Chapel Hill United Church of Christ

Sunday Sermon

Gripped by the Holy

March 30, 2008

John 20:19-31

Acts 2: 14a, 22-36

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”

By

Rev. Galen E. Russell III

Pastor

Prayer: Breathe on us, Breath of God. Fill us with life anew. That we may love, what you have loved, and do what you would do. Amen.

Let’s sing that old hymn for a minute. [singing] “Breathe on me, Breath of God. Fill me with life anew. That I may love, what you have loved, and do what you would do.” We all need the breath of God, I think. It’s the presence of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus enters that room with the doors closed he says, “Peace be with you.” And, he breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Let’s do a little breathing, centering exercise for a minute here. Our doors are closed. We’ve all gathered as disciples of the risen Christ. So, I want you to relax yourself. Close your eyes, let your shoulders sag a little, and breathe in slowly and deeply and exhale slowly and deeply. [pause] The Holy Spirit is as close to us as our very breath. Imagine that with every breath you take in right now, you are inhaling the breath of the Holy Spirit. [pause] Like a steam-filled room, God’s holiness is all around us. Breathe it in. [silent breathing, then singing] “This is the air I breathe. This is the air I breathe. Your Holy presence, living in me.” [repeat] Open your eyes. We all need a little space to breathe in the holy sometimes.

When the disciples received the Holy Spirit from Jesus, they, who were once riddled with fear, were transformed into courageous apostles. They, who once were powerless with nowhere to go, were now empowered to go to the whole world, even Thomas. They, who were once only remembering Jesus and the events of his life, and were mourning for him, were now witnesses to his risen presence. They were gripped by the Holy Spirit.

Fifty days later, that same Holy Spirit came upon Peter, the other disciples, and a whole bunch of Jewish people that had gathered from all parts of the known world. Jewish people from every tribe, from every nation, from places that we now know as Italy, Turkey, Africa, Asia, Greece, Crete, Europe and the Middle East, all these people of different races and nationalities were filled with God’s power and were gripped by holiness. God’s Holy Spirit breathed on them, and it sounded like the rush of a mighty wind (Acts 2:2). And, they were transformed into being witnesses of Jesus.

As has become increasingly evident in the last three weeks or so, we are at a point in our nation, in our culture, and in our communities when people of different races and nationalities need to be gripped by the holy and transformed. All of us are subjected to cultural racism. All of us are aware of the divides and rifts, the injustices and mistreatments against people of different race. Our nation’s history is replete with the injustices against people of color. The slavery issue of the 1860’s, the Japanese-American internment camps of the 1940’s, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s are only three of hundreds of examples.

Injustices in the white community are coming to the forefront, too. Just three weeks ago, I was made aware that qualified white college-aged boys were not being considered for scholarships and internships from different companies because they were not Black, Hispanic, native American, or women. Or right here locally, we’ve learned that Hershey Foods is making a move to Mexico, cutting jobs here, closing a plant in California, and leaving people who have worked hard at Hershey all their lives with an uncertain future.

Just as the disciples and the apostles in the first century were gripped by the energizing, creative, and transformative power of the holy, just as they became witnesses to a new truth that Jesus had been raised, so can we in our culture be gripped by God’s holy, energizing, creative, and transformative power that can raise new life in us against the problem of racism. Can we, as followers of the risen Christ, become witnesses to the new truth that Jesus is raised for the problem of racism in our culture? That his new life can spur on new life in us as we tackle this problem?

The trick is, new truths and new life cannot hang on to the past. Jesus in resurrected form said to the women, “Don’t hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” (John 20:17). The women were told, don’t hold on old ideas about Jesus. He is made new.

In other words, for us, don’t hold on to the past. Racism is a way of holding on to the past. It remembers old grudges. It constantly reminds people of raw feelings, of repressed anger, of ill-will and mean-spiritedness. Racism wants to keep open dialogue and honest efforts to learn about each other as God’s children out of reach.

Instead, I invite us and call upon each of us to be gripped by the holy and become “witnesses of our risen Savior” (“Order of Reception of New Members, New Century Hymnal, Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, 1995, p. 46). If we are to become witnesses of new life against the problem of racism, I think we have to believe in the resurrection message and practice it simultaneously. We believe in the message that God has the power to renew life, even out of death. The story of Jesus’ resurrection is God’s way of reminding us: “I have brought new life to Jesus, even in his death. So, I can bring new life for you. I have raised Jesus and conquered death; now place your trust me to raise new life and conquer racism where it is occurring in your lives, your churches, communities, culture, and your world.”

But, even in the process of coming to belief, we also can practice our belief as we address the problem of racism. There is a story about a pre-civil rights African-American community in Florida. During times of political elections, this community would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process. Now, they knew that their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the white community why they did this, they replied, “Oh, just practicing. Just practicing.” Believing in what is not yet means we practice as if it is already exists. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” This is what leaders and visionaries do. They believe in something bigger than themselves and act as if it is so (Bullock, Wyvetta, “Must We See to Believe?” Sermon Resources, www.esermons.com, March 3, 2008, retrieved March 25, 2008).

Jesus’ resurrection power, the power of the holy, are so much bigger than racism. Might we have to act as it is so...? as if racism is non-existent? Might we, as we are gripped by the holy, have to embody an existence where the former, ugly, uninformed, prejudicial, and stereotypical understandings of other groups of people are put to death in us? And, in their place, a God-centered, Spirit-driven, love-based frame of mind and heart is put, where “people are judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” to quote Dr. King again. And, along with that, are we not supposed to bury the general apathy that comes with the thought of trying to understand the core causes of racist attitudes and the anger that it produces? And, aren’t we needing to fill in its place a genuine concern for human beings as children of God? A hopeful effort to understand and accept all cultures and races, nationalities and communities?

Do you hear and feel the movements from life to death to life again? These movements of death and resurrection are all around us. And yet, while this “life-death-life” process is enigmatic of faithful Christians, while this “old-lifestyle-crucifixion-new resurrection lifestyle” sequence is paradoxical to us sometimes, we still can sense God’s power through those movements. We can decide to be gripped by the holy, apprehended by God’s power of life in the midst of death. When we do, we become partners with God and are in the position to address the core concerns of racism.

I close with a quick little anecdote about Abraham Lincoln after he was assassinated in April, 1865. The funeral train went through several cities on its way from Washington DC to Springfield, Illinois. When it stopped in Albany, New York, I believe it was, a woman who was a freed slave, came up to the funeral car where the President’s body lay in state, carrying her child. She said to her child, “Take a long look, Honey. That man died for you” (Duncan, King, Lively Illustrations for Effective Preaching, Seven Worlds Publishing, 1987, p. 124).

She, of course, was paying tribute to President Lincoln’s efforts at freeing the Black-American slaves from the bondage of slavery. As Christians, we can take a long look at Jesus Christ. We can say to our children, “Take a long look, my children, that man died for you. That man died so you can have God. That man died so that you can know God’s saving power to move you from the bondage of sin. That man’s death reminds us of God’s saving grace for all races, for all people, in all times. His life, his ministry, his death, and his resurrection reflect the power of God, above all other powers, to redeem the human race.

His Holy Spirit is now breathed into us and breathing in us. It grips our lives, lives reviving and restoring us, transform our hopes, our dreams, and our problems. Let God’s spirit breathe in you! Amen.