Author: lakewooducc

Scripture: Mark 10:13-16
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
Summer sermons are based on topics requested by the congregation.

Several months ago, a woman friend and I went to hear the Florida Orchestra at Ruth Eckerd Hall on a Sunday evening. We thought the concert began at 8:00. We arrived at 7:30. Apparently the concert started at 7:30. As we arrived at the appropriate entrance to the auditorium, the doors were closed. Three women ushers were sitting on a bench near the door. One told us that the concert had begun, we would have to wait to enter. We could watch the monitor for the appropriate timing. Then she told us we could take a program and she indicated a stack on top of a tall retaining wall topped with a planter. We got our programs and waited. As we were waiting, two men came up to the same door, apparently also late. When they arrived, one of the women ushers who had been sitting on the bench chatting with the other ushers immediately got up, retrieved the stack of programs from atop the retaining wall, approached the two men, handed them programs and explained that they would have to wait to enter the concert hall. It took a few minutes to take in the blatant sexism of the situation and by then we were heading into the auditorium to find our seats.

A couple of weeks ago when I was visiting our daughter in Burlington, Massachusetts I read the local weekly paper. In it there was an announcement about a rally that had been held in Boston: “About two dozen legislators joined a variety of women’ rights groups for a rally ahead of Tuesday’s Labor and Workforce Development Committee hearing on the Act to Establish Pay Equity. The bill aims to eliminate the wage gap for women and people of color.” As I read this, I thought, It’s great that they are working on this here in Massachusetts. That would never happen in Florida – a big public rally, with 12 legislators, about equal pay for equal work. And then I thought, how do we let this go on?

Martin Luther King, Jr’s book comes to mind: Why We Can’t Wait.

How long do we let the sexism go on? How long do we tolerate the racism in this country? How long do we accept people suffering from hunger and homelessness? How long do we watch as people are cheated of their rights and their dignity? Decade after decade. Century after century. And we go on. Hardly worked up. Hardly loosing sleep.

Oh, but how annoyed we become when we have to wait in line for something. We are steaming over a long wait. How frustrated we become and aggravated waiting for something to download over a slow connection on the computer. And don’t you just love being put on hold when you call the cable company or the health insurance people? These things make us crazy. We become annoyed, aggravated, irritated, and fume. That’s before we even get to traffic tie ups and road rage.

So what about this sermon request about patience? My first response was that we don’t need more patience, we have too much patience. But we have patience with the wrong things. Kids come to school hungry because there is no food at home, oh well. But a kid taking too long to tie their shoes while we are trying to get out the door and we’re counting to 10 to try not to blow up. In addition, I want to mention that the sermon request specifically included the desire for patience with parenting to be addressed. First, I offer a disclaimer. I was not and am not a patient person or a patient parent. When we had two kids at home, and three kids at home, there was a lot of yelling. There’s still a lot of yelling. I don’t pretend or claim to be patient.

But I am thinking about Jesus’ gentle attitude toward children. The kids are annoying the disciples. We can imagine their attitude, bothersome things, children. We can’t have them disturbing the master. And yet Jesus welcomes the children. Yes, there are all kinds of symbolic and metaphorical meanings in this story but what does this image of Jesus welcoming the children say to us about patience and parenting? Jesus has no patience with adults who are taking advantage of people. He has no patience with greed. He has no patience with self serving. But he has all the time in the world – for children.

Take time. Sit down. Read a book. Look at the clouds. Be forgiving. Gentle. With children.

But be impatient, irritated, annoyed, and aggravated that there are children with no food to eat, children who can’t read, children targeted by companies as consumers, children made into billboards for brand names, children who are tied to a screen, children who are not safely cared for, who don’t know how to play outside, and who are made to witness countless acts of violence on the screen and in real life. These are things to fume about. This situation is reason to go ballistic. This should raise our blood pressure. This should make us want to yell.

I’m wondering – Why don’t we have more patience, especially with our children? What is so pressing, so important, so distracting and diverting that we aren’t more patient with our kids day to day? Well, parents are often working, working, working, and trying to keep up with household maintenance, chores, food, laundry, homework, etc. on top of paying jobs that may be demanding and time consuming. We live in a society in which the work expectations are incredibly high. Much higher, say, than is the case in Europe. In Europe the people have a shorter work week and longer vacation. And here in the US, people are often working more than one job to make ends meet, to have health insurance, etc. Economic need coupled with material desires fostered by advertising pressure parents to work, work, work. Kids want this. Kids want that. Thanks to the super effectiveness and ever presence of advertising – even in schools. All this work leaves less time for home life so things need to be done more quickly and efficiently leading to a lack of patience with children who dawdle, forget, take their time, get distracted, etc. Which is how children are and should be.

