Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Then, a mysterious voice calls out to Elsa, drawing her out of this life into, as she puts it in song, “the unknown”.
This journey into the unknown leads Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf to learn the truth about their kingdom and home of Arendelle. The old king, Anna’s and Elsa’s grandfather, set up a dam that prevented the waters from flowing, hurting the Enchanted Forest and the Northuldra, the tribe of people living there. Thanks to listening to mysterious voice and journeying into the unknown, Elsa and Anna are able to restore the balance of magic in a way that benefits both Arendelle and the Forest so that all can live happily and in harmony. Doing so requires a great deal of change for all the people.
What we hear today in the story of Pentecost is the same thing. It is a call to venture into the unknown for the sake of all people. It requires something new and different. It requires a change.
The Day of Pentecost is about remembering the Holy Spirit coming into the hearts and minds of the Apostles, the first leaders of the church. This was something Jesus foretold, but, as we saw last week with the Ascension, it is not something that fit in with what the Apostles were originally expecting. There was no road map, no prayer book to help them know what it would be like or what this new Spirit-filled future would hold. It was truly a journey into the unknown for them.
Yet through this event, through this journey, the lives of the Apostles, as well as ours, were changed forever. Before, the Apostles didn’t go outside out of fear of what the religious leaders would do to them as followers of Jesus. Now, they walk out boldly, proclaiming the news of Jesus’ Resurrection boldly to the world. They do so in a language that somehow everyone can understand. It is so strange and original, that people listening to them wonder if they have been drinking a “new wine”.
The Apostles could have never guessed what would happen to them as a result of the Holy Spirit entering them, but they still took this journey into the unknown. There was no way to plan what would happen, no ritual to mark the occasion of the Spirit entering in. Yet they still pushed forward to see what would happen to them.
Accepting the new and the unknown from God is the theme of this day, as well as in our Scripture readings. Like the Israelites, the Apostles, and even Elsa from Frozen, we have lived, comfortably or not, within our own lives and routines up until when the Pandemic threw our lives into a new and unimagined way of being and living. This time is a reminder to us that nothing lasts forever or stays the same. It is a reminder that the only one we can trust in as we move into the unknown is God.
As we move further into the future of our life together as followers of Jesus, as followers of The Way, we need to remember that this journey is often one into the unknown, just as it was for the Apostles at the start of this journey. There were no traditions or customs for the Apostles to hang onto as the Holy Spirit entered their lives. They had to discern the will of God through that same Spirit as they went along the way.
I don’t know what the future for the church will be because, really, none of us do. I often find our structures and traditions to be comforting to hold onto, but in the end, the only thing we can truly hold onto is God. Doing that will require that we continue our journey into the unknown, but as long as that unknown is the path that God has laid out for us, we will always come out the other end. We will never come out unchanged, but we will come out having been made whole.