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Genesis
11:1-9
1
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated
from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them
thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they
said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the
heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 5 The Lord came down to see the city
and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Look, they are
one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of
what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for
them. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they
will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad
from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language
of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face
of all the earth.
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Acts
2:1-21
1
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And
suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it
filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire,
appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the
Spirit gave them ability.
5
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one
heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished,
they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that
we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites,
and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia
and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors
from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages
we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and
perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered
and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men
of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to
what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine
o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet
Joel:
17
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and
your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great
and glorious day.
21
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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There’s
15 of us young adults who have felt the call and have chosen to respond to a
holy pilgrimage. While we call these young adults Sunnysiders; there’s more to
our story. In our 15 young adults journeying on our pilgrimage, our youngest
participant is 19 while our eldest is 31. We have eight married people and
seven single people. We have some who are in college, some who are grad school,
and some who are in their careers. We have a few that grew up here at Sunnyside
and others who grew up in North Carolina, Michigan, North Dakota, Colorado,
California, Virginia, Canada, and Malawi. We have some who will continue with
us at Sunnyside after the trip and some who are, with our blessing, moving away
from our community. While all of our young adults attending this Pilgrimage are
members of Sunnyside and therefore “Presbyterians,” we have some who were
raised Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, and Lutheran. Gosh, we even
have two people going who have two kids of their own! So here we have 15 people
with different backgrounds, upbringings, traditions, cultures, and stories.
Sure, we speak the same language, but these people are the modern day Pentecost
story; people from different backgrounds coming together in the name of Christ
hoping to understand one another.
In
four days, our modern day Pentecost group – our 15 young adults – will be
driving 115 miles, flying on two flights for 4347 miles, riding three buses for
158 miles, taking two ferries for 13 miles, and then hiking 1 mile (just for
good measure!) to take a holy pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland. That is a total of 4634
miles and over 24 hours of travel. We’re flying out of Chicago in the afternoon
on June 13th and we will be arriving on the Isle of Iona in the
afternoon on June 15th, with only a brief overnight pit stop in a
coastal town along the way. Fifteen of us are literally traveling by air, land,
and sea to retreat with a holy ecumenical worshipping community on a small
island in Scotland. On the week of Pentecost, we are gathering in one place
with strangers across the world. You see the parallels, right?
We’ll
be spending 6 full days in Iona as part of our 10-day pilgrimage. Six days in
which we are retreating from the world; retreating from our busy lives; work,
school, or family; to spend time with one another, with strangers around the
world, and with God. We’re going to be with God and with the people of God to
hear of God’s deeds of power. This is Pentecost! Sounds wonderful, right?!
And
it is wonderful! Wow, it is wonderful. And a gift and a blessing, and I’m sure
I speak for all the young adults when I say we are grateful for this
opportunity.
But
just as excited as I am, I am nervous. And most of you know me by this point,
you know I’m a nervous guy, a nervous pastor. Not to the point where I’m
crippled by fear, but just enough to considerably and noticeably care for
what’s about to happen in next couple of months, weeks, days, hours, or even
minutes. Whether you want call it nerves or not, I’m sure some of you have
noticed a difference in how I “feel” before a Sunday morning worship service
and after a Sunday morning worship service. And trust me when I say, telling
this nervous pastor not to be nervous isn’t going to make me any less of a
nervous pastor. Besides, I kind of like being nervous about certain things;
it’s my way of saying those things matter to me, and I like it when things
matter to me.
So
yes, although excited, I, for one, am nervous for our ten-day pilgrimage and
our thousands of miles of travel by air, land, and sea. But it’s not the length
of our trip or where our trip is taking us or even how we are getting there;
it’s because I’m convinced that while we are there, the Spirit will intercede
and we will experience a moment of Pentecost. And I’m nervous for this
Pentecostal moment to happen because let’s be honest, when the Spirits feels
called to intercede, it’s usually at moment when we are exhausted, vulnerable,
emotional, uncomfortable, and desperate.
We’ve
all been in a moment where the Spirit interceded, and sure, we might have
known, “yes, I need that,” but if you’re like me, at one point, you may have
groaned and said, “but no, I don’t really want that.”
So
yes, I’m nervous because I think the Spirit will intercede and the young adults
will experience a modern day Pentecost and all of us in our different
backgrounds will come together and fully understand one another and bond
tremendously and probably cry and laugh but at the same time, I’m like God, I’m
exhausted; I don’t want to cry because I don’t want to feel exhausted,
vulnerable, emotional, uncomfortable, and desperate because that’s just really
too much right now but I guess you’re saying we need that, so I’m doing my best
to be okay with that, so I’m just going to listen and follow your lead and know
that it needs to happen and that it needs to happen because it matters and
because it matters, I’m going to be nervous about it. All right, God, here I
am; I am listening!
Hmm.
Moment of Pentecost are tough.
But
I feel like I get why they have to be; why moments of Pentecost are tough.
