Loading...Years ago, I sat with rapt attention upon the speaker. Donald could make his voice change with each character, his whole body was involved in communicating, and his stories were filled with delight and cleverness. Donald is a Master Story-Teller and I, and all the folks gathered, were captivated by his hilarious, yet poignant stories.
In my starry-eyed, idealistic way, I went up to him after story time and said, “What wonderful stories! It seems like stories like these would be a great way to preach!”
He looked at me a bit slyly and said, “Well, I was a Methodist preacher for many years before I started telling stories professionally.”
A-HA!
We connect with one another best when we hear each others’ stories — when we both hear them and are encouraged to tell our own stories. We also connect with others when we are together to hear the stories of someone else.
Jesus knew this well, he used the power of parable and story telling to build community and to teach God’s way of love, mercy, and compassion.
And, bless his heart, ol’ St. Paul was GREAT at preachin’ a fiery sermon and exhorting his congregations scattered far and wide with long, complicated theological thoughts, but story-telling....? Not his forte.
Think about the parts of scripture which you know or remember best? Stories. Even if one of the psalms is one of your best remembered part of scripture, my guess is that it is filled with story images and ideas. Today’s scripture is no exception — stories!
Moses was having a hard time keep track of all the cats he was trying to herd (e.g. all the Israelites who’d left Egypt and had been making their way through the wilderness). He had one helper, a eager young man named Joshua (whose dad’s name was Nun). But, it was still too much.
God had an idea: pick out 70 folks who seem to have their act together and who can help you manage the clans of families. Invite them all to a camp meeting out a ways from the main encampment. So, Moses names off 70 people and tells them the plan.
On the day of, the 68 of them, plus Moses and Joshua, catch the bus and go off for a special prayer meeting. I’m not quite sure what happened, but Eldad and Medad missed the bus. Oversleep? Get distracted over of cup of coffee as they were chatting? Who knows.
Out at the prayer meeting, the Spirit of God falls upon the 70 who are gathered and they are filled with the gifts of the Spirit — prophesy, preaching, wisdom, and what all else! Pretty exciting stuff.
Then, huff-huff, puff-puff, here comes one of the eager young guys from back at the ranch who skitters to a halt in front of Joshua, son of Nun and tells him that Eldad and Medad — back at the main encampment — are filled with the Spirit!! They are speaking for the Spirit!
Joshua is concerned and rushes over to tell Moses: “Oh no!”
But, Moses. Moses knows what it’s really been like to have carried the weight of leadership and spiritual guidance. Moses said, “Hallelujah!! Let the Spirit go where it will! Would that all God’s people were filled with the Spirit.”
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Would that all God’s people were filled with the Spirit!Imagine what community would be like.Imagine how we would see — really see — and hear — really hear — one another!
Imagine the joy and hope we would live in!
After all, not even Moses can regulate the Spirit; she blows where she will!
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On the day of the Resurrection, after Simon Peter, and the beloved disciple, and Mary had all had their incredibly unusual and somewhat incomprehensible day and they were all gathered together — locked in a room upstairs in a house because they were really worried that they might be next to be arrested, Jesus showed up.
Jesus showed up and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”Imagine: Peace be with you.
Not the peace of “law and order” and everyone is nice.
But, the peace of God be with you. The peace of being centered in the presence of God. The peace of following where God calls even if is into what seems like unpeaceful places. The peace of — oh, here it is! — the Spirit empowering and encouraging you to be witnesses to not explain or excuse away, but to watch, to see, to witness and then to tell the story.
The peace of God to do the work of God in the world, not the bring people to church (or these days, to FB). But to work for reconciliation shalom healing justice and equity compassion and joy for all: George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubery, Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, children who are in ICE detention, and so many more.
The peace of God to share the hope and presence of God even in the midst of grief of So. Many. Deaths. From CoVid-19.
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Would that all God’s people were filled with the Spirit!Imagine what community would be like.Imagine how we would see — really see — and hear — really hear — one another!Imagine the joy and hope we would live in!
After all, Jesus blows this Spirit upon the followers and tells them to USE it!
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There’s another story today of the giving of the Holy Spirit.Lest you think it’s a one time occasion, we have three stories of the Spirit being given. And that’s not all that there are!
This third story is well-known:Jewish people from all around (from areas in what is now Iraq to Egypt, Greece to the Libya)have come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for one of the major festivals — Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover.
They may all be Jewish, but they live all over the place and speak a wide variety of languages.
Suddenly, these pilgrims begin hearing — in their own languages — a story about a man named Jesus.They also hear whispers about these folks who are speaking in the various languages — that they’re from the backwater, that they’re fisherfolk and laborers and tax collectors and all kinds of rabble.
Another rumour that’s getting bandied about is that these polyglot hicks were locked in a room when the doors busted open, a great wind went through, & little bits of flame fired up over everyone’s heads.
What a fantastical tale! They must be drunk!!
On the other hand, the crowd is hearing, really hearing, this story about Jesus — about love and hope and life renewed about freedom and reconciliation and joy!
It’s a miracle!But is it a miracle of the tongue, that the Galileans can speak all these languages?Or, is it a miracle of the ear, that all the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Cretans, Libyans, and who all else can understand the story of Jesus in their own languages?
That might be a bit of the “how many angels on the head of a pin” kind of question.
Instead, the real miracle is when we hear —really hear — one another.
The miracle of the Spirit is when we can hear the stories and see the struggle of someone with a different skin color than our own someone who realizes the body they’re born in doesn’t match their understood gender someone who lives day in and day out with MI.
The disciples who had been hiding in the locked room were blown out of that room!They were given the gifts of the Spirit: presence, courage, empowerment, and a hunger and thirst for justice. Those gifts help us to hear, really hear, the stories of our neighbors, of strangers, even of our enemies (people different enough from ourselves that we have a hard time understanding).
As Rev. Tiffany Chaney, an African American Lutheran Pastor with a strong voice for preaching, has said, we claim these gifts of the Spirit when we use the power of God’s strength in us: the words of hope, the courage of advocacy, the calls for learning and understanding, the demands for justice.
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Would that all God’s people were filled with the Spirit! Imagine what community would be like. Imagine how we would see — really see — and hear — really hear — one another! Imagine the joy and hope we would live in!
After all, there’s no way we can regulate the Spirit; she blows where she will!
And the Spirit calls you to tell your story, to tell THE story, and to listen to the stories of pain, challenge, joy and hope of the people you encounter and whom you intentionally seek out. Because, as you do that, you encounter the glory and work of our God who loves this whole creation. Amen
