C Pentecost BFC NH 2019
Acts 2:1-5;
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26:8:1; Odes of Solomon 34
June 9, 2019
Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, an
appropriation of the Jewish harvest festival.
As the story goes, the disciples are still licking their traumatized
wounds after the sudden and violent death of their teacher when the Spirit
comes suddenly and like the rush of a violent wind. Fiery tongues settle on each of them,
regardless of social or economic status, gender or sexuality, ethnicity or nation,
and they begin to speak in the languages of immigrant Jews who have gathered in
Jerusalem from all over the known world.
The people gathered are bewildered, flummoxed, curious enough to ask
what is going on but afraid of the activity they have witnessed. When the apostle Peter gets up to give a
speech about this event, he compares it to a devastating army approaching[1], the
appropriate response being repentance and fasting, spiritual practices that
require a mindful watching and witnessing of radical change that is beginning
to happen. In an age where bewildering things are
happening full of violence, blood, and fire, the teller of this tale knows that
these all can be seen as absent of God’s presence and activity.
Yes, we may be bewildered, flummoxed, even
afraid of the violence, blood, and fire we see around us, the immigrant tongues
which make us wonder if there is ever a chance for unity, but maybe this is not
so much the end but the beginning and the sure signs of God’s
presence and activity. Did we think it
was going to be easy? Did we think it
would be like a gentle dove coming softly to the earth to share peace and
goodwill for all? Maybe it is that, as
in every age, we can now see the beginnings of God enjoining against the
preachers and prophets of war, the purveyors of hate and supremacy, those who
are showing their fear against the rising tide of a need for justice and peace
spoken in immigrant languages.
Quaker
prophet, Kateri Boucher tells us, “Quit your prayers for quick answers, for
quick garden growth, quick flight across the country, quick salvation, and even
quick death. Prayers for quick are what got us here. Today, pray only for
breath, for in and out, for a chance to join these ancient openings and
closings that move at no speed but their own.”[2]
Resurrection is the portent, the sign,
that there may be more here than violence and death, an alternative to the drum
major instinct seeking to be first absent of humility and a priesthood of all
believers, seeking superiority absent of responsibility and service, seeking
to declare exceptionalism without the Spirit . . . the Spirit of mutuality and
love. Pentecost is an invitation to
become part of the movement to be a drum major for the struggle for justice and
humility and a priesthood of all believers, for peace and service and
responsibility, for righteousness and mutuality and love.[3] Easter is God’s resurrection moment. Pentecost is God’s resurrection movement, the
birthday of the church, the gathering of the diverse tongues who stand again
and again to say that an alternate reality is necessarily coming forward to
claim a shared space.[4]
Throughout Scripture, the Spirit has
always been that manifestation of the Divine that crosses boundaries between
heaven and earth, across boundaries and border posts, and through limitations
and taboo. As wind or breath, the Spirit
is impossible to control or define as it moves and connects us to one another. As fire, the Spirit is a purifier and focuser
of intent and an instantaneous representation of God’s energy and power to
bring about transformation and a call that stops us and re-orients us and
reminds us who we are—the truth about who we are.
The most massive living thing on earth
is . . . Pando’s Aspen grove in southern
Utah’s Fishlake National Forest.[5] Some of the trees in the forest are over 130
years old. When any part of the organism
needs nourishment, the other parts come to its aid.[6] Using a single root system, Pando, Latin for
“it spreads”, spreads out for 106 acres with what appear to be thousands of
individual trees. Known as the
“Trembling Giant,” the trees are knowing for making a quaking sound as the wind
passes through their leaves. Wind . . .
reminding us of connection. Wind . . .
reminding us of Creator’s activity, presence, and movement. The Pando quaking aspens are under threat,
however, as human encroachment and animal grazing cut short the lives of their
younger growth which require boundaries and nurture to grow another
generation.
The Pando quaking aspens are a metaphor
for who we are in the world, a more explicit statement about the truth of our
connection to one another and to Creator’s good earth. We know we share and are connected by one
water system. We know we share and are
connected by one breath. It is even said
that we are stardust, stated by a prophetic folk singer and confirmed by
scientists, to remind us just how connected, and celestial, and interdependent
we are.[7] There are not some born to be of the heavens
and others born of the earth. Creator’s
Spirit winds (long “i") and winds (short “i") it between, across, and through us. That seems such an elemental truth that I
feel almost ridiculous saying it. But
there is a lying being told and retold out in the wider world we need to
respond to with the deepest truths of our faith.
Do not let the violent wind, the blood and
fire, the immigrant tongues make you believe it is all going to hell. As Peter knew in his generation, there is a
great revealing taking place, the Spirit is afoot, and we are to watch for it and
witness to it.
