| According to an article in the May/June
2005 Homiletics magazine a cabin boy serving in the
British navy began to keep a meteorological journal in order to
track weather conditions. His name was Francis Beaufort. He later
became a rear admiral and served for 68 years. He developed the
Beaufort Scale for describing wind velocity. Various wind conditions
are described as calm, light breeze, moderate breeze, gale, storm
and hurricane.
We can also use this scale to measure the effect of the wind
of the Spirit. On the first Christian Pentecost it was at hurricane
level. We don't need to concern ourselves so much with
conditions nearly 2,000 years ago. We should be concerned with
them today, however. What Beaufort designation would describe
the Holy Spirit's strength in our congregation this morning?
Are we experiencing calm, a hurricane or something in between
these two extremes?
This story comes from the May 15, 2005 issue of Synthesis.
One
Sunday a man walked into a church for the first time. He went
to the church expecting some dramatic things to happen. But
after three Sundays he was disappointed. So he went up to the
minister of the church after the service and asked, "When
do you do it?"
"Do what?" the minister replied. "You know,
the stuff," the visitor responded.
The minister paused for a moment and with a puzzled look asked, "What
stuff?" The man replied, "The stuff in the Bible.
You know, multiplying loaves and fishes, healing the sick,
giving sight to the blind. That stuff."
"Oh," the minister said. "We don't do
that here. I want you to understand we believe in those things
and we pray about those things. But we don't do those things."
Needless to say, the church lost a potential member that day.
I realize that we do quite a bit of "stuff" but
is it hurricane level stuff or merely light breezy stuff? This
story may describe the current condition of many parts of the
church. It is shared by Joe D. Klein, a name which I think is
revealing in itself.
"A young man and woman are standing under the porch light
of the young woman's family home at the conclusion of their
first date. The young man timidly asks, "Can I kiss you?" The
young woman smiles quietly but says nothing.
After a few moments the young man tries again, this time saying, "I
mean may I kiss you?" Again the young woman smiles but
says nothing.
"Are you deaf?" the fellow cries out. To which the
young woman responds, "Are you paralyzed?"
Klein adds, "The Pentecost story is a story of the church
becoming unparalyzed— the church being empowered to
carry out its very purpose, which is to model and proclaim
the good news of life lived in God's Kingdom." The Spirit that comes at Pentecost is the same Spirit that sweeps
over the waters at Creation in the second verse of the Bible.
It is the Spirit of Creation. The same Spirit that shows up at
Pentecost is the same Spirit that empowers Old Testament figures
to prophecy and to do mighty deeds. The same Spirit that shows
up at Pentecost is the same Spirit the Psalmist declares brings
forth life and renewal. The same Spirit that shows up at Pentecost
is the same Spirit that causes Mary to become pregnant. The same
spirit that shows up at Pentecost also falls upon Jesus at His
baptism.
The same Spirit that shows up at Pentecost also is available
at our baptism and at every moment of our life when we declare
we want to be God's person. Why should we ever settle for
calmness or light breezy spiritual living when we could be experiencing
the power of a holy hurricane?
The basic answer to this question might surprise you. No one
has ever taught us how to do this. I am not certain when this
loss first took place. It did not happen all at once nor is it
completely gone today but it is certainly missing in older mainline
denominations as well as in some of the newer independent congregations.
A good portion was lost early in Christianity when individual
Christian witnesses and evangelists were replaced by the soldiers
of Charlemagne after he made Christianity the state religion
of the Holy Roman Empire.
The force of the holy hurricane further diminished when the
priesthood of all believers was abandoned in favor of ordained
clergy. It was lost still further when the ordained clergy kept
the Word of God from being spoken in the language of the laity.
No doubt the Church itself has been responsible for other losses
of the hurricane level of Spirit. One big loss was the split
of the Church between East and West. We in the West have never
been taught what the Eastern Church knows.
We would expect the world to contribute to the diminishing of
the power of the Spirit. The world offers such enticing alternatives.
What is so ironic is that the world has to keep coming up with
some new extreme form of something because the things the world
offers as alternatives for the power of the Spirit keep running
out of power. Many things the world offers really don't
lead to anything. Rather they are only escapes from the meaninglessness,
the loneliness and the inner emptiness. Does it not make sense
that a Spirit God would create those in its image with a major
spiritual component that has to be utilized in order to be fulfilled?
The further we deny the spiritual part of ourselves the greater
the emptiness becomes. It will never be fulfilled by our attempts
to feed the emotional, intellectual and physical parts of our
being. They continue to be deprived as long as a major component
of our being is being denied.
Amazingly the Spirit is alive and well and still causing Jesus-like
miracles in the world today. In places where common people have
little else with which to fill their lives we hear reports of
miraculous things still occurring. The success of Mel Gibson's
movie, The Passion of Jesus Christ, clearly shows
how very hungry people are for spirit-filled lives. The problem
for many is we are feeding on too many other things that cannot
fulfill our spiritual appetite.
Recently a new food pyramid has been developed to show us better
and healthier eating habits. It remains to be seen whether or
not we will pay any real attention to it. What we also need is
a new structure for living a disciplined spiritual life. Before
we will accept it we will need proof it works. The proof is in
the lives of those who have lived in the power of the Spirit.
Just as the Spirit caused the dead bones of Israel to come to
life as it is recorded in Ezekiel 37, so too, can the Spirit
bring life to our deadness today. For this to happen several
things need to occur. First, we must realize and admit how spiritually
tame our lives of faith are today. On the Beaufort scale we are
experiencing a calmness which means there is no wind for our
sails. We are either dead in the water, drifting or relying on
other means for our movement.
The time has come for another spiritual awakening like the first
Pentecost. Keep in mind Peter and the others were nothing more
than fearful cowards just two months earlier. They were self-centered
and had been misled and misinformed by their religious leaders.
In less than sixty days they had seen the risen Christ. Their
spiritual eyes had been opened and their cowardice turned into
a bravery that could not be silenced. You guessed it. The Holy
Spirit had come into their lives. The Spirit can come into your
life as well. Our prayer this Pentecost ought to be, "Come,
Holy Spirit! Renew me and fill me that I may experience the power
of a holy hurricane." |
