This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on June 9, 2019. It’s based on Acts 2:1-21. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson/.
Acts 2:1-21
1When the day of Pentecost had come, [the apostles] were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
18Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
19And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
20The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ”
Gucci means good. Bot means bad. Poopsie means annoying. Big facts means true. I’m learning a new language in order to communicate with my boys these days. It’s a steep learning curve—not just because the way the words are being used is unfamiliar, but because I have to respect that this re-imagining of the English language is actually a legitimate way of communicating.
When the Spirit came, as promised, and all the apostles began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability, all those gathered there were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others sneered and said, They are filled with new wine.
It’s a risk to speak another’s language, to respect another’s way of seeing and describing and defining the world. Some might hear you and respond with genuine wondering, but others may be quick to claim you’re drunk, filled with new wine, influenced by political correctness or too much Netflix or a culture that more and more prefers texting to talking. Why else would you even attempt to speak another’s language, recognizing it to be as valid as your own? Why else would you stretch your own understanding for the sake of another?
Maybe you don’t have a choice.
The apostles didn’t. They didn’t wake up on the day of Pentecost eager to speak other languages. The thought hadn’t even crossed their minds. Why would they need to speak any languages other than their own? They were together. They understood one another. They had journeyed with Jesus, and with one another, through a set of shared experiences.
They were together, on the boat, when the storm came up and Jesus commanded the waves to be still. They were together, on the hillside, when Jesus fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. They were together, at the table, when he knelt to wash their feet. They were together, hiding in fear, when he came to them as the Risen Christ and breathed his peace into them. They had witnessed God’s deeds of power. They had no need of additional language to describe God’s work in the world, in their hearts, in their minds. They were good. They were Gucci.
But God wasn’t.
God wasn’t satisfied with blessing and saving a small group of people who witnessed Jesus firsthand. God wasn’t satisfied with blessing and saving people who all spoke the same language, had the same worldview, the same perspective. God’s mission was to save and to bless the whole world—every nation, every people, every language, every perspective. So God sent the Spirit. And the apostles started speaking languages not their own—not for their sake, but for the sake of the world.
Amy Oden writes, This gift of the Holy Spirit that marks the birth of the church is a gift expressly for those outside the Jesus movement, those who had lived displaced in a language-world not their own. We cannot miss this! It is a spiritual gift given not for the disciples themselves, but for the outsiders listening. God’s gift reaches outward to those outside of this immediate circle of Jesus followers. It seems that one mark of the Holy Spirit’s gifting is that it empowers us to connect to others.1
The apostles were not under the influence of wine or Netflix or political correctness….they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit! And it was not a nice, safe, comfortable experience. Much of the artwork over the centuries that has depicted this scene paints the apostles with fear-filled faces. They have lost control of the situation and of themselves. They are speaking in languages that they have never spoken, never studied, perhaps never even heard. Could they even understand what they were saying as they proclaimed God’s deeds of power in languages not their own?
In that moment, their language–their comfort–was not nearly as important as making God’s deeds of power known to everyone else. The way they chose to see the world, and themselves in it, was not nearly as important as paying attention to how God sees the world. They are no longer operating under their own power, but have become instruments for God to save and to bless the whole world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Were they shocked by what the Spirit called them to do, empowered them to do? When Jesus promised that another Advocate would come, were they expecting a gentle Spirit who would guide them slowly, but certainly in the direction they needed to go? Was the overpowering Spirit that actually arrived, complete with flames and rushing wind, a shock to their senses? Did they regret, even for just a moment, praying for God’s will to be done?
On the day of Pentecost, the church was born, the circle grew wider, and it continues to grow today by way of the Holy Spirit. God is moving, moving us, stirring us to dream, to envision, to speak in languages that are unfamiliar and stretch us beyond what is comfortable…for the sake of the gospel.
In a recent column for the Christian Century, Debra Dean Murphy writes of being asked to plan and oversee a community-wide memorial service for a beloved professor in her department at West Virginia Wesleyan College who died suddenly of a heart attack. Reflecting on the fact that a great many of her students and colleagues describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, she says, It was clear that my customary repertoire for such occasions, collected and curated in other places I’ve lived and worked, wouldn’t suffice. It isn’t that the hymns of the church, the consolation of the scriptures, and the counsel of Christian sages past and present would have been met with open hostility. It’s that there wouldn’t have been the needed resonance. And there might have been alienation piled on top of the sorrow.2
Debra Dean Murphy’s language wasn’t sufficient. The Spirit went to work, helping her to plan a memorial service that spoke the many languages of the gathered community…for the sake of the gospel. In addition to a reading of 1 Corinthians 13 and a joyous anthem of praise sung by the school’s gospel mass choir, there was poetry and jazz, readings from Martin Luther King Jr. and David Foster Wallace, and songs by the Beatles and Neil Young.
Inspired by and rooted in her own religious language, Debra Dean Murphy was stretched by the Spirit to speak other languages that day…and beyond that day. She writes, I am drawn back to a deep conviction, rooted in a religious tradition apart from which I don’t know who I am: that there is no agenda other than loving my neighbor and communicating to them when I can, however I can, their own intrinsic worth and belovedness.3
God is Gucci.
God created a world—this world—and said that it was tov. [Tov is good…Gucci…in Hebrew]. Every nation, every person, every language…good. Beloved. Saved. Blessed. This is the good news we have to share, in whatever language is necessary.
Big facts. True.
Amen.
1 http://www.workingpreacher.org/
2, 3 https://www.christiancentury.org
Outstanding! Thank you for your words; they are a gift to me.
Thank you, Lori!