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Different Threads, Common Fabric, One Weaver
January 22, 2006
The Rev. Carol DiBiasio-Snyder
Acts 2
Introduction to the scripture:
As part of our Holy Conversations Strategic Planning process, we gathered here on November 13 for worship and considered three stories that might provide a playful metaphorical look at our life together here at First Congregational Church. We considered the story of the call of Samuel, the story of the Commissioning of Peter and the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church at Pentecost. Ralph preached the last two Sundays on those first two stories.
You found significant ways to connect our congregation's life to the other two stories and we have honored them in these past two weeks. But if you go only on raw numbers, we come today to the story that got the most votes. Today we look at where you thought we connected to this story . . . and where we did not.
In preparation for hearing this story, we are going to invite God's spirit to come among us now more deeply by singing the song we have been learning, as a prayer to open our selves to this account of the birth of the church. The words are in your bulletin. You will also note in your bulletin that we all have a part in the scripture reading as well. David and Chris will begin the scripture - that part is not in your bulletin - but when we get to that first line which the PIANO side will speak with Chris, this will be your cue. Dave and Chris will say together, "Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done." Then I will repeat that line. Then Chris will lead the piano side and Dave will lead the pulpit side. After the parts we have as a congregation, Dave and Chris will continue "the rest of the story!"
Please join me in praying in song:
Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall a-fresh on me.
The Story of Pentecost - Acts 2 (Contemporary English Version) plus additions!
Dave: On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place.
Chris: Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind!
Dave: It filled the house where they were meeting.
Chris: Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak. Dave: Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered.
Chris: But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages.
Dave: They were excited and amazed, and said:
Chris: Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam.
Dave: Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, Crete, and Arabia.
Chris: Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews.
Chris and Dave: Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.
Congregation piano side(Chris leads): Yes, some of us are from Omro, Ohio, and Oshkosh.
Congregation pulpit side (Dave leads): Some are from Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Congregation piano side: Some of us are from New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
Congregation pulpit side: Some are even from Texas.
Congregation piano side: Some of us have been Catholics, United Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans. Congregation pulpit side: Some of us were from the Church of Christ and some Presbyterians.
Congregation piano side: Others of us didn't go to church, didn't go often, or visited many churches and just never found a spiritual home.
Congregation pulpit side: Some of us are rich, some poor, and some are in the middle.
Congregation piano side: Some have many years of education, some just a few.
Congregation pulpit side: We are men and women, boys and girls.
Congregation piano side: We are straights and gays and lesbians.
Dave: We are shy
Chris: and bold,
Dave: young
Chris: and old,
Dave: conservative
Chris: and liberal,
Dave: energetic
Chris: and tired,
Dave: leaders
Chris: and followers.
Congregation together with Dave and Chris: Yet we are one in God's wonderful Spirit!
Dave: Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other,
Chris: What does all this mean?
Dave: Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said,
Chris: They are drunk. Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
Dave: Friends and everyone else living in Jerusalem, listen carefully to what I have to say! You are wrong to think that these people are drunk. After all, it is only nine o'clock in the morning. But this is what God had the prophet Joel say,
"When the last days come, I will give my Spirit to everyone.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men
will see visions, and your old men will have dreams.
In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants,
both men and women, and they will prophesy.
Chris: Then Peter preached a powerful message.
Dave: On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptized.
Chris: They spent their time learning from the apostles,
Dave: They broke bread and prayed together.
Chris and Dave: and they were like family to each other.
Back in 1999, Ronald Scates (Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD) began a sermon on diversity like this:
Imagine going to a performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and there was no harmony. All of the instruments were playing the exact same notes just the same way. And all the instruments were - [no offense to anyone in particular] - trombones. It would be awful. We love diversity, especially what diversity produces in something like a symphony. And you and I love diversity when it comes to grocery stores and TV programming, and vacation options and restaurant menus, and of course, financial investing. Don't forget to diversify that portfolio.
We love diversity, except when it comes to people. Even brothers and sisters in Christ. When it comes to people, gosh, pretty much we like to be with other people who are just like us. We balk at diversity when it comes to people. Even the church growth experts will tell you, if you really want to grow a church you've got to take into consideration what they call the homogeneous unit principal. And that basically says that people like to be with people that are like them. And so to grow your church, target people that are just like you. And build in a comfort level, a comfort zone in the church that will not be threatened by racial or cultural or socioeconomic [or sexual] diversity.
Then he goes on to say something that applies to our church, I believe, as much as to his church, Central Presbyterian. He said,
Here at Central Pres. we're not really into just packing pews. We are committed to building a diverse, loving community of believers in Jesus Christ. We are committed to diversity. Why? Because God is committed to diversity. Look at the creation out there, God has made petunias and porcupines, [God has] made mitochondria and mountains, [God's] made rivers and rutabagas. God loves to be diverse in . . . creation.
God is into diversity. From the description of creation in Genesis to the book of Revelation we see that God is into diversity. In the seventh chapter of Revelation we're given a glimpse at what God's fulfilled reign will look like: we see a multitude of people that are beyond counting. There are people there from every tribe, every nation, every people group, every language. Yes, God's into diversity and as you all thought about the Pentecost story, you thought that FCC is into diversity too.
