June 12, 2011 Pentecost Sunday

The readings remind us that the Church was born preaching goodness—that's what "Good News" is, at its root---GOODNESS. And we did so by forgiving, the Gospel says.

 

For those of you who were here a couple of weeks ago,  you heard me speak of the Mystery of Moses on Mount Sinai when the Torah was given…for that is what Pentecost remembers—that 50 days after the Exodus, God gave the law at Sinai. And I hope you also remember that when God spoke, the legend says that all the earth stood still. Winds died down; the waves of the sea grew calm, birds ceased chirping, animals in the forest paused. And in the silence God spoke the silent letter ALEPH, the first letter of the word "Ani" Ani, I, I am the Lord your God. (Ani adonoi eloheka.) This is the first commandment. Now the legends say that all God spoke was the aleph, the silent first letter, and in that silence the first 3 commandments concerning God were given, and immediately the silence of God echoed, and the mountain quaked, the lightening flashed, the wind blew and in the noise of the echo, the next 7 commandments were heard—the ones that deal with how we treat each other. There is a deep theology in this—it tells us that "not to kill another" "not to steal," not to defraud," are merely echoes of the command, "I am the Lord you God, have no other gods before me, make no images of them, nor serve them, and worship me on the Sabbath." Morality is an echo of spirituality. Now why is it important to review all this as we read the lessons of Christian Pentecost?

 

Let's look, shall we?

 

We have 2 Pentecost stories today. Luke's from the Book of Acts, and John's from his Gospel. In Luke, the Spirit comes in wind and fire and the house shakes, and the disciples become apostles, go forth speaking good tidings for all to hear. In John's memory we are in that same, locked upper room, but it was quieter. The still small voice like a breath on the face from the risen Christ forgave them all betrayals and empowered them to be forgiving people.

 

Do you see the mirror of the Midrashim? John recalls the silence of God—Jesus walking through locked doors and whispering "Peace," and breathing softly and empowering them to forgive. Luke, writing in the Book of Acts, hears the echo of that silence—the shaking, the wind and the fire, and the apostles go forth to proclaim what "goodness" is truly about—how to treat others as Christ had treated them.

 

Today's feast, many say, marks the birth of the Church. (Others see it being born at the crucifixion with the flowing of the blood and the water from Christ's side—signifying Baptism and Eucharist. I, personally, like to think of it being born at the Last Supper, when Christ was on his hands and knees washing the feet of betraying humanity, and showing us, thereby, how to treat each other.) IF today IS the anniversary of the Church's birth, then I think we should all try to claim our birthright. I think we would do well to plan to come to the Family Forum we are planning for this afternoon at 2 PM. It isn't convenient for everyone—no time is—and to that Forum I think we should bring our energy for building Church—for treating the world as Christ has treated us, and by bringing our humility and our forgiveness. If we can do that, God's power will be as much at work as it was in Jerusa lem 2000 years ago.

 

Whether or not we can get to today's Family Forum, let us pray that in the coming week we will all be able to show God's forgiving kindness to folk we meet and that our lives will be benedictions of goodness in our world. And may God bless you all. +