Acts 2: 1-4, 14-21, 43-47 NRSVUE

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

    and your old men shall dream dreams.

18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

    in those days I will pour out my Spirit,

        and they shall prophesy.

19 And I will show portents in the heaven above

    and signs on the earth below,

        blood, and fire, and smoky mist.

20 The sun shall be turned to darkness

    and the moon to blood,

        before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.

21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Happy Birthday, Church!  Today is Pentecost Sunday!

Pentecost is actually a Jewish holy day – a celebration of the 5 books of the Law – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – hence the Greek work for 5 – “Pente.”

Which is why Peter and the other disciples end up standing in the courtyard of the Temple and preaching to people in their own languages – they went to celebrate Pentecost and Spirit did a thing!

And it was a pretty spectacular thing!  Tongues of flame and a sound like a rushing wind and people speaking in languages that they didn’t know!

This is the event that Pentecostals – most of whom are descendants of the Methodist Movement through the holiness side of the Methodist family – take their name.  The foundational idea behind Pentecostalism being that Spirit is literally still speaking through people.

Pentecost has a very supernatural, spectacular feel to it, so in celebrating this holy day, we often pull out all the stops with bird, or fire, or wind, or butterfly themed decorations!  

Reading the scripture in multiple languages.

Children making flame hats out of construction paper and flame wands out of crepe paper streamers.

Turning on a BIG Fan to recreate a sound like a rushing wind.

I even did a balloon drop in one large church where I worked!

Red, orange and yellow balloons hoisted into the ceiling beams with ropes that when pulled, released the balloons onto people’s heads.

Because it’s fun.

Because we’re trying to teach the story.

But also because we seem to forget that the miraculous spectacle of the day is not the important part of the story.

I’m about to share with you an idea that totally changed how I read scripture.

Totally changed how I read scripture.

Are you ready?

In the pre-scientific era in which ALL of the Bible was written – miracles were used as proof that the teaching was legitimate.

For example in 1 Kings chapter 18, the Prophet Elijah wants King Ahab to listen to him talk about God instead of the prophets of Baal, talking about Baal, so he challenges the Priests of Baal to a miracle competition.  The challenge was:

Build an altar, 

put an animal sacrifice in it, and 

light the fire using only prayer!

It’s like a reality TV Survivor competition – make fire using no matches — using nothing but prayer!

Of course the priests of Baal fail to pray down fire, because science.

Then Elijah ups the game and has the whole thing drenched in water, says one little prayer and fire falls from heaven and burns the whole altar, even the stones, to ash.

Not science!

The Miracle proved that the message was worth listening to.

They accepted the message on faith because the miracle was convincing.

Then:  The Miracle validates the Message

Now:  The Message validates the Miracle

This is almost totally the opposite of how we think now.

We hear these stories of fire descending from heaven, or the Red Sea parting, or Jesus feeding the 5000, and we think —

The message is good, so I’m willing to listen to the miracle.

The Message proves that the miracle is worth considering.

Then, they accepted the message on faith because the miracle was convincing.

Now, we accept the miracle on faith because the message is convincing.

So if you’ve ever wondered why there are so many miracles in the Bible, which we find difficult to deal with today, this is why.

*Most* of humanity’s world view has done a complete 180 regarding miracles and messages.

But as Christians we are grounded in these stories that contain miracles, so we get caught up in trying to justify the miracles!

So we often spend Pentecost trying to re-enact miracles with crepe paper and balloons…which just makes the miracles seem even more ridiculous…

When what we should be doing is focusing on the message of Pentecost.

So we’re going to skip all the way down to verse 43!

43 Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 

Which says what I just explained in much fewer words!  People were impressed with the miracles so they were then willing to listen to the apostles.

And because the apostles taught the people what Jesus had taught them…

Look at verse 44

All these people who believed in what was being taught started sharing all things in common;  even selling their stuff and sharing the cash with everyone, so that everyone’s needs were met.

Woofff!  

Selling everything they had and giving it away to anyone who had needs!

Theologians have tried to explain this away 9 ways from Sunday.

Saying that was just a Pentecost thing.

