Festival of Pentecost
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Psalm 104:24-35 Acts 2:1-21 John 15:26-27, 16:4-15 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who sets loose the spirit. Amen The spirit is on the loose. That’s what Pentecost is about, the unleashing of the spirit in the world we have three readings today that help us understand what this means who the spirit is, and in each of these readings we find that the spirit is the gift of God, it is unleashed by testimony and brings life where it is heard and received. In Ezekiel we have the story of the dry bones, because we hear it in English we miss some of the nuances of the story, Hebrew is a language where a lot of words have double meanings and authors often play with those double meanings, in this story that word is ruach which means both breath and spirit pointing to the intimate connection between the two there cannot be life without breath and when we think about it can there really be life without spirit? God takes the prophet Ezekiel and sets him in a valley of dry bones, then asks the prophet if the bones can live? all indicators say that these bones are dead with a capital D but the prophet defers to the power of God saying “O Lord God, you know” and God instructs the prophet to speak to the bones, to tell them of the promise of God, that God will bring them back together into bodies and will cause breath to enter them so that they will live. Instead of speaking to these bones directly God gives the words to Ezekiel to tell to the bones, and Ezekiel using his own breath prophesies to the bones and they come together and form bodies but they are not alive until the prophet speaks to the breath, to the spirit to come into these bodies that they come to life. Then God explains the object lesson to the prophet, the people of Israel feel like these dry bones, dead with a capital D, but through the words and breath of the prophet God promises to breathe life back into the people who thought there was no life left. That is the power of the spirit Perhaps you’ve experienced something like this, you were in a dry valley of faith or life and it seemed like there was no climbing out of it and then someone spoke a few words to you and things didn’t seem so hopeless anymore. That is the work of the spirit set loose in the world, the spirit that is as close to us as our own breath. In our Gospel we hear Jesus promise to send the disciples an advocate, the spirit of truth and this advocate will testify, will speak on behalf of Jesus so that the disciples may also testify, tell others of Jesus and his love. As he is saying good bye to his disciples Jesus acknowledges that there’s a lot that’s been left unsaid “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” the spirit is truth, that comes to advocate when the time is right. We are abundantly aware of the things left unsaid, there are a multitude of issues in life that Jesus in the Bible does not directly address that we struggle with, we have trouble bearing them we disagree about what to do when we are faced with them, they divide communities, and yet in the midst of it all is the spirit of truth showing us the way, speaking through a prophet or two or three the words of Jesus, “love one another as I have loved you” the message spreads, slowly sometimes and as it spreads Jesus is glorified in the love of the community that is growing and expanding through those who tell what they have heard from the spirit of truth The spirit is on the loose spreading the truth. Finally we have our reading from Acts, the account of the first Pentecost. The risen Jesus has appeared to the disciples and they have witnessed Jesus’ ascension into heaven. They know they are on their own so to speak and they are preparing to continue on as a community, on the morning of Pentecost, a festival observed fifty days after the Passover the community is gathered they hear a sound like the rush of a violent wind, this sound fills the house where they are and the holy spirit appears like tongues of fire above their heads and fills the disciples who begin to speak in different languages, all of this causes such a racket that people are drawn to the house and as a crowd forms and the disciples spill out of the house still speaking in their given languages the crowd is amazed because they can understand the disciples, they are hearing the message of Jesus in their own languages, of course there are some naysayers who think the disciples are drunk, but Peter interprets what is happening through the prophesy of the prophet Joel, the prophesy that says in the last days the spirit will be poured out on all people young, old, slave, free, male, female, everyone all the distinctions that normally divide will fall as the spirit is given out equally and all shall share the words of the spirit with the world and these words will spread like wild fire. The spirit is fire, by nature it spreads often unpredictably, and even we humans who have harnessed the power of fire appreciate that it is a wild thing that we manage and contain but really have no control over and we get into trouble when we forget that fact. The spirit set loose in the world, through the gift of God and the testimony of the disciples is out of the disciples’ control just like that the people who come from all corners of the earth who hear the spirit filled message of the disciples will take it home with them, and they will tell others and Jesus’ word will have spread to the far corners of the earth far away from