Readings:
Acts 2.1-21; Ps 104.24-36; Rom 8.22-27; John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15
May the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you Lord, for I rejoice in you.
What do we do when weird things happen in our lives?
How many coincidences does it take to equal the Holy Spirit?
And how do we know we aren’t just going mad but are being called into something?
These are questions that sit with me on a day like today.
Imagine the scene…
Some in your community have just witness your friend and leader – miraculously resurrected after a public torture and death – ascend to heaven. Ummm… What?
And the last thing your friend told you all to do before he floated off was to go back to Jerusalem and wait.
O-kay…
So, you and your group of friends are gathered together in a house much like we’re all gathered together here – probably tending ever so slightly younger.
Suddenly, there is a sound like the rushing wind! And then there is something like fire and it has landed on everyone! Look around you… everyone.
And then you all start praising God, you can’t help it! This is incredible!
But when you speak, you’re all amazed to find that you are all speaking in different languages! Languages that you recognise, but have never spoken. And you’re fluent in it.
You are all so astonished and full of praise that you are making quite the racket! So much so that the neighbours are coming over to check out what on earth is going on. Imagine how much noise that would take!
On this day there happens to be a festival in town which has attracted many people from all over. So, there are many different languages being spoken. And it just so happens that you can understand each other!
I wonder how many different language groups we have here?
Indonesian
Chinese
Others?
So here is my question… if your neighbour was suddenly able to speak to you in your native tongue, would you assume they were drunk?
Now, I’ve had my fair share of people speaking in another language at me when they’re drunk. But I think it is probably a language that only the Holy Spirit could understand, because it was absolutely not something any human being could understand!
If this afternoon I attended the Brisbane Cornerstone Christian Church – the Chinese speaking church that meets here in the afternoons – and were able to understand them and be understood by them, it would be a miracle.
And I don’t think alcohol would be part of the conversation.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the community sounds like a very strange story, but it also pushed those people out of the house they were waiting in and into the world to proclaim God’s goodness.
Think of last week’s story about the ascension and how the disciples had to come back down the mountain. Similarly, we gather for worship, and then the Spirit sends us out into the world to share the good news.
Of course, they did not have to leave the room. Each one makes their own decision because God always allows for our own free will.
What do you do when weird things happen in your life?
Pay more attention? Listen more intently?
Shout it for all who will hear?
How many times do these kinds of things have to happen before we look at them with a spiritual lens? How many coincidences equal the Holy Spirit?
Because coincidences are real, of course. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation. But I also know in my life that when I am being called to something it pops up in all kinds of different ways. Sometimes they’re easy to put together, there is clarity, sometimes it’s taken years!
For us here we listen to this story and two things are true at once: The Spirit descends upon the whole community. Community as one organism.
And the Spirit descends on each person. The story would still be amazing, but would lose some of its drama if we all now spoke Indonesian. If the gift of only one language was given.
There is both the communal and individual aspect to the descent of the Holy Spirit. Each of us has gifts given which will and must differ from each other, and this community itself has her own gifts.
So, we look for coincidences, repeated topics of conversation or repeated questions being asked, an idea flippantly given air and a sudden answer or opportunity that correlates with it, and we prayerfully ask whether this has the work of the Holy Spirit in it.
And how do we know we aren’t just going mad when those things happen?
Well, John characterises the Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. The Paraclete who is Christ with us, advocating and helping us. And those things give us courage.
Stepping out to speak a word of truth into an environment that rejects that truth can be terrifying and downright dangerous. There are plenty of examples of that:
Our very own Saint Catherine of Alexandria;
In more modern times we think of Martin Luther King Jnr and Oscar Romero.
But we know that if it is true and of the Spirit, we will also be given courage to follow through. It doesn’t take the danger away, but we might see the truth of where those dangers come from.
There might be someone gifted with wisdom who can walk alongside you to help the discernment. And there will be a sense of peace even in the face of danger because it is what the Spirit is calling you towards. This is the same for both community and each person.
Today we’ve been given three different characteristics of the Holy Spirit.
In Acts it is exciting and full of awe and wonder, pushing us out to proclaim the good news.
In Romans the Spirit is one who groans with us as we live our embodied lives and all that goes with that. Paul says, “the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” In this way God’s presence is comforting and close.
In John, the Spirit is an advocate, the Spirit of truth, the presence of Jesus Christ within each and every one of us, and among us as a community.
May we all be attentive to that presence ever here and help one another to live into the Good News.
Amen.