Judith Viorst once wrote an essay based on interviews she had with children. The subject was “What’s a good mother like?”  Viorst reports that the children expected their mother to get angry from time to time. “She has to,” said Ted, “or she’ll faint from holding it in.”

“But it’s best to remember,” said Randy, “that when your mother starts to act real weird, you have to look scared and serious. Don’t giggle. When mommies are mad, they get madder if you giggle.”

Megan said “My mommy once got so mad that she yanked the plate off the table and all the mashed potatoes flew into the air.”  Viorst pretended she’d never heard of such shocking behavior and asked, “Why would a mother do a thing like that?”

 “Well,” said Megan, “she told my older brother, like-‑he’s 11 years old-‑to eat the potatoes on his plate and he said ‘Later.’ And then she told him again to eat the potatoes and Mike said ‘Soon.’ And then she told him he had better eat those potatoes right now and he said, ‘In a minute.’ And then she stood up and Mike finally took a bite and told her, ‘How can I eat them? They’re cold!’"  1

Some of you have been there.  It’s not easy being a Mom.  Consider the case of one stay-at-home Mom. One evening while at a PTA meeting her husband and oldest daughter decided they’d clean up the kitchen as a surprise. And they did.

They put away all the food, wiped all the counters, washed all the pots, put them all away, put the dishes in the dishwasher and even turned it on. They swept and mopped the floors and then sat down.  Overcome by their own nobility, they awaited her arrival.

Two hours later she returned from the meeting, took off her coat, hung it up, walked through the kitchen into the den, grabbed the remote control, and began watching television. They followed her over to her chair and stood by her side. Finally she felt them looking over her shoulder and looked up at them and said, “What?”

Her husband said, “The kitchen.”  “The kitchen. What?” she asked.  “The kitchen. We cleaned up the kitchen. Didn’t you notice? It’s sparkling clean. We cleaned it for you.”  The woman replied, “Yes, I noticed. Thankless job, isn’t it?”

Well, sometimes being a Mom is a thankless job. That’s why we honor them with a special day. Mother’s Day is our opportunity to say a much deserved, “Thank you.”

On the church calendar, this is also the Day of Pentecost. Before we get into the meaning of Pentecost, though, I want to tell one more Mother’s Day story. It comes from Ghana , West Africa where three women, who had tried every means they knew to get pregnant, were not able to do so.  As a last resort, they went to the local medicine man.

They explained their situation, the medicine man listened intently, and told them he could help them, but if he did, they would each go mad after giving birth.  He sent them home to think over this dilemma. The next day two of the women returned and said that, yes, they wanted the medicine.

Sure enough, in due time the two women gave birth to beautiful babies, and then braced themselves for the moment in time when they would go mad.  After several months they still hadn’t lost their minds, but became increasingly anxious about when it would happen, so they went back to the medicine man and asked, “When are we going to go crazy?”

Before the medicine man could answer, their babies began to fuss. So both women began to sway and bounce. They made funny noises and strange expressions. The medicine man began to laugh, saying “Look at you.  There is no music, yet you sway and bounce.  Is this not craziness?”

When the third woman heard the story she went back to the medicine man and said she too now wanted to have a baby, but he told her it was too late. Her fear of what others might say about her and her unwillingness to risk the unexpected had prevented her from her deepest‑most desire.  2

It’s sort of like what happened on the first Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples they acted so strangely that outsiders accused them of being drunk.  Even more peculiar, the disciples began to speak in different languages.

The interesting thing is that these uneducated Galileans were not making strange babbling sounds. Rather they were speaking in recognizable languages which may not have been their own, but were in the tongues of others who had gathered from the far distant places of the world.

Strangers visiting Jerusalem from other lands suddenly heard the disciples speaking to them in their own tongue. An amazing event. No wonder they attracted a great amount of attention and won so many converts.

There’s no earthly explanation for something like this. Only God could touch people in such a way that they could communicate with strangers from other lands in such a profound way.

Pentecost says that the Gospel is for everyone. That’s plain to see as we read this story. The disciples spoke in foreign languages because the Gospel isn’t just for people who speak Hebrew or Aramaic or Latin or Greek.  It isn’t just for people who speak English or Spanish or French or German.  It isn’t even just for people who speak Southern, as dignified a tongue as Southern may be.

It’s for all people everywhere. Rich people, poor people, people of every color and nationality. People who are saints and sinners, high and low, in and out, right and wrong, proper and pathetic and plain and proud.  The Gospel is for everybody. No exceptions--no ifs, no ands, no buts. Everybody.  

That’s the message of the cross. That’s the message of Pentecost. Strangers from all over the known world heard the Gospel in their own language. It’s not a new thought, of course, but many, many people both inside and outside the church still do not understand the significance of that truth.

Fleming Rutledge tells about crossing the street near his parish in New York City . A taxi came roaring around the corner and knocked him to the pavement. A crowd gathered and an ambulance was called, but it took an unusually long time to arrive. It was forty minutes before he was actually put on a gurney.

In the meantime, he lay on the asphalt. He was aware of a lot of people standing around looking down at him. What he remembers most about that long wait was the great distance between himself on the concrete and the faces high above. In those minutes he says he very much needed someone to get down on the ground with him, to put a coat under his head, to hold his hand and stay down with him until help arrived.  3

I wonder if many of the neediest people in this world look at us in the church in generally the same way – us being way up here and they being way down there.

And somehow they get the idea that Christian faith is for the up-and-ins and not for the down-and-outs.

But, of course, just the opposite is true. Christ came for those who are lost, not for those who are found. Christ came for those who are sick, not for those who are well.

How do we help people understand that? We help them understand that by doing what Christ did to reach us-- by going down to where they are; by not waiting for people to make themselves respectable enough to come to us. We go to them. Pentecost tells us that the Gospel is for all people.  

That’s good news. You know why it’s good news? Because that means the Gospel is for you and me.

Sometimes we’re the ones who are lost. Sometimes we’re the ones who are sick. Sometimes we’re those who are needy. What good news to know that the Gospel is for us!

A young man got into serious trouble. He tried explaining his situation to his high school counselor with these sad words:

“You know what I am? I’m a comma.  When I talk to my dad, he’ll say something, and then when I start to talk, he makes me a comma. He doesn’t interrupt me, but when I’m finished talking, he starts in right where he left off. It’s as if I didn’t say anything!"  4

Do you hear what he’s saying? Some of you know. Maybe you’ve been a comma at some time in your life. Maybe in your family. Maybe at work. People don’t really listen to you. People don’t really value you.

Maybe.  But hear this.  There is One who listens to you. There is One who values you. His name is Jesus Christ – whose arms are stretched wide enough to include you and me and all of us. Now, with that knowledge firmly implanted in your mind, open your arms to the world and share God’s love with others.

For that is what Pentecost is all about.