Inebriated

The last few weeks have seen a number of occasions with people inebriated. We had Celtic crowned champions of the Scottish League. The ‘dear green place‘ turned green and white, with cheering and singing – it could have been another language, but you still know what they were saying. Then we had Rangers sadly winning in the Scottish Cup Final, the place turning blue, with a multitude of fireworks reaching to the sky, the noise a cacophany to the city residents. Many of which, in their celebrations, were inebriated. We may criticise them for that., but…wait!

“Product launch: Holy Ghost language course. Better than Berlitz! [Warning: User may seem inebriated. Tongue may catch fire.]

The Twible, by Jana Riess

What does this mean?

There are two possible readings which add to our understanding of today, Pentecost.

In Genesis 11:1-9 we can read of the building of the Tower of Babel. This was a desire to reach upwards towards the heavens to make a name for ourselves. It was about making the people great. Were they inebriated?

The other reading is from Acts 2 but we’d need to read the first two chapters to see the whole story. We have a community coming together. People see flames, like flares in the terraces of a football match, we have people acting like they are drunk at 9am in the morning – were they inebriated? But in all this they didn’t aspire to unite with just one language, the opposite of the Babel concept, but to seek to build a kingdom in worship of God. So what kind of kingdom is God seeking? Not an army. I read recently on social media that “no weapons are needed in heaven but due to the the extent of sin here on Earth we needs weapons to protect our God given freedoms…” (@DavidHayward, but not from him)
God is not asking for a committee, which does mean that we might be electing results this year not in a few years time when the report eventually is released…

What God is seeking is for us to be a radical lover. Ooh that’s provocative. But then again, we have heard that message repeatedly over the last month : that God is love, that we are to love one another, Jews and Gentiles: translated as all.

So here we are at Pentecost

It is 50 days or 7 weeks after Passover, noted from Leviticus 23:15-22. It commemorates the giving of the law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), the end of the spring harvest, the end of the Festival of Weeks (Deut 16:11), where all are welcome: your sons, daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites, the immigrants, the orphans and the widows. All of these are entwined into the celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s not the first time, of course, as the Spirit was seen, felt, experienced by the disciples with Jesus. Just like when we celebrate a birthday, it isn’t a time when everything stops. As Brueggemann writes

“Pentecost therefore is not a time of completion. It is moving forward into new dimensions of being”

Walter Brueggemann, Tests for Preaching, Year B, p347

It’s blessing for all people, now and forever more.

What does this mean to us?

What did Christmas mean to us? How did it change the way we respond to others? Did we feel the urge to share the Gospel message or just eat?

What did Easter mean to us? How did that change the way we respond to others? Was it about meeting together, possibly at sunrise?

And now Pentecost. In Army parlance, if Christmas is celebrating together, Easter is a dawn raid, then Pentecost is going over the top, being exposed – we are being asked to proclaim our faith to others, in a variety of languages or ways. That might make us anxious. It’s about building up society to focus on declaring the Good News of God’s great deeds of power in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to all the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8).

Could we consider it differently?

If Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, is about the liberation of chaos;
in Isaiah 11, it is about the liberation of Babylon;
and in Acts 1, it is the liberation from Rome. So, today what are we seeking to be liberated from, to flourish, to be God’s kingdom?

Could it be we seek to be released from the rigours of instututionalised “Church”; or consumerism?; or released from seeking to be self-important, so that our worth is already found within God?

In John 14:16-17,25-27 we read of the mission of God. That we are to feed the hungry, heal the sick, remove dis-ease, and love one another. Don’t be constrained by the term of hungry: we can be fed physically and spiritually. When we heal the sick, that isn’t just physically, but mentally, empirically, holistically. We might fixtures upon disease, when if we speak of dis-ease we can consider a way of removing the burden from the individual so they may flourish. This is all about social justice.

But this passage, Pentecost, is all about the Holy Spirit – it is the day of God’s new product launch after all. So let’s think about what Scripture speaks of in this respect.

Compare Advocacy and Adversary

We have two worss in opposition: advocate and adversary. We might not immediately recognise this but every Greek reader of Scripture would be acutely aware of it.

So just as a leading local bank might say:

On our side, the Advocate is one who supports the marginalised, encourages the voiceless, relates to all.

The other, the Adversary, known in the English translation as Satan, is one that builds barriers, discourages dialogue, disrupts relationships.

What do we do?

Recall what I spoke of your work at this Church last week: of your work with those in addiction, your role could be described as advocacy; of speaking up for the voiceless or allowing the marginalised to have a voice; building bridges with disparate communities; of relating to all – love one another, even if we may not agree with their beliefs.

This is spirit work, this is seeking to follow where God is leading. For this we do need to be in dialogue with God, every step of the way.

So go into this week, knowing that God loves you. Go into this week knowing that Jesus is listening and wanting to chat with us, wherever we are. Go into this week knowing that the spirit is ready to liberate us, allow us to flourish, empower us to be God’s kin_dom. Amen