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Spirit Language Psalm 29; John 3: 1 – 17 Many good story compositions begin with setting some details about characters or events, adding layers of conflict, and then allowing the story to unfold toward some resolution. Our Gospel passage this morning follows that traditional development of story. We are introduced to Nicodemus, and we are brought into the middle of his conversation with Jesus. The conflict, however, is not as much a conflict of opinions, or differences on a spectrum of belief. These men are speaking from two different worlds. It is as if one is speaking in Russian and the other is speaking Spanish. Or perhaps it could be said that one is doing arithmetic and the other is reading civics, or one is an artist and one is an engineer. The author of the Gospel of John thrives on setting up these types of conversations with Jesus. Very simplistically, the WORLD seems to be on a different plane or in a different stratosphere from Jesus. At first glance we could — and many have — jumped to the conclusion that there is a dualism between the world and the spirit; what we can touch and what we only feel — humanity and God. Perpetuating this dualism, however, is neither healthy nor faithful. As faithful people our lives are based in a relationship with God that it is not a dichotomy but a fluid affair that is constantly and indescribably being fed and therefore changing. There are those — many outside the church and unfortunately many inside as well — who cannot grasp the concept of the ever-changing relationship and ever-deepening possibilities we have with God. Getting stuck with our nursery school concepts of who God is and how God is working is the same dilemma ole' Nicodemus had with Jesus. Peter Gomes in The Good Book (San Francisco: Harper. 1996.) cites an example of this necessary fluidity, this ever-changing relationship we have with God. Portions of the American church in the past centuries have used the Bible to substantiate the practice of slavery. The cultures and times in which most of the Biblical writings were recorded lived comfortably with enslavement. And yet, as people in this country came to understand injustice and the blatant disservice to God’s world that racism presents, we also came to hear God’s leading in a different way. The scriptures did not change. Gomes writes: “No new translations have emerged to clarify textual issues. No hidden or lost manuscripts have been unearthed that would unfix long-settled opinion. No startling revelations external to the biblical text have been discovered with radical new information. What has changed, however, is the climate of interpretation, indeed the lenses with which we read the texts and tell the tales. The texts have not changed but we have, and the world with us.” (P. 99) Slavery and racism is, of course, only one issue in which we know that the Holy Spirit has worked overtime with us and will continue to, because we have such a long way to go. The Spirit of the living God calls us into active hearing and energetic responsiveness in a world that God continues to hold out hope of changing. One of our parishioners told me this week that her hearing was getting slower. What an appropriate and terrifying image! What she meant is that her hearing loss forces her to process the words of others before she can fully understand them. There is a lag thenin between the words coming from one person’s mouth and the understanding of the other person. Hearing requires work! I am here to tell you that hearing God takes an immense amount of work. It is far easier for us to THINK we know what God has said to us or to read what someone else thinks God has said to all of us than to do the work of listening and hearing and sorting through the possibilities of what God is saying to us. The wind (read Spirit of God) blows where IT chooses; not where WE choose. The wind blows how IT chooses; not how WE expect. The wind blows when IT chooses; not necessarily WHEN we demand. The conflict in our story line with God is that we want to do the choosing rather than allowing the spirit to choose. Coloring inside the lines was the admonition of my kindergarten teacher, and I am sure there are schools where this continues to be taught. Can we be thankful that Picasso (among many others) doesn’t seem to have been bound to my kindergarten teacher’s mantra? Grammatical correct-ness, rhyming words and a certain number of beats in a line obviously were discarded as necessities for poets years ago, and not only are we served by those newer art forms, but the Spirit is honored when creativity is let loose. Imagine where we would be — or not be — if all musicians kept to the forms of their teachers or the styles of their contemporaries. Just because I like Rachmaninoff more than Stravinsky does NOT mean that the Spirit of God is captured in one and not the other. Both of those men opened their lives to the rush of the Spirit, the energy of God, and the pulse of creativity that is far bigger than they. When that happens, we don’t get to plan the result. We cannot define the outcome. We cannot pretend to know where we are being led. Fundamental to this congregation's ethos is the appreciation that art forms are an expression of God's spirit. That's not a new concept for the church. The greatest periods in church history celebrated the interlocking of art and theology. Union Avenue has a unique and growing take on that linkage. By and large people who come into the midst of this congregation are enthused because we do not apologize for but, rather, clearly define divine activity through artistic expression. We easily can identify that artists are being fed by the Holy Spirit, and are creative beings who are led into incredible expressions of their work because of God. They are different today from which they were yesterday, and expect to be different tomorrow from today. That's the fluidity...the growing spiritual relationship…the reality that the spirit chooses where it will blow…where it will move…how it will move and when it will move, and artists are listening and hearing. IF that is true in the artistic world, if we as members and friends of Union Avenue Christian Church believe that the Spirit leads our artists, grows our artists, deepens our artists, then translate that concept back to our faith and where our witness will be and the church will find itself. God would have us to realize that the Spirit — the breath, the activity of God — is changing us and growing our faith every bit as that spirit leads an artist in expression. Nicodemus was hanging onto what he knew, what he had learned before, what his forbears had told him, which is certainly the foundation of one's faith. But it is NOT ENOUGH. A relationship with the living God means a relationship that will be moved, reformed, challenged, changed, grown, deepened because that is how the Spirit of God works. IF we believe this, we will be readying ourselves for new adventures, boundaries to be broken and challenges to be embraced. Easy? Never! Got it figured out? Not in this life! Think we can coast in our faith? God would not have it that way! God keeps that spirit blowing where God chooses, because there is always more to be unfolded in this creation. God keeps that spirit moving when God chooses, because there will always be more that God wants done. God keeps that spirit churning how God chooses, because we have a long way to go to live up to the possibilities God has in mind and heart. How do we know? Because God so loves this world, that God sent Jesus Christ to claim the world, to bring joy, redeeming love and forgiving power and thereby new life. The resolution to this story is not in answers that we will receive or in knowledge that will claim the day but in the love that God gives that keeps us growing and responding in relationship with the Spirit of God. SW |
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