First Presbyterian Church
Gifts not Games
May 30, 2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time: Acts 2:1-21

A lot happens in that story. Listen and when I'm done, I hope you can tell me one thing that happened.

Fifty days after Jesus had died, it was the feast of Pentecost. People from all over the world had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate. These people all spoke different languages, so I expect there was a lot of work for the translators. Do you know any words in another language?

The disciples were there too, in a house. Do you know what language the disciples spoke? They spoke Greek, with a Galilean accent. Have you heard someone with an accent? I have: In NH, they say ‘idear' for idea. My friend Sharon from Texas used to say ‘drouth' instead of drought. In Boston , they ‘pahk' the ‘cah' instead of park the car. And when I moved to Oklahoma , everyone thought I had an accent.

In the house where the disciples where, suddenly there was a sound like the rush wind from heaven. Shapes like tongues of flame rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.

Other Jews heard this, and came to the house, and were confused, because each one heard the disciples speaking in their language. So they said "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how come we understand it? Egyptians and Romans and Jews and Arabs? They're speaking about God's deeds of power. What does this mean?"

Peter told them “It's what Joel said: I will pour out my Spirit upon all people, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Of all the things that happened, do you know what I think is the most important? One child said, “They weren't drunk.” Discussion ensued, then I said: I think the most important thing is that all the people there understood each other. They all heard about God. The spirit didn't speak in just Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek or Latin; everyone understood. The people in this church aren't the only ones who know about God; Jesus didn't come just for us. Jesus came for everybody.

Our unison Psalm reading is found on page 119. In Psalm 104, God has ordered even the chaotic seas. Even the largest and ferocious creature, leviathan, looks to God for food. This Psalm is about God's life-giving power. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 104: 24-35 as we read it together.

24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works--
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!

This ends our reading from the Psalm. Like all God's creations, the church lives by the power of God's spirit, not by its own ability, merit, or ingenuity. (1) I translated our gospel reading for today. You can follow along on page 108 in your pew Bibles if you'd like, but I've changed the word order a little, and been more particular in my translating. I think it's important, especially at Pentecost, for us to recognize that the bible wasn't originally written in English. Some grammatical constructions just don't translate well.

The word spirit in Hebrew is ruah; the spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament is called ruah yahweh. Ruah is a feminine word in Hebrew, so when the spirit is referred to in Hebrew, it is accurately called she. In Greek, the language of the New Testament, spirit is pneuma. You can hear that Greek word in pneumatic drill – an air drill, or in pneumonia, a lung illness.

Pneuma is neuter, and when spirit is referred to in the New Testament, it is accurately called ‘it.' I suppose the NRSV translators wanted us to understand that the spirit is personal, so they used ‘him' because they didn't dare use ‘her.' I translate it as ‘it' in our reading.

The other Greek word to know today is paraclete. It means someone who exhorts, encourages, comforts, consoles, helps, advocates, and defends. We don't really have an English word that captures all those meanings, so I've left it as paraclete.

In our gospel reading, Jesus is saying good-bye to the disciples. It's not easy for them to understand; they ask him questions, he answers, and they ask more. Jesus responds to a question asked by Philip, but sometimes includes all the disciples in his answer. To make it a little clearer who he is speaking to, I translated second person singular as you and second person plural as you-all.

Listen for the word of God as it is found in John 14:8-17.

Philip said to him, “Lord, show the Father and we will be content.” Jesus said to him, “I've been with you-all for so much time, but you don't know me, Philip? The one who sees me sees the Father. How can you say ‘Show me the Father?' You don't believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; the things I say to you-all I myself do not speak, but the Father abiding in me does his works. You-all believe in me because I am in the Father and the Father in me. If not, then you-all believe on account of the works themselves.

Amen, amen, I say to you-all, the one believing in me will also do the works that I do, and that one will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. I will do the thing anyone asks in my name, in order that the Father be glorified in the son. If you-all ask me in my name, I will do it. If you-all love me, my commandments you-all will keep. And I will urge the Father and he will give you-all another paraclete, so that it may be with you-all forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees not nor knows, you-all know it because it abides with you-all and it will be in you-all.

This ends our reading from the gospel. I thought it was interesting that Jesus said the Father will give you another paraclete. That means Jesus himself has been a paraclete for the disciples. Jesus has exhorted, counseled, comforted, and helped the disciples. They aren't going to miss out on all that assistance once Jesus goes; they can depend on his Spirit of truth to be with them. Jesus speaks of God as the Father. And so does the apostle Paul. In his letter to the church in Rome , Paul is trying to show the church that Jewish Christians and gentile Christians have a common foundation in Christ, despite their social and racial differences. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Romans 8:14-17.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ— if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

This ends our reading from God's word. Paul talks of suffering with Christ, just in case any of the church-goers think that their lives should be free of problems. He speaks of rejoicing in being adopted by God, instead of being afraid.

