Embodying God

Pentecost: Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, 25-27; St. Paul’s, 5/15/2016

Jim Melnyk: “Embodying God”

Have you ever wondered what must be going through the mind of a comfortable, sleepy – or perhaps not so sleepy – infant like Mia, for instance, the moment that first scoop of cool water is poured across her forehead?  Bishops, priests, parents and godparents who are standing close by always get to see the startled look that jumps out at us in that moment.  Oh, older children, youth, and adults such as Josh, today, can be prepared for the sudden feel of water across the brow – but infants?  Not so much.    Yet even if we can’t recall that experience for ourselves, we have all experienced things that catch us by surprise – things that catch us up short and capture our attention – sometimes intentionally, and sometimes not. 

There are other things that can capture our attention.  Wind can grab our attention pretty quickly, can’t it?  Anyone who has sat through a tropical storm or a hurricane can attest to that –

I missed Fran here in the Triangle, but sat through Floyd years ago.  And I still recall the Palm Sunday tornados a few years back.  The sound of rushing wind can bring us up short – can catch our attention in painful ways that cause us to stop and look at our lives in a different way.  The people of Fort McMurray, Canada can attest to the shock of the massive wildfire that has destroyed nearly two thousand homes and has caused nearly one hundred thousand people to flee in its path. 

But as people of faith we have another experience of wind that can catch us up short – that can grab our attention – that can cause us to stop and look at our lives and at the world in a different way – that speak to us of the presence of God in our lives and in the life of this world.  The earliest stories of our faith used words like Ruach or Pneuma to describe the tangible presence of God in the world. 

God’s Spirit – in the Hebrew, God’s Ruach – moves over the face of the waters at the dawn of creation (Genesis 1).  The wind or breath of God hovers over creation as a mother or father hovers over their infant.  In the story from Acts God’s Spirit – in the Greek, God’s Pneuma – rushes in upon the Apostles and early followers of Jesus, like a roaring wind and flames of fire – the wind or breath of God – rushing upon a rag-tag bunch of disciples from out in the sticks of Galilee and empowers them to proclaim the Good News of God’s love for the world. 

The story from Acts is more assertive, more aggressive story of the Spirit’s outpouring than the gentler, quieter story from John’s Gospel which we read on other occasions.  In John's Gospel we have an image of Jesus breathing upon his followers in the Upper Room: Receive the Holy Spirit! (John 20)  Yet the charged presence of God – of Ruach – of Pneuma – of Spirit – is present in all three stories – present in life-changing – present in world-changing ways!

           

The stories surrounding the Day of Pentecost speak to us of wind and fire, of breath and presence.  These stories evoke images from the dawn of creation.  They evoke memories of the Baptist’s promise to the first followers of Jesus, “I baptize you with water, but one will come after me who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire!” (Matt. 3.11)  And they tell us some pretty important things about life as followers of the Risen Christ – things that should catch us up short – should grab our attention and make us look at life a bit differently than before.

First of all, while the events of that Pentecost Day evoke memories and images of both Israel’s and the Apostles’ past relationship with God, Pentecost is more about reminding us how God is with us in the very present moments of our lives.  Pentecost isn’t about God’s Spirit popping in for a few brief moments in history, scorching the hair of our spiritual mothers and fathers, then zipping on out of there on the tail end of some holy high pressure system.  “The Greek word kathiz, translated ‘rested on each of them’ in the NRSV (speaking about the tongues of fire), can also be translated ‘to sojourn with or settle down with” (Kari Jo Verhulst, Sojourners, Preaching the Word).  Bidden or not bidden, God is present. 

Pentecost is a reminder that God is present among us in the person of God’s Holy Spirit – the One Who Sojourns With Us or the One Who Settles Down with Us – to re-evoke the mystery of God in the person and work of Jesus.  Pentecost is a reminder that we can stand at what spiritual director, priest and author Martin Smith refers to as the “white-hot core experience of God” made known to us through Jesus.  The question we face at Pentecost – and every other day as well – is this: How will we let the Spirit of God invite us into that mystery that is God?  And then, if we find a way to re-evoke that “white-hot core experience of God” in our lives, what will we do with it?  How do we move from being imitators of an ancient faith to being Christ in this world? 

Being caught up in the Spirit can be as wondrously comforting as the experience of St. Julian of Norwich who reminded us, “And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” as reassuring as having a God we can call “Abba,” (Romans 8:15),  or as breathtaking and hope-filled as John’s vision of the New Jerusalem descending to earth. 

Being caught up in the Spirit can be as shocking as cold water poured over our foreheads at the Baptismal font, or as sweet as the smell of the chrism marking the sign of the cross on our foreheads.  Being caught up in the Spirit can be as sharp as the sound of the Priest’s Host cracking at the fraction, or the tart taste of wine on the tongue.  Being caught up in the Spirit can be cutting sharp and jarring – as painful as knife against skin – as God shakes us from our complacency and calls us into the world to love and serve our neighbor – perhaps that’s the reason early Christians proclaimed the Word of God to be sharper than any two-edged sword!

Pentecost is a celebration of the Spirit of God coming among us today – to shake us up – to stir our hearts – to move our spirits – to challenge our minds – to wake us up and send us out.  Pentecost tells us that God is already upon us and within us.  By the Holy Spirit we stand in the presence of God always – whether we realize it or not.  Pentecost tells us we are already en-God-ed – that is, we are already embodied in God – and our worship today is meant as an invitation – not to get something we need and don’t have; rather, it’s an invitation to recognize what we already know deep-down inside of us, and what we already have within us – the Living Presence of God and Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit of God – and we’re sent out to help the world know this to be true (Smith).

Pentecost is about how we embody Christ – about how we embody Christ who is made known to us not only in the breaking of the bread every Sunday – but in the gift of the Holy Spirit given to us in baptism as well.  Pentecost is about how Mia and Josh will embody God in this place, and especially when they are carried or step out through those red doors.  Pentecost is about how we – who have renewed our own Baptismal Covenant this morning – will embody God in the world around us as we live out our lives in between Sunday mornings in this holy place. 

The life of faith is about being aroused to God – a courageous awakening – strong and forceful – falling in love with God so hard that it makes our hearts ache and our spirits yearn to be enfolded by God and become the presence of God for one another (Smith).  Pentecost reminds us that God yearns within each of us to bring about something glorious for this world – something earth-shaking and life-changing – something that awakens the world to the kingdom of heaven now – sending us out to renew the face of the earth!