Throwing Caution To The Wind (Pentecost)

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

Roger C. Lynn

May 20, 2018

Pentecost

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If Ralph Nader were to focus his consumer advocacy attention on the Holy Spirit, he might very well be tempted to re-use one of his old book titles – “Unsafe At Any Speed.” When we look at how scripture describes the activity of the Spirit in our world and in our lives it quickly becomes clear that getting involved with God’s Holy Spirit is a dangerous business. When the Spirit shows up things start happening, things that are neither predictable nor controllable. Dead, dry bones start rattling and coming back to life. A nice, safe, quiet gathering to celebrate an old, established religious festival is suddenly transformed by wind and fire and foreign languages into a noisy tent revival where old barriers are knocked down and diversity is embraced. Being touched by the Spirit can definitely be unsettling. Old, comfortable patterns are disturbed. Safe, carefully defined boundaries are erased. The illusion of control is shattered. The Spirit’s activity can be disturbing – but it is never boring.

Living In God’s Embrace

John 14: 25-27 & Revelation 21: 10 & 22-26 & 22: 1-5

Roger Lynn

May 13, 2018

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In the movie “Men in Black” there is a secret government agency responsible for monitoring and regulating all of the extraterrestrial life-forms living on Earth. One of the agents has just revealed this secret to a potential recruit. In helping him reflect on the enormity of this new information, Agent K says, “1,500 years ago everyone knew the Earth was the center of the Universe. 500 years ago everyone knew the Earth was flat. 15 minutes ago you knew people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you will know tomorrow.” That is something like the ways we human beings experience God. We catch a glimpse of the edge of God’s big toe, and we think we have an understanding of who God is. We “know” that God must be like this. Then we have an insight with a little more perspective, and again we think we’ve got it all figured out. Each time we are doing the best we can with the information and experience we have available to us. Usually the problem is not that we get it wrong. We simply mistake partial understanding for complete knowledge. When we are at our best, we recognize that faith is always a matter of exploration and growing understanding. In the words of Paul, in his second letter to the church at Corinth, “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

How Big Is The Table?

John 13: 33-35 & Acts 11: 1-18

Roger Lynn

May 6, 2018

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I remember a dream I had several years ago. It was a table – a really big table. It was, in fact, a communion table. And as I came awake the phrase which lingered in my mind was, “How big is the table?” And the answer filled the dream. It is big enough for everyone. The cup we find on this table is vast. It holds nothing less than the love of God. There is enough and more for all who thirst to come and drink their fill. Around the table there is enough room for all who hunger to come and eat together.

Peter had a similar dream. God offers him a feast and tells him to eat. But Peter objects. Because of the cultural values with which he was raised, and the isolating limitations found in some of the scriptures he held sacred, Peter’s table was small. There was no room for those who were different. There was no room for those who did not fit. So Peter objected to the feast God offered. And Peter objected to the other guests whom God invited to the feast. But God insisted. God’s table is vast. God’s feast is abundant. God’s guest list is without limit. Peter’s cultural values and sacred scriptures would either need to expand or be set aside to make room for God’s all-encompassing love.