Or that’s an exaggeration.

Or they only shared things with members.

Probably the most theologically legitimate explanation for the Radical Share Economy of the post- Pentecost Church is that they all thought that Jesus was coming right back, so they thought that nobody really needed to work or own anything – but pretty soon they realized that sharing everything with everyone wasn’t practical because some people’s needs were being over-met and others were still in need…. Which is kind of true… They did think Jesus would be right back, and they did appoint Deacons to manage meeting people’s needs in a more organized and responsible way.

But I think the most overlooked theological point is that the Church at Pentecost enacted the Year of the Lord’s Favor – the Year of Jubilee as a grass roots action of radical generosity.

Where those who had more than enough sold their possessions and redistributed their wealth to those who didn’t have enough – they were doing what the government of Israel should have been doing every 50 years according to Leviticus chapter 25.

And this is such a radical teaching – just as radical then, as it is now – that this story needed a really spectacular miracle to validate the sheer audacity of choosing generosity in a world that is centered on greed.

The real message of the story of Pentecost.

The real good news of this miraculous story is not wind, and languages and tongues of flame.

The real good news is that day by day – this is in verse 46 – day by day, they broke bread in their homes and shared food together with glad and generous hearts. 

And, BECAUSE day by day, they gathered in homes and at the Temple with glad and generous hearts…they earned the goodwill of all the people.

And day by day, God added to their numbers, those who were finding healing and wholeness.

I say, healing and wholeness, because sozoh – the Greek work that is translated as “saved”  means healing and holistic wellness – in body, mind and spirit.  Having enough to pay the bills and put food on the table goes a long way towards physical healing and wholeness.

And day by day, God added to their numbers, those who were finding healing and wholeness.

Not because of wind and fire, but because of glad and generous hearts.

Church, in our Board meeting last Sunday, we discussed an article with some pretty serious statistics from Pacific Northwest Annual Conference, our neighbors to the North in the Greater Northwest Episcopal Area

In the past 10 years, PNW Annual Conference – that’s Washington State and Northern Idaho – 

• has shrunk from 236 churches to 187 churches – that’s a loss of 49 churches.
• The One Corporate Sized Church – that’s 500+ shrunk down to a Program size church – that’s 150- 500
• 13 churches shrunk from Program sized to Pastoral sized- that’s 50- 150 members
• There are about half as many Pastoral sized churches – that’s 50-150 in members
• And there are more Family sized churches, but only because about half the previously Pastoral sized churches now have 50 or less members.  
• Of those 119 family-sized congregations, 98 average fewer than 35 in worship 

And I share this not to say, Oh No!  The sky is falling! The Church is dying!

I share this to say, we are not alone.

Montavilla is not the only church who used to be Program sized, moved to Pastoral sized, and now is Family sized, with an average of fewer than 35 in worship.

We’re not alone.

We’re not less good at doing church than other churches.

We’re not “doing it wrong.”

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the midst of what historians call an Epochal Change.

Like we’re standing at the edge of the end of one Epic and the beginning of another age in history.

And so were the Disciples on Pentecost.

The Disciples didn’t know what they were doing!

Until the day of Pentecost, they were HIDING IN THE UPPER ROOM!

They were so scared and bewildered after Jesus’ death and resurrection that they had no idea what to do.

They were standing at the edge of the end of what Historians now call the End of Antiquity and the Beginning of the Common Era!

They didn’t know what they were doing, they just did what they knew.

They went to the Temple to celebrate the Festival of the 5 books of the Torah and Spirit showed up.

They didn’t know what to do next, so they just did what Jesus did with them.

They hung out, they ate, they talked about what it means to really follow God – then they went out and did it – by practicing neighbor love with glad and generous hearts.

They practiced Radical Hospitality, without any intention of being radical.

They were just doing with others what Jesus had done with them.

Church, this Pentecost, I believe we are standing at the edge of the end of the Common Era and the Beginning of… I don’t know what the Historians will call this!

And I don’t know what to do to save the institutional church.

I’m not actually convinced that we’re even supposed to save the institutional church.

Temple Judaism was holy and God let it come to an end, but the Jewish faith went on.

