Turkey

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
June 5, 2022

Pentecost 

          Some decades ago, when I was serving as the Director of Christian Education at the church where Don, the kids, and I were members, I went to the local bakery to order a cake for coffee hour on Pentecost since Pentecost is considered the birthday of the Church.  I ordered a sheet cake with white icing and decorated with a dove, outlined in red so it would be seen on the white cake, descending from heaven.  When I went to pick up the cake on Sunday morning, what I found waiting for me was a sheet cake with a massive solid red creature that looked a lot like a wild turkey.  Clearly I had not communicated my desires well to the cake decorator, but I cannot imagine what she thought I wanted!

          But as I thought about that wild turkey, I wondered if the bird might not be more appropriate for Pentecost than a gentle, tame dove.  The story we hear from Acts has a sound like a rush of violent wind that filled the whole house where the disciples were gathered.  Tongues of fire appeared among them and one landed on each of them.  Fire!  This is no tranquil domestic scene, represented by a peaceful dove.  Pentecost sounds a lot like the storm last Wednesday night, with winds powerful enough to blow down huge trees, knock out power, cause fire, and leave us in utter awe of the power of nature.

          The fierce storm Wednesday night had another power though.  Once the winds and rain had subsided, I went out for a walk to see what had happened in the neighborhood.  At first, the neighborhood was eerily silent.  This is a neighborhood where folks are out walking and riding bikes all the time.  But after a while people started coming out to survey both their own damage and that of the neighbors.  Everyone I passed was checking in with each other.  Are you okay?  Do you need help?  Can I help you move that?  Have you ever seen anything like that storm?  The storm connected us in an even deeper way than our normally friendly neighborhood.  The next morning, when I was out for my usual morning walk and the neighborhood had lost power overnight, the same sort of checking in continued.  And from what I saw on social media, the same thing happened all over Hudson.  For the moment, we were one as all differences were put aside and neighbors worked to help neighbors deal with the damage wrought by the storm.

          While the mighty winds and flames of Pentecost might make me think of Wednesday’s storm, the disciples likely remembered something very different as they experienced the sound of a violent wind and flames of fire.  They had gathered for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after the first day of Passover, which is when the Jewish people celebrate their delivery from slavery in Egypt.  On Pentecost, the Jewish people celebrate the giving of the 10 commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai.  The book of Exodus tells us that when Moses went up the mountain to receive the 10 commandments from God, the people experienced thunder and lightning, the sound of a trumpet, and the mountain was smoking.  I imagine this is what the disciples would have thought of as faithful Jews when they felt the rush of wind and saw the flames of fire land on each of them.

          The 10 commandments were and are a gift from God to give the people an identity as God’s chosen people and to tell them how they are to live in connection with God and each other.  They are to be in connection with God by keeping holy the Sabbath, having no other gods besides God, not taking God’s name in vain, and not making any idols.  Failure to keep those commandments harms their connection with God.  Likewise, honoring one’s parents, not committing murder, adultery, or theft, not coveting that which belongs to someone else and not bearing false witness are things that keep God’s people connected with each other.  Failure to keep those commandments breaks the fundamental connection we have with each other.  

          The gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is also about our connection with God and each other.  Jesus has been clear in John’s gospel that the disciples are to be one as he and the Father are one, and that Jesus will send the Advocate, the Spirit, to teach us how to live as one with both each other and God.  The Holy Spirit keeps us connected with God.  In the reading from Acts, the people were one as they all heard the good news in their own language.  The work of the Holy Spirit that day was to unite people with each other.  Peter quotes the prophet Joel whose prophecy was that God would pour out the Holy Spirit on all people, sons and daughters; young and old; slaves and free so that all can be part of the love of God for the world.  And the reading from Romans tells us that we are all children of God, so heirs of God and joints heirs with Christ, joined together as children of the same Father. 

          In other places, the apostle Paul tells us that we are all members of the one body of Christ, yet another way to say that we are all connected.  We are all connected at Christ Church as members of this part of the body of Christ, and as a church we are connected with all who follow Jesus.  And in the book of Genesis we are told that all of humankind is made in God’s image, which connects each of us and all of us with the whole human family.  Because the Spirit gives each of us gifts for the common good and to make God’s love known in the world, the gifts of all of us are required to actually do that work.  The only way we can do the powerful gospel work we are called to do is to do that work together.

          The power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost binds us together as one and calls us to live as people who are connected with each other and God, nurturing those connections in this place with worship, education, and fellowship.  The power of the Holy Spirit connects us with the world, sending us out to both nurture those connections and make a gospel difference everywhere we can.  The power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was dramatic and dynamic, fire and wind, not a mere suggestion from God to God’s people but lighting a fire under God’s people.  Perhaps the image of the Holy Spirit as a restless wild red turkey is a more accurate image than a tame and gentle dove as Pentecost leaves us in utter awe of the power of the Holy Spirit.

                                                                                      Amen.