Breathing with Both Lungs
Promises, Promises
1:1-18 Breathing Ruth with Both Lungs Acts 2:1-21
By By Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady Pentecost Sunday
Rev. Jeffrey O’Grady June 4,V. 2017 Pastor January 14, 2007
San Marino Community Church
1750 Virginia Road San Marino, CA 91108 San Marino Church (626) 282-4181Community • Fax: (626) 282-4185 1750 Virginia Road www.smccpby.com • [email protected] San Marino, CA 91108 (626) 282-4181 • Fax: (626) 282-4185 www.smccpby.com • [email protected] All rights reserved. These sermon manuscripts are intended for personal use only and may not be republished or used in any way without the permission of the author.
To the extent possible, effort has been made to preserve theBoth quality of the spoken word in thisRev. written adaptation. June 4, 2017 Breathing with Lungs Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
One of the things you become aware of when traveling internationally is the differing ways countries handle electricity. For example, Israel uses 220 volt service, twice the power of our American 110 volt electrical plugs. Your home probably has 220 service for the washer and dryer, and some other industrial plugs for heavy equipment. Think of it like the difference between having a ½ inch water pipe and a one-inch water pipe. You get twice the amount of flow and power. A year ago we traveled with several members of the church to the Holy Land. My wife and I packed several different kinds of adapters for the electrical outlets. As we were getting ready for bed in Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, we plugged in our phones and iPad, computer, etc., to recharge overnight. Everything was going smoothly. Then my wife, Lynn, tried to plug in a heating pad to relieve the stress of a neck muscle and instantly we saw a flash of light— then suddenly we were cast into utter darkness. The circuit breaker had blown, we hoped only for our room and not the entire hotel. I had noticed the panel in the closet earlier so I grabbed a flashlight to see if I could fix the problem. Meanwhile, Lynn was moving to assist and felt something crunching under her feet. It was the control panel for the heating pad. When that 220 volt electrical surge went through the control panel it not only fried it, it exploded, sending bits of plastic flying. I found the breaker panel, flipped the switch and we had electricity again. We fell into bed laughing. I learned that there is a difference between an electrical adapter and a transformer. For electrical devices which don’t produce heat, you only need an adapter but for those that use heat, like hair dryers and heating pads, you need a transformer. When it comes to faith in Jesus Christ. Pentecost is a story of the early church moving from an adapter to a transformer. Power was unleashed on the young Church, like that of a 220 volt system compared to a more modest 110 volt system. 2
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
There is power in this faith of ours. In fact the New Testament uses the Greek word “dunamis,” from which we get the word “dynamite.” Paul writes in Romans, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith . . .”1 Dunamis! Many of us are used to a 110 volt circuit for our faith. A little charity here and there, attend worship occasionally, maybe volunteer to assist with a task or two at church, but little significant change to our lives. There is no big idea around which we build our lives. We can become content with small adjustments and minor distractions regarding faith and become mostly complacent about it all. But the early Church experienced a jolt of 220 volt faith on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit electrified them by sort of blowing the cover off things, launching a radical and extensive change in the Church, and in their lives. The Holy Spirit surged through them in a miraculous way. The first thing to say is that this development was entirely God’s initiative and idea. They didn’t pray for it or bring it about because of anything they did. This was Pentecost, the 50th day after the resurrection. It marked a new beginning, just like the 50th year marked a new beginning in Jewish law, the Year of Jubilee! God’s people worked things out by sevens. Every seventh day was the Sabbath day. Every seven years a Sabbath year! And when they had a cycle of seven years that equalled 49 years it became another Sabbath. So in the 50th year they called it the Year of Jubilee. In that 50th year, if you had debt or a mortgage, it was cancelled. You started out debt free. They let prisoners out and slaves were freed. Everyone got a fresh start. It was the beginning of a new era for everyone, good and bad. The Day of Pentecost symbolized the joy and excitement of the Year of Jubilee. It was a time of God’s new beginning. The early church received power and it came as a sound from heaven like “the rush of a violent wind.” 1 Romans 1:16
3
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
