This coming Sunday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Pentecost. Our scriptures tell us the followers of Jesus were filled with the fire of the Spirit and began speaking in languages no Galilean fisherman should have commanded. Travellers to Jerusalem heard them speaking about God鈥檚 deeds of power in their own tongues, and they were mystified.
鈥淲hat does this mean?鈥� they asked.
Some went to find out. Others sneered: 鈥榯oo much wine in Galilean heads,鈥� and turned away. Some were ready to experience a miraculous turning. Others knew miracles were pass茅. At best the wine-oiled claims of na茂ve fishermen, at worst some fraudulent scheme.
The debate went on. Adherents of the early Christian movement sold their stuff, pooled their resources and went looking for others to help.
Their friends and families, not entirely onside, cried out against their foolishness. 鈥楧runk in a Galilean peasant Rabbi鈥檚 message of love, care, and blessing. Look how he ended up.鈥�
Church and state determined to snuff the movement in the bud. Did their best. Somehow, it survived.
Internally and externally, the conflict continues. At times a movement of blessing, nurture, care and miraculous, joyous salvation. At times a monolith seeking power and wealth for the sake of power and wealth. Sometimes a miracle, sometimes a fraud.
One can say the same for most human institutions. Reflections of the people that set them up and keep them going. Reflections of the communities they represent.
The early Christian movement was made up of communities of faithful altruists.听 On fire in the Spirit, certain they were called by Love to be Love in the world. Determined, as Gandhi said, to: 鈥淏e the change they wished to see.鈥� Bridgeheads of Christ鈥檚 upside down world, smack in the middle of empire. Smack in the middle of a world in which the strong were valued, and the weak were harvested and husked.
It鈥檚 hard to say what our communities are made up of. From the outside, it looks as if we鈥檙e pretty altruistic. Look at the programs we support: Health, education, social services, hydro, public insurance, transportation, the list goes on. We pool our resources and share them out. A lot like the early Christians, aren鈥檛 we?
Look a little closer though, and see the ones passed by on the street, ignored in the shelters, or consigned to homeless encampments. Our homes have become luxury commodities, bought, sold and traded beyond the reach of our children. First Nations communities suffer the effects of colonization, children consigned to foster care and abandoned at age 18. Tonnes of plastic polluting our oceans, tonnes of carbon deposited in our airsheds, species going extinct under our care.
That鈥檚 us too.
We have before us, however, a rare opportunity for a course correction. That it comes in the days before Pentecost seems to me to be one of God鈥檚 synergistic moments. There is, at this time, a possibility of a renewed Spirit in our land. A Spirit of Love, a Spirit of compromise, a Spirit of compassionate care and blessing.
It might take root in our Legislature. That is possible, if people in every community lead the way and come together to ensure it. If we speak one another鈥檚 language and act in our own neighbourhoods in a Spirit of Love, grace and blessing, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
If a small group of Galileans caught up in the Spirit could effect a change lasting 2000 years, what can we do for our time? Let鈥檚 pass the cup and share the loaf and get on with turning the world upside down.
Keith Simmonds听is a diaconal minister serving at Duncan United Church, and as President of the BC Conference of the United Church of sa国际传媒. Blogging at ,听he听can also be found at听听Views expressed here are his own, and not necessarily those of the church.
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking,
* This article was publsihed in the print edition of the sa国际传媒 on Saturday, June 3 2017
