- Voice in the Wilderness:Romans 8:14-17 Spirit of Adoption by Katey Zeh
- Gospel Reading: John 14:8-17, 25-27 Jesus promises the Advocate
- Second Reading: Acts 2:1-21 The fire of Pentecost
- Psalm Nugget: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)
Special Guest: Nelson Pierce Beloved Community Church Voice in the Wilderness: Romans 8:14-17 Spirit of Adoption by Katey Zeh Featured Musician - Bryan Sirchio, “Come Holy Spirit, Come.” from his album “Something Beautiful for God”
- Twitter: @BryanJSirchio
- Facebook. Bryan Sirchio Music
- Web: http://sirchio.com
Hello and welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 167 for Sunday, May 15, 2016. Pentecost, Year C.
- Voice in the Wilderness:Romans 8:14-17 Spirit of Adoption by Katey Zeh
- Gospel Reading: John 14:8-17, 25-27 Jesus promises the Advocate
- Second Reading: Acts 2:1-21 The fire of Pentecost
- Psalm Nugget: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)
Introduction and Check-in
- Welcome Third Chair, Nelson Pierce Beloved Community Church
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Pentecost ideas
- Balloon Drop
- Streams/Banners/Table decorations
Featured Musician - Bryan Sirchio, “Come Holy Spirit, Come.” from his album “Something Beautiful for God”
- Twitter: @BryanJSirchio
- Facebook. Bryan Sirchio Music
- Web: http://sirchio.com
DONATE: www.pulpitfiction.us/donate
Gospel Reading: John 14:8-17, 25-27 Jesus promises the Advocate
Initial Thoughts
- Had a conversation yesterday about how confusing the Trinity is. It sounds like a cop-out, but the first step must be to acknowledge that no matter how much we read and write about it; no matter how articulate or smart we are; we are trying to capture in words an idea that is not able to be captured. God cannot be captured in our words. Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit have a relationship that is so intimate that we cannot completely understand.
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I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
- Phillip still doesn’t understand the intimacy of the relationship between Jesus and Father.
- Phillips asks “show us the Father” after Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus is reiterating - to know the Father, know me. To know God is to do what I’ve done.
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Jesus has been with them the whole time, and now Philip says, ‘okay, now give us the real stuff.’
- It reminds me of the older son in the Prodigal story. “You’ve been with me this whole time, if you had wanted a party, you should have had one.”
- There is no intermediary.
- Sounds exclusivist, but I can stand and say, “I know God because I know Jesus,” and not have to prove anyone else wrong. Jesus is enough.
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Even greater things than these
- Belief leads to greater things
- What is the mission of the Church? To do things even greater than Jesus.
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What did Jesus do?
- Fed hungry
- Healed sick
- Removed Dis-Ease
- Commanded us to Love
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The Advocate, the Holy Spirit
- What does an Advocate do?
- Opposite of the Accuser or Adversary (sometimes translated as Satan)
- Defends against attack
- Gives support to the marginalized.
- Sings praises, promotes, tells people.
- An Advocate is on your side in times of trial
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In what ways is the Holy Spirit an Advocate?
- How does advocacy fit into discipleship?
- Advocacy is a part of social justice - to give voice to the voiceless
- Katey Zeh - our voice in the wilderness, taught me about advocacy, and sitting in the Halls of Power on behalf of those who could not be there.
- Jesus did not build an army to rule his kingdom, he built a Church. Not a religion, an institution, or a committee. He built the Body of Christ, those who would follow him, and do as he taught, and do even greater.
- For weeks we have been hammering away at the point Jesus=Father. Father=Love. If you want to know the Father, you must love. This has been repeated over and over. Now, a new element is entered. How do we do that? The answer is the Holy Spirit. The way we have the ability to love is through the Holy Spirit. The Advocate is on our side when we try to love, giving us the strength to do it, even (especially) when it’s hard to do.
- Phillip asks, “Show us God.” And Jesus says, “you know God because you know me.” This is “An intimate Pentecost” as Alyce Mckenzie puts it. There are no pyrotechnics like in Acts. There is no fire, doves, people acting weird. No one would suggest these guys sitting around the table are drunk. This promise of the Holy Spirit comes with nothing more than a relationship.
Psalm Nugget: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b with Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)
Second Reading: Acts 2:1-21 The fire of Pentecost
Initial Thoughts
- What makes this day different?
- Preach the Spirit-not something we often do
- Make it new- some may have never heard this
- Tell it in a new way- memorize this passage and tell the story: Great resource from Faithandwonder.com
- Richard Sheffield- What is the hymn for the day? “Happy Birthday” or “In Christ There is No East or West”?