The story is told of a Harvard professor who went to talk about a problem with Phillips Brooks, then a preacher of the great Trinity Church in Boston. Brooks wrote the lyrics to O Little Town of Bethlehem. (We Holy Land travelers sang that hymn while in Bethlehem on our trip a year ago.) The professor talked for an hour with Brooks and came out empowered and changed. Later it dawned on him that he had forgotten to ask Brooks about his problem. He said, “However, I didn’t care; I had found out that what I need was not the solution to a particular problem . . . but the contagion of a triumphant spirit.” That’s what got loose on Pentecost, the contagion of a triumphant spirit. We live in a period of fracturing communities. Globally we see how difficult it is to reach an accord on anything, including climate change. Even in the Church there is a splintering of denominations, divisions within congregations, and hostility among and along tribal lines. The Holy Spirit was a gift from God that didn’t discriminate along the lines of human standards. All received the Holy Spirit and the capacity to speak in some native language. Everyone was moved from passive bystander to active participants in the mission of God to make the world better. From being dazed and confused, the followers of Jesus became decisive and determined. The rush of wind allowed them to breathe with both lungs. They went from asthmatic followers to full-lunged followers, loving both God and others. This past week we remembered our veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. I want to tell the story of one who exemplifies this double-lunged approach to our faith, a powerful kind of faith. At 18 years of age, Private Robert Standbury Johnstone, stationed in the Philippines during World War II, had a premonition of death. He wrote home to his parents and asked them to use his $10,000 government insurance to establish a scholarship that would allow a Japanese combatant to experience a different way of life. A young ensign in the Kamikaze Corps of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Robert Nishiyama, was awaiting orders to fly out and crash his explosive suicide plane into a U.S. warship. Private Johnstone was killed in battle. But Ensign Nishiyama, whose country surrendered before he was sent on a mission, became one of twenty applicants for the Johnstone Scholarship. 4
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Nishiyama matriculated at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania after the war, sponsored by the scholarship from Private Robert Johnstone. An article from 1948 entitled, “Kamikaze Goes to College”, tells the story, preserved by our own SMCC member, Harry Gage. Nishiyama expected to be blamed for the war but instead found other students friendly at Lafayette. He was one of 500 freshman at the school, while his wife, (later a Stanford graduate), and daughter remained in Japan. The Johnstone family met Nishiyama in the President’s Office at the college, including the younger brother to Robert, Bruce Johnstone, who was also a freshman at Lafayette. Lewis Bender was an ex-Marine studying for the ministry who became Nishiyama’s roommate at school. Now this is unusual. It is not expected that a family who lost a son in battle would use his insurance money to establish a scholarship for a former enemy. In the article, there is a picture of Nishiyama bowing his head to return thanks before a meal indicating, “He and his family are all Christians.” The fractured and splintering nature of human community finds an antidote in the political and eschatological implications of the movement of the Holy Spirit. This is what can happen when God works through us. The Lord doesn’t discriminate based on human standards. All experienced the power, all heard the Gospel in their own dialect, their own native tongue. I used to think that the story of Pentecost represents the reversal of the story from Genesis Chapter 11, when the Tower of Babel led to the confusion of languages so people “will not understand one another’s speech.” But I read one commentator suggest that the reversal of the Tower of Babel would have ushered in one common language. Instead, it says “. . . [they] began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Those present asked, “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” This is much more that simply individual inspiration or individual power for living. This is a collective experience that recognizes diversity and celebrates it, but also creates one community known as the Church. Some sneered believing they were intoxicated — and in a way they were. They were filled with the breath of God. It led to the first sermon, the first proclamation of the Gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit. 5
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Private Robert Johnstone desired that his life would be in service to an idea. Not just a good idea but a great idea. His faith was not just a 110 volt but a 220 volt faith. He desired that his death would provide a former enemy access to an education and a future with hope. What big idea is the Holy Spirit leading you to consider this morning? How does God want you to use your life to build a future for someone else? What if we just decide this Pentecost that it is a Year of Jubilee! At least once in everyone’s lifetime you ought to be able to experience a Jubilee Year. Let’s declare this is it! Everyone gets a fresh start. It is the beginning of a new era for everyone, good and bad. The Day of Pentecost symbolized the joy and excitement of the Year of Jubilee, a time of God’s new beginning. Today is a new beginning! Today we receive power for new life, like “the rush of a violent wind” from heaven. This is what it means to breathe with both lungs. To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength — and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is a power unleashed in human life that every once in a while is uncommonly witnessed in the unfolding of human affairs. Don’t’ miss out on the power of Pentecost to change your life and to change our communal life together. Thanks be to God.
