Based on Acts 2:1-12, Romans 8:14-17, John 14:8-17
I have often marveled that humans were created by God to be in relationship with each other and with God. It’s a wonderful and miraculous part of being human. Now, there certainly is a downside that becomes obvious as humans from all walks of life come together in community – we don’t always play well with each other. Case-in-point, we live in a time where humans are sorting themselves (once again) into tribal communities of like-minded people, instead of seeking a more inclusive brand of gathering. Yet, even in those more insular aggregations, there is a spark that continues to seek to add more people to the mix. Afterall, we have learned over millennia to find strength and safety in numbers. We know for a fact that our health and happiness are inextricably linked with the strength and health of our connections.
Speaking of those connections, I’d like you to think of the communities to which you belong. What attracted you and what holds you within that group? Often it is a shared purpose, as in this community of faith. Also, it’s likely that once you spent some time here, you felt a sense of belonging. You made friends, got involved in the life of the community through sharing your gifts, found something that engaged the fullness of who you were created to be. Over time, you came to trust in the people in your community(ies) – you felt that you could rely on them and that you could be more of yourself around them (or possibly even discover who you really are). Additionally, there is often an intangible feeling of “rightness” and maybe a positive energy level or special bond associated with that group. You just feel better when you attend a meeting or gather with this special collection of people – and being part of them becomes a blessing in your life.
We are celebrating the formation of this type of miraculous community today as we celebrate the creative energy of God the Holy Spirit at that first Pentecost. The reading from the Gospel of John has Jesus telling his disciples that he is one with God the Father and that they too are one with God. The power of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of truth – will be sent by Jesus to live with them and inside of each of them. Through this presence of God’s Spirit, the disciples will not be orphaned but will be enabled to not only do the miraculous works that Jesus had done but be able to do even greater things than these. Little did they realize at that moment that they would, through the Holy Spirit be the miraculous builders of the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
The Book of Acts tells us once again the miraculous story of Pentecost and the birth of the Church. All of the disciples were gathered in one place when the Holy Spirit filled the room. God the Holy Spirit filled the space and brought with it new gifts. These gifts allowed each disciple as they were empowered to speak in human languages that they did not know. This allowed them to connect to the many different people who were in Jerusalem at that time. As the disciples declared the wonders of God to the gathered crowd, those hearing them were “amazed and perplexed” – yet they were drawn to them and many thousand were converted to faith in Jesus that day. This was the beginning of Holy Spirit created miraculous community.
The Apostle Paul writing to the believers in Rome some 30 years later, teaches about living our lives in and through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit had continued to move in both Paul’s life and in the lives of those churches that Paul had planted around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul reminds them that through life in the Holy Spirit they are all adopted children of God and heirs to God’s kingdom and the glory of God in Christ.
We have spent the last 50 days telling the story of Easter and how Jesus rose from the dead and was with the disciples. The miracle and mystery of the Resurrection set the stage for what was to come on that first Pentecost – the formation of a community of believers that would forever change the world. The Book of Acts and the letters of Paul detail for us how miraculous and challenging it was to build this counter-cultural community. When we review church history and these stories of community building, we realize that there must have been a power available that sustained our spiritual ancestors through times of doubt, lack of resources, persecutions and divisive human behaviors.
Dr. M. Scott Peck in his book, “The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace,” identified four stages required to successfully build “True Community”. Dr. Peck describes the challenges that each stage presents – challenges that must be overcome in order for that community to develop to the next stage. Interestingly, we can see each of these stages described in the Bible. The first stage is “Pseudocommunity”, which is a stage where people pretend to have a balanced and open friendship with one another, and cover up their differences, by acting as if the differences do not exist. Pretending differences don’t exist, and pseudocommunity, can never directly lead to True Community; so the goal is to maintain open communication and a commitment to celebrating diversity so people can spend as little time as possible in this “pretend” stage of community.
The next stage is “Chaos” which comes when the community realizes that pseudocommunity fails to work, the members start falling upon each other, giving vent to their mutual disagreements and differences. This is a time when the people in the community realize that differences cannot simply be ignored. Chaos looks counterproductive but it is the first genuine step toward miraculous community building. These first two stages are detailed nicely in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Galatians.
The final stages are “Emptiness” and “True Community” – the latter is what I call “Miraculous Community”. After a time of communal chaos comes emptiness. At this stage, the people learn to empty themselves of those ego related factors that are preventing their entry into miraculous community. Emptiness is a tough step because it involves the death of the individual ego. Helpfully, Peck observes that this death paves the way for the birth of a new creature, the Community. “True or Miraculous Community” comes when the group has worked through emptiness, and the people are in complete empathy with one another. People are able to relate to each other’s feelings. Discussions, even when heated, never get sour, and motives are not questioned. Peck writes, “In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy, but by the time they reach community, the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.”
We see this kind of miraculous community described in the Book of Acts. Many thousands of people are added, and the community members freely share of everything they have so that no one is in need. They make mistakes and there are some disagreements, but overall, the community moves forward through the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and grace, spreading the good news of Jesus to the world. Through the next two thousand years, God the Holy Spirit led the Church to become the largest expression of monotheistic faith in our world. This is nothing short of miraculous when you consider how difficult it was to maintain this movement and form it into what it has become.
The power that maintained this miraculous community in its early days is the same power we celebrate today – God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to compromise and find common ground when things get tense. It helps us dream about how God might be calling us and then have the courage to follow that call. It gives us the strength and wisdom to discern how to spread the gospel in ways that everyone can hear. It is the positive energy that we feel that keeps bringing us back – that keeps pointing us to the larger purpose of this miraculous community. The Holy Spirit did not only work that one day 2000 years ago, it’s working right now, creating and sustaining purpose, belonging and building trust in other humans and in God. Thanks be to God for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit which makes miraculous community a reality! Amen and amen!