But there is another side to this. Were things so much better in former days when many mothers were stay at home moms? Was there less yelling? Was there more patience? I have asked some older people about that. It does not seem to be the case. That wasn’t a perfect scenario, either. Often fathers were impatient after coming home from stressful days at work. And some mothers were miserable staying at home and not being out making a contribution in the wider world. This stressed the family, too. The “Leave It to Beaver” world was not perfect, either.

This reminds us of something that is important for parenting, for patience, and for being the person we want to be and that is self care. When we take care of ourselves, we can be our best selves. To be good, we have to take care of ourselves. There may be many reasons why we may be short tempered, easily annoyed, and irritable. Maybe part of the problem is that we are not getting enough sleep, or the proper food, or needed physical activity, or engaging in activities that feed the soul, or we are not serving others. These things help us to be our best selves. It’s difficult to be patient if you are sleep deprived, surviving on caffeine, and overworked in a job you hate.

And while we are aware that good parenting, and good character, involve patience, we are in a culture that is obsessed with fast, immediate, and efficient. No matter how fast your computer is, no matter how fast you get your job done, things like character take time to form, build, and emerge. Cultivating the good, learning how to take care of ourselves, these things take time. To learn a skill or perfect an art takes time and practice. The same is true for perfecting character and becoming good. It takes time and effort. It doesn’t happen over night. To examine things, ourselves included, and understand who we are and who we are called to be and move in that direction takes time. We don’t want to devote the time needed to building character. We let ourselves get caught up in the whirlpool of day to day life and want immediate gratification.

In the story of the disciples and the children, we see that the disciples had their impatience misplaced. They were worried about the children bothering Jesus. Jesus let the children come. Took his time with them. They are worth our time and attention. They not only need us, but they teach us about the world as well. Have patience with children. There is much learning and growing to be done by all.

And we should be impatient with a society that values efficiency over relationships, money over fairness, productivity over parenting. 15.8 million children go to bed hungry in the richest country in human history, partly due to the gender wage gap, as it turns out. Now that is something to blow up about. Amen.

Scripture Lessons: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 and Romans 14:7-9
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
Summer sermons based on topics requested by the congregation.

Henry Pitney Van Dusen and Elizabeth Van Dusen led exciting, vibrant lives. Van Dusen was a Presbyterian clergy person who rose to become the president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He was instrumental in founding of the World Council of Churches. Van Dusen was a premier leader on the religious scene in mid 20th century America. The April 19, 1954 issue of TIME Magazine featured Van Dusen on the cover. In 1970, Van Dusen, suffered a severe stroke. Elizabeth Van Dusen suffered from debilitating arthritis. In 1975, they fulfilled a suicide pact they had made taking overdoses of sleeping pills to kill themselves. They left a letter for their three sons, relatives, and friends. It read:

To all friends and relations,

We hope that you will understand what we have done even though some of you will disapprove of it and some be disillusioned by it.

We have both had very full and satisfying lives. Pitney has worked hard and with great dedication for the church. I have had an adventurous and happy life. We have both had happy lives and our children have crowned this happiness.

But since Pitney had his stroke five years ago, we have not been able to do any of the things we want to do and were able to do, and my arthritis is much worse.

There are too many helpless old people who without modern medical care would have died, and we feel God would have allowed them to die when their time had come.

Nowadays it is difficult to die. We feel that this way we are taking will become more usual and acceptable as the years pass.

Of course the thought of our children and our grandchildren makes us sad, but we still feel that this is the best way and the right way to go. We are both increasingly weak and unwell and who would want to die in a nursing home.

We are not afraid to die.

We send you all our love and gratitude for your wonderful support and friendship.

[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20065057,00.html, “A Joint Suicide—and the Right to Choose a ‘Good Death’”]

The action of the Van Dusens caused a stir in 1975 and was covered in People Magazine. I am sure it would cause a stir today. While there has been some progress, I don’t think we have made the strides related to issues of death and dying that the Van Dusens were hoping for when they wrote, “We feel that this way we are taking will become more usual and acceptable as the years pass.” There has been much progress in Europe but euthanasia is not widely accepted in the US.

