The Day of Pentecost: Rev. Aimee Baxter

My house is in absolute chaos right now. There are boxes piled in every room as we live in the in between of Savannah and Nashville. 

I’ve been trying to find that balance of getting things done in a timely way to avoid total panic when the moving truck enters the driveway, and not packing up our lives too soon. It’s going okay.

In my attempts to be ahead of the game, I’ve packed kitchen items that “surely we wouldn’t need” only to find out that very day when making rice that, yes, I did indeed need those pot lids after all. 

If you know me, you know that I am living my best life when things are ordered and put together. I have to work really hard when things are a bit out of sorts to not let restlessness sink deep into my soul and body. 

Chaos is disruptive. For this Enneagram 1, Type A personality, it’s a bit of a struggle right now.

 

So for me, I love Pentecost in hindsight. It’s nice to read about all that craziness that happened to other people. I know myself well enough to know that had I been there on that first day of Pentecost, I would have been jarred by what was happening around me. 

I sympathize with those in the room who are bewildered and confused. Those who are completely thrown off by all these languages and events taking place. The crowd’s initial response to the chaos is interesting. They try to explain this situation away with logic. “It must be because they are drunk.”

One of my favorite parts of this story is Peter’s own logic, “Um it’s still morning so that can’t be the case.” He certainly doesn’t ascribe to the “it’s 5:00 somewhere” mentality. 

But seriously, can you imagine being there and witnessing this moment? What would happen if a similar outburst broke out in this room with us today? How would we respond to the chaos? 

Peter addresses the crowd and in so many words says, “This is what Joel told us about a long time ago. The Spirit will come to us and stir things up a bit. Amazing things will happen. God’s Spirit will pour out on just about everyone. There will be prophesies and dreams, signs and wonders to behold.”

In short, “God will be reordering things in a disorienting way. It will be a lot to take in.”

Pentecost is a beautiful paradox of order and chaos. It’s the day we see how the disruptive presence of the Holy Spirit has a way of creating disorder that reshapes our experience of the world. 

If you’ve ever rearranged your furniture or cleaned out your closet, you know this pattern of disarray that becomes order.

One of the things we’ve been talking about lately in our Wednesday healing service is how our lives have an ebb and flow of things that are somewhat predictable and then others we have absolutely no control over. I heard someone say on a podcast recently: some years give us a lot of questions and others give us the answers. 

I’ve been thinking about the times in my life when disruption was exactly what I needed. Times when God surprised me by stirring up my well thought out plans or perceptions about what was best for me or how things should be. We might call these kinds of moments a pleasant surprise.

For example, when it rains on Easter weekend, so the church becomes a place of holy chaos filled with children and plastic Easter eggs. 

Or when our youngest came into our home out of foster care, I could have never imagined that four-day old baby I picked up from the hospital would reorient my heart in ways that expanded the way I love others. 

Or how the rice that I prepared using a child’s Star Wars plate, actually tasted better than any rice I’ve ever made with an actual pot lid.

Or when an invitation to a local clergywomen’s group extended to the new Episcopal priest in town almost six years ago, led a United Methodist Deacon to serve in the Episcopal church, totally exceeding all expectations that something like that would ever work out long term. 

The Spirit has a way of disturbing our put together lives and reordering them in ways that exceed all that we can imagine. She is the author of unlikely love stories that offers our souls and our lives renewal and refreshment. 

We have a bucket of those soft chewy mints in our vesting room. Our regular acolytes, choir members, and others are aware of them and visit that bucket regularly on Sundays. 

The first time Gio Aguilar discovered them he exclaimed, “Mint Balls!” So they are, and will be forever, known as mint balls.

 

New people will ask if they can have one and our response has become, “Mint balls are like Grace. There is no limit on them!”

 

A couple of weeks ago, a new acolyte discovered this prized possession and when we told her our answer she proclaimed, “Mint balls are refreshing like the Spirit of the Lord!”

We looked at each other and said, “Yep, that’s it. That’s the Pentecost message.”

We have mint balls for you as you leave the service today. Go ahead and snag as many of them as you think you need. No limits here.

My prayer is that they will serve as a reminder of the refreshing, renewing and reorienting power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.