An Inclusive Realm

PROPERS: PENTECOST DAY, YEAR B

TEXT:       ACTS 2:1-21

PREACHED AT RESURRECTION, STARKVILLE, ON SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2024 

 

ONE SENTENCE:        The Spirit moves through the complexity of the world.      

 

            In his 1869 book, “The Innocents Abroad”, the legendary writer and wit Mark Twain observed, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

 

            Twain was writing of his experience traveling abroad to Europe and the Holy Land aboard the steamship Quaker City and various other means of conveyance.  Thankfully, for our purposes here today, his grand trip culminated in his visit to the Holy Land.

 

            I made my first visit to Israel in 1994.  Since then, I have led 13 groups to Israel, Jordan, and most recently, Egypt. Mark Twain never wrote truer words than those just quoted.

 

            After my first trip, I returned to Starkville and Church of the Resurrection to share my experience.  We had a potluck downstairs in the parish hall. I shared slides and tried to convey my deep impressions. Parishioners seemed genuinely appreciative of having flesh put on biblical stories.

 

            I was struck by the complexity of the world and of that land.  That has been revealed to us in spades since October 7. The visual images and tactile touch of places like Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, Megiddo, Qumran, and Masada were overwhelming and deepened my faith.

 

            And then there was Jerusalem. I read a book many years ago entitled, “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.”Jerusalem is the nexus of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. A visitor can easily see – in one view – the holiest site in Judaism, the holiest site in Christianity, and the third holiest site in Islam.

 

            In a mile-square walled city, the narrow, steep, and winding streets cry of history. Though leveled and rebuilt many times over the millennia, the city takes your breath away. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, and the Dome of the Rock. It was here that the Temple Stood.  It was here there Jesus was crucified and resurrected.  It was from here that Mohamed began his night flight to Mecca.  

 

            It was an eye-opening experience – horizon-broadening. Islamic minarets with their calls to prayer were ubiquitous. Hasidic Jews were plentiful, with their long beards and broad-brimmed black hats.  And Christians – what diversity!

 

            I decided on that first trip that I needed to share that experience with others. The places we visited were important, but the essential message was the complexity of the world, of politics, and of religion.

 

            We are used to Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, and a few more.  It is not nearly that simple in Israel – the birthplace of our faith. The Christians there are Coptics, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopians, and many, many others.  “White-bread Christianity” is a small slice.

 

            It was into that milieu that the disciples emerged from that locked room on that first Christian Pentecost.  Hear the account:

 

“Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs-- in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 

 

            The upshot of all this is that the message of Christian hope is for all people, not just those who look like us.  It isfor us, and for those people we see starving in Africa… for those who are struggling for survival in Ukraine… for those dying in Israel and Gaza… and for those people we see on the streets of Starkville.

 

            The message of this Pentecost Day is this:  The Spirit is alive in each of us.  And it is seeking to spread good news to those around us, and to those far away.

 

            We are the earthen vessels of that spirit. It is trying to get out. It is our task to be the modern-day Peter and other disciples who ventured into the city square – and into the lives of others – and share the life-changing news of God’s love. Even into a complex and challenging world.