The Reverend Kirk T. Berlenbach

Pentecost, Year A

May 11, 2008

I love to travel. I love to go new places, see new things, meet new people. I love to witness and even take part in strange and unusual local customs and traditions and I love to savor the ways in which things are different. The problem is that I stink at learning languages. Believe me its not for a lack of trying. In elementary school I studied French. In high school I took three years of Latin. In college and seminary I took Ancient Greek. Now granted, the last two are not terribly useful outside of the academic world. But even son, the sad truth was that I stunk at all of them. I am just not gifted when it comes to language. Now this could be a real hindrance when it comes to travel. After all it’s hard to get along when you can’t communicate, let alone find the sense of connection and wonder which is the real reason that I travel anyway. Fortunately, there are some very universal signs, gestures and expressions that can assist any traveler in getting around and in making new friends. But even more important than things like smiling and offering gestures of thanks is the attitude that you travel with.

Any great travel experience always begins with the realization that your way of doing things is not the only way. So much goodwill can be established simply by being willing to do things according to local custom as opposed to insisting on doing only those things that are familiar to you. Rather than insisting that they adapt to you, you need to be willing to adapt to them. For if we insist that things be done our way and according to our customs, we come across as being self-important, arrogant and even imperialistic and as a result, no one really wants to learn about the culture and customs that we have to offer. In other words if you go halfway across the world but only eat McDonalds then you might as well have stayed at home.

But, when we are willing to subordinate our preferences to the local way of doing things, a whole new world of possibility opens up to us, even if we don’t speak a lick of the language. For example, last year I traveled to Japan. We stayed at a little traditional inn called a Ryokan. Now for breakfast they had two choices, Western or Japanese. While it was tempting to stick with the familiar toast and eggs option, we ordered the Japanese version instead. It was nothing like any breakfast I had ever had. Rice, soup, pickles, seaweed and fish we placed in front of us. I must confess that the initial impression of this elaborate tray gave me a moment’s pause. But rather than calling the innkeeper over and doing a lot of pointing and asking, “What’s this????” or saying “Ewwww… I don’t think I like that.” or even trying saying, “I think I want the toast instead.” with a grimace, we ate what was put in front of us, and we ate it all. This certainly made an impression on our innkeeper. Each morning she brought us a new assortment of dishes with a beaming smile, clearly taking pride that these two Americans we enjoying her food so much. This one breakfast opened up a whole range of possibilities and a depth of relationship and hospitality were shown to us that never could have existed had we stuck with eggs and toast. During our stay we talked about family, about our interests and since then we have corresponded and sent pictures. My point is that once we liberate ourselves from being slaves to our own customs and preconceptions, then we are free to truly connect with the people that we meet and to exchange the ideas, traditions and values that mean the most to us.

Now faith is often compared to travel. And just like physical travel, so much of our faith journey depends upon the attitude that we bring to it. As Christians we can all trace the start of our travels back to this day. For today is the Feast of Pentecost, sometimes called the “birthday of the Church.” While that it true in many respects, I prefer to think of Pentecost as the day on which our faith was not only born, but also, the day on which it was set free. For before day of Pentecost, our relationship to G-D was limited only to one place and one people. But when the Holy Spirit alighted on the believers and inspired them to speak in all those different languages our faith was freed from the restrictions of having to stay in that one place and culture. And once that happened Christianity could be shared with the whole world. Thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are now empowered to share it, not just with a chosen few, but with everyone, regardless of their language or culture. But the sharing it is still up to us.

So what do we make of this gift of the Holy Spirit? How do we make sense of the great commission that we have been give to share our faith with all the world? This is not just a matter of “superiority.” If we take that kind of approach to faith we will be no different than the “Ugly American” travelers who have fostered such a bad reputation on a global scale. So before we go taking Pentecost as a divine mandate to proselytize and even impose our faith on everyone else, we need to take a step back and really look at what this day is really all about.

