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| Grammatical Caveat: Because sermons are meant to be preached and are therefore prepared with the emphasis on verbal presentation (i.e., are written for the ear), the written accounts occasionally deviate from proper and generally accepted principles of grammar and punctuation. Most often, these deviations are not mistakes per se but are indicative of an attempt to aid the listener in the delivery of the sermon. |
“Choosing the Beloved Community”
Acts 2.1-21 & John 20.19-23
Sunday, May 31, 2020
The call wasn’t to bowling center ministry. No, it was a call to community—that could be facilitated by the bowling alley. Without boring you of too many details, my coworkers and friends [who between the ages of 17-19] had it in our heads that we could create a space for teens in central Illinois to hang out where they could be safe, entertained, and fed. [Side note: if you want a ministry to grow, or a program to expand—always, ALWAYS, have food!] After months of dreaming and discussing at our Bible studies that took place on the approach to lanes 3 and 4, we decided to pitch an idea to the ‘board.’
It went as you would expect—the board of know-it-alls picked apart our plan, leaving us like a football from the 2017 AFC championship game, deflated. It wasn’t so much the fact that our proposal had holes—we knew it would—it was how this board of men did it. Mainly how they patronized us, doubted our ability to market this ministry, and flat out didn’t take us seriously because we were ‘youth.’ We wanted to give up, but we didn’t because we had one person who believed in what we were presenting and offered his help in our endeavor. I guess God does show up wherever we are—even in unexpected people.
The assurance from our boss was the inspiration we need to put together the program for our new project, “In the Midst.” For the most part, we didn’t know what we were doing, and the concerns from the dudes on the ‘board’ were valid. Still, we trusted what we felt was a call to offer an alternative space for the youth in the city and tried it anyway. We knew the plan wasn't perfect. We also knew we wouldn’t be 100 % prepared. We certainly knew we had doubters and nay-sayers who doubted us. We used this negativity for something positive—the creation and cultivation of an alternative community.
For three years, it was successful! We gave students a third space to hang out and share their stories while providing them free nachos and a game of bowling. We saw what is possible if we imagined the impossible. The highlight of the ministry, of course, was when we had former Chicago Cub and World Series MVP, Ben Zobrist, join us for an evening. We never would have had that opportunity if we hadn’t started dreaming about what could be on lanes 3 and 4 of the bowling alley.
Pentecost is the day we celebrate the pouring out of the Spirit onto the people of God. It is a day when we read about the impossible becoming the possible, and in turn, are inspired to do the impossible. Pentecost invites us to imagine the unimaginable and to awaken to the transrational and transcendent. Pentecost Sunday allows the church to move and shake just enough [but not too much] to get us thinking outside of the familiar! It is a Sunday where we celebrate the gift of the Spirit illuminating the imagination of God’s people.
When was the last time you used your imagination? My hope is that it hasn’t been too long, but if you are like me, my imagination isn't what it once was when I was a child. Isn’t it interesting that what seems so natural to children, to live in “non-reality,” seems so unnatural for us as adults? Did you know that one reason why our imagination wanes as we get older is that we simply don’t practice using it? The older we get, the more we are forced to turn our attention to logic, reason, and facts in school, thus spending more of our time and brainpower in reality—and less in creative imagination.
Another reason why we spend less time playing with our imagination and exploring our creativity is that we fear being wrong. Kids don’t worry about whether they’re wrong. They bravely forge into new territory, willing to, and assuming they will often be wrong. However, as we mature, we quickly learn that being wrong usually has negative consequences. At school, we’re penalized for being wrong. At work, we’re penalized for being wrong. According to Sir Ken Robinson, an expert in creativity, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” The result? We freeze. Our worry about failing and looking like a fool prevents us from exploring our creative imagination. The logic we use to pick apart our dreams prevents us from making the impossible possible, the unimaginable a reality.
Thanks be to God we don’t fear the use of our imagination in the church, right? I mean, how can we? The very life source of our faith is the Spirit that is about creating—it is the Spirit that imagined something when there was nothing. This is what I think is the most important take away for Pentecost Sunday—the work of the Spirit isn’t always the fantastic work of creation or even the transformative moment we read in Acts. I think the Spirit of Pentecost occurs when we let our first response to our life together be one of openness and willingness, rather than hard-heartedness and short-sightedness.
That is the thing about the Holy Spirit—it cannot be contained. The Spirit is wild, is free, and will go where the Spirit wants to go. Like the wind, we cannot contain it; still, the Spirit raises us up like a kite in the wind. Like water, we cannot keep it out entirely; still, the Spirit seeps through every nook and cranny of our lives to refresh us. Like a wildfire, the Spirit burns not to destroy but to restore our hearts with seedlings of God’s love.
The work of the Spirit is reforming, reshaping, and recreating us into the new humanity, Christ calls us to be. The church shows the world God’s hopeful design for humanity, which is reconciled, unified, whole, multiethnic, peaceful, and loving. The Holy Spirit is what makes the church a beacon to the world—but only when the church shows up as the church. We shine bright when we allow the Spirit to free us from our exclusive and oppressive practices. We shine when we allow the Spirit to illumine our imagination—which opens us up to the dream God has for us—a place where we find new ways of belonging and living together.
The Holy Spirit is what unites us and binds us together. The identity we have as a people of the Holy Spirit is one that forges new allegiances and new social imaginations. It nurtures a deep commitment to grace, forgiveness, and love. In a world full of division and conflict, the church can bring about unity by living into the Spirit’s power to reconcile and make peace.
The reason I love Pentecost Sunday is that it invites us to imagine what we think is unimaginable. On the day we celebrate the Spirit poured out on the church, we also celebrate the presence of that same Spirit in our lives. We remember how God gives us permission to use our imagination, to explore our creativity, and to pursue our wildest dreams for the church, because with God, anything is possible. In what may seem like a season of limitations, God is revealing new possibilities during a pandemic.
On Pentecost, think big, imagine great things and let new possibilities emerge without censorship. Don’t stifle your imagination. Expect great things from God and from each other! Though we have put many programs on pause, Pentecost reminds us that the future is open, and new possibilities can emerge out of life’s most challenging limitations.
So, church, what new thing are you imagining for the church? What wave of creativity will you ride into this new season of life together? What are you fired up about that will lead us into a deeper relationship with God and each other? How will you help us choose the beloved community?
Not sure how to answer these questions? All it takes is making a little time to explore your dreams. All that is required is that you show up with whatever wild idea you have, and we listen to each other. What we need we already have been given--the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit.
If this doesn’t get you excited for the church, I’m not sure what will!
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