Dear Folks,
We are so accustomed to thinking of Pentecost as a Christian feast, we can forget it had been a Jewish celebration for centuries before Peter stood up and addressed the murmuring crowd 2000 years ago. All those people from the known world, speaking every language, wearing their indigenous costumes, cooking spicy ethnic foods, had gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of first fruits, bringing barley and tender vegetables as a thank offering to Father God and Mother Earth. Picture the Sunday Farmer’s Market under I-83, multiply it by 100, and you’ve got some idea of the excitement and organized chaos of the feast.
Boisterous and fun, full of exotic sounds and smells, Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Ten Commandments, a set of laws which marked the people’s freedom from slavery. This extraordinary covenant of values articulated God’s dream for humanity: that despite our considerable frailty, we could establish a community marked by justice and compassion. And when things fell apart, the covenant modelled repairing the breach through forgiveness and the hard work of reconciliation. No wonder the people returned every year—Pentecost gathered up the bits and pieces of their lives in a practice of productive remembering. “This is who God is, and who we are on our best days,” the worship reminded them, despite their everyday reality of exhaustion and loss. “And with God’s help, we can build a less violent, more loving world.”
We could use that kind of good news today.
For whatever reason, something amazing happened on that morning so long ago—a mighty wind began to blow through the crowd, at first making it hard to hear anything, but then when their ears began to clear, everyone was able to understand each other and to make themselves understood… Despite all the superficial differences that our wounded eyes and ears are drawn to, the covenant articulated by the Ten Commandments calls us to the inner truth of humanity: each person is a child of God, a unique blessing to help heal a broken world, an essential member of the One family. Pentecost gives us our marching orders to help however we can.
David Brooks describes it this way: “Most successful young people don’t look inside and then plan a life. They look outside and find a problem, which summons their life. A relative suffers from Alzheimer’s and a young woman feels called to help cure that disease. A young man works under a miserable boss and must develop management skills so his department can function. Another young woman finds herself confronted by an opportunity she never thought of in a relationship or field she never imagined. Solving this particular problem wasn’t in her plans, but she discovers this is where she can make her contribution.”
This perspective grants us a measure of freedom to throw ourselves into lost causes, to place ourselves on the side of those who are most vulnerable, to take risks and dare great adventures. If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we realize the Holy Spirit teaches that success isn’t about personal accomplishments or gain, but about helping someone else. Pentecost invites such engagement.
How will you be one who hears and heals this week?
Love,
David