Bad puns aside, I’d like
to give a shout-out to those early hot
heads. When we use that term, what do you think of? Usually someone who is
angry and very easily provoked. It’s not exactly a compliment. But God bless
the hot heads of this world. They get emotional because they have a passion for something.
Passion. Remember that?
When was the last time you felt it? Is it just my perception, or do American Christians
not get passionate about our Pentecost heritage? Have we reduced this festival
to a day to recall a bizarre, one-time event which involved some guys speaking
in different languages but which really has no relevance to our lives today? Is
it just a nice day to see the kids make their Confirmation, throw them a party,
and reward them by telling them they never have to come to church ever again? Is
it an event culturally insignificant when compared to the three-day marathon of
barbeques, beach outings, and department store sales occasioned by its
coinciding with the Memorial Day Weekend?
I sure hope not.
I don’t want to celebrate
an event on Pentecost. I want to celebrate the passion—the deep, burning,
life-filled feeling of belonging to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like the American
secular holiday we observe this same weekend, Pentecost should be a type of
Memorial Day. I guess it’s pretty easy for those who will spend this weekend
lazing in their back yards or screaming on the rides at Morey’s Pier to forget
that once upon a time, some people believed enough in the concept of
self-determination, democracy, and egalitarianism that they were willing to
fight a war for independence and die for those ideas. Ever since those hot
heads took it into their brains that the world could be made a better place with
religious liberty and human dignity, young Americans have donned uniforms and
offered up their lives to give other human beings freedom from tyranny. We’d do
well to remember that such sacrificial passion also characterizes our faith. And
it’s not just the early Christians being fed to Roman lions. Oh no. As I write
these words, millions of Christians throughout the world are risking their
lives and liberties for the sake of the Gospel. Just think about this:
According to the Christian organization Open Doors, there are actual reports of
people in Syria—right in the midst of bloody civil war and the murderous
encroachment of ISIS—actually converting
to Christianity. Consider the passion they must have for the Word of God!
So what do we have? In the crucified Jesus we have the
most profound expression of love—love that is willing to give up everything,
endure rejection, humiliation, torture, and death. In this Jesus is the truth
of who we are as selfish creatures, but also the truth of God’s power to
forgive. In the resurrected Jesus we have the promise of eternity, the promise
that we can be changed and reclaimed and made into new beings. Isn’t this
enough to rouse our passion? Can we become hot-headed over this, and burn with
the desire to nudge the world in the direction of compassion, healing,
equality, and justice? Pentecost is not a one-time event, it is the sign of the
living church of God through which blows a heroic spirit of love and change.
So let’s get off our
butts, shall we? Let’s stop thinking of the church as the place where we go to
meet friends and feel good. Let’s reclaim what the Bible declares is an
amazing, astounding, and perplexing power to touch human lives.
God bless you, you hot
head!
PS-If you’re interested in following how Christians
are enduring persecution for their faith, you can click on www.opendoorsusa.org.
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