Medical science has catapulted forward. Bionic joints and limbs are no longer the stuff of TV. Diagnostic procedures scan the inner workings of our bodies and even our cells. The medications and treatments that are available seem nothing short of miraculous. Operations using scopes and robotics seem right out of a science fiction novel. The progress in medical science is beyond the imagination.

But the conversations about end of life issues, available treatments, and euthanasia have not kept pace with medical science and technology. Because someone can be kept alive does not mean that they want to be kept alive or should be kept alive. Ethics boards at hospitals and the courts are being kept very busy dealing with the situations that arise because there has not been a comprehensive societal conversation about the issues involved.

With the progress in medical science and the availability of treatment in hospitals and health care facilities, dealing with death has become more and more separated from daily life. It used to be your loved ones got old and died at home. Or got a disease and died in the bed at home attended by family, neighbors, and loved ones. Now often people die in the hospital or a health facility attended by staff who are virtual strangers to the patients and their families.

With the radical advances in healthcare, medical staff are oriented toward curing an illness, treating a condition, and prolonging life. There is the sense that when person dies, the medical profession has failed and they do not want to fail.

And the cynical side of me says that what’s driving medical care and health decisions today is not ethics or compassion but money. Follow the money and we can see why we have the system we do. Healthcare is one of the biggest industries in America. And the key players leave no stone unturned and are no more upstanding than the tycoons of the oil industry. Florida’s governor is a case in point. Money is the motivator behind much of what is done in the name of the healing arts.

Death and dying are big business. Death and dying are a scientific frontier. Death and dying are also matters of ethics and faith.

The beautiful verses from Ecclesiastes remind us that death is simply part of the natural order of the universe. It is built into the divine fabric of creation. Everything that is living will die. That means you. And that means me. Death is a natural part of life just as the sun rising and setting, the cycle of the seasons, and the tides. Part of our cycle is death. We are born. We die. Death is natural. It is as natural as being born.

The reading from Romans reminds us that we need to have no fear of living or dying, because either way, we are in God’s hands. God’s love is with us. All shall be well. And the epistle writer says this at a time when Christians were being persecuted for their faith. They may very well be killed for their beliefs. They’re reassured that they are in God’s hands, in life, in death, and in whatever lies beyond. Whatever your views on life after death, the Christian faith teaches that we have nothing to fear in death.

Yet we have become a society that fears death. The topic is distasteful. Like, don’t bring it up at dinner, for heaven’s sake. And we have come up with all kinds of euphemisms for it – passing, going to heaven, gone on. You can’t just say, “He died.” You have to say, “He passed.” “She’s gone on to her reward.” “She is no longer with us.” “He cashed out.” “She expired.” “He departed.” “He flatlined.” “She got her wings.” “He perished.” We can’t just say, “She died.” It’s almost antisocially gauche.

Our discomfort with death is also evident in our idolization of youthful appearance. We do all we can to preserve our youthful looks and physique. Our fixation on youth is prominently manifested in the skyrocketing business in cosmetic surgery. We don’t want to look old. We don’t want to feel old. Because getting old means being closer to death. Well, yes. That’s the way life works. From the moment we are born, we are moving in the direction of death. That’s life.

There it is, the universal outcome. The great leveler. We will all die. That we can be sure of. Not much else. So death is something that should be accepted and talked about. But we really don’t like having those conversations. For the most part, we don’t want to talk about death though we talk about everything else – just turn on a TV or laptop.

I suspect that part of our fear of death and discomfort with talking about death is rooted in our feelings about life. Are we living true? Do our lives have meaning and purpose? Do we feel valued? What is the quality of our relationships? I think our feelings about these kinds of issues influence our attitudes about death and talking about death. In my experience as a pastor, I have seen in numerous situations that people who are grounded and solid are much more comfortable talking about death. They want to have those conversations about end of life issues. They know it is important. Talking about death is just an extension of talking about life. It is a continuation of being who we are and expressing our values, morals, and faith. And, maybe most importantly, they know that such conversations are a gift to their families and loved ones. Making their wishes known about end of life issues greatly reduces the burden on loved ones making decisions in difficult circumstances. So how we deal with death and dying is often a reflection of how we live and look at life. If we are foundering in life, we may also find ourselves foundering around the decisions that inevitably accompany the process of dying which we all will face, one way or another.

