Here comes trouble
Acts 2: 1-21*
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
June 9, 2019
What would it take in the present day for people to think the Church was drunk, had lost its mind, had gone wild, feral, off the deep end? After all it’s nine o’clock in the morning somewhere in the world right now.
Every Christian church welcomes and accepts everyone, no exceptions.
Every Christian church ordains and empowers women, queer, non-binary and trans folks.
Every Christian church is multi-racial and multi-cultural.
Every Christian church makes extravagant welcome for seekers, agnostics, and atheists—wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome here.
Every Christian church is pro-life and pro-choice.
Every Christian church is a safe place for survivors of abuse and assault.
Every Christian church is a safe welcoming space for sex workers and promotes sex-positive education for all ages.
Every Christian church seeks the liberation and wholeness of those who live in poverty and those who hover just above it.
Every Christian church is a sanctuary for migrants and refugees.
Every Christian church lowers its carbon footprint, reuses, reduces, recycles, and is plastic-free.
Every Christian church unclasps itself from empire and works toward its end, that all people would be liberated from their chains, all of creation free from domination and control.
Every Christian church speaks the language of love, in other languages, in American Sign Language: I’m sorry. I forgive you. I need space. I need community. I need you. I hear you. I understand. I’m praying for you. I’m here for you. I stand with you. I love you, no matter what. *Sitting in silence, holding a hand.*
What if we took a year and listened to youth and young adults about their lives, their concerns, how are they navigating the world, what do they need? “Your children shall prophesy and your young people shall dream dreams”.
What if Church wasn’t the place we expected to have an experience of God but the place and the people that prepared us to experience and encounter God in the world—what is good and holy and true—and have some idea how to respond? Whenever God shows up in the Hebrew scriptures or in the gospels or the letters to the early Church, it’s not just to say “hi there!” Whenever God shows up—in a burning bush or a pillar of fire or a bright cloud or a still small voice or through an angel or a prophet or in the courage of Esther or Ruth or in the life of Jesus or the preaching of Paul or the leadership of Peter or in the witness of Mary Magdalene—something is being asked of us. Build an ark. Liberate my people. Listen to me. Leave everything you know and go to a place you’ve never been before. Love your neighbor as yourself. You give them something to eat. Take up your cross and follow me. Why do you seek the living among the dead? Love does not insist on its own way.
Pentecost is not only one day a year but also the longest season on the Christian calendar: to remind us for the next 24 weeks—and thus always—that the Church is all about stirring up trouble, disturbing the status quo, taking risks, instigating change for the sake of restorative justice, fearless compassion, radical forgiveness, and unconditional love.
Maybe you’re not a Trinitarian, you have no idea what to do with the Holy Spirit, and yet isn’t there something about your faith, the state of the world, the people you love that gets you fired up? When was the last time Church or life or love made you feel unsettled, like there is something you need to do?
The Church is called to be an unsettling force for change, for liberation, that by liberating the most vulnerable and marginalized, we upset the way things are that they may become the way things need to be. Martin Luther King Jr. in his plan to initiate the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968 said “There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life.” Our complacent national life. Another way to define privilege is when we get so comfortable in our chains–they allow us just enough freedom–we don’t even know they’re there.
50 years later The Poor People’s Campaign has been revived, with comprehensive goals to restore 140 million impoverished and low-income Americans, and thus our entire nation, to a better way of living; to shake our moral conscience.
The campaign has several songs and chants to invigorate and inspire. I found this one by following some spiritual bread crumbs. Someone who friended me on Facebook had as their profile picture someone holding a sign that read “A New Unsettling Force”. That sounded like the Holy Spirit, the Divine Troublemaker to me, so I googled the phrase and found the website for the Poor People’s Campaign, the quote by MLK Jr. and a YouTube video of this song I want us to learn. You’ve got the words on a handout.
We are a new
Unsettling force
And we are powerful
A new unsettling force
And we’re here
A new unsettling force
For liberation
And we’ve got nothing to lose
But our chains.
