From Sermon Pentecost Sunday 2011
I’d heard a story of a rabbi who was known for seeing people as something holy. It was said he made you feel as if you were the only person in the world for him, at that moment. Evidently he’d collected peoples names and phone numbers on scraps of paper, and he had them all over the house, in pockets, in drawers. The story goes that one day he found a name and number- and not believing in coincidences, he decided to call the number. When the man on the other end picked up the phone, the rabbi calls out, “Holy brother!” which is what he called people – Holy bother or Holy sister. “I found your number and knew I had to call you- how are you? How are things?” When the phone rang, the man on the other end was standing on a chair, and was planning to throw a rope over one of the beams in his house.
You’re probably wondering what this may have to do with Pentecost!
I have just come from a very emotional experience recently. For the last two years it seems, I have been working through my fathers’ decline and death. And it certainly culminated in his funeral Mass two Saturdays ago. It wasn’t emotional in the sense that I was crying all day. But more in the sense that the loss of a parent, or of someone you love, can move you to another place where you look at things differently, a little deeper… where you’re moved to see people differently, even for a little while.
During and after the funeral Mass mostly, I was left with the want, the need, perhaps the realization, that I wanted to connect with people. It seems I was “seeing” them in a different way – a deeper way – in a much more real way.
I bet you’re still wondering what this may have to do with Pentecost?
I think by now many of you have seen the movie “Avatar”. In the movie, the people who populate this fictional planet – the Na’vi – greet each other with a specific phrase. “I see you”. Here’s a part of an article- using the movie to talk about the differences between Pantheism, Panentheism, and how these relate to the monotheistic interpretations of traditional religions. The author is Jay Michaelson, an Jewish author who seems to focus on things spiritual. The article was published in the Huffington Post, on December 22nd, 2009, and is entitled “The Meaning Of Avatar: Everything is God (A Response to Ross Douthat And Other Naysayers of “Pantheism)”. Here’s the part of the article I’m referring to…
“In the Na'Vi cosmology, what's really happening is the Ai'Wa in me is connecting with the Ai'Wa in you. This is echoed in their greeting, "I see you," a direct translation of the Sanskrit Namaste, which means the same thing. ("Avatar" is also from the Sanskrit, though the film plays on the word's two meanings of an image used in a role-playing game, and a deity appearing on Earth.) As the Na'Vi explain in the film, though, "I see you" doesn't mean ordinary seeing - it, like Namaste, really means "the God in me sees the God in you." I see Myself, in your eyes.“
Are you still wondering what this all has to do with Pentecost?
Pentecost celebrates the idea of the Holy Spirit primarily through the story of the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples on that day in
Truly – what we have – can be boiled down to an essence: we want to connect with someone, somehow, someway. And we want to recognize that there is “divine” in us and around us.
This past Friday, I went to see Jeff Swope (I have Jeff and Donna’s permission to use this story). As you know, he has been struggling with cancer and the effects of cancer, for a few years now. When I entered their house, he was sitting on the couch. I walked around to be in front of him, extending my right hand to shake and hug. He grasped my hand with both of his, held my hand, kissed the back of my hand, and held it to his forehead. I’m sure he didn’t know, but in many cultures what he did was a gesture of blessing. I’m nor often greeted that way- being blessed like that! It was one whole person being greeted by another whole person… in a most spirit-filled way!
Now do you see the connection with Pentecost?
I know, it’s hard to go through our whole days with this mindset – tuned in like this. It’s hard to set our hearts in this way. We have deadlines, arguments, rush hour, routines, errands, and all the normal stuff… things that make “seeing” someone, really seeing them, their essence – their life history wrapped up in who they are – there in front of you at that very moment – difficult! It’s not like that all the time! Maybe it’s to hard for us! But sometimes, in some places we want to be like that, we are like that. And that, Holy Brother and Holy Sisters… is also Pentecost!
Here’s a “poem” (I think) from a person named Oriah Mountain Dreamer – (her name is a story all its own. See here – look under the section “The Name” to learn about it – http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/ ). She says it in different words than many of us might have used… here it is:
The Invitation
by Oriah Mountain
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your hearts longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true, I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you are, or how you came to be here- I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
May 1994
There are people in some of our churches that do not like to share the Peace! For whatever reason, some people mostly want to leave others alone, and want to be left alone. Sometimes it’s okay – it’s right – it fits – to be left alone! But… not here! Not on Sunday mornings! When we share the Peace, when we greet people… don’t forget… there’s more than just what you see in front of you! There’s a whole life-story there. There’s a mind, a body, a soul, a spirit, there… and it’s all holy! And if we look and listen closely enough – it’ll remind us of Pentecost!
God Bless you all!
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