Where the spirit of the Lord is...
It was just a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken around a familiar kitchen table, but it felt like a feast. Maybe even sacramental. We came to Clarion last night and had dinner with Uncle Frank and Aunt Sis, cousin Jim and his sons Sam and Luka. I told Jim he made it into my sermon yesterday. He is the one who is named after our Uncle Jim, the World War II airman who never came back from a flight over Holland. Jim now keeps Uncle Jim's Air Force diary on behalf of the whole family. But that was the point of my sermon yesterday and you can hear that online (www.fumcbirmingham.org).
It was just a bucket of KFC accompanied with laughter, some story-telling and remembering growing up days. Young Sam is named for our grandfather, his great grandfather and I swear he has the same quiet twinkle in his eye Gramps used to have. Uncle Frank has been through some major surgery and Aunt Sis is a bit slow moving around but their home is still a place of joy and laughter. I am not exactly sure I understand what it means to be believe in Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. There is a lot I've never quite figured out about Acts 2, the tongues of fire and speaking in tongues. I am convinced if you take it too literally you will miss the power of it. The one thing I am sure of is that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is joy. There is laughter and there is love. Where the spirit of the Lord is, you will find people breaking bread together and discovering Christ making himself known in the midst. I think it must be something like Uncle Frank and Aunt Sis's table.
Next Sunday we celebrate the great day of Pentecost. I hope you will come wearing red, at least giving a faint glimpse of what the tongues of fire might have been like. I hope you will come for one last walk through the fellowship hall as we have known it for the past 50 years, giving thanks for all that has transpired there, all the bread which has been broken there, all the love that has been shared there. I hope you will take time to sign the red banner which will become our ribbon-cutting banner for the grand reopening in the fall. I hope you will come to share in the joy, the laughter and the hope we have known here. I can't promise KFC, but I can promise the presence of the Spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is joy.
|