We really do have many choices related to death and dying. There are decisions about what treatments to have or not to have. There are conversations about the cost, expense, and the financial implications of death and dying. There are issues to do with comfort and pain relief. There is what to do with the body. Cremation. Embalming and burial. Organ donation. Giving the body to science. There are decisions about feeding tubes, ventilators, and what to do when the body may function but the brain is essentially dead. There are considerations about quality of life versus quantity of life. And, there is the almost taboo topic – physician assisted suicide – which is now legal in 4 states, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Montana, with New Mexico in line to follow. In Oregon, the law is called the Death with Dignity Act.

Euthanasia, or choosing to end life, is not something that is new. Humans have used this approach with animals for eons. Of course we put an injured animal out of its misery. Of course we compassionately end the life of a pet rather than prolong its suffering. This kind of approach can be applicable to humans as well. People may choose to end their lives rather than live with prolonged suffering. The ancients supported this option: Plato was against it at first, but eventually changed his mind. Socrates made no objection to taking the hemlock. Seneca the Stoic said, “As I choose the ship in which I will sail and the house I will inhabit, so I will choose the death by which I leave life.”

There were also those in the ancient world that were against euthanasia. Pythagoras among them. He believed that we are “the chattels of God and without his command we have no right to make our escape.”

And, more recently, the Catholic Church has weighed in. In 1957, Pope Pius declared, “The removal of pain and consciousness by means of drugs is permitted by religion and morality to both doctor and patient, even if the use of drugs will shorten life.” [Euthanasia quotes from http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20065057,00.html, “A Joint Suicide—and the Right to Choose a ‘Good Death’”]

We live in an era of choices. We choose where to live. We choose where to go to school. We choose what to wear. We go into the grocery store and have a startling array of choices of things to eat. We choose what to do with our lives. We choose what to watch on TV. We choose what to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites. We choose our friends. We choose our entertainment. We choose our hobbies. Choices. Choices. Choices.

And part of the reason we have so many choices is that we believe that part of living with dignity is having choices. Dignity involves the ability to determine the course of our lives. Dignity is rooted in the right to self determination. This means making choices about our lives.

How do we bring dignity into conversations about death and dying?

Issues around death and dying are extremely personal. These decisions are grounded in our experience, our personality, our character, our ethnicity, our values, and our faith. Death with dignity implies having choices, legal choices, that are respected by the medical establishment as well as by the courts. If you don’t want to pursue physician assisted suicide, then you should not have to. There should be no pressure to do so. But if you do want to pursue that path, it should be open to you, legally and with the sanction of the medical profession. The same is true of the many, many other facets of the care available as life ebbs. These are things to be talked about. Sorted out. Investigated. Prayed over. And our feelings about death and dying may very well change over the course of our lives and as we get nearer the end. And we should expect that and continue to be in conversation.

There are so many issues and options to be considered and the situation will get even more complex as medical science and biology continue to advance. Yet we can still be reticent to talk about these things.

Interestingly, the city of La Crosse, Wisconsin decided that people needed to be talking about end of life issues. And through an intentional process of community education over a period of years it has worked. Here’s the story. In 1991, 15% of the population of La Crosse, WI had some kind of advanced care planning. A program was put in place with the goal of increasing the percentage to 50%. As we learn, that goal was far exceeded.

In 1998 the first La Crosse Advance Directive Study was published. While it was not designed to be an evaluation of the education program, it seemed to have had a profound impact on the use of advance directives. In a review of 540 medical charts, the number of patients who had died with advance directives in place had increased from 15 to 85 percent. When the LCAD study was replicated ten years later [2008], advance directive use had risen to 90 percent.

Today, GHS [Gundersen Health System] offers individualized advance care planning in three stages: First Steps ACP is for healthy adults 55 and over; Next Steps ACP is for patients with chronic, progressive illness; and Last Steps ACP is for frail elderly patients or those close to the last year of life.

[“Advance care planning in La Crosse, Wisconsin,” The Christian Century, Nov 3, 2014 by Jennifer L. Hollis]

The program is called Respecting Choices. Very fitting!

Medicare might not want to pay for you to discuss end of life issues with your doctor, but in the church, we believe that this is very important. We went through a season in the life of this church recently when on a monthly basis one of the chaplains from the congregation was available to work with people doing the paperwork about end of life options and choices. If you would like to do this, we can arrange for one of the chaplains to help you. It is very important for you. It is also a gift to your family and loved ones.

