Last Sunday was Pentecost. To commemorate the event, the pastor staged a reenactment. Before the service began, Sarah set up a card table at the front of the room. After covering it with a white cloth, she placed a very large window fan on the table.
During the hymn the precedes the sermon she took a seat facing the congregation in a chair beside the card table. With Sarah's relocation only six people remained in the pews but a tiny ripple of "Oh...what's going to happen now?" swept through the assembled group.
The minister was wearing one of those sturdy, tiara-style headbands that little girls wear. He'd attached a piece of card stock to it , cut roughly in the shape of flame and colored red and yellow with felt tip markers. The effect was somewhat comical: it looked like he was wearing a single feather or a question mark.
In advance of the service, he'd inserted strips of paper, each bearing a unique Bible verse into each Order of Service. After cuing Sarah to turn on the fan, He instructed the people that on his cue they were to stand and read their Bible verses over and over, all at the same time.
Which they did.
Judging from the looks on their faces, most of them found the exercise silly. One woman looked downright disgusted but still stood and repeated her verse on cue.
A few days later, I took a closer look at the cover of the bulletin. "...lean not unto thine own understanding...he shall direct thy paths." I guess that's why everyone played along. Still, technically speaking, it wasn't God but the minister directing the morning's activities. I did a little research on what exactly is reported to have happened on Pentecost Sunday. The record, such as it exists, suggests the people had their own experience of wind and fire and speech and only after their engagement with the mystery did Peter stand and "interpret" what had happened.
I wonder if any churches have tried "allowing" Spirit to move as it will, unmediated and uninterpreted, FIRST? That sounds like a great way to celebrate and reenact the first Pentecost.
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