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Sunday was Pentecost/ Endowment day. A day formed around Jesus the Christ’s disciples being empowered by the Spirit to go forth and share. An empowerment which was signified in part by those who had gathered for the Pentecost celebrations being able to hear and understand the disciples in their native tongue as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 2.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they all met in one room. Suddenly they heard what sounded like a violent rushing wind from heaven; the noise filled the entire house in which they were sitting. Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each one. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as she enabled them.

Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled. But they were bewildered to hear their native languages being spoken. They were amazed and astonished: “Surely all of these people speaking are Galileans! How does it happen that each of us hears these words in our native tongue? We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrgia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya around Cyrene, as well as visitors from Rome—all Jews, or converts to Judaism—Cretans and arabs, too; we hear them preaching, each in our own language, about the marvels of God!”

All were amazed and disturbed. They asked each other, “What does this mean?”

Peter and the eleven stood and address them saying, no they are not drunk, it is too early and this is what Joel had prophesied about, told about Christ, the people were shaken, asked what to do and were told by Peter “repent and be baptized” they accepted his arguments, repented and were baptized. “That very day about three thousand were added to the number of those converted” 2:41b.

An amazing day in the life of the church. A day to celebrate, but also a day to seek how the Holy is calling us to go forth and share the good news.How are we being empowered, called, moved, endowed by the Holy Spirit to go forth and transform this world?

For Community of Christ we understand, or at least we hear, our call to be one of seeking the peaceable community which from our tradition we fondly call Zion. Something that is, was, and is yet to be. For it is a way of being, a place, and all places. It is not an easy task, in fact in recent years we have been reminded that we have not been promised an easy path. It’s a path of struggle, a path of stumbling, but a path filled with great hope, possibility and desire, a humbling path with a great reward at the end…. a reward that one day all will know each others worth, celebrate that worth, one day our wonderful gift off diversity will be seen as such and unite rather than divide, one day everyone will be restored in relationship with self, other, and the Holy. One day the earth will no longer scream and groan but be cherished and cared for by those entrusted with its stewardship, us.

Sunday was a day to celebrate that empowering act, if we will be open to the Spirit allow her to breathe, to go forth and transform this world. Knowing we do it not alone, that the Spirit breathes upon us, granting us to do even that which is beyond our own means, and to do so in community as well. I can’t count the times when in sharing with patients, families, staff, and others in the hospital setting I provided need ministry beyond my ability, and received it as well. Or how I’ve learned that my stumbling, bumbling words in sermon form have aided someone on their journey of discipleship. By being open to the Holy I have found myself in both places at once. Going “Wow… But I’m just Lyle How?”, but it also at times leads me to say “But, I’m just Lyle! Are you sure? Why me?” and trying hard to trust, to know, to allow the Holy to breathe and to respond, to share, and know that as the Spirit breathe upon those disciples so long ago, allowing communication to no longer be a barrier, she breathes on me as well so that I may be made more whole by the blessings of others and they by the blessings of me, which I find hard to see.

This year and last year were very different encounters of Pentecost for me. Last year this day fell upon the same date as a US secular holiday of Mother’s Day.  That morning I went to two worship services. The first was a Catholic service, sitting in a space I had never sat before, encountering ritual, encountering some theology that was not my cup of tea, and some that was. Hearing a homily tying Pentecost and Mother’s day together. Then I went to the Community of Christ service. The secular won out. Only once in the entire service was Pentecost mentioned, that being a brief mention partway into the sermon by the guest minister. Well, I can’t say the secular “won” we also celebrated the sacrament of the blessing of a child if I’m remembering correctly, but holiday wise, the secular won.

It was amazing to me, for Pentecost / Endowment day while not only being important to the whole of Christianity should have significant important to Community of Christ. Just across the street from where we were gathered for worship stands the first house of education, worship, and church administration built by our tradition, a house where this congregation I was worshiping with had worshiped in until the late 1950s. A house that in the days leading up to and following its dedication people described personal and communal spiritual experiences, often quoting the Acts of the Apostles to try and describe what they couldn’t, referring to that time as a “Pentecostal season.”  As a birthing faith movement that like many others in the early 1800s was trying to “restore” Christianity to how they interpreted the early church to be. Like what was described in Acts Chapter two following the Pentecostal story:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ instructions and the communal life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. A reverent fear overtook them all, for many wonders and signs were being performed by the apostles. Those who believed lived together, shared all things in common; they would sell their property and goods, sharing the proceeds with one another as each had need. They met in the Temple and they broke bread together in their homes every day. With joyful and sincere hearts they took their meals in common, praising God and wining approval of all the people. Day by Day, God added to their number those who were being saved