The Holy Roman Empire was… a thing, and God let it come to an end, but our faith went on in new forms..

Mid-century-modern Institutional Church is coming to an end, but our faith – Christianity is moving on to new forms.

But at the center of all these movements are the teachings of God.

The practice of hospitality.

The practice of compassion and care.

The practice of neighbor-love.

The practice of day by day, gathering in homes and churches with glad and generous hearts, and day by day, God added to their numbers.

So that’s what we’re doing, and it’s working.

I know that it doesn’t look like it’s working on Sunday, but day by day, as we gather with Haven Dinner on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, God is adding new people to Haven every single month!

Since last summer God has added 9 more people to Haven Dinner, and we’ve got our biggest group ever heading to Camp Magruder Adult Renewal Retreat the first weekend in June, and we’re picking up a completely random person who registered for camp and needs a ride!

Since last summer, God has added new people to the Sewists Collective every month — they now have 3 gatherings a month – a day time gathering, an evening gathering and a knitting circle.  There’s even a young man who’s a committed Sewist!

Day by day – I see you bringing donations to the Haven Dinner pantry, gathering household items for people who need something, and dropping stuff off for Rahab’s Sisters with glad and generous hearts.

And day by day, even in our old fashioned mid-century-modern Sunday worship, God is adding to our numbers.  Thanks be to God, we’ve got some new friends.

So happy birthday, Church!

I don’t know what we’re going to look like next year, much less 100 years from now, but I do know this.

The future begins with glad and generous hearts.

We know how to do that!

John 14:5-21 NRSVUE

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

 

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

For the Past 3 weeks we’ve been working our way through readings from the gospel of John learning that:

• When the Gospel of John blames “the Jews” – this is not an endorsement of anti-semitism — it’s an argument between Jewish Christians and Jews – an argument between siblings
• Creator, Christ and Spirit all have the same personality – so there is no Angry Father God.

If you want to read those sermons they’re on the church website Montavillaumchurch.org 

Today we’re dealing with one more horrible interpretation of the gospel of John.  The idea that love equals obedience.

The idea that love equals obedience, has been used to justify the oppression of many people by the church.

It was used to justify the oppression of people who were enslaved.

It has been used to justify harsh parenting.

It is still used in certain sects of conservative Christianity to justify the oppression of women.

The idea being that if we are “good Christians” who love God, then we must be obedient to all the commandments of God.  Which is fine 

 But in fundamentalist branches of the faith, what those commandments are is interpreted by people who love power not God.

Those advocating for slavery said that if you love God you will obey your earthly masters.

Those advocating for child abuse say that if you love God you will obey your parents – and if you don’t then we’re required to discipline you harshly to save your soul.

Those advocating for the subjugation of women say that if you love God you will obey your husband, your Pastor and all other male authorities…

And when clergywomen and other Progressive clergy say, that’s not biblical they will say:

But It’s right there in verse 15:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Yes….but this passage is part of a whole conversation that starts in chapter 13 at the footwashing and last supper of Maundy Thursday and the only commandment that Jesus gave them was John 13:34-35:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 

The Commandment is LOVE.

And you might, reasonably, ask – but it says commandments, plural, not commandment, singular.

Absolutely!  

And in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says that all the Law and the Prophets come down to LOVE – Love God and love your neighbor.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Love is obedience to the commandments.

Oppression is not love.

Slavery is not loving our neighbors or loving God – whether we are talking about America’s original sin of the generational enslavement of African Americans, or the modern slavery that still happens today in the forms of the new Jim Crow, sexual trafficking and labor trafficking… ask any United Woman in Faith and she’ll explain modern slavery to you!

Child abuse is not loving our neighbors or loving God – whether we are talking about high control parenting that is advocated for by ultra-conservative Christian groups, or just plan assault pretending to be discipline- that’s not compatible with the Christian teaching of love.

Oppression of women is not love – trying to remove our voting rights, our reproductive rights, silencing the voices of victims of assault, unequal pay for equal work, and the idea so prevalent in some ultra-conservative Christian spaces that women are to be subservient to men – that’s not love.

