Sermon 5/23/21: "Language of the Spirit" Pr. Craig Mueller

Pr. Craig Mueller

The Day of Pentecost

May 23, 2021

Language of the Spirit

I wish I could speak another language. Well. I have bilingual-envy! I had a couple years of Spanish, German and Greek. Enough to pronounce words and understand a little. And I still remember some basic dialogues I first learned. Hola, que tal? Bien, y tu? Como te llamos? Me llamo Paco. (Spanish!) Guten tach. Wo is Monica? Im boot mit Peter. (German!)

Something is lost when we don’t learn how to really listen and learn from someone from another place, with a different language, culture, religion and way of life. When you travel the world, English is spoken in enough places that we Americans can assume that we don’t have to learn the native language. This can lead us to be complacent and even arrogant.

Pentecost. Red. Holy Spirit. And for us today, Confirmation, or as we call the rite: Affirmation of Baptism. Not as well-known as Easter and Christmas. But it’s the number three most important Christian festival. And today’s scripture readings are packed full of cool, mind-bending things. The language of Pentecost, or the language of the Holy Spirit, we might say. We often talk about imagining a scene—seeing it in our mind. Today’s scriptures invite us to hear Pentecost sounds, some quite surprising and even shocking!

There’s the famous dry bones reading. And the sound of breath and wind. In biblical languages breath and wind are connected to the word “spirit.” And then there’s that weird noise. Rattling. Dry bones coming together as flesh covers them. And they stand on their feet and live! Even when God’s people are in exile, far from home, and without hope, God breathes resurrection into us. And helps us dream of a new tomorrow.

There’s also an alternate reading for today from Romans. It is so awesome because it talks about groans and sighs. Sometimes I think Christianity has too many words. What if you don’t have anything to say? What if you can’t find the words to pray? What if your heart is breaking and all you can do is cry or groan or sigh? And Paul says when we don’t know how to pray, or what to say, or whether we believe or not, the Spirit prays in us, with sighs too deep for words. Maybe just sighing is the best kind of prayer there is.

And groans. I’d love to hear the parents here describe what their teen-agers most groan about! Paul says that creation is groaning like a woman giving birth. In our time we can imagine the earth groaning because of human abuse.

We also hear the sighs and groans of those struggling under the weight of oppression. Imagine the groans of George Floyd a year ago this week. As African slaves were carried in ships across the ocean, the sound that carried them was moaning. This moaning arose from their abused bodies—but it was also a hopeful prayer that God would deliver them. As we listen to the stories of oppressed people through history, we learn their language of the Spirit—moaning and groaning and sighing. Because in such times, what is there to say?

Yet in life’s most difficult times, God’s people continue to sing! Another language of the Spirit. How we have missed singing together in person over the past fifteen months!

And then there’s the most bizarre sound. People speaking in different languages at the same time. A little like the cacophony we heard during the Acts reading this morning. It seems a bit chaotic. Didn’t you want to stop and say, let one person speak at a time and then we’ll translate for everyone!

At the first Pentecost, Jewish followers of Jesus were in Jerusalem. They were probably sighing, wondering how life would go on after Jesus’ death, resurrection and departure from them. Yet there were other Jews from all over the world there for the Jewish Pentecost feast. And they spoke many, many languages.

A totally unexpected thing happened! The folks living in Jerusalem started speaking in strange languages, strange tongues. And suddenly the guests from all over the world heard the message in their own language. Without a translator! They heard of God’s mighty acts of power. They heard about the crucified and risen Jesus. And they heard about the Holy Spirit being poured out on all people.

All of them had to listen closely. To trust one another. To suspend judgment. And to take some risks, believing that there was more to the world than their own little corner. That the Spirit—that God—was so much bigger than they could ever imagine. So much bigger than even their beliefs, their scriptures, their way of worship, their way of doing things.

But it was too much for some of them. Some of them sneered. They were cynical about the whole thing. They thought the people speaking in strange tongues were crazy, even drunk.  It was just too much to believe that any of this nonsense was of God! Today we’d go on social media and post our sneers there!

Our confirmation students have studied the language of faith these past several years. Sometimes it opened their minds, sometimes it blew their minds, sometimes it caused them to question everything they believed. I am proud that they have grown up in a church where it is okay to ask the hard questions and still be accepted by their teachers, pastors, their parents, their church, and yes, God. For faith is not faith without doubt.

When the Spirit blows among us, our language for God and our langue of faith needs to change and expand. That’s why we are proud of you students. That’s why the church needs you in the years to come. We need to hear your perspectives, your experience, your doubts, your hope, and your dreams.

Dreams. Pentecost is about dreaming dreams and seeing visions. After this most challenging year, the Spirit is sighing and groaning in us, coaxing us to dream of a new world. Working together for justice. Dismantling racism and all forms of hate. Creating community instead of only listening to people who agree with us.

The language of the Spirit is beyond words. Beyond belief. Beyond the boxes we religious people put God in. Or other people in. I believe the Holy Spirit is always blowing our minds, enlarging our vision, and calling us to be more than we thought we could ever be. Christ is risen, and with us forever in the Spirit.

So confirmands, parents, sponsors, people of God—let’s learn the language of the Spirit.  Don’t just talk. Listen. Groan. Moan. Sigh. Sing. Act. And let’s dream a new world together.