This sermon is based on Romans 8:14-17. Click here to listen to an audio version of this sermon.
Today we are celebrating the Feast of Pentecost. Today we are celebrating the remembrance of how the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles and empowered them for their mission to spread the Goods News of Jesus to all people, how the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to be the Church. And to celebrate that work of the Holy Spirit we read the story of the miracle of languages, when by the Spirit’s power the Apostles were unexpectedly able to say many words in many different languages, languages they’d never consciously learned, languages that were required to reach the hearts of people from all over the extent of the then-civilized world. Today we see the Spirit’s power in the miracle of many words.
But what I want to talk about this morning is the Spirit’s power in the miracle of one word. What strikes me about the Feast of Pentecost is how the Spirit empowers us to say one word we could never say on our own, and how that one word makes possible all the other words of praise and celebration and outreach and mission.
From our Epistle this morning: “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.”
According to Paul, the one word the Spirit helps us speak, the one word that transforms us into new people with Christ, the one word that empowers all the other words of prayer and mission and life itself – that one word is “Abba,” “Father.”
What Paul is reminding us here is that calling God our Father is actually a very audacious, very bold, very over-the-top thing to do. We tend to take it for granted, we tend to say it so easily – especially because it’s in the prayer that Jesus taught us, the prayer that we as Christians are saying all the time – we tend to say “Our Father” so easily that we don’t always remember what an outrageous thing it is to say. Because when we call God “Father,” we are doing something more than simply acknowledging God as our Creator, our Origin, our Source. When we call God “Father,” we are claiming that there is a certain kind of relationship between us and God. That’s what makes it all the more important that Paul tells us to call God “Abba” when we call God “Father”: “Abba” is the Aramaic word for Father. Paul wrote all his letters in Greek, so that they could reach the widest audience possible with the most comprehension possible. Greek was the language most everyone in the Roman Empire spoke: it was the language of commerce and travel, even for those whose native languages were something else. Aramaic was not very widely understood for Paul’s audience; so for Paul to revert from Greek to Aramaic for just one word indicates that it is a very, very important word indeed. “Abba” is Aramaic for “Father” – but it’s the Aramaic intimate word for Father, it’s the Aramaic equivalent of “Papa” or “Daddy”; it’s the word for the father who is close and gentle and tender-hearted and nurturing; it’s the word for the father who watches over you and takes care of you and wants nothing more than for you to grow up into a whole person living a whole and happy life. To call God our “Abba” is to say that the Infinite, Eternal, Transcendent Creator of All is close to us and with us and loves us with a joy and delight and tenderness that surpasses everything we know.
But calling God our “Abba” says even more. Paul says that because we are children of God we are also heirs of God. Because we are children of God, we inherit from God certain traits, certain characteristics, certain bits of identity, the way children inherit traits from their parents. I have blue eyes because my father has blue eyes; I look younger than my age because my mother is young-looking. As children we inherit traits from our parents. And if God is our Abba, if we are children of God, then we inherit traits and characteristics from God. So God is loving and peaceable and just; and therefore we have the potential to be loving and peaceable and just. So God is creative and renewing and wise; and therefore we have the potential to be creative and renewing and wise. So God is generous and receptive and joyful; and therefore we have the potential to be generous and receptive and joyful. So God is creating the kingdom of love and right-relationships and well-being on earth; and therefore we can join with God, we can be co-creators of the kingdom with God, we can co-create love and right-relationships and well-being in the circumstances of our lives as well. We can be all these things because God is our Abba, and we are heirs, and we inherit from God those traits that give us the divine family resemblance. We are heirs of God, because we cry “Abba! Father!” with all our hearts.
And the reason we can do that, the reason we can cry out that one word that makes all the difference, is because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Paul says, “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit” -- the Holy Spirit bears witness, the Holy Spirit speaks truth to our spirit, the Holy Spirit empowers our human spirit to wake up to our relationship with God as Abba, and to be intentional in our relationship with God as Abba, and to enact our relationship with God as Abba by going forth into our lives and really doing those divine things we inherit from God to do.
And how will you cry out “Abba! Father!” and live that prayer in your Pentecost today? The Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to show forth their family resemblance to God by proclaiming praise and Good News in a way that broke down barriers and transcended differences and brought together in right-relationships people who had been sundered by distance and language and culture. And how will the Holy Spirit empower us – how will the Holy Spirit empower you – to show forth your family resemblance to God by proclaiming praise and good news to break down barriers and transcend differences and bring people together in right-relationships across distances and languages and cultures? Perhaps it will be through our Haiti or Honduras missions. Perhaps it will be through reaching across class and economic distinctions right here in Staunton. Perhaps it will be through becoming more informed about the Hispanic communities growing all through the Shenandoah Valley, and engaging in ministries to reach out to them. Perhaps it will be through reaching out to someone who has wronged you – or whom you have wronged – to begin the process of reconciliation and forgiveness and renewal of relationship. Perhaps it will be through rededication to living the principles of our Baptismal Covenant. Perhaps it will be through sitting very quietly, simply enjoying the beauty of a moment, and offering that joy to God for God to share in the Spirit with whoever needs it most. How will the Holy Spirit empower you to show forth your inheritance from God your Father this day?
On this day of Pentecost, when we remember how the Spirit empowered the Apostles to speak many words of praise, let us pray that the Spirit will empower us to speak one word, so that we may cry out “Abba! Father!” and live as God’s beloved children in every thought and word and deed. Amen.
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