A Spirited Birthday

The scriptures referred to are primarily Acts 2:1-21.

Red is the least used liturgical color. We use red during Holy Week and to commemorate martyrs because it is the color of blood. But we also use red for the birthday of the church because it is the color of fire. On Pentecost, God ignites something that will spread like wildfire. In the Bible, fire isn't a symbol of Satan but of God. Why?

Fire has always inspired both fear and fascination. On the one hand, it can be tremendously destructive. On the other hand, it is a great benefit to mankind. Ancient people saw fire as one of the four basic elements. The Greeks told of how Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. He was eternally punished for that. But this story was an acknowledgement that fire made man's situation a lot better than that of the animals.

Fire provides warmth. When our ancestors left the cradle of Africa and ventured into Europe they had to cope for the first time with the killing cold of northern winters. Fire made their survival possible. In fact, up until the technology was developed for putting multiple chimneys and fireplaces into the individual rooms of castles and manor houses, there were no private bedchambers. Kings, their families, warriors, and servants would all sleep together in the great hall around the central fire, just as their cro-magnon ancestors did.

Fire gives light. This afforded our ancestors protection at night against predators. Later, the use of lamps and candles allowed us to extend the useful portion of the day, letting us work, read and socialize after nightfall.

Fire cooks food, changing its flavor, killing germs, making food easier to chew and digest, and increasing the availability of the vitamin and mineral content of some foods.

Fire led to the development of certain crafts. Native Americans used it to burn out the insides of canoes made from logs. When stoked to high temperatures, fire can melt, refine, and temper metals, allowing us to create better tools, weapons and jewelry.

Fire is also destructive. Usually we are taught by our parents to respect the power of fire. If they find us playing with matches, they substitute a slap on the hand for the greater pain of being burned. A little girl who was the sister of a kid I knew in my neighborhood learned not to play with fire the hard way. She survived but was horribly scarred.

Every major city has a great fire in its history: the great fire of London, the Chicago fire, the one which destroyed much of Rome and which Nero blamed on an obscure sect called the Christians, and the one that destroyed much of Key West including one of the predecessors of St. Paul's Episcopal church.

Fire is strongly associated with God. (Hebrews 12:29) God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. (Exodus 3:2-5) God led the Israelites through the wilderness appearing as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. (Exodus 13:21) The prophets talk of God as a fire that illuminates, burns and cleanses. In fact the Greek word for fire is pur from which we get the word “purify.” Fire represents God's judgment and his ability to purify and refine. (Isaiah 30:27; 33:14; Jeremiah 20:9; Daniel 12:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2-3)

In Luke's account of Pentecost, the tongues of flame represent the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Fanning the flames is a wind, another natural phenomenon identified with the Spirit. (John 3:8) In both Greek and Hebrew, the words for spirit (pneuma, ruach) also can mean wind or breath.

The wind is powerful, untamed and unpredictable. Though invisible, wind's effects can be seen. In Genesis 1, the Spirit sweeps over the dark waters prior to God saying, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:2) In Acts 2 the Spirit comes from heaven as a violent, rushing wind that fills the house where the apostles are meeting and fills them as well.

As breath, the Spirit is associated with life. God breathes into Adam and he becomes a living soul. (Genesis 2:7) We still talk of a spirited performance as being lively whereas one that lacks real spirit is called lifeless. And the word “enthusiasm” literally means “full of God.”

As the breath of God, the Spirit is also the vehicle of the word of God. Paul says that all scripture is inspired—literally “breathed”—by God. (2 Timothy 3:16) To be inspired is to be breathed into by God himself. When first the Jews, and later the church, chose which books to include as scripture for the covenant with Moses and the covenant of Jesus, a major criterion was inspiration. If you read the books left out of the Bible, you'll see the difference. They read like bad fan fiction.