Love looks like justice.

Love looks like fairness.

Love looks like compassion.

Love looks like safety.

Love looks like respect.

Love looks like being listened to.

Love looks like the free will that God created us to have.

What else does love look like to you?

As a part of the United Women in Faith Mother’s Day celebration, we’ve collected some thoughts on the women in our lives who showed us love.  

John 14:1-14 NRSVUE

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

You can follow along in your bulletin…

Verse 1 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled”

I’m already troubled, but I believe in God and Jesus and Spirit, so here I am… But I’m troubled about the Gospel of John.

As I mentioned last week – the Gospel of John is not my favorite Gospel because of the way it has been used to justify anti-semitism, and certain very narrow, exclusionary interpretations of Christianity.

But what Jesus was telling the Disciples to not be troubled about was his crucifixion.  

In John chapter 13, right before today’s passage in chapter 14, it’s Maundy Thursday.  We call it Maundy, in Christian tradition, because in John 13:24 Jesus says, “I give you a new mandatum – mandatum is Latin for Commandment… “I give you a new mandatum, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Maundy Thursday is a nick-name for Mandatum Thursday – Commandment Thursday.  And the commandment is LOVE.

So why are they disturbed?

Love is a good thing, right?

Well, Jesus is giving them last instructions after telling them that he’s about to be arrested and crucified, betrayed and denied.  So they’re a little shook.  Here’s what happened.

Jesus washed their feet and Peter got very dramatic about the whole thing.

Then, Jesus told them that one of them was going to betray him.

Which would get him killed.

So Jesus gave them a new mandatum – a new command to love one another.

After which Peter is like, wait, no, you’re going where?  I’m coming with you!

And Jesus is like – bruh – you’re not going to follow me, you’re going to deny me 3 times before the roosters wake up.

So, justifiably so, they were feeling more than a little troubled!

So Jesus tells them, in verse 1, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Just Believe in God and believe in me.

And since Jesus has just told everyone that they can’t go where Jesus is going, Jesus reassures them that there will be a place for them in the house of God.

By this time the disciples are sooo confused.

Like, where is Jesus going?

Why can’t we come?

What house?

What do you mean not even Peter can come? 

So Thomas, 

I like Thomas, he’s not afraid to ask the questions that everyone is thinking.

So Thomas, asks in verse 5, So… where are you going, so we can catch up to you?

And maybe because the authors of John are kinda extra, or maybe because Jesus is definitely extra, Jesus responds in verse 6 and 7:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

And Philip decides to be a good friend and back Thomas up, because this is making less and less sense to them because they’re just trying to figure out where Jesus is going, like *geographically,* so that they can meet up later, and now Jesus is talking about being one with the Father….

Soooo will we be meeting up with the Father too?

Really the Disciples are just so confused at this point because the idea that Jesus was going to be executed by Rome was just not comprehensible to them.

So that’s what’s going on in the story.

What troubles me about this passage in the gospel of John is the way some Pastors have interpreted verse 6 while ignoring verses 7- 11.

What troubles me is an understanding of how salvation works, called Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

This is a relatively new understanding of how salvation works – it only dates back to the 19th century.

The idea being that no one can come to the Father except through Jesus, which is what verse 6 says, in part….sort of.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement – or PSA goes like this:

Father God is angry because He (it’s always He in PSA!)

He is angry because He made a perfect creation and we screwed it up with all our sinning.

Then, they take Romans 6:23 completely out of context by reducing Paul’s, long explanation of why we should try not to sin anymore after we decide to follow Jesus, down to just, “the wages of sin is death.”

Then they take “the wages of sin is death,” and interpret that to mean that sin must be paid for with death.  Rather than the obvious meaning that is in alignment with the rest of Romans 6 that sin doesn’t end well.

Maybe you’ve seen the PSA diagram where:

God is here                                                            sinful humanity is here

                       And Jesus is a bridge between us 

The logic of PSA being that God *REQUIRES DEATH* to pay for sin, and since the plan of flooding the whole earth and Noah’s arc thing didn’t put a stop to sin,  The Father decided to have his son killed for our sin.  Jesus’ death becomes the substitute for our punishment.

