One Voice Among Many

Acts 2:1-13

Jean II Restout, Pentecôte 1732 (PD)

On July 9th 2001, I stepped foot in a place that may as well have been an Alien planet. 

All communication took place in the form of raspy screams and a language that seemed foreign to me. 

It was the first day I set foot on Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot. 

We were in a phase of training known as “forming” or “receiving”

This was the phase of training where you received different shots, medical examinations, signed paperwork, and collected gear to be used during training. 

It wasn’t the most grueling phase of training but it was the most difficult for me. 

It was difficult for a number of reasons but one reason was that I didn’t understand the culture and I didn’t know the language. 

One particular day, the drill instructor demanded that we grab our “go fasters” our “skivvies” our “El Marko’s” and line up against the port side bulkhead by the scuttlebutt. 

We were all confused, we ended up with one guy just running around in circles wearing nothing but his underwear and sneakers with a kevlar helmet on his head. 

It took several weeks for all of us to learn the language. 

A collection of young men from all over the country. 

Some with accents that sounded more like a tropical dialect of english, some with a southern draw that would make Forrest Gump do a double take, some with northern accents that were just as distinct, folks from places like Boston and Brooklyn. 

And this collection of young men from all over the place brought their own slang, their own terminology, their own language. 

And while English may have been the basis for the language we were speaking, at times talking to one another without the use of the “Marine Corps Language” would have been impossible. 

The intention of this language was to solidify us as a community, to make us all one. 

By the time we left that Island, we all knew that a bulkhead was a wall, port side was the left side of a ship, an El Marko was another term for a black sharpie marker, go fasters were running shoes, and a scuttlebutt was a water fountain. 

Even today, if I use these terms at a store or in a public place, it signals to other Marines that there is another member of their community present, greetings are extended and oftentimes it is like running into a family member you never knew you had. 

John Kennicutt, U.S. Marine Corps 8 July 2009 (PD)

The book of Acts is read throughout the Easter season. 

It is intentionally read as our first lesson throughout Easter, although it usually goes unnoticed until today, Pentecost. 

In scripture we find phases of Jesus’ ministry. 

Jesus’ birth in Matthew and Luke, Jesus’ baptism in John and Mark, 

These instances mark the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry in the world.  

The next phase of Jesus’ ministry is his death, obviously marked by his trial, crucifixion, the final moments on the cross, and his time entombed in the grave. 

The next phase is his resurrection, but this is a phase that we short change a little bit, a LOT actually. 

We seem to consider Jesus’ resurrection as a time that has long since come and gone. 

The empty tomb, the accounts of his post resurrection appearances, then his ascension are considered the final moments in which this period comes to a close. 

We put such a sense of finality on this close, even though this isn’t really a close at all. 

In fact, it marks a new phase of the resurrection, a new form of a physical resurrection. 

A physical container beyond a building like the Temple, beyond the body of a man, like Jesus. 

A physical container known as the “ecclesia,” or the church, which is not just a building but it is a ….. people!

Easter is marked by the reading of Acts because Acts is the Gospel of God’s Church.  

The Christ taking on a new form, resurrected in the community that not only follows Christ but is called to BE Christ!

Pentecost marks the revelation of this reality. 

The reality that the resurrection is STILL taking place, as the church expands and grows. 

A reality that is taking place right here, right now, TODAY. 

Today is often described as the “Birthday of the Church,” 

What I am proposing today is that we stop thinking about the church so simplistically. 

Because this isn’t the birth of anything, this is a continuation of the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

A resurrection we profess to see in the Church as the BODY of Christ. 

Photo by Luo ping on Unsplash

The second chapter of Acts sets the stage with a Jewish festival that draws in Jewish pilgrims from across the known world. 

Pilgrims gathered in from the farthest Eastern reaches of the known world, to the farthest Western reaches of the known world. 

Cultures that were so diverse in language and the way they lived, that they probably agreed on very little. 

Much like my platoon in boot camp. 

These people were poorly equipped in language and culture, to even get along with one another. 

Yet, reprogrammed to grow into something new, together like a well oiled machine. 

