Clergy from left, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill, Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired; Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan and Pastor Deb Church. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com
By Rev. Deb Beloved Church
White Rock Presbyterian Church
Salvation. Forgiveness. Righteousness. Grace.
Can someone please explain those things to me, in everyday, easy-to-understand, make-a-difference-in-my-day-to-day-living terms?
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?…
This Sunday, at White Rock Presbyterian Church (and thousands of other churches!), we will be celebrating Pentecost.
We will be remembering when, after Jesus had mysteriously ascended into heaven (see last week’s column by Mother Lynn for more about that!), his disciples were hanging out together in Jerusalem, waiting “to be clothed with power from on high.” (cf. Luke 24:49)
Suddenly, “there came from heaven a sound like the rush of a violent wind, filling the entire house where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:2)
What? A violent windstorm inside the house?? Crazy!
Wait–it gets better: “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.” (Acts 2:3)
What?? Flames suddenly showing up out of nowhere?? On their heads??? What were they smoking?
Hang on–there’s more! “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” (Acts 2:4)
Come on–a bunch of largely uneducated country bumpkins suddenly speaking other languages? Languages they’d never spoken or possibly even heard before?? Impossible.
But apparently true. The passage continues: “At this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?’” (Acts 2:6-8)
And the writers then went on to list some fifteen distinct regions, repeating their experience of “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” (Acts 2:11)
Unbelievable! Or if not unbelievable, then surely attributable to drunkenness: “[Some] sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’” (Acts 2:13)
But they were not drunk. They were not smoking anything. They were under the influence of the Holy Spirit. God’s newly-poured-out Spirit. God’s power from on high, as Jesus had promised!
And as God’s Spirit filled them, they were able to speak about God and what God had done in ways that the people around them, from so many different places, could easily understand and in ways that made a difference in their lives.
I wonder–can we do the same? Can we who are people of faith speak about God and what God has done in ways that people who don’t speak “Church-ese” can understand? (Of course we can—do we?)
Can we speak about salvation … forgiveness … righteousness … grace in ways that make sense to people who come from different “places”? (Of course we can—do we?)
Can we share our understandings and experiences of God and God’s power and love with people from different backgrounds, using everyday terms, in ways that matter? (Of course we can—do we?)
Because these things do matter. And how we talk about them matters. Come, Holy Spirit, come!
And come, reader, come—learn more about Pentecost at WRPC or any of our churches this Sunday!
Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com); Pastor Nicolé Ferry, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (pastornicole@bethluth.com); Associate Priest Lynn Finnegan, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org); Pastor Deb Church, White Rock Presbyterian Church (pastor@wrpchurch.com) and The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com).