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Pentecost (from Leviticus 23:15-22 & Deuteronomy 16:9-12)
- 50 days (or 7 weeks) after Passover
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Feast of Weeks, Shavuot
- All were included in the celebration: Deut. 16:11 “you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites who live in your cities, the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows”
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Double Celebration:
- End of the Spring Harvest (we aren’t in Illinois anymore)- connections to Peter’s Sermon (Joel 2:24a "the threshing floors shall be full of grain” and Jesus 10:2 ”The harvest is great, but the laborers are few”
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God gives the Hebrews the Torah - not explicit in the Hebrew Bible, but traditionally celebrated.
- Gift of the Torah - which unites a people as a holy nation and priestly kingdom
- Gift of the Spirit - which unites all people
- Both are inclusive celebrations to be blessings to all people
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Who is they?
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In the House (v.1): The Eleven (Acts 1:13/ 2:14)? The Women (Acts 1:14)? Matthias (Acts 1:26)?The early followers of Jesus ~about 120 (Acts 1:15)
- “They” are not in the temple, “they” are still in the house (v.2)
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Large crowd in the street (v.5)
- Not pilgrims, but immigrants “living in Jerusalem”
- Intentionally ambiguous? The Spirit cannot be ignored or contained
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In the House (v.1): The Eleven (Acts 1:13/ 2:14)? The Women (Acts 1:14)? Matthias (Acts 1:26)?The early followers of Jesus ~about 120 (Acts 1:15)
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Arrival of the Spirit
- Sound of a violent wind - this is what draws the people to the house (v.6) - Not the fire, but the sound
- Tongues of fire - the gift of speaking different languages
- Fire and violent wind - purifying, but can be painful
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Sound of the Spirit brings people together from many different groups and factions to be one people
- Not so they can speak to one another, but so that can hear one another (v. 8)
- Who is speaking different languages? “They” are
- What are “they” talking about? God’s deeds of power
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Reversal of Babel (Gen. 11)?
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The lectionary seems to think so (Genesis is always pairs with Acts 2 on Pentecost)
- Genesis - One language = building a tower to the heavens to “make a name for ourselves”
- Acts - “One language” = sharing God’s great deeds of power
- Not about making the people great- about making God great
- Community for its own sake is not always a good thing- but a Spirit-filled community working for God is world changing
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Not necessarily:
- The reversal of Babel would have been uniting all people under one language- not what happens here
- About Evangelism- not about undoing Babel
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Couldn’t it be both?
- The reversal of the self-centeredness of Babel and the focus on declaring the Good News of God’s great deeds of power in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to all the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8)
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The lectionary seems to think so (Genesis is always pairs with Acts 2 on Pentecost)
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Peter’s Sermon (Joel 2:28-29)
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Inclusive: men and women, all flesh, young and old, slave and free, heaven and earth - All receive God’s Spirit
- Reminiscent of Deut. 16:11
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All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved
- what does salvation mean?
- What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord?
- If all can call on the name of the Lord, then do we still need priests?
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Response: They are drunk
- Going the wrong way and dismissing the warnings: Planes Trains and Automobiles clip
- Do we really want the gift of the Spirit? It will be violent. It may burn us. It may push us to places where we do not wish to go. Perhaps it is easier to dismiss
- They are intoxicated with the Spirit which will lead them to do foolish things - like follow a crucified Lord
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Inclusive: men and women, all flesh, young and old, slave and free, heaven and earth - All receive God’s Spirit
- It is easy to slip into an us and them mentality- the Spirit breaks through those barriers. Who are the “they” in your community who the Spirit is pushing you (and your church) toward?
- What noise is your church making? It is drawing people together or keeping them apart?
- How are you proclaiming God’s great deeds of power? Are you working to make a name for yourself/church/.family/country or a name for God?
- What does it mean to be saved? (also something not often talked about)
Tasty Wafer of the Week:
-
Thursday Night Special with Adam Hamilton
- Check out his newest book - Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Helps Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn’t Say
CLOSING
Thank you listeners
Shout-Outs:
- Padraic Ingle - blessings on your bivocational ministry!
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Featured Musician - Bryan Sirchio, “Come Holy Spirit, Come.” from his album “Something Beautiful for God.”
- Twitter: @BryanJSirchio
- Facebook. Bryan Sirchio Music
- Web: http://sirchio.com
Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Paul and Storm for our closing music (“Oh No”).