Where is the Spirit - gone or here?

Today marks the day of Pentecost. A day that we all wear red to Church services and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in Jerusalem following the events of the Resurrection and ascension (Acts 2:1-4). During the following years the work of the Spirit is well catalogued within Acts and other early writings in Scripture. Since then there has been an apparent loss of the Holy Spirit within the ordinary lives of people with a few extraordinary exceptions the most recent being the Charismatic movement. Not all of course would agree with this as many Pentecostals would say that the Spirit is active amongst them. Others on a more individual basis are very aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and often proclaim it from the pulpit. However, the Holy Spirit is not often spoken about and quite often relegated to this one Sunday of the year. So has the Spirit left the world bereft or is the Spirit working as the advocate and guide that Christ promised?

In the first letter to the Corinthians (12:1-13) Paul highlights that there is one Spirit who gives a multitude of gifts to the people of Christ. In referring to the Spirit nowadays we concentrate on those things that we think as being signifiers of the Spirit's impact, Speaking in glossia, preaching, healing, prophecy, etc. These all appear to be the glamorous side of things, those things that impact and are easily recognisable. We can point and say "look he/she is gifted by the Spirit" and we praise and glorify God often following the "possessed", thinking that if they have the Spirit then perhaps that is a better church, denomination, etc. A trap that we put in place for ourselves each time. We actually need to look beyond the glamorous to find out whether the Spirit is indeed moving amongst us in today's world. Paul quite clearly states that the Spirit works in each of us according to the purpose of God (1 Cor. 12:6). The understanding here is that it is we who are not sufficiently discerning enough to realise that the Spirit is present. We quietly go about in the world not recognising and not realising that the Spirit is working ever present ever silently as advocate and guide.

May we discern God's Spirit in the smallest action and not the flamboyant gesture

Take a simple example or maybe not a simple example. A person who is in a relatively successful career suddenly finds pathways to a brighter future blocked, continually and consistently. Not a happy puppy the person speaks with an acquaintance on the other side of the world who suggests that perhaps there is need to discern a call into ministry. After an unsuccessful attempt the person finds a suitable mentor and moves forward. Seems happy and then the mentor disappears and the person learns that their name has not been forwarded for discernment. Process begins again and is moved into a quick progress stream. Life happens and person is unable to do what is asked unless conditions for assistance from the community of faith is met just prior to their call being recognised officially.  However, new mentor steps in and states belief of calling and conditions are laid down which allows process to move forward. At no time does the actual Spirit become visible but works in the background bringing things to light and smoothing the path to where God wants the person. It appears to be a traumatic process but in the end it is a process that answers to God and we sometimes have to acknowledge God's presence without actually seeing the significant presence of God's Spirit.

This is the reality of God's presence the Spirit smooths the path through advocacy and prompting others to work towards the goal that God has in mind for each person. We as human need to be very careful in our discernment of the call of God of a person into ministry whether it is ordained or the simple ministry of putting together a pew sheet. We cannot say that a person is not affected by the Spirit because we cannot see or hear those wonderful things like prophecy or glossia. We need to be mindful of God's call upon us and respond accordingly even if it seems to be the most stupid thing in the world. We also need to be discerning when we are asked to undertake ministry or follow God's prompting without denigrating or criticising. The Spirit moves in our lives more often then we think in ways which may not necessarily be ways we want. In order to be faithful to the Spirit we need to be open like the Spirit. We are given a choice on how we decide; too often we decide on our own and we do not listen to God or to God's Spirit. In this coming post-COVID world let our choices be moved by the Spirit as we listen with a discerning ear to the Spirit who is constant in our lives. This means learning to listen to the voice of love in our hearts and not the voice of gain.

That they be one

Christ's prayer for the disciples is a prayer of unity (Jn 17.11) but what does this mean in a period of time when there is so much disunity and so many people act more as if they were at the building of the tower of Babel. Christ prays this in the total understanding that he is sending the sheep out amongst the ravening wolves (Jn. 17:14-19). So Christ knows that the world into which his disciples are placed is a world that is not as it should be and one that is likely to fracture the community through time. Yet he still prays for unity. Our own world is fractured not only in our faith but in our social life together. COVID 19 has given us a time to be together in families and online with our extended people, our neighbours. The question we need to ask is what happens now as we move out back into the world do we go back to where we where or do we take courage from Christ and move into something new?

