A Sermon by Sydney V. (Skip) Jackson — May 31, 2009
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio
Texts: Acts 2:1-13;  John 20:19-23 — Pentecost & Baptism

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” — John 20:20b-21

It’s Pentecost, and today we celebrate the day—50 days after Easter—when, according to Acts, the church of Jesus Christ was born.  What a fine, bouncing baby it was, so filled with the Spirit.  But along with being the “birthday of the church,” Pentecost, at its very core, isabout being called by God.

What a “heavy” theological concept that is—called by God.  I used to think of it as like being called home for meals when I was a kid.  In my neighborhood, parents would step outside back doors on hot summer evenings (no one ever used their front door except for company) and they’d yell for their kids.  “Skip!  Larry!  Dinner time!”  And we’d come running (if we knew what was good for us).  I used to picture God’s call in terms of this simple image, and there is indeed much of value here.  God’s call is personal—addressed to each of us by name.  And we are called home—to our true home where there is welcome and nourishment and loving care.  But there are significant problems with this image as well.

You see, no one ever wanted to quit playing just to go in for dinner.  We all got quite good at hearing just how serious the call was, from the force and timbre of Mom's or Dad’s voice.  This was back in the “Good Old Days,” when families still routinely ate virtually all their meals together.  But sitting down all scrubbed and quiet at an ordinary supper table held little allure when the sun was shining and there were friends around and trees to climb, ball games to play and imaginary worlds to explore.  It might take several calls of increasing volume to drag us away from fun and friends.  Now take such reluctance and fold it in to the image of God’s call, and things take on a more serious note.  Things like obedience (come in or else!), duty, and accountability move to center stage, and we begin to set aside things like fun and excitement and wonder.

How about a different image of God’s call?  I remember being ten or eleven years old and finding myself cooped up inside the house on a sunny, summer day, with chores to do or just sitting around bored.  That’s when the world outside called out, offering all sorts of possibilities.  And there was the more specific call as well—the knock at the door, Mom answering, and a voice asking, “Can Skip come out and play?”  Yes!  And Mom would send me outside.

This image is a lot closer to the call of God in our two Pentecost stories.  In Acts, the Holy Spirit swoops in, and people are called into action and excitement, summoned out of the ordinary into the extraordinary.  They’re so ecstatic at this event that some bystanders think they’ve been partying and are drunk on new wine.  In John, Jesus appears to disciples who are cowering in fear behind locked doors.  But he doesn’t leave them there.  No, he sends them out into the world—“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”—giving them the same Holy Spirit that filled his life.  For John, God’s Holy Spirit is given to the church on the very day of resurrection.  The whole scene is like Jesus is calling out to them, “Can you all come out and play?”  And the point of the play is clear in the story.  It’s about peace—that is to say, the joy of shalom in all its fullness, the playfulness of harmony, the sheer pleasure of wholeness.  And what are the rules for playing?  Well, mostly the rules involve forgiveness.

Just so, Jesus Christ enters into our lives—appears in our locked places, in the midst of our fears and apprehensions—and calls us into wholeness.  Barriers to understanding that isolate us from others fall and new relationships are born—new friendships and a new family.  Play is an apt term for this kind of activity, for in responding to God’s call we find ourselves being made new.  It’s no accident, I think, that “recreation” and “re-creation” are the same word.

Oh, we may well find ourselves resisting God’s call—although why anyone would rather mope around inside on a glorious day like this, God only knows!  But sometimes we do respond and come out to play.  We come out to play with others who have also discovered the absolute joy and wonder of the game.  Here I’m speaking of church membership.  For today on Pentecost, the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ, we are about to welcome a new member into our play group.

Promises will be made, and we will hear some things about about duties and responsibilities.  But what’s really happening is in act of responding to God’s call to come out to play, to have fun, to experience excitement and wonder and joy in all God’s children at play.  We’ll take Gyasi and get him washed up in the waters of baptism, and then he’ll join with us in a family supper from the Lord’s Table.  But after all that we will all go outside into the world for playtime in the kingdom of God.  And the most amazing thing about all this is that one of the things we are all to do as we play together is to seek out others and call out to them, “Can you come out and play, too?”

Oh, yes.  That’s how it is!