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Sermons at St. John’s Presbyterian Church Pregnant
with the Holy Spirit, the Birth of the Church Transcribed from the sermon preached May 11, 2008 The Reverend Max Lynn,
Pastor St. John’s Presbyterian Church 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705 Telephone 510-845-6830 Fax 510-845-6837 office@stjohns.presbychurch.net http://www.stjohns.presbychurch.net Scripture Readings: Acts 2: 1-24 As
we discussed this Mother’s Day/ Pentecost worship in the WMA Commission I
suggested that we might want to get mothers to preach or share the preaching of
the Word. But Martha said, “Wouldn’t
that be like having mom cook her own Mother’s day dinner?” So here I am. Still I have at least to quote a mother. Rachel
Richardson Smith speaks of the theological event of pregnancy and childbirth: “In pregnancy a woman’s body
takes over. It does what it alone can do. During the sickness and fatigue of
early pregnancy, and later as I watched my stomach balloon outward, I felt as
though I had lost control of my body. It went ahead on its own and left me in
shock somewhere behind. While my mind and my emotions were still trying to
absorb the fact that I was going to have a baby, my body was doing exactly what
it was equipped to do: growing that baby. It was as though my body were doing
what it could do without any help from me. “In the latter months I began
to see how pregnancy put me in touch with the oneness of body and soul. The two
were no longer separate. My body did things quite apart from my will or my
mind, but all of this was me. Though my mind had no control, my body did. For
nine months I lived not as a mind within a body, not as a being who can ask of
or impose on its body, but as one who is aware of and awed by the growth and
movement and miracle of body. In pregnancy I became one with my body as at no
other time in my life. I experienced the Hebrew concept of wholeness,
completeness, in which there is no separation of body and soul. “…I began to see that even with an unwanted pregnancy, even in the
case of abortion, pregnant women are put in touch with their bodies. They must
come to grips with the fact that who we are as women, as human beings, is
directly related to the fact that we have and are bodies. And where else but in
the agonized decision over abortion are women given a unique opportunity to
face the frailty and finitude of human life? Where else but in the decision to
give life or to quench life do women so painfully find themselves confronted by
the finitude of their own lives and the lives within them? “…In pregnancy a woman’s body
is not her own. The primary occupation of that body is the housing and growing
of a baby. The mother, as the residence for this other being, is filled with a
sense of its value, which is apart from her own sense of value. Though
intricately bound up with this being, she is distinct from it. The two are one,
and herein lies the paradox. The pregnant woman is both herself and this other
being. The two are distinct from each other, though they are not separate. “This too is the paradox of
incarnation. God and Christ are the two in one. God is both Christ and other
than Christ. Though not separate from Christ, God is distinct from Christ.
Christ does not contain God; Christ is not all of God, as the newborn baby is
not all of the mother. But in Christ, God gives birth to God. “There is yet
another way in which the relationship between incarnation and pregnancy can be
approached. Christ was in a real sense pregnant with God, heavy with God.
(Richardson Smith, Rachel. Pregnancy and Childbirth: A Theological
Event. Christian Century December 19, 1079, p.
1262.) Smith’s image
of Christ pregnant with God fits well on this day of Pentecost, the day noted
as the birth of the Church. The Spirit
of God in mother Israel gives birth to the Spirit of God in all cultures. The Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ
gives birth to the Spirit of divine love in all peoples and cultures. The more
common image drawn from at Pentecost is Christ as seed, which grows to birth a
great harvest. Wheat and
Barley are planted around Passover. Pentecost is the fiftieth day after the
first day of Passover. You may remember
that in the story of God’s liberation of the Israelite slaves from Egypt;
Pharaoh sentenced the first born of the slaves to be put to death. But God turned the sentence upon the judge,
and the Egyptian oppressors lost their children, while the plague of death
passed over those Israelite families who spread the blood of the lamb on the
doorposts of their house. Jesus
was crucified the day before Passover, and the Gospels tell us that he rose the
day after Passover. It is
understandable then, that his followers in trying to make sense of his life and
death would understand his death as a lamb like sacrifice, and his blood the
sign that God’s judgment would pass over our sins. The
burial of Jesus, the placing of his body and blood in the Earth, is also
connected with the planting of seed, his resurrection with the sprouting of
seed. Now at Pentecost, seven weeks
later, the seed, which is Christ, has produced fruit. Pentecost then, is a harvest party, celebrating the harvest of
the Holy Spirit. The risen Christ, pregnant with Divinity, births the Holy
Spirit in all peoples. We are children of God. Whether lamb, seed or birthing
mother, each is a metaphor, an attempt to explain the depth and significance of
the mysterious presence of God’s power and grace to a certain people in a
certain time. In sacrifice,
burial, or the agony of birth, the Spirit of Christ is not extinguished; on the
contrary, it grows beyond its apparent limitations and produces new life. And God’s presence is not only found in a
story from the past, but breaks forth in the present tense. It often
appears within those times of crisis, of suffering and grief that the Spirit of
God appears absent, or as if the suffering were a sign that the Spirit of God
was dying. Perhaps we are depressed
with the violence on the streets, our own streets and those in Baghdad. Or maybe it is the poverty and poor health
of so many mothers and their children all across the world. Or maybe it is our own lives, our own health
or financial situation, our own finite ability to be in relationship, to be a
good mother or mother’s son or daughter, or perhaps we grieve the loss of our
mother or someone else we love. The Gospel tells
us that despite all that, despite and even through our sin and frailty and
suffering, the Spirit lives and seeks to be given birth, to pour out from
you. Here and now. And so I want us to try
something. Stop for a moment. Note what distractions you come in with this
morning: the skepticism, the doubt, the fear, grief, the desire to watch the
basketball game. If you are a guy,
maybe all this talk of birth and feeling is too feminine for you. Maybe you are just here because you are
doing your mom a favor, and all my talk about birth and Pentecost arrives to
your brain sounding like Charlie Brown’s teacher: Wa, wa, wa wa wa wa. Maybe
your issue it that you are too smart or maybe you come to Church to hear some
nice music and a fairly educated and inspiring talk, and to meet a few
people. It's all good. Don’t feel bad
if I’m getting close to home for this speaker can match your cynicism. Excuse me if at times I wonder if my words
are about as significant as those of Charlie Brown’s teacher, or if at times I
am more concerned with my own technique, intelligence or lack of it, or my own
personal life than whether the Word of God is preached or the Spirit is really
present. It is not the worst job in the
world. I get to be kind to people, and I get nice health benefits and live in a
nice town. Don’t judge it; just note
it. And now let it
go. Now, in this moment, together with
every other brave person in this room, let us ask God to birth the Spirit in
this place, in our hearts, to grant us grand dreams and magnificent
visions. If you would feel so moved,
say these words silently and with intention.
Come Holy Spirit. May your seed of hope sprout from the hard shell of my
doubt. May your seed produce a harvest
here and now. Show yourself in this
place. Spirit, enter me. Forgive me. Heal my grief and anxiety. Grow in me. Give new life to me. Give life through me. Give birth to me. Give birth from me.
Spirit of the living God, thank you for your presence. Thank you for your power. May your presence in us produce a harvest of
creativity and love, joy and peace, now and forever. Amen |