People die every day in ways that are awful. Unethical. Unjustified. Undignified. People die of hunger. People die of poverty and lack of access to medical care, medications, and proper nutrition. This happens in our communities, not just in Africa or some foreign land. People die at the hands of drunk drivers. Unarmed people are killed by police. Civilians are killed in war and violence. People die of cancer caused by pesticides or toxic chemicals or radiation. Things they had no control over. People are killed when the death penalty is implemented. There are all kinds of ways that we are dying, day in and day out, that do not involve dignity. That do not respect the sacredness of human life. That do not involve a full range of ethical choices.

While this is the case, there is still much that we can do to bring dignity to death. We bring dignity to death when we intentionally consider the options that we do have. We can face death with dignity when we have considered our lives and values and faith and seek to approach death in a manner consistent with how we have lived. We bring dignity to death when we make choices ourselves, on our terms, and respect the choices of others. There is more than one right way to die with dignity. What might be right for you may not be right for someone else. We face death with dignity when we are humble and reverent. And, we face death with dignity when we are living our lives fully, abundantly, in service to others and the good of the world.

The Van Dusens, who were mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, prepared for their death, with dignity, on their own terms, with careful intentionality, and grounded in their values and beliefs. They ended the letter to their loved ones saying:

We are not afraid to die.

We send you all our love and gratitude for your wonderful support and friendship.

‘O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world
Have mercy upon us

O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world
Grant us thy peace.’

Sincerely, Elizabeth B. Van Dusen Henry P. Van Dusen

May we live with dignity and die with dignity. May we see to it that everyone may live with dignity and die with dignity. May God have mercy upon us – for our choices, for avoiding choices, and for dictating the choices of others. And may all know God’s peace. Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:16-20
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
Summer sermons based on topics requested by the congregation

The Holy Spirit has been described as “the most neglected doctrine of the Christian faith.” [A Handbook of Christian Theology, Arthur Cohen and Marvin Halverson, eds. p.170] I had never thought about it that way. But I realized that I would probably find it a lot easier to talk about the doctrine of God, or doctrine around Jesus as Christ, or doctrine around the Trinity as a whole, than just the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. So, I consider myself guilty of just such neglect. Then, I wondered, why? And, I can only speak for myself, but here I will make my disclaimer and declare my prejudice. I think of people who do a lot of talking about the Holy Spirit as people who do not place as much value on reason and logic as I do. I associate heavy reliance on the Holy Spirit with anti intellectualism. Like the case of Alani, a child in Brazil. Her father became convinced that she had healing powers, and when she was just 51 days old, he placed her infant hand on the distended stomach of a woman, and claims that it immediately deflated. That, apparently, was her first healing. [The Christian Century, 7/8/15] That’s the kind of story I associate with people who are obsessed with the Holy Spirit. This is my bias having grown up in a setting that was very religious but also very intellectual. So, now you know my prejudice in this discussion.

I will also admit that having done more investigating into the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I continue to have reservations about giving this doctrine more attention.

We first meet what later becomes referred to as the Holy Spirit right up front at the beginning of the Bible. The word for Spirit is also used for breath and wind. At the beginning of Genesis, the Spirit of the creator God is portrayed brooding over the waters of creation. Later references to the Spirit as Wisdom, Sophia, are also connected with creation. So the Holy Spirit is associated with the Spirit of Yahweh present at creation, the life force, animating the clay of the earth; breathing life into creation. The Spirit is also the life force that reanimates the dry bones in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel. So the Holy Spirit is associated with the life force.

In the Hebrew Bible, there continue to be references to the Spirit of Yahweh. It is the power and presence of the preeminent God of the Jews. The Spirit leads the people. It teaches them. And it causes people to do things that carry out God’s will in the world. Things that are bold, unpredictable, and perhaps superhuman. Here’s an example involving Samson, of Samson and Delilah, from the book of Judges: “Then Samson went down with this father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. The spirit of God rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a young goat. . . .” [Judges 14:5-6] That’s the kind of thing the Spirit of Yahweh is famous for.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Spirit is also associated with anointing for a particular role or office. Kings and priests are thought to be blessed with the Spirit of God. Prophets are also considered to be Spirit-driven, called by God, and the mouthpiece of God to the wider society, particularly speaking truth to power. These prophets challenged the authority of kings and rulers calling them to account on behalf of God. These prophets were power disrupters and were put in a dangerous situation. Many were killed for being the voice of God. In Micah, the prophet tells us, “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of God, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” [Micah 3:8]

As we mentioned, the Spirit is personified in the Hebrew scriptures, in the figure of Wisdom, Sophia, featured in the book of Proverbs. Wisdom is associated with the process of the creation of the universe. She stands on the street corner, teaching the people. She functions as a prophet, calling the people to the right path. With a feminine figure associated with the Spirit of God, there are both male and female aspects to God. God is presented in a way that would have fit into a cultural setting of polytheism with many female divinities. An early Christian presentation of the Trinity featured God, the logos (the word expressed in Jesus Christ), and Sophia (the female wisdom figure). So the portrayal of Spirit in the Hebrew tradition is rich and varied with a strong feminine aspect.