6
1:1-18 Breathing Ruth with Both Lungs Acts 2:1-21
By By Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady Pentecost Sunday
Rev. Jeffrey O’Grady June 4,V. 2017 Pastor January 14, 2007
San Marino Community Church
1750 Virginia Road San Marino, CA 91108 San Marino Church (626) 282-4181Community • Fax: (626) 282-4185 1750 Virginia Road www.smccpby.com • [email protected] San Marino, CA 91108 (626) 282-4181 • Fax: (626) 282-4185 www.smccpby.com • [email protected] All rights reserved. These sermon manuscripts are intended for personal use only and may not be republished or used in any way without the permission of the author.
To the extent possible, effort has been made to preserve theBoth quality of the spoken word in thisRev. written adaptation. June 4, 2017 Breathing with Lungs Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
One of the things you become aware of when traveling internationally is the differing ways countries handle electricity. For example, Israel uses 220 volt service, twice the power of our American 110 volt electrical plugs. Your home probably has 220 service for the washer and dryer, and some other industrial plugs for heavy equipment. Think of it like the difference between having a ½ inch water pipe and a one-inch water pipe. You get twice the amount of flow and power. A year ago we traveled with several members of the church to the Holy Land. My wife and I packed several different kinds of adapters for the electrical outlets. As we were getting ready for bed in Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, we plugged in our phones and iPad, computer, etc., to recharge overnight. Everything was going smoothly. Then my wife, Lynn, tried to plug in a heating pad to relieve the stress of a neck muscle and instantly we saw a flash of light— then suddenly we were cast into utter darkness. The circuit breaker had blown, we hoped only for our room and not the entire hotel. I had noticed the panel in the closet earlier so I grabbed a flashlight to see if I could fix the problem. Meanwhile, Lynn was moving to assist and felt something crunching under her feet. It was the control panel for the heating pad. When that 220 volt electrical surge went through the control panel it not only fried it, it exploded, sending bits of plastic flying. I found the breaker panel, flipped the switch and we had electricity again. We fell into bed laughing. I learned that there is a difference between an electrical adapter and a transformer. For electrical devices which don’t produce heat, you only need an adapter but for those that use heat, like hair dryers and heating pads, you need a transformer. When it comes to faith in Jesus Christ. Pentecost is a story of the early church moving from an adapter to a transformer. Power was unleashed on the young Church, like that of a 220 volt system compared to a more modest 110 volt system. 2
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
There is power in this faith of ours. In fact the New Testament uses the Greek word “dunamis,” from which we get the word “dynamite.” Paul writes in Romans, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith . . .”1 Dunamis! Many of us are used to a 110 volt circuit for our faith. A little charity here and there, attend worship occasionally, maybe volunteer to assist with a task or two at church, but little significant change to our lives. There is no big idea around which we build our lives. We can become content with small adjustments and minor distractions regarding faith and become mostly complacent about it all. But the early Church experienced a jolt of 220 volt faith on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit electrified them by sort of blowing the cover off things, launching a radical and extensive change in the Church, and in their lives. The Holy Spirit surged through them in a miraculous way. The first thing to say is that this development was entirely God’s initiative and idea. They didn’t pray for it or bring it about because of anything they did. This was Pentecost, the 50th day after the resurrection. It marked a new beginning, just like the 50th year marked a new beginning in Jewish law, the Year of Jubilee! God’s people worked things out by sevens. Every seventh day was the Sabbath day. Every seven years a Sabbath year! And when they had a cycle of seven years that equalled 49 years it became another Sabbath. So in the 50th year they called it the Year of Jubilee. In that 50th year, if you had debt or a mortgage, it was cancelled. You started out debt free. They let prisoners out and slaves were freed. Everyone got a fresh start. It was the beginning of a new era for everyone, good and bad. The Day of Pentecost symbolized the joy and excitement of the Year of Jubilee. It was a time of God’s new beginning. The early church received power and it came as a sound from heaven like “the rush of a violent wind.” 1 Romans 1:16
3
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
