Breath…Wind…Fire…
05/27/07
Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
Dear friends in Christ,
When the Biblical writers sought a word to describe the presence of God among us, there was one word they all used consistently. The word was Spirit. It is a word that first appears in the second verse of the Bible, Genesis 1 verse 2, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” It last appears in the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.”
The word spirit, is hard to define, which is why it has always been used to point to the things of God. It points to a presence that is assumed to be real but cannot be easily described. Our holy moments, our God experiences, our “God-incidences,” our glimpses into the glory of God are almost always described with language of the Spirit. “God’s spirit has been at work,” we say, knowing what we mean without providing a precise definition.
Today we pause in the church year to celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit of God to the church. It is the Day of Pentecost, often called the birthday of the church, for when the spirit came to the disciples and those gathered in Jerusalem, the church was born.
But it would be terribly misleading to suggest that Pentecost is the only time we see the Holy Spirit referred to in the scriptures. The truth is that the Spirit is seen by the Biblical writers to be always at work, from start to finish. For example, in the Old Testament we see the spirit breathed into Adam at creation. We have Ezekiel’s prophecy of the valley of dry bones, where the spirit brings the bones to life. In Jesus we see the life of a man filled by the spirit of God. In the birth stories he is described as a “child of the Holy Spirit.” In his Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon him like a dove. The Spirit of the Lord led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he describes himself in the synagogue at Nazareth he quotes Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” His final words on the cross are, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Before ascending to heaven Jesus gives the great commission to the disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The language of the spirit is found in the book of Acts and throughout the writings of Paul. So today we celebrate the Spirit, not only as it was poured out on the day of Pentecost, but as the Spirit has worked in the world from the beginning of time until the present day.
The spirit is by its very nature elusive, nebulous, and beyond a clear cut, clean definition. For this reason we have in the scriptures words for the Spirit that give us a picture, rather than simply definitions. A picture, it is said, speaks a thousand words. I think this is true when we speak of the Spirit. This morning I’d like to give you three word pictures of the Spirit that we find in the scriptures, two of which come right from the lesson in Acts today. My hope is that these word pictures will help you better understand the Spirit and how we can be led and filled by the Spirit even today.
The first word for the Spirit is the Jewish word nephesh, which is translated breath. We find it in Genesis 2:7, where it says, “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” God’s breath is the source of all life. When God breathed into Adam, he became alive. Everyone of us has life this day because God gives us breath. The Spirit is the life giving breath of God.
It’s interesting that in John’s gospel when Jesus is with the disciples it says that he “breathed on them, and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.” Just as God breathed life into Adam, so now Jesus breathes life into the disciples with the gift of the Spirit.
I know that the way CPR is done is constantly being changed and upgraded, but the picture of mouth to mouth resuscitation works here for me. Breath enters the victim, whose lungs fill and life is restored. We’ve all seen at least portrayals of drowning victims who, because breath is breathed into them, have life restored. The Spirit is this life giving breath, that enters us and gives us life itself.
I see this picture of the Spirit in a very personal way. It’s God breathing life into us, individually, as we need our lives restored and refreshed. Who among us has not felt discouraged, lost, afraid, alone, even doubtful, from time to time. Life can be tough, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Sometimes all three are affected at once, and we just don’t know how we’re going to get through it. But then, along comes the breath of God, the Spirit, to fill us with life, to call us forward, to show us life as the good and gracious gift it truly is. One picture of the Spirit is nephash, the breath of God, the source of all life.
The next two pictures of the Spirit are found in the Acts 2 lesson, among other places. The first of these is the wind. The Jewish word is ruach, which is the word used in Genesis 1 verse 2, “The Spirit, or ruach or wind of God, was moving over the face of the waters.”
In the Pentecost lesson how is the spirit described? “Like the rush of a violent wind.”
The wind was chosen as a picture for the spirit because it has always been mysterious both in its origin and in its destination. Even today, with all the advances we’ve made in meteorology, we still don’t fully understand the wind.
We saw an example of this just last Wednesday with the storms that developed and the wind damage that occurred in the Plymouth area. My sister-in-law lives on Medicine Lake and they lost all the mature trees on the lakeside of their property. She described the clouds in the sky as turning an eerie green, a sudden burst of hail, and then the rush of the wind that seemed to come out of nowhere to uproot the trees. Fortunately, there was no damage to their house, nor to the houses around them. In another area, construction trailers were overturned. In still another, industrial park buildings lost their roofs. There was no clear pattern, no path that could be clearly seen, just random downdrafts of wind that hit some areas and not others. Jesus says of the Spirit in John 3:8, “It blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes.”
If the breath of God, nephash, is God’s spirit being breathed on us individually, the wind of God, ruach, is the spirit being poured out upon the community. That’s what happened on that first Pentecost. The spirit was poured out upon all the people, changing the community forever. Whereas in the Old Testament story of the tower of Babel, many languages came into being that confused and divided people, in the Pentecost event people of different countries and languages understood one another and came together as one. The mysterious spirit was uniting people. That was to be the new future. Soon, the division between Jews and gentiles, slaves and free, would be overcome through the power of the Spirit. That work continues to this day as we work to remove that which divides.
