The following sermon was preached by Dr Rogate Mshana who is in charge of the World Council of Churches' work on economic justice.
The Holy Spirit Strengthens Us[1]
Pentecost Worship: Ecumenical Centre, 13.05.08
Rogate R. Mshana
The Hebrew Bible calls the Spirit the “ruach”, the female-motherly power alive in wild storms and gentle breezes, the breath of life and therefore - incarnated in Jesus - the true image of creative, unremitting love. This dimension of the spirit enables us to connect the cosmic, the personal and the social – that is all of God’s Creation. Therefore the Holy Spirit is clearly the power of all that lives. It is creative energy, breath, air, wind and tempest.
I believe that women understand better than men the power of the Holy Spirit, because they are in themselves an embodiment of God’s Creation, from whom by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born. When my non-Christian neighbour milks a cow early in the morning she always places the firsAfficher toutt drops of milk into her mouth and then spits this into the sky in the four directions - North, South, East and West - to thank the Spirit or the creator for the blessing of life that she finds in the milk. I call this the Cosmic Spirit.
When the woman in the Bible (as recorded by St. Mathew in chapter 9) craved for the healing Spirit in Jesus, she touched Christ’s garment and Jesus realized the power of his spirit moving from him to her. This I call the healing Spirit. This is the same Spirit the churches called out to in Canberra in 1991 and in Athens 2005, “Come Holy, Spirit, Heal and Reconcile the World”.
It is this same Spirit that enabled the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles to share with each other what they had - each according to their needs - and punished those who did not share. I call this the Spirit of a sustainable community resolving inequality.
This is the same Spirit inherent in the Holy Communion. This is the same Spirit which prompts an Indian woman to apologize to the tree for taking a lemon fruit during the night because guests have come and the tree is expected to sleep without disturbance. Or when my mother prays after planting beans to ask for the creative germinating power from God. I call this the Spirit of all living things. It is the same Spirit which prompts women in the Amazon to embrace trees and the Cochabamba people struggling against privatization of water to engage in active non-violent resistance. I call this the Spirit of respecting common goods. It is the same spirit that leads Bishop Desmond Tutu to initiate the Peace and Reconciliation Commission as a solution to the legacy of apartheid. This I call the Spirit of Reconciliation.
The Holy Spirit is God’s creative and transforming power encompassing all creation and is not confined to Christians only.
As Christians we affirm the Holy Spirit’s existence in the Apostles Creed and its affirmation of the virgin Birth of Jesus. In other words, the DNA of Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit. So when we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we receive the Holy Spirit which is cosmic, personal and social. Through baptism the Holy Spirit empowers us to see more clearly the world around us and we can use our minds in ways that exceed our human capacity. The truth is revealed in us because the Holy Spirit is the truth.
In John 14:15-18, shortly before his death, Jesus characterizes the Holy Spirit to his disciples as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus Christ also describes the Holy Spirit as “advocate” – also as the one who “strengthens,” and who “fortifies” in John 14: 26.
What then are the fruits of the Spirit which will enable us to discern the presence of the Holy Sprit with us? The fruit of the Spirit is revealed in Love - agape , joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23).
The coming of the Holy Spirit to earth on that day of Pentecost had a powerful effect on the disciples. The fearful intimidated disciples, who met together behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, now felt free to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the despised and hated Nazarene. And it was not merely a passing phase of momentary enthusiasm. The sober preaching of Peter in Acts 2 and the testimony of the rest of the early Christians shows how deeply rooted the Spirit’s influence was. She now dwelt in them and armed those who were in themselves weak beings with divine healing power.
They went out from the closed upper room and spoke about the love of Christ and acted out that love. Their listeners also sensed this power. The words they heard penetrated into their hearts and awakened their consciences. There was hope for the people. They obeyed the disciple’s instructions, turned to God, believed the Gospel and received the Holy Spirit themselves. We are told that 3000 of them were baptized that day.
The Holy Spirit continues to demonstrate that love of Jesus till today. To the present day she has been working through the churches to touch the lives of the vulnerable and marginalized in our countries.
What is the Holy Spirit in Christ calling on us who receive her power to do?
Essentially we are called to be bold and not submit to intimidation and fear. We are told to get out of our protective upper rooms and move down to the people. The Holy Spirit is the active force of God and helps us to dispel fear when we are filled with it. The kind of task we are called to do with the help of the Holy Spirit is what Jesus said, Luke 4: 18-19. “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors and that the time of Lord’s favour is near”.
This is what Jesus commissions us to do. Today we have a severe ecological challenge due to unsustainable production and unsustainable patterns of growth which have been pushed by both capitalism and communism. Powerful nations wage imperialistic wars to control resources; the powerful exploit small farmers, fisher folk, women and unemployed youth. The powerful usurp, occupy and destroy lands of Indigenous Peoples. Corporate corruption is rampant around the world.
