Dare to Believe (Pentecost)

How fitting that we celebrate Pentecost this Sunday. This week, barely three days old, has already confronted us with a hurricane of historic headlines. Why, on Tuesday alone we had two major announcements. Early Tuesday morning we had the opportunity to celebrate a first for Latinos and Latinas, the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Regardless of your politics and regardless of the outcome, I hope you can enjoy the significance of another barrier coming down, of another "first" for a community of often marginalized people. Second, we heard the crushing news from California, that the state Supreme Court had affirmed 6 to 1 that a simple majority vote can deny rights to a group of people based on...anything? Distaste, misinformation, religious beliefs, tradition, fear, better fundraising?

If it weren't so close to Pentecost, I might become a cynic.

But Pentecost won't allow it. Think back through the history of Pentecost. The Jews celebrate Shavu'ot 50 days after Passover, as both the early spring harvest and the giving of The Law, Torah, on Mt. Sinai. Christians know Pentecost as the day 50 days after Easter on which Jesus' disciples offered the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the Jews gathered for the Jewish Pentecost. On that day two miracles occurred: one, the Spirit descended upon the people with power, as tongues of flame, and each person gathered for the festival heard the Gospel proclaimed as if in her own language. The new Christians were united as one community through the power of the Holy Spirit. There were no barriers. You might describe it as "church without walls."

Even through subsequent exile and persecution, Jews have continued to understand Shavu'ot as a day of extravagant hope. Passover freed the Jews from physical bondage in Egypt, but the giving of the Torah freed the Jews from spiritual bondage to idolatry and immorality.We Christians celebrate a similar hope in Pentecost. We celebrate the knowledge and hope that God is at work in and among God's people through the Holy Spirit. Just as our Easter enthusiasm begins to wane, just as the new begins to wear off the renewal we find in the Resurrection, Pentecost comes along to revive us in mission and purpose.

That's why I can't become a cynic. Even though most days half the news or more is bad, I keep reminding myself of what Dr. King said, "Social change cannot come overnight, but we must persevere, and work as if it were a possibility the next morning." That's the promise of Pentecost: at any given time the headlines can change because the Spirit is alive in God's people.

Please come worship with us this weekend as we Dare To Believe. Oh, and wear red-this weekend it's totally appropriate to be flaming.

Always in Hope,