With the picture of the spirit as the wind, we see that it is not something we can control, by our own human efforts. We can’t harness the wind, nor can we harness the Spirit. What we can do is be open to the Spirit’s presence when it blows our way. On Sunday morning, June 24th, immediately following the 9:30 service, we’re going to serve brunch and then show to you a DVD we are making about our trip to Tanzania last February. This trip, and the way it will be presented, will really show you how the Holy Spirit, like the wind, blew and directed our steps. If I could, I’d require every church member to be there. It’s an amazing story that’s worth hearing and it demonstrates what I’m talking about today, the Holy Spirit as breath and wind, that touched our lives individually, as a group, and as partner congregations.
The last picture of the Spirit also come from Acts and ties closely with the wind. It is the picture of fire. There are tongues of fire resting above the heads of the people. And near the end of the lesson, Peter quotes the prophet Joel who says, “And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.”
Some of you will remember the movie “Backdraft” about fire and firefighters. A backdraft occurs when a building on fire superheats and flashes over in a sudden and violent explosion, blowing fire, gases, and debris outward into the environment around it.
On this day of Pentecost, it’s as if the disciples and others present were caught in a backdraft. God’s redeeming work in Jesus so charged the whole world that it flashed over- became a wildfire of mission starting in Jerusalem and spreading out to the ends of the earth.
Here I think of the recent wildfire, unfortunately sparked by a careless campfire, that exploded across the upper gunflint trail. Like the wind that both blew it, and was created by it, the fire burned some areas and not others. Those that survived it describe a kind of power they had never before experienced. And although our first human reaction is sadness that such destruction of the forest took place, and certainly for the loss of property, we have also learned that in order for those forests to flourish over time, fire is a necessary part of the cycle. The old forest has to burn so that the new might be given life. Even now the charred forest floor is beginning to regenerate and become something new.
So it is with the work of the Spirit, a powerful fire spreading across the globe, in some cases having to burn and destroy the past so that the new may take root and grow. For those of us that like to keep things comfortable and controlled, this picture of the Spirit as fire can be a bit unnerving. But we know it’s true, as the good news goes out, challenging us to leave behind things of the past and being open to new growth in the future.
When the Biblical writers sought a word to describe the presence of God among us, there was one word they all used consistently. The word was Spirit. It’s not a word that is easily defined. Picture words, those given in scripture, work best. Breath…wind…fire… May we, individually and in community, experience, and be led, by this Holy Spirit in our lives. Amen
Acts 2:1-21
Dear friends in Christ,
When the Biblical writers sought a word to describe the presence of God among us, there was one word they all used consistently. The word was Spirit. It is a word that first appears in the second verse of the Bible, Genesis 1 verse 2, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.” It last appears in the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.”
The word spirit, is hard to define, which is why it has always been used to point to the things of God. It points to a presence that is assumed to be real but cannot be easily described. Our holy moments, our God experiences, our “God-incidences,” our glimpses into the glory of God are almost always described with language of the Spirit. “God’s spirit has been at work,” we say, knowing what we mean without providing a precise definition.
Today we pause in the church year to celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit of God to the church. It is the Day of Pentecost, often called the birthday of the church, for when the spirit came to the disciples and those gathered in Jerusalem, the church was born.
But it would be terribly misleading to suggest that Pentecost is the only time we see the Holy Spirit referred to in the scriptures. The truth is that the Spirit is seen by the Biblical writers to be always at work, from start to finish. For example, in the Old Testament we see the spirit breathed into Adam at creation. We have Ezekiel’s prophecy of the valley of dry bones, where the spirit brings the bones to life. In Jesus we see the life of a man filled by the spirit of God. In the birth stories he is described as a “child of the Holy Spirit.” In his Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon him like a dove. The Spirit of the Lord led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When he describes himself in the synagogue at Nazareth he quotes Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” His final words on the cross are, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Before ascending to heaven Jesus gives the great commission to the disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” The language of the spirit is found in the book of Acts and throughout the writings of Paul. So today we celebrate the Spirit, not only as it was poured out on the day of Pentecost, but as the Spirit has worked in the world from the beginning of time until the present day.
The spirit is by its very nature elusive, nebulous, and beyond a clear cut, clean definition. For this reason we have in the scriptures words for the Spirit that give us a picture, rather than simply definitions. A picture, it is said, speaks a thousand words. I think this is true when we speak of the Spirit. This morning I’d like to give you three word pictures of the Spirit that we find in the scriptures, two of which come right from the lesson in Acts today. My hope is that these word pictures will help you better understand the Spirit and how we can be led and filled by the Spirit even today.
The first word for the Spirit is the Jewish word nephesh, which is translated breath. We find it in Genesis 2:7, where it says, “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” God’s breath is the source of all life. When God breathed into Adam, he became alive. Everyone of us has life this day because God gives us breath. The Spirit is the life giving breath of God.
It’s interesting that in John’s gospel when Jesus is with the disciples it says that he “breathed on them, and said to them, receive the Holy Spirit.” Just as God breathed life into Adam, so now Jesus breathes life into the disciples with the gift of the Spirit.
