“Pentecost 2021”

Karen Sloan 23/05/2021

Readings - Acts 2:1-4, John 14:15-17, 25-27; 20:19-23

Phew, here were are at Pentecost 2021.  It seems a long time since we closed completely in 2020, and had sermons and services online.

I was wondering how to present what I have been thinking and doing over the past few weeks, and realised that what I have been doing and thinking  reflects my understanding of God’s spirit , how it works in all of us, pushing, nudging quietly, or roaring like a great wind.  Transforming is the nature of the spirit and both within and around us it guides us to greater life and love.  So I want to share what is in my heart and not my head. Well maybe a little of both.

 I think the story of the spirit is the story of us.  An evolutionary story.  As Rob Bell puts it (and I thank and acknowledge him),  we grow in consciousness  from a “Me”, to a “We”, to an “Everybody”, if we’re lucky. Let me share some reflections on how we might do it. And how the spirit is involved.

We will start with the “me”.  We need the me, we need to understand ourselves, accept ourselves, have space to reflect and to just be.  To understand we are gloriously and wonderfully made.  When we are children the “me” helps us to form our identity, to recognise the world and our place in it, to develop resilience, and to feel love.  We gain a consciousness of ourselves as human beings.

For the last few weeks I have been walking solo around Gwelup lake, which gives me a breather, to listen to some beautiful music, to be surrounded by nature and connect to it, to forgive the sometimes stupid things I say and do!!!   And to sense the presences of this unseen divine reality found in all of life. To go back to the “me” for a little while.

Because the “me” is incredibly important in our transformation as a person amongst other people.  And we carry those lessons the rest of our lives.

What about the “we”.  The “we” is our family, our friends, our community, our sporting team, our school, our church, our tribe.  We embrace and connect to other humans so that we can learn to love and be loved, have shared experiences, know the value and practise of loyalty and friendship and commitment and compassion and kindness. We gain a consciousness of those we travel with on the journey by being members of a group, a tribe.

I have experienced the “we”, through this community this week, and my friends who we have shared dinners and time with.  But I was also able to give a few old and dear friends some extra support  and love.  Friends who have been on a long and painful journey, when life has not been kind,

But my most vivid image of the “we”, this week, came when I was walking the other day around Gwelup lake, and in front of me were 2 older Italian men, who I have seen often.  They walked close, and reasonably slowly as most people in their 80s do, talking and laughing and sharing their ordinary everyday lives. I imagine they have been friends forever, not that I know that, but the image in front of me was so beautiful. And uplifting.   Friendship can be a wonderful thing, as I think you all know.

But friendship and family isn’t enough.

We must include everybody.  And this means the non-human family as well.

Many people sit in the “we” stage, and when its working it can be okay, even wonderful.  We are certainly required to love and care for our friends and family and our community and receive love.  But what happens when that “we” becomes an us and them mentality, when one group suffers at the expense of the other. And we build walls instead of bridges. We are seeing that in the world at the moment and in the Middle East in particular.

How do we go from the “me” to the “everybody” stage, when things seem fine? Maybe something shakes us up!

Let me give you an example.

The other day I heard a news report that said in a small , slightly hidden section of the Government’s budget that migrants would have to now wait for 4 years to qualify for any welfare assistance once they arrived in this country, legitimately!!! What the…..

This is on top of the idea that refugees are not be allowed to work in the community, even on a bridging visa, and that they will never get permanent status, even if they are fleeing a another country, for valid reasons, like persecution or war.  And that many have been in detention for years.

It has been up to the community, quite often religious groups, but also the Refugee and Migrant advocate groups to support  those people, who through the pandemic have been left to fend for themselves.

Wow, talk about getting stuck in a tribe and not seeing that looking after the most vulnerable helps us in the long term, personally and as a nation. We become deaden to the plights of others when we don’t show compassion and love to those outside the tribe. We become deaf to the moving of the spirit.

I believe we have to listen to the spirit stirring us up, because its’ moving, sometimes quite violently!

We are to respond to this shaking up, this feeling of indignation, this bolt which sometimes comes, or a quiet dawning that all is not right.  Either way when others suffer, when creation suffer we all suffer. God’s spirit, the Holy Spirit if you like, enlivens and empowers life at every level. And prompts us to connect to everyone, not just those we know.

I know I was totally reminded that there is an everybody, with that announcement, and they are suffering.

So as we grow and develop as people we go through stages, a “me” stage, a “we” stage and then an “everybody” stage, an integral stage.  And each stage is needed and included.  Sometimes where we are sitting has to be in the me or the we stage, depending on what’s happening to us in life, but the ultimate aim of it all is to get to a stage where we see and act as though we are all included and connected to one another. And to the wider world.

Maybe the idea is that we act like Jesus, who integrates the spirit of the father in his own life, living and calling us to live not only for God but for our neighbour.  And our neighbour is anyone in need.  The earlier faith communities, followers of Jesus knew this and they began to share everything they had, former enemies became friends and people laid down their swords and picked up a cross. As the book of Acts records, there was no needy persons among them. The movement had started. A movement which would become the church.

So it has been recorded as a pivotal moment. Pentecost!

Out of the constraints of power, and tribes and issues about who’s in and who’s out, comes a story about what the spirit brings out of chaos.  Unity. Life.

In the 21st century we would also add all of creation into the mix. In case you have forgotten.

Have I just made this up while daydreaming.  No it’s a well known path called spiral dynamics by Ken Wilber, which Nev shared with us many years ago, or maybe you have heard it in Fowlers levels of faith formation, or Marcus Borg’s pre-rational, rational and post-rational thinking, but it’s the same tale that Rob Bell summarises. .

The spirit is moving as it always has moved, in the world, in us, to bring us together, to bring community, connection and life. And  we are called to respond by getting out of the church and into the world. From a “me” to a “we” to “everybody”.

Is that enough for Pentecost 2021, I hope so.

Amen

Acknowledgement – Rob Bell podcasts.