Spirit-Filled

Last week I announced to my congregation that I would be leaving soon to take a new position, as associate minister with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax in Oakton, Virginia. Goodbyes are not easy. Yet I am so hopeful that good things are in store for all of us.

Peace,

Rev. Laura

***

Spirit-Filled

The Rev. Laura Horton-Ludwig, Minister

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Stockton

June 12, 2011

Friends, will you look around at one another?
I wonder if you see what I see—
your beautiful faces,
shining with life,
and the flowers you hold,
white and pink and yellow,
purple and gold,
the sweetness and life and gorgeousness of it all.

Very soon you and I will have to say goodbye to one another.
But I will never forget this moment,
here in this sanctuary which has held us through so much,
the community gathered to lift up our hopes
and our commitment to the future, whatever it brings.

It’s never easy for congregations and ministers to say goodbye.
But I want you to know, even though I need to go,
you are not being left by what matters most.
Ministers come and go because that’s what human beings do.
But the Spirit of Life and Love will never abandon you.
The spirit, the mystery, the reality—call it what you will—
the spirit that called this church into being
has been here
and is here
and will always be here with you.
Ministers are only human. We can’t stay forever.
But the spirit that gives life to this church will never leave you.
So, even now, even in this time of serious change,
I want you to prepare
for great blessings in your future.
I want you to trust that good things,
no, great things are on their way for you. 

Do you know, I got shivers when I realized what today was.
Today is Pentecost on the Christian calendar.
And Pentecost is the story
of how the very first Christian community
survived a huge change in leadership
and lived brilliantly into the future.

Luke tells the story in the New Testament book of Acts.
Jesus has come back from the dead.
It’s a miracle.
The disciples are overjoyed.
They never want him to leave.
They want him to stay and stay and stay.
But he can’t.
After just a few days with them, he has to go.
They don’t want him to leave.
But he tells them: don’t be afraid. Don’t worry.
Just be patient and wait for a while,
because the Holy Spirit is going to come to you
and give you power,
and you are going to witness for me all over the world.
And then he’s lifted up, way up into the air,
and he disappears into the clouds.

It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic exit than that!
Now, we all know ministers aren’t Jesus.
We’re just people.
When it’s time to go,
no minister I know plans on taking off via cloud.
But as I think about our situation,
and how it is for any people when one of their leaders goes away,
I think there’s at least some connection here.
If that early congregation could survive the loss of Jesus himself,
I know we can figure out how to manage
getting from one regular human minister to another.

So let’s see how they did it.
Back to our story: Jesus has gone.
The disciples wait.
And the sun rises on the Jewish holy day of Pentecost,
fifty days after Passover and the Last Supper.
The disciples are in Jerusalem, all together.
Here’s what Luke says happens next:

Suddenly from heaven
there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability.[1]

Can you imagine?
It’s like something out of a fantasy novel,
the wind and the flames,
and though I know, I know, this is not one of those stories
that we have to take literally,
still I want you to imagine:

Imagine yourself as one of those disciples.
You’ve been waiting and longing for direction,
waiting for a sign to tell you what on earth you’re supposed to do.
And suddenly the wind sweeps in, whooshing all around.
A scrap of paper blows off the desk.
The breakfast dishes rattle on the table.
Your hair blows wild,
the dust kicks up into your eyes.
And now you’re squinting—what is that?—is the house on fire?
Fire above Peter’s head, my God,
and John, and all the rest of them—what’s going on?!
And now they’re staring at you too,
and everything goes silent for a long moment,
the wind still whipping through the room,
but the most tremendous stillness
and energy inside you vibrating and spinning just a little bit
and then more and more, rising up and up and up to your throat
and it’s lifting you up to your feet
and now you’re speaking, singing, you can hardly tell,
the words are just rushing out of you,
words of praise and power and devotion—
rushing and tumbling out—the feeling is incredible,
you’re lifted up, carried by this incredible Spirit-energy,
you’re vibrating and singing with it,
and slowly, slowly you come back to yourself,
washing back to yourself,
stillness,
stillness.

Can you imagine?

Now Luke takes up the story again. He tells us,
Jerusalem was home to Jews from every nation in the known world:
people from Egypt, Libya, Rome,
Mesopotamia, Judea,
Cappadocia and Pontus in Turkey—
Jewish people from every place in the Roman Empire
lived here in Jerusalem.
And all those people had grown up speaking different languages.
You hear a lot of different languages here in Stockton—
Jerusalem was just the same, even more so.
Now the disciples were from Galilee,
just a little part of what we call Israel now.
They only spoke their own language.
But now those disciples
taken over by the Spirit,
were speaking all these different languages,
from Egypt, Turkey, Rome, every place.
The people gathered round, “amazed and astonished.”[2]
They heard those Galileans talking to them in their own languages.
Imagine if we all went out and started speaking not just in English,
but in Spanish, Cambodian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hmong,
Japanese, Chinese—every language in our city,
imagine if all of a sudden each one of us could speak a different one
and we all went out and started telling people about our faith
in their own languages.
This is what happened in Jerusalem.
The crowd is amazed.
They don’t understand. It seems like a miracle!
The energy is building in the crowd.

But then somebody laughs in a mean voice and says,
those guys over there,
they’re just drunk!
The crowd hesitates.
They don’t know what to think.
Are the disciples for real?
Should we listen to them?
Maybe they are just drunk…though it all seems pretty weird…

And then.
And then the leadership moment happens.
Peter steps forward—
Peter of whom Jesus has said,
You are my rock—
Peter steps forward and says,
Everyone, listen to me!
These people are not drunk.
It’s only 9:00 in the morning!
They’re not drunk.
No, what you’re seeing, what you’re hearing,
is a prophecy being fulfilled right here.
Remember what the prophet Joel said:

‘…God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams….’[3]

Peter says, this is what’s happening.
Jesus is gone now,
but here is the Spirit
filling the people who loved him,
the people who followed him.
This is what’s happening now.
The Spirit is working in all of us,
not just one, not just a few,
but all of us.
Our children will prophesy.
Our young people will see visions,
our old people will dream dreams.

This is what Pentecost is all about.
The community that loses its primary leader
is given power and wisdom and insight to go forward.
For years the disciples have been following Jesus,
listening to him,
trying to understand him,
but he was always the one with the power.
He was the one with the vision.
The disciples were just along for the ride.
When Jesus left, they were discouraged and fearful.
They had to take time to grieve.
But now things have changed.
The disciples have had an experience of spiritual power.
The spirit has entered them
and given them the power to speak for themselves.
It has charged them to go out
and tell the world what they have experienced,
to tell the world about their faith.
Everybody is charged to be a visionary and a leader.
And that small group
went out and built a movement
that has transformed billions of lives from that day to this.

This is why I say to you:
No leader can stay forever.
But the spirit that gives life to this church will never leave you.
I want you to trust in your future.
Because great things are on their way for you.
Beautiful adventures are coming to you.
Can I teach you a song that’s been guiding me in these last days?
It’s very simple; it goes like this:
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
In the midst of sorrows and joys,
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
In the midst of uncertainty and confusion,
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
And in the midst of change and challenge,
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.

For in the days to come,
you will be challenged.
You now have the immense privilege and responsibility
to chart a new future,
to figure out, who are we now?
Who do we hope to be?
And most importantly, who must we be
to remain true to our faith and our vision?
You will be challenged and changed, without a doubt.
But you will carry forward everything good
from what has been, always.
You will stretch and grow and learn.
And you will be blessed forever.
May the spirit of wisdom and peace,
justice and passion,
life and love, be with you always.

Amen.