Rev. Lundblad starts her sermon with a story:
"The Nurturing Place was a day care center in Jersey City. Few people would have heard of it if Anna Quindlen hadn’t taken us there in her newspaper column. The center, run by Roman Catholic sisters, welcomed children whose families were homeless, families with no addresses.
"One day the sisters took the children to the Jersey shore. The 3 and 4 year olds scrambled up the sandy dunes, falling and giggling their way to the top of what must have seemed like mountains to their little legs. When they got to the top, they could hardly believe their eyes: water as far as they could see — more water than they had ever seen. They slid down the dunes and ran to the ocean’s edge. They chased the waves that teased their toes. Then they went off for a picnic in a nearby park. After lunch they begged to go back to the dunes. One little boy named Freddie outran the rest and climbed his way to the top. He looked out, then turned to the others and shouted, 'It’s still there!'"
Here's how Rev. Lundblad connects this story to Luke 24:44-53:
"Jesus’ disciples must have felt the earth slipping beneath their feet at the thought of being left alone. Again. It had been a roller coaster ride of emotions since they followed Jesus into Jerusalem — hope, fear, death, and then the unbelievable presence of Jesus — no longer dead, but alive. But they knew he wouldn’t stay. Indeed, Jesus speaks as though he’s already gone: 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you … ' Isn’t he still with them? His words must have seemed very confusing. Then Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures and interpreted the meaning of all that had taken place. He had done the same thing with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Now Jesus promises even more than scripture: 'See, I am sending upon you what Our Creator promised; so stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.'"
Next, Rev. Lundblad zooms out to give us a more expansive view:
"What did he mean? What was this 'power from on high'? Jesus doesn’t say 'Holy Spirit' here, but he does in Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts: 'But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.' (Acts 1: 8) This is the same Spirit that rested on Jesus at his baptism, the same Spirit that anointed Jesus to preach good news to the poor and freedom for the oppressed. This same 'power from on high' would now be given to the disciples and by extension, to us. This is a gift from beyond ourselves — not the same as 'team spirit' or conscience or inner peace or anything we create on our own."
Last, she brings us back full circle: "The Spirit that anointed Jesus anoints us, still breathes with us and surprises us. Still reshapes the community called the church. If we forget and imagine that we’re in this all by ourselves, if we trust only in our own efforts, I hope we’ll hear a little boy named Freddie calling out to us: 'It’s still there!'"
For The Rev. Dr. Lundblad's reflections on the Holy Spirit as presented in the farewell discourses of Jesus in the gospel of John, please click on the "Featured Reflection" for this week.
For a detailed scholarly analysis of how the Tower of Babel story from Genesis connects and contrasts with the Pentecost account in Acts 2:1-21, please click on the top entry under "Earlier Reflections," which is titled "Do Our Differences Make the Holy Spirit Nervous?" and which draws on the scholarship of Dr. Gilberto A. Ruiz and Dr. Eric D. Barreto.
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Lundblad's sermon, quoted above, can be found at workingpreacher.org; She is Engle Professor of Preaching Emerita at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Anna Quindlen's column was published in “Public & Private: Social Conscience,” New York Times, April 4, 1991.