Holy Breath

Acts 2:1-21, John 20:19-23

What am I doing?

[blowing bubbles]

Watch, and think about all of the things I am doing.

To blow bubbles, you breathe – you take a breath in, and let it out.

you fill the soap and water with that breath, and off it goes:
blowing in any direction – some headed up and out, some floating gently. And either way, impossible to pin down.

That’s a lot like the Holy Spirit. 

Think about our Bible stories today:

There are two stories about the disciples sitting together in a room in Jerusalem.

In one of those stories, the coming of the Spirit is sudden, and dramatic:

There’s a rushing sound, a powerful wind, and fire – or something an awful lot like fire – surrounding everyone’s head.

No wonder they go rushing right out onto the street. Would you stay in a room that full of wind and fire!

And when they get out onto the street they start spilling God’s story in every direction, to the ends of the earth.

And then there’s the story where Jesus appears in the room, greets the disciples, and breathes into them.

Breathes into them.  It’s the same word that’s used in the creation story when God breathes life into the very first human being.

[bubbles]

Receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus says.

The breath of God, filling your own lungs and body.

And it’s powerful.  Jesus tells us that filled with that breath, we can set people free.

Just breathe for a minute.

Can you feel the power of the Spirit filling your body?

God breathes that Spirit into all of us.  You and me – and today, baby Richard – at our baptisms.  God breathes that Spirit into us when we are gathered together in faith.

Breathes into us, and sets us free.

And filled with that Spirit, we may be blown anywhere the wind takes us.

It took some of those first disciples to the ends of the earth. 

It’s taken some of us to people and places we never expected.

Or, filled with that Spirit, we may float gently, reflect the light, and be beautiful. 

We remember saints of the church who were like that, and I know beautiful people who reflect God’s light right here today.  I know you do, too.

God’s Spirit is unpredictable. 
God breathes it into us, and sets us free. 

[bubbles]

These bubbles are hard to catch.  And you can never pin them down. 

God just breathes the Spirit into us and doesn’t try to get it back.  God sets the Spirit loose in the world to see what happens.

And, like the bubbles, often when we see the Spirit, we don’t see it for long.

The fire around the heads of those disciples in Jerusalem eventually faded or vanished.  But the Spirit that they carried, like the breath in the bubbles, is still out there in the world.

Like Pentecost, the bubbles make our holy breath visible, just for a little while.

Today, we remember our baptism, and we’re reminded how God breathes the Spirit into us, giving all sorts of gifts that show God’s creativity and power, and sending us out to reflect the light, showing God’s love to the world,

wherever the wind takes us.

Do you want to see that Spirit today?

Then:

any of you who talk about Jesus, stand up.

Any of you who serve Christ in other people, stand up.

Any of you who stand up for what is right, stand up now.

Any of you who set people free - by healing physical hurt, working for justice, loving the unlovable, forgiving the painful - stand up.

Any of you who show Christ to the world by coming together to break bread, and to pray, and to share God’s peace, stand up.

God has breathed the Holy Spirit into you to make it visible to the world.

Now open that little red bottle,

fill your lungs with breath, and with God’s life-giving Spirit,

and make it visible. 

Fill the air with a bright soapy cloud of God’s Spirit.

Look around.

Look at God’s breath, God’s Spirit, made visible by you and me.

That’s Pentecost.

God’s Spirit, breathed into us, with gifts that show God’s creativity and power, sending us out to reflect the light, showing God’s love to the world.

Like these bubbles, this community is an icon of the Holy Spirit. God’s breath, lively, unpredictable, and bright, made visible today.

This Pentecost, blow bubbles in thanksgiving for the gift of the Spirit.  Blow bubbles as prayer that the Spirit may spread and spread throughout the world.  Blow bubbles to celebrate your breath, your lungs filled with life to show God’s love to the world.

Today, right now,

Breathe.

Blow.

Amen.

"Mass in the Grass" at Madison Meadow Park

Feet

Acts 1:3-11

There’s a picture in my head that I once saw – an artist’s representation of the Ascension.

There’s a group of people standing still and craning their necks as they look upward.  When you follow their gaze, you glimpse a pair of feet – ankles to toes – just disappearing into a cloud.

It’s a picture that has always made me laugh.  Feet sticking out of a cloud just seem funny to me.

But it’s a very, very important picture for the church.

Those dusty feet, dangling oddly out of a cloud on their way up, are all about what God has done for us. 

When Jesus ascends, his living, breathing, resurrected and very human body goes straight to God – to live and breathe and reign with God, as part of God, always and forever.  

From that moment on, our humanity belongs in heaven.  Our flesh and blood, our toes and hair – and all the bits in between – belong to heaven.  Our messy, imperfect humanity is holy, now and forever.

Disappearing into a cloud, those feet are the memorable sign that it really happens – that Jesus was here, and that our human nature is welcome and at home in the presence of God.

And it still makes me laugh.  I don’t think God minds when we laugh at joyful news.

There are other feet in that picture, too.  The feet of the disciples, firmly planted on the earth while their eyes follow the clouds of heaven.

It’s the original “left behind” moment, and this “left behind” is a mission and a blessing.  Jesus told his disciples that his going away was part of God’s promise to send the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus doesn’t go, we don’t become the church.  We’re just people following Jesus around.  Jesus leaves so that we become the Christ in the world, receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, witnesses to the ends of the earth.

If Jesus doesn’t ascend, we don’t have the unity of God’s Spirit binding us together across oceans and races and different worship styles.  If Jesus doesn’t ascend, we don’t have the diversity of the ends of the earth.

