By Marcia Moret Sietstra

With thanks to Marcus Borg for the central idea of this sermon.

Gen. 11:1-9

Acts 2: 1-8

Eph. 2:13-20

Today we are celebrating Pentecost, just a week early because I will be out of the pulpit next Sunday. I was glad when our visiting pastor for next week told me she wouldn’t mind if I used the next Sunday’s text today, because I love celebrating Pentecost. In Jesus’ day, this festival occurred 50 days after Passover and celebrated the giving of the commandments to Moses. According to Jewish tradition the law was offered to other nations as well, but only Israel accepted it. So this festival reminded people that Israel’s God was a universal God of all the earth while affirming that only Israel had this special relationship with God.

Now after Jesus’ death, this festival took on a whole new twist. For Christians, Pentecost refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon his followers 50 days after Jesus’ death. The Spirit is to be God’s presence on earth. We read that the Spirit came upon them with the sound of a rushing wind and with tongues of fire resting on each of them.

In the Hebrew Bible (which we used to call the Old Testament), "wind" and "fire" are both associated with the presence of God. Remember the burning bush that Moses saw, and from which he heard God’s voice? In Hebrew, the word for "wind" is the same word used for "spirit," as in the creation story where the divine wind (or spirit) moves over the primordial waters (Gen. 1:2).

I’m telling you this because the first thing I want to point out is that this story is about God’s presence, and it is intentionally referring back to stories that these early Christians would have learned in synagogue, growing up in the Jewish tradition stories from their ancient Jewish roots.

There is another ancient story this one is intimately connected with, a story all the people who were reading Acts would have recognized was tied to this one—it’s the story of the Tower of Babel. You might remember it; many of us learned it as children. According to the story, the people of the earth once spoke a common language but were then scattered into different linguistic groups by God who was angry with their prideful attempt to build a tower with its top in the heavens. Indeed, the English word "babble" comes from the name "Babel." Babel is the story of the fragmentation of humankind into separate and hostile groups who do not understand each other.

I think, as do many scholars, that the Tower of Babel story is a mixture of myth and history. The neighboring Babylonians did build a type of very tall temple called a ziggurat and the actual name of one in the 6^th century BCE was Bab-ilu, meaning "temple of God." Ancient people attached meaning to that fact—that it displeased God, who in a rage sent people scattering in all directions with different languages. Such an understanding was typical of ancient people who were trying to figure out why so many different languages were spoken in the world. Indeed, an older, parallel story is found in Babylonian culture. It predates the Xu story.

Please notice something here…just the opposite happens in our Christian Pentecost story in Acts. In it, the disciples are filled with the spirit of God and suddenly speak in different languages. But Jews from different countries and language groups who now have gathered in the city are able to understand every disciple and every foreign language as if hearing in their own language. Jesus’ followers were amazed: "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?"

This is a story full of metaphor and symbolic meaning. It’s the reversal of Babel, suggesting that the coming of the Spirit, as promised by Jesus, inaugurated a new age in which the fragmentation of humanity is to be overcome. I have a feeling that this story, like so many in the Bible, was written with the full intention that its meaning was not primarily literal, but much deeper than that!

If this is the reversal of the Tower of Babel story, it is saying that through Christ and his Spirit, old walls of separation are broken down and one new humanity has begun. It is the opposite of scattering people apart in confusion because they won’t understand each other, and instead come together with a common understanding of what makes for peace. If that is true, it means we are intended to care about the whole world, not just our clan or nation! This story reaffirms the universality of the God made known in the particularity of Christ. The way of Jesus may come to us in different languages and different revelations but it is the one truth.

What are the practical implications for you and I today? If old walls of separation are to be torn down, if the Spirit is for everyone in every time and place, then we should work for the healing of nations. We should work for a foreign policy based on justice for all, not just for the benefit of Christians. To care about ALL people is to do what is fair for all, not just one religion, not just one nation.

To break down walls of separation and let the spirit blow where it will among all people everywhere suggests we too should embrace diversity and work to build a multi-cultural church and nation. When we participate in activities that help us get to know our neighbors from a different culture, we open paths for the Spirit to work.

When we participate in interfaith dialogue, in which we respect every participant instead of seeking to convince them that only our belief system is acceptable, then we participate with the Spirit in breaking down walls of separation. Recently I began meeting regularly with the several members of the Jewish synagogue, some Catholic, and Protestant people of faith. We hope to add Muslims to the group.

One of our ground rules is that we will testify rather than convert. While I relate to the Spirit through the revelation of Christ, I remain open to the possibility that others relate to the Spirit through other revelations. While not all religions are equal, or healthy, we will look for the common core of love within many of them.

The world’s religious groups, that unite around a common vision of peace and justice, are in a prime position to proclaim and sustain universally accepted moral principles. This group believes that building bridges between faith communities can help solve the world’s escalating ecological, social, and economical problems. If you would like to be a part of this interfaith group, let me know. We close today with the words from Ephesians, read in other languages by some of our members. Carl and Andria will be reading in the language they learned first.

Ephesians 2:13-20.

(German) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. (v. 13-14)

(Spanish) He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (vs 15-16)

(Dinka) So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. (vs. 17-18)

(English) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the hosehold of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (vs. 19-20)