Clean and Green Power

Alternative energy fueled a powerless church on the day of Pentecost.

The world needs power.

We know this, which is why the U.S. government is supporting solar-power projects, Exxon Mobil is exploring algae oil, and wind farms are popping up all over the place. Turn on the news, and it seems that everyone is talking about alternative energy, blah, blah, blah.

But it isn’t enough, which is why the race for even more innovative technologies is heating up. The cleanest and greenest ideas include:

Launching solar panels into space. The problem with putting solar panels on rooftops is that clouds and nightfall prevent them from working around the clock. But if you launch them into space, solar panels can soak up the sun’s energy 24 hours a day. Once they’ve absorbed all the energy they can, microwave transmitters on the satellites can beam the energy down to Earth to be converted into electricity.

Methane bricks at the bottom of the sea. You know about methane, don’t you? It’s the combustible gas that emerges from volcanoes, garbage heaps and cows. But it’s also found deep under the ocean floor and in the Arctic permafrost, just waiting to be collected. This methane is a fossil fuel, but it releases very little carbon dioxide compared to coal and oil, so burning it could actually reduce our annual carbon-dioxide emissions.

Nuclear fusion. This is the process that powers the sun, pretty much the best energy source ever. Unfortunately, we currently don’t have the technology to power nuclear fusion reactors in an efficient and economical way. But scientists are getting closer, and there’s a side benefit to fusion that makes this process even more attractive: Fusion can eat up the nasty radioactive waste that comes out of modern nuclear-fission plants.

Hold on. Did this message just get mixed up with a lecture on nuclear physics?

No, hang in there, the basic concept is simple. Nuclear-fission plants produce radioactive waste that can pollute our environment, causing many people to have legitimate concerns about nuclear power. But nuclear fusion plants devour the waste produced by nuclear fission plants.

Fusion can fix the mess made by fission.

And produce power as well.

Clean and green.

The church needs power

But it isn’t just the world that needs more power; the church does, too. We feel powerless in the face of chronic hunger and homelessness in our communities, powerless to speak the many languages of our increasingly diverse neighborhoods, powerless to stand up in the middle of a secular culture and offer a word of hope, grounded in the promise of the gospel.

The church needs power.

God knows this, which is why the cleanest and greenest form of alternative energy came to a powerless church on the day of Pentecost.

“[S]uddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2).

Wind power? Well, not exactly.

“Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them” (v. 3).

Burning methane? No, this wasn’t that kind of combustion.

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability” (v. 4). Then Peter raised his voice and addressed a crowd, saying, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. … this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. …then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (vv. 14, 16, 21).

The first followers of Jesus weren’t energized by wind or sunlight or methane or nuclear fusion. No, their power came from the Holy Spirit of God, a force that enabled them to speak in diverse languages and offer a word of gospel hope.

Their power came from God, and it was a force that could — and did — change the world.

It’s clean, and it’s green.

And available to us today.

We need this power if we’re going to be part of a church that brings life, joy and fulfillment to the world around us. The problem with traditional Christianity, you see, is that it focuses more on life after death than on improving the quality of life before death.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited about the afterlife,” writes a young Christian radical named Shane Claiborne. “And yet I am convinced that Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how to live.

“Jesus says the kingdom is ‘within us,’ ‘among us,’ ‘at hand,’ and we are to pray that it comes ‘on earth as in heaven.’ No wonder the early Christian church was known as the Way. It was a way of life that stood in glaring contrast to the world.

“Of course,” says Claiborne, “everyone was forewarned that in this kingdom everything is backward and upside down — the last are first and the first are last, the poor are blessed and the mighty are cast from their thrones. And yet people were attracted to it. They were ready for something different from what the empire has to offer.”

Convinced that the Christian Way is a life-giving way, Shane and a group of friends moved into a small row house in a poor section of Philadelphia in 1997. Their vision was to love God, love people and follow Jesus, and they began calling their little experiment the Simple Way.

Since then, they have played with kids from the neighborhood and helped them with their homework. They have shared food with folks who need it and run a community store out of their house. They have reclaimed abandoned lots and planted gardens in the concrete jungle. They have rehabbed abandoned houses and made friends with people in prison and on death row.

“We try to make the world safe,” says Claiborne, “knowing that the world will never be safe as long as millions live in poverty so the few can live as they wish. We believe in another way of life — the kingdom of God — which stands in opposition to the principalities, powers and rulers of this dark world.”

Claiborne and his friends have found another way to live — the Christian way. It’s the way that’s inspired by the Holy Spirit and directed toward changing the world for the better.

It’s clean, and it’s green, fueled by power that comes from God.

The power of Pentecost.

We don’t need to move to Philadelphia

We can tap into this energy today, and we don’t have to move to a row house in Philadelphia to do it. In our own communities, children need help with their homework, hungry families need to be fed, abandoned lots need to be turned into community gardens and prisoners need to be visited. These needs can be met if we open ourselves to the clean, green power of the Holy Spirit and then focus our efforts on loving God, loving people and following Jesus.

