A little bit of Spirit

Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21), in more ways than one, initiates a period of change for the Church. In particular it begins the transformation of a group of people cowering away from the rest of the community in doubt, fear and insecurity (Jn 20:19-23) into an autonomous movement within the Jewish faith system that would eventually evolve into its own established faith group. We often concentrate on the wonders of the Spirit's presence and the movement out into the world with little consideration with regards how this was managed. The Spirit incited a change in behaviour of the disciples to such an extent that they appeared to many as if they were drunkards in the early hours of the day. A change that eventually went on to challenge existing forms of faith and the way people acted within the community. Unfortunately even in the modern day these changes are so extraordinary that they are both overlooked and looked down upon as not being part of the modern psyche. The journey of faith is based on the premise of change in one's life and behaviour which is then communicated to those around us in community.

To change oneself so drastically and then to be able to communicate that change to the community around you is both profound and prosaic. It is profound in the sense that it is a deep ability granted by the Spirit to engage in a manner that is both acceptable and engaging to those who have not been affected by the Spirit. It is prosaic because it involves the use of our own skills and abilities to communicate in an everyday means without clouding the reception of the message being given with intangible meaningless thoughts. Just think about how this played out in the ecstatic moments in the early hours of the day in Jerusalem when everyone heard the message of redemption and peace in a language that they understood despite being from different parts of the world. Place oneself within a place where there is a number of different languages being spoken and you can quickly become disconnected or you sharpen your focus to those conversations / words that are being spoken in a language that you understand.  In South Africa, worship services within the Anglican church can become very confusing if you are not paying attention as anything up to 11 languages can and will be used within the one worship service.  You may find yourself next to a person praying the Lords prayer in Zulu on one side and Setswana on the other while you are trying to pray in English.  Each person hears their own language and responds within that language.  The true gift that is given here at Pentecost is the gift of communication.  The ability to transmit the Christian message within the confines of another's cultural and language norms.  If we want to do this in the normal fashion we have to spend hours, months and days just trying to fathom the internal structure and grammar of the language.  It is the one thing that we are often poor at giving praise for especially to those who have a facility for language. We often do not even think or operate on the fact that this is a gift from God which needs to be truly praised.

The Spirit blazes in our hearts changing our lives

In the normal course of events our words and our idioms lose a portion of our thought as they go through the process of translation. The other language / culture colonises ours in ways that may lead to misunderstanding of our intent.  In the same way our content is not only conveyed in language but also in tone and in the physicality of gestures and body positioning.  Again in different language and cultures proponents will tell you how different gestures mean different things.  Each of us reads these arcane signs so that they have meaning for us but that meaning may be as diverse as our very lives and our cultural upbringing.  No wonder it appears to be a babble of noise that leads to misunderstanding in the world especially for those who do not belong to the faith community as we speak of love and act in a manner that interprets love differently for each one.  In order to be clear and ensure our message is not misinterpreted by the translation how are we to deliver the message that we need to communicate.

The disciples all spoke and yet the same message was delivered.  The intent was the same for all of them.  They came out of the same place and were embedded within the same reality.  We nowadays do not.  We need to go back to basics we need to be reminded of the message as we turn to Christ and remind ourselves the "I am the way, the truth and the life." (Jn. 14.6).  This is the message that needs to be mirrored in our totality as it was in the disciples.  The act of communication was communicated in terms of their lives.  They acted, spoke and lived in Christ and God.  Their communication was complete as all heard and believed.  They heard intellectually, they heard physically and they heard their faith.  This is how the message becomes realised and is communicated to those around us.  It is only when we act physically in concert with living and speaking the Gospel will we be able to communicate the Gospel message.  This is when the Spirit grabs us, this is when there is growth and renewal, this is when we energise and worship; forgetting ourselves, our needs, our wants.

Leaving to allow growth

 The direction that we take in the world as Christians is the direction towards living as Christ in a world that is made somewhat complex by a society that no longer believes in things that are connected to the Spirit. One can at best state that the world has very little recognition of  what we would deem to be of faith or involved in something that can no longer be measured by the instruments of the day in scientific rigour. In coming to the things that are written in Scripture we have to sometimes open ourselves up to that side, sorely neglected in this modern world, called the spiritual or the non-scientific. It is in such a world that artists and authors delve in some form or another understanding that at heart there is a fullness to our lives that can be found only in the imaginative and spiritual process that we shun. So what should we take home from such efforts to display something that is over and above that which we consider to be the norm for today's world.

I think that we need to firstly remind ourselves that whatever we understand from the Scriptures that we read they are understood only within our own spiritual life and journey, which is ours to tread and should not be dictated to by others. This does not negate our coming together in community as people who worship and survive together. In stating this it is my belief that the Christian journey is filled with signposts that point towards a way of life which leads to the fulfilment of the Christian story in Christ's Ascension and coming again. One of those signs is the Ascension itself which we must understand within our hearts through the lived life that Christ enables. That life is shown to us by Christ's promise and direction (Matt 28:19-20) to live the commandments and to continue to promulgate this through the making of 'disciples' who will follow the way. We are entrusted as the disciples were with the ongoing demonstration of the commandments given to us.

