HUNGER, THIRST & PLENTY
Numbers 11:24-30; John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-21
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
Tim Keller died last week. You might not know his name. But he is a powerhouse in the evangelical wing of the Presbyterian Church. A fine intellect to think ‘Christian’ and a heart to love people, he planted a church in the middle of New York City, Redeemer Presbyterian. Its mission? To engage young professionals who flock to the city for work on Wall Street, Stock Market, Publishing, Theater & Broadway. While he and I have grave theological differences, including ordaining women as pastors and members of the LGBTQ communities, I have great respect for him and his commitment to treat the gospel with humility; to not ask for or gain the spotlight; to listen carefully and to not let his conservative theological beliefs be hijacked into the White Christian Nationalists who hold such sway on the political right and white evangelical churches today.
As he lay dying from stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, he says. ‘Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Everything will be all right.’ His last prayer? “I want to see Jesus. I can’t wait to see Jesus.” His advice? “Let the tears fall. They wash the wounds clean. Kathy (his wife) and I have cried and cried and cried. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Everything will be all right.”
My question: What would God have to do to amaze and astonish you?
Let’s pray.
50 days in the same room with the same crowd with the same questions with the same antagonisms with the same fear with the same doubt with the same hope with the same defeat. He disappeared, no one else is coming to save us. He tried but He couldn’t keep His promise. It’s all over. Let’s go celebrate Passover and be done with it. Was a great ride, wasn’t it? Amazing miracles, healing, prophesy, redemption, comfort, welcome - tax collectors, fishermen, even the women. Nothing like it in my life time! But its over now. Back to the same ole’ drag. Hope for a moment, oh well. Hunger!
Ready for it? Ta Da!!!
Well not exactly.
Something did happen, really different, but with enough social & historical context to make it real. Tongues of fire - sure - on Cesar’s coin, over his head. Many languages? Well it is the Festival of Weeks - celebrates the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai and the end of Spring Harvest. Thousands gather from all over Mesopotamia, Phrygia, Egypt, even Rome, Italy, think of the distance they came.
Fire is a leit motif of God - burning bushes and all that, smoke by day, fire by night, even in Daniel’s den the chariots of fire. John the Baptist’s prophesy, “The One who comes will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire…”
It is a total eclipse by the Son, through the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Whatever categories have been in place before this, they are all gone. ALL FLESH - all humanities, sexes, genders, slaves, rich, poor, middle class - women & men - everybody shall prophesy. Like Joel said, in those days…Why? It is a fundamental re-design of creation. Suddenly access to God is not through the portal of a man in some kind of council on high. They who created rituals and practices and told everyone exactly what to do and what space they could occupy in the sanctuary’s hierarchy, with the lowliest of the lowliest always in the back of the room. Women, poor, foreigners, slaves…you know the drill.
Rather, it is a wind: while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters and God says, Let there be…and so it was. Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. Thirst!
Listen to this snippet of a poem by Jane Kenyon, from Briefly It Enters and Briefly It Speaks:
I am the one whose love
overcomes you, already with you
when you think to call my name. . . . (pause)
All who call upon the Name of the Lord, who IS the one whose love overcomes and is already PRESENT when you call His Name. He promised, ‘Lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’
My question: What would God have to do to amaze and astonish you?
I realize the arrogance of this question; why should we require God to do something else? Hasn’t She already done enough, shown us the way? Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. Everything will be all right.
But we are like everyone else, we need to be convinced. We need to stand in the courtyards of the Jerusalem Temple and hear that mighty wind again, the burst of languages shouted one on top of the other, the energy flow like a well-designed circuit, outward, fast, really fast, capturing a nervous tingle that connects one to another, until the whole crowd vibrates!
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? A collective shout!
The question whispered so loudly from the crowd, something as cynical and dismissive as ‘they are all drunk, every single one of them.’ No, its only 9 in the morning, the sun has not even past over head. Yeah we might be a little ripe after 50 days in the same room together. But listen up. Plenty!
My question: What would God have to do to amaze and astonish you?
This is also an honest plea for a showing isn’t it? We long to be amazed and astonished.
BREAK: Please stand as you are able and confess what you believe through the Brief Statement of Faith, read slowly together: Remember: the PCUSA was divided over slavery, it broke apart in 1863. In 1983, we came back together and the General Assembly gathered a group of theologians, historians and finally one poet, Ann Weems, who framed this statement. Together:
We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of life.
The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all believers
in the one body of Christ, the Church.
The same Spirit
who inspired the prophets and apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world
the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in Church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth,
praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
You may be seated.
Your assignment: Take time, lots of time, intentional time, to discover where the Spirit is blowing in your life right now. It is loosed and it is wild and it is not contained. Nor is it yours alone. She has been poured out on families, on congregations, communities, presbyteries, even nations. Set your glance toward the periphery for that is where I find She dwells most often. Certainly in this time of transition we all need to listen carefully, for it might be a still small voice to be heard, or it might be a really loud shout from over in the corner - Hey, you all. Come here, I got an idea!
Know this. The Spirit speaks in tongues you will recognize. Her whole purpose is to glorify God, to create spaces so you can HEAR the gospel, in the dailyness of your own lives. Listen carefully to the ones you trust with your heart and soul - they might have a prophetic word for you. It is called prayer and it is that, historically, but it is not only the formal prayers of our liturgies but the deep and abiding sorrows of our laments, the joyful irruption of wow or awesome! The quiet cry, help.
Post-pandemic it is, ‘what is this Lord, what is this?’ So much grief and sorrow. All of the violence and evil that overtakes our imaginations has to be set aside, at least for a time, so we can see the light that shines behind and beyond, above and below it all, while it still holds this amazing love, mercy and grace. In Jesus’ Name,
Hunger, Thirst & Plenty Amen