God's Spirit is Still Here and Working 5/31/20 Pentecost A

Rev. Rebecca L. Kiser

God’s Spirit is Still Here and Working

5/31/2020  Pentecost A

            I’ve been looking forward to celebrating the day of Pentecost!  The last few weeks after Easter have been talking about God’s Spirit, with Jesus breathing on the disciples and saying “receive my spirit,” and last week had the promise that as Jesus was ascending now to heaven, the Spirit would come on them, and they would have the Spirit’s power to witness about God, starting from their town all the way to the whole world.  So we’ve been getting prepped for this day, like they were. 

            The story in Acts 2 is like something out of movie special effects, with the unusual visual things that were like tongues of fire on their heads; the sound and power of a great wind, and then the sudden ability they were given to speak in all the known languages of the people gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast day.  Evidently many  who heard those words about God believed them,and Jesus’ followers EXPLODED, from the disciples and mostly unnamed women, and those in other cities like Mary, Martha and Lazarus, and others who were healed - from this more local group, to hundreds, even thousands, who went home to their various seaports around the Med Sea, and told more people! 

            So sometimes Pentecost, marking the coming of the Spirit in those who believe in Christ, is also called the birthday of the Capital-C Church. 

            It’s not that God’s Spirit wasn't present and working before this - there are plenty of places in the Hebrew Scriptures that speak of God’s spirit coming on someone to do great deeds, or tell a big message. It sounds kind of like this is different somehow, though - like Jesus has said before this, the Spirit or Advocate or Teacher or Comforter, whatever name we use - now will live in us and connect us in a unity with all of God AND ALSO with each other.  We will be called now the very body of Christ.  We will be drawn into a new kind of relationship with God is what it sounds like, and a new relationship with ALL PEOPLE, even those NOT like us in color, language, gender, nationality, tribe or whatever other distinctions that have been used to make people hate or fear one another.

    

     As I was driving home from picking up some groceries, enjoying the trees that have leafed out and the spring blossoms of various shrubs and flowers, it hit me - God is here.  I may forget about that for hours at a time, like while I plan meals and compare prices at the grocery, or when I sit at my computer to pay bills, or when I’m on Amazon ordering pinwheels - or any number of daily things that take my attention - I may forget that God is all around, but it’s still true.  God is around and in me while I’m driving, shopping, talking, cleaning, working, ...whatever.  God is here.  God’s Spirit is always present in me, around me and just ,,,well, present.  And God's spirit is working for God’s purposes in everything that surrounds me and happens to me.  It’s MY awareness that is lacking, not God’s presence. 

This is something that the Spirit does - the Spirit brings up the fact of God’s presence, as well as what God has taught us about Capital-L Life.  I can increase my awareness of God’s presence and the Spirit’s presence around and in me by connecting this awareness with my breathing.  Breath and wind are common allusions to the Spirit in scripture; and many religious traditions use an awareness of the breath as a practice of staying in the current moment, and not being distracted.  If I make the association of Spirit with my breathing, then I can remember God’s presence with every breath.  The breath that is the sign of my physical aliveness can become the reminder of my spiritual aliveness as well.  I can increase my awareness that God is with me at all times, by this simple action of breathing.  And just like I breathe everywhere I go or anywhere I am, God is present everywhere I go and anywhere I am.  There’s this one day a year that we celebrate the coming of the Spirit, yet the Spirit of God is actually here every day. 

            As I read about this Covid-19 virus, I often read about the breathing difficulties it brings.  It attacks our lungs, the place where our breathing moves the air to our whole bodies and brain.  Evidently, from our lungs, it spreads into our veins and attacks that system of moving blood around the body as well.  This virus is, in a word, a severe threat to what sustains our very lives - our breath and our veins; it can cause problems in many of our systems that sustain life.

In our spiritual lives, there is also a virus that threatens our life, which is called by the old-fashioned word “sin.”  If the Spirit is the very Capital-L life of our soul, sin is the path of spiritual death. It is anti-God, anti-God’s revealed word, anti-God's teachings, all the ways we limited and mortal folks resist, deny, or even actively choose to not follow The Jesus Way.  Sometimes we sin because we’re ignorant or haven’t thought about it; sometimes we sin because it’s convenient; sometimes our pastors and parents and society have taught us something different, and we haven’t felt the conviction from God’s Spirit about it yet.  Sin infects our breathing in of Spirit, and destroys the ways God’s wisdom goes out to all our actions, like veins do for our human blood. 

