Responding When the Spirit Comes, Mountain View United, 5/27/2012 by Rev Steven Mitchell

Responding When the Spirit Comes By Rev Steven R Mitchell Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 5/27/2012 Based on Acts 2:1-21 It is often said, “The only constant in life is change.” In the book “Future Shock” the author, Alvin Toffler explored the topic of “how much change can the human psyche handle before it has a meltdown? The Twentieth Century experienced radical shifts in social structure, dramatic shifts in global power. As we moved from industrialization into the “space age” we have seen radical change in the way we communicate with others. Times are not just changing, they are radically changing! Our lesson from Acts this morning is a story of radical change. Sometimes referred to as the beginning of the Christian Church, it is both the conclusion to and beginning of the next phase of God’s restoration of humanity. The conclusion is of the story about one man’s life, who was known as Jesus the Nazarene. Those who had become inspired by Jesus’ words and actions, now find themselves left alone, as Jesus dies and ascends into heaven. Yet Jesus had promised the disciples that they would not be left alone and in this story we see the coming of the Holy Spirit, the one that Jesus said was the comforter and guide. It is in the descent of the Holy Spirit that radical change is seen and through this change the disciples find the strength to start sharing the message that the “Kingdom of God” truly is alive in this world. It is no longer a concept of something to strive toward, but is a reality to live in. Modern Christianity has come to refer to Pentecost Sunday as an original title, meaning, on the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples it became known as Pentecost. In reality, the descending of the Holy Spirit came during the Jewish festival of Pentecost also known as Shavuot or Harvest festival or festival of weeks. This festival was the celebration of the receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, which came fifty days after the exile. In Luke’s narration, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples came fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. You can look at these two events and say that the author was manipulating events, but I think it was a way of emphasizing the reality that God was once again doing something very dramatic in the world. Leading church historian, Diana Butler Bass in her latest book, “Christianity After Religion” proposes some startling similarities to where Christianity is at today and the story of Pentecost. We can say the word “Pentecost” in and of itself refers to, “a beginning period of great awakening at a spiritual level.” We have experienced this within the Christian Church periodically, the “Reformation” being one example. Historians of American religion generally recognize three significant awakenings in the United States and Canada: the First Great Awakening, 1730-60; the Second Great Awakening, 1800-1830; and the Third Great Awakening, 1890-1920. During each period, old patterns of religious life gave way to new ones and, eventually, spawned new forms of organizations and institutions that interwove with social, economic, and political change and revitalized national life. Christianity After Religion, Diana Butler Bass, pg 29 The First Great Awakening marked the end of European styles of church organization and created an experiential, democratic, pan-Protestant community of faith called evangelicalism. The Second great Awakening ended Calvinist theological dominance and initiated new understandings of free will that resulted in a voluntary system for church membership and benevolent work. And the Third Great Awakening had two distinctive manifestations; the social gospel movement, with its progressive politics, and the Pentecostal movement, with an emphasis on miraculous transformation. Pg 29, Christianity After Religion I shared with those who met this past Tuesday at the Sacred Grounds study, my belief that we are in the midst of a new Awakening. One that isn’t just happening within North America but is happening worldwide, starting in the 1960’s, and in this country referred to as, “the Jesus movement.” Interestingly, it was stifled in the 1970-80’s with the reactionary rise of fundamentalism. So how do we recognize this new Awakening? It can be seen in the collapse of many of our traditional institutions ranging from fraternal organizations, to the lack of trust in our financial and governing bodies, and in the demise of “organized religion.” In a 2004 survey, the Barna organization found that young adults who are outside of church hold intensely negative views of Christianity: 91% think the Christianity is “antihomosexual, 87% say Christianity is judgmental, 85% accuse churchgoers of being hypocritical, and 72% say Christianity is out of touch with reality. Only 41% think that Christianity seems genuine or real or makes sense, while only 30% think that it is relevant to your life. Pg 86 Christianity After Religion How often do you hear someone say, “I’m spiritual, not religious?” Millions throughout the world are on a “spiritual” quest. If we compare a 1999 Gallup poll asking Americans whether they understood themselves to be spiritual or religious to a 2009 poll asking the same question, we see a dramatic shift in several categories: 30% Spiritual only was consistent over the decade, Religious fell from 54% down to 9%, Both Spiritual and Religious increased from 6% to 48%, and a stable 9% as Neither spiritual nor religious. Pg 92 Christianity After Religion What do we mean when we use the words Religious and Spiritual? Religious is a European definition which has come to mean a system of ideas or beliefs about God. In modern times, religion became indistinguishable from systematizing ideas about God, religious institutions, and human beings; it categorized, organized, objectified and divided people into exclusive worlds of right versus wrong, true versus false, us versus them. The root word of Religion is Religio which means faith – living, subjective experience including love, veneration, devotion, awe, worship, transcendence, trust, a way of life, an attitude toward the divine or nature. Pg 97 Christianity After Religion The word Religio is actually more in tune with our modern understanding to Spiritual. This then explains the major shift in just a decade to the majority considering themselves both Spiritual and religious. These people are using the institution (their denominational affiliation) as a part of their Spirituality. Our story in Acts ends with Peter saying, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The word salvation has come to mean “eternal life” in most religious circles, but the root word for salvation is salvus, meaning “whole,” “sound”, “healed,” “safe,” “well,” or “unharmed”. The spirituality that is found in the word salvation then brings us into well-being or an authentic sense of personhood, an asking of “who am I” in relationship to the “I am” who addressed Moses in the form of the burning bush. Pg 183 of Christianity After Religion The significance in this Pentecostal story isn’t in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, or that they were able to speak in a language that those who were in hearing distance could understand, although all this was definitely important. To me the significance comes in the act that Peter ceased the moment to tell onlookers what was going on. He didn’t just stand by, bathing in the moment, but rather shared with those who were observing, about God’s love for all people. What is happening within this story is the shift from God being found in the temple, to God acting outside the confines of four walls. The temple has now become established inside human bodies, being connected together through the Holy Spirit. It started with the story of God dwelling within the man called Jesus, and now has moved into all humanity through the person we identify as the Holy Spirit. Mountain View is in essence a story of Pentecost. We were formed as a radically new idea! Dare I say during the Jesus movement of the 1960’s! We are the recipients of a radical belief that as Christians of differing religious backgrounds, we can use the gifts, talents, and the wisdom that three differing denominations can provide to reach out as Peter did and begin a new conversation asking the starting question of “Who am I in God?” Truly we are a group of people who were planted with the understanding of “religio.” We are a people of longing to bind ourselves to God and others that enfold rituals and theologies with experience and wonder! A spirituality that enlivens the heart, opens the soul to others, and to creation. The world is in the early stages of a New Awakening. Mountain View is a child that was birthed in this New Awakening. The awakening going on around us is not an evangelical revival, it is not returning to the faith of our fathers or re-creating our grandparents, church. Instead, it is a Great Returning to ancient understandings of the human quest for the divine, reclaiming a faith where belief is not quite the same thing as an answer, where behavior is not following a list of do’s and don’ts, and where belonging to Christian community is less like joining an exclusive club and more of a relationship with God and others. A religio and experience of the salvus. I challenge you on this Pentecost Sunday to once again ask the question, “Who are you in God?” It is the beginning question on the journey of spirituality. Amen