Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-16:15
Have you ever seen a drunk person become articulate? In a foreign language? Of all the amazing things that happen in today’s reading from Acts, the story of Pentecost, I think the most amazing part might be the opinion of those onlookers who accuse the disciples of being drunk. Just think about it–a group of men and women all talking theology in languages they don’t know–that’s never happened at any party I’ve been to. Maybe they got drunk differently in the First Century?Peter’s response–that they can’t be drunk because it’s too early in the morning is beside the point. The point is how could anyone see booze as the cause of this theological proclamation?
It makes no sense, but really it doesn’t need to. We know why. We’ve seen this sort of response before, in fact we run into it every day. The scoffers. The cynics. The ones who find fault with every good deed. The ones who criticize every saint. On the Internet we even have a word for them–haters. Or, for the really organized and determined critics, we call them trolls. But the Internet didn’t invent the hater. Truth be told, there’s a little hater in all of us.
You know how it goes: “We’ve tried that before. It didn’t work.” Or, “We’ve always done it this way, you can’t change it.” There’s a hundred different ways to explain why change will never work, and we all find ourselves using 40 or 50 of those excuses from time to time. Why?
Are we afraid? Too comfortable? Jealous?
We probably have a hundred different reasons why no is the easiest answer. There are a lot of pluses to no, when you think about it. Staying with the way things are is safe and risk-free. No embarrassing loud mistakes. No commitment. No sticking your neck out and inviting criticism. Perhaps most attractive about no is that there is no responsibility attached. We’re just doing what’s always been done. So we say no.
Pentecost is the story of “Yes.” It completes the Gospel which is the Good News of God’s definitive “yes.” God’s yes is spoken by Jesus–of course it was spoken by the prophets before that. But when Jesus offers his word of life, he is challenged by the haters of his day. No way can his message win! But even as Jesus seems defeated, the victory of yes is clear. In the Resurrection of Jesus, God takes his stand. The Good News is the victory of yes. Life wins. Knowing that, how can we remain stuck with no?
The haters are wrong. In the Gospel, Jesus lists their mistakes. The Holy Spirit will bring the truth, he says, proving the world wrong. He numbers the world’s mistakes. The world is wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment.
What does he mean by that? As soon as we move to these theological words, it all sounds theorectical, even judgmental. So let’s take the words apart. Sin–that’s what separates us from God. It’s our mistakes, regrets, and bad choices, but more than what we’ve done, it’s the limitations and barriers we find ourselves trapped behind. Sin contains the judgments and restrictions we throw at each other. It’s the ways we all know we have nothing to offer and nothing to be. In the world of the haters, that’s all we get. It may be uncomfortable, but it’s predictable. But sin isn’t the last word.
Here’s the option: Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will give us the truth about righteousness–there’s a word we don’t use much, at least not in the Biblical sense. Righteousness simply describes the right relationship with God. The righteous live as they should in God’s ways. The mistake here goes with the first. The world assumes that righteousness is not an option. All we have is sin. The Holy Spirit tells the truth of another option, the option of being God’s people, inspired and alive. In that is the judgment. There is a yes, and a no–a choice. Which one we choose has to do with the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. But know this–God has chosen, and there is the judgment. Winners and losers have been determined.
Pentecost celebrates the possibility of the Good News option. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, God’s people of the church have that option, to be and know something more. Of course, the church doesn’t always get this right. From time to time and place to place, the Holy Spirit needs to speaks up.
It is just possible that we live in such a time. We all know that it isn’t popular, or even considered reasonable to be a Christian. If you want to find some haters, just mention faith in a mixed crowd. In response to this challenge, Christians seem to have become, well, cranky. Labeling, dividing, in general not really demonstrating a distinction between those haters and our Christian message. It’s time to look for inspiration.
At Trinity we’ve started a social media campaign called #choosetrinity. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to many of us, but the purpose of it will. What we’re trying to do is look and identify places of inspiration and presence. Here’s what we are going to try:
#choosetrinity is a way of looking. Right now what we’re looking for are things that illustrate the word sacred. This is the word for directing us to the Holy Spirit. What we are looking for is something with potential–Holy potential. We are looking for something that could be used by God to tell the truth–the truth about sin and its limitations, the truth about righteousness and its hope, the truth about judgment and its purpose. Your challenge is to look. Seek reminders, opportunities, warnings, blessings–whatever speaks to you of the possibility of Good News. The next thing is to take a picture. The last thing is to share that picture. Email it here: rector@trinityescondido.org Print it and bring it to church. Share it on Facebook. You have a week to prove the haters wrong. Find the Good News.