It isn’t rocket science. Instead, it’s a rather Simple Way.

Do you find yourself attracted to this way? Men and women have been drawn to it since the very earliest days of the church. But there’s a danger in our efforts to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit the incarcerated — the danger that we will burn out on doing good and fall victim to “compassion fatigue.” This is a very real risk faced by anyone who feels driven to make the world a better place.

The antidote is to tap into a source of power that comes from beyond ourselves. The power of Pentecost is an energy source that can keep us burning with love for God and for the people around us, while radiating warmth and light to a cold, dark world. This power isn’t found primarily in programs, policies or institutions but instead in the loving actions of a faithful Christian community.

You don’t have to be a creative greenius

Pentecost power is what fuels the food drives that feed hungry neighbors, as well as the hypothermia programs that give homeless people a warm place to sleep.

It’s what animates the church volunteers who teach English as a Second Language to new Americans in diverse communities.

It’s what inspires youth leaders to speak the truth to teenagers and offer them a word of hope — one based on their value to God instead of their popularity or GPA.

It’s clean, and it’s green, and it reveals itself in love. As Mother Teresa said, in her description of effective Christian action, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love. It is not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it.”

You don’t have to be a creative greenius to understand that the power of Pentecost is the power of love — the fusion of God’s love for us and our love for God and one another.

An alternative energy that can truly change the world.

Tap into it.


Possible Preaching Themes:

• The importance of speaking about God’s deeds of power in a variety of languages.

• Peter’s courage before the crowd, and our timidity.

• The prophecy of Joel and Pentecost: What’s the connection?


Participation Pointers:

• Bill Feeser suggests the pastor contact the local power company to obtain some CFL bulbs to pass out to the congregation as a way of reminding people of the Pentecost Sunday message. Perhaps each bulb could be tagged with a card containing a Scripture reference.

• Scot Sorensen says he has often “planted” in the congregation people who read in a variety of languages. As the Acts text is read, the lector pauses after verse 4, and then all these other languages are read simultaneously from verses 5-11. The lector pauses until all have finished and then continues, “All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’” It has proven effective for people to experience the global nature of Pentecost.

• Kathy La Point-Collup points us to Sandy Sasso’s book Butterflies Under Our Hats.


Sources:

Claiborne, Shane. Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2006.

Koerth-Baker, Maggie. “America’s next top energy source.” mental_floss, November-December 2009, 28-29.


FILM CLIP IDEA

May 23, 2010

The Text: Acts 2:1-21.

The Movie: No Impact Man, a documentary about a Fifth Avenue family who vows to live as “green” as possible.

The Scene: The opening scene, where Colin Beavan appears on a few talk shows to promote his book about his family’s experience.


THE OTHER TEXTS: May 23, 2010, Cycle C

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

What Does the Text Say?

The second half of Psalm 104, like the first half, is a great hymn of praise to God the Creator for the rich variety of blessings found in the natural world. The psalm’s language is eloquent and its ideas sublime, and the RCL editors have removed the fly in this otherwise fine literary ointment by excising the first half of the final verse (v. 35a). In addition to introducing an element of vitriol in an otherwise high-minded paean to God the Creator, the sentiment doesn’t fit its context.

Psalms focused on God’s works in creation often bear the influence of the wisdom tradition that was widespread in the ancient Near East long before Israel’s theologians began assembling the Bible; Psalm 104 is no exception. The role of wisdom in creation is stated explicitly in the opening verse of today’s reading: “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all” (v. 24a, b). Those works have been catalogued in the first half of the psalm, and the second half will continue that list, focusing first on the sea (vv. 25-26) and then summarizing the biblical understanding of creation vis-à-vis living beings: “When you send forth your spirit [or “breath” or “wind”], they are created . . . when you take away their breath, they die” (vv. 30a, 29b). The echo of the creation story in Genesis 1 is unmistakable.

The psalm concludes with a doxological imperative from the psalmist to his own soul (which should be understood here, as elsewhere in the Old Testament, to refer to the essence of the psalmist, not an immaterial component separate from the whole individual): “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (v. 35b). This summons is found in several places in the Psalter (e.g., Psalm 103:1, 2, 20, 21, 22; 115:18).

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

The theme for this sermon might be something along the lines of “Oceans of Blessings.” (cf. the old gospel hymn “Showers of Blessing.”) The psalmist, like we preachers, uses examples to buttress the argument that the Creator God is loving and providential. Look at the creatures of the earth, in particular the creatures of the sea. Even they, “small and great” “all look to” God “to give them their food in due season.” And when they get their daily bread, as it were, they’re joyful, and when it is withheld, they are “dismayed.” Focus on a specific sea creature. Take the blue whale, for example. Facts: They migrate farther than any other known animal, about 12,000 miles every year. The blue whale’s heart weighs 1,300 pounds and beats only about 10 times per minute. (By comparison, the human heart beats at least 70 times per minute.) The blue whale’s tail can generate 500 horsepower! (For more, go to associatedcontent.com/article/313009/little_known_facts_about_whales.html?cat=58.) Show slides of whales. Ask Sunday school kids to draw pictures of whales. Talk about whales in children’s story time. The preaching point? If God cares for sea creatures, God cares for us. Thus, like the psalmist, “I will sing praise to my God while I have being” (v. 33). See also Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift From the Sea.