Perhaps our immediate reaction is to, like our forefathers in faith, yearn for what we had. Those who were led out into the wilderness from Egypt yearned for the past.  A past filled with hardship but also with those things that they had become used to. Here in the desert was a new experience and a new hardship. They were divided, they were unsure. If we look back into our past of just a few months ago we as a Church Universal were divided. I know of people who would say that belief in the bible and only what the words of the bible stated was right. I know others who look at the bible and see a book with a multiple of meanings not just one. I know of people who said that the OT or Hebrew scriptures were of little consequence as Christ had done away with the old and we only had to worry about the new. All of these were and are views held by people about what the scriptures of faith mean. Irrespective of their views the consensus was that people should abide in love but due to their individual interpretations of scripture they were often unable to do this. This acceptance of God's word in love and complete disregard for anyone else's view is the paradox of life that those of faith lived. Something that applies to all faiths throughout the world. This is where we have come from.

Only when we see with the full spectrum of love do we see clearly

Just as the disciples had little idea as to what to do when Christ ascended as they had come to a decision point (Acts 1.10-11); we too have reached a decision point but staring into the sky, whilst it is a decision, does not take us into the future,. The opportunity is given us as we come out of isolation to continue our self isolationist project and continue to bicker about our view of scripture, God and faith or move into or at least towards a better place. Each of us has a different point of view, especially when it comes to the display and outward expression of our faith. Our views are informed by our backgrounds and our social circle among other things. If we are brought up with a specific view of our biblical heritage we will see perhaps only in the black and white of that heritage, others may have been brought into faith late in life and embraced a more scientific and liberal view but still claim Christ as the light and redeemer of humanity. Our display of Christ-likeness is the only guarantor of being followers of Christ and by creating dissension within society as a result of strongly held views does not display Christ within our lives. Just so that we can be absolutely clear, if I was wearing glasses tinted green and I adamantly described the world around me in that colour spectrum others would disagree. Those wearing red glasses or yellow glasses would also have trouble with those not wearing glasses. However, if we all saw one thing in the same manner, we would be one. However as 1 Peter puts it we are surrounded by a "roaring lion" of temptation (1 Peter 5.8) to do what the ego wants not what love wants.

In looking towards God and attempting to interpret what God is telling us there is only one thing that binds us in unity with Christ. That thing is love and if and only if we act in all our words, deeds and thoughts with love we will be able to be as one. God comes in many dimensions and is viewed from many different angles when we speak about Christ and God if we do not use the language of love we are like blind people speaking about the different parts of an elephant and saying they are different creatures. Let us post COVID 19 speak again the language of love.

The need for doubt

Every year the Sunday following Easter is often called Low Sunday in reality it should perhaps be called Doubting Sunday as it is on this Sunday that we hear the story of Thomas the Twin, called Doubting Thomas (Jn 20.19-31). I really think that we need to totally re-think this description of Thomas and rather call him Inspiring Thomas. We need to really read the end of each Gospel exceptionally closely to realise that this description of Thomas is indeed accurate and that it is our total misreading of his story that has caused Thomas to be so defamed by history. Indeed Thomas can be said to have built the Church in both physical terms in India but also in terms of his faith.

In looking at the end of each of the synoptic Gospels we can clearly see that doubt is a continuing message that resides in the hearts and minds of the disciples despite everything that Christ does or portrays. The Christ in Mark (16.14) actually castigates them for their stupidity and doubt.even after being told by both the women (well they are women) and the men coming in from the country (shades of Emmaus) (Mk 16.11-13). Luke's gospel demonstrates the disciples continuing disbelieve and doubt by going through the sight test, the touch test and finally the eating test (Lk 24.36-43) and that is after the doubts expressed following the women's revelation and the revelation of the Emmaus pair. Matthew is somewhat more circumspect with the doubt, it is almost as if he is trying to correct the doubt in the other two Gospel stories. Yet he also succumbs in the end to releasing the doubt present (Mtt. 28.17). Then finally the most explicit story of doubt that we listen to today.

