May 15, 2016
Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17, 25-27
Pentectost
Confirmation Sunday
“I believe God exists beyond anything we could imagine, watching over us all. He is not beyond our world in a two-dimensional, linear sense. He is not even beyond in a three dimensional sense, or in a sense of time. He is somehow, someway, beyond us in a different dimensional sense that cannot be perceived…” This is how one of our confirmands begins the statement of faith that I asked them to write as their final project. “Still, we can communicate to God through prayer. God can communicate back by guiding us. Our communications with God are always special. That is because God has a special and unique relationship with each and every one of us. He knows us all personally and loves us individually. This is one of the most comforting thoughts for me: To know that God, this supreme being that exists in an unimaginable ‘fifth dimension,’ knows me by name and loves me.”
Not bad, right?? To know this or understand it intellectually is one thing – an important thing. How we conceive of God is crucial because it affects how we relate to God and therefore to ourselves and others. But, what strikes me about this confirmand’s reflection is that they take comfort in this particular quality of God. That God exists eternally, beyond time and dimension, beyond all human knowing, and yet knows us by name and loves us uniquely and personally, is a remarkable truth that when integrated into our souls changes everything, brings us home to ourselves; it softens our hearts, opens our eyes, gives us courage to change, empowers us to forgive, sustains us through difficulty, and feeds us with peace. In my better days I take comfort in this transcendent and imminent love of God, but I’ll tell you that I certainly didn’t when I was in 9th grade.
The April 27 issue of the Christian Century is entitled simply, “Road.” The word, “Journey” may be becoming a bit cliché, but it is still a very relevant theme. The publisher, Peter Marty, reminds us of the early Christian use of the word, “hodos,” which meant, “the way,” and referred to both the literal and the figurative paths of their lives. They met Jesus “along the way,” and Jesus himself was “the way.” He notes that Jesus did not say that he is the “answer.” There’s quite a difference, he says. “The former invites grand adventure and openness to all of the ambiguities and doubts that go with a journey along uncertain paths. The latter suggests a packaged arrangement – a relationship involving little risk.”
He likens those “of the way” to travelers, while those of “the answer” are more like tourists. “Travelers would be those who come [to church] to immerse their lives and refocus their values. They want to breathe the language of faith and know the way of Christ, even if travail may be a part of the bargain.” Tourists on the other hand have a much more passive experience. They are not quite game for the adventure of faith.
He concludes, “I suppose we all have to choose the spiritual road or path that works for us. Will ours be a journey rich in wild mystery, full of unknowables and incomprehensibles? Or will it be a safer path where we pick up a word here and a phrase there, making a few social connections along the way?”[1]
For the first Christians that choice was clear. When that wind from Heaven blew into their lives on Pentecost what they signed on for what looked nothing at all like convention. Our passage ends, but Peter keeps preaching and when he’s done, 3,000 people became followers of “the way.” The God, revealed in the love, and action, and faith, and death and resurrection of Jesus, was now pouring out his very Spirit with all the people, regardless of merit and free of any ritual. The only sacrifice needed was the sacrifice of self. “Repent,” Peter said. “Turn to God, turn to that Spirit, and join us on the way.” The disciples didn’t know where that Spirit would take them, or what would come of them, except that in the presence of that Spirit their lives were made holy and sacred, called now into the holy and sacred and saving work of God.
My mom must be preaching this week because she sent a text asking if I had any good Pentecost stories. She didn’t realize that it was a group text (mom and her cell phone!), and so my older sister, the one not at the installation because she’s in China, chimed in with hers.
Jenn was pastoring a church with her husband in rural North Carolina, which was a bit of a culture shock, coming from Northern New Jersey. She was also young in ministry, just having graduated from Duke Divinity School. The Conference had just introduced a new initiative on race relations, which was a denomination-wide effort to address our known and unknown biases and prejudices, and work for justice and a new vision of the beloved body of Christ. Shortly after the initiative was announced the DS, who was kind of like a Regional Minister, was scheduled to lead an afternoon service at the church. The preaching date and the DS’s presence became the focal point of the church’s (and the greater community’s angst) over racial issues. There had been a racially motivated murder in the town just as my sister had arrived at that church, and she was very aware that the KKK was actively recruiting within the community. The notion of a church committee to discuss racial issues was troubling to many who would have preferred not to face them. This denial caused people to behave in all sorts of cruel and manipulative ways – breaking into their home, sending anonymous threats, etc.
So, tensions were running high all around her that Sunday morning, and not knowing how to control the situation, what to do, or what might happen, she asked the church to pray, and then she knelt at the communion rail and shut her eyes. Slowly, she heard footsteps, and then there were more, and then more. When she looked up the communion rail was full of worshippers kneeling and praying. But, not just that, since there was no more room at the rails people knelt in the aisles and they knelt in whatever space they could find. They came forward, and in fear and in faith they prayed. And, there it was, their own Pentecost with the Spirit moving in wonderful and unpredicted ways.
Our Confirmands have been on a journey for the past 5 months. They have had class time to cover topics like the bible, and worship, and the UCC. They have interviewed mentors and their parents, sharing their faith stories. They have visited other houses of worship while attending more diligently their own. They finished with a hike up Sleeping Giant where we celebrated Communion together (and then had s’mores.) The Spirit has brought them here and now to this special moment. And, before we go any further I’d like to share some of the rest of their reflections with you.
“I am just beginning to form my bond with God, but I know that he is always here if I need him and I can always count on him to help me get through tough times. He loves me like he loves everyone else in the world.”
“I believe that God is, in a sense, all around us, looking over both Heaven and Earth. I think one of the things God cares about most is that we treat others with love and kindness. If everyone followed this simple rule, I think the world would be a much better place.”
“No matter what religion or how you worship God, He has his one duty and that is to be with you and help you grow into a strong person as your life progresses. I learned that people connect with God in many different ways.”
Finally, “I’m glad I have this beautiful experience of promising myself to God. I will always be grateful for that. I have a beautiful church to be confirmed in, full of amazing people I care about and have known for such a long time. Even those I haven’t known that long.”
It is indeed a beautiful thing to give yourself to God. Where we’ll end up when we do that, what God will do through us, isn’t so clear. But, whom we will end up with is. Thanks be to God.
[1] The Christian Century, April 27, 2016, page. 3