Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. 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. 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.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs– in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
`In 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.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ “
As we start Pride month this year, I find myself reflecting on the changing landscape for LGBTQ people around the world, and especially for our trans sisters and brothers. After what seemed like so much progress, we seem now to be in a time of regression and erosion. And though it is unfolding in countries around the world, perhaps nowhere is that more visible than in the United States right now. When I speak with friends, family members, and colleagues back in the USA, the fear is palpable. Rights are being stripped away, left and right as a fear of LGBTQ people takes hold in the wider society, and a growing hatred is being fanned by certain politicians and ultra-conservative groups alike. Even as I was writing this sermon, news broke of the murder of Jonathan Joss, a gay Indigenous actor, who was shot in Texas while standing next to his husband, while the murderer shouted homophobic slurs. This distrust, this fear, this hatred is not a hypothetical danger, it is a matter of life and death.
But it would be a mistake to believe that queer folk are the only targets of this regressive campaign. Donald Trump and his ilk have built an entire political movement rooted in a profound fear and hatred towards diversity in all its forms. They have rested their efforts especially on migrants—who can forget the wild and deranged accusations that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were “eating people’s pets,” claims that were then repeated by the president’s own campaign. People are being deported daily, regardless of their legal status, being stolen off the streets, raided from their homes, and targeted in their communities.
It doesn’t stop there, though. In displays of incompetence that would be laughable if they weren’t so terrifying, records have been destroyed at all levels of the government, historical records, military information, and bureaucratic reports of all types, targeted by a blindingly stupid search for anything that includes the words ‘diversity,’ or ‘equality,’ or ‘inclusion.’ Historical accounts of women’s service in the government and war records of the service of black troops alike are being deleted from history.
It is being driven by a profoundly racist fear of “White Replacement,” and anxiety about falling birthrates among white people. And if that sounds too stupid, too racist, too hateful to be true, one only needs to look as far Elon Musk’s comments on why he sees it as his personal mission to father as many children as possible. At the core of it all is a deep fear that diversity, in all its forms, is eroding the fabric of a white dominated society.
In case I have not been clear, this is the work of the evil one. This is what the power of Satan looks like. Sadly, it is easy to see right now south of our border. But it would be dangerous to believe that it is only down there in the USA. It would be dangerous to believe that such things could not happen here, because that is how it gets a foothold.
My dear friends, I have heard with my own ears the anti-Asian language shouted out of car windows, not in some distant city, but right here in front of our church. I have seen with my own eyes the discourse directed against people of South Asian descent in our city and in our neighbourhoods. I am here to tell you that I have heard this song before. I know whence it comes.
As pluralistic a society as we are in Canada, and especially here in BC, it is a dangerous mistake to believe that the same fear of diversity, the same mistrust, the same hate toward those who are different, does not exist here. It is equally a mistake to believe that such dynamics are not at work in the church, the same prejudices and the same fear of diversity. Only in the church, it takes on theological language. It becomes fear and hatred rooted in the idea that we alone are right—in belief, in creed, in action, and in race. It is the heretical belief that we alone are made in God’s image; that God’s Good News, that salvation itself, is only for us!
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Today we are celebrating Pentecost, one of the great feast days of the church, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, after Jesus had ascended into heaven. It is a day that we mark as the beginning of the church as we know it, when the disciples were driven out by the power of the Spirit, into the world, to begin the work of proclaiming the Good News to the ends of the earth.
But this year, as I read this wonderful and familiar story again, I cannot help but notice that the Good News in the Pentecost story is coming first and primarily to immigrants and refugees. Yes, this is Israel, the land associated with the Hebrew people, but it is also home to people from all corners of the empire—Parthians, Medes, Elamite, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs alike! They were conquered people from every land, living in a new and strange land that spoke a language that was not their own.
They were, in short, a great diversity of people. And if current events and human history offer any wisdom, then we can assume that they were the target of some amount of mistrust, suspicion, even hatred.
But on this day, the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, driving them out of their comfortable places, and enabling them to speak every language so that God’s great deeds, so that Christ’s Gospel message, could be proclaimed precisely to these immigrants and refugees. So that these very people could be assured of God’s love and know that God’s promised salvation included them!
My friends, if we believe that Pentecost is the birth of the church, and I do believe that, then it means that this church is born of the great diversity of humanity. The Holy Spirit comes to kickstart the building of the Kingdom of God in this reality of human diversity, not in some false ethnic unity.
The Kingdom of God is forged in this reality, and we are strengthened in our faith and our discipleship because we are many and diverse! We are the Body of Christ because we are Taiwanese and Canadian, American and South African, British and Chinese, Indigenous and Australian. The Holy Spirit comes to us all together, in order to share God’s great deeds with the world and to be proclaimers of the Good News in deed and in word.
It is the Good News that the world so desperately needs to hear right now. It has been a long time since diversity has instilled so much fear, distrust, and hatred in human hearts. A great shadow has fallen on the world. But we, together, are the light of Christ—a light that cannot be hidden and burns brightest in the deepest shadows. And the Holy Spirit is with us and is driving us out of our comfortable places in order to meet the fear and mistrust of the world with the strength and confidence of God’s Kingdom, which we have found and witnessed here.
Preached by the Rev. Adam Yates