05 Jun SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2022

What does it take to be amazed and astonished? How about a moon turning to blood? Would that do it? Whenever I pursue a thing or experience advertised as amazing/astonishing, I’m rarely impressed. I often feel misled and conclude that the name given tried to oversell the real thing. 

I forget which it was, but either the calendar or Farmer’s Almanac mentioned three different types of moons: a Strawberry Moon, Wolf Moon, and Blue Moon. How could I have lived so long and never seen them? I was excited to see the first that would arrive, the Strawberry moon. Because it bore no resemblance to the sweet piece of fruit I envisioned, I concluded neither were there moons that looked like a howling mammal or any actual shade of blue. 

Like people of ancient civilizations, we too long to experience phenomena that can’t be explained. Planted inside us are receptors waiting to be triggered by that which amazes and astonishes. We’ve learned that just because science can identify the source of a thing doesn’t mean it can subdue it. Medicine might find handles to grab, but decades may pass before it gains the upper hand. Our vantage point limits our capacity. The best we can do is describe what occurs. Such as, according to time and date.com, (https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/blood-moon.html) a blood moon describes a lunar eclipse resulting in a blood-red, yellow or orange glow. The result occurs as other colors in the light spectrum are filtered out by Earth’s atmosphere. 

Apparently seeing divided tongues of fire rest on people’s heads was not nearly as impressive as hearing languages spoken aloud. What was seen was noted, but what was heard made a big impression. What each was forced to acknowledge was this: what they knew intellectually, that the persons speaking were from Galilee didn’t resonate with what they knew experientially, the language each heard was personally directed toward them. 

That’s the definition of what’s amazing and astonishing: something within that holds personal meaning or we recognize as relatable makes a lasting impression. 

Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter was a moment of amazing astonishment. In time-lapse photography, when Philip asks Jesus to be shown the Father, tongues of fire appear as common language is heard. Jesus asks again, “Have I been with you all this time and yet you still don’t know me?” 

What does it take to know him? Like many of you, I’m awed by God’s miraculous designs in nature. I don’t need a microscope or mind-altering drugs to enjoy animals, flowers, tree bark or sifting through pond water. Everyday, I am amazed and astonished by what I see as God’s handiwork. 

What’s missing for many folks, including me, are connections between God’s Holy Spirit and people not like us. The apostles were identified as being from Galilea. They were not like the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya, not like visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans, and Arabs, all places north, south, east and west. 

Not like. Jesus is terribly disappointed to not be recognized for who he is, alike, one with the Father, one who’s spoken the Father’s words and with total authority because he and the Father coexist as one being. That is the point of Pentecost.

We coexist as one being in Christ. Our role as disciples is to deliver God’s message using the language of the receiver. Language recognized and comprehended by the audience, not necessarily the speaker. Martin Luther understood a German translation of the Bible as essential because people need to hear God speak in their own tongue.

During a Hispanic ministry intensive, I offered communion by saying, “El cuerpo de Cristo, dado por ti.” When offering wine, I said, “La sangre de Cristo, derramada por ti.” The blood of Christ shed for you. Though language can be a barrier, when the barrier is broken, language becomes a transformative way to enter, participate and share. That’s the beauty of communion. We experience the body of Christ being one with the Father. We participate, share and experience all at once. 

Latino residents explained how it felt to hear communion offered in their native tongue for the first time in this country. The sound didn’t just connect them to their past, it brought their past to the present and into the future. As they do for us, the words imply that God travels with and is present wherever we have arrived. 

God’s intention becomes visible and audible as an invitation to participate and share in the life of Christ, the Father and Holy Spirit. Accompaniment and experience are witnessed as ongoing. If you were far from home, imagine how encouraging such feelings would be. Even Jesus sought recognition far from home. 

He practically begged to be believed. Please believe who I am. Believe what I’ve said and done because believing is important. Jesus himself was trying to build upon prior words spoken and prior deeds done so the whole world would understand we are one. It’s not just about me and my Father, but all God’s disciples and children. Why won’t we believe that?

