READING:  Genesis 11:1-9 and Acts 2:1-21
SERMON :  "The Force Be With You"

Musical Prelude 

Words of Welcome and Announcements

Call to Worship (based on Psalm 139:7-10) 
L:   Where can I go to escape the Spirit of God? 
P:   Where can I run to flee from God's presence?
L:   If I ascend to heaven, God is there.
P:   If I make my bed in Hades, God is there.
L:   If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest
     limits of the sea even there God's hand shall lead me.
P:   Even there God's right hand shall hold me securely.

Introit: Jesus Stand Among Us

Unison Prayer of Invocation
     Almighty and Everlasting God look with favour upon your people
     this day.  As you sent upon the first disciples the gift of
     your Holy Spirit, so pour that Spirit out upon us.  Open our
     hearts to your living power.  Lead us and teach us and grace
     us with your presence.   Grant us dreams and visions that we
     may discover your will for our lives; and help us to worship
     and adore you, both now and forevermore.  AMEN

HYMN:  Lord God, The Holy Ghost 

The First Scripture Reading: Acts 2:1-21


The Second Scripture Reading: Genesis 11:1-9



SERMON: "The Force Be With You"
The story of the Tower of Babel puts me in mind of another story I
recently read, a story about a bee that is told by the great French
Novelist, Victor Hugo:
     
     It seems that one day a bee became trapped inside Victor
     Hugo's study and it was, in its attempt to escape from
     the room, furiously beating itself and bumping itself
     against one of the windows.

     Hugo saw on the floor other bees that had already killed
     themselves doing the very same thing, so he decided to
     rescue the small creature that was dashing out its little
     brains on the window.

     First, he opened the window and using a napkin he tried
     to shoo the bee out, instead, the bee flew in the
     opposite direction - back into the depths of the study.
          
     Hugo realized that he would have to catch the bee in
     order to save it and so with his napkin he began to track
     the bee down.

     When the bee saw Hugo coming it flew away towards another
     window - which was closed and again began to beat itself
     against it, this time with even greater frenzy than
     before.  As the bee flew at the window repeatedly, it
     buzzed loudly.

     Hugo was sure the bee was buzzing a message to him -
     saying to him  "despot, you would deprive me of liberty! 
     Cruel executioner, why do you not leave me alone, why do
     you persecute me?"

     Hugo paid no attention to the message he thought the bee
     was trying to send however, he instead gently pinned the
     bee between the window and the napkin and began to fold
     the bee inside the cloth.  Even then the bee struggled
     against his fingers and the cloth, trying to sting him -
     but at last the job was done - and Hugo managed to get it
     to the open window, and put it outside.  

     For a moment the bee seemed stunned, perhaps amazed, then
     it flew off to its chosen destination.

There are, I think, a couple of important similarities between this
story of the bee and the story of the Tower of Babel.

In both tales we see the subjects of the story attempting to do
something, and in both tales they chose a method of doing that
thing in way that is harmful to them.

The bee, like a bird that once flew into my living room and then
could not get out, tries to fly through a closed window in its
attempt to be free,
     and the people of Shinar on the great plain of Babylonia,
     attempt to keep their common language and their unity intact,
     by building a great city for themselves, and in that city,
     they begin to build a great tower - a tower so high that it
     would reach into heaven.

Both the bee and the people of Shinar seek freedom of one kind or
another; they seek not only to get away from danger - but also to
get to something that is good - to build something or experience
something that is glorious

The scripture says that God looked upon the people of Shinar,
     and saw that they were seeking a name for themselves,
     and that their tower was beginning to ascend into heaven,
     and knew that if they continued in that course,
     that they would succeed in everything that they proposed,
and so God scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth and
confused their language so that they would not be able to
understand each other and so succeed in their purpose.

I suggest to you that this was an act of mercy.

I also suggest to you that the story of the bee, and the story of
the tower of Babel, are our stories.

