lay aside for a moment the almost magical imagery of mythology, the tongues of fire and mighty rushing wind, the crucial point of the narrative is that people from every nation under heaven, ever corner and kingdom of the Earth, heard the Spirit speak in their own languages. This New Testament faith narrative is a sequel to the story told in the Book of Genesis of the Tower of Babel. In that ancient Old Testament story, we hear that the whole world spoke one language, was ‘of one speech’, and that, together, the peoples of the Earth decided to build a tower that would reach to heaven. On hearing of this scheme, the LORD scattered the people and ‘confounded their language that they did not understand one another’s speech.’ In the myth, the word ‘Babel’ means ‘mixed up’; God mixed up their language.

The story of Babel is sometimes understood as a myth in which the ancients explainthe existence of many nations with different languages in the world: in other words, God punished humanity for building a tower designed to reach the heavens. On the face of it, the story could mean just that. However, the existence of many nations with different languages is established earlier in the Book of Genesis, in chapter 10, before the story of Babel. When the story of Babel begins at chapter 11, when the whole world spoke with one language, this was not the natural state but one that was imposed. The story of the Tower of Babel is a story about the imposition of one language, one speech, by one of the world’s first empires.

In the ninth century BC, there is evidence of the Assyrian empire imposing ‘one speech’ upon the totality of all people. In the eighth century BC, again the Assyrian empire required thatits people speak in ‘a single voice’. The Assyrian empire asserted its supremacy by insisting that its language be the only language used by the nations and populations which they had defeated: ‘Babel is a critique of imperialism.’[1] In the myth, when the LORD scatters the people and causes them to speak different languages, God is returning humanity to its natural and right state. It is through the rich colours of diversity that God is honoured, through multi-various nations, tribes, languages, cultures and people.

The New Testament story of Pentecost, the myth of the coming of the Holy Spirit, portrays the Church as the embodiment of diversity and difference, a rainbow people, in whom the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth is alive and flourishes. In the story of Pentecost, the tongues of fire sat on each of them, descending separately on each one. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes of the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit and, in the Gospel of St John, Jesus says, ‘The Spirit of Truth dwells with you and shall be in you.’ In the Church, the Spirit is poured out on all God’s people: not the ordained ministers only, but on every single person. With the tradition of the East, the celebration of the Eucharist, the breaking of the Bread and the sharing of the Wine, is a symbol of perpetual Pentecost, the weekly outpouring of the Spirit.

Earlier this week, we had the ‘kirking’ of the Scottish Parliament at St Giles’ Cathedral. It was a deep and real joy to see the involvement of representatives from other world faiths take part in the service of worship. I am not sure what to make of a‘blessing’ offered by the Humanist Society in the context of public worship. Among the world’s great religions, there are different perspectives, in some cases, quite pronounced. However, in our Scriptures, God has never required the whole world to be of one faith: God is encountered through different faiths, along different paths. There is not a single faith or, within Christianity, not a single tradition or denomination, which is the sole repository of Truth. Rather than focus on what divides us, it is absolutely right that we celebrate our commonality and value the treasures we share.

As we look into the third millennium of Christianity, what does it mean to be a ‘pentecostal’ church, a church of the Spirit? What does it mean to live in the spirit of the Nazarene?

He has been described as the greatest living theologian. The Swiss-born Roman Catholic, Hans Küng, sets out four conditions if the Church is to have a future in the third millennium. Firstly, the churches must not turn back and fall in love with their own history, either the Middle Ages or the Reformation. The Church must live in the present and the theologies of yesterday applied uncritically today will serve only to weaken the Church further. Secondly, the Church must not be patriarchal with exclusively male language and predetermined gender roles but be a Church of partnership in which women are accepted in all church ministries. We may add acceptance too of homosexual and bi-sexual people in all church ministries. Thirdly, the Church must not be ‘narrowly confessional and succumb to confessional exclusiveness’ or refuse communion to Christians of other denominations but rather ‘be an ecumenically open church, which practises ecumenism by mutual ‘recognition of ministries, the abolition of all excommunications and complete Eucharistic fellowship.’ Fourthly, the Church must not be Eurocentric or claim superiority over other world religions.

Beyond these four conditions, Küng calls for the Church to play its part in creating a sustained dialogue and a truly deeper understanding between peoples of different language, culture and religion. Calling for a global ethic, Küngsays that human rights are not the exclusive preserve of the West but can equally be found within Chinese history. In many ways, Asians welcome much of what the West has to offer but,says Küng, if we understood more deeply, we would appreciate the importance Asians attach to families, intensive education, frugality and unpretentiousness and why, therefore, unlimited individualism and decadence are abhorrent. Between civilisations, we need to understand more deeply and truly honour the other.

The story of Pentecost is not some bizarre myth about fiery tongues and thunderous rushing winds but about the flourishing of humanity. This is God’s dream.

Amen.

1

[1] Jonathan Sacks Not in God’s Name 192