Musical Prelude and Service.

Acts 2:1-21
Yesterday Pride Haldimand Norfolk held its annual Pride Celebration in Caledonia. It was a happy, peaceful day in the park for a great many people. I’m grateful that I was able to be a part of it. I had no official role this year, but enjoyed being there, visiting with people I have come to know and become friends with.
While this Pride event was a celebration and a peaceful and joy filled occasion, that has not always been the case with Pride. I’m sure many of you remember what the first few Pride events in Dunnville were like. Pride has its roots in protest and defiance.
I have more than once been confronted by the question, why do they need a Pride Day? Why not a Straight Pride event also?
Well, as I said, Pride has its roots in protest and defiance. Because for a very long time those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender kept their orientation a secret. They did so out of fear.
Fear for their lives, fear for their standing in society. Fear of how they would be treated by their friends, their families, their neighbours. And they hid who they were out of shame. They often hid who they were even from themselves, denying a fundamental aspect of who they were.
The world taught them that to be gay, to be bisexual, to be transgender was wrong. For a long time it was equated with mental illness and was illegal in a great many places. It still is in some parts of the world. And the church, for a long time named it a sin.
So, Pride became a way for members of the 2 Spirit, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community to stand up and say, we have nothing to be ashamed of and we will proudly proclaim who we are.
Clearly things are changing. At least in our immediate world. But far too many people still live in fear. Still live with the fear of being outed hanging over them and being told that their orientation, their way of living in this world is a sin or is a mental illness. That they are threat to families or children. So there isa great deal of work still to be done.
Quite often, Pentecost, this day, is celebrated as the birth of the Church. That the formation, the start of the gathering of believers as the body of the church can be traced to this occasion as this group of apostles are overcome by the presence of the holy spirit and go forth preaching the good news of Christ to all who have ears to hear.
Don’t worry, I’m not about to dispute that. I could argue that the work of the Apostles, in the name of Jesus had already started prior to this event. I could argue, people gathering in Christ’s name was already a fact.
But the idea that these early followers of Jesus recognized that they were empowered to spread the gospel given to them by Jesus, was truly recognized on this particular occasion.
But I also think there is far more going on in this reading. We have a great deal more we can draw from this story.
In this story, we see the Holy Spirit very much at work. And it is not on first blush a comforting experience. I would argue it is at the very least disconcerting; perhaps frightening. These people are driven from their comfortable rooms to go out into the streets and proclaim these words that just recently led to the death of their friend and teacher, Jesus. They talk and act in ways that lead many to question their sobriety.
The Holy Spirit can often work in ways that we do not easily accept. It can lead to follow uncomfortable paths. Yes, in retrospect it can generally seem like the best and perhaps only reasonable path to follow, but at the time – not so much.
And finally, how are these apostles moved to carry out the work of the Holy Spirit?
By speaking in a host of different languages to a host of different people.
In his book The Holy Spirit, Michael Welker argues, this Pentecost story is essentially the story of the Tower of Babel in reverse. In that story, God creates division and disunity through a variety of languages. A project to set humanity on an equal footing with God is sabotaged by creating division in the ranks through a diversity of languages. Now people cannot work together.
In this case, people are drawn together into the body of Christ by language. But in this case, they do not suddenly speak the same language. They do not lose their distinct languages; they do not suddenly all speak with one tongue. But language is not a barrier to being one in Christ.
The implications of this can be profound. To me, the message of Pentecost is God works through God’s followers to speak to a great many people from different places – of different cultures, different languages – and does so in ways that those people can understand and relate to.
God meets people where they are. God does not sit and wait for people to come to them. God, through the work of the Holy Spirit goes out into the world and inspires people, moves people, emboldens people, and strengthens people to speak, to act and to move. And through the work of that same Holy Spirit, God draws people together. People with different perspectives of how the world works, with different ways of talking, singing, and praying; different ways of living, and yes, those who love people we may not be attracted to.
Welker argues, strongly, that one of the messages of the Pentecost story is that God does not insist on one language, one culture. There is no monoculture in the body of Christ. There is more than one way to talk about God and God’s love. Yes, we find unity in Christ and through the Holy Spirit, but it is not uniformity. God created us with many languages, many colours, many ways of living in this world. We bring a wonderful kaleidoscope of music and art and expressions to the body of Christ and God sees it as good and beautiful.
We bring with us a host of ways of living into this body. But God does have a few expectations. They do call us to love God with all that we have and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Yes, God insists that we love ourselves.
On the day after this county celebrated Pride Day, I do want to emphasize that we are called to see ourselves as God sees us; as beloved. The beloved children of God. And to look at our neighbour and recognize that when God gazes upon them, God sees their beloved.
Love one another. What does God require of you but to love kindness, seek justice and to walk humbly with God.
Do not seek to harm one another. Do not seek power over your neighbour. Do not restrict the freedom of another or to put barriers in the way of them seeking a deeper relationship with the holy.
We can so easily be led to think we have everything figured out. Life would be so much easier and peaceful if everyone saw and lived like we do. But God has created a world of miraculous diversity. God has created a world of wondrous colours and shapes and should take time to gaze in awe and wonder at the creation of which we are a part.
We keep encountering news of people vilifying other cultures, different parts of the world. We read and hear reports of people who are gay or lesbian or transgender being excluded from many parts of our world. We hear of them being accused of grooming children That we should be afraid, or we should condemn people for learning how to be true to who they truly are. For finally being comfortable for who God made them to be.
In a world that can be so polarized. Where conversations can quickly become incredibly intense on some of these issues, it can be tempting to step back and remain silent. I appreciate that. I sometimes think silence, or a choice not to engage in certain conversations is the wise and healthy choice.
But I also know that there are times where it is necessary to speak. To let the world know where the Holy Spirit has led you. To be absolutely clear that God’s call to love and welcome and celebrate ALL of God’s creation does not come with exceptions. Because in a world where some voices claim to speak for the entire body of Christ, it is crucial to remind the world that there are a great many voices speaking many different languages of God’s Good news.
May we be open to the movement of the spirit, which moves in and through us opening our senses. May we thank God for the spectrum of life; the spectrum of languages, of culture and expressions that make up God’s beautiful creation. Let us be open to how the spirit moves us to praise God and share our thanksgiving and God’s wonderful news of love and invitation and grace.
Thanks be to God, Amen.

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789