Each of us wishes to escape the chaos and the constant threat of
annihilation that is to be found out there in the great wilderness
of our world,
     we want to avoid the dangers of daily life, 
          be it physical hunger or spiritual emptiness
     and create for ourselves and our children a glorious future
          -- a future in which there is no need to worry about losing
     our lives and all that makes them seem so good to us 
          -- a future in which we do not have to worry about what we
     shall have to eat, or what we shall have to wear, or what it
     is that we might have to do - for all we need will be
     guaranteed to be there for us, and in all things we will be
     able to do what we want to do.

These are not evil goals in and of themselves - but like the bee,
and like the people of Shinar, we often get into trouble in working
towards these goals, because the methods we use are wrongheaded.

We so often push against the river of life - rather than going with
its flow,
     calmly and easily,
          in the knowledge that the water of life will hold us up,
               and end up bringing us to our goal 
                    or perhaps, to an even better one.
 
Our drive for security, for safety, and for glorious ease,
     leads us to build our own towers - towers of protection,
          towers that attempt to reach into heaven and gain for us
the power of God himself.

Our towers of protection and security, of domination and power has
led our planet to the brink of environmental and social disaster.

As our towers have reached ever and ever higher, millions of
species of plants , animals, and insects have perished.

As we have tried to protect ourselves and our future, millions of
people have suffered drought and starvation.

As we try to enjoy a standard of living that is beyond all reason,
a standard of living based on limitless consumption of the world's
non-renewable resources - the ozone has thinned, cancer has
increased, wars have multiplied, and our own precious children have
become bitter, unhappy, troubled, and violent.

     "Come - let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with
     its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for
     ourselves, otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon
     the face of the whole earth."

Like the bee, we keep hitting the window.
And like the bee, my friends, we have an author trying to save us,
trying to get us to the very goal that we seek,
trying to help us.

In the Movie STAR WARS that was made - well its getting to be quite
a long time ago - there is a lot of technology floating around,
- there is the Death Star commanded by the Evil Lord - Darth Vader,
- and there are the small fighter ships piloted by the Rebels.

The movie is a classic adventure story - a battle between Good and
Evil - but what is most fascinating about the movie is not the
machinery and the technology that the film portrays with such
stunning success, but rather it is something that George Lucas
calls the Force.

The hero of the movie is Luke Skywalker,
a very young man - impulsive and eager to make a difference,
and in the end he does make a difference 
-- because he tunes into the force.

The force in the movie is rather like God - it consists of the life
energy, the life soul, of all living creatures; and that force,
once you tune into it, can be used to do good, or do evil, though
the force is by nature, good.

The force is stronger than machinery, stronger than any technology,
stronger in fact than anything that was, is, or ever will be, and
it is all around, to be touched and felt and responded too,
whenever one is ready for it.

Luke saves the rebels from destruction in the first movie 
     by remembering the force,
          and concentrating on the force,
               and allowing the force to guide his actions.

Luke is not perfect in this - he does not easily open himself up to
the force, but, in the end, he does manage to tune in, and the
Force does work through him, and so there is a happy ending to the
movie.

I mention the Force to you today because something very much like
the Force is at the heart of the Christian Faith.- that which we
call the Holy Spirit.
     
That Spirit is the power of God and the Essence of God -
     That Spirit is the power which upholds the universe itself,
     That Spirit is that which was poured out upon the first
          believers in Christ on the day of Pentecost: and has ever
          since come to dwell within each one of us who believes.

In all our prayers for new believers
we pray for the Holy Spirit's indwelling,
and in all our thought about God 
we understand the Spirit of God to be that which is effective -
     it leads
     it teaches,
     it convicts us of sin and communicates the forgiveness of God,
     it gives us dreams and visions, 
          and helps us to understand them,
     it comforts us, sustains us, inspires us, strengthens us,
          and renews us
     and in the end it draws us closer to each other,
          and to Jesus Christ our brother 
          and to God our Father.
          who are one.

