“Untamed Power”

Acts 2

May 31, 2020

Kurt Jacobson

This is the Day of Pentecost — the last of the three major festivals the Christian Church celebrates each year. However, it does not feel like we should be celebrating today. The meditation I prepared this week was before rioting spread across the country. Rather than spend many hours reworking it or starting over, I am sharing what I prepared earlier, but with this preface. If you are looking for meditations addressing the pandemics of protest, racism, poverty, and hope amidst the coronavirus and economic concern, I know you will find them online.

I started these weekly posts on Ash Wednesday (February 26) as a six-week Lenten discipline. Soon after, COVID-19 concerns arose, church leaders closed doors and moved worship online. By Easter, the world had changed and the level of uncertainty in our lives had soared. The attention to online sources of insight and spiritual care had also spiked. So, my online audience (you dear souls) became a community I never expected. Many of you looking for online inspiration expressed appreciation for my posts. Some of you told me how you looked forward to them. So, to you dear readers, I continue for now and thank you for your interest.

Now some words about Pentecost — the most flamboyant of all Christian holy days — the “birthday of the church,” celebrated with banners, red balloons, and cake. On Pentecost, we read about rushing wind, tongues of fire, and cacophonous crowds. We read Acts 2 reminding us that God sent all humankind a gift — the Spirit with its promise of peace and portents of the healing of the earth. That same Spirit gives breath to us today to embolden us to proclaim the mighty deeds of Christ.

But this week leaves us choked in disbelief, sorrow, fear, anger. “I can’t breathe; I can’t breathe…” and, then, no breath. A thousand names in newsprint takes our breath away. 100,000 in 3 months stopped breathing, killed by a virus. Violence in the streets, a virus stalking us all, turning familiar comforts into threats.

Pentecost feels like no celebration this year. But this festival calls us to step beyond our personal laments and limits to be found together in a shared reality –beneficiaries of a giving God who makes us Children of the Spirit.

Thank you, dear readers, for coming along with me this far. Now on to today’s offering.

When Mitzi Dahlberg was diagnosed with cancer, she underwent two series of chemotherapy. Like many cancer patients, Mitzi lost all her hair. After the third treatment there was nary a single strand on her head.

For many cancer patients, losing their hair is an emotionally challenging experience. This was true for Mitzi. However, she was also a big fan of hats. So, Mitzi was delighted when she found out about special hats which had been made especially for people in her situation.

To mitigate some of the stress of her treatment, Mitzi’s husband Mitchell surprised her with a mid-winter getaway to watch a Senior PGA tour taking place in Phoenix.

On the first day of the tournament, the weather was stunning. The gallery crowd was huge, yet Mitchell and Mitzi had been lucky enough to slip into a very good position. They were standing just off the third tee, behind the fairway ropes. Mitzy watched as three of her favorite golfers approached the tee box: Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, and Tom Weiskopf.

The golfers had just arrived at the tee when something dramatic happened. A huge gust of wind kicked up from out of nowhere and it blew Mitzy’s hat clean off her head. Up in the air it flew coming to rest right in the middle of the fairway.

The huge throng of spectators lining the fairway turned to look at Mitzy. The professional golfers looked, too. An awkward silence fell over the crowd.

For a moment Mitzi was mortified. What was she going to do? She wanted to crawl away unnoticed, but something had to be done. She had to get her hat off the fairway.

So, she swallowed a big gulp of air and ducked under the fairway rope. Marching out to the middle of the fairway with her bald head reflecting the afternoon sun, she scooped up the hat and firmly placed it back on her head. Then she turned resolutely, faced the golfers, and proclaimed, “Gentlemen, the wind is blowing from left to right.”

It was said the laughter could be heard all the way to the nineteenth hole.

Wind is an unpredictable thing. We cannot see it. It can blow up unexpectedly, and it can cease to blow just as quickly.

This is the Day of Pentecost and the primary reading from Acts 2 tells the dramatic story of the disciples gathered in a house in Jerusalem. While they were inside — a wind blew through the room. Now wind usually does not blow through walls. If it does, then you have got a problem. But inside that wind came. The entire house was filled with the sound of that wind. The disciples had no idea where that wind had come from, or where it was going.

Dramatic as it was, that sudden gust of air blowing the hats off the disciples’ heads was not the only supernatural event. Before the disciples could pick up their hats, tongues of fire descended on them and everybody started speaking languages they never knew. And that, my friends, was the birth of a new way of God being revealed to ordinary people in what has come to be called the Church.

The Bible goes on to tell us that after the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, they were empowered them to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection in different languages before the entire city, and 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus Christ that day. Thus, the birth of the Church is traced to this unusual day.

