Pastor Teri Thomas' Blog

Earth, Wind and Fire

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I think I will call the sermon this week- Earth, Wind and Fire. The wind and the fire come from the Pentecost story but the earth is what stumps me.

I love the Pentecost story as long as it is a story from scripture. When I try to fit it into my reality on this earth I have trouble.

This morning I was thinking about the Acts passage on my way to work. Then on the radio I heard about Clinton and Obama and I wondered what the Spirit has to do with the election of a president. Then I heard about 20,000 dead bodies floating around Myanmar and living people still floating waiting to be rescued. What does the wind of the Spirit have to do with the wind of a cyclone? Then I thought about this awful war we are stuck in and how the people of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth would really rather have us stay away. What is the Spirit saying to the church today?

So maybe the sermon title should be Wind and Fire Come to Earth. Today this passage raised more questions that it resolves.

Pentecost- What does it mean?

Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It is amazing how three people can read the same passages and hear different things. I guess I just tend to skip over the speaking in tongues. People I love and respect claim it as a true spiritual gift. I do not have that gift. In the context of scripture it makes more sense for me to understand it as the different languages. The amazing thing at Pentecost was that everyone could hear of God’s deeds in a language they could understand. The message of God was comprehendible to all. That is a message of inclusiveness and diversity.

We have been trying to help Mekonen Wube (from Eritrea) get his driver’s license. The BMV allows to have the test translated, but they don’t provide a translator and they must certify all translators. Around and around and around we go with newcomers to our country, our language and our processes.

We can exclude people, or make them feel like outsiders, unintentionally. Loui mentions wearing red on Pentecost. We decided not to stress that tradition this year for precisely that reason. We don’t want a visitor to walk in and be the only person wearing brown or green in the congregation. So those who want to wear red will. But visitors should not feel out of place.

The coming of the Holy Spirit fulfills Jesus promise and is the most important event in the life of the early church. The God who created the entire world is at work in this small group of disciples. The breath theme from creation is replayed at Pentecost.

Pentecost is 50 days after Passover and was the Festival of Weeks. It began as a harvest festival and then became focused on preserving Jewish heritage. By the first century the festival became a celebration of God giving the law to Moses. So compare the fifty days from the Passover of Israel to the giving of the law at Sinai to the fifty days from Jesus’ crucifixion to the giving of the Holy Spirit.

Old Testament-
Winds from God swept over the water in creation
The whole earth had one language confused at Babel
Moses received the law amid smoke, thunder and fire

Acts
The violent rush of wind from heaven
Jews hear the disciples speak in many languages
Disciples receive Holy Spirit amid tongues of fire

As for the speaking in tongues…it is clear that it happened in the early church. Paul shares many accounts. Paul claimed it was a gift from God and an ecstatic experience.

The passage moves on to Peter’s sermon. He quotes the prophet Joel to explain the behavior of the disciples.

I think Luke would be shocked at how the modern church separates the resurrection, the ascension and Pentecost into three distinct events. Luke saw them all part of the same action of God. The God who raised Jesus from the dead and took him into heaven sent the Spirit to the disciples. All one God. All one act.

Luke’s account tells us a story which can be interpreted in many ways. It is an account of something strange and miraculous. It is a story filled with mystery and wonder. The power of God enters the ordinary in a most extraordinary way. The purpose of this intervention is to provoke proclamation. The people ask questions and the disciples stand and speak.

Today many folks feel the power of the Holy Spirit to be something they experience inside themselves, alone, in a personal way. But this account says that’s not the way it worked. The Spirit came in public, in fire, in wind, in noise, in a crowd, in confusion, and the purpose was to get the disciples out of hiding and out proclaiming the gospel.

Sunday Comes Every Week

Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Well, we did not have a lot of discussion last week but let's keep trying.

I have decided not to post the sermon resulting from this BLOG each week. It is already posted at http://dnn.northminster-indy.org/Worship/Sermons/SermonsbyDrTeriThomas/tabid/155/Default.aspx

If you want it here as well, just let me know.

This coming Sunday is Pentecost- the birth of the church. It is also our Ground Blessing Sunday. And it is also Mother's Day but that is not a church holiday so we leave that celebration to brunch after church.

There was an old tradition in the early church of cutting a hole in the church roof on Pentecost. Boys would be placed on the roof and at the appropriate time they would light pieces of straw and drop them through the holes. In later years the church switched from fire to rose petals as a symbol of the fire.

