Lord, send out your Spirit– and renew the face of the Earth! Psalm 104

Children of the Spirit,

May is packed with meaningful events within our life together – the blessing of the quilts (5/1); the photo shoot for our first pictorial directory in 7 years (5/3-5); the Peace/Calvary Women’s Retreat (5/6-7); the Rite of Confirmation on Pentecost Sunday (5/15); the annual NW WASH Synod Assembly (5/20-21); the baptisms of 3 little ones on Trinity Sunday (5/22); and—to top it off—Scholarship Sunday (5/29). Occasions for celebrating the Spirit’s living presence among and between us abound!  You can read about all these and more in the pages below.  But I hope you’ll do more than read—I hope you’ll choose to be part of many of them.  After all, our community is not the same without you.

“Come, let us build a city…and make a name for ourselves.”

Genesis 11:4

As the Day of Pentecost approaches, the story of the Tower of Babel comes to the fore (Genesis 11:1-9).  One of the ancient legend stories of Genesis, the story tells how humankind sought to use the newest technology (brickmaking) to gain control of its destiny.  Underneath the text is a not so veiled desire for a homogeneous identity: we would rather stay with our kind, within the homogeneous tribe or national identity or lingual bond that we know, rather than venture beyond them. Juxtaposed with that story is the story of Acts 2, when the promised Spirit of God comes suddenly and powerfully upon the disciple community in Jerusalem.  Instead of scattering peoples and languages, this Spirit unites them.

In the contemporary film BABEL filmmakers Alejandro Iñárritu and Guillermo Arriaga trace the consequences of one impetuous act which sends shock waves through the lives of four different families on three different continents, linking them to each other in a chain of tragic events that changes their lives forever. When two Moroccan goat herding brothers, testing the limits of a new rifle, randomly hit a tourist bus, it quickly becomes an international incident with lasting ramifications for the brothers, for an American couple on board the bus and their Mexican nanny and children back home, and for a Japanese businessman and his deaf-mute daughter.  Events spiral out of control in “a whirlwind of rash judgments, linguistic barriers and sheer bad luck.” (Neil Smith)

In a world that grows smaller with each technological advance, and at a time in history when communication is—supposedly—easier than ever, the film portrays how isolated and apt to miscommunicate we truly are.  And how quickly our cultural biases and presuppositions become avenues for confusion, fear and violence.  Using the Tower of Babel parable as its starting point the film shows, on the one hand, how interconnected our lives have become, and on the other hand, how limited our ability remains for reaching across barriers to create and sustain human community.  If we need any further corroboration of this, we need look no further than this year’s election rhetoric!

Language can coerce or it can liberate.  It can deceive or it can reveal.  It can manipulate or it can illuminate.  Human hubris, says the story, forever desires to (1) make a name for itself, (2) maintain control, and (3) resist change. The human chorus rising up from the ancient plains of Shinar (quoted above) confirms these tendencies.

Amazed and astonished they asked,   “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native tongue?”

– Acts 2:7, 8

But for all of us who find communication challenging; for all who struggle to find the right words for the right time—words that bridge the gap, that build relationship instead of tearing it down—Pentecost, is a day of hope. God’s Spirit is unleashed, bringing not only a new energy to God’s people but a fresh capacity to listen and to understand. God opens ears, loosens tongues, and links people to each other in a chain of gracious events that changes lives forever.  On this day, people from different countries, races and cultures, speaking scores of different languages, find their ears and their hearts open to one another in a way that was never before possible.  On Pentecost the voice of the OTHER, whose thoughts and experiences had been beyond reach, comes in crystal clear through a miracle of the ear, and the tongue of fire becomes a flame that has kept burning in each generation since.

During a retreat last month, we asked our confirmands to articulate how they intend to live out the five baptismal promises/practices as they move forward with their lives of faith.  I was impressed with what they wrote.  Their vision of participation and servanthood reflects the lively, inclusive, and compassionate flame that ignited the Christian movement 20 centuries ago.  On Pentecost Sunday we will celebrate the Spirit’s work within the lives of these five young women as we gather to bless them and pray for the Spirit’s continuing accompaniment.

Then, on the Sunday following Confirmation, three infants will be brought to the waters of the Font by their parents, and the whole gracious chain of events will begin once more!  We all have a place and a role in that circle.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Pastor Erik