Affirming Our Differences
Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 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. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 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. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘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. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
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There are times where the Scripture passage preaches itself. Our reading for today is one such passage that offers us a good word, a reminder of the gift of God's Holy Spirit to us, and the myriad of spiritual gifts that God poured out among the people of the earth. Pay attention, though, to where your mind goes when you hear that the disciples and others gathered began to speak in what appears to be a common tongue. What do you assume? Do you think that they stopped talking in their native languages? Or maybe they became so unified the difference between them began to disappear? This reading, which tells the story of Pentecost, highlights our coming together as God's people. Yet, that doesn't mean we start talking the same way or assimilate to a mass of homogeneity.
Now you might not think that the Holy Spirit was erasing the things that made them different, but people have used this passage to justify creating churches that promote communities of faith for people who look like them, talk like them, and think like them. And if you somehow fall outside of their cultural norms, they expect you to assimilate and change to fit what they believe is acceptable. By no means is this what the Holy Spirit encourages us to do! In fact, the Holy Spirit is beckoning us to do the opposite. When those gathered began to speak in tongues and understand each other, we might better perceive what is happening as an embrace of what is different through empathy and understanding. Perhaps through the opening of their hearts and our hearts, we might bridge the chasms and climb the walls we have erected to meet and embrace the different gifts that make us beloved children of God.
Some believe that Pentecost is the undoing of the "breaking" or "scattering" of humanity that occurred at the Tower of Babel back in the Book of Genesis. However, the Holy Spirit does not appear to diminish our differences and instead affirms them. There is a richness to the diversity of our languages, gifts, and talents that we utilize and perspectives we bring to the table of God. What beauty and joy would there be if all those things were erased? God created a world that reflects the innumerable characteristics of God and, instead, in each a portion of what makes God God. Therefore, there are those who possess the gift of prophecy, others the gift of music, the gift of language, and you can go on to name the rest. In this rich pool of differences, the Holy Spirit makes it home. The Holy Spirit brought forth the Church from a hodgepodge of elements to establish something new.
“It does not seek to undo the purported errors of the past, but live into the world as it is.” (Eric Barretto, Latinxs, the Bible, and Migration, 141)
I find comfort in that notion of the Spirit of God being this catalyst that drives us forward. The Holy Spirit isn't this backup system that can bring us back to an idealized time. It's a driving force that takes all of our "losses" and all of our "wins" and turns them into the work of God by means that we can't always comprehend. I like that. I like it because it affirms that what we bring and offer one another might not work out the way we intended. And that means that the Spirit of God not only delights in the differences of our appearance, speech, and philosophies but also delights in our diversity of mistakes and misactions. There is grace and love that takes what we think is broken and transforms it into something new. That is the good word we need to hear today. This is especially true as we begin to understand how the Holy Spirit might transform our community here in Mahopac.
God calling us to grow and be transformed by the Holy Spirit? And how is God calling us to be a church for the future? These are questions we will be asking ourselves soon as a session after our summer recess when we've had time to step back and take a break. We'll begin to assess the needs of not only our buildings but also members, friends, neighbors, and those who will call Mahopac and Putnam county their future home. Hopefully, it will be a time for us to set ambitious goals as we pray and dream for what we could do and can do with God's help.
And I pray that these are questions you begin to ask yourself as well. When I say we'll start with a conversation or conversations, know that it will be a part of a more extensive campaign for reenvisioning what might do. That means each of us will have to share our own perspective, our fears, dreams, hopes, passions, and love for how the Spirit can move us beyond past failures and hurts and push us into a new future. What's exciting is that not all our ideas will be the same (or at least I hope not, that would be scary). And that's okay, and it should inspire us then to the core that binds them together.
An appropriate metaphor to drive home the point of the reading today is that of a multicolored stained glass window. It's a piece of art, something that is enriched by the many different colors and shapes of glass that make up the window. Yet if we were painted over the glass or swapped out the colorful pieces for ones of the same color and shape, well, it would not be very interesting (in my opinion). From the beginning, God has upheld what makes us us. We can't force each other into a box of the same design or shape because we like it that way. Pentecost reminds us that our differences are affirmed and a part of what it means to be the Church. And Pentecost directs our hearts not to yearn for what was but for what will be when we join in celebrating the various diverse facets of our lives that make our families, communities, and faith so lively and cherished. So let us dream, let us hope, and let us celebrate as we continue to move in the direction the Spirit directs us. Amen.