“When Jesus let go of his last breath – willingly, we believe, for love of us – that breath hovered in the air in front of him for a moment and then it was set loose on earth. It was such pungent breath – so full of passion, so full of life – that it did not simply dissipate as so many breaths do. It grew, in strength and in volume, until it was a mighty wind, which God sent spinning through an upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. God wanted to make sure that Jesus’ friends were the inheritors of Jesus’ breath, and it worked. There they were, about a hundred and twenty of them, Luke says, all moping around wondering what they were going to do without Jesus, when they heard a holy hurricane headed their way. Before any of them could defend themselves, that mighty wind had blown through the entire house, striking sparks that burst into flames above their heads, and they were filled up with it – every one of them was filled to the gills with God’s own breath. Then something clamped down on them and the air came out of them in languages they did not even know they knew.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, The Gospel of the Holy Spirit
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Easter season has ended and a whole new world has been ushered in. Pentecost was originally – and still is – a Jewish celebration that took place on the 50th day after Passover (Pentecost means 50th).
It is a feast day (Shavuot) that celebrates two major events – the first wheat harvest of the year and the commemoration of the day Moses received the Tablets of the Law on Mt. Sinai. For Christians, it has come to mean something very different -- the coming of the Holy Spirit, to be with and in us. It is still celebrated on the 50th day, but for us this is 50 days after Easter.
Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, a theologian, and a prolific author. She’s also high on my list of favorite modern writers who address bible stories and themes from a present day point of view and open our ears up to hear those stories in a whole new way. She is also the author of today’s Pentecost story reading.
I believe that stories read from the bible over and over too often become nothing more than words without any real meaning – words that have been rendered into meaningless mush by constant repetition. It is necessary, in my belief, to occasionally hear a story told using other words, or even other settings – to wake us up to truly hear what the story is trying to say to us.
In the reading we began with today Taylor is recounting the beginning of the Pentecost story as it is told in the 2nd chapter of Acts, but she uses her own words to create new images – living, breathing images which tell of the same events but help us see and hear it in a brand-new way and to pay attention to what is actually happening here.
Jesus breathes out his last breath and God holds that last breath until it is breathed out into the discouraged and disappointed and quite possibly, frightened disciples. Jesus’ breath is taken from him, but it isn’t wasted – it is held until it is passed on to all of us. Taylor’s words let us see that happening – it becomes not just words, but reality that we can see and hear and touch.
This story and others like it come from sermons Brown has preached. Thirty-nine sermons have been gathered into a small book titled, Home by Another Way, filled with images that bring new life to a group of old, old stories. Her word pictures bring us into the readings and people them with living, breathing characters experiencing things they’ve never known before – and we experience them with them...
- “The disciples were all moping around wondering what they were going to do without Jesus, when they heard a holy hurricane headed their way. Before any of them could defend themselves, that mighty wind had blown through the entire house, striking sparks that burst into flames above their heads, and they were filled up with it – every one of them was filled to the gills with God’s own breath. Then something clamped down on them and the air came out of them in languages they did not even know they knew.”
It's as if we are in the room there with them. We know what comes next, and we can feel the breath of the Spirit in our lungs before it even happens.
God speaks to us in many languages – sometimes it’s the language of a chronicler from 2000 years ago, sometimes it’s the language of a particularly gifted writer from recent years, sometimes it’s from a Peanuts cartoon.
God is not limited in any way shape or form. Let us not limit ourselves in how we open ourselves to receive God’s word or Spirit.
- Barbara Brown Taylor, The Gospel of the Holy Spirit -- found in Another Way Home
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