Pentecost + Home + 5.23.21
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Acts 2:1–21; Ps. 104:25–35, 37; Romans 8:22–27; St John 15:26–27; 16:4b–15)
The church is not a building, the people are the church. You
all know this as well as I, perhaps better. And yet there is something special
today about returning inside our church building. Now the church is not just
those here gathered, but also those who join us online.
The church is not a building, but places matter. Somehow when
Alene and I were simply wandering around the Old Town of Jerusalem, we stumbled
on an orthodox site, the House of Mark, a possible location of the story we
hear today in Acts. We tried to go in, to see the upper room, but no one was
around and beyond the little interior courtyard we could not explore the church
at that time. I tried to imagine all the people gathered around as the street
around the church was narrow and crowded with buildings but yet I could still
imagine a crowd gathering, headed to the temple to celebrate the Jewish feast
of Pentecost, a harvest festival that also commemorates God’s giving of the
Torah to the nation of Israel on Mt Sinai. A crowd of many people of many
tongues. And a miracle.
The disciples up in the upper room, still grieving their
rabbi and teacher Jesus and uncertain what came next. And the Spirit coming and
touching each like a lick of fire. And they began to speak in many tongues. And
the Jews from many places, all gathered in this busy market town during the
even busier festival time, began to hear their own languages- the languages
from their places of birth, not just this foreign tongue that they had learned
but that sometime stumbled their tongues.
And in hearing that, they were home. And that is how the
Spirit birthed the church, by letting people from all corners know that they
were at home with this ragtag group of disciples, at home with the Jesus whom
they mourned and celebrated and through whom they worshipped the one God.
And though spaces matter, home matters more. Do we provide a
home for those who come through our doors, whether they be physical or virtual
portals? Do people that come here hear a message of welcome, of belonging? Do
they know that they are welcome here no matter their ethnic or social
background, no matter their orientation or gender affirmation? Not only that
they are welcome but that the many feelings they have about living in this hard
world are welcome too?
Because home is a place where you can rejoice but you can weep too. It is good
to be home here in the church building. Even though we have been worshipping
outside it for months and I have been coming in here and replacing the altar
light every week during this past year and a bit, it is good to be home.
And yet there are so many feelings. The world is still not right. Israel and
Gaza still have not found a solid peace and our country wants to send more
weapons Israel’s way. Pipelines are being hacked and we are still too dependent
on fossil fuel. Our black and brown brothers and sisters, our Asian brothers
and sisters still don’t know if they will get home safe. So we aren’t entirely
at home yet. We aren’t comfortable yet.
And there are those who in the midst of our rejoicing to return, are not here
because they have gone to be with God. We are grateful for them and the mark
they made on us. On how they made us remember our home in Jesus.
When it comes to the sacrament, our presiding bishop and local bishops have
asked that we continue to refrain from sharing the wine beyond one ritual cup
so that we keep the unity of the common cup, but they hope that it will be safe
to re-commence taking the cup in a few months.
And yet this space is a space of joy. We do get to worship
together in this space. There are smiles under masks that are visible in eyes,
if you look. There is hope that in being together, we feel a bit more at home
again. We celebrate the birthday of the church after a long year, and we say,
it is good to be home, whether we are here physically or virtually. We are
rising with Christ.
And the Spirit is moving among us. And she invites us into new work. One
preacher I heard this week invited us to write the second book of Acts with our
lives. She said that the first apostles in the book of Acts didn’t have a
playbook, they just went where the Spirit led them.[1]
They didn’t know the Spirit was going to visit that day, but she did. And then
they were touched by the Spirit, and allowed to reach out to all nations with
their tongues, which they eventually did also with their feet. But the people
were confused. They thought the apostles were drunk. So Peter explained. No,
they are not drunk. It is only 9 o clock in the morning, for Pete’s sake! They
are touched by the Spirit. And so can you be. He reached back to the words of
the prophet Joel, a prophet all these Jews would have heard of no matter where
they were from, and reached forward to the future of the church!
This world is hurting. There is illness in India, strife and
division in the land we call holy. There are needs closer to home. But we have
the Spirit. Today reminds us of that. And the Spirit empowers us to speak to
all the nations. To speak to all peoples. To remind them of their home. And
that God is their home. How can we together act to show the world the good news
of Jesus, to reconnect with their home in God and to work together to make this
a world where all can live free and feel embraced for who they are? No matter
what color of the rainbow or where their life has taken them? Let us act so
that others can find their home in the loving arms of a God who created them
and who is restoring this world through the Spirit even now!
Amen.
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