Sermon—Pentecost 2010
Saint Paul’s, Cambria
Father Fred Heard
Acts 2:1-21
When I arrived as your rector, one of my first goals was to establish a vibrant Green Commission and do everything possible to advance the cause of good stewardship of our earth’s resources. In an early discussion with the Bishop, she encouraged this involvement and felt that Saint Paul’s could contribute mightily in this area and that our example would be useful for the entire Diocese.
Well, more than a year later, here we are with that vibrant commission and we are a part of the Quiet Garden Movement, we sell Fair Trade products, and we truly are making a statement for all to witness. It would appear that everyone and everything is “going green.” There are fuel efficient hybrid cars. A number of folks in our St. Paul’s community have headed in this direction. There are energy efficient appliances, we have converted many light fixtures, and we have investigated solar panels. Additionally, we are making more of an effort in recycling cans, papers, and other items. Recycling has become a principal pillar in this mainline Episcopal Church. We are more than casually interested in day to day recycling efforts both in our church and in our homes.
With this attitude and concern, the horrific BP disaster in the Gulf is even more horrific. It brings back horrible memories of California’s own disasters with oil spills. I grew up with the attitude that it was “un-Oregon” to throw garbage out of the car and not pick up litter. As a Californian, I have been so happy to see the same philosophy here. I always get a sense of pride when I pass the sign that says to the world that Saint Paul’s cleans up a portion of CA 1 to our south. Throwing away a plastic bottle is a major heresy. The new mission statement of the world in which we live seems to be or will soon be “Green is green.”
There is a movement which encourages business to trash old plastic bag packaging in favor of new green containers. Often they look just like the old bags, but they are now completely compostable. Coffee cups look politically in correct if they are Styrofoam. If you bury many of these green containers in the ground, in a few weeks they are gone. When I was at Trinity, we had a memorial garden and when human ashes would arrive, they were in a plastic bag. We always had to place the ashes in a linen bag before burial. During the last couple of burials, the funeral homes made a point of telling me the ashes were now in an “environment friendly” container that could be placed directly into the ground…so we now start our lives with “environment friendly” diapers and end our lives in “environment friendly” containers for our ashes. With these two examples there is no choice for either the infant or the deceased. It is truly what we do with our lives in between that matters.
Airports have curfews for when planes can land and takeoff. Outdoor rock concerts must limit their music to acceptable decibel levels. This is to avoid noise pollution. At Saint Paul’s in Salem, Oregon, neighbors complained about the carillon bells…this required some sound adjustments. I am at least aware on Easter Morning that there could be complaints regarding our sunrise service…but so far…no problems!
On Pentecost we celebrate a new sound. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with “a sound like the rush of a violent wind.” The sound of the Spirit was so great that it “filled the entire house.” And then this huge universal sound became particular. The general became provincial and in-carnational: the singular sound entered into each one of the disciples and became sound with a particular tone. The sound became languages real, distinct, human languages that were spoken by various peoples all over the ancient near eastern world. The disciples began to speak these languages, and the sounds of their voices called and communicated to the crowds who were passing by. To those who had come to Jerusalem from some far-off country, some distant region, there was suddenly a sound that sounded like “home.”
When we were in Japan a few weeks ago…it was so interesting because we boarded the plane and a few hours later we landed and all the signs were in another language and people were speaking another language. No matter how many languages we might speak…there is always that special “mother tongue.” That is the language in which we first expressed our feelings and fears and our desires and dreams. During the times I have been in Japan and this was my fourth trip, I can tell you there is nothing that perks up my ears so much as hearing a sudden piece of an English conversation and this includes surfing the channels on Japanese television. I have even had conversations with people that would never interest me at home. Wow! What a difference language makes.
No wonder so many people who heard the Pentecost disciples talking in all those languages stopped and listened. Sophisticated travelers making their way to Jerusalem might have thought the disciples were just a gathering of Galileans. But the dialect of home caught their ears and pulled at their heartstrings.
So the disciples use old, familiar languages to tell a new story. This is how Pentecost begins. There is a new reality for a new world. The mother tongue spoke of the Father’s “deeds of power.” Then it was time for the Holy Spirit to begin speaking of the Son. With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are transformed into multilingual communicators. We are broken, sinful, human beings and we speak the language of despair and disappointment, guilt and betrayal, jealousy and greed. Because we have confessed Christ; because we have experienced death and resurrection through our baptism. We have felt the power of divine love and forgiveness: we also now speak the language of hope and salvation, wholeness and health, future and fulfillment.
