Over the last few weeks I have had the wonderful, if challenging, experience of sharing in leading the God, Humanity and Difference course at St Francis’ College. This has included looking at a wide range of human differences: including those of race, disability, gender, sexuality, faith, culture, history, and socio-economic position. We have heard from a variety of voices from across our Church and world: including Canon Bruce Boase (as an Aboriginal priest, as we explored Reconciliation issues) and, not least, Elizabeth and Ann from our very own congregation here (as we explored faith issues related to disability). In addition, we have been blessed by the insights of the rich mix of backgrounds and experiences within the class itself, including students originally from Sudan and Korea. Sometimes this has meant that we have met fresh questions and ideas which will require some working out. For our God-given human differences are not always easy for us all to live with. We can see that clearly in some of the conflicts and controversies of our Church and world today. Yet, as we have discovered in our course this semester, if we hold them prayerfully, and work with them with intelligence and compassion, they are powerful gifts to us for healing, new life, and flourishing together. For properly to hear each of us, speaking our own witness to God in our own way, is to let the Holy Spirit fly free in fresh experiences of Pentecost…
Of course it is possible to be cast down by the challenges of difference in our church and world today. There are spirits of meanness and even outright inhumanity about which seem so to infect some people that they cannot see, never mind welcome and nurture, the image of God in others who are different from them. We see this, among other instances, in the continued hardness of heart towards refugees and asylum seekers and in the selfish refusal seriously to address the needs of the poor, or even hear their voices at all. Sadly, there are also spirits of mercilessness and lack of empathy among some who strive for change, who also cannot hear the voices of others if they do not immediately sing the same tune as them. If we ourselves are honest, we too struggle with these things - don’t we? – as we sometimes struggle in our own encounters with those who are different from us. Yet, hopefully, we can grow in the fruits of the Holy Spirit, not only finding patience, trust and understanding, but also discovering the immense joy and delights of our differences.
This is part of what happened at that first Christian Pentecost we heard about in our first reading today. For we are told that:
‘the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each... Parthjans, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power’ - not one voice, all the same, but many, many voices, speaking in so many different tones.
No wonder, the report goes on:
‘All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?‘
There has been an in-built human tendency in history to believe that sameness is good and healthy, and difference is bad and destructive. Unity, in this way of thinking, has to mean uniformity. Some so-called ‘strong’ leaders often appeal to this instinct when they rally support by demanding that everything is ordered in such and such a way, whilst attacking and excluding others who are different. Biblically speaking, one of the greatest images of this is the Tower of Babel. That Tower was an astonishingly impressive edifice, built with the idea of reaching up and connecting to heaven. Yet what did God do with it, according to the story? God destroyed the Tower of Babel and scattered the peoples, giving them different languages. For the God of Jesus is a God of uniformity but a God of true unity which includes radical differences. As we see in that first Christian Pentecost. God seeks for us to sing in harmony not mere unison.
No doubt there are other things to say about both Pentecost and the story of Tower of Babel: about spiritual experiences and human pride for example. However, the story we hear from the Acts of the Apostles is not least surely intended to represent its opposite, revaluing our human differences as pathways through which God can work. Whereas, in the Tower of Babel, human beings try to climb up to God, at the Christian Pentecost God has not only come down to human beings, but, through the Holy Spirit, makes a dwelling place and flows out through each one of them. Whereas, in the Tower of Babel, the people of the world are scattered and divided by their different languages, cultures and life-styles, at the Christian Pentecost those very differences are transformed and become means of grace to all, bringing a much, much, deeper unity than could ever have been imagined.
What a message of hope and inspiration our Christian Pentecost should therefore be for all! In a world struggling to reconcile, and even value, our God-given human differences, our Faith encourages us to see that very human diversity as sources of grace and healing. Again, as we hear in today’s story of the first Christian Pentecost, this is the desire of God for us all. For, as Peter says, in response to those amazed by the diverse and exuberant outburst of spiritual tongues and blessings, it is not least a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel that God’s Spirit will be poured out on all: not just upon sons but also upon daughters; not just upon the young but also upon the old; not just upon the well-born but also upon servants; indeed, Joel prophesied, ‘upon all flesh.’
So how will we share this wonderful, if challenging, promise of Pentecost? Can we too allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us? Can we encourage one another to hear God speaking to us through our extraordinary range of human differences? Can we receive this gift God offers to us and share the exuberant joy and excitement of that first Christian Pentecost? What a difference that might make to our Church and our world! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Jo Inkpin, for Pentecost Sunday, 20 May 2018, Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Milton
This is part of what happened at that first Christian Pentecost we heard about in our first reading today. For we are told that:
‘the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each... Parthjans, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power’ - not one voice, all the same, but many, many voices, speaking in so many different tones.
No wonder, the report goes on:
‘All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?‘
There has been an in-built human tendency in history to believe that sameness is good and healthy, and difference is bad and destructive. Unity, in this way of thinking, has to mean uniformity. Some so-called ‘strong’ leaders often appeal to this instinct when they rally support by demanding that everything is ordered in such and such a way, whilst attacking and excluding others who are different. Biblically speaking, one of the greatest images of this is the Tower of Babel. That Tower was an astonishingly impressive edifice, built with the idea of reaching up and connecting to heaven. Yet what did God do with it, according to the story? God destroyed the Tower of Babel and scattered the peoples, giving them different languages. For the God of Jesus is a God of uniformity but a God of true unity which includes radical differences. As we see in that first Christian Pentecost. God seeks for us to sing in harmony not mere unison.
No doubt there are other things to say about both Pentecost and the story of Tower of Babel: about spiritual experiences and human pride for example. However, the story we hear from the Acts of the Apostles is not least surely intended to represent its opposite, revaluing our human differences as pathways through which God can work. Whereas, in the Tower of Babel, human beings try to climb up to God, at the Christian Pentecost God has not only come down to human beings, but, through the Holy Spirit, makes a dwelling place and flows out through each one of them. Whereas, in the Tower of Babel, the people of the world are scattered and divided by their different languages, cultures and life-styles, at the Christian Pentecost those very differences are transformed and become means of grace to all, bringing a much, much, deeper unity than could ever have been imagined.
What a message of hope and inspiration our Christian Pentecost should therefore be for all! In a world struggling to reconcile, and even value, our God-given human differences, our Faith encourages us to see that very human diversity as sources of grace and healing. Again, as we hear in today’s story of the first Christian Pentecost, this is the desire of God for us all. For, as Peter says, in response to those amazed by the diverse and exuberant outburst of spiritual tongues and blessings, it is not least a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel that God’s Spirit will be poured out on all: not just upon sons but also upon daughters; not just upon the young but also upon the old; not just upon the well-born but also upon servants; indeed, Joel prophesied, ‘upon all flesh.’
So how will we share this wonderful, if challenging, promise of Pentecost? Can we too allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us? Can we encourage one another to hear God speaking to us through our extraordinary range of human differences? Can we receive this gift God offers to us and share the exuberant joy and excitement of that first Christian Pentecost? What a difference that might make to our Church and our world! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Jo Inkpin, for Pentecost Sunday, 20 May 2018, Chapel of the Holy Spirit, Milton
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