We are Holy Spirit fire-makers, change-bringers, troublemakers for the sake of restorative justice, radical forgiveness, fearless compassion, and unconditional love. And we’ve got nothing to lose but our chains.
Amen.
Benediction – enfleshed.com
God has gathered us together for a purpose –
a living, moving, breathing purpose
that calls us to live differently,
to live passionately,
and to love courageously.
With the Spirit as our guide,
let us go from here open to the wild ways of God,
however and in whomever She may be revealed.
May it be so!
*We read the Inclusive Bible version and used non-gender specific language in reference to those who receive the Holy Spirit, prophesy, see visions, dream dreams, etc. Unfortunately it is not available online...yet.
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
June 9, 2019
Every Christian church welcomes and accepts everyone, no exceptions.
Every Christian church ordains and empowers women, queer, non-binary and trans folks.
Every Christian church is multi-racial and multi-cultural.
Every Christian church makes extravagant welcome for seekers, agnostics, and atheists—wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome here.
Every Christian church is pro-life and pro-choice.
Every Christian church is a safe place for survivors of abuse and assault.
Every Christian church is a safe welcoming space for sex workers and promotes sex-positive education for all ages.
Every Christian church seeks the liberation and wholeness of those who live in poverty and those who hover just above it.
Every Christian church is a sanctuary for migrants and refugees.
Every Christian church lowers its carbon footprint, reuses, reduces, recycles, and is plastic-free.
Every Christian church unclasps itself from empire and works toward its end, that all people would be liberated from their chains, all of creation free from domination and control.
Every Christian church speaks the language of love, in other languages, in American Sign Language: I’m sorry. I forgive you. I need space. I need community. I need you. I hear you. I understand. I’m praying for you. I’m here for you. I stand with you. I love you, no matter what. *Sitting in silence, holding a hand.*
What if we took a year and listened to youth and young adults about their lives, their concerns, how are they navigating the world, what do they need? “Your children shall prophesy and your young people shall dream dreams”.
Pentecost is not only one day a year but also the longest season on the Christian calendar: to remind us for the next 24 weeks—and thus always—that the Church is all about stirring up trouble, disturbing the status quo, taking risks, instigating change for the sake of restorative justice, fearless compassion, radical forgiveness, and unconditional love.
Maybe you’re not a Trinitarian, you have no idea what to do with the Holy Spirit, and yet isn’t there something about your faith, the state of the world, the people you love that gets you fired up? When was the last time Church or life or love made you feel unsettled, like there is something you need to do?
50 years later The Poor People’s Campaign has been revived, with comprehensive goals to restore 140 million impoverished and low-income Americans, and thus our entire nation, to a better way of living; to shake our moral conscience.
The campaign has several songs and chants to invigorate and inspire. I found this one by following some spiritual bread crumbs. Someone who friended me on Facebook had as their profile picture someone holding a sign that read “A New Unsettling Force”. That sounded like the Holy Spirit, the Divine Troublemaker to me, so I googled the phrase and found the website for the Poor People’s Campaign, the quote by MLK Jr. and a YouTube video of this song I want us to learn. You’ve got the words on a handout.
We are a new
Unsettling force
And we are powerful
A new unsettling force
And we’re here
A new unsettling force
For liberation
And we’ve got nothing to lose
But our chains.
We are Holy Spirit fire-makers, change-bringers, troublemakers for the sake of restorative justice, radical forgiveness, fearless compassion, and unconditional love. And we’ve got nothing to lose but our chains.
Amen.
Benediction – enfleshed.com
God has gathered us together for a purpose –
a living, moving, breathing purpose
that calls us to live differently,
to live passionately,
and to love courageously.
With the Spirit as our guide,
let us go from here open to the wild ways of God,
however and in whomever She may be revealed.
May it be so!
*We read the Inclusive Bible version and used non-gender specific language in reference to those who receive the Holy Spirit, prophesy, see visions, dream dreams, etc. Unfortunately it is not available online...yet.
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