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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S PEN
OUR FIREWALL OF FAITH
A Revision of “Commencement Day,” a sermon written and preached by Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr., circa 2009
The time was June 1974 and the place was the auditorium of the now-closed Alexander Hamilton Junior High School in Cleveland, Ohio. There I was, a 9th grader, sitting in an auditorium for my graduation ceremony from junior high school, sat there with my gold robe covering my blue three-piece polyester suit, waiting to graduate.
Imagine how shocked I was to hear our speaker tell the audience that we were not graduating. “What do you mean we’re not graduating?” I thought. Our speaker told us that our mountaintop moment, the one we had gotten all dressed up for, was not our graduation day, but our Commencement Day! For the speaker, my classmates, and me, there would be no period punctuating that special day. Instead, there would be a colon signifying high expectations of all who wore robes that day.
Pentecost Day is not a graduation experience but a commencement exercise – a day of high expectations for the church! After all, we have flowing within us the same Spirit that was poured out on the original Pentecost Day day. On that day the Holy Spirit intentionally gave power to a diverse array of people that they might implement God’s glorious vision for humanity, a vision characterized by justice, punctuated by unity, and animated by love. This was an early DEI experience!
We recall how the apostles, during their time of political uncertainty and social instability, when they could have felt justified in embracing fragmentation, instead embodied an Al Green song: “Let’s Stay Together.” Committed to unity among themselves, they were given the Holy Spirit to put into practice what they had learned from Jesus.
Sons and daughters were poised to prophesy, to preach God’s word. The Spirit fell on people of all generations with young people seeing visions and older people dreaming dreams. Free people and enslaved people, men and women alike are going to receive and feel the Spirit, not to create museums of past faith, but a movement for living the faith.
Throughout this commencement season called Pentecost, you and I are navigating our way through an era where the misuse of power is creating a climate of needless cruelty, unwarranted suffering, and widespread fear. Yet I am glad today for our firewall of faith in Jesus Christ that recognizes and affirms our diversity as it intentionally unites us and holds us together. I am glad today that the Holy Spirit is guiding and empowering us to love our neighbors – all of them – unapologetically and to recognize and defend the God-given dignity of all people unashamedly.
So, my friends, receive this call to action from the Apostle Paul:
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NRSVue)
With Hope,
Jack
The Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr.
Executive Director
The Ohio Council of Churches
125 East Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
Office: 614.372.8010
Cell: 216.905.5119
Email: JSullivan@ohcouncilchs.org
Website: www.ohcouncilchs.org
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