A Splendid Torch!

Acts 2:1-21

Trinity Church, May 23, 2010 (Pentecost)

The Rev. Shelby Ochs Owen

“They are filled with new wine!”

In today’s reading from the book of Acts, Peter defends the people speaking in new languages, saying, “These are not drunk, it is only 9:00 in the morning!” This must have been a splendid spectacle where all kinds of languages were being spoken and people being accused of being drunk! (at 11:00 service - well, you just caught a glimpse yourselves of the cacophony of sounds that occur when so many languages are spoken at the same time-several of our parishioners will have spoken in their various languages “I will praise my God while I have my being.” You may even have found it a little unsettling.) I mean this kind of occurrence that happened in Acts did not happen every day. The Holy Spirit arrived in the form of the ultimate sound and light show, with great gusto, with a sound like the rush of a violent wind and divided tongues, as of fire, landing on each of the disciples. The Holy Spirit arrived, just as Jesus had prophesied, after he had ascended. The disciples had waited and God had delivered!

Today is Pentecost, the day Christians celebrate the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as it

came to Jesus’ disciples, the day the church’s mission began, the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit is a unifier in our reading from Acts. Bible scholars often point to this passage as the antithesis of the primeval story of the tower of Babel; at Babel the people tried to build a tower to heaven in their effort to outdo God, in their effort to get ahead of God, and the people were scattered to the winds speaking many different languages. Here in this story God is actually gathering his people, pulling them together as his spirit is given to each one. In these two stories we can see universal confusion versus universal understanding. Here in the most attention-getting story in Acts the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples from Galilee who were not known for their linguistic talent to speak languages that right up until that moment were truly foreign to them. Suddenly the Jews who were gathered together from the far ends of the earth, from Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Pontus and Asia could hear about God’s mighty deeds of power in their own languages. The Holy Spirit was the instrument that allowed understanding, the instrument that brought the community together.

Notice that they were given this gift as individuals and yet for the purpose of building up the entire community. This great gift of the HS was not given to an individual for his/her individual purpose. In this story the Spirit was given that ALL might hear the word of God and learn of God’s mighty deeds of power. The Spirit was not considered private property of a few enlightened souls and it was not a fleeting gift; the HS was given to the disciples as something to be shared and it was permanent.

This morning we will baptize Melina Grace into the household of faith within the community of her parents and friends, family and the rest of the church. Her godparents will make promises and when we come to the actual baptism we will say those enduring words: “You are sealed by the HS in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.” You also will have a role to play. You will be asked to respond to the question, “Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support this person in her life in Christ?” And you will have the opportunity to respond with a hearty, “WE WILL!” You have a responsibility to pray for Melina as well as all members of the church and to help her grow in the knowledge and love of God. All who are baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit have been given this great gift of the HS. We have been sealed by the HS and marked as Christ’s own forever. The bond is indissoluble. The flame of God’s love is alive in us.

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, wrote, “This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy… my life belongs to the community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

Can we see our own lives as belonging to the community? Can we imagine God’s flame of love resting upon us and in us and working through us? To put ourselves under the power of the HS is to surrender our own agenda and yet we can be sure that the HS is with us, ready and active. I think we spend more time and energy unknowingly keeping the Spirit at bay than we can begin to realize. To have been baptized is to have been sealed by the HS, to have been permanently gifted with God’s presence, to have had a splendid torch resting upon us and in us and through us.

The flames of the Spirit rested on each of the Galileans and all were filled. The presence of the HS was evident as these people were given the gift of speaking other languages to point to God’s might acts. The flames of the Spirit will rest on Melina this day and do actually rest on each of us as well. What can we do to see those flames, to recognize the Spirit’s presence among us and to let the Spirit move in us? What would it mean for us to actually allow the HS to use us to build up the community of faith? Every time someone in this church offers words and deeds that build up God’s church, the Spirit is at work. The splendid torch of the HS is at work every time we encourage one another when we might want to criticize. Every time forgiveness is offered and accepted even when it might not seem to make much sense. Every time we humble ourselves and listen deeply to the concerns of those around us rather than only seeing from our own perspective. Every time we help one another when in the face of adversity we might be tempted to walk the other way, every time we enter into one another’s pain or joy when we may think there is nothing in it for us, every time we stop in our tracks and realize it is not all about us but that there is something greater at work here. To bear the splendid torch is to be a “willing vessel” or a “villing wessel”, as a Norwegian friend of mine used to say - an instrument that brings God’s mighty power of love to the community. Even when to do so might not make much sense to the rest of the world. Even when to do so might appear as if we have been drinking at 9:00 in the morning.

Amen.