The
first Pentecost was. There were a group of people from all over gathered in one
place. Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind rushed through them and tongues of
fire danced on each of their shoulders. People began speaking in different
languages, and the crowds were bewildered. No part of this story is “calm” nor
“collected” – violent wind and fire, unknown languages and large crowds – friends,
this is the definition of tough.
But
in this chaotic moment, as they each spoke in different languages but yet still
understanding each other in their own languages, they were amazed and
astonished and perplexed. This moment was so chaotic that some thought
everybody had been drinking too much wine. It’s a humorous moment; in the chaos,
in the wind and the flame and the different tongues, people were like, “Hold
up; it’s cool; they’re just drunk. Ignore the wind and the flame and the
tongues because look, wine does that to people.”
But
it wasn’t the wine, after all it was nine in the morning; yes, nine in the
morning, this is what the text says. It wasn’t the wine.
Instead,
Peter, with the eleven other disciples by his side, addresses the crowd and he
announced that was happened was the fulfillment of the prophesy spoken by Joel,
in which the Spirit would be poured out among all flesh, men and women alike,
old and young, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord; the Spirit will
come to them and they will come together.
This
is Pentecost. This is the start of the church. And as I said, this moment was tough.
Full of confusion and chaos, shouts and crowds; probably high emotions and
exhaustions, the Spirit interceded. The moment was tough; Pentecost is tough.
One
of the most profound theological statements, in my opinion—one of the most
profound theological statements is something Jesus says as recorded in the
Gospel in John. In Jesus’ declaration of himself as the gate for the sheep;
Jesus concludes this by saying, “I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly.”
Abundantly.
Not perfectly or beautifully or divinely. Abundantly.
I’ve
understood this as life that comes with all the joys and wonders and
celebrations along with all the moments of roughness and toughness and
exhaustion. To experience life abundant, we don’t get be complacent and enjoy
just the good things. To experience life abundant, we must work through the
toughness to enjoy the better things. We must experience tough moments in which
we need the Spirit to intercede for the Spirit to intercede.
We
see this in story from Genesis. God’s people have settled in the land of
Shinar, all of them. This is a direct rebellion of what God has commanded of
them; to “spread out and fill the whole earth” – three times in the previous
chapters of Genesis, God says this to the people, “spread out over the earth!”
So what did they do? The exact opposite and they stayed in one place. Here, the
people are trying to make a name for themselves and they attempt to build a
tower so tall and so great, that all who see it and hear about it will speak of
their glory. Not God’s glory; their glory.
And
everything is so easy for them that they quit listening to God all together.
They quit listening.
So
the Spirit intercedes; and their language became languages and they were confused.
And because they were not able to listen to one another, they listened to God.
And by listening to God, they were scattered and spread across the earth, like
God had intended.
That
moment, like our other moments mentioned today, must have been tough. To once
understand but to no longer. To be so desperate to understand that all they
could do was rely on God.
But
immediately following the spreading of the people across the land, God blesses
them through Abram as God’s chosen people. Once again, something tough was
experienced for something better to follow.
I
still think that happens today.
Maybe
it makes sense that different languages aren’t the only thing that divides us today.
Maybe it’s important that sometimes we don’t connect on generational topics or
words. Maybe it’s necessary that not everyone believes the same things when it
comes to politics. Maybe God wants us to have deep ecumenical and interfaith
conversations about religion. Because if we always just understood each other,
so complacent and carefree, would we be willing to listen for other voices?
Would be willing to listen for God’s voice? Would we want the Spirit to
intercede? Would we let it? Would we be willing to be challenged to learn and
grow and make progress for everyone if we were already okay in the first place?
Friends,
I’m saying, Scriptures shows to us that we are not always going to understand
one another, not just in our languages but in our beliefs. And that’s okay
because when we don’t understand one another and experience the toughness that
life throws our way, the Spirit will intercede and then we will understand one
another. And because we experienced the moment in which we didn’t understand
each other, the moment we finally do will feel even better; more beautiful,
more divine, more perfect because it wasn’t something we always had but
something we had to strive to be given.
But
friends, and this is important, to let the Spirit intercede so that we might
understand each other; to let the Spirit intercede, we must listen. Having a
voice doesn’t mean we are always speaking. Finding your voice happens when we
listen for God. Listening for your voice is how we understand one another.
That’s the modern day Pentecost.
As I
wrote this sermon, I became a little more okay and accepting of the Spirit
interceding. At this point, I might even say not only do I need the Spirit to
intercede, but also that I want the Spirit to intercede. As we leave this for
Pilgrimage, I’m praying and pleading; bring on the Pentecost!
For
our young adults, traveling across the world by air, land, and sea to retreat
on a small isle for six days as part of a ten-day pilgrimage, knowing it will
bring out exhaustion and vulnerability, might be the tough thing we have to
endure. But we all know, it will be worth it for what God will do for us there,
hopefully bringing a new sense of renewal, rest, and fellowship to our
community. So we hear this call, we are willing to be challenged, we are
listening for the Spirit to intercede.
So
for the rest of you… what is calling to you? What toughness must you endure?
How can you be challenged? Do you need the Spirit to intercede? Will you let
the Spirit intercede? Are you listening? Friends, are you listening?
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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