Caravaggio  did not read his Gospel and so perpetuates our doubts

In looking at the story of Thomas it is perhaps something we can relate to more than the others. Here is a person who in the first part of the story is not present and is told about Christ's appearance. Who among those listening have not at one time or another disbelieved a tale that has been told by a friend and wanted proof that it occurred? Thomas asks for no less than the other disciples have received other than to physically touch. For ourselves, sight of something is much more relevant than any of the other senses, if we do not see it we will not believe and then if we can touch it so much the better for then we can categorically state that it is real. So, why do we call Thomas the doubter when we too would doubt just as much under the same conditions. Indeed at this stage in the story the disciples were as much doubters as Thomas but had been given proof. In the second stage Thomas is present when Christ appears and in addressing Thomas what was asked for for proof is now given...or is it. The reality of the story is a lacunae a gap. Thomas states his understanding before there is an opportunity to touch and Christ's following words are support of non-tactile proof (Jn 20.27-29).

So what is the point of doubt? Do we need it? The answer is yes we do. All of those we call saints doubted at some point and it was upon this doubt that they built their faith in God. Doubt is ever present in our lives. We only have to look at the recent polls in America to demonstrate the reality of doubt. Even with the greater standard of education and knowledge today we still doubt, sometimes the simplest realities. If this is the case how can we even think of making fun of those who doubt and call them doubting Thomases. Thomas came to a realisation of God's presence in Christ as he proclaimed "My Lord, my God" perhaps faster and to a greater extent than the other disciples. This is what is present in our proclamation of Christ as we do so without the solidity of scientific proof. We require doubt to show us where the truth is in the live's we live. Doubt allows us to go beyond the mere facts and step out into the unknown clinging to the presence of God in our hearts. Yes, as we do, we doubt but upon that doubt we build the faith of God's presence and we are filled with great joy as we find God's love returned to us on a daily basis as we minister in his name.

The command to love in the politics of the world

Christ's ultimate command to his disciples is to "love" and we as his followers are bound to that commandment. In John's gospel, Christ also is clear in indicating that he will provide his disciples with an advocate (Jn 14.15-17) who is the Spirit of Truth. We need to understand what is meant in the provision of an advocate or paraclete. In modern terminology we often associate this with a lawyer but in reality an advocate is one who speaks for us or defends us and I often think that when we speak of an advocate in connection with this passage we think of it as a person who supports rather than speaks. If we are to realise this meaning in the word we, I think, need to re-look at the message that is being given to us.

Whilst an advocate will support us the main roll is in fact to speak or assist us to speak out into the world. If we look at Paul's speaking to the Athenian leaders in the Aeropagus (Acts 17.22-31) we see an opportunity that he utilises to bring the message of the risen Christ into the midst of the the political leadership of the Athenians. In the end it is the Spirit that enables him to speak to these erudite men. The Spirit advocates; he does not save him but speaks through him. The ideas that he uses to convey the message of Christ arise out of his observations which challenges us to understand that the Spirit enables us to see the truth. The courage to follow Christ is enabled (advocated for) but we must put in the hard yards to allow that to come to fruition. The thing we often forget is that it is the Spirit of Truth who is our advocate and perhaps this is the most important aspect we forget. For many of us truth is malleable and conforms to what we want, much as it does in the Acts reading for those listening to Paul. There are two things here that we need to take cognisance of  1) that it was Paul who was enabled to put his observations to the benefit of opening the eyes of some to the presence of God and 2) it was the Spirit of Truth that spoke into the situation through Paul.