Birthing needs breath — it is necessary to life. When babies are born, the first thing they do is take in a big gasp of air. For us to live moment to moment, we need breath. The same is true of the Church. The Church of Jesus was not born until the breath of the Holy Spirit blew into people. Up until that point, the followers of Jesus were just a collection of people. That is all the church is without the Holy Spirit, a collection of people.

On the day of Pentecost, the wind did surely blow! And not with a gentle breeze. Not even with a stiff wind. No, the Bible tells us it blew with the sound of a violent wind. This was a batten-down-the-hatches-and-head-for-the-basement kind of a wind. This was the kind of wind that rips things apart.

The Holy Spirit is a powerful force. We like energy and power, but we would prefer to have it on our terms. We read today that the Holy Spirit was made manifest in both wind and fire. Both are forms of energy. We have learned to tame both to our advantage. We use windmills and furnaces and combustion engines. We like power when we can control it.

But both wind and fire have their dangerous side. Two weeks ago, Typhoon Vongfong hit the Philippines, packing winds of 115 mph. Tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated. Likewise, fire destroys homes and businesses causing change and upset and we are seeing how fire makes known protesters anger across our country.

As much as we have learned to build structures to limit some of the risk of fire and wind, we cannot control and regulate either. Complete mastery over their power is beyond us. And if we cannot control them, we certainly cannot control the Holy Spirit! Power is good, but we like to be in control.

But the Holy Spirit cannot be controlled. It comes on its own terms and with a breath of fresh air.

There was a church in Baltimore which had once been a thriving congregation. But with the growth of suburbs many of its members had moved. The congregation was a shell of its former self.

Leaders and long-time members decided a new approach was needed to attract and welcome newcomers. So, on a sunny September afternoon, the pastor met with a small group of people who had turned out to help with the neighborhood canvas. They were put in teams of two, handed church brochures and assigned addresses to visit.

Leaving the church building and turning left neighborhood to the west was known to be quite dangerous and impoverished. Most of the current members of the church lived to the east where those concerns were not prominent.

Edna and Irma were long time members and the pastor was protective of them. So, he did not want them to venture left into the more dangerous neighborhood to the west. Their list included names of people in the safer neighborhood to the east.

Charged with their mission, the teams set out. After an hour, they started to return to report on their experiences. The reports were a mixed bag, until it was Edna and Irma’s turn.

“Oh, we had the most wonderful experience!” said Edna.

“Why, yes!” chimed in Irma. “We met the most wonderful young mother over on Rogers Street!”

“Wait, wait, wait a minute,” interrupted the pastor. “Did you say on Rogers Street?”

“Why, yes!” said Irma, “It’s not more than three blocks from here.”

“But I didn’t give you any names of people on Roger’s Street. That is in the neighborhood to our west! I only gave you names of people who live east of here!”

Enda confessed, “Well, yes, Pastor. I am afraid we did not do things quite like you instructed us. We just started walking and like the wind we went wherever we ended up.”

Irma said, “And we met the most wonderful woman! We invited Charlene to our Bible study on Wednesday morning. We told her we’d stop by her house and pick her up on our way here.”

True to their word, on Wednesday Edna and Irma showed up at Bible study with Charlene. They sat flanking Charlene, protective of their charge, wanting her to have a positive experience. They served her a plate full of goodies and made sure her coffee cup never ran dry.

Typically, when people are new to a Bible study, they will not say much. They just sit and try to take in the “unspoken rules” of the group. But Charlene felt so welcomed by Edna and Irma’s love, that she spoke up and shared much about her colorful life to the group. The pastor could tell that some of the members were a little on edge by her remarks.

Afterwards, Irma whispered to the pastor, “We’re going to invite her to church on Sunday!” And on Sunday, Charlene was there, dressed in a fashion that caught the eyes of all the long-time worshipers. She sat with her three children in the same pew with Edna and Irma, all because two old ladies turned left when they should have gone right. Because they ignored the cautious instructions and did something different.

You know what I think happened? I think the Spirit, with untamed power blew a breath of fresh air into the lives of unsuspecting people who never dreamed they would do something daring like share faith with another or be befriended by long-time Christians.

That is what Pentecost is about — the Spirit moving through people to open doors, inspire faithfulness, prosper life. May the power of Pentecost be known again today, with us and through us and with this world.

A Pentecost prayer

Spirit of truth: guide us into all the truth; consume the lies that shroud the world in hate.

pray in us with sighs too deep for words.

and let the victim’s voice ring out with hope for a new world.