Seeds leave the mother plant to grow on their own as Christ leaves his disciples to grow on their own

Secondly, it is up to us to follow the path that has been created by Christ's journey on earth that leads to his Ascension. It is not up to others per se although they can guide and coach those that they are encouraging to become disciples. In doing this they fulfil the direction given to all disciples to bring others into the Christian journey. In a manner of speaking the Ascension can be considered to be the precise thing that the disciples required for the new way to become what it is today. Just imagine what life would have been like if Christ had hung around. Just as any person going to university must at some stage graduate so to do those who are apprentices or people learning their profession and calling within the work place. We must leave the teaching behind us and build upon what has been taught in our lives. So to the disciples have been shown constantly, and like all of us often getting it wrong, but must do so now without supervision. They must live out that which they have been taught and take on apprentices for themselves so that they can teach others how to live.

No teacher and no master expects their student or apprentice to remain under supervision but rather to take their knowledge out into the world and bring it to others. Indeed, some apprentices go on to become masters in their own manner. However, we need to remind ourselves that the teachings of Christ / God are indeed the only teachings that are important. Those teachings point us even today towards the correct way of living that the Ascended Christ showed us in his life and expects of us as faithful disciples of his way. That way is a lived way and not one that is one of law and interpretation. It is the small things in life that lead us to love more than the larger. Christ's Ascension looms large for us but it is in the reality of his leaving that the seed he set within the disciples that was given free reign to burgeon into new growth that followed his way of living in love that changed the world. In remembering his departure and leaving his disciples for them to find their own path along the way of love we ourselves must also follow

A change in our perspective

 We all have to follow the law and yet we are all on the look out to find ways to evade the law. We do not like being constrained by the law. Most especially when we feel that the law encroaches on our own spaces and personal freedoms. We complain if things are not going our way and really speak out if we feel that a law is unjust, even if it might be quite a good law in itself. God and Christ give us commandments which we are told that if we love Christ we will obey (Jn. 14.15). What are these commandments? Simple really Love God and Love our neighbours as ourselves. Nothing really problematic about these. Here comes the rub. We begin to debate with and amongst ourselves about the interpretation of these two laws. Who is God? Is God male or female? Who is our neighbour? If my interpretation of God is different to your interpretation of God does this mean that I am loving God better than you and you need to follow my way? In these very real, to us, questions there is a need to bring in some perspective to deal with the inevitable conflicts but how do we do this when we all argue about interpretation?

God calls us to follow these commandments from our baptism throughout our lives. In becoming bogged down in interpretation we loose the essence of the command that is given to us. It is not in the legal definitions and interpretive arguments that we will find our way but rather in changing our perspective. In fiddling around with the legal definitions we begin to fiddle around with the truth. 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 actually need to put away our tendency to look for our advantage and start to see the world from a different view point. In today's society we have lost the true understanding of being whole and holy in the sight of God. In this loss we lose the Spirit enabling us to follow God / Christ and enact the commandments of love.  Just think for a moment about the injunction to love our neighbour.

Let us change our perspective and do rather than think.

If, we are to look at scripture for inspiration on this one, we may find ourselves bogged down in wondering why, if we are to love our neighbours, is God so violent towards them in the Scriptures? or perhaps if God requires justice and peace in the world why is it that there is so much vicarious violence throughout Scripture?  What is it that we are missing? Where are we going wrong in this exercise to find inspiration when all we have is violence and more violence with little in the way of the peace and love God commands us too?  We need to see a different world a world that is filled with the essence of our love for anyone and everyone as we share the resources of the world with each other. The need for our children to see that everyone is the same, creations of and images of God. It is when we instil prejudice and fear of the other in our children that we perpetuate the violence of our history/herstory. We do this naturally, which is why the task set for the community and for godparents and parents is so hard. 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

In changing our perspective on our own lives we begin to understand the requirements that God is asking of us. 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 not that the law that needs interpreting by each individual it is that the law needs enacting by each individual.  It  is as if we have to place the question "what does it mean to me?" on hold and say "How can I perform this in reality?" By looking at the need to take an action we do away with the think and start to do. We operate out of our wish to see the other in a better place than we are.  In doing this the other starts to look at ways of increasing our well being as they follow the example set for them. Can we actually start to do rather than think about doing.

What terrain do you walk your life in?

 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 this space 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.  It is the rugged track not the tarmacked road that we so often travel along in our lives. Following only what our ancestors have laid down not where God leads us into the little known creative paths that bring us to beauty and love. We have to 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.