Spirit-Filled Living

“Spirit-Filled Living”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

May 19, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Acts 2:1-18

John 14:12-17

         Happy Birthday! … On the Christian calendar, today is called Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost has long been called “the birthday of the Church.” Each year, we read from the second chapter of Luke’s Book of Acts how the disciples were all gathered together after Jesus had departed from them. And just as Jesus had promised, they had a life-changing spiritual experience together. Without any history, you may read the story and think their experience is just a bunch of meaningless chaos. A strong wind blew through the house where they were and then tongues of fire appeared above each of their heads. And though the crowd spoke in many different languages, each person heard the others speaking their own language. They could understand each other without a translator.

         I imagine that if I had not grown up in the church and I read this story, I just wouldn’t get it. It sounds like just one more story with crazy Bible language. And that is why we turn to the eleventh chapter of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible (verses 1-9, GNB). “At first, the people of the whole world had only one language and used the same words. As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there. They said to one another, "Come on! Let's make bricks and bake them hard." So they had bricks to build with and tar to hold them together. They said, "Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth." Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which they had built, and said, "Now then, these are all one people and they speak one language; this is just the beginning of what they are going to do. Soon they will be able to do anything they want! Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other." So the Lord scattered them all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. The city was called Babylon, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.”

         We know that this is not a historical story. All the people of the world at that time did not speak the same language. And we also know that God is not a separate entity that lives in the sky and comes down to check on us now and again. This kind of text was written in order to give a lively explanation for why different people spoke different languages. Imagine it being told around a campfire. The moral of this story is that people were trying to get to heaven, and they tried doing so to “make a name for themselves.” They wanted fame; they weren’t seeking a relationship with God.

         Now let’s look back at the Pentecost story. Remember that Jesus had just done what the people of Babylon had failed to do: he ascended to heaven to be with God. And he didn’t do so selfishly as the Babylonians had tried to do. No, Jesus went to “prepare the way,” that others might come after him. But instead of just disappearing and waiting for people to die so that they could rise to heaven in spirit, Jesus sent heaven to them.

         The fire of God’s holy Spirit fell from heaven so that it could live within those who had been enlightened by Jesus’ teachings. And hinting at the story of the Tower of Babel, without mentioning Babylon specifically, we see the peoples of the world united once again, this time by Love.

         Was the disciples’ hair on fire? No. Did someone just leave a window open when there was a storm brewing? No. Were there really people from all those places gathered there? I don’t know. What I do know is that the Pentecost experience was a life-changing one for those involved, an experience that isn’t isolated to that house in Jerusalem, but is rather an experience that is available to us all. Luke makes a bold point in his story telling: God is with us. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God.

         It makes perfect sense that this event is said to have happened on the Day of Pentecost. Christians did not invent this day; Jews did. It was the Festival of Shavuot when Jews celebrate Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. In the third chapter of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible, the story is told, “There an angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And [Moses] said, “Here I am.” Then [God] said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” … And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

         Do you see the parallel here? Moses experiences God as a flaming bush in a “mountain-top experience” in which the power of God is too much for him to bear for long. But on the day of Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples are not told to step back from the flame of God. Instead, the flame rests upon each of them, filling them with Holy Fire. Their Rabbi, Jesus, had brought the wonder and power of Sinai down to them.

         In Progressive Christianity, we do not claim to supersede Judaism. We honor the Jewish faith as one of many paths of truth. Jews still experience the Holy Fire of God in the lighting of the shabbos candles every Friday night as the Sabbath begins, and in the lighting of the Menorah during the eight days of Hanukah. Through their tradition passed down from generation to generation, they experience the holy.

         As Christians, we follow in the teaching of Jesus, that this Holy Fire cannot be contained, and it cannot be put out. When we open our spirits to the Spirit, we are ignited with the same loving-kindness that Jesus demonstrated. We’re just flaming with love! And as Jesus said in the passage from the Gospel of John we heard today, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.”