The big powers point fingers at each other over exploitation of resources in Africa (the new repartitioning of Africa). China, India and Brazil want to be at the capitalists’ table as new members to share in the spoils of natural resources, trade and finance. Meanwhile, Western voices are arguing that the populous China’s thirst for oil and other African resources threatens their interests in an increasingly competitive market. A greedy business community is allowed to speculate on finance, oil, commodity and food prices. The gap between the rich and the poor widens fast, threatening peace. But these are not raised as problems because the liberalized market is like a religion. Today corporations control more than 72 % of the global trade and continue to plunder in Africa, Asia and Latin America causing an ecological debt, destroying people’s livelihoods with playing around with food prices. Segregation and xenophobia have taken a new face in migration. Human trafficking that targets women and children is on the increase.
In all these issues, I am afraid, many of our churches have not been bold enough to point out to the main culprits because, I believe, there is some intimidation by those who finance the life of the churches themselves and the churches are fearful of the powerful governments or corporations who are their donors.
In a claim to use language that includes all, the churches avoid pointing to who the real culprits are! We refuse to touch the roots of the problems by making vague statements and generalizations that the churches take refuge in. We allow the theology of cynicism to destroy what the ecumenical movement has achieved over the last 60 years.
Indeed we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to break us out of our fear-filled and closed upper rooms. Only a few church leaders have had the courage and personal fortitude to boldly confront the earthly empires today. I am afraid. Members of the ecumenical family prefer to focus on internal power struggles turning against each other. There is a tendency to marginalize those who are critical and we give them labels that discredit them and put them down.
This ecumenical family lives in fear yet we had the Holy Spirit with us when we prayed in Porto Alegre - God in Your Grace, Transform the World. We have prayed together for the healing power of God in the Holy Spirit when we gathered in Athens, in Accra, in Winnipeg in Sibiu, in Nairobi and in many church gatherings around the world. Our statements continue to remain brave words on paper. We need more actions inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Like the disciples let us pray - Come Holy Spirit, come and energize us, break us out of our fear. Let us be bolder than what we have been. The main fruits of the Holy Spirit are Faith, Hope and Love. The most delicious fruit of all is LOVE for Love is never satisfied with injustice but rejoices when the truth wins! May the Holy Spirit continue to transform us and the world so that all may have life and life in abundance?
Amen
The Holy Spirit Strengthens Us[1]
Pentecost Worship: Ecumenical Centre, 13.05.08
Rogate R. Mshana
The Hebrew Bible calls the Spirit the “ruach”, the female-motherly power alive in wild storms and gentle breezes, the breath of life and therefore - incarnated in Jesus - the true image of creative, unremitting love. This dimension of the spirit enables us to connect the cosmic, the personal and the social – that is all of God’s Creation. Therefore the Holy Spirit is clearly the power of all that lives. It is creative energy, breath, air, wind and tempest.
I believe that women understand better than men the power of the Holy Spirit, because they are in themselves an embodiment of God’s Creation, from whom by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born. When my non-Christian neighbour milks a cow early in the morning she always places the firsAfficher toutt drops of milk into her mouth and then spits this into the sky in the four directions - North, South, East and West - to thank the Spirit or the creator for the blessing of life that she finds in the milk. I call this the Cosmic Spirit.
When the woman in the Bible (as recorded by St. Mathew in chapter 9) craved for the healing Spirit in Jesus, she touched Christ’s garment and Jesus realized the power of his spirit moving from him to her. This I call the healing Spirit. This is the same Spirit the churches called out to in Canberra in 1991 and in Athens 2005, “Come Holy, Spirit, Heal and Reconcile the World”.
It is this same Spirit that enabled the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles to share with each other what they had - each according to their needs - and punished those who did not share. I call this the Spirit of a sustainable community resolving inequality.
This is the same Spirit inherent in the Holy Communion. This is the same Spirit which prompts an Indian woman to apologize to the tree for taking a lemon fruit during the night because guests have come and the tree is expected to sleep without disturbance. Or when my mother prays after planting beans to ask for the creative germinating power from God. I call this the Spirit of all living things. It is the same Spirit which prompts women in the Amazon to embrace trees and the Cochabamba people struggling against privatization of water to engage in active non-violent resistance. I call this the Spirit of respecting common goods. It is the same spirit that leads Bishop Desmond Tutu to initiate the Peace and Reconciliation Commission as a solution to the legacy of apartheid. This I call the Spirit of Reconciliation.
The Holy Spirit is God’s creative and transforming power encompassing all creation and is not confined to Christians only.
As Christians we affirm the Holy Spirit’s existence in the Apostles Creed and its affirmation of the virgin Birth of Jesus. In other words, the DNA of Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit. So when we are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit we receive the Holy Spirit which is cosmic, personal and social. Through baptism the Holy Spirit empowers us to see more clearly the world around us and we can use our minds in ways that exceed our human capacity. The truth is revealed in us because the Holy Spirit is the truth.
