A Thought for the Day - May 25, 2023
I remember the first Easter sermon I had to preach. It certainly wasn’t my first time preaching, just my first time preaching on a high holy day. James Noel, my mentor, teacher, spiritual master on this side of eternity, father in the ministry (he has many titles in my life), had me preaching the Easter Sunrise service. Mostly, I suspect, because he didn’t want to be there that early.
When I started preparing for the sermon, I quickly realized that preaching high holy days is hard. People know the stories of Christmas and Easter and even less well attended high holy days such as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Pentecost; so, what do I tell them when they know?
That first Easter sermon preparation freaked me out, so I asked James about it. He said to me, “Whatever you do, make sure that by the end of the sermon Jesus is out of the tomb.”
Pentecost is coming up on Sunday, and most of the people I will be with know the story—or at least the pieces. Most in the pews will know that the disciples were in a house worshipping on the day of Pentecost. Most will know the Holy Spirit showed up and maybe there was wind, or maybe it was just the sound of wind; maybe there was fire, or maybe it just looked like fire (and if tongues of flame landed on the heads of the disciples is that why some clergy in the middle ages shaved the tops of their heads?). But, whatever happened, people heard something that day about “God’s deeds of power.”
Maybe most of the people don’t know that Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish celebration of Shavuot. Shavout was the celebration of Moses receiving the Torah from God on Mount Sinai. Pentecost happened 50 days after the celebration of the Passover, and perhaps you can hear in “pentecost” a similar root to the English word “pentagon,” and see how 50 days makes sense.
Most of the people won’t know that Shavout was also an agricultural celebration (as were all the high holy days that Jesus celebrated with his Jewish siblings). Most people probably don’t realize that the reason there were so many people who spoke different languages in Jerusalem that day nearly 2000 years ago, is because for nearly 1000 years then Jewish people made pilgrimage to the temple for Shavout.
Most people probably won’t know that the agricultural celebration is even older than the celebration of Moses receiving the Torah. In other words, the disciples were there in Jerusalem, with thousands of others who didn’t call the city home, celebrating a holiday that was older then than the Christian Pentecost is now.
I won’t say most or any of this on Sunday, but I will remember it. I want you to remember it. Some people call Pentecost the birthday of the Church, but as with my own birthday it isn’t the start of the story. It is connected to things so ancient the fog of time obscures our knowledge of it.
At our time we often don’t think much of the cloud of witnesses that came before us, and we give even less concern to the generations yet unborn who will inherit this earth and our odd celebrations. But, the roots of this celebration are crops, wheat to be specific. The roots of Pentecost are soil, labor, growth, and a celebration that life continues because we get to have enough food to make it another year.
Amid the red vestments and banners, I will remember that what happened on that day 2000 years ago is connected to humanity’s need to survive. Something about what God keeps doing for us is always connected to our need to survive. Whatever Pentecost we celebrate is rooted in a sense of God’s love for us, and that this earth gives us what we need to live. I would call that God’s deeds of power. I hope we all remember that.
Grace and Shalom,
Garrett