Let us pray: To your name, Lord Jesus, help me to bow the knee and all its worshiping, bow the head and all its thinking, bow the will and all its choosing, bow the heart and all its loving. Amen.

Have you seen the latest propane commercial? There's two guys in white t-shirts with their names on them in somebody's house. The guy named Propane is in the shower, checking the temperature control in a professional way. The bathroom's getting steamy. The guy named Electricity is in the hall eating a sandwich, looking casual. He sees Propane and stops to talk to him.

Electricity: Hey, want to have some fun? Start ‘em off with a relaxing, hot shower, and when they're all soapy and dripping with shampoo — bam!, cut to cold.

(2) Propane: Unh-huh.

Electricity: It was hilarious.

Propane: And to think they replaced you…

Electricity: Crazy, ain't it?

Propane doesn't react. Electricity isn't sure what to do. He looks around, notices a lamp unplugged and reaches down to plug it in. When he does, the power goes out, so he says, “I meant to do that.”

What caught my eye about this commercial is that Propane is busy checking the water temperature, concerned that people are comfortable, while Electricity gets a charge out of jerking them around.

Have you ever known people like that? Someone who likes to interrupt you with a practical joke when you're doing something important? I've always found that very annoying, until I learned the reason people do that is they are uncomfortable and trying to distract the people around them from discovering their discomfort.

I know children often goof around in class when they don't understand the lesson, and don't know how to ask for help or get directions they can understand.

Sometimes we try to reassure ourselves of our own power by bothering other people, in the guise of a joke. Like the character of Electricity making the water cold when the bather has a headful of shampoo, or saying “I meant to do that” when the power goes out. He would rather the other person think he did something mean on purpose than admit his weakness.

So when I read Paul's words, “ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption,” I thought of that commercial. When we aren't afraid, we can be kinder. When we are secure in our power and our place, we don't need to play mind games.

I have always found Romans hard to understand. I expect some of you do to. So I've worked on explaining this text clearly. Here's what I think Paul says: it is by the Spirit that Christians learn from the heart to call God Father; in doing this the Spirit shows us that we are God's children. In Mark 14:36, Jesus calls God ‘Abba' when he prays alone in Gethsemane . “ Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.”

Paul reminds us that we too can call God Abba; we can call God what Jesus called God; Jesus as God's son called God Abba, and we too, as Jesus' sisters and brothers, as daughters and sons of God, can call God Abba. We can share Jesus' prayers; and so we can share Jesus' position as God's beloved child. We also, Paul says, have a share in his suffering.

When we cry Abba, our own spirits are assured that we are God's children. And since we are God's children, we are God's heirs. What do we inherit? What does Christ inherit? Christ is to be Lord of the world, ruling over it with sovereign and saving love. And so we are to share that rule, bringing redemption to the world that longs for it. There is a cost we also share. (3) When we speak the truth to the world, the world does not always hear it. Or as John said, “the world cannot receive [the Spirit of truth] because it sees not nor knows.” Sometimes the truth about the world is that people would rather be mean than weak. That is not the way of Abba, our Fther. God gives us gifts; God does not play mind games.

Jesus tells the disciples how they can love him after he is gone. What are they supposed to do? The answer is keep Christ's commandments—in other words, let your love express itself in works of mercy. Love Jesus by doing what he did and live what he taught. How can they manage that, without reverting to their old, pre-Jesus days? The answer is the paraclete, the counselor, advocate, helper. The Spirit of truth comes to the community; in community, the disciples can help each other live the way Jesus did.

The paraclete continues Jesus' work. The Spirit of truth continues Jesus' way of truth. I think it refers back to Isaiah 11:1, which speaks of the root of Jesse: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD .

These words come from the baptismal liturgy; when the person is kneeling, I pray that may this newly baptized person know the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD .

We are heirs with Christ. We are Jesus' sisters and brothers. We are children of God. We have the Spirit of adoption. We do not need to be afraid. Amen.

(1) Texts for Preaching, C, p 345.

(2) Transcript courtesy of Megan Snead, Porter Novelli , 1909 K Street, NW , 4th Floor , Washington, DC, 20006; website usepropane.com

(3) New Interpreter's Bible, X, p. 594.