Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Acts 2:14-17a

 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 
“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh ….

Crazy and free

It is amusing to me that witnesses to Pentecost thought Jesus’ disciples were preaching under the influence. I assume they were happy drunks, joyfully prattling on, syllables cascading across their fumbling lips and falling on ears barely able to separate out they were saying.

In vino veritas, the Romans say. In wine, truth.

For wine evaporates inhibition and sets the tongue free that hidden hearts might reveal themselves and buried truth might breathe.

So, I suppose the disciples were drunk or at least a bit tipsy. Their fears and inhibitions dissolved as they were filled with awareness of a Love who shatters all human expectations.

Speaking in every language of one truth, they told of Jesus, who shattered the ancient curse of separation from God and each other. They were one, one with him, one with the Love that filled them, breathing the Spirit of the One who was creating a new humanity with new hearts and minds.

We are called to this oneness, to know the infilling of the Spirit who is the Presence of the Love God is, a Love that never dies, that evaporates fear, that awakens hope, that makes you a little crazy and free so that some might wonder if you have been nipping at the bottle: Crazy and free to cast away every sadness and speak the Love we know, the Love who is, the Love who always will be.

Pr. David L. Miller