Truth is not interpretation nor is it literal but it is what we do in love

If we cannot live the truth and speak the truth then we will not be enabled. So often we live what we want not what God wants in our lives. The truth is in the commandment to love not in our interpretation of that commandment. Once we start playing around with the truth in our lives we begin to fall away from God and our gospel is not supported by the Spirit nor does the Spirit advocate for us. Office bearers, no matter how high in life, tend to look out for themselves and those that they believe will look after them. No matter how much they protest that they follow Christ their deeds point to the truth. The letter 1 Peter talks about our actions towards each other (1 Peter 3:8-9) and yet when we rise to a position that wields power we tend to forget the principles of the Christ-ian ethos of love. We very rarely look to those who are on the marginal end of society but rather we look to our friends and those we think will assist us in our own lives. We only have to look at the bigotry, anti-love sentiment in many of our political leaders to understand this. The issue here is that we find it difficult to utilise the power of love in our relationships rather than the power of might and abuse. We lead in our pride and strength rather than in our humbleness and weakness.

It is when we begin to speak with truth, the truth of love, which is very up front and honest that we begin to realise what God's power is and how the Spirit advocates for us in the time of need. Our truth speaking needs to be in our lives as we are followers of Christ who is the truth. It is in how we mirror Christ to the world accurately and with truth that enables the Spirit of Truth to be our advocate in the world. When we live lives that are false in terms of God and Christ we lose the advocate and are unable to be the Christian people of the way. It is our honesty that bears witness to Christ and it is our honest living that enables us to be bearers of Christ's light. If we bear the honesty in our lives then Christ is ever present to us and the advocate  that is the Spirit of Truth bears witness for us.

The People of the Way

The reading from John 14:1-14 is a common reading for funerals as it points us towards the living Christ in Jesus of Nazareth. In doing so we hear in the voice of Christ the words "I am the way, the truth and the life" and for us it is important to dwell not only on the words but also on the order of the words as they are equally as important for us in this well known summary of Christian teaching. Perhaps one of the things that we do not take cognisance of is that all the words are important when we come to the interpretation not just "way", "truth" and "life". Indeed, perhaps most critical in this statement are the two words at the start of the statement "I am".

In John's gospel one of the common phrases that are used throughout the gospel are the two words "εγω ειμαι" or "I am". This particular phrase is perhaps more important than anything else in this passage. In reading and examining this phrase in this particular context we need to understand that it originates in Exodus 3:14 as God speaks to Moses. From this verse we can calculate that "I am" ≡ God. So when we look at this verse, yes it points to the Christ as part of the Godhead but it is more than that for in pointing to the Godhead it is pointing to the conception and understanding that God is, not solely Jesus, but the whole of the Godhead. In seeing the Trinitarian aspect of this we can see the Trinitarian aspect of the phrase as a whole. In not seeing this then we delude ourselves in our belief of the Trinity focusing only on one aspect and stating that that one aspect is the whole.

In breaking the phrase up into its component parts we then begin to understand the complexity that is inherent within the saying. God is the "way" and the way that we walk as Sojourners on the way is the way of Love that is epitomised in God the "Father" in our humanisation of God. Not everyone can deal with the idea of the "Father" figure and we should not either. The conception of love is epitomised by the family and if we see the "Father" not as a singularity but as a parent then we begin to understand the reality of this analogous figure. The parental offering of love is eternal and it is this that is the "way" that we walk. Christians are singled out by our faith by the call into love whether it be for someone we like or someone we find difficult to relate to we are called to love. So for us our choice must always be the path of love. Early Christians were called the people of the Way and our way is the way of love. In making this connection we begin our journey as People of the Way.

Which way are you walking?

The truth is revealed in Christ in the way Christ lived and spoke. We tend to focus only on the humanity of Jesus for this is what is easiest for us to understand and relate to. Christ the anointed one challenges us in our relationships to live the "truth" of the "way". The "truth" of love. Even Pilate acknowledged that "truth" is a difficult thing to understand in our lives when he states "What is truth?" (Jn. 18.38). Each of us interprets what is read, seen, undertaken, etc differently and so it is inevitable that "truth" seems to be changeable especially when it comes to something that is judged as holy or of prime importance to our faith. Each time we look at scripture we interpret it from our own perspective. The only interpretation that is "truth" is the interpretation that is surrendered to love or the "way". If we begin to place our own thoughts in to place then we begin to distort what is "truth". If our interpretation brings love into the world then we are approaching "truth", if it brings dissension and discord then we are moving away from God and "truth".