Acts 2:42-47 Inclusive Bible

So there in Kirtland in the 1830s, they gathered in community, they called that first place of education, worship and church administration a Temple, people sold their resources and gave to each other. They pooled their resources and lived in common. They kept experimenting and changing as in 1830s individualist society the communitarian experiments did not always go over well and caused problems and tensions, but it is out of trying to be faithful to that understanding of community our stewardship principles evolved and grew.  The understanding of the worth of all, and the need to uplift, restore, heal, all of creation in communal relationship was birth… anew based upon encounter with sacred text and story, and being open to the Holy, describing the presence of the Spirit in ways reminiscent of the New Testament writers, as translated into their language. Forming a movement that was called to be open to the Spirit, to allow the Spirit to breathe, and like many we over our history have tried to contain here, and not let her breathe. Resisted when she pushed us to the unknown, the different. But continually being reminded to embrace our call…

Again you are reminded that this community was divinely called into being. The spirit of the Restoration is not locked in one moment of time, but is instead the call to every generation to witness to essential truths in its own language and form. Let the Spirit Breathe

Do not be discouraged. You have not been promised an easy path, but you have been assured that the Spirit that calls you will also accompany you. That Spirit is even now touching alive the souls of those who feel the passion of discipleship burning deeply within…

Listen carefully to the many testimonies of those around the world who have been led into the fellowship of Community of Christ. The richness of cultures, the poetry of language, and the breadth of human experience permit the gospel to be seen with new eyes and grasped with freshness of spirit. That gift has been given to you. Do not fail to understand its power

Doctrine and Covenants 162:2e-4a (March 2004)

“Community of Christ,” tour name, given as a divine blessing, is your identity and calling. If you will discern and embrace its full meaning, you will not only discover your future, you will become a blessing to the whole creation. Do not be afraid to go where it beckons you to go.

Generously share the invitation, ministries, and sacraments through which people can encounter the Living Christ who heals and reconciles through redemptive relationships in sacred community. The restoring of persons to healthy or righteous relationships with God, others, themselves, and the earth is at the heart of the purpose of your journey as a people of faith.

You are called to create pathways in the world for peace in Christ to be relationally and culturally incarnate. The hope of Zion is realized when the vision of Christ is embodied in communities of generosity, justice, and peacefulness. Above all else, strive to be faithful to Christ’s vision of the peaceable Kingdom of God on Earth. Courageously challenge cultural, political, and religious trends that are contrary to the reconciling and restoring purposes of God. Pursue peace.

…. Let the Temple* continue to come to life as a sacred center of worship, education, community building, and discipleship preparation for all ages. As these ministries come to fuller expression, receptive congregations around the Temple and throughout the world will be revived and equipped for more effective ministry. Vital to this awakening is the understanding that the Temple calls the entire church to become a sanctuary of Christ’s peace, where people from all nations, ethnicities, and life circumstances can be gathered into a spiritual home without dividing walls, as a fulfillment of the vision for which Jesus Christ sacrificed his life.

God is calling for a prophetic community to emerge, drawn from the nations of the world, that is characterized by uncommon devotion to the compassion and peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Through divine grace and wisdom, this faith community has been given abundant gifts, resources, and opportunities to equip it to become such a people…

So perhaps I was a bit saddened by the lack of Pentecostal recognition, and the focus on a secular holiday that assumes a lot about relationship that may not be true for all gathered. So this year, at one point I thought again of going elsewhere first, but instead just went to the service. I was pleased to find reference and connections through the entire service to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit… Now I just hope the words I wrote at the start of that day can ring true, each and every day as we seek to embrace and live out our call. To allow the Spirit to Breathe. I hope all those of the large community of followers of Christ will embrace their call, along with those of other faiths and no faiths  who in their understanding of the Holy, also feel called toward that peaceful community we as Community of Christ call Zion. Oh those words I wrote were:

Let us be open to the Holy to be empowered and endowed to go forth and transform the world into the peaceable community where the worth of all in recognized, diversity is celebrated and unites, and peace and justice prevail…. and let us truly engage the hard work that is ahead for us and not just talk about it

Peace be with you and Let the Spirit Breathe,