Hence the term substitutionary.

The main problem with Penal Substitutionary Atonement is that PSA ignores one of the foundational ideas of Apostolic Christianity:  Trinitarianism.

Look at verses 9- 11, starting in the middle verse 9

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, 

Trinitarianism is only complicated if you’re trying to figure out how it mechanically works.  Do I know precisely how Jesus, God and Spirit are one and yet separate – no.  Nobody does – it’s what we call a mystery of the faith.  Don’t worry about it.  We’ll understand it better by and by!

However, Trinitarianism is very simple to understand in how God functions as Trinity.

Creator, Christ and Spirit are all the same personality.

If you’ve met Jesus, you’ve met the Father, and you’ve met the Spirit.

If you’ve met Spirit, which is more common these days, you’ve met Jesus and the Mothering God who gave us birth.

Jesus has the same personality as the Father and 

Creator has the same personality as Jesus.

If, as believers in Penal Substitutionary Atonement argue,  Father God cannot bear to be close to sin, then how could Jesus stand to be around all those sinners?  

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

It makes no sense for “Father God” to be an angry, abusive father who kills his son because He can’t stand His sinful creation and for Jesus to be a loving, forgiving savior who wants to be with us always if Father, Son and Spirit ALL HAVE THE SAME PERSONALITY!

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

Penal Substitutionary Atonement, and the way it misuses scripture, troubles me.

But I believe in God, and I believe that Jesus is God.

I believe that God decided to come down here Godself, not out of anger, but out of love.

To command us to love one another, just as God loves us.

I believe that it is not Jesus’ death that saves us from an angry Father.

I believe that Jesus rose from the dead to prove that it is love that saves us – and love cannot be killed.

There is no Angry Father God.

You know who was angry?

Zeus.

Zeus, the King of the Roman gods, was an angry old man sitting on a cloud ready to strike people down with a bolt of lightning for annoying him.

Zeus, made half-deity sons with unwilling human women, who sometimes intervened on behalf of their human mothers and siblings.

I think that the old religion of the Roman Empire bled into the new religion of the Holy Roman Empire, such that the personality of Zeus was substituted for the personality of Yahweh, which is the personality of Jesus.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

There is no Angry Father God and gentle Jesus – there is only One God.

Does God get mad?

Absolutely!

Jesus got mad at the money changers in the Temple and at the bad Pharisees, not all Pharisees, just the bad ones,  in the Pharisee movement who spread bad theology.

God got mad at the Kings of Israel for failing to care for widows and orphans, overtaxing the poor, treating Bathsheba the way David did,  and allowing the worship of other gods like Molach who demanded child sacrifice.  Ewww.

Scripture shows us that God is capable of anger… 

at injustice, mercilessness, and oppression.

Scripture does not show us a God who sits on a cloud with a bolt of lighting in his hand, waiting to smite you for walking into a church!

God loves you.  No ifs, ands or lighting bolts!

Let’s continue into verse 12.

12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, 

Not only does God love us  – Creator, Christ and Spirit loves us –

God empowers us.

God empowers us to do even more than Jesus did while on this earth.

That sounds a little crazy right?

Like, I can’t raise the dead, or feed 10,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish!

But hasn’t the church fed multitudes more since Jesus fed the 5,000+ people?

Jesus was able to heal people with a word or a touch, but haven’t the hospitals founded by the Church healed Billions more in the last 2000 years?

Jesus taught many people, but haven’t the schools, Universities, and Seminaries the Church has founded taught Billions more?

Because since Jesus went to the Father, followers of Jesus have asked God to help us love one another as God loves us.

God isn’t waiting for us to screw up so They can hit us with lightning.

God is waiting for us to ask Them for anything in the name of Jesus.

Well, not just anything, God isn’t a convenience store in the sky!

Anything that is in alignment with the teachings of Jesus.

So, I’m going to ask God to get our housing project moving again.

To get it built soon enough for us all to see it finished.

For us to be the church for the people who live there.

Because Jesus said, in verses 13 and 14:

13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.