{"id":466,"date":"2026-05-18T13:43:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/?p=466"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:43:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:43:40","slug":"pentecost-and-the-babbling-of-drunken-fools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/2026\/05\/18\/pentecost-and-the-babbling-of-drunken-fools\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentecost and the Babbling of Drunken Fools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We celebrate Pentecost this week. Luke tells us the story in the book of Acts. Pentecost is the Greek word meaning fiftieth. It is the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks. It was a harvest festival that happened fifty days, or seven weeks, after the Passover Feast. The purpose of the festival was to give thanks to God for providing for the needs of the nation. The people were supposed to bring the first fruits of their harvest to offer as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 disciples were gathered in a room, waiting in Jerusalem like Jesus had told them to do ten days earlier. The city was crowded with Jewish pilgrims from around the world. The Spirit came upon the disciples like a mighty wind and tongues of fire. They had the power to proclaim the message of Jesus in such a way that everyone heard them in their own language. Wow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke is the only Gospel writer to associate the giving of the Holy Spirit with the Festival of Pentecost. Compare Luke\u2019s version of the story with John\u2019s in the Gospel reading this week. John\u2019s Jesus appears quietly in the room with his fearful disciples. He gently breathes on them. His breath flows like the Spirit hovered over the deep in Genesis 1. He is the Word who spoke all things into being. It is the breath of God that animated the lump of clay in Genesis 2. Now Jesus tells his disciples that he is sending them the way that God sent him. They have the power of forgiveness, which is what will set people free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew and Mark don\u2019t mention the giving of the Spirit at the end of the story. Matthew\u2019s ending shows Jesus promising the disciples that he would be with them to the end of the age. They are to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So, to have the Spirit is to have the Father and the Son. God will be with us, Jesus\u2019 disciples, to the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the Spirit of God comes upon each of us in different ways. The 1 Corinthians 12 reading reminds us that we have each been given different gifts. It is important that we never force people into experiencing the Spirit in a particular way. We gather on Pentecost to simply give thanks to God for the promise and giving of the Spirit to all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to highlight one phrase<\/strong> from Acts 2 that stands out to me this year. Acts 2:13 says \u201cbut others sneered and said, \u201cThey are filled with new wine.\u201d In other words, \u201cthey\u2019re drunk! Don\u2019t listen to them.\u201d<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel of Jesus is foolishness to the world. We can never forget that. Our world is driven by a competitive, power-grabbing, fame-seeking, hate-driven, me-first market mentality. A message that proclaims Good News for all people, including the \u201cleast of these,\u201d forgiveness, and mutual flourishing is just the blabbering of drunken idealism in their ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t lose hope. The Christian celebration of Pentecost reminds us that God has poured out the Spirit on all flesh. Jesus promised his disciples\u2014that\u2019s you\u2014that you would have the power to be his witness to the ends of the earth. Jesus is with us. God is for us. Let us continue to love God and love our neighbor as Jesus taught us to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will observe our normal weekly rhythm of spiritual practices this week:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Monday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am | Text Study<\/strong> \u2013 Zoom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am | Contemplative Practice<\/strong> \u2013 OCC Meditation Chapel and on Zoom<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am |\u00a0Service of Holy Communion<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Chapel of the Incarnation or on\u00a0YouTube<\/a>. We celebrate Pentecost. Rev. Dr. Steve Thomason is preaching. Pastor Joyce Ngandango, M.Th. Student, is presiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11:45am | Chapel Cafe<\/strong> \u2013 The cafe is being absorbed into the community meal. Stay for lunch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

11:00am | Lunch Church<\/strong> \u2013 Dining Room A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We celebrate Pentecost this week. Luke tells us the story in the book of Acts. Pentecost is the Greek word meaning fiftieth. It is the Greek name for the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks. It was a harvest festival that happened fifty days, or seven weeks, after the Passover Feast. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions\/467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.luthersem.edu\/deanofthechapel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}