This Might Get Out Of Control

Ezekiel 37: 1-14 & Acts 2: 1-21

Roger Lynn

June 4, 2017

Pentecost

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Both scripture stories today are filled with powerful, dramatic,  mythic imagery – dry bones reforming, wind, fire, a cacophony of sound. When God’s Spirit is allowed to really come into play the status quo is in for a serious shakeup. And for many of us, that can be an uncomfortable place to live. When the wind begins to howl and the bones begin to rattle we tend to get a bit unsettled. We prefer more control in our lives. We’d rather have some predictability. Instead, we get the Holy Spirit.

I once saw a cartoon which featured the Pentecost scene described in the second chapter of Acts – the wind is blowing and flames are dancing over everyone’s heads. And around the edge of the room are people with worried looks on their faces, dressed in firefighter clothes, holding hoses. The caption reads, “This might get out of control!” That is sometimes how we feel when confronted with the reality of God’s presence in our lives and in our world. “This might get out of control, and I’m not at all sure I like it. It is not safe. There’s no telling where we might end up.”

There is, however, one thing even more disturbing than the presence of God’s Spirit – leaving things the way they are. It might seem safe. It might seem comfortable. But that is only when we don’t look very closely. The truth is that Ezekiel’s description of the valley of dry bones strikes way too close to home. The story in Acts of people who speak in so many different languages they can’t understand each other without help seems hauntingly familiar. We live in a world where war dominates the news, except when the stories are about crime, or famine, or drought, or disease, or political turmoil. Dry bones indeed. Sometimes I listen to church leaders and political leaders who proudly proclaim their opposition to homosexuals (and anyone else who doesn’t fit their particular vision of what it means to be God’s chosen people), and it seems that a vast valley of dry, lifeless bones is laid out before me. I listen to our national leaders tell us that we have to continue fighting a war in order to honor the memory of those already killed in that war, and all I can see are dry bones. I listen as the cultural divide in our country seems to grow more vitriolic with each passing moment and a Pentecostal windstorm seems like a pretty good idea. So, as unsettling and out of control as it might seem to have those bones start rattling and coming back to life, or the wind of God’s Spirit start howling and flames to start dancing, I’ll gladly take that reality over what I see going on around me much of the time. 

The truth of the matter is that when we open ourselves to the possibility of being transformed, things might, indeed, get out of control. When we open ourselves to the possibility of being used by God to bring transformation to the world, things might, indeed, get out of control. But being in control is not necessarily all it’s cracked up to be. Being in control tends to put us out front, everyone else left far behind, and God nowhere in the picture.

What would it look like if the dry, lifeless bones of our world were knit back together again? What would our world look like if our passion caught fire to such an extent that everyone everywhere could really understand that they were loved and cherished by God? What would our world look like if the wind of God’s Spirit swept through our lives and blew away all that was not vital, and essential, and life-serving? What would our world look like if things got just a little bit out of control?

The message which permeates both of our scripture texts for this morning is that it really is possible. And we don’t have to do it by ourselves. God’s Spirit is present. The wind is already blowing. All we really have to do is pay attention and notice. All we really have to do is stop trying to always keep things under control. All we really have to do is say yes. 

O God, knit us back together again. Create a new and vibrant wholeness out of the lifeless dry bones of our world today. Blow the breath of your Spirit into us and stir us into action. Ignite a new fire within our hearts and help our passions for peace and justice and unity and love burn hot and bright. This might get out of control, O God. Let it! Inspire us to let loose the tight grip of control we so often try to keep on every aspect of our lives. Fill us, O God, and fill our world, with nothing less than the fullness of your renewing, refreshing, life-giving breath. Amen.