Recently, prophet for our own time, Winona
LaDuke, Executive Director of the Native and climate activist Honor the Earth,
traveled to fossil fuel energy provider Enbridge’s shareholders meeting in
Alberta, Canada, to witness the end of an era, the possibility of the last tar
sands pipeline, that form of energy now only experiences bust in its boom-bust
cycle of fossil fuel energy projects. “This
is the last Pipeline,” LaDuke declares, “Four other pipelines were proposed and
they are all either cancelled or in legal limbo. Enbridge's Northern Gateway
(to Pacific) and Trans Canada's Energy East are cancelled. Kinder Morgan/Trudeau
Trans Mountain is in legal hell, all permits nullified, Keystone is in legal
challenges. Now the legal challenges begin for [Enbridge’s] Line 3. This is not
Honor [the Earth’s] last battle, it's the last pipeline still moving ahead.”[8] Winona LaDuke is witnessing to the fact that
this is the last pipeline still moving ahead.
Here are the reasons. First, tar sands oil is too expensive and
there is not much of it left. Second,
big oil doesn’t seem to care about Alberta’s financial problems. So the disconnection big oil facilitates
comes home to roost. Albert Kenney,
Alberta’s newly elected premier, does not see another economic boom to help
fill their financial gaps so why take on all of the bad things tar sands mean
for a people? And that leads to the
third point. Tar sands oil is the
dirtiest in the world. In takes too much
to process, can lead to major tragedies, and in this time of climate crisis,
insurers are ready to move on. Finally,
nobody wants a tar sands pipeline.
Failing projects, litigation, and lack of governmental approval lead to
doom. Two pipelines are fighting to be
the last tar sands pipeline: Enbridge
Line 3 and the Keystone XL pipeline.
Keystone XL was buried in legal challenges in the great State of Montana
until two days ago but now is too late to begin building this year. Those witnessing and watching, including the
Indigenous Environmental Network, have vowed to continue the fight.[9] Honor the Earth promises to make Enbridge
Line 3 very, very expensive—the last pipeline.
Analysts are now saying that it will be the most expensive pipeline never
built. As a sure sign that
transformation is taking place, Canada now has more people employed in
renewables than in all fossil fuels.[10]
Great transformation is taking place. Creator’s Spirit is afoot, present, on the
move. Do not let the violent wind, the
fire, and the immigrant tongues scare you.
Know that they are a sign that the lies and coming doom and death are
being revealed. And the truth is, the
truth being revealed, the Spirit whipping around the earth, whipping around
this room is to remind us, in a holy, inspiring, purifying flame, that we are
connected in life. We, as the prophets
of that new day, we are to watch for it and witness to it. We are connected. Amen.
[1] Margaret Aymer, “Commentary on Acts
2:1-21,” WorkingPreacher.org http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3282.
The army is a reference to the Joel passage Peter quotes.
[3] “Drum Major Instinct,” Stanford
University The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/drum-major-instinct.
Dr. King was responding to a J. Wallace Hamilton concept called “the
drum-major instinct.”
[4] Ken Sehested, “The Promise of
Pentecost,” prayer & politiks, http://www.prayerandpolitiks.org/articles-essays-sermons/2015/05/13/the-promise-of-pentecost.1507036.
[5] Thought at one time to be the largest
but has been surpassed by Oregon’s thousand-acre fungal mats. Still the most massive, “Pando, The Trembling Giant,” AtlasObscura
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pando-the-trembling-giant.
[6] Erin Alberty, “Utah’s Pando aspen grove is the most
massive living thing known on Earth. It may die soon.” The Salt Lake Tribune,
November 14, 2017. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/11/11/utahs-pando-aspen-grove-is-the-most-massive-living-thing-known-on-earth-it-may-die-soon/.
[7] Simon Worrall, “How 40,000 Tons of Cosmic Dust
Falling to Earth Affects You and Me,” National Geographic, January 28,
2015. Stated in the article by Stanford
professor of pathology, Iris Shrijver.
[8] Winona LaDuke, “The Last Pipeline,” Honor the
Earth, http://www.honorearth.org/last_pipeline_news.
[9] Matt Volz, “Court lifts injunction that blocked
Keystone XL pipeline construction,” PBS News Hour, June 6, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/court-lifts-injunction-that-blocked-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction
[10] Winona LaDuke, ‘The Last Tar Sands Pipeline,” The
Circle: Native American News and Arts,
June 5, 2019, http://thecirclenews.org/environment/the-last-tar-sands-pipeline-2/?fbclid=IwAR0JPSWDVC5_iOol0wUnAVRC8_AhDkmAD0QzdwjE7FlBwU105YEMblQCZg0.
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