| Preaching
You are welcome to reflect on this message
Our text today is the story of the wind and fire of Pentecost. And Luke reflects the church's inadequacy to describe God's intention for the world after the ascension of Christ. The Pentecostal message is that the world is transformable. Every aspect of God's creation is transformable. Nothing or nobody is beyond the reach of God's newness. On Pentecost, the church was born and the gospel became the power of God to all who believed. And anytime the power of God gets incarnated in human flesh, reactions are bound to be strong and varied. So it was on Pentecost. Some were amazed, some doubted; others wondered and some mocked. But most of us feel uncomfortable around people who get excited or enthusiastic about their faith.
Both Paul and Luke mention something about the Spirit that is striking, namely, how similar it appears to drunkenness. Paul wrote this curious word to the Church in Ephesus: “Be not drunk with wine, wherein in excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” What's curious about it? Because the Apostle dares to suggest that being filled with God's Spirit is the Christian counterpart to being drunk. Then Luke alludes to a reversal of it at Pentecost. After people of different backgrounds experienced the renewing power of God, some folks stood back, raised their eyebrows and dissed them: “Why these guys are just drunk!” And Peter wasn't very flattering in his defense. He never suggested that drunkenness was beneath the disciples of Jesus, just matter-of-factly, “Nah, it's only nine o'clock in the morning.” Even Willie the wino doesn’t get sloshed that early!
So what about the Spirit and tying one on? One thing’s for sure, intoxication is something Americans know a lot about. Mood alteration by alcohol, nicotine, or drugs is a common curse in our society. Oh yeah we get hooked. We let a bottle ruin our marriages, spoil our family relationships, lose our job, everything. But whether its drugs or alcohol, if Paul were writing today, my guess is he would say, “Don't get high on drugs; don't get high on alcohol; don't get high on something that will do you in. Get high on God! That'll do you some good.”
So what connection could there be between the false elevation of excessive drinking and a genuine experience with the Holy Spirit of God? Consider a few ways. For one thing, people drink when they feel a sense of aliveness. I hate to admit it but I’ve seen more acceptance in City Hall than in some churches I’ve known. And more joy in a pub than a whole lot of churches. Too often worship is dull and uninspiring. The only things that seemed to move are the collection plates! If God had a choice which to visit: a tavern filled with laughter or a church bereft of anything alive, which do you think he’d visit? I know what I think. In the Old Testament days God got so bored in church he quit coming to Shiloh. They called it “Ichabod, the spirit of the Lord has departed Israel.”
To be sure, all taverns aren't that uplifting, nor all churches that cold. But his point is, God intends through the Holy Spirit that the church should provide for people the most satisfying and accepting fellowship anywhere under heaven and sadly, sometimes the tavern has it over the church. I believe our church does pretty well here. For one thing we don’t screen members to insure that we are all alike. We're like the Public Schools; we take whoever comes our way and that's why among us on any given Sunday, you will run into lots of opposites, rich and poor; liberal and conservative; old and young; lettered and unlettered; city dwellers and suburbanites; straights and gays; black, white, red, yellow and brown.
All gather together on a Sunday morning to experience the Spirit of God not only working in us but among us, creating the kind of warmth and openness that so many in our time believe can only be achieved by drugs or alcohol. But that's not the way to get high, says Paul. “Get high on God!” Because unfortunately, when the drugs and drinks wear off, there you are...with your bad breath and big head. The wrath of grapes! I've known people who tell me they can't stand either their work or themselves, apart from alcohol. And here we are, in church, standing one another, maintaining remarkably durable relationships despite the issues of theology, city, sexuality, race, class and a world that threatens to undo us. Here we are! And not a one of us drunk...I hope! No matter how exasperated your life gets, no matter what pressures you face, or the condition of your health, you can always come to this place and say, “I belong.” That's the Spirit!
Another reason people drink is for relaxation. Drinking makes some people feel better. It puts some to sleep. Loosens others up. Lessens the tensions of living, gives their world a rosier hue. But again, what about when the narcotic wears off, as it always wears off? Feeling worse is not the way to feel better. Paul says, “Get high on God.” Because at bottom, the glass is only an escape. I saw a place near where we lived in Arizona called “Lose Yourself Bar.” I wanted to put a sign in our church yard: “Find Yourself Church.” Denial and illusion becomes a way to dodge the harsh realities of failure, depression, and rejection. Contrast that pitiful addiction to the primary fruit of the Spirit - joy. That's the way to get high. Problem drinkers are those whose drinking gives them or somebody else problems. But mostly they’re out of their mind and out of control, getting high after high and also getting nowhere. They keep doing the same thing, expecting life to change. But the fruit of the Spirit is joy that results in a fermentation of the heart and shakes us loose from the chains that bind. That's because God is here and in control, even if we can't be. And that ought to give us real peace.