In John 14:15-18, shortly before his death, Jesus characterizes the Holy Spirit to his disciples as the Spirit of Truth. Jesus Christ also describes the Holy Spirit as “advocate” – also as the one who “strengthens,” and who “fortifies” in John 14: 26.
What then are the fruits of the Spirit which will enable us to discern the presence of the Holy Sprit with us? The fruit of the Spirit is revealed in Love - agape , joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23).
The coming of the Holy Spirit to earth on that day of Pentecost had a powerful effect on the disciples. The fearful intimidated disciples, who met together behind closed doors for fear of the Jews, now felt free to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the despised and hated Nazarene. And it was not merely a passing phase of momentary enthusiasm. The sober preaching of Peter in Acts 2 and the testimony of the rest of the early Christians shows how deeply rooted the Spirit’s influence was. She now dwelt in them and armed those who were in themselves weak beings with divine healing power.
They went out from the closed upper room and spoke about the love of Christ and acted out that love. Their listeners also sensed this power. The words they heard penetrated into their hearts and awakened their consciences. There was hope for the people. They obeyed the disciple’s instructions, turned to God, believed the Gospel and received the Holy Spirit themselves. We are told that 3000 of them were baptized that day.
The Holy Spirit continues to demonstrate that love of Jesus till today. To the present day she has been working through the churches to touch the lives of the vulnerable and marginalized in our countries.
What is the Holy Spirit in Christ calling on us who receive her power to do?
Essentially we are called to be bold and not submit to intimidation and fear. We are told to get out of our protective upper rooms and move down to the people. The Holy Spirit is the active force of God and helps us to dispel fear when we are filled with it. The kind of task we are called to do with the help of the Holy Spirit is what Jesus said, Luke 4: 18-19. “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors and that the time of Lord’s favour is near”.
This is what Jesus commissions us to do. Today we have a severe ecological challenge due to unsustainable production and unsustainable patterns of growth which have been pushed by both capitalism and communism. Powerful nations wage imperialistic wars to control resources; the powerful exploit small farmers, fisher folk, women and unemployed youth. The powerful usurp, occupy and destroy lands of Indigenous Peoples. Corporate corruption is rampant around the world.
The big powers point fingers at each other over exploitation of resources in Africa (the new repartitioning of Africa). China, India and Brazil want to be at the capitalists’ table as new members to share in the spoils of natural resources, trade and finance. Meanwhile, Western voices are arguing that the populous China’s thirst for oil and other African resources threatens their interests in an increasingly competitive market. A greedy business community is allowed to speculate on finance, oil, commodity and food prices. The gap between the rich and the poor widens fast, threatening peace. But these are not raised as problems because the liberalized market is like a religion. Today corporations control more than 72 % of the global trade and continue to plunder in Africa, Asia and Latin America causing an ecological debt, destroying people’s livelihoods with playing around with food prices. Segregation and xenophobia have taken a new face in migration. Human trafficking that targets women and children is on the increase.
In all these issues, I am afraid, many of our churches have not been bold enough to point out to the main culprits because, I believe, there is some intimidation by those who finance the life of the churches themselves and the churches are fearful of the powerful governments or corporations who are their donors.
In a claim to use language that includes all, the churches avoid pointing to who the real culprits are! We refuse to touch the roots of the problems by making vague statements and generalizations that the churches take refuge in. We allow the theology of cynicism to destroy what the ecumenical movement has achieved over the last 60 years.
Indeed we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to break us out of our fear-filled and closed upper rooms. Only a few church leaders have had the courage and personal fortitude to boldly confront the earthly empires today. I am afraid. Members of the ecumenical family prefer to focus on internal power struggles turning against each other. There is a tendency to marginalize those who are critical and we give them labels that discredit them and put them down.
This ecumenical family lives in fear yet we had the Holy Spirit with us when we prayed in Porto Alegre - God in Your Grace, Transform the World. We have prayed together for the healing power of God in the Holy Spirit when we gathered in Athens, in Accra, in Winnipeg in Sibiu, in Nairobi and in many church gatherings around the world. Our statements continue to remain brave words on paper. We need more actions inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Like the disciples let us pray - Come Holy Spirit, come and energize us, break us out of our fear. Let us be bolder than what we have been. The main fruits of the Holy Spirit are Faith, Hope and Love. The most delicious fruit of all is LOVE for Love is never satisfied with injustice but rejoices when the truth wins! May the Holy Spirit continue to transform us and the world so that all may have life and life in abundance?
Amen
[1] In my attempt to understand a subject as the Holy Spirit, I was inspired by Dr. Geiko Mueller-Fahrenholz’s analysis in his book God’s Spirit Transforming a World in Crisis.
Copyright (c) Rogate Mshana/WCC
0 Comments:
Post a Comment