Sermon: C Pentecost 19 May 2013

Acts 2:1-21; Ps 104; Ro 8:14-17; JOHN 14:8-17, 25-27

My peace I give to you…Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. AMEN.

Seders commemorate the Passover of Jews across the Red Sea in safety away from enslavement to Pharaoh in Egypt. 49 days later, according to most Jewish traditions, Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage holidays is celebrated. It commemorates the gift of Torah to the entire nation of Israel gathered at Mt. Sinai. The counting of the 7 days in 7 weeks, called Counting of the Omer, is seen to express anticipation and desire for the giving of Torah. An omer-measure of barley was also observed as a sacrifice, offered in the Temple at Jerusalem, until an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple at Shavuot. Shavuot actually means weeks, so it marks the end of the counting of the Omer. People believed also that the idea of counting each day represented spiritual preparation and anticipation for the gift of Torah, around the same era, as was the Shavuot observance as a rain offering of sacrifice. One Jewish belief is that they were only freed from Egypt to receive Torah at Sinai, at Shavuot, and then to fulfill its laws. This back and forth weaving of meanings shows the antiquity of the traditions and their layers of understanding.

Sermon: B 17 Pentecost 20 Proper 23 September 2012

Prv 31: 10-31; Ps 1; Jms 3: 13-4:3, 7-8a; MARK 9: 30-37

May it be Your Will, Eternal Our God, that this be a good and sweet year for us. AMEN.

 “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.” These lessons again sound more like those from the Wisdom or Jewish tradition, than something from a standard idea of Christianity. The readings remind us that much of Christianity comes from these Jewish roots, and also that we here are in an increasingly fast rush to the end of Pentecost. To make dramatic that annual observance of end-times, the tone of these weeks sounds decisive and minatory.

Meditation for Pentecost

 "When the day of Pentecost had come, there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind... and among them divided tongues as of fire." Both images describe the way the disciples felt experiencing the liveliness of the Spirit's presence newly apprehended in their lives. What they came to hear and accept was what Jesus said, "When the Spirit of Truth comes, it will guide you into all truth. For it will glorify me, because it will take what is mine and declare it to you."

B Pentecost 27 May 2012

Acts 2: 1-21; Ps 104; Ro 8: 22-27; JN 15: 26-27, 16: 4b-15

Come Holy Spir’t, our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire. Thou the anointing Spir’t art, who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart. AMEN.

Spirit and fire, diving dove and drifting dove, a jumble of voices reuniting the Tower of Babel’s alienation of languages, tribes, and people, and yet “if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience.” The bold and showy scale of wind and fire, the sudden ability to understand everyone, combine to be far from the finger-crossed hope Paul made to those gathered in Rome. What do we make of Pentecost?