We are still broken people living in a broken world. We are a bruised and battered people living in a bruised and battered world. Some of our wounds will never heal. Some of us will only limp for a lifetime. But the very brokenness of our language is the “mother tongue” for others who listen to us.
Do you remember speaking “pig-Latin” when you were a child? Essentially taking the last half of a word and placing it at the front. Some people get pretty fluent. Also, I remember a barber I once had who when he met Hiro, our Japanese foreign exchange student, he started speaking in “broken English”…Hiro cracked up laughing! Have you ever heard of “broken English?” It is an actual language you know. North Carolina Judge Jesse Caldwell tells the story of Vietnamese woman who was waiting her turn to be examined in a crowded hospital emergency room. She gradually became aware of a frustrating “non-conversation” being attempted a few seats down. A nurse was trying to ask a new patient for some details on her illness. The patient spoke Spanish. The nurse did not. The Vietnamese woman listened for a minute then realized that while she didn’t speak Spanish she did understand the broken-English bits and phrases the Spanish speaking patient offered as answers. Because of her own experience of learning to communicate in “broken English,” the Vietnamese woman could hear the heart and gist of what this other woman was trying to say. The Vietnamese woman offered to “translate” the broken English of the Spanish speaker into something the nurse could understand. She was so successful at bridging the brokenness of their languages that eventually the Vietnamese woman was hired by the hospital as a kind of generic translator. Brokenness was the common language spoken by all hospital patients.
The cement of the Holy Spirit allows communication through broken people to a broken world. The Holy Spirit uses language that every broken heart can hear and understand. We must have some understanding of what it is like to be broken by hatred and we can speak of the healing love of Christ’s sacrifice. We know what it is like to be broken by despair, we can speak of the healing hope of Christ’s forgiveness. We know what it is like to be broken by doubt, we can speak of the healing faith in Christ’s promises. We know what it is like to be broken by illness, we can speak of the healing wholeness of Christ’s resurrection.
Perhaps we know what it is like to break down doing church — program church, purpose-driven church, seeker-sensitive church, organic church, missional church, simple church, high church, low church, complicated church, we can stop doing church and start doing Pentecost. We in the church of Jesus Christ are alive and we are well. Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world. But it’s growing not in the North and West, but in the South and East. Why the difference? Why is Christianity surging in the South and East and not in North America and Europe?
Where the body of Christ is growing the people aren’t trying to do church. They’re doing Pentecost. Maybe it’s time for us as a church to stop relying on our own powers and programs, our blueprints and boilerplates, and start doing what these early disciples did: trust the Spirit and do Pentecost. Our visiting African Bishop from Tanzania told us last year when he visited our Diocese, that he had no idea how many churches he has in his own Diocese because so many new churches are opening EACH month! When we do church, we’re concerned about our protection and position in the church. When we do Pentecost, we’re concerned about being out there in the world “hidden with Christ in God.” When we do church, we’re concerned about decency and order. When we do Pentecost, we’re concerned about fire and glory. When we do church, we want God to leave us alone. Sometimes we might resent Holy Week because there are just too many services…there is too much activity…there is too much spirit. When we do Pentecost, we want God to order us around. When we do church, we wear out our lives maintaining an institution. When we do Pentecost, we set ourselves on fire, blow up evil, and our lives are spent setting off the dynamite of spirit and fire. When we do church, we worry over human dreams, schemes and appointing. When we do Pentecost, we worry over divine anointings. When we do church, it’s all about human functions. When we do Pentecost, it’s all about divine unctions. When we do church, we’re organizing. When we do Pentecost, we’re agonizing . . . over a world God loved so much Jesus came to die for it.
And you see it is because of Pentecost that I am so committed to what we are doing as a Green Church. One day these buildings will crumble. But the foot print that Saint Paul’s is leaving on this land will stand beside these beautiful mountains through all eternity. What we do to this land is the external statement of who we are as Christians at this time and in this place.
It’s Pentecost Sunday. Let’s DO PENTECOST. It’s time the world heard some different sounds . . . the sounds of eternal significance. Amen!