What solidifies this community, that is gathered into one, is that they are equipped with a common tongue, a common language;

God’s Word. 

What the Spirit moves them to do, is to listen to one another and to speak with one another, despite their differences. 

They are moved to hear from other voices, voices they may not agree with fully. 

They are moved to patiently speak with one another, even if they do not believe that those they are speaking to are willing to listen. 

Hortus Deliciarum, Pentecost 1180 (PD)

We’ve all heard it before. 

“Well, that’s not what I believe.”

In fact, I think I’ve heard it more since taking up a call as a pastor than I ever heard it before attending seminary. 

God’s Word is meant to be the “norm that norms” it is the foundation of our faith and if we cannot point back to that word as the substance upon which our faith is built, we need to go back to the drawing board. 

God gives us the words, through some truly blessed human hands, to understand God deeper and fuller than we otherwise ever could. 

Sometimes those words instill more questions than answers, but that is where the conversations begin. 

That is where we sometimes speak in love and listen in patience, respectfully. 

But it doesn’t mean we will always agree and it doesn’t mean we give up who we are or what we have come to know about God, through scripture and the traditions of the church. 

We’ve (Pastors and Confirmands) talked a lot over these past two years about what it means to be a Lutheran. 

Each of you has decided that today you will stand before this community and profess your faith in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Church. 

You will affirm your baptismal vows for yourselves, taking on those vows to participate and serve in God’s Church. 

You’ve all expressed a desire to do so from a unique place, 

You’ve expressed a desire to do so as Lutherans. 

One voice in the midst of many throughout the Church. 

The Eastern church and the Western church. 

The Catholic, the Episcopalian, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Pentecostals, the Baptists, the AME, and on and on the list goes. 

Many distinct voices, reaching out to know God deeper and more intimately. 

Voices that are no less valuable than our own. 

So first of all, listen to them patiently and lovingly, for they are your brothers and your sisters in Christ, but remember to use God’s Word as the foundation of what is true.  

Secondly, as a Lutheran, you yourselves have a distinct voice. 

You know that you are justified by grace THROUGH FAITH in Jesus Christ. 

Know that and know what that means, because it will not only serve you well in life, but it will serve others well when they hear this good news from your own lips and see how you yourselves respond to that in deed.

We used to give you (our confirmands) all stoles. 

As both Pastor S and I have said, we know that those usually ended up in shoeboxes. 

A stole is also meant to be set aside as a symbol of ordination. 

On top of all that, I don’t see you all wearing a stole to school tomorrow morning. 

So, the congregation has purchased these necklaces for each of you with Luther’s Rose on it. 

It’s similar to this one I have on today. 

At the center is the cross, the symbol of Christ’s death and our redemption. 

That cross is at the center of a human heart, appearing to be unchanged by the cross, still human, still broken and sinful. 

Yet from that flawed heart we see the new life God brings forth, a rose that signifies the beauty and hope we can bring into this world, because of what that cross has done to this heart. 

On the back of the medallion, it may seem kinda hokey to you but it simply says

“I am a Lutheran”

It may seem hokey, but let me tell you about my other "I am a Lutheran necklace". 

This Saturday, thirteen years ago an explosion rocked me out of a deep sleep. 

When I opened my eyes, I found that I had awoken into a nightmare, rather than out of one. 

That day, was the most horrific experience of my life. 

Not only because of what I saw and what was done to me, but because of what that made me do, how I responded to that experience. 

I experienced the worst of humanity, in myself and in other people. 

I didn’t even know who I was anymore, but the next morning I sat on a floor rubbing my thumb over the spot on this necklace that says “I am a Lutheran”

That afternoon, my chaplain came out to see me and asked me what he could do for me and I asked him to share the sacrament of Holy Communion with me. 

Between that meal and this measly little stamped piece of tin, I was reminded 

That no matter what had happened, what I felt, or what was going to happen next

I was loved, I was forgiven, and those signs of God’s grace could not only impact what I did next, but it could impact countless other lives. 

It was in that moment, that I realized the value of that Lutheran voice in the midst of a world of voices, some of which didn’t even speak my language. 

Amen