Pentecost, Babel & Baptism

In his book “What is thePoint of Being a Christian?” Timothy Radcliffe critiques the notion that baptism brings us into being a part of God’s family in any sort of exclusive way.  He suggests that “In baptism we die to all that divides us from other human beings; we are pointed beyond the small confines of any lesser identity.  Our parents, perhaps unknowingly, having received us as a gift from God, give us away.”

It is true to say that there is a sense in which we are brought by baptism into the Church but being a part of the Church is fundamentally about being truly human.  In this way baptism does not enclose in an exclusive group it opens us to reality of our identity as human beings.  This was told to us today in the readings as we heard the stories from Babel to Pentecost.  These stories are two sides of one coin: they are the story of God’s faithfulness to an unfaithful people.  I want to pick up on the connecting thread that runs through the two stories concerning the transition in the relationship between God and humanity.

To begin with the story of the tower of Babel we are taken back to a time not too distant from the great flood of Noah described in chapters 6-9 of Genesis.  Noah’s sons and their descendants peopled the earth and in Genesis 11 we are given an insight into their growing pride.  What is notable about these people is that there is only one people and one language in all of humanity and as God indicates in their unity human beings are capable of great things. 

So, prior to the tower of Babel there is only one people that inhabit the earth and these are all God’s people.  In a manner, which has clear echoes of the story of Adam and Eve, these people begin to believe the notion that they can control their relationship with God, that they have a right to build a tower up to heaven.  This idea denies God’s presence and care for them as God’s people and could even be seen as them challenging God.

The story carries with it a mix of sin and grace.  The people act in a manner that can only be considered unfaithful to the truth of their relationship with God but God in his grace does not choose the way of destruction again, that is to say another flood, but offers a new way forward.  God confuses the language of the people and in so doing turns one people into many nations. 

In this way the many different languages and dialects of the world created by God at this point serve as a metaphor to remind humanity of its fallibility and our place in relationship with God.  So the story of the Tower of Babel is a transition from one people to many nations.  However, this does not mean that God abandons humanity because from these many nations arise the one people of God called Israel.  Following the story in Genesis 11 the Scriptures lead us to Abram and his calling and the promise of God to him concerning Israel.

Now, as an aside, whilst God chooses Israel to be his people, Israel is chosen to be a priestly people and a light among the nations.  In other words Israel’s relationship with God as God’s people still serve as a representative group for all humanity.

The important thing to remember here is that prior to Babel one people, God’s people, true humanity, is a common people on all the earth.  The evolution of different languages at Babel is given as a corrective by God for human pride.

This brings us forward to the day of Pentecost.  Pentecost occurs 50 days after Passover and was a Jewish festival but this event among the believers in Jerusalem redefines its significance for the church.

The believers had gathered together and the Spirit came upon them.  The gift of the Spirit on that day had many signs: rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the speaking in tongues.  Each has its own allusions to Old Testament scriptures, but picking up the thread of language from the Tower of Babel what we hear about is most significant.  People spoke in their own language, people from the divided nations, but others were able to understand despite the fact they did not know the other languages. 

This is not so much a gift of tongues as a gift of hearing.  Douglas Adams in his novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy captures the idea of this gift in the strange animal called the “Babel Fish”.  In the story the Babel fish is a small fish inserted in the ear of a person that enables them to understand every other language.  (It is now also an online translation site) The Holy Spirit comes into the gathering of believers and does just this – enables them to hear in their own language.

What happens is a reversal of what had occurred at the tower of Babel.  Human beings separated by language were drawn back together in their ability to understand one another.  A significant aspect of this reversal though is that God did not heal everyone so that they all spoke the same language but rather were given a gift of understanding one another which did not diminish the cultural differences established by language.

Taken to its logical end the two stories of the Tower of Babel and the Day of Pentecost combine to speak to us of the truth of our being human is about the unity of all humanity.  The Church as the first fruits of the new creation is called to live as people of that unity now.  This means understanding exactly what Timothy Radcliffe expressed that baptism does not isolate us in some select group but incorporates us into what it real means to exist as a human being.

This has important implications for all who are baptised.  Yes baptism makes us part of the church, God’s family, but understood through the lens of a reversal of the Tower of Babel being a part of the church is meant to break down barriers not create some sort of exclusive community. 

Being baptised establishes a person in their relationship with God as well as all other human beings.  Baptism brings us into a restored and reconciled humanity in which people of different languages are made to understand one another and live as one once again.  This is the scandal of the Christian faith.

