Pentecost Monday

Today is lundi de Pentecôte, another national holiday in Paris. I should state that several years ago, after the heat wave of summer 2003 in which many elderly people died, the government no longer made it an official holiday. For French workers are supposed to work this day, but all their salaries go toward programs that help elderly people. I just heard the garbage truck outside, so some people obviously are working. However, most people & businesses take the day off, then workers use their vacation time built up with the 35 hour work week and just take away 7 of their vacation hours away. Our kids' schools are all closed today, so it's a holiday for us.

Last night one of our kids' friends stayed over night here. So the kids room had 4 kids and a guinea pig together.

Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit blew into the room in Jerusalem where 120 followers of Jesus were gathered. It was 10 days after the Ascension of Jesus. What looked like tongues of fire rested over the head of each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages that they had not ever learned or studied.

God-fearing Jews from around the world were gathered. They were bewildered to hear these basically uneducated, "blue collar" disciples speaking in their own languages and declaring the wonders of God. They asked, "What does this mean?"

In Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter underline who Jesus often gave surprising responses and actions that went against the presuppositions of how "religious people" were supposed to act or talk. This actually appealed to those outside the religious establishment. This group of people is growing today, while the number of those who are naturally sympathetic to "established Christianity" is shrinking. In our post-Christian society, perhaps the biggest fight is tearing down people's assumptions of what a Christian is.

At Pentecost, these surprising circumstances weren't humanly contrived, but came from the Holy Spirit.

In yesterday's sermon, our pastor talked about how we can either be bridges to unity or barriers that promote division. Pentecost was an event in which God reached out to those separated by languages and cultural identity. God cared enough about communicating to these diversified groups that He miraculously gave the capacity to speak in different languages to His followers.

As I think about reaching Paris, I wonder what kinds of God-surprises will be part of this. The language barrier can be a challenge to many workers who come here from non-Francophone countries. While the language can be formidable, perhaps even harder is understanding the different cultures that are here.

Since Thursday, I've found myself connecting a lot more with outsiders in my neighborhood. Friday morning I went out for coffee again after school drop off. This time there were 4 other dads and 1 mom who came and I got to treat. Saturday night was my 2 daughters' dance recital, where we connected with some other families. Last night we had a friend of our children stay overnight and got to speak with his dad then, as well as this morning. Now our older daughter is at the home of a friend.

In The Tangible Kingdom, M@tt Sm@ay and Hugh H@lter write, "Our goal isn't to attract Christian people to our worship service but to be the faithful church in small pockets throughout our city. We are creating places of inclusive belonging where God's alternative Kingdom can be experienced" (p. xxi).

Sm@y and H@lter write (pp. 56-7):

"Seventeen hundred years later , we're still entrenched in Constantine's Christendom way of church. Church is the place you go to, and commoners don't have to do much in the way of mission because the paid pros do it for them. We show up at church to get what we want (which is feeding from a leader), not what we need (to feed ourselves and others). And if we don't get what we want, we head to the basilica next door because that chaplain is better at giving us what we want.

Although frustrated by the consumer approach of their adherents, the modern-day paid pastors don't feel they can lead the way their hearts tell them to for fear of losing a tithing attender. Often, the pressure is so strong, they find themselves frantically trying to update their presentation, increase programs to attract people, or lighten up the message of the gospel. Basically, we're just playing musical pews (and will the last one sitting please turn out the lights?).

The spiritually disowned world is unconsciously asking us to return to ancient church now! They're weary of our rhetoric, the same stories, or to pat answers and structures of Christendom. Their ears are closed to the authoritarian approach as well as to the watered-down pop Christianity...A new and fresh look at a Kingdom with true and eternal values may be the only thing that Sojourners are interested in any more.