Do Something New in My Life
Pentecost. Something new, inspired by God’s ruach, God’s breath or Spirit, takes over the Community of Christ in Jerusalem. Once again, as with The Ascension, scripture offers two versions: in John’s Gospel, it occurs the evening of the day of Resurrection, and presumably after he has also ascended, so that it is a post-Ascension encounter [John 20:19-23]; while in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, Volume 2 of Luke, it occurs fifty days later on the Jewish festival of Weeks, or Pentecost, some ten days after the Ascension, and fifty days after the Resurrection [ Acts 2:1-21]. John’s account is quiet, intimate, and contained in a room, perhaps where the Last Supper took place. In Acts it starts in the house where they are all living with violent wind and something like tongues of fire, and spills out into the streets of Jerusalem where Peter addresses those attending the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost. In each imagining, the Community of Christ who have been in Jerusalem since the beginning of Passover is made new – transformed as those who will continue to represent the presence of God; continuing the work of Jesus.
John depicts the Community hiding, fearful that they too may share in the same fate as Jesus. Though the door to the room is locked, “Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Once they were disciples, students of the master. Now they are commissioned as Apostles, literally, “those who are sent.” They are sent out into the world to do the works Jesus does, and greater things than these. [John 14:12] All because of the breath.
Breath. The same ruach that hovered over the waters of creation “in the beginning.” The breath of creation as celebrated in Psalm 104. The same breath that God, in Genesis chapter 2, breathes into the nostrils of a handful of mud to give life to the first man. Jesus, the Word, through whom all that was created was created. His breath now transforms this roomful of fearful followers into Apostles sent to the four corners of the Earth to spread the news! YHWH, the God of the Passover is doing a new thing. And so are we! And so can you, they cry! Step into the life of God’s Peace, God’s Shalom, God’s kingdom of mercy, forgiveness, and justice for all!
No one knows how the Hebrew letters YHWH are to be pronounced, but there is a consensus gathering to suggest it is to mimic the sound of breathing: Yah-Weh, Yah-Weh. If so, then God’s name is the first thing we “say” when we are born, and the last thing we “say” when we die. We are filled, enlivened, and sustained by the name of the One who made Leviathan and all of us for the sport of it! Richard Rohr, in his book The Naked Now, points out that there is no Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Taoist way of breathing. There is no rich, poor or middle-class way of breathing. There is no American, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, African or European way of breathing. This ruach, this breath of YHWH, levels the playing field in which we are all One with the One breath, the One life, the One spirit. We are blown upon by the Mighty Wind that takes us to places we would never imagine going! To do and to proclaim and do things that we never imagined we could say or do. You will do the things that I do, he had said. And greater things than these shall you do, he had said! Indeed!
Luke, on the other hand, portrays this ruach as a mighty wind blowing throughout the household, with tongues, “as of fire,” resting on each of them. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” It is the Tower of Babel in reverse! They spill out into the streets of Jerusalem where there are people from throughout the ancient world celebrating the spring harvest, a liturgical cycle that begins at Passover and during which devout Israelite families praise God for God’s grace and bounty. It also was the beginning of a period, lasting until the autumnal Festival of Booths (or Tabernacles), in which the first fruits of the field were sacrificed to Yahweh.
Pentecost, or Weeks, is thus a pregnant moment in the life of the people of God and in the relationship between that people and God. To put the matter more graphically, Pentecost is the moment when gestation ceases and birthing occurs. Thus, it is both an end and a beginning, the leaving behind of that which is past, the launching forth into that which is only now beginning to be. Pentecost therefore is not a time of completion. It is a moving forward into new dimensions of being, whose basic forms are clear, but whose fulfillment has yet to be realized. Over time, Pentecost became a time when the Jewish people renew their covenant with their God.
As with the breath in John, no one is excluded. The wind and tongues land on everyone. In the streets, the diversity of the Spirit’s reach touches all who are present from every imaginable land and tribe throughout the world. There are those who scoff at the Apostles, but each is able to understand the Good News in their own language. Like the breath, the wind and the fire is for everyone, for all, from every possible country – it is a gathering wind, a gathering Spirit. It is God’s Spirit of mercy, justice, and forgiveness for all persons everywhere. The breath, the spirit, knows of no exclusions. All are welcomed alike.
The spirit can come upon you anywhere, anytime. It can happen as a mighty tsunami of change, or it can happen in a quiet moment of sheer silence when our all too restless mind is stilled and we suddenly become aware of the great depth of the mystery of our very existence and we are made new again. We see all things new as if for the first time! Pentecost means the Fiftieth Day – it was the Fiftieth Day after Passover. It is the Fiftieth Day after Easter. Seven weeks of seven days plus one more. The “one more” day is understood as a new beginning, a new creation, a literally inspired reawakening to who we are and whose we are!
And of course, science has now told us that all of this we call creation comes from one spectacular burst of Ruach some 14 billion years ago, and that every molecule we breathe in and breathe out comes from that one burst of energy, so that the very air we breathe is the same air of the cave men and women, and the same air that astronauts breathe while blasting through the heavens. This means, of course, we all are, literally, One! One with the very source of life that sustains us with every breath we take. One with one another and all of creation. Oneness is no longer a vague, mystical notion, but a scientific fact!
By virtue of our baptism, we too are to be Apostles. Those who are sent. The Spirit wind fills our sails and sends us to places and peoples unknown to bring the god-spel, the Good News, that yes, we are all One with God and one another. And yes, we are all in this together. And, yes, we are God’s Beloved. And yes, He filleth all things living with plenteousness. And yes, He givest us all good things in due season. And yes, He hath made us and sustains us with his breath, his holy wind, his holy spirit, his mighty ruach! And yes, He hath made us and Leviathan for the sport of it! And it is good, He says. It is very good, He says. And every day we breathe in His spirit. And it is always Pentecost every morning that we open our eyes and draw our first breath of the new day. Every morning. Every day. Always we begin again. And again. And all shall be well. All shall be well. All manner of thing shall be well, says blessed Julian! And we say, yes. Yes we will start over. Yes, do something new with my life! Yes we are God’s people. Yes, we are One. Forever. And ever. Amen! Amen!
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