This means that the expression used by Radcliffe, that in allowing a child to be baptised parents in a sense give the gift that God has given them away, rings true.  Baptism takes us beyond our biological ties of family, beyond our cultural and linguistic ties and into something deeper and greater: a truly shared and common humanity.  In the Uniting church we recognised just such a truth in a response to a baptism when a congregation promises the following:

            With God’s help,

            we will live out our baptism

            as a loving community in Christ:

            nurturing one another in faith,

            upholding one another in prayer,

            and encouraging one another in service.

On an internal level this is a commitment to care for and nurture all in our midst as brothers and sisters in Christ.  This has very practical implications in the way that we support parents and children, of whatever age, come to know of God’s love.  We all have responsibility for one another.

Yet on an external level this is also a commitment to live openly witnessing to the world around us that God has reconciled us with one another and all things.  The Church is not to exist as some sort of religious ghetto constrained by an exclusive language or piety and culture that shuts others out.  No we are to live as people reconciled with one another for the sake of the world.  The people who were enabled to hear and understand the good news were not simply the Christians gathered on that day but the observers as well.

Of course this does not mean that all will hear and respond and understand – in fact sometimes it means quite the opposite.  People will ridicule and question us – have they been drinking?  Are they filled with new wine?  Proclaiming the gospel is not guaranteed with a positive response but our call to live as the one people of God, which is the new humanity, is at the heart of our faith.

The witness of the scriptures is clear that it is only through Christ and in the Spirit that this new humanity is formed put the promise is that it has been formed and we who are the Church are called to respond in a way which gives honour to God’s faithfulness and our new existence as God’s people.  

Pentecost: Baptism, Lawn Mowing & Hope

This morning is a time of celebration, a time of renewal, a time of hope.  A time of hope in which we face the struggles we share as individuals and the struggles we face as a human race and we say there is more to life than this: there is God.

We do this by remembering the pouring out of the Holy Spirit which draws us home into relationship with God; we do this by remembering our own baptisms and as we baptise Wesley; and we do this by breaking bread and drinking from the cup of Christ.  In the act of our remembering God we believe and hope that God will transform us.

One of the most fundamental questions we can ask is, 'what is the purpose of my life?'  Today, in the context of our remembering we hear an answer to this question which as people who follow Jesus defines the purpose of our lives.  We who are baptised into the community of faith live out our baptisms: this is our purpose to be disciples of Jesus.

So how does this look?  In the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians he writes,

4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

The gifts that we are given are for the building up of the whole, they are for the common good.  I want to show you an example of what it has meant for one person to live out their baptism here in this congregation.

I want to invite Vic to come and join me on this chair at the front. 

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter of resignation from Vic from the lawn mowing roster.  He was the only one left on it.  To give you an idea of the extent of this service Vic has been on the lawn roster in this church for around 50 years.  This is basically from when he and Jean moved up from Melbourne.

Vic has served in many other ways in the congregation.  He has been a Sunday school teacher and boys club teacher, he has been on the Property Management Committee, he has been an Elder and on Church Council.  Yet, his faithfulness to keeping our yard tidy has spanned more years than I have been breathing.

I'm not sure this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians about a variety of gifts and services but I have no doubt that Vic has understood this is what it means to live out his baptism and in this it is precisely what Paul was writing about.

When I asked Vic about why he kept doing it for so long, at first, he joked that he was too dopey to get off the roster.  But I know Vic better than this so I pressed him a little further.  It has long been Vic's opinion that the worst witness a congregation can give to the local community is to have an untidy property.

For Vic, keeping the property tidy has always been about witness.  As a disciple of Christ, he has been living out his baptism to ensure that this congregation has a good reputation in the community and always looks welcoming and loved for those who come here.

We were discussing Vic's long and loving service to the congregation the other night at Bible Study and it lead us into a conversation about our rosters in the congregation.  Why do we have them? Why do we do them?  What purpose do they serve?

Very quickly John reflected into the conversation that the rosters are an expression of our love.  To push his comment a bit further I would suggest it is an expression of our love for God, our love for one another, and our love for others.  In this, it should and can become an expression of our hospitality as God’s people as we use our gifts for the common good, building up the whole!

Participating in these rosters can reflect our baptism, yet in our life as a congregation they are only one side of the story. I suggested the other evening at Bible Study that in the shifting sands of culture that maybe as we face the future new and different rosters will be needed.  Rosters which encourage us to think more deeply about the world and community around us.

I'd like to invite Naa to come and bring Wesley to the front and sit on this other chair.

