A Pentecost Sermon

You will notice in Kathy’s reading that I have selected two texts for the sermon this morning. The two texts have so much that are different. For one thing, the stories they tell are separated by over 2,000 years. One is from the Old Testament book of Genesis and the other is from the New Testament book of Acts.

But I have chosen both because they each deal with a very similar problem: the problem is the problem of communication. Both occasions were marked by speaking. On both occasions men broke out in wild speaking in tongues. On both occasions it created more confusion than it did communication. And on both occasions, while there was a lost of words spoken, there was a lot more misunderstanding.

This kind of thing -- this breakdown in communications -- usually happens under to conditions: ANGER AND LOVE. When a person is angry, there are usually a lot of words spoken. Usually there is a flood of purple prose, but rarely does the angry person make themselves clear. The angrier a person is, the more the person shouts, puffs, snorts and sputters. And the angrier a person is, the less the person communicates. Really, the only thing the person usually communicates -- even with all the words spoken -- is that the person is angry. The person rarely communicates the reasons for anger or the solution for it.

On the other hand, it is often very difficult for people in love to truly communicate their emotions; the emotion of love is sometimes too big for words. In one of his letters, he despairs of ever telling his lady love, Fanny Brawne, how he felt about her. He wrote:

"I want a lovelier word than love,

a truer word than true,

a sweeter word than sweet."

Poor guy. But I will say this for Keats. He did try! It’s an idea that some of you lovers might try.

One man, when his wife asked why he never told her he loved her, said, "I told you on our wedding day that I loved you. If I ever change my mind, I’ll let you know." (That’s a true story and I knew the couple.) The guy may have known something about logic, but he sure didn’t know a darn thing about love!

The two texts are from the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel and the New Testament record of the Day of Pentecost. One seeks to tell the story of why there are so many different languages. The other tells of a triumphant victory over these differences. One tells the story of why there are so many different languages. The other tells of a triumphant victory over these differences.

The Genesis account is one of the great stories of the Old Testament. It is talking about why we can’t understand one another. It is not a historical or scientific account. It is a religious understanding of WHY. If you want to know HOW I suggest you study etymology. Every word has a marvelous history; every word has a pedigree, and it is a fascinating study.

But what the Old Testament story is dealing with is the question, "Why is there so much misunderstanding among humankind?" Language is a source of separation -- of alienation. When we can’t talk to one another ... when it is difficult to understand what another person is saying ... then we look with suspicion and distrust, uncertainty and apprehension at each other. George Bernard Shaw, when he died, bequeathed a fortune to a society who is trying to create a universal language. I don’t know how the society is spending their money, but they haven’t succeeded, to say the least.

The Old Testament tells us that many languages are not the CAUSE of our alienation: it is the RESULT. The cause was human sin. That sin is in two forms: PRIDE AND FEAR. "Let us make a name for ourselves," the ancient people said. "Let us be men like Gods!" they said. They wanted to be first. They were filled with pride.

They were also motivated by fear, insecurity. "Let us build a tower," they said, "on the plains of Shinar. Otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

They were a people who, in their insecurity, believed they could save themselves by building a tower to become like God. As a result they were alienated from one another and scattered over the face of the earth. They were not able to understand each other -- communicate with each other.

Now, I think that recognizing what happened at Babel will help us understand what happened at Pentecost. What happened at Pentecost was that people came together again! The people who had been "scattered abroad over the face of the earth" were now drawn together and, though they were speaking different languages, were able to understand each other perfectly.

What they discovered that day was their common identity. They discovered that they understood each other. They discovered that they were one people.

You see, don’t you, that the more we love Jesus, the more we take into ourselves the Holy Spirit of God, the more we become united. The more we love Jesus the more we see, not our differences, but the things we share in common.

I think that is what Pentecost is about! I think that is what the Holy Spirit is about. In the gospel of John, Jesus said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." In chapter one of the book of Acts, Jesus ascended into heaven. The scripture says, "as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." Jesus is lifted up. Now in the second chapter, all people are drawn to him. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphyla, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs. The people who had been scattered over the face of the earth are united. The people whose language had been confused so that they could not understand each other, can now understand! Christ who has been lifted up, has drawn all people unto himself.

Let me say here that many people today have put the wrong emphasis on what happened at Pentecost. I have the utmost respect for people who speak in tongues . I respect their search for a richer spiritual experience. But I have known a number of individuals and groups who have made "speaking in tongues" the central focus of their Christian experience. By putting their major emphasis on the "speaking in tongues," it seems to me, they have become more like the people of Babel than the people of Pentecost.

Do you know what I mean? "Look, I am different," it seems to me they are saying. And there is that feeling of pride. "I’ve got it and you poor people haven’t got it." The miracle of Pentecost was not that people spoke words that COULD NOT BE UNDERSTOOD; the miracle of Pentecost was that people spoke words that COULD BE UNDERSTOOD.

Tomorrow we observe Memorial Day, and I would like to say a few words about Pentecost and America. We Americans have forgotten more languages than the Jews ever knew. There is not one of us here who can say that our ancestors originated in this country. Most of our ancestors dumped their languages in the ocean on the voyage over from Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Hungary. Though there are many people who are critical of it today, I like the concept that we are a great "melting pot." What the melting pot implies is that we are one people, that we speak the same language, perhaps with a different accent, but the same language.

I may be wrong, but I think one of the greatest threats to America today is the concept that is popular in many places; that is, to preserve the language of the old country. They want to preserve the traditions and the culture. The reason I don’t like it is that it means alienation and separation.

It may be good to preserve our heritage. I respect the designations of other people, the names they want to be called. I have learned to refer to some of my fellow Americans as African-Americans, Hispanics, Dutch-Americans, but I really don’t like it. An angry African-American, who was angry, stalked out of a meeting of a Board I served on. His departing words were, "I can’t stand the way you European-Americans do things!" It took me a while to realize that he had put a label on me: European-American. I resent that! I am an American! And I don’t like words and labels that divide us up into groups. I don’t like it in America. I don’t like it in the church where people want to separate us from one another like fundamentalists, evangelicals, charasmatics. I am a part of a denomination that deplored Christians being divided into Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Baptists. I just want to be a Christian ... just a Christian. But people won’t let me. "What kind of Christian?" they ask.

I want to emphasize this (you’ve heard me say it before): WHATEVER ALIENATES AND SEPARATES US FROM ONE ANOTHER IS SIN IN THE EYES OF GOD! Whatever alienates and separates us from one another is sin in the eyes of God.

The power of Pentecost was the power of men and women united -- not alien or separate. If one truly has the Holy Spirit of God it will unite people Do you remember how Pentecost began? "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place." And do you remember how the Day of Pentecost ended? "All who believed were together and had all things in common .. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people."

We’re talking about "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--"

Let’s pray for a joyous Pentecostal revival.