Pentecost B2018
Acts 2:1-21, Ezekiel 37:1-14
by Pastor Sarah Stadler
On this Pentecost Sunday, I want to teach you two words: one in Hebrew, one in Greek. First, in Hebrew. Ruah. Now, in Greek. Pneuma.
These are the words used in the Old and New Testaments for the Holy Spirit. But these are words not used only for the Holy Spirit but are actually words meaning little-s “spirit” or “breath.” In both the Old Testament and New, God breathes God’s breath on the people, fills God’s people with the Spirit. In Hebrew: ruah. In Greek: pnuema.
The prophet Ezekiel sees a vision. God takes Ezekiel to a valley full of dry bones, the dry bones of the literally and metaphorically slain Israelites, a result of the Babylonian Exile, a time of destruction and slavery of the Israelites by the Babylonians. “Mortal,” God asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” And in a vivid description of rattling bone and connective sinew and growing skin, the bodies of the slain regroup. But there is no breath in them. At the command of God, Ezekiel prophesies to the breath, and the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, fills the Israelites, and they live. And they stand on their feet, a vast multitude. Before these renewed people of God, God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to them: “I will put my spirit, my ruah within you, and you shall live.”
The disciples gather in Jerusalem, 49 days after Easter, the 50th day of Easter, on Pente-cost, literally meaning in Greek “fiftieth day.” After 40 days spent with the disciples, Jesus had ascended into heaven. And here they are, 10 days later having elected a new disciple, Matthias, to replace Judas Iscariot. According to both the gospels and the book of Acts, in these 50 days, the disciples have not been sharing the good news, have not been meeting to worship or pray, have not been performing acts of healing, have not been building community, and have not been baptizing people. These are all acts done by early church leaders that will be described in the book of Acts but not until after the day of Pentecost. For on the day of Pentecost, the disciples receive the breath of God, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, the pneuma, comes in the form of wind, like a flame, and in languages they had neither spoken nor studied through which they suddenly proclaim God’s deeds of power. Then, Peter stands up and recalls the words of the prophet Joel: “God declares…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. Even upon my salves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”
The Spirit, the breath of God, is the One who brings life to the slain Israelites and life to the early church. We know that, without breath, we cannot live, and God’s ruah, God’s pneuma is the breath that makes all things possible.
On Pentecost, we rejoice that God breathes new life into our old bones, into the church, the gathered people of God. In seminary, my theology professor, Vitor Westhelle, acknowledged that, as Lutherans, we rarely speak of the Holy Spirit’s place in our lives and in the life of the world. But, he said, the church is the work of the Spirit. If we are looking for evidence of the Spirit’s work, he said, he need only look as far as the church, the church globally and ecumenically, the church nationally and locally. Each Sunday, millions of people gather to worship God, to pray in their own languages, to sing together, to care for one another, to care for their neighbors. Each day throughout the world, people of faith practice their faith in ways too numerous to recount. Our ancestors in faith here in the US founded hospitals and nursing homes, colleges and universities, and a vast myriad of social service agencies in addition to the many congregations and church bodies they formed. The ELCA specifically, the church body of which Grace is a part, and its predecessor bodies founded and continues Bible camps and campus ministries, colleges and preschools, global mission partnerships and relief work, global development with people throughout the world who invite us to help them, and many more vital ministries that we, the people of the ELCA, support. Here at Grace, we see evidence of the Spirit too. One, you’re here on a Sunday morning when you could be drinking coffee or eating brunch. Two, you care about each other in a world that does not seem all that kind or loving. Three, you implement and support a whole variety of ministries because you understand that the church is not just about paid employees delivering a religious product but about the people of God doing the work of God, including but not limited to Grace Time, WELCA, lay communion ministry, GLOW, heat respite, Grace Room, pancake breakfast, youth activities, Vacation Bible School, Diaper Bag project, fellowship, prayer group, prayer shawl ministry, counting the offering, the administration of the church, the many and various tasks of caring for the property itself so that we have spaces in which to do all these ministries, and Sunday morning worship which requires the participation of and leadership from many people. How does all this happen? God’s breath, God’s Spirit, God’s ruah, God’s pneuma has given us life, life abundant!
But God’s ruah is not only at work in the church; God’s pneuma is poured out everywhere. Peter, in his sermon to those gathered in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost, remembers the words of the prophet Joel: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. On all flesh. Not just Jews. Not just Christians. Not just Lutherans. Not just men—or women. Not just adults—or children. All flesh. As Lutherans, we pray that the Holy Spirit would fill people at baptism which quite often happens for Lutherans at a young age. And then, later in the teenage years, we pray for our young people who are affirming their baptismal promises that the Holy Spirit would fill them anew, like we are today with Alec and Hannah. We rejoice that God’s Spirit is poured out, and we pray specifically for it. But we know, right?, that we do not control the Spirit. The Spirit of God blows where it wills, quite apart from our authority, but still, manifest in and through us. And I can only assume that God, who delights in the goodness of God’s entire creation, deems that creation worthy of God’s ruah, God’s pneuma, as indeed Joel declared.
Where and how is that Spirit manifest? When we look at scripture as a whole and when we comb through the work of the gathered people of God that has endured through the generations, we see themes that emerge and defy time and space, and for me, they are evidence of the Spirit’s work. Certainly, the gathered people of God are broken people, flawed people, so the work we do together is not always a reflection of God’s spirit—just as scripture which was literally written by human hands is flawed even if authoritative in our lives of faith. We, the gathered people of God, have made many mistakes and perpetrated broken systems that hurt God’s people and God’s creation. But when we read scripture carefully and look closely at the witness of God’s people throughout the ages, we see what has persisted.
So wherever there is love
Wherever there is justice
Wherever there is peace
Wherever there is compassion
There is the Spirit, God’s ruah, God’s pneuma.
God’s Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. That means you. That means us. That means we are empowered to love and show compassion, to do justice and seek peace here and at all times by the power of the Holy Spirit.