 |
 |
| 106 North Bench Street, Galena, IL 61036 Phone: (815) 777-0229 (voice & fax) |
|
May 11, 2008 by Brad Hertzler Acts 2:1-21 (Big inhale and exhale) There is power in breath.... There is life in breath.... Inhaling and exhaling: they are so much more than just breathing - much more than wind into the lungs and wind out of the lungs. The day I first really learned of the power of breath was the day that I saw a little bird die. I remember it explicitly. It is forever etched onto my mind with its power. At the church I served at in Omaha, the first floor was below the ground, but it still had windows that were made possible by a large window well that ran along the side of the building. Large grates covered the window wells. The slots in the grates were not large enough for a bird to fly through, but periodically a bird would get into the window well via the larger holes that surrounded the gutter drainpipes. So every so often, I would sit in my office there in the basement and see a bird caught in the window wells below the grates flying around feverishly looking for an exit. Then I would rush outside to save the panicked bird by opening one of the gates in the grates and the bird would fly out. But one day, I hadn't noticed a cardinal that was in the window well until it was too late. The beautiful red bird had flown itself into the grate enough times, trying to ram its way out, that it had presumably broken its wings. When I noticed it for the first time, it was laying on the ground breathing big deep, strained breathes. I watched as the breathes slowed down until it finally breathed its last breath and died. The last breath exhaling from its body in a way that left the bird much flatter than I expected, and revealed mysteriously, almost sacredly that breath is composed of more than just oxygen and nitrogen and a few other molecules. Breath is something deeper and more profound. It is life, strength, empowerment, fuel... and perhaps it is soul. I experienced this with a little bird. Some of you have, no doubt, experienced what I am talking about with a human, perhaps a very loved companion or friend. You know more than I do then, of the profound nature of breath... the profound holiness of breath. Experiences like this help me understand passages like we read today from the book of John, where Christ breathes on them the Holy Spirit. Our last passage, today, from the book of Acts, tells of the disciples gathered together at the feast of Pentecost and as they are together in a house, the Holy Spirit is poured out on them. There is no wind, but it sounds like wind. There is no fire, but it looks like fire. And the Holy Spirit fills each of them - that is, about a 120 of them - like a liquid fills a glass. The result of this filling is that each of them begins to speak in a language that is not their own. It is not ecstatic babbling, it is real human languages, but it is, indeed, ecstatic. All 120 of them, ecstatically proclaim God's wonderful deeds of power; so loudly that the people passing by outside the house hear them plainly enough to know what they are saying. And, of course, this is an odd enough occurrence that it causes them to question what is occurring inside the house. Some want to know how this is happening; others want to know what this means that Galileans are speaking the native language of people who live far away from Galilee. And some cynics have no questions; they just keep on walking, chalking this occurrence up to early morning drinking. Apparently, Peter and the other 11 disciples come outside and Peter begins to explain what is happening inside. Peter does this by quoting a passage form the Old Testament book of Joel, and so to really understand this passage in Acts, we need to grasp and understand the situation and context of the Joel passage, which Peter refers to in his speech. In the book of Joel, God is predicting the day when he will gather together all the nations and judge them. The sign that that gathering is occurring is the pouring out of the spirit on the people causing them to perform various signs and wonders, one of which is speaking prophetically in other languages. The book of Joel also indicates that it is not just the nations of the world that are being gathered together, but it is the scattered Jewish people that are being gathered together, as well. The purpose for that gathering of the Jews is so that God can empower them and equip them to send them out again to evoke change that will bring about the restoration of the earth through their actions. Peter uses the Joel passage to indicate that this is what is now occurring inside the house. The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh is now happening. And by the time Peter is done giving his speech, the Holy Spirit will have been poured out on 3000 more people. It is interesting to note that in the Acts passage, the Jews hearing this speech are indicated to be from 15 different locations around the Roman Empire. This list of nations, correlates to the gathering of the nations that Joel talks about in his passage. So what we see here happening at Pentecost is the fulfillment of the Joel prophecy. A gathering of the nations, a pouring out of the Spirit on the people, the empowerment of those people, and the potential energy of those people ready to be sent into all the earth. We see in this scene a sort of divine inhalation of God's people, drawing them into himself, where they are empowered in the bosom of God's spirit; and a divine exhalation that becomes in the rest