Saint Paul’s, Cambria
Father Fred Heard
Acts 2:1-21
When I arrived as your rector, one of my first goals was to establish a vibrant Green Commission and do everything possible to advance the cause of good stewardship of our earth’s resources. In an early discussion with the Bishop, she encouraged this involvement and felt that Saint Paul’s could contribute mightily in this area and that our example would be useful for the entire Diocese.
Well, more than a year later, here we are with that vibrant commission and we are a part of the Quiet Garden Movement, we sell Fair Trade products, and we truly are making a statement for all to witness. It would appear that everyone and everything is “going green.” There are fuel efficient hybrid cars. A number of folks in our St. Paul’s community have headed in this direction. There are energy efficient appliances, we have converted many light fixtures, and we have investigated solar panels. Additionally, we are making more of an effort in recycling cans, papers, and other items. Recycling has become a principal pillar in this mainline Episcopal Church. We are more than casually interested in day to day recycling efforts both in our church and in our homes.
With this attitude and concern, the horrific BP disaster in the Gulf is even more horrific. It brings back horrible memories of California’s own disasters with oil spills. I grew up with the attitude that it was “un-Oregon” to throw garbage out of the car and not pick up litter. As a Californian, I have been so happy to see the same philosophy here. I always get a sense of pride when I pass the sign that says to the world that Saint Paul’s cleans up a portion of CA 1 to our south. Throwing away a plastic bottle is a major heresy. The new mission statement of the world in which we live seems to be or will soon be “Green is green.”
There is a movement which encourages business to trash old plastic bag packaging in favor of new green containers. Often they look just like the old bags, but they are now completely compostable. Coffee cups look politically in correct if they are Styrofoam. If you bury many of these green containers in the ground, in a few weeks they are gone. When I was at Trinity, we had a memorial garden and when human ashes would arrive, they were in a plastic bag. We always had to place the ashes in a linen bag before burial. During the last couple of burials, the funeral homes made a point of telling me the ashes were now in an “environment friendly” container that could be placed directly into the ground…so we now start our lives with “environment friendly” diapers and end our lives in “environment friendly” containers for our ashes. With these two examples there is no choice for either the infant or the deceased. It is truly what we do with our lives in between that matters.
Airports have curfews for when planes can land and takeoff. Outdoor rock concerts must limit their music to acceptable decibel levels. This is to avoid noise pollution. At Saint Paul’s in Salem, Oregon, neighbors complained about the carillon bells…this required some sound adjustments. I am at least aware on Easter Morning that there could be complaints regarding our sunrise service…but so far…no problems!
On Pentecost we celebrate a new sound. The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with “a sound like the rush of a violent wind.” The sound of the Spirit was so great that it “filled the entire house.” And then this huge universal sound became particular. The general became provincial and in-carnational: the singular sound entered into each one of the disciples and became sound with a particular tone. The sound became languages real, distinct, human languages that were spoken by various peoples all over the ancient near eastern world. The disciples began to speak these languages, and the sounds of their voices called and communicated to the crowds who were passing by. To those who had come to Jerusalem from some far-off country, some distant region, there was suddenly a sound that sounded like “home.”
When we were in Japan a few weeks ago…it was so interesting because we boarded the plane and a few hours later we landed and all the signs were in another language and people were speaking another language. No matter how many languages we might speak…there is always that special “mother tongue.” That is the language in which we first expressed our feelings and fears and our desires and dreams. During the times I have been in Japan and this was my fourth trip, I can tell you there is nothing that perks up my ears so much as hearing a sudden piece of an English conversation and this includes surfing the channels on Japanese television. I have even had conversations with people that would never interest me at home. Wow! What a difference language makes.
No wonder so many people who heard the Pentecost disciples talking in all those languages stopped and listened. Sophisticated travelers making their way to Jerusalem might have thought the disciples were just a gathering of Galileans. But the dialect of home caught their ears and pulled at their heartstrings.
So the disciples use old, familiar languages to tell a new story. This is how Pentecost begins. There is a new reality for a new world. The mother tongue spoke of the Father’s “deeds of power.” Then it was time for the Holy Spirit to begin speaking of the Son. With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are transformed into multilingual communicators. We are broken, sinful, human beings and we speak the language of despair and disappointment, guilt and betrayal, jealousy and greed. Because we have confessed Christ; because we have experienced death and resurrection through our baptism. We have felt the power of divine love and forgiveness: we also now speak the language of hope and salvation, wholeness and health, future and fulfillment.
