The spirit descended upon the disciples…and what did the crowd think? They must be drunk.
Have you ever thought about why they thought that? What happens when people drink too much, after all? Inhibitions melt away. They become unconcerned about what others think or whether they are making a fool out of themselves. They often become bolder, louder, more talkative…and unafraid of being the center of attention. There is a reason some call alcohol “liquid courage”.
Of course, the downside of those kind of “spirits”…is that with our “liquid courage” comes a lack of judgment…so we too often do and say things we regret and hurt others when we become dependent upon alcohol to loosen us up or make us brave.
But, isn’t it interesting that God’s Spirit also gives those disciples courage…to speak up and speak out? Isn’t it interesting that God’s Spirit has the effect of removing their inhibitions and pushing ordinary backwater boys from Galilee into the center of the crowd, suddenly willing to talk to people of all stripes and colors? The Spirit of God gives them all the benefits of being filled with new wine, it seems. Yet God’s Spirit, according to Jesus, corrects our faulty judgment…rather than impairing it.
Now…some of you may have seen or been involved with Pentecostal churches at some point. The mark of a Pentecostal church is the belief that when the Spirit comes into your life, you will speak in tongues….meaning a language “of the spirit” that is not discernable to others. There are some who believe this is what was happening on that first Pentecost with the disciples. But somehow…that really doesn’t match up to the story. I grew up going to the International Conference of the Holy Spirit with my grandparents, and spent days each summer surrounded by those who spoke in tongues. And although there was a kind of almost intoxicating faith expressed in that crowd…I didn’t have a clue what they were saying or what it meant. And I was aware that with their experience came a sense of exclusivity…that they were the ones who “had the Spirit of God”, while I did not.
But on that first Pentecost, the very thing the Spirit of God was up to…was NOT excluding others from an experience of God. When the disciples spoke, filled with the Spirit, people from all over the world were invited into the story of Jesus and the wonders of God’s love for them… in their own language…and in their own culture. The Spirit wasn’t about telling them what was wrong with them…telling them that “we’ve got the Spirit”…and “you don’t”. No…the Spirit’s job was letting people…all people know …that they, just as they were, were loved by God. They were included…they were part of God’s kingdom….part of God’s family.
Now, that is not the way the world works. This world like to make judgments…we like to decide who’s in and who’s out…who’s righteous and who’s not. We like to draw lines. And usually, that means that if you are significantly different, you do not REALLY belong to our little religious club. You might be an auxillary member…or a distant relation that we will let in the door as long as you try to act and look and talk like us….but you will always be…not quite one of us. That’s how Jews in Judea felt, anyway. Sure, there were other Jews from around the world, but they were second class, at best. Sure, there were women who were Jews…but the men thanked God they weren’t born one, since they were inferior and unclean.
And we’ve seen that game played out throughout history, haven’t we? Missionaries who travelled around the world, and taught about Jesus…but only saw people as children of God to the extent that they tried to look and act like Europeans. We’ve seen it in the actions of people who call themselves Christians, yet believe that God cares about the color of their skin or their gender or sexuality…that God sees one as inferior to the other. But when God’s spirit blows…oh…when Pentecost comes…she (and just so you know, the biblical pronoun for spirit is she) …the spirit proves us wrong about our judgments and our ideas of righteousness and sin…that’s what Jesus says. God’s spirit comes to speak to all people. God’s spirit comes to speak through all people. The Spirit isn’t about pointing fingers and judging…it isn’t about being holier than thou…it is about opening up God’s grace for the wide, wide world. It’s a fire, come to burn away our rigid structures…our ideas of what is possible and the way things “should be” and what we “should do”.
When the Spirit of God is on the move…we are impelled to speak up and out. We are emboldened to reach out to people instead of hiding in our own little comfort zone. And to those on the outside, it might look like we’re a little crazy…a little impaired… a little foolish. But that’s what happens when we have faith. When we have faith that God is up to something in this world. When we have Faith that God is on the side of love and compassion. When we have Faith that God is all about reaching out to others and making a difference and being kind. Because when we have faith that we’re moving where God’s spirit moves…we don’t have to be afraid or worry about what people think.
That’s how Catholic charities and Lutheran Social services got started. That’s how Family Crisis Network and Hospice got started. That’s how homeless shelters and food banks got started. That’s how the civil rights movements and the feminist movement got started. They got started because someone was moved by the spirit…and despite a good number of people who thought they should just be quiet and quit making a fool of themselves or quit making foolish decisions or in over their head….they were moved by the spirit to act with love and compassion. To make a difference. To speak up. To step out in faith.
I walked by someone yesterday with an organization collecting money for the homeless. Now, I support the Union Gospel Mission…I care about the homeless…but yesterday, I just walked right by. And after, I wished I hadn’t. Because that was Pentecost…the Spirit was blowing right there in front of Walmart. That guy was out there….moved by the spirit to make a difference…to care for others. And I didn’t even pay attention.
It’s Pentecost today…and the spirit is on the move. It’s on the move in Karanda…where Aaron and Stacey are serving as missionary doctors in Zimbabwe. It’s on the move in Syria…where the white helmets continue work providing medical services and rescue operations in the midst of bombing and shelling. It’s on the move in Washington DC… where people are speaking up to advocate for those who don’t have millions to fund lobbyists….the hungry, the sick, those in prison…the wounded and the mentally ill. And it’s on the move here….in Pend Oreille County…in Bonner County….where people are willing to speak up and speak out….to care for their community…their neighbors…their kids…who are hurting and in need.
It’s Pentecost…still. And the Spirit of God still moves in our midst…here. Among us. May we get caught up in the moment…swept away by God’s spirit. May we let our inhibitions go and feel free enough to leave our comfort zones…to step out in faith… to share the story of Jesus…to embody God’s love.
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