of the story of Acts and continues today in our story, as modern day Christians. It is even more illuminating to learn that the Greek word for Spirit - pneuma - is the same Greek word for breath. So when God breathes the spirit on them in John, he pneumas the pneuma on them. Breath and Spirit are intertwined in a divine sense. God has gathered his people and filled them with a divine breath - the Holy Spirit. One scriptural expert (1) even thinks that the author composes this passage in such a way so as to draw a correlation between Moses, the great and first prophet of Israel, and the people who have just received the Holy Spirit. Indicating that they are now prophets in the line and power of Moses. Thus, indicating that if Moses did it, then they can now do it also. And if Moses said it, then they can now say it also. And what is more, when Jesus was on the earth, he told his disciples that when they have received the Holy Spirit, they would then be able to do even more than he was able to do while on the earth (2) because they have Jesus Christ inside each of them. So Pentecost is about a cosmic event in history in which God is gathering and then sending, where those who are gathered and sent are divinely empowered in a way that puts them in the same category with Moses, or even Jesus Christ, himself. My friends, I could not help but notice that today God has gathered us together again in this place of worship. In many ways, we are a gathering of the nations. Each of us from our own backgrounds and places. Each of us with our own outlooks on life, and in a sense, with our own language. And as we are gathered together, the Holy Spirit, is here with us, freshly filling us anew. God has inhaled us from our separate arenas and lives to this place, where we are filled, strengthened, and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, nourished with his word and sacrament. And in approximately 25 minutes, he is going to exhale us out into the world again freshly filled with the Holy Spirit. Today, we celebrate Pentecost - we remember it, but today, we also live out Pentecost. The divine breath of God is at work in our mist. The Spirit is giving us power to proclaim the worship of God in the world. He is giving us power to transform the world into a new creation. And if we are willing to accept it, the Holy Spirit is making us to be prophets in the world in the line of Moses, and of Christ, himself. I find that most Christians are not convinced of the power of the Holy Spirit inside them. I find that most days I am not convinced of that power. But Pentecost changes things. The Holy Spirit changes us. We are no longer people who simply receive the work of God, we are spirit-filled people who do the work of God. Our status has changed with Pentecost. We are not the receptors of prophecy, we are the givers of prophecy. We are not passive individuals, awaiting the hoped-for kingdom of God, we are active agents participating in the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Each Sunday morning worship, then, becomes a mini-Pentecost in which we are filled again for another week. Sunday morning worship becomes a bit like the halftime of a sports game where the coach gathers together his team in the locker room for a pep talk, fills them with orange slices and water to refresh them and empower them, and then send them back out into the game again. A gathering and a sending The breath of God giving us new life and new power to make it through another week. The breath of God giving us strength to proclaim God's deeds of power. The breath of God guiding us to prophetically interact with our world. And even more than Sunday mornings, each breath we breathe, itself becomes a bit of a Pentecost event for the Christian. With each breath, with each pneuma, the pneuma of God fills us. Remind yourself of this, because this becomes handy. So when you encounter something in your day that angers you to no end, -A run in with your boss -that annoying person that is sitting behind you -that action with your child that does you in take a deep breath. Fill yourself with the Holy Spirit and as you exhale know that you have been sent into that situation, not as other people of this world, but as a Pentecost person, empowered to react differently. Or when you are tempted in that area which is your weak spot -- you name that spot -- take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the power which is in you is greater than the power which is in the world. Or perhaps it is even as mundane as when you are about to enter a committee meeting in this church. Inhale the Holy Spirit, and as you exhale, realize that God is sending you as a Christian, endowed with gifts of the Holy Spirit to accomplish, not what you can even image, but only what God can do. In whatever situation you find yourself in, inhale and be reminded that you have been inhaled by God, and empowered there by this Holy Spirit; and exhale and be reminded that you have been exhaled by God into the world, equipped with something... someone... that gives you great ability to serve passionately, image creatively, react differently, overcome greatly, and proclaim boldly. I pray for the day when all Christians, including myself, would recognize that this mortal human body has something special inside of it. When we would enter every situation in our lives with a recognition of our true Pentecost status: Inhaled by God, empowered by him, and then exhaled into the world with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
|
|
|