the original disciples. It’s quite a contrast to the first part of Acts, the measured preparation that the disciples take, casting lots to choose the most worthy follower of Jesus to join the in crowd the spirit busts that all open because it’s not about worthiness it’s a gift of God to all people regardless of how they are defined and divided by the world the spirit, breath, truth, fire shows up especially when people are defined and divided and interrupts those divisions, that attempt at controlling who is in and who is out, who claims to have the truth there the spirit interrupts breathing new life into places we have caused death, spreading the love of Jesus like a fire that cannot be contained showing the truth found in love all while working through us, the words we speak the love we share. Life, truth, fire Watch out, the spirit is on the loose. And I say, come Holy Spirit. Amen
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Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 Psalm 1 1 John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who prays for us. Amen Today Jesus prays for us. In our gospel, Jesus is gathered together with his disciples in the upper room on the last night of his life, they are about to go out to the garden where he will be betrayed, handed over to the authorities, put on trial and executed on the cross Jesus knows that all this is coming, and he goes to it willingly laying his life down for his friends, but first he prays for them. In their last moments Jesus turns from teaching to prayer, talking with God his intimate parent, and the disciples there overhear his prayer, they overhear Jesus praying for them, just as we overhear Jesus praying for us this day, because Jesus’ prayer is not restricted to those first disciples in that moment but it is a prayer for the community that gathers in his name throughout time and space. Take a moment and let that sink in, Jesus prays for us, and we get to hear his prayer. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been reminded in a variety of ways of the power and importance of being prayed for by someone else, particularly when you hear what the other person says to God on your behalf. Even if you have been using the same words somehow they sound different coming from another person and going to God, sometimes they sound more true. To offer prayer for someone is a sacred thing. To receive a prayer from someone is a sacred thing, and I think it’s a gift we give and receive too little, some Christian traditions have much more vibrant and vocal traditions of prayer but generally speaking and yes there are always exceptions to the rule, we Lutherans tend to be more quiet with our prayers, whether that is the result of a largely German and Scandinavian heritage or something else I’m not sure but praying a loud for others is something that we don’t practice very often I think we get intimidated about having the right words but the Holy Spirit helps God and the other person hear the intent of our prayer even if the words are a little clumsy, and the good news is that prayer like anything else gets easier with practice. I encourage you to give it a try, even if you feel a bit foolish at first it is a special gift to offer. And Jesus gives us that gift Jesus prays for our community, The language of John can get kind of loopy and confusing, but when it’s all boiled down, essentially Jesus prays for three things: The safety of the community, the future of the community and for the work of the community. Jesus acknowledges that the community is based on the love that Jesus and God share, and as Jesus has been with the community he has been able to protect them now that Jesus is returning to God he prays that God protect the community and that the life of the community continues to rest on loving relationships with God. Significantly, Jesus doesn’t want God to take the community out of the world, but for the community to remain and for God to protect them from the evil that they will encounter. In praying for the safety of the community Jesus places the future of the community in God’s hands. The future of the community that gathers in Jesus’ name and love depends on God. We tend to forget this. We feel that the future of the community is up to us, and the way we envision that future is often very similar to the present and we forget that often what we want, is not what God wants, is not how God envisions the future of the community. We have a role to play, yes, but the future depends on God, which means that one way or another the community that gathers in love will continue even if we try some new things and make some mistakes and even if we never try anything new and make some mistakes, somewhere there will always be a community that gathers in Jesus’ name by placing the future of the community in God’s hands Jesus frees us to focus on the present task at hand, the work of the community which is sharing the love of God with others, loving our neighbors as ourselves, with love that Jesus has defined as laying down one’s life for one’s friends, This is the work of the community, to love, and Jesus prays that God sanctify the community for this purpose, to sanctify is to make holy, which essentially means to set apart for the work of God, Jesus has set us apart, has authorized us, commanded us to live in love under the protection and future of God just as he set himself apart and lived out his love on the cross. The way we live out our love might not be that dramatic, often our love is