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Pandemic Pentecost

    Date:5/31/20

    Category: Pentecost

    Passage: John 20:19-23

    Speaker: The Rt. Rev. Steven Miller

    You may view this sermon via YouTube. Bishop Miller begins preaching at 19:15.

    Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire and lighten with celestial fire,
    Thou the anointing spirit art who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.

    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

    Again thank you for joining us for worship today on the day of Pentecost. I have been thinking about the feast of Pentecost since we first began our diocesan worship service on the Fifth Sunday in Lent. One reason is because of the pet dove that our producer Don Fleischman owns and which we hear in the background as we prepare for worship each Sunday. We have been teasing Don that he needed to have the dove trained to coo on cue, and then we could play the Pentecost hymn like The Murmur of the Dove’s Song.

    The other reason is when we first were asked to stay at home, I hoped we would be back to in-person worship by this day. As I suspect is true for most of you, I never dreamed it would be necessary to worship at home with our church buildings closed out of an abundance of care and caution for so long. Unfortunately, that is not the case and our church buildings will remain closed to public worship for at least another month.

    This is particularly sad because Pentecost is a feast that is filled with such joy. On this day, some churches encourage all the members of the congregation to wear red, the color of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of the tongues of fire that came upon the disciples. Others, picking up on the theme of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church, may have a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday. For others, it marks the end of the Sunday School year and is a day when teachers and students are honored.

    This feast has been important in my life and journey of faith. It was on the feast of Pentecost in 1972 that I was confirmed in the church of my childhood and received Holy Communion for the first time. It was a folk mass written for the feast of Pentecost, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that became the vehicle for my entry into the Episcopal Church where I found the spiritual home I was seeking – a community of prayer and study, a church both catholic and reformed, a church of historic apostolic faith that, at its best, is always seeking where God is leading us into the future.

    To this day, I cannot celebrate Pentecost without the music of that folk mass bringing to mind these words. It is a right and a good and a joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord in fulfillment of his true promise the Holy Spirit came down from heaven lighting upon the disciples, to teach them and to lead them into all truth uniting people of many tongues in the confession of one faith and giving to your Church the power to serve you as a royal priesthood and to preach the Gospel to all nation.

    In our lessons for today, we hear the story of the fulfillment of that promise, the promise of Jesus that he would give us his Spirit—the Holy Comforter, Advocate and Guide.

    You know the story. It was the day of Pentecost, Shauvot, a Jewish harvest festival. Observant Jews from around the world had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast and worship in the Temple at Jerusalem. On that day the disciples were back in the upper room. Back in the place where the Risen Jesus had first appeared to them, showing them his hands and his side and speaking to them these words, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

    On this day, Luke tells us the disciples were together in that place. The literal translation of the Greek text reads that the disciples were together together in one place. I have come to believe that that double together tells us that that they were not just together in location but in focus and desire. They were together together, together in locus and in focus, awaiting and praying for the promised Holy Spirit. Luke records that the disciples in the days leading up to it were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.

    It was on this day in fulfillment of his true promise that the Holy Spirit came down uniting people of many tongues in the confession of one faith. Luke records it this way.

    And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

    And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.
    And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

    Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Par'thians and Medes and E'lamites and residents of Mesopota'mia, Judea and Cappado'cia, Pontus and Asia,  Phryg'ia and Pamphyl'ia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyre'ne, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

    What has spoken to me this year is the gift of languages. The Spirit is poured out on the disciples and gives them the gift to proclaim the Good News of what God has done in Jesus in all the languages of the known world.

    The Spirit gave them the gift of languages. It would be like if you or I could all of a sudden speak fluent Spanish, Swahili, Arabic, or Italian. Or if we could understand all the languages of the world without having studied them previously.

    What Luke is recording here is the reversal of what happened at the tower of Babel which we find in the 11th Chapter of the Book of Genesis, the etiological story which is told to explain why not all human beings spoke the same language.

    You know it. It was a time when there was only one language. A number of people got together to build a great city and a tower to the heavens. They said, “let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Ba'bel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

    Today Babel is reversed. What has been scattered is gathered. What is estranged is being reconciled. The message is proclaimed. And all hear in their own languages the mighty deeds of God, what God has done in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit works in the ministry of reconciliation.

    I am struck by this gift of languages because we gather today in what I call a Pandemic Pentecost. And as we live in the midst of this time God has given us grace to use new means to communicate the mighty acts of God.

    It’s a pandemic Pentecost, and as we gather another hymn I love comes to mind. A hymn that has marked significant moments in my journey of faith. I first encountered it on my first Sunday as a college student a Michigan State University in the fall of 1975. I imagine the hymn was chosen at the beginning of the semester because of the verse, “classrooms and labs loud boiling test tubes sing to the Lord a new song.” It is the hymn you sang at the close of the convention when you elected me your bishop 17 years ago today. I can still hear Tom Winslow of blessed memory telling me to listen to you sing and then holding up the phone so I could hear, “Earth and all stars, Loud rushing planets sing to the Lord a new song.”

    As we gather today a new verse for that hymn comes to mind

    StreamYard and Zoom,
    Facebook and Youtube,
    Sing to the Lord a new song.
    Virtual choirs,
    All online worship,
    Sing to the Lord a new song.
    He has done marvelous things; I too will praise him with a new song.