So I’m going to get a little political here.  The connection of  George Floyd’s
I can't breathe” suffering and death to the way I was crafting this sermon about breath was just too obvious for me to overlook.  And I’m not the only pastor or Christ-follower hearing that link with the Spirit and Pentecost - my facebook feed has been blowing up with folks making the  same connections.  And I'm certainly not the only person pondering just how the racism of our country can be addressed, nor praying that the Holy Spirit once again come in fire and wind to blow a massive change into our world. 

Racism is a major sin against humanity, that one group of humans could consider another group of humans lesser, and have this poison be so built into the system we live in, that we of the dominant group are even unaware that it exists.  Our situation is not unique in the world or in history - peoples have been looking down on other peoples from way back. Nations with powerful militaries have been invading and enslaving other nations from way back.  People who differ from us have almost always been made into a “them,” as in “them” versus “us.”  Christians, who believe God loves all people and sent Christ for all people, and who are charged to share the message of God’s love to all people - have accepted this way of seeing the world without much critique.  We’ve even bought into the militaristic conquering of non-Christian nations as a way of converting them….  So this is not a new sin; it is a very old sin.  Yet even those of us who sing that we are all one in Christ have not eradicated this racism virus, this racism sin.  Mostly because we Christians got joined to the civic power of a dominant nation way back in the time of Constantine, who held the image of the sword hilt as a cross, and heard the message that in this sign he would conquer.   Christians have often been part of the more privileged class, and so have not seen the underside of racist societies.  Things are good for “us” - “they” should just get in the system.  If the Holy Spirit has convicted Christ-followers of this as a sin, we have ignored it; and the ways of death have quenched the Capital-L Life that God called us to. 

I don’t have an easy answer, friends - these recent deaths of black sisters and brothers that have made headlines haven’t been the pristine examples of right and wrong that we might have wanted.  I admit that I argued some because the black folks weren’t always perfect, either - although the white folks were certainly at the wrong. And I have a son-in-law who is police, and I’ve heard what he’s had to endure while seeking to confront or arrest someone who is resisting or denying any wrong-doing, black or white!  And I tend more to want to find non-violent ways to protest; although even Martin Luther King Jr, an advocate of non-violence himself, admitted that riots are the voice of the unheard.

I’ve read and listened to the experiences of people of color, and begun in a small way the work of seeing my own white culture and how I’ve benefited by being white.  I’m certainly not a white supremist, but neither have I been a staunch ally - I’ve been more of the moderate person with sympathy for those mistreated by our society’s structure, while involved more in other issues.  I’ve wanted to join Dr William Barber’s Poor People’s campaign and learn more, act more - but I put it off until last week during the Festival of Homiletics when I was convicted by hearing Dr. Barber speak about how the minority peoples of the world are carrying the brunt of how our societies are destroying the environment, and seen the data about the unbalanced percentages of people of color contracting and dying from the Covid-19. 

I'm proposing today that it's time for Christ-followers to take seriously the words of our Lord and God that all humanity is made in God’s image, all humanity is beloved by God and sought by God, and that all humanity deserves to be treated well by our governments.  In fact, the Hebrew prophets speak loudly against the countries that oppress the poor, perpetuate injustice on the powerless, and take advantage of those without voice.  Truly, they cannot breathe free. It is time for our churches to follow the Spirit, and lead the way in dismantling racism and its systems, and healing the way we’ve gone along with the systemic mistreatment and injustice of those who are part of the body of Christ, as we are.  We need a wind of change, and we need a fire to burn out this disease from our midst.   

Most of us never owned slaves, and most of us probably consider ourselves non-racist.  Most of us probably know and have worked with people of color, and got along to some degree. Most of us, however, are not fearful that police will stop us and mistreat us; most of us, if our mortgage is somewhat higher than it could be, know its more about our credit rating than our race; few of us would speak up if there were racist things being said, however; and few of us would be comfortable if a black family moved in next to us.  White flight and red-lining of communities have happened within my lifetime.  And 11 o’clock on Sundays is one of the most segregated hours of the week. 

The solutions are probably varied and many.  Most of us white folks need to explore the concepts of white privilege and white culture, and begin the discussions.  Mostly, though, we need the change of heart and awareness that only the Holy Spirit can bring about, as our hearts are softened towards our human family and our minds begin to wonder what truth and justice for all people could look like.  May the Holy Spirit of God fill us, lead us and guide us.  AMEN.