shown in the small and regular parts of life, in the caring for our families the putting aside of our own desires so that those we love are fed and clothed, or it appears in the way we treat those we encounter in life with dignity and respect, perhaps it means contributing to the life of the community or working on behalf of the marginalized and those without a voice. However we do the work of the community who gathers in Jesus’ name, we are able to do it because of the love of God that Jesus has shared with us and the future that Jesus placed in God’s hands on behalf of us all by praying for us, a prayer we overhead speaking the truth in love. Amen Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one in whose love we abide. Amen In our gospel today Jesus is saying good bye. We overhear part of his last teaching to his disciples before his death, his parting words, what he most wants the disciples to take with them as they move into the new and strange territory of life without Jesus in the way they’ve come to know him. As he’s saying good bye Jesus emphasizes his love, what he’s taught the disciples and he acknowledges a change in their relationship and his hopes for their future. Today we are recognizing our graduates, all graduations mark a time of transition, from a known way of life to new relationships, expectations from those around us and often a physical geographical move and while these are exciting changes they also mark a season of good-byes to the way life was and so today we honor the excitement and the good-byes and as we bless and send our graduates we emphasize our love, what we’ve taught them, and we acknowledge a change in the relationship and our hopes for their future. Jesus has already been speaking for a while before the start of our gospel reading, this morning as we start to listen in on his farewell speech we hear Jesus’ instruction for the disciples’ to abide in his love. This week I was struck by the word ‘abide’. Abide means to continue, to remain, both in the physical sense of where one lives or dwells but also in the sense of an attitude or relationship that is not bound by a particular place, it is something we live in wherever we go. The love that Jesus has shared with his father has been shared with the disciples by Jesus and his hope is that this love continues to influence their lives. Jesus telling the disciples to abide in his love is reminding them that though he may be physically absent from them his love continues and will even grow as they share the love with one another as Jesus has commanded them. Jesus’ love is the foundation for all that has led up to this point and will go with them into the future. Graduates love is the foundation for all that has led up to this point. If you remember nothing else from this day or even your time in this community remember this: we love you. And our love goes with you into the future. This is why we give our high school graduates blankets, a physical piece of our love that continues for you even if we are physically separated. We’re following the lead of Jesus who gave the disciples the Lord’s Supper, a physical piece of Jesus’ love in a swallow of bread and a sip of wine, Jesus’ love continuing with us. Jesus reminds the disciples of his love for them and his hope that it continues and then he reminds them of what he has taught them to love one another as he has loved them. This is the key to abiding in his love, the putting into practice Jesus’ teaching, and Jesus is a teacher who teaches by example as well as words, even the part about loving so much that one lays down one’s life for one’s friends. Graduates we have taught you what is important to us now it is up to you to live out what we taught you, we acknowledge that we have not been perfect examples but we hope you will forgive us for that and do your best to live in a way that makes us and more importantly yourself proud. Jesus, having reminded the disciples of his love for them and what he has taught them, then acknowledges that in this good-bye, this transition their relationship is changing, he moves from calling his disciples servants to calling them friends. Jesus has shared everything that he’s heard from his father, they know all that he knows and that changes the dynamic of their relationship, they are friends now. But lest the disciples let this go to their heads Jesus reminds them that he chose them, they did not choose him. He chose them and now it’s time for them to go bear fruit, to live out Jesus’ love in the world, to share it and expand it, and they are able to do this because of Jesus’ love for them. Graduates we love you, we’ve taught you, and now we recognize that our relationship is changing, particularly those of you graduating from high school. You are now young adults, and it is time for you to go bear fruit. God has given each of you particular gifts, talents and skills, some you know about already and some you have yet to discover. God gave you these gifts, talents and skills so that you in your own particular way could share the love of God in which you abide, with all those around you. This might take the form of a job or occupation, or the way you treat those you encounter. Sometimes you will struggle, and it might seem like an impossible task to bear fruit, to love all you encounter and these are the times when you remember that regardless of how life unfolds, God loves you, and so do we. Amen |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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