For me, the Ascension is about feet. Our feet carry good news and miracles from here to everywhere.  And Jesus’ feet: flesh and bone, maybe still a little dusty, carry humanity into heaven, today and forever.

So today, look up at the clouds.

And look at your feet.

It’s okay if you laugh.  God knows it’s a day for joy.

Preached at the ecumenical Ascension celebration led by the Lombard/Villa Park Religious Leaders group: Sunday June 5, 2011

Who you know

John 14:1-14, Rite 13 Ceremony

Imagine that you’ve signed up for (or been talked into) a guided adventure: a wilderness hike, a tour of a new country, or even an urban project close to home. And at the peak of the adventure – when you know you’ve come to a place that’s really new to you, when you’re not quite sure how you got there or what the new surroundings mean – just then the guide announces that he is leaving, and from here on your group is on your own to finish the trip or the project.
Anyone feeling a little anxious?

That may be how the disciples felt when Jesus announced that he was leaving, and that the whole project – preaching, teaching, healing, transforming the world according to God’s purpose (nothing big…) is now up to them. Us.

Jesus does tell the disciples not to worry. That he’s going on ahead to prepare a place; and that they – we – know the way that he is going.
Caught on the edge of the wilderness, it’s no surprise that the disciples think this is less than helpful:
“Wait a minute,” says Thomas, “what do you mean we know the way? We have no idea where you’re going!”
“Yes you do,” says Jesus, “because you know me.”
You know the Way, because you know the Truth: you know what I have taught you, and know God’s word revealed in human flesh. You know the Life: God’s abundance and creative gifts that I have given you.
That’s the Way.

It’s not actually about instructions, it’s about relationships.

As we grow in faith, and as we do God’s work, everything that matters is in relationship. Not what we know, but who we know, and who we become, in relationship.

Think about the people you spend time with. Family and friends,and people at work and at school. Who has seen your secrets, your hopes and your dreams, and held them safe, and encouraged you to grow with them? Who do you trust? Hold those people in your mind and heart.

Now think about who you become when you are with them.
Do you become anxious, or do you become strong? Do you become funny and brilliant? Thoughtful or creative? Does this relationship make you lonely or afraid? Does it make you hopeful or well-loved? What kind of person do you become in this relationship?
As we grow, as we encounter the challenges of life, it’s who we turn to that shapes our path. It’s who we know.

When I was 14, I moved into the dorms at the Illinois Math and Science Academy with a whole bunch of other teenage nerds. In many ways, it was like standing on the edge of the promised land. Fun stuff to do in school. Exciting ideas and projects, and a sense that we could change the world.  And no parents!

But after orientation, once the deadlines loomed and the work was hard, I began to feel lost. As if the guide had disappeared. I had signed up for this great adventure – but I hadn’t realized that I was going to have to navigate on my own quite so soon.

Now, not everybody goes to nerd school, and I imagine many of you would not think that it’s the promised land, either.
But we all go through adolescence. New experiences. A glimpse of the promised land of adulthood. New privileges; new responsibilities. And the discovery that the guides that got us here don’t seem quite as helpful as they used to. It’s hopeful, powerful, anxious and confusing at the same time.
It can happen at other points in our life: marriage, births or deaths. Job loss or a sudden promotion or moving to a new home. And we find ourselves, halfway through the adventure, wondering where we go from here and why the guide seems to have left.
In those times of wilderness: adventure, hope, privilege and responsibility, it’s never the how-to that really shows us the way. It’s not the best method to feed the baby, pick up the pieces, do the job or solve the problem of the day that we really need (though we often want it.)
It’s the relationships. The people we turn to who walk with us even if they don’t have answers.

In the first semester at IMSA I called home all the time. (My poor parents!)
When I asked, they couldn’t give me directions on how to like the change around me and inside me, instructions on how to meet challenges with delight and confidence instead of anxiety.
All they could tell me was what I already knew:
We love you, and we want you to be well. How you get there doesn’t matter.

And that was the way.
Not step-by-step instructions for each challenge, but remembering who I was whether I passed the test or shrunk everything I owned in the laundry.

Today’s gospel, like the Rite 13 ceremony that we will celebrate today, assures us that when we are lost – or found – in the middle of a great adventure it’s not the map, the instructions, or even the place we end up that matters.
On a journey to adulthood, or to the kingdom of God, it’s who we know.
It’s who we become, in relationship: Funnier, wiser and more aware in our relationships with our friends. Stronger and braver in our relationship with our families. More creative, loving, and well-loved in our relationship with God and our community.

In relationship we can become trustful and trustworthy people (that’s as true of parents with their children as of children with their parents!) because when we know well, and are well known, it doesn’t matter if independence is frustrating, our hopes don’t seem to come true, or if we don’t know where we’re going,
because we do know the Way.

[Rite 13 Celebrities:] I thought I would like to give you advice in this sermon.
But then I realized that the ceremony we are about to celebrate has all the advice I could give you, at least today, because it is about relationships.

Instead of advice, I – we! – need to be there for you:
To know you as you are, and as you grow and change. To let you know us, your faith community and your friends. To answer your questions honestly, even when we don’t have the Answers. To trust you, and to be worthy of your trust.
And to be proud of you. We ARE proud of you.

It’s a privilege, today, to share God’s delight in you, and to remember with you Jesus’ promise and commandments: that in relationship we know the Way, and in relationship, we can do more than we imagine.