This morning we will baptise Wesley.  The world and life into which Wesley is being baptised is, in so many ways, vastly different to the world that Vic was baptised into.

This is not simply because Wesley is being baptised in Australia and will go home and grow up in Ghana but because in the last 80 years the world has got a whole lot smaller and the big issues we face as humanity and also as the church are shared internationally.

So, the question for us this morning is what challenges lie ahead for Wesley as he, encouraged by Naa and Franklin, learns what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to live out his baptism.

If we consider for a moment the world that Vic was born into.  He was born as the world headed into depression and he grew up during a time of war.  It was a time when the church in Australia and the Western world in general was pretty strong.  But the advances in technology from the time of his birth to now are absolutely mind blowing – transport, science, communication, education, health care, standards of living almost unrecognisable.

In this year that Wesley has come to us we face a sense of being a global community like no other time in history.  Religious sectarianism is strong, as is the growth of atheism.  As a global community we face the changing of the climate, sea level rises, world food shortages and wars fought over access to water and arable land.  Millions of refugees traverse the globe fleeing conflict whilst in wealthy countries the standard of living continues to rise as do the technological advances.

For Wesley to live as a witness to Christ’s love and hope in this world it will be different than it was for Vic.  Maybe, just maybe, he might mow a church lawn but maybe, just maybe, more will be asked of him as he discerns gifts of understanding and wisdom in the face a the great issues of his time.

The pouring of God’s Holy Spirit indicates that God is aware of the changing context of our lives as humanity.  The Spirit is dynamic and renewing and refreshing and leads us to new insights and new hope.   The Spirit inspires us with new gifts pertinent to our era.

Maybe church rosters will develop new emphases which not only create a place of welcome but a responsibility to be apostles: which means those who are sent out to share the good news. 

This morning is a time of celebration, a time of renewal, a time of hope.  A time of hope in which we face the struggles we share as individuals and the struggles we face as a human race and we say there is more to life than this: there is God.

We do this by remembering the pouring out of the Holy Spirit which draws us home into relationship with God; we do this by remembering our own baptisms and as we baptise Wesley; and we do this by breaking bread and drinking from the cup of Christ.  In the act of our remembering God we believe and hope that God transforms us and lead us to live out our baptisms as disciples, being living signs of the hope that we have for the whole world.

Pentecost: Sermon Preview

Peter Lockhart

A sermon based on Acts 2:1-21

The Holy Spirit descends and breathes into the disciples, and those listening, an amazing ability.

They are given the ability to speak and listen and understand languages other than the one that they speak.

At its base level I believe that this description of the day of Pentecost is a reversal of the confusion set upon human beings at the tower Babel, a story found in the book of Genesis Chapter 11.

In summary the story of the tower of Babel goes like this.

“Up until this point in the Bible, the whole world had one language - one common speech for all people. The people of the earth became skilled in construction and decided to build a city with a tower that would reach to heaven. By building the tower they wanted to make a name for themselves and also prevent their city from being scattered.

God came to see their city and the tower they were building. He perceived their intentions, and in His infinite wisdom, He knew this "stairway to heaven" would only lead the people away from God. He noted the powerful force within their unity of purpose. As a result, God confused their language, causing them to speak different languages so they would not understand each other. By doing this, God thwarted their plans. He also scattered the people of the city all over the face of the earth.”

http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/towerofbabel.htm

In one sense then I see the Day of Pentecost as a reversal of this story. It is a sign that human beings are reconciled again to God. A reconciliation that is understood to occur by the disciples through what Jesus does. So whilst understanding comes through shared communication it is not the shared communication that draws human being back towards God and each other.

So, and this is a big so, whilst shared understanding is given as a sign of reconciliation with God, the reversal of the Tower of Babel, onlookers of the event fail to understand it, even though they can see and hear in their own language, “they must be filled with new wine!” In other words, “they are drunk!”

One of our greatest problems as humanity is our inability to understand one another, even when we speak the same language. You only have to observe politicians and the issues that humanity is confronting to understand this.

What I find particularly disturbing is our inability to hear those who may be speaking a word of prophecy amongst us. During the week I heard a report about the death threats being levelled at climate scientists in Australia.

These scientists are speaking the same language as those listening: but is the problem that people don’t want to listen? Is it because people cannot see beyond the meal on their table and the roof over their head?

The hopeful, yet naive, notion that J.F.K propounded in the 1960s was :

“Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkenn124671.html

When we as human beings fail to listen, to really listen, even when we are given a common language, how can we place so much faith in ourselves?

