GOING WITH THE WIND

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13

INTRODUCTION

As most everyone knows, when the book “Gone With the Wind,” written by Atlanta’s own Margaret Mitchell, was published in the summer of 1936, it became an instant sensation. The late Franklin Garrett, our city’s great historian and a member of this congregation for many years, wrote these words about how it happened:

“…The Atlanta Constitution…gave notice of the imminent publication of Gone With the Wind in an advertisement, announcing its cost of $2.75. Sure enough, by June 30, Margaret Mitchell was autographing her ‘just off the press’ ten year effort in the book shop of Davison-Paxon Department Store on Peachtree Street. And Atlanta, the south and the world would never be the same…Her husband, John Marsh, announced just six months later that the sales had hit the million mark…And David O. Selznick purchased the motion picture rights…for $50,000. The movie premiere took place on December 15, 1939 in the Loew’s Grand Theater after Vivien Leigh (Scarlet O’Hara) and Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) led the grand parade to the site. Lined up six deep along Peachtree Street, Atlantans and Georgians of all ages, shapes and colors strained to get a look at the stars of the movie about the book…Bands played and searchlights combed the skies…Atlanta had not seen such a spectacle since Sherman’s unforgettable, incendiary passage of sixty years earlier.”

(Franklin Garrett’s Preface to “Benjamin E. Mays and

Margaret Mitchell: A Unique Legacy In Medicine,” by

Ira Joe Johnson and William F. Pickens, 1998)

Moreover, as most everyone knows, in 1990’s, when Mary Rose Taylor, who also belongs to this church family with her husband Mack, had the vision to restore the Margaret Mitchell House at the corner of 10^th and Peachtree, it was ravaged by two fires. Arson was suspected but never proved. Undaunted and determined to see the project through, Mary Rose Taylor and others alongside her rebuilt the house and today it is one of this city’s most important monuments, visited each year by thousands of people. Most everyone knows all of that is true.

However, what some people may not know is that inside the Margaret Mitchell House, toward the end of the tour, which I have taken myself, you will find a significant photographic exhibition of the Civil Rights Era, concluding with an inspiring tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. And that display is there because, again, unknown to many of us, Margaret Mitchell, during her lifetime, leveraged her fame and fortune to become involved (a pioneer) in race relations. Among the many causes she cared about, Margaret Mitchell gave her time and money to help support the education of young black men who were students at Morehouse College. She continued her efforts with them as they went on to receive their medical and dental degrees at the Meharry Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee and at the Howard University Medical School in Washington, D.C. Throughout those years, Margaret Mitchell developed a friendship and a partnership with Dr. Benjamin Mays, President of Morehouse College and the story about what they achieved together is recorded in another book entitled “Benjamin E. Mays and Margaret Mitchell: A Unique Legacy in Medicine.”

And so, out of the painful history of slavery and a Civil War, a story emerged, written by a daughter of the south, who committed herself and her resources, often behind the scenes, to work toward racial justice, equality and healing. It is a story that has been forged by wind and fire over the past 140 years, and we need to learn and to tell that story today, more than ever before.

Now there is another story, recorded in the book of Acts, which takes us back to a time nearly 2000 years ago. And this story, also forged by wind and fire, tells about the birth of the church, when the Holy Spirit came into the house where a diverse group of people had gathered. They were from different regions and represented a cross-section of races and colors and ethnic origins.

But when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, like the rush of a mighty wind…appearing as tongues of fire, those ancient people somehow understood the different languages which were spoken between them. And on that day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit bound those early believers together in unity, galvanized them into a community of faith which came to be called the church and sent them out into the world to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

All these centuries later, so it still is today. The wind of God’s spirit is moving across this earth in a powerful way, and through mission and evangelism, the church is growing like a wildfire in Africa, Asia and in South America. Over the past ten to twelve years, it has been our privilege as a congregation to join hearts and hands in mission partnerships with Christian brothers and sisters in Kenya, Haiti, Honduras and Brazil. We have sent many of our members over there to those countries and a number of their leaders have come here to celebrate together what the Lord is doing around the world.

Even so, what most of know is that the mainline Protestant denominations in America have been struggling during the past 25 years. Controversial issues have divided us and even though our financial giving has increased, that has not provided us with the spiritual resources and resolve which we need to become the Christian community which Christ has called us to be.

And now, sadly and painfully, the Roman Catholic Church is facing its own crisis of monumental proportions. Sociologists and theologians have compiled a laundry list of reasons as to why this is happening to us. And there are those who may wonder if we in the church, like the characters in Margaret Mitchell’s novel, are living through an era when what we once thought was secure and what we anticipated for the future is now…”Gone With the Wind.”

II.

As pastor of this congregation, as a member of The Presbyterian Church (USA) and as a citizen of this great nation, I am convinced, beyond the shadow of doubt, that just the opposite is true. Because since September 11, Christians and people of other faith traditions, have begun to hear God’s call as never before, and He is telling us and showing us what we need to do. Forged by the wind and fire of a traumatic attack on this country, we have gotten down on our knees, lifted up our prayers and re-discovered what our forbears believed: United we stand: Divided we fall.

I heard a commencement address yesterday at a high school graduation which focused on that very theme. And I share it with you now as God’s dream for our future. Our opportunities as Christians in the church and our responsibilities as citizens of this nation are not “Gone With the Wind.” To the contrary, the Lord is calling all of us here in America to be “Going With the Wind” –

· Going with the wind of the Holy Spirit which can heal our divisions and bring us together as the body of Christ…

· Going with the wind of the Holy Spirit which can help us let go of our pain and start living again…

· Going with the wind of the Holy Spirit which can teach us that love is stronger than hate…

· Going with the wind of the Holy Spirit which convicts us that to forgive is always better than to retaliate…

· Going with the wind of the Holy Spirit, just as those Pentecost people did long ago, which empowers us to conquer our fear and despair and to live by faith and hope!

CONCLUSION

My friends: that is the renewed vision which God has given to this nation since September 11 – to Democrats and Republicans, to liberals and conservatives, to Christians and people of every race and color and creed and to those of us who belong to this congregation at the corner of 16^th and Peachtree Streets: United we stand, divided we fall. That is God’s vision and call to each of us and all of us on this Pentecost Sunday, 2002.

And if you have come here this morning, hoping, praying, expecting something to happen, then I leave you with the words of Dr. William Holmes Borders, for many years, pastor of the Wheat Street Baptist Church here in Atlanta. Before each worship service, he would get down on his knees in the study and pray: “Lord, please let something happen here today that isn’t printed in the bulletin.”

My friends: if we open our hearts to God, if we stay focused on Jesus, then we will discover that His Holy Spirit is active and alive among us in more ways than we could never possibly imagine. United we stand, divided we fall! Ever since that first Pentecost Sunday, that has been and always will be God’s call to us in the church.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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