Tabernacle United Church - Philadelphia Progressive Presbyterian UCC

Dear Beloved Family,
Here is the end of my sermon from last Sunday. Please meditate on what resonates with you.
Warmly,
Sana

Sermon: https://youtu.be/EubQxUPmmGY?t=1402

In the first Christian Pentecost we witness the power of the Holy Spirit and its power to cause people to speak in other tongues. We witness the miracle of multiple languages being spoken, but each person hearing others in their own language. Since there were many pilgrims in Jerusalem, of diverse nationalities and languages, the Spirit allowed every person to hear the Good News in their own language. This testifies that God’s message is inclusive.

How many of our differences could be transcended if we allowed the power of the Holy Spirit to govern in our lives? What miracles could the Holy Spirit perform in our church if we embraced it and invited it into our midst? How many hearts and minds could the Holy Spirit possibly transform, if we prayed for the Holy Spirit to have its ways in our communities?

Let me get more specific and practical. We can all access the Spirit of God. It simply requires asking and being still. From this scene in the upper room, we see that folks were gathered and praying and seeking to connect with God. They sought the spirit of God and welcomed it to govern their lives. And they were transformed by it. You know the spirit of God by the fruit of the spirit – how people live and love in the world. It’s as simple as that. To access the Spirit of God, you must recognize it’s already here with you. You must be receptive to God’s spirit and ask it to guide you. Communion with others helps us to bear witness to the spirit. For me, my spiritual practice of meditation, contemplation, prayer with others, yoga (or intentional movement )and reading scripture help me to both feel Divine presence in my life as well as allow me to sense how the Holy Spirit is guiding my life daily.

Richard Rohr writes: “Even though we so often pray, “Come, Holy Spirit,” the gift of the Spirit is already given. The Holy Spirit has already come. You all are temples of the Holy Spirit, equally, objectively, and forever! The only difference is the degree that we know it, draw upon it, and consciously believe it. All the scriptural images of the Spirit are dynamic—flowing water, descending dove, fire, and wind. If there’s never any movement, energy, excitement, deep love, service, forgiveness, or surrender, you can be pretty sure you don’t have the Spirit. If our whole lives are just going through the motions, if there’s never any deep conviction, we don’t have the Spirit. We would do well to fan into flame the gift that we already have. God does not give God’s Spirit to those of us who are worthy, because none of us are worthy. God gives God’s Spirit in this awakened way to those who want it. On this Feast of Pentecost, quite simply, want it! Rely upon it. Know that you already have it.”

A Prayer to God, the Spirit
Here’s a prayer to God the Spirit from William Loader.

O God,
You are Spirit;
You are wind;
You are breath.

You meet us in the wonders of creation,
in the awe of wonderful things,
in the terror of fearful things.
You blow among the fallen leaves,
the broken branches,
the whining pain
and the whirlwinds of delight.

Your wind gently touches our brow
with comfort and caress;
your forgiveness raises us to life;
your challenge disturbs our tidy piles
and spreads opportunities before our eyes.

Gentle Spirit, breathe on us your life.
Strong Spirit, open our closed doors to your compassion;
Universal Spirit, inspire us to sing and sigh for justice;
Spirit of Jesus, teach us to walk,
to work, to pray, to live, to love,
your way.

Awaken our dreams,
expand our visions,
heal us for hope,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
~ written by William Loader. For more of his excellent writings, see this web page. http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/reflectiveindex.html

Hey Beloveds,

In the spirit of Chris’ word for us this past Sunday, I have no plans on lying to you all today. So, here are some things I think The Church Universal needs to be honest about:

The function of a church is not growing its numbers on its rosters nor in its pews. Growth in numbers/membership is not necessarily the marker of a healthy congregation and, as Chris mentioned, growth in numbers is not categorically “good.”
We as The Church waste a lot of time trying to decide who is Christian and who isn’t. (I have caveats to this, but that’s for another day).
Somewhere along the line, the Church made the mistake of prioritizing worship over following, and thus made a big swing and an even bigger miss when it comes to the ministry of Jesus. We distance ourselves from Christ when we put Christ on a pedestal, even though we (hopefully) know Christ came to meet us exactly where we are at and through the Holy Spirit we are connected directly to Divinity.

So– in a time when corporations run by distinctly gluttonous and greedy men are ravaging this Earth, what are we to do? Are we going to continue to play a game of linguistic gymnastics, or bend backwards pulling stunts to put butts in seats without truly engaging those butts in the work and the struggle and joy, let alone loving those butts, or are we going to continue to assert that God’s love is not for us, and that Christ is to be set aside in a trophy box on display on our mantle as a representation of someone we could never embody, and that the Holy Spirit moves not at all?

I hope not.

Blessings on the remainder of your week,
Taylor

PS – In light of the most recent mass shooting, I want to share this article about getting kids through “unspeakable horror.” While I am not a caretaker of children and I guess I’m not a child either (though that’s arguable), I have to say reading this helped me manage my own feelings. So, even if you are not a caretaker of children, I offer this article for you.

Hi Tab Family,

This past Sunday, Sana preached, regarding Peter’s observance of the Holy Spirit falling on Cornelius, a Gentile, saying:

“If the holy spirit is in Gentiles, then God the creator did not intend to exclude anyone from the community of God’s care. Through the power and witness of the Holy Spirit, Peter welcomes Cornelius and his tribe of Gentiles into the community of believers through baptism. The scripture for today ends with Peter stating to the Jerusalem leaders, ‘If God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?’ This is a big deal.”

Who are we, to hinder God? This question has stuck with me all week.

While this story is a revelation to Peter regarding Peter’s preconceived notion that only a few can receive the Holy Spirit, and that the “other” cannot, I’d like to invite us all into a space where we point this question toward ourselves regarding ourselves.

In what ways do we insist we are unworthy, in what ways do we insist we are the “other” unable to receive God’s love? Who are we to say God cannot or will not love us, too?

God loves you even if God only sees the worst thing you’ve ever done. And that is often how we judge ourselves— we see the worst and we position that up against what we attribute to God’s standards. Often those standards are entirely our projection onto God, and not God’s own self. Whether from our upbringing, our societal conditioning, or from pesky intrusive thoughts, we often create a standard impossible to live up to. And then we choose the worst parts of us and we fashion them up against that impossible standard. And then, we judge.

But God sees far beyond our worst. And even if She saw only our worst, who are we to hinder Her love, to say no– that love could not possibly extend to our very worst.

What might happen if you extend God’s love to the parts of yourself you consider the worst? What would you do differently if you not only knew, but acted, like you were loved entirely?

I hope you find space to reflect on this during the end of your week.

Peace and grace to all,
Taylor