And so the various roles and symbols of the Spirit are all on display as he kicks off the birth of the church. Illumined by God, the disciples are filled with the life and word of God which seem at first to spill from their lips like the ramblings of drunken men. But when people gather around to listen they are amazed to hear the apostles speaking the word of God in their own languages.

Pentecost, which means “fifty days,” is one of the main festivals of Israel. It came 7 weeks after Passover. Originally it was a harvest festival but it came to commemorate both God's covenant with Noah and his making the covenant with Israel by giving his law to Moses at Mount Sinai. (Genesis 9:1-17; Exodus 20:1-17)

The covenant with Noah and all of earth's creatures is God's promise not to flood the whole world with water again. But now it takes on a whole new meaning. At Pentecost, God floods humanity with his Spirit. Peter quotes to the crowd from the prophet Joel, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Just as Jesus' resurrection signals the beginning of the era of the reign of God, so does this outpouring of God's Spirit on 12 ordinary men mean a new world is coming.

And on the anniversary of God making his covenant by giving his law to the Israelites, he fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.' Because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34) And how did God say he would do it? “I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; and they shall be my people and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:19-20) It is a new covenant, made by Jesus, and a new law, the law of the Spirit. (Romans 8:2) The reign of God has commenced.

And what does this mean to us today, this reversal of the tower of Babel when the Spirit uses different languages to unite rather than scatter?

It means that God is not solely the property of a special class or caste, like kings, or prophets or priests. Jesus is our high priest. He has paid for our sins and has torn open the veil that separates God from us. He has made it possible for each of us to approach God and be forgiven and be used by him to bless and empower each other through the gifts God's Spirit has given us.

As we learn from Paul, unity does not mean uniformity. “Now there are different gifts but the same Spirit. And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7) We are each blessed with individual talents, abilities and powers. We are not to abuse them or neglect them but we are to use them for the common good. Some of us are wise. Some are smart. Some of us have reservoirs of faith. Some have the healing touch. Some can work wonders. Some can distinguish between God's Spirit and the spirit of evil trying to creep into the church. Some can express the word of God in ways only some understand. Some can translate those expressions into terms we all understand. (1 Corinthians 12:8-11) None of us has every ability. We need each other to become a true expression of all that Christ is for this world.

The Spirit of God gives us one other power. Jesus tells his disciples that they have the power to remit or retain sins. (John 20:22-23) That doesn't mean we have the right to forgive or not forgive others. Rather we have permission to tell the truly penitent that God forgives them. And we have the duty to warn the unrepentant that God will not forgive those who resist his grace, his undeserved goodness towards us. When I absolve you at the confession I am not casting a magic spell that makes your sins go away. I am sharing God's assurance that he has forgiven you if you have turned from your sins. If someone comes to you truly upset about his or her bad behavior and resolved to turn to God, you may assure them that God has heard them, forgiven them and will help them. If on the other hand, you see a brother or sister in Christ do something that is unquestionably wrong, you are to humbly help him or her see the injury being done to themselves or to others. (Galatians 6:1) So Jesus is not only giving us the privilege of declaring pardon but also the duty to warn and redirect.

We are baptized not only with water but with God's Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13) The original sense of the Greek word “baptize” is “to immerse.” We are immersed in his Spirit. He is in us; he is around us; he is among us. (Acts 17:28) And when we are gathered in his name, Jesus promises to be with us. (Matthew 18:20) To me, communion is just that. It is 2 or 3 or more of us gathered at the table with Jesus, feeding on his words, feeding on his body and blood, drinking in and immersing ourselves in his Spirit, God in us and we in him.

The new era has begun. In God's reckoning it has just started and we are still young and learning our way. But he has given us each of us the abilities we need to grow into his likeness. We just need to help each other develop and use them. None of us has them all and none of us is without some gift. It's the birthday of the church. Let us unwrap our gifts and start figuring out how they work together. Because that's when the real party begins!

First preached on June 8, 2003. There has been some updating and revising.