         And I believe we are! MCC today is working miracles. Since 1968 when that first group of people met together in Rev. Troy Perry’s living room and experienced the holy Spirit there, MCC has spread like wildfire and never stopped. The KKK tried to put out the fire, but it couldn’t. The Moral Majority tried to put out the fire, but it couldn’t. AIDS tried to put out the fire, but it couldn’t. Hate crimes have tried to put out the fire, but they won’t. We heard the terrible news yesterday that a gay man was murdered by a shot to the head just Friday night in Greenwich Village in New York. We have come a long way tearing down walls of bigotry and hatred, but there is still a long way to go. We can’t let incidents like this make us hide in fear; we must continue to live boldly. We are a holy people, empowered by the Queer Spirit of God to spread the Good News that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt to be true: God dwells within us too. Luke quotes the prophet Joel in saying that God will pour Her Spirit upon ALL flesh. Not just some flesh; ALL flesh. Black flesh, white flesh, tan flesh, purple flesh. Straight flesh, bisexual flesh, gay flesh, transgender flesh. Young flesh and old flesh. Able flesh and disabled flesh. ALL means ALL.

         The founders of MCC New Haven knew this truth. I have spent many hours in our office looking through old records, tracing the path of the Spirit through our history. I believe that Spirit was present with Yale Divinity School students Kenneth Theriault and Beverly Lett who had the courage to start a church for LGBT people in 1977 when homophobia and transphobia was a common reality. I believe Spirit led Harry Wright to be the first Moderator and Paul Keroack to be the first Clerk of MCCNH’s first Board of Directors in 1979. And I believe that Spirit led Tom O’Loughlin to join the Board in 1981. I’m sure both of you have been recognized many times over the years for your work, but we continue to thank you today for all you have done in following Spirit and in still being here today.

         Through thick and thin of the past 36 years, God’s Spirit has blown through the life of MCC New Haven. For many years, attendance stayed around twenty. For a time in the 90’s, under the leadership of Rev. Susan Heiskell, attendance was around 150. In fact, in 1991, we had two services: one morning and one afternoon. A building fund was started. Then a recession hit and that dream had to be deferred. The church saw new leadership under Rev. Burnie Barbour, Rev. Marylin Bowens, and others. The choir enjoyed a season with Beth Styles.

I know that those of you who were involved in the church over those years have good memories and not so good memories. Spirits were encouraged and spirits were broken. Relationships began and some ended. Some beloved members passed away, including Harry Wright. I know that remembering some of these things may be painful. Struggle and loss isn’t fun. But we are a Christian community, and as such, we are called to look back and claim our story as part of God’s story. Never forget, God has laughed and danced with you and God has wept with you.

Over the coming weeks, you will have the opportunity to write on the timeline posted on the wall significant events in the church that are important to you. Take a note card for each event, and write how you saw Spirit at work during that time. Don’t be snarky. Don’t bleed all over the paper. Instead, do the work of healing by recognizing all that God has done for us. If you’re new to the church, please feel free to write down the date of your first service with us or an event with us that is important to you. This will be our way of looking straight into that burning bush, without being afraid.

The Holy Spirit that is with us is the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit within us speaks the truth through us in Love. As Paul writes in his letter to the Romans (8:26, NRSV), “…the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” You may not know how to express your feelings about our history. But if you allow Her to, the Spirit will intercede for you, advocate for you, help you.

A Course in Miracles (22:59) says, “Extension of forgiveness is the Holy Spirit’s function. Leave this to [Her]. Let your concern be only that you give to [Her] that which can be extended. Save no dark secrets that [She] cannot use, but offer [Her] the tiny gifts [She] can extend forever. [She] will take each one and make it a potent force for peace. [She] will withhold no blessing from it or limit it in any way. [She] will join to it all the power that God has given [Her] to make each little gift of love a source of healing for everyone. Each little gift you offer to the other lights up the world.”

We have a choice to make today. Do we frantically try to rebuilt the Tower of Babel to seek something in the sky that isn’t there like a “Golden Age” gone by, or do we embrace the Spirit of Healing and Forgiveness that is right where we are, that is our very own breath? If we choose the Way of Spirit, we will grow. If we choose the way of Ego, we will scatter like the people of Babylon.

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Giving, the Spirit of Generosity. Opening our hearts and our hands to serve our church and beyond our doors through giving the very best of our time, talents, and treasure is what will open up greater prosperity for our community. I’m here to orchestrate this process; I’m the maestro. But what’s an orchestra without the full cooperation of the musicians? A cacophony. I ask you today, for the sake of all who have come before us to keep this church alive, and for the cause of Christ, to choose with me the wild, daring, yet most fulfilling way of Spirit. In the words of the Sufi Mystic Rumi, “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” And so it is. Amen.