It bothers me that church is generally viewed in the minds of outsiders as a place of gloom, doom. seriousness and gravity. So much of what we hear from pulpits is so “stained-glass” and straight-laced, we have earned our reputation. But you wouldn't believe it from this prayer I've kept since the first time I read it. Offered by a Catholic priest at a public banquet in Boston. I can picture the formal guests bracing for the usual monotone somberness, poised before they begin to enjoy themselves. I think it's a needed corrective: “Almighty God, our Father and friend, we know your memory of earthly banquet halls is pretty grim, ever since that first Christmas eve when an insolent fellow in a greasy apron at the only hotel in town slammed the door in your mama's face. Well the mills of God grind slowly but exceedingly fine, and here we are 20 centuries later on a continent that the innkeeper never knew existed, speaking a language he never heard, and our very first thought before we sit down to our banquet tables is to stand in reverence and salute your name. We are especially happy to make this prayer, O Lord, and we hope you are happy to hear it, because this time we're not in church and we're not in trouble. Today, we want you to bless our joy as we prepare for a few hours of genial festivity. Bless us in thy goodness, grant that the food may be well flavored, the service smooth, and - if it isn't asking too much - the speeches short! Amen.” Now that’s what I call a prayer! The fruit of the spirit is joy. That's the way to get high.
One other reason people drink is to be strong and powerful. “Take another shot o’ courage” sings the Eagles in their song “Tequila Sunrise.” People feel more potent after they've had a few under their belts. Bold enough to tell somebody off, courageous enough to ask the boss for a raise, equipped for taking on the world. But having fake courage is not the way to get high. Get high on God! It's sad that people are so unaware of the Spirit of God in their lives to provide the ability to enlarge their powers. Now that's the way to be strong - strong in God. Because wherever the Spirit of God is present in human life, ordinary people become capable of extraordinary achievement.
Consider the amazing turnaround of Peter. Before Pentecost, he cowered in front of a lowly servant girl in the Praetorium, and hid in the upper room with the doors locked. Now see him at Pentecost. Something happened and Peter was transformed from somebody afraid of his shadow to one so dynamic, that people stood in line just to get under his shadow (Acts 5:15). Yeah, the followers of Jesus had all the signs of drunkenness. Their tongues were loose, always a sure sign of drunkenness. People drink too much and talk freely and get their tangs toungled. So it was at Pentecost. “What a bunch of drunks!” somebody observed. “Yes, but high on God, not gin!” responded Peter. The same disciples who only a few hours earlier were secure in the upper room are now out in the open, declaring boldly, laying their lives on the line: “...we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
These Christians are no longer tongue-tied, but are intoxicated with the Spirit of God, so that their inhibitions were removed, their tongues were loosed and they preached with power and boldness to all who would listen and respond. And that day, “3000 persons joined the church!” I’d say they had a pretty successful Sunday. Do you realize how long it would take to baptize 3000 people? Among them was Mary, overshadowed by the Spirit, who sang out in ecstasy, what is now called “The Magnificat.” John, filled with the Spirit, was banished to the Isle of Patmos. Barnabas was filled with the Spirit, and he gave everything he had to the church. Stephen, full of the Spirit, preached too plainly and was stoned to death, but he died with a smile on his face. All of ‘em were drunk, intoxicated with the Spirit, which took away all their fears because it’s the business of the Spirit to make us able to stand up to life. That's the way to get high. “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit!”
Trina Paulus wrote a book called, Hope For The Flowers. I like it ‘cause it has lots of pictures and appears to be for kids. But Paulus is telling a tale about how to get ahead in life and lots about hope for adults and insects that can read. The book features two caterpillars named “Stripe” and “Yellow” who were searching for the meaning of life - how to get high. Soon they learn the difficult lesson that you can't get high by climbing. That goes against the grain of our society, with its ladders and hierarchies. Stripe and Yellow learned a better way to get high: change. How inconvenient! They undergo the radical metamorphosis of changing from a creepy, crawly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Spread your wings and fly! It beats climbing any day, and sounds a lot like what Jesus told old Nicodemus: “You must be born from above.”
This is not unlike what the Apostle tells us: to get high on the God who gave Pentecost to the world and birthed the Christian church. If it weren't for that, all we’d have is taverns. If it weren't for God's church, all we’d have is drinking and climbing as the only way to get high. Yeah, I’m not kidding. I believe that coming to church on Sunday oughta get us high! High on God. And that's a good high.
Prayer: Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us. Make our mouths speak the truth. Make our ears hear with love. And make our hearts understand that people are divided by hate and fear. Give us the gift of tongues - not to babble ecstatic prayers, but to speak words of reconciliation and hope, so that the people around this place will know that you are love. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen. |
