Having spent some time away from the life of the Parish I return on a most appropriate day as we celebrate the coming of God's Spirit. A Spirit that remains with us to this day (Jn 14:16) but a Spirit that we often neglect in our own lives probably due to the fact that the Spirit prompts us out of our normal comfortableness into something that is much more drastic and revealing of God's presence in our lives. The reason I say this is that the Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:17) something that the world does not understand or know as we can discern very rapidly by looking at our daily news. Other than this it is a Spirit that leads us into love and into acceptance of the other and not away from each other.
In looking at the Genesis reading (Gen 11:1-9) we see a concept of how the world ended up with a multitude of languages and cultures. We can understand that this small story is just a made up version of how earlier peoples perceived the world around them and yet, there is an awful lot of truth embedded within the story. If we sit back and reflect on the story we can see the truth of it in our lives and the lives of those around us. Bigotry and discrimination as a result of difference, language, culture, colour, gender is a continuing presence in our societies today. We only have to look to people such as George Christensen, Donald Trump on the extreme end of the spectrum but others are equally as guilty such as Katherine Deves even if on a more minor scale. However, this is precisely what the story of Babel is referring to. Irrespective of how large or small our bigotry or discriminatory behaviour is it appears to be in built. In all probability the simple explanation is that this behaviour arises from how we have been brought up and conditioned to life around us. We tend to see difference and automatically discriminate in some form as they are not us. In fact, this is often what occurs when we disagree with those around us whether it be about matters spiritual, mundane or scientific. Often such behaviour can devolve into being both unchristian and hypocritical.
The turning point for us as Christians should be our celebration today, Pentecost. In all manner of ways Pentecost is about inclusion. We cannot as Christians celebrate today by putting a clause in to say "but first you must agree to..." this is to deny the Pentecost message and return to Babel. In recent weeks this blinkered view has been thrown in the faces of many Christians by those who have a restrictive view of the Scriptures. This is directly contra to the love and acceptance that is palpable within the story of the Holy Spirit's movement in Jerusalem. We cannot be restrictive in our inclusion for God freed us from the restrictions that were put in place at the Tower of Babel so that we can now freely approach God and come to know God's presence in our lives. We are not differentiated by language or any other divisive duality or category that we may conceive of for all is one in God as Christ is one in God. If we hold any thought of duality within us then we separate ourselves from God since God calls us into community and not into individuality. This does not mean that we are bereft of our own selves but rather we are made as a result of our communal roots.
The truth is that we are a species that is built for and based within community. We cannot do without that communal aspect of our lives. This means that we have to begin to accept the other as part and parcel of our lives and not reject them as being different and therefore to be shunned. Inclusiveness is part and parcel of what we proclaim to the world. Whilst the Christian faith is exclusive it is an exclusiveness that is so inclusive that it allows everyone to come before God and celebrate their uniqueness within communal diversity for such is God. In celebrating the coming of the Spirit of God we celebrate the uniqueness of each and every person for God calls us all into being and into love through Christ. It is only when we are able to cast over our prejudices that we will really see God working in the community that surrounds us living as if the Spirit was upon us as it was upon those who gathered in worship and prayer on the first Pentecost.
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