Ridiculous Hope

Text: Acts 2: 1-21
May 31, 2009


Have you ever noticed that
when there’s that one person in a group
who is positive or upbeat
people tend to think there must be
something wrong with them?
We think or even say, ‘boy, they’re flighty,
or they don’t have a clue
or they just don’t know what’s going on’?

At the same time, it’s easy to look at the negative side of things
to predict disaster or failure
to keep our hopes low
or to find every little thing that’s wrong
with a person or situation
People jump on THAT bandwagon in a hurry…
“Oh, it’ll never work,”
“Nobody’s going to show up,”
“they’ll never win…”

The recent news about Susan Boyle
on “Britain’s Got Talent,”
says that the woman is just about
to have a nervous breakdown
because of all the pressure she’s under
She just entered the contest
because she loves to sing
and since she wowed so many people
she has to hide in seclusion!
People criticize her hair, say that she really can’t sing
she should wear more make-up
lose some weight
and then, if she can’t handle all the pressure
from these crazy people
they call her names for getting upset about it!

Face it, we live in a painfully cynical and negative world
that tries to destroy any good thing that crops up
Joy seems naïve in our world
we are suspicious of positive people
we even make fun of them
or if someone has a good idea
we knock it down
nip it in the bud before they even try….

No wonder some people in Jerusalem
thought the followers of Jesus were drunk!
They were ridiculously happy!
They MUST be drunk!
How else could anyone be THAT happy??
If we’re not happy, we don’t want anyone else to be happy!
If we have no hope,
we don’t want anyone else around us
to have hope!
They must be drunk!
Or just plain stupid….

In fact, it had been a long time
since the followers of Jesus had felt any joy
They felt like they’d been put through the mill
these last months
Jesus’ horrible, horrible death
and then he shows up in their rooms,
on the beach, on the road
ALIVE!
That just about scared them as much as his death!
I mean dead people just don’t rise from the dead!
And there he was….
And just when they got used to him being around
just when it started to feel natural for him to be alive again
he said he had to go
He told them to wait in Jerusalem
He didn’t say what to wait for
just wait for the gift, the Advocate, the power
well, as usual, they had no clue what he was talking about!
So they waited
They ached, they paced, they cried,
they doubted,
they thought that he must have abandoned them
all over again
and then WHAM!
they got hit by a holy hurricane
right there in the house
their spirits had been exhausted,
they were anxious, a little jumpy,
looking for clues of what was to come
Some among them must have said
“he’s not sending anything
there’s nothing more to wait for
he was just trying to ease our pain again,
it’s over, guys, this is it…”
They couldn’t stand to hope
and then get disappointed,
so it was better to just start off disappointed
they had less distance to fall that way
But then it happened
There were crowds in the streets
getting ready for the festival of Pentecost
the Romans were patrolling the streets
everyone from every known country was gathering in the city
nobody could understand each other
because no one spoke the same languages
except those who had traveled together
there were no translators
so it was hard to get around the city
and ask directions or for help
and some in Jerusalem
wrote editorials as usual, asking
“why can’t they all just learn OUR language
if they’re going to come to OUR city every year??”
It was a mess
Romans trying to keep the crowds from killing each other
The followers of Jesus stayed inside,
away from it all,
that is, until the holy hurricane hit them
and caused holy chaos among them
All of a sudden
these anxious, depressed, nervous followers
started rambling on loudly
in a different language
saying things they themselves did not understand
and it all reached such a fever pitch
that the people in the streets could hear
they could hear their own language
being spoken
in this strange city!
so the crowds moved toward the strange sound,
toward the building where the followers of Jesus
came pouring out,
newly energized, their faces radiating with excitement
babbling on and on
words they didn’t understand
but someone in the crowd did
Something weird was going on!
There was buzzing from the building
there was buzzing in the crowd,
“What does this mean?” people kept saying
in various languages
but others just waved them off
“ah, those are just those crazy Jesus people,
they’re just drunk….”
But Peter got up,
ran out to the front of the crowds
and waved his hands
and in his own native tongue
he spoke,
“We’re not crazy!” he said
“And we’re not drunk!”
THIS is what we’ve been waiting for
and we didn’t even know it until now!
It’s just like the prophet said,
Ïn the last days it will be, 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.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women
in those days, I will pour out my spirit
and they shall prophesy….!”
It was crazy, but true
among Jesus’ followers
there were young men, old men,
young women, old women
rich and poor, big and little
fat and skinny,
light and dark-skinned,
all of them, bound together by the Spirit
that came rushing through them,
on them, into them, around them
it was everywhere
No one could see it
but they remembered Jesus say,
“The wind blows where it will and you do not see it,
so it is with the Spirit of God…”
They were not drunk with new wine,
in fact, they WERE the new wine
Jesus had said once also,
that you can’t put new wine into old wineskins
because the wineskins will burst
but you must put new wine into NEW wineskins
that it may be preserved
That day, the day of Pentecost
Jesus’ followers were the new wine
and the old ways would not, could not contain them
things had to change, now, with the Holy Spirit
The difference was amazing
All of these followers
before and after Pentecost
Before, they were frightened, anxious, weary
cynical, immobilized
separated from each other
by various languages, beliefs,
cultures and habits
but on the day of Pentecost
no one was left out
no one was better or worse than anyone else
no matter what country they came from
no matter what language they spoke

