An Airport Pentecost

Pentecost C

Acts 2:1-21

June 8, 2019

St. Matthias

           Over the past 10 days or so, I have spent a lot of time in airports.  First, there was O’Hare in Chicago where Phyllis and I waited for almost 4 hours.  Why?  Because Lydia our granddaughter plus Stefanie and Josh were meeting us to go to the Hall family reunion and their flight from Houston was late.    So of course, we waited.  Then just yesterday I spent another 3 plus hours in the Tampa airport waiting for my flight home after a business trip.  And what do you do when you are stuck in an airport – you watch people – at least I do!  And there are a lot of people in both of those airports.  There are families, retired folks, business people, and people on vacation.  They come in all sizes, shapes, and ages.  Recently in one airport where we waited – Phyllis met the Harvard tennis team.  I know I heard at least 4 different languages being spoken yesterday and there were probably many more.

        My family is also good for some people watching all on our own.  This reunion was just my immediate family.  Between my brother, sister, and me our families are spread out from upstate New York to Woy Woy Australia and just recently Buenos Aires Argentina.  I counted 25 of us and there are Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and even a potential Church of Christ.  We speak German, French, Spanish, some Russian, and even English.  It is amazing just how different we all are!

        Now think about all the different people from the airports and my family and those who you see every day and put them in one place and that is what the disciples witnessed that first Pentecost in Jerusalem.  The disciples were gathered together in one place when the Holy Spirit arrived.  Suddenly these disciples could preach in any language.  People heard that day, the Gospel message in their own language even though there are at least 15 different countries listed in our reading from the Book of Acts.  People were amazed.  How could this happen?  That day everyone was the same.  It could only be described as a miracle.

        It is so easy to let what is different about us - separate us.  Every day we hear or read about how people in this group or that group believe, say, or do this or that – that is not what the rest of us think we would do.  Then – because those people are different – we let that separate us.  Phyllis and I saw this clearly in Jerusalem.  Everywhere you looked – people were different.  There were Christians, Muslim, and Jews – Palestinians, Israelis, and a whole lot of people from all around the world.  Everywhere you looked there were signs and walls and borders separating us.  In Bethlehem – the birthplace of Christ – there is a wall standing 20 feet high with security checkpoints and signs saying that Israelis could not enter.  Half of the River Jordan is in Israel and the other half in the country of Jordan and you had better not cross the rope in the middle.  There were soldiers with weapons on the other side.  Everywhere there were signs in Hebrew, Arabic, and English announcing what and who could or could not go here or there.  And in case you didn’t know – the word Jerusalem literally means – City of Peace.

        And Jerusalem is certainly not the only place.  It seems there is sometimes always someone giving us a different label that somehow separates us from one another.  Yet today calls us to live TOGETHER in the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.  The Feast of Pentecost calls us together as the Children of God.  Whether we are tall or short – speak Spanish, Hebrew, or English – worship as Episcopalians, Baptists, or any other denomination or faith – we are to love one another as Christ first loved us.  That day in Jerusalem when the disciples spoke in every language – the Holy Spirit was at work both in those who proclaimed the Gospel and those who heard it.  Pentecost reminds us that God does not play favorites.  We are all God’s favorite children.

        So how do we live out Pentecost every day?  Lucy, Martin, Arius, and Lydia showed that to me in Chicago.  These are the next generation of cousins in the Hall family.  Lydia is the oldest at age almost 7.  Lucy and Martin are 2, and Arius is the youngest at 18 months.  They had never met one another before, yet they had the best time together.  It did not matter to them that they were from different states and countries and had different last names.  And this is how I think we are all to live in the Kingdom of Heaven.  When we look for the image of God in each person – loving our neighbor – all of our neighbors – it becomes the way of living – living in the power of the Holy Spirit.  My favorite line in the baptismal covenant is the one where we promise to “Respect the Dignity of EVERY human being” That’s how we live out Pentecost.  I think Lucy, Martin, Arius, and Lydia would agree.  And you don’t have to sit in an airport for 4 hours.  AMEN.