Community Church Sermons

Pentecost, Year B - June 11, 2000

"Phenomenal Cosmic Power,

Itty-Bitty Living Space"

John 16:5-15

Today, on Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to empower Jesus' followers - both then and today - it's good to remember the Lord's own words:

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth..."

Last Sunday, at about 3:30 AM eastern time - while many of you were fast asleep - others of us were in Germany, tightly seated among the 5,000 or so people from all over the world gathered to watch that day's presentation of the Oberammergau passion play. The play originated back in the 1630's as the Thirty Years War swept through central Europe, giving birth – among other things - to the Black Plague. By the time the plague had run it's course, more than a third of the European population had died.

The story goes that, as this fearsome disease crept closer and closer to this beautiful little village nestled against the Bavarian Alps, the townspeople made an important commitment. Some say it was a bargain made with God - that, if they were spared the Plague, they would honor God by presenting a play every ten years about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Others correctly note that the Plague had already made it's way into the homes of villagers. They say the citizens decided to create the play, not as a bargain with God, but as a reminder that God is always faithful and can be depended upon, even in times of great darkness. In any event, the first play was presented in 1634 and continued every ten years. At one point, the performance was moved to the beginning of each decade, and so it continues to this day. How proud we were to be able to attend Oberammergau 2000 - the millennial performance of the Passion Play.

You may be interested to learn that, of the 5,000 people who live in Oberammergau, about half are directly involved in the play - either on or off stage. The other half man the souvenir shops and restaurants! There are 130 speaking parts in the play, and, at one point, there are as many as 600 people on-stage. It is impressive!

And the traditions run deep - four hundred years deep! In order to take part, a person must have been born in the village, or lived there for at least twenty years. There is no sound amplification, and no fancy lighting effects. No artificial hair is allowed. The men of the village begin growing beards on Ash Wednesday in the year of the play. It's a tradition!

But since 1990, some of the traditions have been changing. Originally, only women who were single and under 35 could be in the cast. But this became a problem because the text requires some 295 women to be on stage! And so, for generations, women have adjusted their lives for the play - even postponing marriages - sometimes for years - in the hope of being chosen to play Mary, or one of the other major female parts. This rule was changed in 1990 however, and married women were no longer barred. In fact, one of those selected to play the role of Mary in 1990 caused quite a stir when a British newspaper ran a headline that read, "Virgin Mary Is Mother of Two." That Mary, by the way, plays Mary Magdalene in this year's performance. Talk about a good girl gone bad! For the 2000 play, even the 35-year age limit has been lifted, the result of sex-discrimination legislation in Germany. These changes, of course, have generated lots of controversy.

And even more significantly, the text of the play has been changed in a dramatic way. Over the years, many Christians and Jews have complained that the text contains negative stereotypes of Jewish people. It suggests that they, as a people, were responsible for putting Jesus to death. In fact, Adolf Hitler described the play as an important cultural document illustrating the depravity of the Jews and insisted the play go on even during World War II - while 6 million Jews were being exterminated in Nazi death camps. Although highly controversial, a new young director has implemented dramatic changes in the 2000 production. Now, Nicodemus is featured as a Sanhedrin member arguing in defense of Jesus. Among the voices of people crying out to crucify Jesus are also voices that cry out to set him free. Changing ancient language and historic tradition has not come easily.

And I can well-understand it. Most of us revere our traditions, and when traditions run as long and as deep as they do in the case of the Passion Play, it is tantamount to high treason when someone attempts to tinker with them.

And yet, the changes in the Oberammergau Passion Play are a vivid illustration of what the Holy Spirit means to Christians. For the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost means the intrusion into our lives - with all our highly-revered traditions - by a gift that Jesus sends in fulfillment of his words in John 16, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth..."

Let's take a moment today to think about these words of Jesus.

"I still have many things to say to you…"

Do you hear what Jesus is telling us? What we read as his words, his teachings, his message in the Gospels is not the full extent of what Jesus has to say. There is more of Jesus yet to come! Jesus has more to say to us than what we read on the pages of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

But why is there more to Jesus' teachings than what the Gospels record? Why didn't he just tell the disciples everything so that we can refer to the Bible as a kind of owner's manual containing everything you always wanted to know about Jesus, and the life of faith? Here's Jesus' answer:

"I still have many things to say to you…BUT YOU CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW."

Imagine that! The disciples have been with Jesus for three years. They've been in the most intensive course on Christian discipleship ever offered. For three years, they've studied under Jesus, traveled with Jesus, watched Jesus, listened to Jesus. For three years, they've eaten, drank, and breathed pure Jesus!

But there are still some things Jesus can't tell them. Because the disciples are not ready to hear them.

What is to me one of the funniest things about my own life is…that I am in the ministry! And it's not only funny to me, but it's down-right hilarious to most of the people I knew growing up. I remember returning home from college after having heard the call to ministry and telling my best friend, Dennis Astrella.

"Dennis, God has called me into the ministry," I said. Well, Dennis looked at me with a kind of shocked expression on his face, and then he started laughing - and laughing - and laughing. And he hasn't stopped laughing yet! Every time I see him, Dennis laughs again and reminds me of our past life as juvenile delinquents together and says, "Just remember, I know what you're REALLY like!"