It is by the Spirit that healings are performed in Christ's name,
by the Spirit that wisdom comes
and by the Spirit words of prophecy are uttered
     the words that call for justice,
     warn about the need for repentance,
     and speak of the future that God will bring to pass.

It is the Spirit that makes our faith come alive and it is the
Spirit that does the work of salvation in our daily lives,
          
It is the Spirit that renews us,
and surprises us with the glory,
and the power, and the joy of life in God's care.

My friends -- the Spirit is all around us, and within us -- That is
what the day of Pentecost means.

There is my friends, an author to our personal stories,
an author like Victor Hugo,
chasing us around his study - trying to let us go free,
to let us fly in the larger world
without fear or worry.

He works by his Spirit, He is Spirit -.
We need to let that Spirit catch us,
to rise up from its home inside us,
and to blow upon us when we walk outside.

Think about your dreams,
listen to what people around you are really saying,
stop and read the word that the wise have always held up before us,
     the Word that the Spirit uses in such wonderful ways at times
     to comfort us or to challenge us.

Hear the visions that other people speak of,
visions of change towards wholeness,
of justice and of plenty for all,
a justice and a plenty based on acts of love and mercy and
devotion.

Expect to be surprised by God,
Expect good things to occur,
believe in the Spirit and the Power of God,
trust in it,
and marvellous things will happen.

The tower of Babel will fall --and the unity and the understanding
that do need so much,
will come to us and remain with us
- as it did to the first disciples on the day of Pentecost.  AMEN


Prayer Litany
L:   Loving God - as always we come unto you as a people who are
     in need.  Look upon your church and upon each one of us within
     it and forgive our sin.
P:   Forgive us for our lack of enthusiasm; our coldness; our
     neglect of those things that strengthen us.
L    Gracious Spirit - forgive us for the times we have been deaf
     to your voice and blind to the signs that you have placed
     around us.
P    Forgive us for turning to other sources of comfort and for the
     selfishness that leads us away from the path of peace, love,
     truth and justice.
L:   Dearest Lord Jesus - thank you for your many gifts to us.
P:   Especially Lord for your forgiveness and the sacrifice which
     restores us to fellowship with the Father.
L:   Pour out your Spirit, O God, and help us to hear and do your
     will that there may be peace in us and peace in our world.

L    Lord, hear our prayer...
Rx   Come Holy Spirit, renew the whole creation.

... Other Intercessions with the Same Response ...


Sharing The Peace:  Stand and greet your brothers and sisters with
the words "The Peace of Christ be with You" ("and with you also").
 
Sharing God's Blessings: The Offering and The Doxology (singing
SFGP #11); and The Prayer of Dedication

HYMN: Breathe On Me, Breath of God

Communion Litany:
L:   The peace of the Lord be with you.
P:   And also with you.
L:   Lift up your hearts.
P:   We lift them up to the Lord.
L:   Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
P:   It is right to give him thanks and praise.

* The Prayer of Thanksgiving
* The Lord's Prayer
* Words of Institution

Profession Of Faith: The Apostles Creed

The Distribution of The Elements
     The Sharing of the Bread 
     The Sharing of The Cup

Post Communion Prayer (responsively)
L:   Let us pray.
P:   Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life
     to every race and nation 
     by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: 
     Spread abroad this gift throughout the world 
     by the preaching of the Gospel, 
     that it may reach to the ends of the earth; 
     through Jesus Christ our Lord, 
     who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy
     Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, Amen.

HYMN: Spirt of Gentleness 

Commissioning (unison)
     In the power of the Holy Spirit, we now go forth into the
     world to fulfil our calling as the people of God, the Body of
     Christ.

Benediction and Three-Fold Amen

Choral Blessing: "Go Now In Peace" 

 
copyright	- Rev. Richard J. Fairchild 1998

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