ORDER OF WORSHIP
- Call to Worship – Rev. Val & Congregation
- Hymn: Faithful God, You Sent Your Spirit
- Opening Prayer – Congregation
- PSALTER: Psalm 104:24-35 (UMH 827)
- Gloria Patri (UMH 70)
- Pastoral & Peace Prayer – Rev. Val
- Peace Hymn: Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song (UMH 544)
- Scripture Readings – Rev. Val
- Message: Do You Hear What I Hear? – Rev. Val
- Hymn: What Feast of Love?
- Service of Holy Communion
- Hymn: Sweet, Sweet Spirit of the Lord (UMH 334)
- Hymn: Surely the Presence of the Lord (UMH 328)
- Offertory Prayer – Rev. Val
- Doxology (UMH 95/Song Sheet)
- Benediction – Rev. Val
NOTICE TO ON-DEMAND WORSHIPPERS
In order to expedite posting the worship services here on our website, we are reducing the transcript to just the scripture readings and the message. The majority of the other content (minus the message) is available through our weekly digital/email bulletin (you can sign up on our Contact Us page). Union Grove UMC began celebrating Holy Communion weekly as part of our regular worship service on July 17, 2022. You are encouraged to have bread and juice or wine available as you watch the service and to participate in communion just as if you are present with us.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
God, open us to hear and receive your scriptures today as you would have us hear them, understand them as you would have us understand them, and to act upon them as you would have us act upon them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*All scriptures today are from the NRSV.
Genesis 11:1-9 – Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Romans 8:14-17 – For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
John 14:8-17, (25-27) – Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Acts 2:1-21 – When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
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, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
The scriptures of God for the People of God.
Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE – Do You Hear What I Hear?
Rev. Val
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. Amen.
We have two stories around twenty-two hundred years apart that relate to one another over one common theme – language.
First, we have the story of the Tower of Babel from Genesis. It can be a bit of a head scratcher, but basically, the people who decided to build the tower – all descendants of Noah – decided to work together to build this huge tower, this citadel. At that time and by and large because they all shared a common genealogy, they spoke essentially one language. Some of them might have had drawls, there may have been some colloquialisms relevant to one line of descendants that were unique to that group, but their basic core language was the same.
A citadel or tower as its told seemed like a great idea to all the people. It would keep them safe from attacks and, if they built it big and tall enough, it would withstand another flood like the one great-great-great-great-probably-a-few-more-greats-grandpa Noah survived. They’ve been wandering for all those generations. They’re tired. They’re worried. They just want to settle down and live their lives. So they pooled their skills and resources and built this thing.
The problem is that this wasn’t God’s plan for the people – it was disobedience to the instructions he’d given Noah and his family. This was not going out and replenishing the earth. Plus had they totally forgotten where their trust should lie? They were trusting stones and mortar when they should have been trusting God.
Archeologists have uncovered structures from that period throughout what was then the lower part of Mesopotamia, so we know there were tower citadels. Most of them seemed to be or include temples to various deities. Perhaps another problem was that the folks building that citadel at Babel were not only not trusting God, some of them had gotten into idol worship.
For reasons not made clear in the scripture, God decided to bring an end to this, but not by destroying anything. Instead, he decided to confuse their languages so they couldn’t understand one another anymore. These people who had for generations been speaking a common language must have looked at one another and asked, “Do you hear what I hear? Do you understand what they’re saying? How can this be happening?”
When you think about it, though, what God did that day is pretty genius. Nobody died, no natural disaster was needed. Just the lack of communication was disaster enough. Massive construction projects take an extreme amount of communication, very clear, very precise communication. If they couldn’t communicate with one another, they couldn’t communicate about the building, therefore couldn’t finish it.
As a result, they abandoned the tower and each went their separate ways.
That’s story one.
Story two takes place ten days after Christ’s ascension. Just before he ascended, Jesus had told the apostles to go to Jerusalem and wait there. Now it was Shavuot, the feast of weeks, and the disciples were all gathered back together again in that upper room where they’d spent so much time with Jesus. They’re tired. They’re terrified they’re going to be arrested and suffer the same fate as Jesus. And … more than likely … they’re all feeling some level of guilt.
I need you to imagine with me for a moment. There isn’t anything in the Bible to back this up, but just kind of close your eyes and imagine the scene I’m about to set for you.
The disciples are locked away in that room, sitting around the table and Peter clears his throat and says, “Guys, you know how Jesus said I would deny him three times before the cock crowed? Well, I did. I denied knowing our Lord and Savior.” As Peter hangs his head in shame, John speaks up and adds, “I went to the foot of the cross. I was there through that whole horrible … when he … well anyway … I thought he was dead. I didn’t believe what he’d told us.” And one by one the others began to confess that they’d run away and hid, that they too, had thought he was dead …”
All the sudden, there’s this wind … this violent rush of air … and then there’s something that can only be described as flames coming down to rest above each of them. And they get up and they go outside and they begin to speak. And everyone within hearing range not only hears them but hears them in his or her own language. And the disciples are all talking about the Good News, telling the people all about Jesus.
The people outside must have looked at one another and asked, Do you understand what they’re saying? How can this be happening?”
