Pentecost, 2012
27/05/12 04:40
It is Pentecost. 50 days after Easter comes the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts reports that tongues as of fire came to rest on the head of each person who was in attendance at that first Pentecost. The symbol of the United Methodist Church includes a flame as a reminder of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in the contemporary church.
The traditions of the church also depict fire as a sign of God’s punishment. Based perhaps more on Dante’s Inferno than on Biblical texts, the image of hell that is in the minds of most Christians involves flames, fire and burning. This may also arise from the amount of pain that is associated with receiving a burn. Knowing how much it hurts to have a burn on one tiny part of one’s body, anyone with a bit of imagination can picture and fear the image of being burned all over.
Still, fire is a pretty good image for the Holy Spirit. It cannot be controlled. It moves with a pattern that is unique and different from anything else ever experienced.
The scriptures teach that the gift of Pentecost is the gift of proclamation. The disciples had convened a wonderfully diverse multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual group of persons and on Pentecost they discovered a way to clearly communicate the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They found words that others could understand, regardless of the languages of their origin. It was amazing, miraculous and left behind a story that is worth telling every year.
This year Pentecost lands on Memorial weekend. It is a time that we associate with the beginning of summer. It is time to fertilize the lawn, make sure you have the right stickers on the car for our favorite vacation destinations and head out for camping, boating, bicycling and other outdoor fun.
Memorial Day has another side to it, however. It isn’t just a weekend for camping. It is a holiday for remembering. Our modern Memorial Day observance grew out of a dark time in the story of our nation. The country was feeling deeply the grief of a bloody civil war in which brother had fought against brother, neighbor against neighbor. And the losses had been brutal. After the defeat of the rebel army, the time came for the nation to begin to heal the wounds of such a devastating war. Part of the healing came in the simple need to tell the trough and mourn the losses that had been sustained. It was decided that one way to honor the sacrifices of both sides in the war was to place simple decorations on the graves of those who had been lost. This was a way for the survivors to enter into the process of grief and experience how grief reaches beyond the boundaries of war.
Decoration day might have kept its original meaning had it not been for subsequent wars. The 20th century racked up an incredible list of major wars that involved all parts of the world. The numbers of the dead grew. The ones who needed to be remembered became greater and greater.
My friend Art was telling us yesterday of the volunteer activities of his American Legion Post. He can remember when there were plenty of volunteers to place small American Flags on the graves of each veteran. As the years passed, more and more of the veterans died. These days there are a lot fewer volunteers and a lot more graves in need of flags.
Maybe is it appropriate for the weekend to be gray and rainy and cold. Gray days seem to go with the spirit of grief. We know that it is Pentecost. We know that it is the official start of the summer, but the grief that we feel is real. I have been thinking of a family who just lost their soldier son. He was a brilliant young man who had seen terrible combat duty in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He came home safely from his deployments, but died after h is return. His war wounds were not visible, but they were real nonetheless. The pain of his loss is still fresh with the family. They can’t predict which things will set off intense emotional outbursts. They don’t trust their feelings or their behavior. Some days it feels as if the grief will take over everything in their lives.
They must not stand alone this Memorial Day. As they remember this courageous and talented young man they need others to stand with them. As they face the pain of their loss, they must know of our support. They have no need for fancy sermons or patriotic speeches this weekend. They have no room for the pontifications of politicians. Their grief is raw enough that they prefer to be private with their emotions. And for that no one can blame them.
Their Memorial Day weekend promises to be gray regardless of the weather.
I can take the weather of Montana. I’ve been around enough to have seen fresh snowfall in every month of the year. I’ve had more than a few family vacations that have ended up dampened by rain, and chilled by below-average temperatures. I can take it. I’ve got the clothes for this kind of weather.
Part of me wishes that I could remember exactly what it feels like to be cold just so that I could recall that memory on one of the hot August days when I an so superheated that I won’t be able to remember the cold.
Here is the important thing to remember. The weather will change. It will not always be the same as it is today. It is not a mistake that Pentecost is the longest season of the Christian calendar. The Holy Spirit cannot be contained to a single day’s celebration. We know we’ll see some sunshine and warmth during this season. We’ll even come to days when we will wish and pray for rain, as impossible as that seems today.
So enjoy this Pentecost day. Wear red and celebrate from the core of your spirit. And if you are feeling blue and wearing gray, do not fear. This season has patience enough to wait for your genuine joy. For the day will come when you discover the joy that no one can take away. It is as certain as the coming of Pentecost and Memorial Day. It may not be possible to say when, but we know that there is more that is coming. And on that day your joy will be complete.
Still, fire is a pretty good image for the Holy Spirit. It cannot be controlled. It moves with a pattern that is unique and different from anything else ever experienced.
The scriptures teach that the gift of Pentecost is the gift of proclamation. The disciples had convened a wonderfully diverse multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual group of persons and on Pentecost they discovered a way to clearly communicate the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They found words that others could understand, regardless of the languages of their origin. It was amazing, miraculous and left behind a story that is worth telling every year.
This year Pentecost lands on Memorial weekend. It is a time that we associate with the beginning of summer. It is time to fertilize the lawn, make sure you have the right stickers on the car for our favorite vacation destinations and head out for camping, boating, bicycling and other outdoor fun.
Memorial Day has another side to it, however. It isn’t just a weekend for camping. It is a holiday for remembering. Our modern Memorial Day observance grew out of a dark time in the story of our nation. The country was feeling deeply the grief of a bloody civil war in which brother had fought against brother, neighbor against neighbor. And the losses had been brutal. After the defeat of the rebel army, the time came for the nation to begin to heal the wounds of such a devastating war. Part of the healing came in the simple need to tell the trough and mourn the losses that had been sustained. It was decided that one way to honor the sacrifices of both sides in the war was to place simple decorations on the graves of those who had been lost. This was a way for the survivors to enter into the process of grief and experience how grief reaches beyond the boundaries of war.
Decoration day might have kept its original meaning had it not been for subsequent wars. The 20th century racked up an incredible list of major wars that involved all parts of the world. The numbers of the dead grew. The ones who needed to be remembered became greater and greater.
My friend Art was telling us yesterday of the volunteer activities of his American Legion Post. He can remember when there were plenty of volunteers to place small American Flags on the graves of each veteran. As the years passed, more and more of the veterans died. These days there are a lot fewer volunteers and a lot more graves in need of flags.
They must not stand alone this Memorial Day. As they remember this courageous and talented young man they need others to stand with them. As they face the pain of their loss, they must know of our support. They have no need for fancy sermons or patriotic speeches this weekend. They have no room for the pontifications of politicians. Their grief is raw enough that they prefer to be private with their emotions. And for that no one can blame them.
Their Memorial Day weekend promises to be gray regardless of the weather.
Part of me wishes that I could remember exactly what it feels like to be cold just so that I could recall that memory on one of the hot August days when I an so superheated that I won’t be able to remember the cold.
Here is the important thing to remember. The weather will change. It will not always be the same as it is today. It is not a mistake that Pentecost is the longest season of the Christian calendar. The Holy Spirit cannot be contained to a single day’s celebration. We know we’ll see some sunshine and warmth during this season. We’ll even come to days when we will wish and pray for rain, as impossible as that seems today.