    At all times, God calls us to sing a new song. God is using this time to bring forth new ways, new opportunities to sing a new song and tell the story of God’s love, even while we find ourselves on alien soil in our own living rooms. Across our diocese, I see so many creative offerings, so many new ways to proclaim God’s love and power.

    One of my bishop colleagues commented that while we have been talking for years about how the church needed to more fully engage emerging technology in the service of our proclamation of the Gospel, this pandemic, she said, “has forced us to turn on a dime and embrace it.” God has given us yet again new means to communicate his Love with others. God continues to empower his people.

    God is using this time, this moment, this opportunity to bring forth new ways to teach the Gospel, to make disciples, to proclaim the faith. We are singing to the Lord a new song and that makes my heart glad because now more than ever the world needs to hear Jesus’ message, Love one another. The first and great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

    Loving your neighbor as yourself. It can be made a real thing by just the simple act of wearing a mask in public. As I wrote to you in my letter in the diocesan E-News this week, the other day as I was making my way into the grocery store during senior hours, I found myself on a collision course with another couple so I backed off to ensure social distancing. The husband of the couple turned to me smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Then he turned back to me and said, “Sir, the Bible or Jesus says nothing will harm you. That mask you are wearing won’t keep you safe.” I replied, well sir, I’m a bishop of the Episcopal Church, and I am well aware of what Jesus and the Bible say. I don’t wear this mask out of fear to keep myself safe, I wear it out of love to keep others safe because if I am infected, this mask will help prevent spread of the virus. It’s one way I love my neighbor.” He looked at me and said, “Wow, that is something to think about.”

    Wearing a mask, staying home, and social distancing are all acts of love.

    God is calling us more and more, again and again, to be the people who are known by their love of neighbor not just in word but by our actions.

    Studies show that if 80% of Americans had started wearing masks early in the pandemic the number of infections would have been significantly reduced and lives would have been saved. This still holds true. When we do go back to in-person worship, the wearing of masks will be required. No Mask, No Mass. Love requires it. And for us, Love is not a choice, it is a command. I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you, says our Lord. One of our members upon reading my article suggested we all tweet, “Love your neighbor. Wear a mask.”  I invite you to do so. What did St. Francis say, “Proclaim the Gospel at all times, if necessary, use words.” Wearing a mask is one way we as individuals can follow that advice.

    But Christian faith is not just an individual faith. As I said to you in the introduction last week, the Church is people and as I have reminded you all on numerous occasions God calls a people and therefore individuals. God’s promise to Abraham was not, I will be your personal Lord and Savior but rather I will make of you a great nation.

    As we gather on this day, we witness other tongues of fire. Fire that burns in anger and rage at the continued pandemic of injustice which is institutional racism. The onset of COVID-19 has laid bare the fissures in our society. We have seen on our television screens a racist incident in Central Park and watched in our horror another death of a black man at the hands of law enforcement.

    On this day when we celebrate the gift of languages,  I am reminded of Martin Luther King’s words, “Riot is the language of the unheard.” It is not the first time this language has been used but that it is being used again, makes it clear that cries for change and justice have gone unheard.

    As I watched the fires burn, I began to pray: Come, Holy Spirit, and kindle in us the fire of your love. The phrase you have to fight fire with fire, a reference to a number of techniques used by those who fight wildfires came to my mind.

    Today I pray that God will kindle in us the fire of his love so that we may become the people he intends us to be, people on fire for God’s justice for all. Pentecost reminds us that God is making a people out of the whole human family regardless of national or continental origin, regardless of any tribal or human distinction.

    Some of you may be saying: but what can I do? The first step is to admit that there is a problem. That racism and white privilege are real, and, if you look at all like me, you have benefitted because of them regardless of your socio and economic status. Educate yourself. Examine yourself. Repent and confess. The first thing that must be done is to dismantle the culture of denial that allows systemic racism to flourish. After the events of this week, I don’t think anyone could deny this truth. But once you admit there is a problem, a response is required of people of faith. The struggle to end racism is more than simply an attitude adjustment. Jesus calls us to action, to move from Love as noun to love as verb.

    One response to this week’s tragedy is that some members of our diocese have chosen to form a book group to read and discuss Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to be an Antiracist. Dr. Kendi writes, “What’s the problem with being ‘not racist’? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: ‘I am not a racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism.’ But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist.’ It is ‘antiracist.’” You have an open invitation to join them, and I note a number of you already have.

    Others, because God is relationship, are working to build partnerships with other to address this scourge. Ministries like Collars on the Corner, St. Christopher’s ministry with City on the Hill, and the ongoing work at Christ Church, Whitefish Bay are further examples.

    Anti-racism means actively working to dismantle and end the systemic ills that perpetuate inequality. Ask yourself: what can I do in my community? What part large or small can I play to be a support and partner in this struggle? Then do it.

    The Good News is that when we engage this work we are participating in God’s mission to restore all people to unity with God in Christ. And God who is faithful will give us power to serve and engage this mission.

    So on this Pandemic Pentecost, let us pray for renewed grace. Pray that the Spirit will move in us with renewed vigor for the work that is before us. I know our prayer will be answered. Because Christ is Alive, his Spirit burns through this and every future age till all creation lives and learns his joy, his justice, love and praise. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!