The story is told of a Harvard professor who went to talk about a problem with Phillips Brooks, then a preacher of the great Trinity Church in Boston. Brooks wrote the lyrics to O Little Town of Bethlehem. (We Holy Land travelers sang that hymn while in Bethlehem on our trip a year ago.) The professor talked for an hour with Brooks and came out empowered and changed. Later it dawned on him that he had forgotten to ask Brooks about his problem. He said, “However, I didn’t care; I had found out that what I need was not the solution to a particular problem . . . but the contagion of a triumphant spirit.” That’s what got loose on Pentecost, the contagion of a triumphant spirit. We live in a period of fracturing communities. Globally we see how difficult it is to reach an accord on anything, including climate change. Even in the Church there is a splintering of denominations, divisions within congregations, and hostility among and along tribal lines. The Holy Spirit was a gift from God that didn’t discriminate along the lines of human standards. All received the Holy Spirit and the capacity to speak in some native language. Everyone was moved from passive bystander to active participants in the mission of God to make the world better. From being dazed and confused, the followers of Jesus became decisive and determined. The rush of wind allowed them to breathe with both lungs. They went from asthmatic followers to full-lunged followers, loving both God and others. This past week we remembered our veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. I want to tell the story of one who exemplifies this double-lunged approach to our faith, a powerful kind of faith. At 18 years of age, Private Robert Standbury Johnstone, stationed in the Philippines during World War II, had a premonition of death. He wrote home to his parents and asked them to use his $10,000 government insurance to establish a scholarship that would allow a Japanese combatant to experience a different way of life. A young ensign in the Kamikaze Corps of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Robert Nishiyama, was awaiting orders to fly out and crash his explosive suicide plane into a U.S. warship. Private Johnstone was killed in battle. But Ensign Nishiyama, whose country surrendered before he was sent on a mission, became one of twenty applicants for the Johnstone Scholarship. 4
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Nishiyama matriculated at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania after the war, sponsored by the scholarship from Private Robert Johnstone. An article from 1948 entitled, “Kamikaze Goes to College”, tells the story, preserved by our own SMCC member, Harry Gage. Nishiyama expected to be blamed for the war but instead found other students friendly at Lafayette. He was one of 500 freshman at the school, while his wife, (later a Stanford graduate), and daughter remained in Japan. The Johnstone family met Nishiyama in the President’s Office at the college, including the younger brother to Robert, Bruce Johnstone, who was also a freshman at Lafayette. Lewis Bender was an ex-Marine studying for the ministry who became Nishiyama’s roommate at school. Now this is unusual. It is not expected that a family who lost a son in battle would use his insurance money to establish a scholarship for a former enemy. In the article, there is a picture of Nishiyama bowing his head to return thanks before a meal indicating, “He and his family are all Christians.” The fractured and splintering nature of human community finds an antidote in the political and eschatological implications of the movement of the Holy Spirit. This is what can happen when God works through us. The Lord doesn’t discriminate based on human standards. All experienced the power, all heard the Gospel in their own dialect, their own native tongue. I used to think that the story of Pentecost represents the reversal of the story from Genesis Chapter 11, when the Tower of Babel led to the confusion of languages so people “will not understand one another’s speech.” But I read one commentator suggest that the reversal of the Tower of Babel would have ushered in one common language. Instead, it says “. . . [they] began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Those present asked, “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” This is much more that simply individual inspiration or individual power for living. This is a collective experience that recognizes diversity and celebrates it, but also creates one community known as the Church. Some sneered believing they were intoxicated — and in a way they were. They were filled with the breath of God. It led to the first sermon, the first proclamation of the Gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit. 5
June 4, 2017
Breathing with Both Lungs
Rev. Jeffrey V. O’Grady, Pastor
Private Robert Johnstone desired that his life would be in service to an idea. Not just a good idea but a great idea. His faith was not just a 110 volt but a 220 volt faith. He desired that his death would provide a former enemy access to an education and a future with hope. What big idea is the Holy Spirit leading you to consider this morning? How does God want you to use your life to build a future for someone else? What if we just decide this Pentecost that it is a Year of Jubilee! At least once in everyone’s lifetime you ought to be able to experience a Jubilee Year. Let’s declare this is it! Everyone gets a fresh start. It is the beginning of a new era for everyone, good and bad. The Day of Pentecost symbolized the joy and excitement of the Year of Jubilee, a time of God’s new beginning. Today is a new beginning! Today we receive power for new life, like “the rush of a violent wind” from heaven. This is what it means to breathe with both lungs. To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength — and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is a power unleashed in human life that every once in a while is uncommonly witnessed in the unfolding of human affairs. Don’t’ miss out on the power of Pentecost to change your life and to change our communal life together. Thanks be to God.
6