Some in the crowd didn’t believe what they were hearing and accused the disciples of being drunk – filled with new wine – but Peter steps forward and says, “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, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
We know these two stories have a common theme of language – in one the confusion of one common language into many – as many as 72 according to most commentaries on it – so that people couldn’t understand one another, and in the other the ability of the disciples who were all from Galilee and most likely all spoke one language to suddenly be able to speak in the languages of every person within hearing in the crowd.
But there’s something else these two stories have in common, and I realized it listening to my theology teacher set that scene in the upper room I asked you to imagine with me – full credit for that to Dr. Phil Jamieson – as he was explaining his theory of what happened in that room that caused the Spirit to descend that day.
In both stories, the affected people empty themselves. In the story of Babel, the people empty themselves of God – they empty themselves of obedience to God when they decide to settle in one place and build that citadel, that tower, and they empty themselves of trust in God when they stop seeking safety and security in God. Instead, they get full of themselves, full of self, by relying on what they can design and build for themselves.
In Professor Jamieson’s imagined story of the disciples in the upper room, the disciples are also emptying themselves, but this time in a different way. They’re emptying themselves of guilt and shame by confessing to one another. Professor Jamieson suggest that it was when they were completely emptied of “self” … self-shame, guilt … that space was made for them to finally be filled with the Holy Spirit.
That’s how it is for us, too. To truly feel, be aware of the presence of the Spirit in our lives, we have to be willing to and do the work of emptying ourselves of “self” and being, as Paul puts it, “in the mind of Christ.” We have to do the work of learning and truly understanding who Christ is, who he is to us.
Jesus, our friend, our comforter, our Lord and our Savior, came here to save us. He told us, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
I am the way. I bring you to Him through my suffering. I am the priest that who stands between you and my Father, who stands in the gap for you. It is through me that you come in order to be fully reconciled with the heavenly Father.
I am the truth. I help you understand what it means to be human and to be in right relationship with God and your neighbor
I am life. I am the source. I have authority. I am the king. I am the one who will come again to reign.
In the passage from Acts, Jesus said, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Stephen Paul Kliewer wrote:
I believe it is beyond question
that people of faith are meant to change the world
Jesus put it many ways (both directly and indirectly)
we are the light of the world
we are yeast, small bits of sacred transforming the whole
we are stuffed with the Spirit
Paul too
we are the ongoing incarnation (body) of Christ
we are Christ’s ambassadors
we are reconcilers
We are to change the world
As those who are transformed,
we are to transform
How is that working?
Let’s be honest
the light seems buried
the yeast seems dead
and we, too often, are filled with powers other than the Spirit
and rarely, it seems, do people look at “Christians”
and see Christ
and the world?
I believe in something bigger than myself
I believe in a Love that will not let me
(or anyone else)
go
I believe that this Love is a power beyond comprehension
And I believe that we were created to be conduits of this love
That this Sacred Presence is meant to pour into the world
Through us
Why is that not happening?
Because, perhaps, those who try to change the world for “God”
are trying to impose that change from the outside in
Through fear, blame, shame
Through adherence to antiquated creeds
Through laws and legislation
I suspect they think God works this way too
Using the threat of eternal torment to keep people in line
to scare the he!! out of them
And so many have chosen the way of domination and wealth
(for, after all, wealth is a medium for power, and a sign of blessing)
Seeking to grab as much power and as much wealth as they can,
And then leveraging that power and wealth
To impose
They have used that power to marginalize and exclude people who are LGBTQI+
To impose abortion bans (which don’t work and when applied radically are cruel and deadly)
To grab earthly power (which they abuse)
To push an agenda of individualism (how odd is that given Jesus)
And so love does NOT flow into the world
Quite the opposite
The reality is God works from the inside out, not the outside in
The Spirit touches us within, it transforms us, changes our hearts,
and that is how it all begins!
That is how the Kingdom of God draws near
That is how God’s new thing emerges.
Steven Charleston writes
“It is all there, in the still space where you encounter the Spirit, the common ground between the holy and the everyday. It is a place where you can go, where your own thoughts and words transcribe the truth of your experience, and where the voice of the Spirit can speak in whispers like the wind moving through the trees. No one can give you what you already have: the love of the Spirit within you.” (Ladder to the Light, p. 39)
Before we charge out there and try to change (and save) the world
with the wrong God and the wrong tactics
we need to go inside
and into that still space
into that common ground
and spend time with the Spirit
and let the Spirit make us new
and then, with love, not laws
with love, not hate
with love, not exclusion
with love, not guns
with love, not creeds
go into the world
light
yeast
Sacred children
The Body of Christ
Amen
Empty yourselves of self to make room for the Spirit and take time to learn and be holy.
Let’s pray:
Lead Us Out of Babel
Lead us out of Babel, where we claim our own languages and cast out others,
where we label family by our money status,
and shirt colors define our brothers;
where we care for our own and make war with other tribes;
where we create borders we call protection
and shun those we say don’t belong inside;
where we earn all we can, spend all we can
and look at others confused
when they ask us to give all we can
while we sit in our own addictions-high;
where we choose our houses so that we match our neighbors’ skin;
where we even choose our churches so that our hues all blend;
where our differences create fear
and matter more than the promises you made
that we were all adopted into your glory
when Christ defeated the grave.
Lead us out of Babel where we speak a language of us, ours and mine.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon all flesh, Lord, and make your children wholly thine.
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