You don’t have to stay in the Tower.
Sermon for the Day of Pentecost: Whitsunday, Year C (June 5, 2022).
View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day: Easter 7C
Preached at Christ Episcopal Church, Jordan, New York
Edited Transcript
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, oh God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Please be seated. So yesterday was ... We've had a beautiful week, right? Starting with Memorial day. But it cooled off really nicely. I took my son to the zoo yesterday, and that was delightful. And there was just this beautiful breeze all day, and it was just such a gift to receive that wind. And so of course, I was like, Pentecost, it's coming.
And today, what I wanted to talk about was the Holy Spirit's movement. But I want to start with that by kind of going back to that first reading from Genesis. And we have the option. We can read that story from Acts about Pentecost together with a passage from Romans about our adoption as children of God, or we can read Genesis, the story of the Tower of Babel, together with the Pentecost story. And there are gifts in both of those, but it's really interesting, I think, to look at the Babel story side by side with Pentecost. And one of the traditional interpretations is kind of that one is the opposite of the other, but I think it's a little more subtle than that.
So in order to talk about the movement of the Holy Spirit, I want to look at that passage from the Tower of Babel, which if you're like me, that is like a Sunday school story that I could tell you by heart. And you might have learned an interpretation of that story that goes something like this. Once upon a time, we all spoke the same language. We were all the same. And we didn't use that unity for good. We got kind of proud of ourselves. And we started building this tower, and we built it higher and higher. And we said, "We're going to be just as good as God." And God kind of looked down and said, "Oh, this is not good. This is not good. I've got to put a stop to this nonsense. I have to punish these folks." And so God, as a punishment, caused us to speak different languages. God introduced diversity as a punishment. That's the interpretation of that story that I grew up with, and it might sound familiar to you.
But on Pentecost, I want to invite you to look at that story just a little bit differently, same story, same passage from the scripture, but hear it a little differently. Once upon a time, we were all the same. We all spoke the same language. And that helped us to feel secure. We knew how other people were going to behave. We knew what to expect. And look at the passage from Genesis. The people said, "Let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered." They said, "Let's build this tower so we can stick together, be in the same place, do the same things, and speak the same language." And they wanted to stay where they were. And they stood where they were and they built a tower, maybe a tower that would hold them all, a tower that would hold them together and keep them secure.
And God looked down on this and God said, "Man, I created this entire earth. And at the beginning of creation, when I created humanity, I said, go forth, fill this earth. Get to know all of the beauty and all of the creatures upon it. And here they are building one tower in one place, huddled together, afraid to be scattered, afraid to follow my first commandment to them." And God said, "I know what I will do. I will give them a gift. I'll teach them to speak in different languages. I'll teach them to dream different dreams that are part of my creation. And when I introduce this confusion of languages, they'll have no choice but to leave that tower and go out and follow my commandment to fill the earth and to be part of my creation everywhere."
So that's the story of the Tower of Babel, maybe a little bit differently than you've heard it before. And so I don't know how many years later, we have Pentecost. And again, just remember the disciples have all been through a horrible time. They had Jesus with them, among them, a leader. They witnessed him be tortured and killed. They're probably terrified about what the Roman empire is going to do to them if they get caught, so they're all together in one place, even though they've witnessed the resurrection. Before the resurrection, they're all together in one place. After the resurrection, Jesus has gone up to Heaven. The disciples are all together in one place. And that's good. That is what we do when we need comfort. We come together. We seek to be together. But once again, God sees the disciples together in one place. And God said, "It's good that they're together. It's good that they're caring for each other."
But this is not where the story ends, is it? If they all stayed together in that room, how will people know what the good news is? How will people know what the resurrection is? But this time, instead of introducing a confusion of languages, God gives us all the gift of listening. He gives to the entire world the gift of being able to hear one another and to be in relationship, even when we speak different languages, even when we behave in different ways, even when there are differences that distinguish us. And God opens the ears of all the people in that city so that they can hear the disciples proclaiming the good news of Jesus. And some people are like, "What is this partying at 9:00 AM? What's going on?" But other people are astonished because they're hearing about God's deeds of power, and they are thrilled.
And what happens to the disciples following? If you read on to Acts 3, they create something new. They do go forth. They go everywhere in that empire. And there's a great risk to doing that, but they do it anyway. And another great risk that they take, because it's not just about going out and talking to people who maybe haven't heard, they also begin to create a new way of caring for each other. They share what they have. They give to each other and to their neighbors freely, without being afraid of, "Will there be enough left for us?" On Pentecost, their ears are open. They're able to hear each other. And they are sent out then scattered to care for each other and to preach the good news, to share the good news. And it's not unlike what it was like when Jesus was walking with them on the earth. They leave that place of comfort to go out, just like those first twelve left the tax booth where they'd been working. They left behind the fishing net and they followed Jesus. And on Pentecost, that's what we're invited to do.
So I want you to imagine this week, to note, is there a place in my life where God sees that I have a nice little comfort zone, maybe my own little tower that I am safe and secure, and where God is sending that Holy Spirit to blow through my tower and to send me out to do something that maybe I'm afraid to do, maybe something I don't feel like I'm good enough to do. God loves to invite us to do things that we don't feel like we are good enough to do. God's like, "Oh, I'll show you, you're good enough." God loves to send us out to do the things that feel too risky.
And that, I think, is where we remember that when we are sent out to do the thing that we're afraid to do, when we're invited to leave our comfort zone and go out into something unknown ... Read the gospel for today again, because Jesus says, "I don't give to you as the world gives. But what I do give to you is peace, peace that means even when you're afraid, that fear doesn't control you. You may feel fear, but you don't have to be run by fear anymore. You don't have to stay in the tower. You are invited out, and the Holy Spirit and the God of love are with you out in the open air. Amen.