I know that the way CPR is done is constantly being changed and upgraded, but the picture of mouth to mouth resuscitation works here for me. Breath enters the victim, whose lungs fill and life is restored. We’ve all seen at least portrayals of drowning victims who, because breath is breathed into them, have life restored. The Spirit is this life giving breath, that enters us and gives us life itself.
I see this picture of the Spirit in a very personal way. It’s God breathing life into us, individually, as we need our lives restored and refreshed. Who among us has not felt discouraged, lost, afraid, alone, even doubtful, from time to time. Life can be tough, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Sometimes all three are affected at once, and we just don’t know how we’re going to get through it. But then, along comes the breath of God, the Spirit, to fill us with life, to call us forward, to show us life as the good and gracious gift it truly is. One picture of the Spirit is nephash, the breath of God, the source of all life.
The next two pictures of the Spirit are found in the Acts 2 lesson, among other places. The first of these is the wind. The Jewish word is ruach, which is the word used in Genesis 1 verse 2, “The Spirit, or ruach or wind of God, was moving over the face of the waters.”
In the Pentecost lesson how is the spirit described? “Like the rush of a violent wind.”
The wind was chosen as a picture for the spirit because it has always been mysterious both in its origin and in its destination. Even today, with all the advances we’ve made in meteorology, we still don’t fully understand the wind.
We saw an example of this just last Wednesday with the storms that developed and the wind damage that occurred in the Plymouth area. My sister-in-law lives on Medicine Lake and they lost all the mature trees on the lakeside of their property. She described the clouds in the sky as turning an eerie green, a sudden burst of hail, and then the rush of the wind that seemed to come out of nowhere to uproot the trees. Fortunately, there was no damage to their house, nor to the houses around them. In another area, construction trailers were overturned. In still another, industrial park buildings lost their roofs. There was no clear pattern, no path that could be clearly seen, just random downdrafts of wind that hit some areas and not others. Jesus says of the Spirit in John 3:8, “It blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes.”
If the breath of God, nephash, is God’s spirit being breathed on us individually, the wind of God, ruach, is the spirit being poured out upon the community. That’s what happened on that first Pentecost. The spirit was poured out upon all the people, changing the community forever. Whereas in the Old Testament story of the tower of Babel, many languages came into being that confused and divided people, in the Pentecost event people of different countries and languages understood one another and came together as one. The mysterious spirit was uniting people. That was to be the new future. Soon, the division between Jews and gentiles, slaves and free, would be overcome through the power of the Spirit. That work continues to this day as we work to remove that which divides.
With the picture of the spirit as the wind, we see that it is not something we can control, by our own human efforts. We can’t harness the wind, nor can we harness the Spirit. What we can do is be open to the Spirit’s presence when it blows our way. On Sunday morning, June 24th, immediately following the 9:30 service, we’re going to serve brunch and then show to you a DVD we are making about our trip to Tanzania last February. This trip, and the way it will be presented, will really show you how the Holy Spirit, like the wind, blew and directed our steps. If I could, I’d require every church member to be there. It’s an amazing story that’s worth hearing and it demonstrates what I’m talking about today, the Holy Spirit as breath and wind, that touched our lives individually, as a group, and as partner congregations.
The last picture of the Spirit also come from Acts and ties closely with the wind. It is the picture of fire. There are tongues of fire resting above the heads of the people. And near the end of the lesson, Peter quotes the prophet Joel who says, “And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.”
Some of you will remember the movie “Backdraft” about fire and firefighters. A backdraft occurs when a building on fire superheats and flashes over in a sudden and violent explosion, blowing fire, gases, and debris outward into the environment around it.
On this day of Pentecost, it’s as if the disciples and others present were caught in a backdraft. God’s redeeming work in Jesus so charged the whole world that it flashed over- became a wildfire of mission starting in Jerusalem and spreading out to the ends of the earth.
Here I think of the recent wildfire, unfortunately sparked by a careless campfire, that exploded across the upper gunflint trail. Like the wind that both blew it, and was created by it, the fire burned some areas and not others. Those that survived it describe a kind of power they had never before experienced. And although our first human reaction is sadness that such destruction of the forest took place, and certainly for the loss of property, we have also learned that in order for those forests to flourish over time, fire is a necessary part of the cycle. The old forest has to burn so that the new might be given life. Even now the charred forest floor is beginning to regenerate and become something new.
So it is with the work of the Spirit, a powerful fire spreading across the globe, in some cases having to burn and destroy the past so that the new may take root and grow. For those of us that like to keep things comfortable and controlled, this picture of the Spirit as fire can be a bit unnerving. But we know it’s true, as the good news goes out, challenging us to leave behind things of the past and being open to new growth in the future.
When the Biblical writers sought a word to describe the presence of God among us, there was one word they all used consistently. The word was Spirit. It’s not a word that is easily defined. Picture words, those given in scripture, work best. Breath…wind…fire… May we, individually and in community, experience, and be led, by this Holy Spirit in our lives. Amen