The Spirit was poured out to give an opportunity to witness to God’s reconciliation in Jesus Christ. The shared language on that day was a sign of what God was doing, but what is clear to me is that even with a common language we as human beings are still confused and more often than not even selfish bunch, we are all at sea.

The witness of the disciples was that it was because of God’s love expressed in Jesus Christ that we have become reconciled to God and one another and it is only when we find some unity in this proclamation that it can make any sense. It is this which becomes our hope, not the amazing gifts we may have to share with one another, but the God who through the Spirit and in Christ is present at work in and through us giving us hope even when we are misunderstood and sneered at as drunkards.

Care for the creation

Peter Lockhart

I've just been watching a video of a lecture by Jeremy Jackson found on Byron Smith's blog, here. After preaching on the destruction on the oceans last year this was how I finished my sermon.

As we wait and we witness our own folly as God’s stewards we are reassured by God’s gracious word to us from Paul’s letter to the Romans, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It is the peace with God that can inspire us to consider again our place as witnesses to the future we hope in by the way we live as citizens of the coming kingdom now.

Maybe this is what John Calvin was on about when he wrote: “The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, on the condition, that being content with frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain... Moreover, that this economy and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us; let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.”
(John Calvin: Commentary on Genesis 2:15)

Despite our inability to respond to the wonder of creation appropriately, despite our destructive interpretation of 'dominion', despite our hurt of nature and each other the empty tomb reminds us that God chooses to love us and forgive us and invites us to a future yet to be fully understood or seen: a future in which God promises not simply to save human beings but renew the whole creation.

God’s grace comes and echoes in our lives like the distant crashing of waves against the shore, a comforting sound as the Spirit moves within us and draws into God’s life and God’s future. When we taste of the bread and wine our hope is that one day the renewal of the whole creation will occur and we will be blessed as we see the reflection of God’s glory and live as God’s people.

Pentecost: Living right to the end of life!

Peter Lockhart
The following was used as a devotional reflection in a retirement complex.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit described in the book of Acts is an amazing thing: the sound of a rushing wind; tongues of fire; the ability to hear other languages and understand. So perplexing is the behaviour of those gathered that they are accused of as being drunk.

The Holy Spirit comes in power to give the disciples the strength and support to move forward in faith sharing the good news of Jesus with other people. This is a story of hope and purpose and direction in life.

And when we speak of the Holy Spirit we usually use words which describe life and movement.

The Holy Spirit is poured out, it is rushing wind, tongues of fire, bringer of gifts, giver of life, guide, comforter, inspirer and so on.

Tomorrow I am conducting a funeral and it has caused me to pause and think about how we understand this story of the coming of the Spirit and its place in our lives as we get older.

I suppose I can’t really speak from personal experience too deeply yet but I think one thing that maybe some think when they hear about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit is that it just sounds tiring.

The Holy Spirit comes to give life and movement but as you get older life and movement are just that little bit harder.

I imagine it’s far easier to speak of dance of the Holy Spirit if you don’t have arthritis or you don’t have a bung knee or a gammy leg.

I imagine it’s far easier to speak of the Holy Spirit as guide if you’re not stuck without a licence anymore or you’re not living in a retirement village or nursing home.

Yet it could also be far easier when we begin to think this way to write ourselves off as if there is nothing left to contribute and life has just become a waiting game, waiting for the only thing left, which we don’t really want to think about too much: death.

But when I read the story from the book of Acts I am always struck by the phrase “your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams”. Your old men shall dream dreams!

This is no less important than the young men who have visions. To take this point a little further, I would argue that the Spirit comes with different gifts for our age and stage in life. Your old men will dream dreams is an example contained within a prophecy.

I want to share a story I heard yesterday about a man who has terminal cancer. After being discharged from hospital he went home but when he got there he went straight to bed and was refusing to come out.

A young woman, a social worker, went and encouraged him step by step to reengage with life. To move out of waiting for death into living what he had left. The first step was simple to get up and to have a shower.

Step by step the man reengaged in living as best he could and gradually he became involved in supporting other people with cancer. He got involved so fully that last year he ran a Cancer Council Morning Tea in his home.

Not only was he living but he was living for others.

The vision of the young woman to help the man rediscover life turned into a dream for the man, a dream which became fulfilling not only for him but for others.

The Holy Spirit brings new life, helps us discover new gifts and passions and within the context of community young and old, male and female, rich and poor God empowers us to witness to Jesus who promised to send the Spirit to help us live our lives and live them abundantly, right to the end. Amen.