We are still broken people living in a broken world. We are a bruised and battered people living in a bruised and battered world. Some of our wounds will never heal. Some of us will only limp for a lifetime. But the very brokenness of our language is the “mother tongue” for others who listen to us.
Do you remember speaking “pig-Latin” when you were a child? Essentially taking the last half of a word and placing it at the front. Some people get pretty fluent. Also, I remember a barber I once had who when he met Hiro, our Japanese foreign exchange student, he started speaking in “broken English”…Hiro cracked up laughing! Have you ever heard of “broken English?” It is an actual language you know. North Carolina Judge Jesse Caldwell tells the story of Vietnamese woman who was waiting her turn to be examined in a crowded hospital emergency room. She gradually became aware of a frustrating “non-conversation” being attempted a few seats down. A nurse was trying to ask a new patient for some details on her illness. The patient spoke Spanish. The nurse did not. The Vietnamese woman listened for a minute then realized that while she didn’t speak Spanish she did understand the broken-English bits and phrases the Spanish speaking patient offered as answers. Because of her own experience of learning to communicate in “broken English,” the Vietnamese woman could hear the heart and gist of what this other woman was trying to say. The Vietnamese woman offered to “translate” the broken English of the Spanish speaker into something the nurse could understand. She was so successful at bridging the brokenness of their languages that eventually the Vietnamese woman was hired by the hospital as a kind of generic translator. Brokenness was the common language spoken by all hospital patients.
The cement of the Holy Spirit allows communication through broken people to a broken world. The Holy Spirit uses language that every broken heart can hear and understand. We must have some understanding of what it is like to be broken by hatred and we can speak of the healing love of Christ’s sacrifice. We know what it is like to be broken by despair, we can speak of the healing hope of Christ’s forgiveness. We know what it is like to be broken by doubt, we can speak of the healing faith in Christ’s promises. We know what it is like to be broken by illness, we can speak of the healing wholeness of Christ’s resurrection.
Perhaps we know what it is like to break down doing church — program church, purpose-driven church, seeker-sensitive church, organic church, missional church, simple church, high church, low church, complicated church, we can stop doing church and start doing Pentecost. We in the church of Jesus Christ are alive and we are well. Christianity is still the fastest growing religion in the world. But it’s growing not in the North and West, but in the South and East. Why the difference? Why is Christianity surging in the South and East and not in North America and Europe?
Where the body of Christ is growing the people aren’t trying to do church. They’re doing Pentecost. Maybe it’s time for us as a church to stop relying on our own powers and programs, our blueprints and boilerplates, and start doing what these early disciples did: trust the Spirit and do Pentecost. Our visiting African Bishop from Tanzania told us last year when he visited our Diocese, that he had no idea how many churches he has in his own Diocese because so many new churches are opening EACH month! When we do church, we’re concerned about our protection and position in the church. When we do Pentecost, we’re concerned about being out there in the world “hidden with Christ in God.” When we do church, we’re concerned about decency and order. When we do Pentecost, we’re concerned about fire and glory. When we do church, we want God to leave us alone. Sometimes we might resent Holy Week because there are just too many services…there is too much activity…there is too much spirit. When we do Pentecost, we want God to order us around. When we do church, we wear out our lives maintaining an institution. When we do Pentecost, we set ourselves on fire, blow up evil, and our lives are spent setting off the dynamite of spirit and fire. When we do church, we worry over human dreams, schemes and appointing. When we do Pentecost, we worry over divine anointings. When we do church, it’s all about human functions. When we do Pentecost, it’s all about divine unctions. When we do church, we’re organizing. When we do Pentecost, we’re agonizing . . . over a world God loved so much Jesus came to die for it.
And you see it is because of Pentecost that I am so committed to what we are doing as a Green Church. One day these buildings will crumble. But the foot print that Saint Paul’s is leaving on this land will stand beside these beautiful mountains through all eternity. What we do to this land is the external statement of who we are as Christians at this time and in this place.
It’s Pentecost Sunday. Let’s DO PENTECOST. It’s time the world heard some different sounds . . . the sounds of eternal significance. Amen!