You can’t receive what you can’t see or know.

Because as Jesus says, There is a Spirit of Truth in the form of a personal being whom the world can’t receive because it can’t see or know it. Do you hear that? You can’t receive what you can’t see or know. That’s why God tries to provide visual images that accompany audio messages. When both ways of taking in information match, the truth may be perceived. 

Oftentimes, truth is not heard because the language of the speaker is geared toward the sender rather than receiver. Ever get that impression? That what a person says has more to do with them than you? 

The language of love is what Jesus commands. Comfort that alleviates fear and a troubled heart is what Jesus offers. Comfort that answers prayer and brings lasting peace is what God delivers. The agenda of God is to teach, bring truth, remind us of all that’s been said and done on behalf of those in trouble. 

Most people who attend church fall into two categories: those who work hard to stay out of trouble and those frequently found in the midst of it. Trouble amazes, astonishes and can be overwhelming because it typically represents more than we can handle, more than we can take in, see or hear unless that trouble speaks a language we understand. 

As Artsfest ended, the vendors and crowds dispersed. The Thursday evening prior, I’d watched them set up, unpacking and inserting poles to form canopies, unloading and unwrapping boxes. On Saturday, I’d given my contact info to a local police officer taking a lunch break while sitting in a truck with open doors. 

I’d thought of doing so before but never want to disturb them while on duty. I frequently see them directing traffic or sitting in vehicles. My thought has always been to possibly advocate for both officers and ordinary citizens. Upon recognizing the officer as a resident of Shipoke, I called her by name in the presence of a colleague only realizing later, I should’ve addressed her more professionally. 

On Monday, I saw her again and apologized for not calling her “Officer” the other day. I walked away feeling good, having fixed the social blunder. In the meantime, Sophie discovered scraps of gyro meat while the Greek food truck was dismantling. 

A short time later, in like fashion, I found a whole Vidalia onion that rolled away and was just laying there. With the price of food going up and the homeless having no way to cook it anyway, I picked it up. No sense in a car running over and ruining it. Upon bending down to pick up the onion, Steve and I both noticed several quarters near the curb. We picked those up as well. 

That very same day, Steve and I had an in-depth conversation about how not to touch the flap of a trash can lid in public. Now here we both were picking up coins off the street. God help us. Much to my dismay, around the same time, I realized we were within sight of Officer Stephanie and her colleague as they sat facing our direction on a two-person ATV. 

What will she think? Will she go back and report that the pastor with hospital chaplaincy experience couldn’t resist picking up an onion and coins off the street after Artsfest? Was I really in trouble or merely amazed and astonished at how hard it is to break habits formed out of hard times. 

I’ll admit, I was a little bit shocked, myself. But, I took comfort knowing that God understood my motives. I didn’t need the quarters. I would give them away. I knew where the onion came from. Waste not, want not is a deeply ingrained, unavoidable language. Doing without or being without are languages I understand. They are languages that speak to me and will forever connect me with those for whom they represent a native tongue. 

What triggers you? What is it you do or fear doing? What was it you had to confess earlier? What makes you act impulsively, makes you exert control or feel out of control? Jesus offers peace. Peace given to us to claim as our own. Not as the world gives. Not as the Harrisburg Police Department might offer when considering my qualifications to advocate for employees or consumers of the services they render. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” What troubles your heart or causes it to be afraid? Whatever we require: necessities, comfort or enlightenment, God’s Holy Spirit provides. We are constantly given input to receive: as visual cues, strange anomalies, and auditory messages through symbols like flames, blood moons, and money, communion in the form of people, bread and wine. 

Remember we are kindred spirits whether we are from here or not. Whether you always desire something new or wish to repurpose something old, we are kindred spirits able to speak the same language by the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray. Show us, call us. Make us see and hear the many ways you try to reach us. Help us receive what you offer as truth, connection, understanding, peace, and comfort, to join with or transcend our pasts toward futures filled with shared amazing times. With astonishment we await your teaching and blessing, hoping to communicate your love for all. In your Holy name we pray. Amen.