There is an internet meme that has been dividing our country this last week and the meme is the recording of one word, which I will play for you. Who hears the word “Laurel”? And who hears the word “Yanny”? Listeners on the internet are split almost 50/50. Technically, the word is “Laurel” but those who pick up on the higher frequencies hear something very different: “Yanny.” I find it very fascinating that, although we hear the same word spoken, we hear it very differently. The word “Laurel” is very different than the word “Yanny.” Now what does this have to do with Pentecost?
Well, what is “Pentecost”? Pentecost is Greek for “50th” and it refers to the 50th day after Easter, which is today. Pentecost is also the name that Greek speaking Jews in the first century used for a Jewish holiday that was celebrated on the 50th day after Passover. This was the holiday that the apostles were celebrating at the beginning of our reading from Acts this morning and it is the holiday that our Jewish brothers and sisters are actually celebrating today. Does anyone know what this holiday is? It was one of the three major pilgrimage festivals for the Jews, who were expected to make pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem, which is where the apostles had gathered, in our reading from Acts. The holiday is called “Shavuot” and it commemorates and celebrates the receiving of the Torah from God on Mount Sinai. Today, many Jews observe this holiday by staying up all night studying Torah (Tikkun Leil Shavuot) and because the Torah is so sweet, they often feast on tasty foods full of sugar and spices. According to Jewish tradition, everyone who heard the Torah from Mount Sinai, heard it according to his or her own need. Although the same words of the Torah were given and spoken to everyone, everyone heard the words differently, according to their own particular need. And Jewish people today believe that the words of the Torah continue to speak to each of us according to our own particular needs.
This Jewish teaching resonates quite well with the story of Pentecost from Acts in which the apostles began to share the Gospel with peoples from Parthia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia, and Libya and all these people all heard the Gospel in their own native language. They heard the words of the Gospel according to their own particular needs.
Now this does not mean that the Holy Spirit permits us to haphazardly pick and choose parts of the Scriptures that we like and ignore parts we don’t like. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit gives us license to use Scripture as a weapon to hurt others or as a tool to reinforce our own political biases (Left or Right). We are still bound by reason, experience, tradition and the text itself. However, within these boundaries, there is plenty of room for diversity; and that is what we celebrate on this Birthday of the Church: Diversity in Unity and Unity in Diversity.
We celebrate the colorful variety of ways that the Holy Spirit shows up in each of our lives and speaks to us according to our needs. As the Apostle Peter preached in Jerusalem, quoting the Hebrew prophet Joel, the Spirit will be poured out and will speak to us in a variety of ways. Peter said the Holy Spirit will speak to and through children who will prophesy, to and through youth who will have visions, to and through others who will dream dreams. The Holy Spirit will show up and speak in unexpected ways, through servants and slaves, through fire and smoky mist, through a rush of violent wind, even through people who appear to be sloshed at 9 o’clock in the morning (!). The Holy Spirit speaks in a variety of ways. If variety is the spice of life, then the Holy Spirit is full of spice.
This last week, I experienced the Holy Spirit show up and speak to God’s people at a memorial service here at Christ Church, a retirement party for Pastor Dan Price, a symphony concert, and, of course, a royal wedding.
A few days ago, someone shared a personal story with me about how the Holy Spirit showed up and spoke to her after enduring some of the most horrific abuse and violent degradation. I have permission to share part of the story with you. When this person was a young girl in China (around 9 years old), she was brutally victimized by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. After a series of abuses (including extreme starvation), she gave up and decided she did not want to live anymore. She lied down on the ground and closed her eyes, hoping that the Red Guards would kill her since she was not allowed to lie down. But the Red Guards did not put her out of her misery. Instead, she felt a little creature poking at her feet. She opened her eyes and saw that it was a little grey bird, which she initially brushed away. But the bird kept coming back and poking at her. When it started poking at her face, she opened her eyes again and saw the bird’s face close up. The little grey bird tilted its head in apparent curiosity and then looked almost as if it wanted to speak to her through its narrow beak. The bird then flew off into the sun with tremendous power and strength under its wings, and at that moment, the young girl decided she was not going to give up; she was going to keep living. Although she faced even more cruelty later on, she eventually escaped China and then moved to the US, where she now embodies the spirit of that little grey bird for thousands of people who want to give up on life. She pokes at them and encourages them to find the strength and power to live and thrive and fly. The Holy Spirit showed up and spoke to this young girl according to her particular need and has led her deeper into the abundance of life and love and compassion.
One very important way that we discern the presence and voice of the Holy Spirit is by recognizing the fruits of the experience. As Jesus says, “You shall know them by their fruits.” And the fruits of the Holy Spirt love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. The Holy Spirit always leads us deeper into the abundance of life and love. If we are moving deeper into fear and resentment and hatred, then we are not being moved by the Holy Spirit.
So how is the Holy Spirit showing up in your life and speaking to you according to your own particular need; and how is the Holy Spirit growing within you its fruits? In what ways does the Holy Spirit poke at you when you want to give up? I encourage you to share your stories of experiencing the Holy Spirit (as some of us will be doing in our Discipleship Group next week). By sharing these stories, we are sharing the Gospel and we are letting the Holy Spirit speak through us into the lives of others so that we can build up the community and experience together the colorful diversity and the spicy variety of the loving, liberating and life-giving Spirit of Pentecost. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 