Today is Pentecost Sunday, and the story of Pentecost is a story about what happens to ordinary people when God's grace really takes over their lives. This is what I am going to talk about today: Pentecost-what it is and our need for it.

In just the first few verses of the Pentecost story-the few verses we read today-it is clear what is happening. People are being changed, and it is not some self-improvement program that is causing the change. God is at work, in much the same way as the Book of Genesis describes God being at work in the creation of the world: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.^[1] The Pentecost story in Acts speaks of that same wind of God: And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.^[2]

In Genesis, the wind or God, or the Spirit of God, brought creation out of chaos. The story of Pentecost has a similar theme. Out of the chaotic bewilderment and confusion the disciples and followers of Jesus experienced following the crucifixion and resurrection, God brought clarity and understanding and power. People who had been wondering what happened were filled with wonder and awe. They were amazed at what the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, had accomplished and was continuing to accomplish. People were empowered to live the Gospel.

One of the first fruits of God's work in Pentecost was that when the people spoke others understood; and when they listened they could understand. Genuine communication began to take place. And where there is true communication, real community is possible.

All this is just the opposite of what the Tower of Babel story is all about.^[3] As you probably remember, in the story of the Tower of Babel, (as it is told in Genesis 11) humans, filled with egotistic pride, tried to make a name for themselves. This is a Hebraic way of saying that rather than being the persons God created them to be, they tried to become the persons they decided to be. Rather than being the persons God had named them to be, they tried to make a name for themselves.

And the way they did it was similar to what Eve and Adam had done when they tried to become like God. The people on the plain of Shinar began work on a tower, a tower that would reach the heavens. This is to say, they tried to work their way up so they could be on the same level as God.

With great irony, the storyteller lets us know their plan was comically flawed from the beginning. And their plan finally collapsed because communication broke down. Where communication breaks down, community breaks down, community breaks apart. And where community breaks apart, suspicion and mistrust grow. And where there is suspicion and mistrust, it is not long until humans are busy building and collecting weapons and at times using those weapons on one another.

Whatever else this story has to say (and it has a lot to say), it tells us that when we forget who we are, and our egotism drives us to make a name for ourselves, communication fails, misunderstandings and suspicion step in and community is torn apart. This is at least part of what the story of the Tower of Babel is all about.

On the other hand, the story of Pentecost is, among other things, the story of God working to transform and redeem us Tower of Babel people. God's wind, the Spirit of God, blows among us; and, by the grace of God, communication begins to take place. When the Spirit of God blows among us, we are able to speak so others can understand and we listen to understand what others are saying. And as the Book of Acts reveals, where this genuine communication happened community came into being. It is the grace of God, the Spirit of God moving among us and between us that makes communication and community a real possibility.

In a very practical and personal way, this became evident to me once again last week. Last Sunday afternoon from 3:00 until about 8:30 Ron Campbell and I were involved in a race relations workshop or sensitivity seminar with several other persons; some were from other faiths or religions and some were of other races. What brought us together was our common concern to improve relations between people of differing religions and differing races here in the Austin area.

Part of what I rediscovered was the truth contained in both the story of the Tower of Babel and the story of Pentecost. For us even to begin to make progress, the Spirit of God has to take over. We were trying to build a wonderful tower of tolerance-each of us wanting it done our way, with our own perception of the problem and the solution, using our own choice of words to describe it all. We had to get beyond ourselves because self-centeredness leads to insensitivity. Insensitivity leads to hurtful words and actions, often unintentional, and these cause a reaction-usually a hostile reaction. Our response to this reaction is to become defensive, to justify ourselves to ourselves.

The end result is the same as the end result in the story of the Tower of Babel. We move apart from one another; we build our defenses; and we collect an arsenal of words, impressions, prejudices and behaviors to use as weapons just in case we find ourselves at war with these people we do not trust. After all, we do not want to be hurt by them.

Last Sunday, I experienced once again this Gospel truth: it is only as God's love transforms our living and leads us toward becoming the persons God intends us to be that we are able to let go of our self-centered approach to everything we undertake in life. It is the activity of God's Spirit, the windstorm of God's love blowing into our lives that enables us to do this, that enables us to choose to take the risks of love. It is only in taking the risks of love that trust can be slowly reconstructed-the trust that is essential for genuine communication and healthy community.

The question is, how can this happen?

This is why, for us Christians, this table with its loaf of bread and its cups of juice is so important-I would even say vital. Here are ordinary elements, a table, some bread, some juice, and yet here is something extraordinary.

Here the grace of God is at work. Whether we believe it or not, in the midst of the ordinary, God's grace is at work, offering us healing and redemption. Here, God's grace can empower us to become the persons God intends us to be-persons God can use in the redemption and healing of the world. In the ordinary, through the ordinary, God's grace is at work for the purpose of transforming Tower of Babel people into the Body of Christ.

On the surface it appears we merely eat some bread and drink some juice, but what we are really doing, if we truly know what we are doing, is taking into our being the very nature of Christ. We are absorbing into the very fabric of our being the grace of God that was incarnate in Jesus. It is as this grace of God becomes incarnate in us that we are transformed from being merely folks or merely church folks into becoming the very Body of Christ.

It is truly a miracle. I am not talking about what happens to this bread and juice. What I am talking about is what happens to us when the grace of God becomes incarnate in us. The real miracle is when God's grace is so much a part of who we are that we become the Body of Christ.

This is what Pentecost is really all about. It is about what happens when God's grace really takes over the lives of ordinary people.

God, make Pentecost happen in the lives of each of us. We confess that the Tower of Babel story is all too often our story, and we need healing and transformation. As we come to partake of this bread and juice may we take into our being the very nature of Christ. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:
God, on this Pentecost Sunday, send your Holy Spirit among us. Empower us as you did the first disciples gathered in Jerusalem. Transform us from mere church members into the Body of Christ so that all our deeds and words reflect your grace and serve your will.
All too often we live not only as if you are not present, but as if you never could be. May your Spirit be so at work in us that we not only sense your presence, but we also become aware of what you want us to do. And God, empower us to do what you want done. Motivate us to take the steps you see we need to take. Turn our living in the direction you would have us go.
As we come to receive this sacrament, enable us to take into our being the very nature of Christ so that in our living we become the Body of Christ at work in the world. That this kind of transformation will happen to us is our prayer. Amen.

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^[1]Genesis 1:1-2, New Revised Standard translation

^[2]Acts 2:1-2, New Revised Standard translation

^[3]See Genesis 11