And so I wonder,
what languages keep us apart?
Politics? Religion? Denominations?
Whether we were born here or moved here?
What keeps us apart?
What keeps us divided?
And what makes us ever think that God is ever pleased
when we keep those walls between us?
Pentecost was a day when God gave everyone a vision
of what God wants for all of us, finally someday
A world where no one is left out
a world where God’s people are ALL equal
no matter what age, race, religion, whatever labels we have
we are all equal in God’s sight
No matter what language we speak
not one language will be THE language
but we will all be bound together by the Spirit of God
that makes us all one
The good news of Pentecost
is that humans crucify and murder
but God resurrects
humans divide and dominate
but God communicates
God has the last word
and that word is wild
because it changes everything
and it is never what we thought it would be
The place was smokin’, I tell you
smokin’ with the Holy Spirit
and nobody was left out
if anyone missed it, it was because they chose
to not be a part of it
they CHOSE to reject it…
but the Gift was for everyone
Have you ever been out of breath?
I know what it’s like to be out of breath
because in the last 5 years or so,
I’ve somehow developed asthma
It is a horrible, horrible feeling to not be able to breathe
to not be able to catch your breath
Or what about when you’re waiting for news
on a loved one?
Someone told you to come home
that something’s happened,
and all the way home,
your heart is racing
and you hardly breathe ….
Or you get a phone call in the middle of the night
and just the sound of the phone after you’ve been asleep
makes you hold your breath
knowing it’s going to be bad
You just can’t describe the feeling
when you get a call from someone
a child, someone you love
just to tell you they are alright…
Or if like me, you have asthma
and you get the inhaler
and you can breathe again
You can’t describe the relief
of catching your breath
or having the ability to breathe again
That’s how God’s Spirit is
it’s like being given the chance to breathe again
after you’ve been holding your breath
or being held when you felt so alone
and in someone’s comforting arms
you find yourself breathing easier again
Or it’s like having that oxygen mask
put over your face
when you’re short of breath…
it feels like new life…
When Jesus came back from the dead
to see his followers
they were all crowded into one room
grieving, hardly breathing
aching, missing him, devastated
and it says that he breathed on them the Holy Spirit
it was like he put oxygen masks over their faces
and restored them to the land of the living and thriving
God’s breath, the Holy Spirit
is full of passion and of life
just like the before and after versions of the disciples
on Pentecost,
God’s breath blows
and shy people become bold
scared people become gutsy
broken people become whole again
people bent-over by grief and pain
can stand up again and start walking
And when we let God breathe in us
just like those Jesus people who became foreign language scholars
in just one day,
we too, might start sounding like Jesus when we speak
we might start saying things we never thought we’d say
we might start giving words of life and hope and resurrection
we might give words of light amidst the darkness
hope amidst despair
and joy amidst the epidemic of cynicism
Like John Lennon wrote,
“People may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…”
Let them say that we must be drunk
let them say that we are fools
let them say that we have no clue
We are the people of God
reaching for the oxygen supply that is God’s holy spirit
we’re tired of being hopeless and cynical
just because it’s easier
we’re tired of crying or complaining
Like the whole earth, Paul says,
we are aching and groaning for new life, new birth
new hope
we are all leaning forward with God, waiting for birth
waiting for the redemption of all the earth
It’s ridiculous,
we may look like utter fools
but I’d rather look like a fool
and spread the aroma of joy and ridiculous hope
than be a part of the forces of decay and cynicism
that grips our world
Breathe deep of God’s life-giving spirit
Breathe in, inhale God’s spirit of life
and then get out there and breathe out,
be a part of spreading the life-giving spirit
until that final day when all people, everyone
of every nation, every language, every category that exists
that day when all of God’s creation
breathes together
sings together, prays together
and rejoices together in the long awaited fulfillment
of God’s biggest dreams for us all….
Breathe deep, breathe long
be God’s dreamer, and let the life spirit of God
always live and move and spread through you
It doesn’t get any better than that….