The lessons appointed for Pentecost
all have in common reflection on the spirit. However, there is clearly no
single understanding of spirit to be found in either the Hebrew Bible or the
New Testament and even within a given author there is variation as to the
meaning of spirit. For example, in the scriptures the Spirit creates, protects,
calls, empowers, directs, sends forth and comforts. We observe that for Luke
the Spirit empowers and directs the disciples in their mission to the world.
For Paul the Spirit is the presence of Jesus in the faithful. For John the
Spirit has a more personal quality than in Luke or Paul. The Spirit/Paraclete
dwells in the faithful to teach and witness to them and to strengthen them in their
witness. In Isaiah, Ezekiel and the Psalms the spirit is Yahweh’s creative and
life-giving presence. – Jeffrey Galbraith
But what does this gift of the Spirit mean? All those
languages! All that cacophony!
Acts 2:1-21
The Pentecost story from the Acts
of the Apostles puts the issue of the multiculturalism of the Gospel firmly
before us . . . The growing practice in our congregations of having the
Pentecost story read in multiple languages simultaneously is a nice
approximation of the originally described Pentecostal experience. – John Rollefson
If Pentecost is the reversal of the Tower of Babel story,
the image is of a church that speaks many languages and is confounding to
outsiders. In other words, the we offer ourselves as a puzzling community to
the world. And in the face of that mystery which is the church, our work must
involve constant “translation” to make sense of what is so very rich––not a
simple prospect.
John 15:26-27;
16:4b-15
Pentecost does not “mean” only one
thing, even as the Hebrew word ru’ah
and its Greek equivalent pneuma
connote. In fact, the Pentecostal experience has an astonishing multivalency
that the church qua human institution has from the first found discomfiting.
The meaning of Jesus’ explanation to his disciples as to how “it is to your
advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come
to you” (John 6:7) was nicely clarified for me years ago by Henry Nouwen in his
book, The Human Reminder (New York:
HarperCollins, 1984). There Nouwen recalls how he suffered from the inability
to have frank and intimate conversation with his father whom he deeply loved
but in whose physical presence he found it impossible to communicate that love.
Only, Nouwen remembered, in his own physical absence from his father, through
letters, was he able to express his deepest thoughts and feelings and thereby
deepen the intimacy of their relationship. – John Rollefson
Romans 8:22-27
Romans 8 might be called the Spirit
chapter. . . Paul explains what it means to live in the Spirit... In verse 23
Paul reinforces the notion that it is all creation that groans when he writes
that “we ourselves… are groaning inwardly.” The eschatological event,
therefore, involves not just people, but all of the creation. Paul points out
that Christians have the Spirit as the firstfruits. In other words, they have a
down payment on the future, which can help to sustain them while they await the
redemption of their bodies. – Jeffrey Galbraith
Pentecost, then, tells about the gift of God’s Spirit not
just to humanity but to all of creation. While some preachers seek to find
readings that invite preaching on the value and healing of the natural
world––air, water, soil, and creatures––we may find in this day’s scripture
many places of entry into that vital subject.
Jeffrey Galbraith is
pastor
of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Greenfield, MA, and a professor of business
administration at Greenfield Community College.
John Rollefson is a former pastor of Lutheran Church of the Master in Los Angeles,
California.
Homily Service 39,
no. 7 (2006): 3-19.
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