There are two major mystical events that define the day; the believers speaking in tongues which occurs in the lesson from Acts and Jesus’ empowering his disciples to forgive sins which comes from the Gospel of John. But in order to understand and claim these gifts for ourselves, we have to first look at their history and context. We must remember that until this point in history, everything having to do with our Christian faith was understood entirely within a Jewish context. Israel’s religion was exclusive to them. They did not seek to evangelize or convert new people to their faith. Rather, they were a holy people, set apart by G-D. And along with this special relationship came a very complicated system of religious practice. So the only way to get to know G-D was to adapt to their culture and religion.

But throughout his ministry Jesus challenged this rigidity and exclusivity, particularly when it came to the forgiveness of sins. Now forgiveness was inherently tied to fixed places like the Temple in Jerusalem and it demanded expensive practices of sacrifice. Prior to Jesus the only way to find forgiveness and reconciliation with G-D was by buying into these practices. Yet throughout his ministry Jesus flouted these restrictions and went around forgiving the sins of anyone who asked him. Needless to say this met with some criticisms (see Mark 2, Luke 5 and Matt 9) because what Jesus was really doing was undermining the powerbase of the system. Now it is important to understand that Jesus was able to do this, not just because he himself was G-D, but, by virtue of his incarnation, the nature of the relationship between G-D and humanity had been changed. Now G-D was now accessible to everyone and so was forgiveness. Therefore what Jesus does in the Gospel lesson today is not to impart some sort of exclusive supernatural ability to his disciples. That would only have perpetuated the existing system of privileged access. On the contrary, Jesus commissions them to continue on in his own liberating work of forgiving the sins of anyone who desires it, thereby granting them access to G-D in a way that was never before possible.

Now this brings us to the second major gift of Pentecost… the gift of tongues. This has even more supernatural associations than does the forgiving and retaining of sins. But regardless of whether or not we think that the Holy Spirit actually enables believers to speak or understand languages that they have never learned, the meaning of the miracle is still clear. G-D is no longer limited to one people or nation. Jesus broke it free from its dependence on the temple and religious system. And as a result the Gospel can now be heard and understood and appreciated by the people of every nation.

That is why Pentecost is the celebration of the liberation of our faith and therefore of our own liberation as well. On this day the Holy Spirit empowered the believers to share Jesus’ teachings with all the world and so allowed this new form of faith to break free of its origins and find the means to appeal to all peoples and nations. The proof of its power can be seen in the rapid spread of the Gospel. In just a few decades the message of Jesus Christ moved from being a tiny Jewish splinter group in Jerusalem to being known all around the Mediterranean and eventually, all over the world.

This same power is available to us right now. To experience the gift of the Holy Spirit is to be awakened to the incredible reality that G-D’s life-giving spirit is all around us and is not limited to any one place or method… it is freely available to us and to everyone. This is the message of joy and liberty that we are to carry out into the world. Because people do not have to come to us in order to find the power of G-D. Rather it is something that we are to share with people wherever they are. That means that sometimes we have to venture out beyond what is familiar and have to learn to adapt our ways to the ways and practices of those we seek to reach.

I know that idea can be intimidating for some of us. Much like travel, it is stepping out into new and unknown territory. But effectively sharing our faith is not a matter of having to learn theology or doctrine. No. Just as getting the most out of travel is not dependant upon learning the language, sharing our faith is simply a matter of having the right attitude. We do not have to be able to mystically speak languages we never learned. On the contrary, the power of Pentecost it is much less supernatural and yet also much more profound. Effectively sharing our faith is simply a matter of learning to accept others where they are and not insisting that they conform to our ways and practice. G-D is not our exclusive property… and we are not the sole arbiters of who receives G-D’s gift of love and reconciliation and who does not. Rather, as believers, we are empowered to share the gift of this liberated and liberating G-D with everyone who asks, regardless of condition, without asking them to adapt to our practices or ideas. For that is exactly the kind of radical and unconditional acceptance that G-D offers to us, by meeting us where and how we are.

Our faith is a journey, and most of the time we will stick close to home, but every now and again, we will venture out… out beyond what is familiar into exotic places and meet people with customs and ideas that are very different from our own. And at times we will be tempted to pull back and opt for what is known and familiar but if we do, we will miss out on the chance to really connect with those we meet. In the end, what we get out of it and what impression we leave with them depends entirely upon the attitude we bring with us.