Listen.
What
do you hear? Can you hear the sound of the Spirit
moving in our midst?
Moving
in the midst of men and women, young and old, people gathered together from
diverse countries and cultures? Each with their own God-breathed vision and
dream of what we long to see birthed in our midst? Visions and dreams that, on
the surface, can seem to pull in different directions. One comes in search of
breathing space, a precious retreat in order to return to demanding families
and workplaces refreshed, renewed; another, in search of human connection, an
oasis in a desert of disconnection from our neighbours. One comes looking for
us to be stretched beyond our comfort zones; another, looking for the comfort
of the familiar. To borrow a Pentecost-al image, we come from different places
and speak different native tongues, or first languages.
Listen,
again. What do you hear? Can we hear one
another? Or are we so excited to share our
vision, our dream, that we drown one
another out?
I
want to suggest that the primary work of the congregation is to
listen. To attend carefully to God’s voice. To listen deeply to one
another, in order to hear what we are really saying when we say what we think
we are saying. Hear, O Israel…
In
our Gospel reading today, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, as our Advocate, ‘will
prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin,
because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to
the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of
the world has been condemned.’ (John
16:8-10) What does that even mean? And how might it help us to hear
one another?
Firstly,
sin. The world says that sin needs to be
punished – and so usually encourages us to believe that ‘I am not a sinner’
or, at the least, ‘I am more sinned against than sinning’ (though sometimes,
when we are vulnerable, tells us instead that we are the worst of sinners and
deserve punishment). The world says, ‘Your actions have made me feel smaller,
in relation to you; and so I must counter-act to make you smaller, in order to
redress the balance.’ But the world is wrong. Jesus says, sin needs to be forgiven. Only those who recognise themselves as
sinners can receive the forgiveness that is in him.
Sin;
then, righteousness. The world says, ‘I justify my actions, I determine that I
am in the right’ – and, by extension, whether you are in the right or in the
wrong. Jesus says, I do not need to get
my own way for the Father to be glorified. Being in right relationship with
others flows from going to our Father, day by day, in the hidden place no one
else sees, not the public arena. Are we doing that?
Sin;
righteousness; and lastly, judgement. The world says, ‘Who is God to judge me?’
or, perhaps, ‘God judges in my favour, and against you.’ Jesus says, who is the one who has usurped humanity’s
position under God as ruler of this world to judge you? For the Father sent
the Son into the world not to condemn but to save; and the Father and the Son
have sent the Spirit into the world, poured out on all flesh, as our Advocate.
As Paul also writes, God is for us, corporately,
and nothing can now separate us from God’s love (Romans 8).
When
the Spirit comes, the perspective that I must pursue my vision at all costs is
proved wrong. Instead, we find ourselves speaking in new languages – in the
native tongues of others. We discover vocabularies of praise we had not known;
and we come to recognise that our own native vocabulary of praise is inadequate
for enabling others to join in. And in this encounter – which is nothing less than a sign and wonder revealing that God is in
our midst – we discover that there is unity in our diversity, and that God
is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.
Look
around.
What
do you see? A company of sinners, come in need of forgiveness? Sisters and
brothers, beloved children of God? Those for whom the Spirit advocates? If we
can see these things, as we are gathered together in this place, then our
visions and dreams are being woven together, to the glory of God.
Come,
Holy Spirit!
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