Now if you dare to look around at the folks sharing the pews with you this morning, that diversity might not be immediately apparent. We're a pretty much a Caucasian group . . . not much in the way of racial diversity. In fact, for that reason as well as others, some of you questioned whether we really are as diverse as we think we are.
Still, as our addendum to our scripture reading affirmed, we do have some degree of diversity here in various ways. And I think we have unity in believing that diversity is a good thing!
This is the main way people thought the story of Pentecost described our life together right now at First Congregational Church. But other ideas connected too. Some people liked the metaphor in the different languages spoken when the spirit came and yet everyone heard and understood one story. One person eloquently put it this way, "One spirit - many languages! Many languages - one story!"
Some liked the metaphor from the last line of the scripture: they were like family to each other. Family - used in the best sense of that word - described how they experience this congregation. I have to tell you that Ralph and I felt a strong sense of that Monday night. Now I also have to tell you the theme of diversity for this Sunday was established way back in November, long before the nominations for the Celebration of Diversity Awards were being made.
So I have to take the opportunity to connect the two, don't you think? Monday night, as we stood to receive that award and looked out at the room full of people, it was your faces, we looked for, it was your faces which made us feel warm and wonderful, it was in your faces that we saw the faces of our family here, our brothers and sisters in Christ. You. You who have shaped us and helped us be better people. You who have encouraged and inspired us. You who deserve that award too.
So we celebrate diversity. It's a great concept. But let's not fool ourselves, it is also a challenge. We like to celebrate our differences, yet those differences can be sources of conflict, frustration, confusion and division. You looked around and could see that we are not very diverse by skin color, but if we all had labels on us about other things, - like always votes Republican, or always votes Democrat, or loves country music, or supports the death penalty or supports abortion rights or colors outside the lines or loves people of the same gender or thinks we should give away more of the church's money or believes in Hell or thinks even Hitler will go to heaven or . . . well you get the idea, we would be amazed at our diversify and quite possibly horrified at what some of our sisters and brothers in Christ think or do or believe!
How do we possibly take all these characters around us, and in our neighborhood and city and nation, and find a way to live together?
Diversity and unity are fundamentally spiritual concepts. The Rev. Ricky Hoyt writes that, Unity describes the spiritual belief that ultimately all is one, everything is a single, spiritual whole. To some, this means that what we see as differences between separately existing things is an illusion.
Diversity, on the other hand, (he explains) talks about the real differences between things. Unity with diversity is like a web. This belief seeks not to ignore differences, but to embrace the differences. The ultimate unity [then] is an integration of differences, not a negation of difference.
Does the unity we seek consist of negating all the things that make us different - saying they just don't matter, or believing they are only an illusion or ignoring them - or does the unity we seek consist of noting the differences, learning from each other in our variations, believing that God created things this way, encircling all the separate, rich, aggravating, lovely, frustrating, challenging, amazing, bizarre, surprising, wondrous, rainbow of ideas, experiences, opinions, expressions, interests, beliefs, preferences, desires, approaches in our midst? Then diversity becomes more than a concept to celebrate, it becomes a strength to live, a gift for our spiritual growth, a witness to the amazing power of the Holy Spirit at work!
I'd like to conclude today with a visual expression of how we might consider unity and diversity in our congregation, and how the story of Pentecost might be a metaphor - to some degree - that describes our life together here.
A few years ago, when Mary Wildman designated Tom Wildman's memorial funds to be used to create a banner or tapestry for Easter, our congregation went about that task in a way typical of our nature - it was a group effort! Some people who were interested, gathered and spent a morning thinking and talking together about the concept of hope and resurrection.
We shared various ideas and by the end of our time, some common threads began to appear. Next, one person took all those ideas and transformed them into a design. Yarns were chosen, and the tapestry you see before you was woven by Ulla Linenthal. [Big basket of balls of yarn from the tapestry were arranged in the front of the chancel with the tapestry displayed on a stand.]
Now working on this tapestry of Hope, the sun rising over Lake Winnebago reminding us that hope is new each day, I learned a few things about thread. I learned that when you take individual threads and twist them together, the strand is stronger. I learned that if you combine two or three individual colors, you have a new color. I see parallels to celebrating unity in our diversity in that idea.
But where I really see connections to the ideas of unity and diversity in this tapestry is when you take all these different colors of single threads and combine them in a pattern, they create an image that could not be there without all the individual parts of it. Weaving with only blue thread would lose the over all picture. And while all the threads must be there to make the image clear, the individual threads still have their separate identity.
It is when the separate threads are united in a common purpose that the tapestry takes shape. It is when you and I are united in common ministry, common vision, common purpose that we become something strong and beautiful and useful.
Ultimately, though, the source of our unity is beyond those things, the source of our true unity is in the Weaver. Our God, the Weaver. So while we affirm and celebrate and delight in our different threads, and while we affirm and celebrate and delight in our common fabric, behind it all, in it all, beyond it all, is our true source of unity - it is in the great Weaver we come here each Sunday to worship. Different threads. Common Fabric. One Weaver Amen.
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