And I can understand it, because no one is more surprised than me! During my teenage years - because our family was heavily involved in the activities of our church - some of the adult members used to say I ought to consider going into the ministry when I grew up. But ministry wasn't even close to being on my list of things to do! And when they said these things to me, I did what Dennis did years later. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed! Because I knew what I was REALLY like!

Well, the joke's on me! Because, here I am! Because, at just the right moment in my life, Jesus whispered to me a calling intended for me since before the beginning of the world. But Jesus waited to tell me about this calling. Jesus waited…until I was ready. And when the time was right, and life had enriched my understandings, and my heart had been adequately prepared, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to lead me into this larger truth.

Jesus hasn't stopped speaking to us yet!

One of the thrilling aspects of serving a church like this one is having the opportunity to know many people who came to this Village, and found a calling here. After working in the corporate world, after long careers in small business, after practicing medicine, after teaching in schools and colleges, after raising children, they came here and found God leading them into new and creative ways of serving God and loving others that they could never have even considered before. Because the time wasn't right. Because the internal values were different. Because the life-changing experiences hadn't happened yet.

But now - in this time and setting - many of us are hearing Jesus speak in ways we couldn't have understood before. How wonderful this is!

And Jesus has much more to say to you and me as we become ready.

One of my friends is asking a lot of faith-questions these days. He sent me a note following my Mother's Day sermon in which I used a funny story about a cat falling down from the sky to a little girl who was praying for a cat. And I used that story to talk about a God who - in love - is constantly raining down good things upon his children.

My friend appreciated that, but a question had formed in his mind. How do you, in simple theological terms, explain to children in Kosovo, or Bosnia, or Sudan the reason for the raining of bombs and bullets? Where is God in that? And while, on Mother's Day, we lift up the beautiful picture of a kind and loving mother, what do we say to children whose parents respond to their needs with rejection and abuse?

And his closing question provoked me. "Does the church simply choose to ignore these things?"

It may seem an irreverent question, but I don't think so. It's the sort of question that young, immature Christians almost never ask, for they often seem to have more answers than they have questions, and are so very self-assured that they understand this life and this faith and this God we follow. A few Scripture quotations will settle it for them.

But others, it seems to me, have come to a place in life where they are willing to engage Christ with a faith that doesn't pretend to know everything yet. "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now…" Jesus said. "But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all the truth..."

It is the Holy Spirit at work in my friend's life, leading him to new frontiers of truth, just as Jesus promised.

In the Disney movie Aladdin, the genie - played by Robin Williams - describes what life is like as a genie in a bottle. "Phenomenal cosmic powers," he boasts in thunderous tones; "itty-bitty living space," he concludes in a squeaky little voice.

And that's a good way to describe the life of a Spirit-filled person. The very awesome power by which God brought the world into being has come to dwell in the itty-bitty living space of your life! And the work of the Spirit is to help you break out from that itty-bitty living space - with all it's itty-bitty ideas, itty-bitty attitudes, itty-bitty values, itty-bitty beliefs, itty-bitty theologies, itty-bitty philosophies and itty-bitty human traditions - in order to experience the greater truth of the wondrous, miraculous, grace-filled world of the Kingdom of God.

You don't fully understand it yet! You're not ready to hear of it's length and breadth and depth and height! There is much that Jesus hasn't told you yet - about God, about life, about yourself, about other people.

But God has sent you the Holy Spirit to lead you out of your itty-bitty world, into truth far greater than you know today.

Are you willing to seek the Spirit, and to follow where the Spirit leads?

God may have a calling for you that you've not been ready to hear - until today. It may be about some great thing God needs you to do, or about forgiving someone you've not been able to forgive before, or about letting go of something in the past that's enslaved you, or about re-committing yourself to a relationship you'd given up on. Jesus may have a new calling for you that you've not been ready to hear - until today.

And God may have some questions for you to consider. Dangerous, scary, seemingly irreverent questions that you've never dared ask before. Is it okay to call God "mother"? Why I believe that question was raised in our service last week! More importantly, how can we in the church change our human traditions that have kept women from more fully participating in the leadership life of the church? How can we as Christians speak to the issue of violence and human dignity if we embrace things like abortion, capital punishment and assisted suicide? Which of our worship traditions do we need to give up in order to be faithful to biblical worship? How will we stand up for the Gospel if we identify ourselves first as Americans, and second as Christians?

One of the most moving moments in our trip to Germany came when some of us visited the concentration camp at Dachau. We walked through the gas chamber. We went into the crematorium where people were hanged from the rafters, and then tossed into the ovens. We walked down a long, stark hallway, peeking into tiny cells where political prisoners were held. I was surprised to learn that many of the people who were held - and died - in those cells were local Christians. I've always wondered where the church was while Hitler was going about his business. Now I know. Some were standing up against him. They were, to some extent, Roman Catholic priests, and those of you who grew up in Catholic tradition should revere their brave spirits. And they were Lutheran, too. And those who come from the Lutheran line should never forget what they did.

It is probably true that, when they first came to faith, they had no idea that one day they would be called upon to take a stand that would cost them their lives. But the words Jesus spoke to the disciples long ago are spoken as well to them, and to us:

"I still have many things to say to you," Jesus said, "but you canot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth."

Today, we remember that the Holy Spirit has come into our lives.

Today, I challenge you to dare to seek that Spirit, and to listen to what Jesus has waited to tell you - until today!