When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a
violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue
rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
All
were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered
and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ Acts 2:1-4, 12-13 (NRSV)
In 1872 John
Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem entitled “The Brewing of Soma”. Whittier was disturbed by the early
Methodists, and their “noisy and hysterical camp meetings and revivals. The first 11 (of 17) stanzas …describe in vivid images and compelling
metaphors the rites of the priests of Indra [who] had brewed from honey and
milk a ‘drink of the gods’ which when drunk by the worshipers produced a
frenzy, a sacred madness, and ecstatic storm of drunken joy, the beginning of a
‘new, glad life’.[1]
Some would describe
that as shameful behavior, public group inebriation, something of a fraternity
or sorority back to school orgy/party.
Some might describe it as Pentecost.
While Whittier may
have been appalled by the early Methodists’ enthusiastic, ecstatic worship, the
latter verses of his poem became one of Christendom’s most revered (and
currently ignored) hymns.
It is also good
theology for our times…(no wonder it’s ignored):
Dear Lord and Father
of mankind,
Forgive
our foolish ways;
Reclothe
us in our rightful mind,
In
purer lives Thy service find,
In
deeper reverence, praise.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy
coolness and Thy balm;
Let
sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak
through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O
still, small voice of calm.
O
still, small voice of calm.
“Reclothe us in our rightful mind….Still, small
voice of calm” – we could use some cool heads and faithful hearts in
government, families and religious organizations/pulpits.
For You, Today…
Try to get some
moments today when you’re apart from the buzz and frenzy of life in the fast
lane.
Listen for the still
small voice; it (He) has been known to save many a believer from foolish ways.
[1]
Carlton R. Young, Companion To the
United Methodist Hymnal, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1993), p.317
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