{"id":636575,"date":"2023-04-24T09:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T13:09:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:14:25","slug":"life-is-a-team-sport-day-of-pentecost-a-may-28-2023","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/life-is-a-team-sport-day-of-pentecost-a-may-28-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Is a Team Sport, Day of Pentecost (A) \u2013 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=DFMS9335129737&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-red-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-red-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/lectionary\/day-of-pentecost-a\/\">[RCL] Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/P-2023-Cover-FB-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-286589\" style=\"width:512px;height:268px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s Pentecost. It\u2019s also graduation season. It\u2019s a time when valedictorians are crowned. We imagine valedictorians to be on their way to a lot of success. That is largely true, but maybe not in the way that we might imagine. A study came out in 1995 published by Boston College researcher Karen Arnold which found that high school valedictorians don\u2019t often grow up to become millionaires or the world\u2019s innovators. This study followed 81 valedictorians for 14 years after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is true that in those 14 years, 90% of them end up in professional careers, becoming doctors and lawyers, and 40% had already reached the top tier of their fields. However, they did not usually grow up to become famous innovators. The theory expounded upon in the book <em>Barking Up the Wrong Tree <\/em>by Eric Barker is that academic success encourages conformity rather than free thought. Real geniuses, Barker posited, tend to struggle in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That may be so, but <em>thank God <\/em>someone is really good at learning the rules and playing the game well \u2014 we would all agree that we <em>need<\/em> ordinary doctors, and we would all be pleased to learn that our physician was once a valedictorian. We need ordinary doctors and lawyers and accountants and teachers. We need ordinary construction workers and mechanics and plumbers and factory workers and farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Society wouldn\u2019t <em>run<\/em> without all kinds of humans. Life is a team sport. Instead of acknowledging this, we miss it, trying to figure out who\u2019s inferior to whom based on a number of factors \u2014 academic success being only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blink twice and you might miss that opening line as if it were some insignificant detail. But then you remember that Luke, the guy who wrote Acts, was probably a physician, and doctors \u2014 valedictorians or not \u2014 don\u2019t tend to give insignificant details. This event was for <em>all <\/em>of the disciples. No one could be missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They all get the same gift \u2014 the Holy Spirit \u2014 but at the same time, they <em>don\u2019t<\/em> all get the same gifts. They are all individuals, and the Holy Spirit would hit them in different ways. Immediately, they would even begin to speak in different languages, differentiating them from the very beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a reason we talk about the Holy Spirit in terms of fire and wind. Fire and wind are not things that we can easily control. Fire and wind are also not things whose form, intensity, or effects always look the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It won\u2019t take long before Paul will start writing of the fruits of the spirit and the different gifts of the Spirit \u2014 not least because differently gifted people start to clash. In 1 Corinthians, a letter Paul wrote to church folks who couldn\u2019t stop bickering, he wrote, \u201cNow there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He\u2019ll write to the folks in Rome about how it\u2019s the <em>Spirit <\/em>who makes the church work. It\u2019s why we\u2019ve got folks willing to preach, others willing to teach Sunday school, others who are good at serving others or providing hospitality or fixing things or cutting the grass or visiting people in the hospital or cleaning out the gutters. The Holy Spirit makes this whole messy church thing work. Our differences as humans make the <em>world <\/em>work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life is a team sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We often talk about how we are deeply divided as a people. We sometimes seem to occupy completely different realities than our neighbors. A 2017 New York Times article about how we assume, politically, that we are so divided because of filter bubbles and what we call \u201cconfirmation bias\u201d: we gravitate towards opinions that are already the same as ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article posited that maybe we\u2019re conflating confirmation bias \u2014 wanting what we think to be confirmed \u2014- with the related desirability bias \u2014 wanting to be told what we want to hear. Confirmation bias and desirability bias usually are the same for us in our politics: what we <em>want to believe<\/em> is what we believe. But it\u2019s not always true of life: quite often we think bad things will happen even if we don\u2019t <em>want <\/em>them to. In other words, a pessimist doesn\u2019t <em>want to believe<\/em> that the world to burn, they just <em>believe<\/em> it will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But in order to change your politics, you have to <em>want to believe <\/em>something different. It doesn\u2019t usually matter if the facts presented contradict our beliefs \u2014 we cling ever more tightly to the reality that we <em>want <\/em>to believe. The article was pessimistically entitled, \u201cYou\u2019re Not Going to Change Your Mind.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" id=\"_ftnref1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But we\u2019ve all changed our minds on something before, even when it was difficult to do so. We all have things we used to believe strongly that we don\u2019t believe anymore. Often, it is because we met someone \u2014 somebody who was affected directly by whatever thing we had an opinion about. As Harvey Milk, the first openly LGBTQ elected official, would often say: \u201cThey vote for us 2 to 1 if they know they know one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are different, and we are divided. We all generally agree that we don\u2019t like the state of things. But if anything\u2019s going to change, in the church or outside of it, as much as we may hate it, we need each other. We need someone who believes differently and has a completely different experience than we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life is a team sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many will tritely call us all to just<em> talk<\/em>, as if that would solve things. <em>Talk!? <\/em>we think sarcastically. <em>Why didn\u2019t <\/em>we<em> think of that?! <\/em>But you know, maybe things might get better if we stopped yelling at each other on the Internet and over the dinner table and started meeting with a common identity to ask and answer questions we can all wrestle with: Why are we here? What keeps you up at night? What keeps you going? What is precious to you? And finally, after we talk for a while about those things, we can ask: What can we do together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are many places this <em>can <\/em>happen, but it\u2019s been happening for centuries in places of worship. Religion has for sure been a destructive force in the world, but it also has a way of helping us get real. It asks us who we are and why we\u2019re here and where we\u2019re going and it doesn\u2019t work if we\u2019re all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life is a team sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, it\u2019s not easy to do life together. The Holy Spirit is wind and flame: it can be comforting, like a campfire or a gentle breeze \u2014 or it can be too hot, even destructive, and highly uncomfortable. The same is true of church. But \u201cWhen the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are here together. You, sitting there,<em> you<\/em> are part of <em>us<\/em>, the church, gifted with the Holy Spirit and your own gifts. You have experiences that no one else here has. You can do things no one else can do. And it won\u2019t always be easy, but we\u2019re here, and we\u2019re together. &nbsp;The Holy Spirit has descended upon us all again, making us unique, and making us one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s good to be on the same team. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This sermon was written by <strong>the Rev. Anna Tew.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" id=\"_ftn1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/05\/27\/opinion\/sunday\/youre-not-going-to-change-your-mind.html\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/05\/27\/opinion\/sunday\/youre-not-going-to-change-your-mind.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-fe2ef92f-8b44-48df-853c-dc91d7496d0f\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Pentecost-English.docx\">Word \u2013 Day of Pentecost (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Pentecost-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-fe2ef92f-8b44-48df-853c-dc91d7496d0f\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-6a98a9ba-6153-44bd-a054-19666a132682\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Pentecost-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 Day of Pentecost (A) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Sermon-Pentecost-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-6a98a9ba-6153-44bd-a054-19666a132682\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 It\u2019s Pentecost. It\u2019s also graduation season. It\u2019s a time when valedictorians are crowned. We imagine valedictorians to be on their way to a lot of success. That is largely true, but maybe not in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,43,52,3],"tags":[121],"class_list":["post-636575","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-easter","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-day-of-pentecost-a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":22,"label":"Easter"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":121,"label":"Day of Pentecost A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/636575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/636575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3473373,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/636575\/revisions\/3473373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}