Romans 8:14-17

What Does the Text Say?

Romans 8:14-17 takes up the theme of slavery, adoption and status as children of God. Romans 7 ended with a passage in which Paul expresses the idea that his mind serves (the Greek word here means “to be a slave to” or “serve”) the law of God, but his body serves the law of sin (7:25). Chapter 8 picks up with Paul explaining that because of Christ’s action on the cross, we are no longer slaves to sin. If, by the power of the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live (8:13). Verse 14, however, throws in a twist. Paul’s logic until now has been that we are slaves to God. But in verse 14, he says we aren’t merely slaves but sons. We aren’t to fall back into fear (says v. 15) because of this; in fact, we have the Spirit to prove our adoption, and that Spirit causes us to cry out Abba, the prattling word for “Dad” of little children. And if we’ve been adopted, says verse 17, then we aren’t only free from fear but also are heirs to the inheritance of God. We are, in fact, co-heirs with Christ. Co-heirs, that is, so long as we are suffering alongside Christ. For Paul, suffering results in glory and proves our status as children, showing the work that is happening within us. Paul finishes the chapter by showing that suffering is a necessary part of new birth and a sign of our hope. But Paul also finishes with assurances that the Spirit is with us in our weakness and that nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

This sermon is greatly informed by the historical understanding of adoption in Roman law, and the preacher cannot do justice to this text without studying a primer on Roman adoption laws. We are children of God not by nature — although made in God’s image— but children by adoption. This in no way diminishes our rights as children of God. What is cool to realize is that we have full rights as though we were by nature, i.e., of the very essence of divinity itself, the children of God. The practical application in the context of this chapter of Paul’s highly theological and doctrinal treatise is that — if children of God in every sense except an ontological one — we should behave as such, and walk and live in God’s spirit, and not live as though we were merely — only — human beings. We are much more.

*Homiletics has treated this text once. Go to HomileticsOnline.com. Select Romans in the Scripture Search drop-down menu, and click GO.

John 14:8-17 (25-27)

What Does the Text Say?

As part of his extended discourse after his last meal with the disciples, Jesus reiterates his unity with his Father and the benefits of that unity for his followers. Jesus assures them that because they have known him, they know and have seen the Father (14:7). Philip protests this assurance and begs to see the Father. This request shows Jesus that Philip, even after being with Jesus for quite some time, doesn’t really know him. Jesus claims that to see him is to see the Father. They abide in one another. The words Jesus speaks aren’t his own but are the Father’s. So also the works he does are done by the Father who remains in him. Jesus urges his disciples to believe that he and the Father abide in one another. If they cannot believe this statement, the works that God does through Jesus will help them do so.

If the disciples do believe in him, they will be able to do the works he does, and even greater ones. He is going to the Father, but they can still ask him to do anything. If they ask in his name, he will do it so the Father will be glorified. Their responsibility is to keep his commandments out of their love for him. To aid them in this, Jesus, once he joins the Father, will ask that God send the Spirit of truth to them as an advocate. They know who this Spirit is because they abide in Jesus, and Jesus abides in them. Once Jesus departs, this Spirit will teach them and remind them of all that Jesus has said.

What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?

“Lord, show us the Father.” This is the voice of Philip, the one who found his friend Nathanael (John 1:43-51) and told him about Jesus, describing him as the one “about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.” Yet here it’s clear that Philip isn’t clear. He doesn’t understand the connection between Jesus and God. The topic for sermonic discussion, then, is the human need for someone to “show us the Father.” To get at this metaphorically, the preacher might review the importance of establishing identity in this digital and virtual world of ours — one in which a lot of dangerous people lurk. What technologies are available today to establish one’s identity? (Fingerprints, dental records, retinal imaging, face-recognition technology, etc.) Then discuss how God might be identified. Jesus’ answer is that if we know Jesus, we know the Father. Still, it’s interesting to speculate on where we might find the fingerprints of God. Where might we see the face of God? There’s a triangulation at work here: God-Jesus-Us. If we embody Jesus, we then reflect the image of God and become the hands, eyes and face of God to others.

*Homiletics has treated this text three times. Go to HomileticsOnline.com. Select John in the Scripture Search drop-down menu and click GO.

Music Links

Hymns

Earth and All Stars

Filled With the Spirit’s Power

O Day Full of Grace


Praise

Holy Spirit, Rain Down

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit, Come Down