Pentecost Sunday/ Memorial Day Sunday 2007

Good Morning.

I’m just back from five days in Nashville TN. The Music City. I was at the Festival of Homiletics– it’s a "preaching camp". We heard ten sermons and twelve lectures from 17 of the country’s top preachers. All of this was embedded in worship that was laced with sacred music from the likes of Sweet Honey in the Rock. So, that was camp, me and 1700 other preachers, a week in Nashville.

So...I’m here to tell you that if any one among you breaks out with a spontaneous "Amen" this morning as I go on up here...well, I’m now well schooled. I’d know it meant you’d heard something true and were asking the Holy Spirit to led us all into greater deeps of love and truth. So feel free, this morning to "Amen" me.

Today, Pentecost Sunday is a day when we remember and celebrate the gift of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and fellowship. Some call it the birthday of the Church. It is the third of the three major feasts of the Church year...The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ— Easter....The Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ– Christmas....and the Feast of the Coming of the Holy Spirit– Pentecost.

In the recent past, Pentecost was also called Whitsunday or White Sunday because of all the baptismal robes worn as people were baptized on that Sunday.

We are outfitted in red. Our paraments- altar hangings-are red. Our flowers and the balloons and streamers are red. We’ve been asked to wear red. We understand that red is the color of the Holy Spirit– that came as flames of fire, lighting like tongues on the heads of the apostles.

Red is also the color of the martyrs– the men, women and children– who have given their lives as witness to God’s love, Christ’s salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit to make us one and to lead us into truth.

The Holy Spirit makes us one and lead us into truth.

We can see that when we lay today’s scripture lessons side by side....

The Tower of Babel and the Coming of the Holy Spirit.

We read in Genesis :

Imagine that. One language. The same words. People could understand each other. In 1951, linguists listed the known languages in the world. There were 461. That list has grown. Today 7,299 known languages are listed, including 497 languages threatened with "language death" because they have fewer than 50 speakers.

What happened?

Language was used as a loyalty test in the Judges 12 when the Giledadites slaughtered 42,000 Ephraimites when they were exposed as the "enemy" because they incorrectly pronounced the world "Shibboleth" as ‘Sibbotlet". Holy tomato/ tommattoe.

What happened?

Look at the sad divisions and controversaries in the Anglican Communion. We are talking at and past each other even though we all speak English as a common language.

What happened?

And we all know how in happens in our own homes, among our loved ones. We speak a word of encouragement or endearment, but the water is running or the television is too loud. We are misunderstood or not heard. Before you know it there is a big to do and we are left asking....

What happened?

Some say the "second fall" happened.

Just as Adam and Eve thought of themselves as equal to God, the peoples of one language and the same words thought of themselves as equal to God.

God is absent from their plans. They would reach heaven where God lived. They would name themselves . They were full of Hubris. Full of themselves. Out of control.

So God intervenes and confuses their language. They scatter and separate. Their plans come to naught.

"They left off building the city...it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth."

What a terrible punishment.

You all know what its like to be misunderstood.

You all know how hard it is to be clear with others.

And isn’t that the deepest longing of our hearts?

To be perfectly know and understood and accepted as we are.

Being known, understood and accepted is the gift of Pentecost.

It is the gift and work of the Holy Spirit.

It is such a wonderful gift that it makes the disciples so excited that others think they are drunk. Peter speaks up to say, no, it’s not wine or beer. It is only nine in the morning. It’s the sweet nectar of God’s Holy Spirit which comforts and guides and leads.

Since the times of Genesis, God has had to remind mortals that we are not God. Since the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has been showing us the way to the heart of the Trinity where we can live in peace and harmony. And language is no longer confused.

This is not archaic, scriptural stuff.

Let those who have eyes see.

Let those who have ears hear.

This is the real stuff.

The language of God moves in dreams and visions and prophesy. The language of God is written large in hope.

It is more than the movies. Like the acclaimed Babel Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, the movie weaves through three stories. It opens in the Moroccan desert where a man buys a shotgun to protect his herd from predators. His sons decide to test the gun as soon as possible in the vast surrounding plains. As a game, they try to aim at a tourist bus below -- then they sense tragedy has struck when the driver turns off the motor, and they run off. An American woman, played by Cate Blanchett, has been inadvertently wounded and is taken to the hospital where Brad Pitt phones home to speak to his Mexican housekeeper. I personally found the movie difficult to follow. The stories tangled and at times I got lost. The movie was well named "Babel".

Our God wills us to live in communion where communication is clear.

Our God would have us restored, found and "at home."

So here’s a story from one man’s life which can be found in Tony Campolo’s book entitled Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God.

What a title! You could spend all afternoon today pondering that title.

And later today when you see or hear the news report of the two humpback whales stranded in the Sacramento River in California, you will remember this story.

Campolo talks about St. Francis calling on God's creatures to join him in his songs of evening praise. He then goes on to tell of a somewhat mystical encounter that he personally experienced while whale watching in Massachusetts. He says that a particular humpback whale made eye contact with him as it surfaced and held his gaze for some 30 seconds. In that short time of half a minute, Campolo experienced a life-altering interaction with this mammal. In its huge eye, Campolo perceived a plea for connection and solidarity. He says that many would argue that he read far too much into that experience, but that for him, it was a genuine appeal from one of God's own wondrous handiworks.

It was a moment of communication across the Babel. Indeed, it was a moment of communication across the lines of species. Isn’t our God wonderful?

God is calling us to understanding. On that first Good Friday, Pontius Pilate had the placard over Jesus head written in three languages trying to make sure the crowds understood what was happening. But it took the Word of God, Jesus, to show the fullness of God’s prodigal love and self-giving. One Word. Jesus. Means love and peace and truth and harmony and abundance and so much more....

Let us this day, step into Pentecost...into the coming of God’s kingdom which makes us one were there is no sighing, no sorrowing, no hunger, no thirst, no war, and where death is not the final word.

AMEN.