On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit
filled the room where the apostles had gathered together. Tongues of
fire appeared and rested on them; and, like the bush that Moses saw,
they burned but were not consumed. And then they began to speak in
other languages so that they were understood by Parthians, Medes,
Elamites, Cappadocians, Asians, Phrygians, and Pamphylians. The Word
of the Lord was being spoken, transmitted, and heard in new and
unfamiliar ways.
As we heard this story, we also heard
an explanation for what was happening by some people who claimed,
“They are filled with new wine.” In one of the more humorous
quotes of the Bible, Peter says, “They aren't drunk, it's only nine
o'clock in the morning!” These people protest because they are
being confronted with something new and different. They protest
because they've never done it that way before. And therein lies the
age old problem of the Church – we've never done it/we've always
done it that way.
But Pentecost challenges us to new ways
of being. Pentecost challenges us to hear God in new ways.
Pentecost challenges us to proclaim the Good News in new and
different ways that can be heard by a variety of people. Pentecost
challenges us to throw away the idea that we don't need to evangelize
because all the Episcopalians already know about us.
What would this look like today? Some
of us hope for another Pentecost event in our church. That is, some
of us hope to hear the rush of a violent wind filling this space and
see tongues of fire come down and rest on each of our heads. Some of
us hope to hear each of us speak in different languages. But then
again, that might be too much excitement for us and we would rather
not.
So if we can't expect tongues of fire
and speaking in tongues to a large and varied audience, how might we
expect to communicate the Good News of God in Christ to a large and
varied audience?
How about with this (showing cell
phone)?
You've heard the expression, “Shout
it from the mountaintop.” What if we tweeted it from our pews?
I'm serious.
We post Facebook pictures and comment
about family, friends, pets, and food. We post pictures of vacations
and birthdays. But how many posts about church do you make? How
many tweets do you send out? If we want to transmit the Good News in
new and unfamiliar ways, this is it.
Today I am challenging and encouraging
you to pull out your cell phones and go live. Update your Facebook
status by saying you are going to, have arrived at, and are
worshiping at St. John's. Put out live tweets during the service.
Accentuate the positive in live postings about church in general,
worship in particular, and God. Use hashtags.
#HolyEucharist #SpiritualFood #BeautifulChoir #BaptismalRenewal
#HolySpace #incense #AllMeansAll #StrawberrySunday
#AwesomeSermon
Be creative. Use your imagination.
This is a new way of speaking in other languages and in ways that
others can begin to hear what we are saying. In fact, I'll start.
8 a.m.: Asking people to go live at
church. #Pentecost, #TonguesOfFire
10:15: Amazing worship at SJP this
morning. #HolyPlace, #Incense, #BaptismalRenewal
One caveat to all this – Please don't
use your cell phones to have conversations, verbal or text, with
others during the service, and don't play games. Pay attention to
what's going on, and when the Sprit moves you to speak up, tweet or
post it out. Also, keep your phones silenced. I know there was the
noise of a violent rush of wind, but we don't want the church filled
with many and varied ringtones.
At this past Convention I went to a
workshop on digital resources and media that was presented by Carrie
Graves, the new diocesan director of communications. One of the
things she said was what if we made the Twitter logo (a little bird)
synonymous with the Holy Spirit logo (a descending dove)? Between
her presentation and the reading from Acts today, my mind started
spinning around this idea of transmitting the Good News in new and
unfamiliar ways. There's a lot of power in social media, but there's
more power in the Good News. We can tap into both.
As with a lot of things in the Church,
we often try to subdue and domestic the awesome power of God. But
Pentecost reminds us that God cannot and will not be tamed.
Pentecost reminds us that God will lead us in new, unfamiliar, and
sometimes exciting directions. Pentecost reminds us that we need to
constantly look for new ways to spread the Good News.
Last week two angels reminded us that
we could not perpetually gaze up to heaven, but that we needed to
look out into and minister to the world. Last week we were reminded
that the message of the Good News started here, but that it must be
proclaimed to an ever-widening audience.
Today is Pentecost, the day we begin
proclaiming the Good News. Today is Pentecost, the day we begin
speaking in other languages (and trust me when I say that Twitter is
another language). Today is Pentecost. It is the day we say, “We
aren't drunk, but we are doing something new.”
#PentecostProclamation
#Amen.
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