I sometimes wonder if the whole notion of the Holy Spirit has become too symbolized and not real enough. Maybe a few live sparks of fire would move us in the way the Spirit moved those early disciples. I am confident the fire code would not allow it so all I can do is wonder.

Here are the readings for this week.

Acts 2:1-21

2When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. ⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o”clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

1 Corinthians 12:3-13

³Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

BLOG Bible Background

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The Book of Acts was written somewhere between 70 and 100 AD by the same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke. We do not know who it was but we call him “Luke” because it is easy and traditional.

The stories in Acts are so relevant because they are about the church and the problems facing the church never really change. We still deal with the same issues the early disciples dealt with in the beginning of the Christian church. Who is in and who is out? How should the sacred relate to the secular? Why do we worship other idols? What is the relationship between church and state? What is the proper behavior for those who claim Jesus as Lord?

The stories in Acts teach us about the nature of God, the purpose of the church, and the role of followers.

This week’s lesson picks up 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus. Forty is a significant number in scripture. It rained on Noah for 40 days. Elijah spent 40 days on Mt. Horeb. David ruled for 40 years. The Israelites wandered for 40 years. Jesus was in the wilderness 40 days. For 40 days Jesus has been teaching the disciples and preparing them for his final departure. Clearly, the idea that Jesus would come again very soon has lessened. The kingdom will come in God’s own time and we can’t know when. While we wait there is work to do and Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit to aid in that work.

Israel was a kingdom twice in its history. Israel was a kingdom under the dynasty of David until they were conquered by the Babylonians. (583 BCE) They again thrived under the rule of the Maccabbes until conquered by Rome (63 BCE). Some Israelites were content to wait and cooperate with the Roman rulers. Others rejected the rule of Rome quietly. Others sought violent resistance against the Roman government. The disciples are hoping that Jesus will establish a political power to rule the nation of Israel.

The ascension of Jesus parallels the Transfiguration. Both Moses and Elijah ascended into heaven. According to this passage Jesus ascends to the right hand of God. In this society the right hand was the seat of authority. Jesus tells the disciples to witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The Book of Acts will follow that pattern with accounts from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and finally the ends of the earth.

Help Me With My Sermon?

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I have a great idea. How would you like to help with the sermon each week? I am going to try something new and see how it works.

I wanted to start a Bible Study group that would study the lectionary passages each week. Then I would preach on that passage. The Bible study would help me in preparation and help the listener pick up on some of the important issues that are not included in the sermon. We do this twice a month at American Village and everyone enjoys it.

So with the building construction about to begin I’m not sure where to hold it. With my schedule and yours, I am not sure what time to schedule it.

So I am going to BLOG the Bible. Each week I will put up the passage (s) on Monday. By Tuesday I will add some commentary. All week long I want you to react, comment, question, ponder, etc. Then on Thursday I generally try to write the sermon but it is never too late to comment.

So let’s get started. Here is this week’s lesson-

Acts 1:1-11

1In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning ²until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. ³After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. ⁴While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; ⁵for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” ⁹When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. ¹¹They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Holy Week, Race and Politics

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It seems appropriate that the current debate on race and politics should take place in the midst of Holy Week. Much of what has been said and written has been helpful, faithful and thoughtful. Much has been just plain sinful and ignorant.

I have no need to add my own ignorance or racism into the mix. I have been reading a BLOG with contributers much wiser than I, and I offer it for your consideration.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/03/healing-the-wounds-of-race-by.html#comments

May the celebration of the resurrection bring us all to a better place.

We all make mistakes

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If you recall the day I mis-spoke in church, check this one out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vs5nZYq1hY

Holy Week

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT

This week turned everything upside down for the disciples of Jesus. Can it do the same for us? Check this out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsPBVNecOMo

Happy Easter!

Amazing music

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Why haven't I heard of this amazing woman? Her songs are beautiful and her thoughts are so universal. You can read about her and listen to three songs at this link. Scroll down the left side for the songs and I suggest you start with Our Father. Be prepared.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9213008

Don't get mad- get curious

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I read this BLOG today and really liked the sentiment. I made me think of people's reactions to the hymns we sing on Sundays in church.

Check it out

http://peculiarpreacher.com/?p=31

I have some more movies to tell you about and will get there soon...