Why The Setting Matters
This week’s story of the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost takes place in the Upper Room. By now the Upper Room is pretty familiar to the disciples.
Many historians believe that at the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem and probably tried to stay in an Upper Room. We frequently think of them going to an inn, but it was probably more like a guest room. There was no place in the guest room for our most sacred guest.
The next time we hear about this kind of room is during Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus enters the guest room, not as the guest, but as the host.
The next time we return to the Upper Room is after his crucifixion, when the disciples are hiding behind locked doors. Christ comes not as a guest, and not even as host. He transcends the boundaries of that room and the boundaries of their expectations, moving through locked doors to appear among them as the Lord of all Creation.
Now He has ascended, and Jesus told the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit, so they go back to HQ. They go back to the Upper Room, where so many powerful things have happened already. Each experience they have in there grows their faith, and each experience they have in there challenges and increases their capacity for following Jesus. Now we get to Pentecost, and here they are in the room.
Learning to Drive
I’m reading a book right now called “A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone” by AJ Swoboda. One thing that it says about Jesus’ ascension and the giving of the great commission, is that the reason why the Disciples were capable of going to out to teach everyone the way of Jesus, is because they themselves spent sufficient time learning it.
To me this feels like the disciples are bunch of student drivers. First you drive around the parking lot with the teacher, and you go slowly through neighborhoods before trying to drive on the highway.
That’s what Pentecost feels like to me. The disciples spent three years learning from Jesus and being formed by following him. They needed that everyday work and that slow formation, before getting onto the highway with the Holy Spirit.
I’m not saying that Pentecost means life in the fast lane. It means that no matter how long you’ve been on the road of faith, you will always be a student of Jesus. We will always be growing in our capacity to learn from and be guided by the Lord.
Pentecost As Discipleship
On the day of Pentecost, the disciples grew in their capacity to follow and learn from Jesus. It is amazing that they were able to speak in tongues, but that’s not the only amazing thing. What they said in those languages had meaning, because they allowed the truth, the truth of Jesus to flow through them.
Compare this to the last time they were in the Upper Room, hiding in fear behind locked doors. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a continuation of the good work that Jesus began in them. Jesus led them in learning to walk the way, and the Holy Spirit has now loosened their tongues and set their hearts on fire to declare the way, to speak out what they know to be true, to declare what Jesus has done.
This didn’t happen to them in isolation, it didn’t happen to one person exploring faith on their own. This was a community that followed Jesus together, growing in their capacity for faith and transformation, and growing in their capacity to allow the Spirit of truth to flow through them.
The Spirit of Truth
In John 16, when Jesus tells the disciples to expect the coming of the Holy Spirit, he says, this is the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. What you will need most in your ongoing journey of following Jesus, is the Spirit of truth.
I wonder what thoughts, or feelings, or questions rise up when we consider that this is still true, that what we need in our journey of discipleship, is the Spirit of truth. Where is that Spirit moving in us and in our world today? Where is the Spirit of Truth loosening tongues today?
What kind of fire is being kindled in us as a community, as the Advocate, the Spirit of truth guides us in the way of Jesus?
Is there a challenge or an obstacle that keeps our tongues from being loosened, or that holds us back from allowing the truth to flow through us?
A lot of ideas come to mind, but I think lies are what stop us from telling the truth. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of Truth”, and in contrast he calls the Devil “the Father of lies”.
The Stories We Tell
There are stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves that are not true.
There are stories that we tell ourselves about other people that are not true. And stories like these are woven all throughout our lives and all throughout our culture. One example is racism, when you make assumptions, telling yourself stories about people based on skin color, and those stories grow into policies and legislation.
If you are making assumptions about a person who you’ve never met and you’ve never experienced what they’re going through, you might be telling yourself stories that aren’t true.
Jesus has told us that every hair on your head is counted by God because you are loved and known and held by God, so if you have ever talked to yourself or treated yourself as anything less than God’s beloved child, then you might telling yourself stories that aren’t true.
The Miracle of Speaking the Truth
In 1906 there was an event in Los Angeles called the Azusa Street Revival. This was a spiritual gathering that became the birth of the Pentecostal movement. Reporters came to interview the leadership and investigate claims of speaking in tongues and so forth. But when they interviewed William Seymour, who was one of the leaders, they asked him, “how do you know the Holy Spirit is present?” Do you know what he said? He didn’t even mention speaking in tongues.
When asked how he knew the Holy Spirit was present, he said, “it’s because Black and White people are worshipping together”.
His community was growing in their capacity for faith and transformation, and the Spirit of Truth was flowing through them, tearing down the barriers built by those stories that we tell ourselves, those lies that come to steal, kill, and destroy.
This is the power of the Holy Spirit. It can include speaking in tongues, but also the miracle of speaking the truth, and being formed together as a community where the truth flows through us.
Telling Better Stories
What stories and what lies are holding you back? It could be something another person has told you, or it could be something you tell yourself. Here are some examples:
- If I become more authentic and speak the truth more often, then people will reject me.
- No one cares what I have to say, so I can’t tell anybody about faith.
- If I speak out about the things Jesus cares about, I will lose friends, family, and colleagues who think differently than I do.
These are not factual statements, they’re assumptions. They’re stories that hold us back.
But here’s a better story: what if we go around telling people that there is still good news in this world?
What if we tell the story that despite fear and hatred and suffering, there is still love and forgiveness and grace to be found? We don’t have to be an expert in order to tell someone who is struggling about the things that help us to hold on. I can tell you that Jesus is close to the brokenhearted, because he’s been close to me. And that story might just change something, and it might just change somebody. The truth sets people free, but first we need to be free to speak it.
The Telling of the Story Changes Us
That story, the good story of the love of Jesus changes things, and the telling of the story changes us. So maybe the first person we need to tell is ourselves.
What if the first thing we did each day was to tell ourselves the good news that we are God’s beloved child, and that our neighbor is God’s beloved child, and that living into and embodying this truth is the best possible use of our time?
Remember that part of the reason why the Disciples were capable of going out to teach everyone the way of Jesus, is because they themselves spent sufficient time learning it. What if we told ourselves the good news every, to guard against the storm of stories we are bombarded by from without and from within. What if we told ourselves the good news every day, until our tongues were loosened by the Spirit and formed by the truth?
This is our challenge, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform the stories we’re telling, so that our tongues would be loosened to tell the truth of the love of God. May we be a community where the Spirit of Truth flows through us.
To read more posts, visit my column here. Check out my published writing in “Soul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership”. If you are interested in contemplative leadership and are between the ages of 25-40, visit Shalem.org to learn about Crossing the Threshold: Contemplative Foundations for Emerging Leaders.
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