Meditation on This Sunday's Gospel (Pentecost)

The readings for Sunday, May 23, 2021:

First Reading: Acts 2:1-21

First Reading (Alt.): Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm: Psalm 104:25-35, 37 (Psalm 104:24-34, 35b NRSV)

Second Reading: Romans 8:22-27

Second Reading (Alt.): Acts 2:1-21

Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Ah, the liturgical year cycles back to the feast of Pentecost. It really should be the second most important festival of the church year, second only to Easter, but I suspect that many churches pay more attention to Christmas than to either of the other two festivals. I've talked to many a Christian who didn't know the first thing about Pentecost.

Maybe we're afraid of some of the more, well, pentecostal elements of the holiday: the speaking in tongues (but in languages that could be understood by native speakers), the rushing wind, the fire. Maybe we're feeling overwhelmed by the example set by that first generation of believers.

For many of us, the past year has been exceptionally hard.  We haven't been able to see family and friends.  We've been isolated from our important communities, and while it's great to have Zoom calls and other ways to stay connected, some of us have yearned for me.  We've experienced death and a fear of death in a way that has been unusual for most of us.  

As we look at the Pentecost story, it's important to remember that Christ's resurrection didn't immediately transform the world--in fact, it didn't transform the world at all, in many ways.  The Roman empire continued its brutal ways.  The disciples went into hiding, and they stayed there, even after seeing Christ in resurrected form.

Then the Holy Spirit breaks through, and the disciples will never be the same.  They go out and transform the landscape, in ways big and small.  Let us also celebrate the communities that they create, communities often shaped by women, communities that lasted, communities that gave people a viable way to live within the crushing confines of empire.

We celebrate Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, but we often fail to mention that this birthing, with all its pain and messiness, is an ongoing process. We tend to look back at the early days of the Church with idealistic vision, but if we carefully reread the letters of Paul, we see that those churches had just as many problems as our current churches. We tend to see ourselves as deficient, but we don't have the longer view.

On this festival day, revel in the promise of renewal that God offers. Be alert for new visions and different directions. Trust that desiccated ruins--whether that be our lives, our Church, our neighborhoods, our nations, our planet--can be reinvigorated.