Fifty Days

Dave Brisbin 5.31.20 Pentecost Sunday: Though it’s the feast of Pentecost today, the week of protests and riots are the elephant in the room that demands some attention and discussion. But is there a link between our response to the strife and opposition around us and the deepest message of Pentecost? Or better, would our engagement in Pentecost temper our response to the opposition we face? Between the extremes of the most destructive forces around us, there are still voices in our country calling us back to connection and sanity. Those voices crying in the wilderness are the ones giving us hope that we really will pull back from the brink, just as Martin Luther King’s voice did for previous generations. Reading his words of deep conviction and determination for his people that he spoke while still maintaining the balance and perspective to “learn and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition,” is the message we need to hear again today. And it is the message of Pentecost as well. Peter, a tribal and shortsighted figure who violently struck and injured those who opposed Jesus, on Pentecost became a man who could speak to all the nations in their own tongue so they could understand and respond. Pentecost is the infilling of an infinitely expansive Spirit. When we are ready, the tongues of fire and the wind constantly blowing through are lives will become real enough to fill us with the ability to love and learn from the opposition as much as we do our own tribes.