WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
June 4th 2006
Pentecost Sunday
Communion Meditation
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Without a Multicultural Future… We Don’t Have a Future…”
Ezekiel 37-1-14; Acts 2:1-21
I recently heard Jin S. Kim pastor of the Church of All Nations in Minnesota make this claim about the church: “If we don’t have a multicultural future then we don’t have a future.” He was not speaking only about his congregation or even those gathered at the Multicultural Church Conference in Orlando. He was speaking to the entire denomination. While this may seem bold it is really quite simple and makes good sense. The simple truth is that our children and grandchildren live in a multicultural world. If they find the church unresponsive and unwilling to embrace this reality, they will undoubtedly find another church or leave the church all together.
However, self preservation is not the reason to embrace a multicultural future. The most compelling reason has nothing to do with political correctness or jumping on the latest trend. Instead, it is built into the very foundation, the very creation of the Christian church. Pentecost, a Jewish festival which comes fifty days after Easter, is the day that Christians celebrate the birth of the church. At the heart of the Pentecost event lies the key to understanding the radical and often unfulfilled call which is the foundation of the church. However, before we get to the passage from Acts, I believe the passage from Ezekiel has just as much to say about the future.
The vision that God gives to Ezekiel is not given to other people. He alone is given this vision to share. It is not a pleasant picture and it is not welcome in the company of priest and prophets who only spin the news so everyone will live in blissful ignorance. However, just because this vision is not seen and embraced by all, it does not lessen the validity of the vision.
Ezekiel finds himself in a valley full of human remains – it is a vision of genocide. We are told these bones are dry – they have been dead for a long time. This is a vision where hope for new life has long since disappeared. However, it is in the middle of this hopeless, lifeless place where God shares a ridiculous vision. Life will return. It is not a vision brought about by human planning or strategy but by God alone.
The promise of new life is rather disruptive. The Spirit of God makes its presence known with a great noise. New life and change does not come easy and can seem chaotic. In fact, despite the fact that death reigns and hope has all but gone this valley of dry bones is a quiet serene place. But God acts to turn this living death into new life and hope, even if it disrupts the status quo.
It is clear that God does not trust that Ezekiel is able to grasp the meaning of this vision. So God makes the meaning abundantly clear. These dry bones represent despair of God’s people. The people have no hope, no vision and no trust that God will act in the midst of death. God sends Ezekiel to the people with this message. God says: Tell them that I will put my Spirit in them and bring hope and life where despair and death once ruled. When the Spirit makes its presence known nothing will ever be the same. (Share Columbia Presidential Innaugural story)
So it was with the day of Pentecost. All the folks in the religious community were gathered in one place. It was a time of chaos and uncertainty. The religious community was rather divided. The Pharisees were desperately trying to cling to tradition and orthodoxy. The Sadducees were seeking to be more relevant to the culture in which they found themselves. And on top of this division you had this small sect of people claiming that messiah had come. Yet despite their divisions, despite there deep disagreements, they were still worshiping together. In the midst of this Pentecost celebration, a violent wind began to howl. God was once again at work bringing new life and hope where despair and division were the order of the day. The Spirit brought changes for which so few were prepared. Nothing would ever be the same again.
When the Spirit makes its presence known, at that Pentecost celebration, something amazing happens. The good news of Jesus is heard in the native languages of all the people gathered for worship. This is amazing because it serves no practical purpose. After all, these pilgrims would have been multi-lingual. It was not necessary for the gospel to be heard in the native tongues of the people gathered. This leads us to ask: What is going on? This scene makes two simple points. The first is that in the Christian faith it is not necessary to give up ones culture to be a faithful follower. And secondly it means that no one culture holds a special place in God’s eyes. While this may seem simple, one only has to make a quick journey through the history of the Christian church to know we need to be reminded of these simple truths over and over again. (Could say something about colonialism historically and the struggle between the conservative and liberal church in Kenya.)
The first Pentecost for the followers of Jesus is a rather scary scene. The worship service becomes chaotic and frankly lacks proper decorum! However, the Spirit does not seem to care. Simply put, this new thing from God is a threat to the traditional order. Those challenged by this vision dismiss what is happening: Are they drunk? Don’t they understand how things work? That is not the right way to worship!
Instead of ignoring the grumbling, Peter invites those who doubt not to dismiss this new reality so easily. Instead, Peter invites them back into the stories of their faith. He reclaims the scriptural roots to explain this new thing. Quoting from the prophet Joel, he shows how the Spirit of God is at work bringing new life to all people. God is planting visions and dreams that bring hope and life to the dry dead bones of the old ways. The arguments of the past have become irrelevant. Everything has changed.
Faced with these two stark visions of the work of the Spirit, we must ask ourselves where we might place ourselves in the visions. Will we, when faced with God’s vision of a truly multicultural community, stand on the sidelines and dismiss it as a drunken stupor? Or will we be moved by this new reality in ways that touch the core of our very being. The truth is that this is a challenging and difficult call which, depending on the day, can find us at both ends of this spectrum. Because of that, our call is to challenge each other on those days when we find ourselves dismissing this vision as ridiculous. Like Peter, we have to hold one another accountable and say: It is not alcohol but the Spirit of God at work.
While Westminster is the most diverse church in our Presbytery, we must still work to fully live out this vision. We are still at work trying to provide worship that is authentically multicultural and reformed. However, we must never become discouraged. God is doing a new thing and we are called to be witnesses to this new truly Pentecostal church.
I want to end with two thoughts – or cautions for our community. 1) When the Spirit is at work making its presence known, it can be disruptive and even seem chaotic. New life does not come quietly. It can be disruptive and scary. However we know that God is the one who will bring new life to dry bones. 2) The second is connected to the first. The church must always be careful not to confuse serenity and peace with the absence of life found the valley of the dry bones. The noisy disruptive life found in the spirit of God can and will bring new life.
I believe Pastor Jin Kim is right, not only for the denomination, but for Westminster. Our future is multicultural or there is no future. That is why last month the session voted to create a worship task force which will seek to understand how we might more fully live into our vision. The task force has five goals which are as follows: 1) Learn what is meant by “Reformed Worship.” 2) Learn about the process of worship planning. 3) Propose ways to help communicate the purposes of worship (the whole and its parts) to the congregation. 4) Evaluate our current worship practices through the lens of evangelism – “How visitor friendly is our worship?” And, 5) Propose and demonstrate ways to continue to live out the vision of a multicultural/racial community in the context of worship. While some of you will be asked to serve on this task force we will all be part of this process of discernment and understanding. As we begin this new phase in our journey of faith May God grant us the wisdom, courage and the Spirit to live into the vision – in our lives, in our homes, in our business, and yes even in our worship. Amen.