Lastly, the Spirit of God brings "life" into everything that is around us. In going back to the very beginning, it is the ruach or the Spirit of God that moves over the waters and the depths of chaos (Gen. 1.2). This is the creative force that allows us to follow the "way" in "truth" without which we would be stuck within the confines of ourselves with no ability to imagine anything beyond ourselves. Connection comes with compassion and creativity. We have become more creative in how we bring God's love into those around us in the moment of crisis. The Spirit brings us "life" in the darkest moments of our lives. It is this "life" lived in the "way" of love that is spoken about here. The "truth" which brings us into the new eternal life that God promises in the resurrection.

So as people of the way we follow God, however we may conceive God, when we walk in love. A love that understands the truth and is creative and imaginative in how it is displayed in society around us. To say that we are Christian is to state that we walk in the way of love, we respect and use truth to form love not hatred and we are ever inventive and creative in understanding the world and its people who are created by God.

Don't look at the shepherd

The image of the good shepherd has been instilled into our psyches since the early church. There is  nothing wrong with this focus and in some respects it needs to be retained, John's images of the good shepherd are found in chapter 10 which starts with the initial images from which we draw the idea of the sheepfold, the walls, the gate and the shepherd who lays down his life. Just, as perhaps we need to, we focus on the imagery and place Christ as is intended in the metaphors at the centre. In doing this we actually take our eyes away from why the good shepherd is there in the first place. Yes, we must trust the good shepherd, yes we must listen to the shepherds voice all of the good that is there we need to understand and note. Yet, I feel we see only half the metaphor and pay little if any attention to the rest. Why is the good shepherd there in the first place? Do we as owners of our own land and stock not make note of the thieves that are around or do we go out forgetting that they are around trusting that our locks and gates and pens are secure? We are only human, we forget, we do not always obey the dictates of good sense and acknowledge the good shepherd's work and we are lax in our own ways. Animals have an instinct for the wrongness that evil brings and trust in rightness of the good, we need to see both.

We have allowed our own avarice to lead us into the hands of thieves

We always associate ourselves with the sheep, highly intelligent who know where to look for good pasture and can lie down when there is a shepherd but what happens if we are lax, sheep tend to wander and despite calls to come back. In doing so perhaps we morph into a shepherd as we care for our families and communities, but are we good? The issue here is not the good stuff but the fact that in our current lives we have allowed ourselves to wander and in doing so make it harder for the strictures of safety and well being to be observed as we struggle with life. The shepherding of our lives according to our thoughts and our own efforts open the way for the thieves and the corrupt to enter into our society disguised as part of our own 'flocks'. We forget that adherence to community and love protect us from those things that create discord and hatred. We allow ourselves to be gulled into a false sense of security through our own wishes rather than through our fulfilment of Christ's presence in our lives.

We have filled ourselves with malice, deceit and hypocrisy (1 Peter 2.1-3) and in doing so we allow those that lead to become not as shepherds but often as thieves of our lives. If we look at the way we live we can see that we are burdened while others are not, those that are not often (not always) care only for themselves and not for the community. This is not something spiritual but reality in a cold world which thrives on our greed and our mistakes. We need to look only at the governments of the world to see that it is the interests of the few that are at the heart of their governing and not of the whole. We need only look at how we determine those that govern to see that what we as a community thinks is over ridden by the whims of whatever "party" is in place. At the end of the day we have allowed the thieves to come in, yes, partly from not heeding the voice of God but also from not heeding what we are told about community, about love, about compassion. The last few verses of Act 2 tell of a different community that was just forming, a community that looked out for those who could not look out for themselves. It is clear that it was not blind adherence to Jewish laws that made the community what it was, it was not blind obedience to rules and regulations it was an understanding of how a community operates to support each other from least to greatest. It is putting aside our needs for the sake of those not as fortunate. It is not communist, where some are more equal then others, for this is the trap that sinks us into the grip of thieves who take our lives. We care for each other within the flock with love and are guided, not led, guided through our life by the words of the shepherd. Perhaps it is time for us to perceive the thieves that surround our lives and find the guidance and voice of the shepherd who is God so that we can find together the pastures that are peaceful and open to all. A recent posted video perhaps explains this in poetical form as we step into a new future.