In the Hebrew Bible, we see the Spirit as a powerful force in the world, working in people and situations to see that the will of God is done. It is the life force. It teaches people and leads people and empowers people. It is a force for justice. It may put people into a trance or an ecstatic state. It may cause people to dance, sing, and praise. It is associated with bold, unpredictable, happenings. So the Spirit of God was not just something active in the world, in creation, but it is also active and present in the lives of people, influencing their behaviors.

In the New Testament, we see this happen most fully in the life of Jesus. We think of Jesus as the model of a life that expresses the full indwelling of the Spirit of God. This idea begins with the story of the annunciation of Mary, when she is told that she will give birth to a child and this will come to pass as the work of the Holy Spirit. God is making something happen in this child that is to be born. So, even before he is born, we are told that Jesus’ life will be intimately connected with the Spirit of God. This is affirmed by the Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, and John the Baptizer, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, confirm the identity of Jesus as the bringer of God’s salvation to the world.

We see the Spirit again in Jesus’ life in the story of his baptism. We are told that the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove at his baptism. The dove was a symbol for the goddess of love, Aphrodite, and the bird was a common image for female deities in Near Eastern religions. [See She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse by Elizabeth A. Johnson] Like a ruler or person with authority, Jesus receives the Spirit. Like a prophet, Jesus is given the Spirit to be a mouthpiece for God. And the Spirit immediately drives him out into the wilderness to be confronted with evil and to be tempered and prepared for his ministry.

This prophetic image of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, is vivid in the story in the gospel of Luke of Jesus going to his hometown synagogue and reading the lesson for the day from the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of God is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor.” [Luke 4:18-19] In the ministry of Jesus, it is by the Spirit that demons are cast out, and people are delivered from sin and death. Sometimes in scripture, we see the Spirit take possession of people for a limited time. But in Jesus, we see the full, ongoing indwelling of God’s Spirit.

Then we have the stories in the New Testament that tell of the Spirit being given to the community of followers of Jesus. Jesus is killed and his Spirit is given to his followers to continue his mission for God. In the gospel of John, we hear of Jesus breathing upon the disciples declaring, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” An echo of the creation story, creating the church, a new beginning. In the Pentecost story from Acts, we hear of the Spirit of God present as flame and wind coming upon the followers of Jesus. The prophet Joel is referenced in the Pentecost story – God’s Spirit is poured out upon all flesh. Young and old, women and men. All see visions and dream dreams.

In the book of Acts, we see the followers of Jesus led by the Spirit to spread the life giving message of God’s love beyond just the Jewish community to the world as a whole. We heard this call in the Great Commission that was read from Matthew this morning. The Jesus community goes into the world. It reaches out with an extravagant welcome to all. The Spirit leads the people to ethnic groups, other communities, and religions that have been enemies of the Jews. The work of the Spirit overcoming division and creating diverse community is very exciting in the early church. People are bold and courageous, reaching out well beyond their comfort zones, embracing new understandings and radical departures from former beliefs all in the interests of spreading divine universal love. Life in the Spirit, as the Christian life was called, was a new life for the believer in egalitarian community. The Spirit is challenging, guiding, and liberating. It is very exciting. Love in action. This unpredictability, dynamism, and wildness of the Spirit is captured in the Celtic image of the Spirit as a wild goose. Again, a bird image, a cross religious symbol of the divine.

But as the church becomes more of an institution, as hierarchy and homogeneity are imposed to solidify the identity and control of the church, it seems like the Holy Spirit becomes coopted to fulfill the agenda of the human church rather than the agenda of the universal God. Yes, I know, these agendas should be the same, but we all know that often they are not. As the church emerged, there was power to protect and political interests to appease. So the Holy Spirit was put into service.

Christians were baptized with water and the Spirit. This could only be done by countenanced church leaders with the proper authority. So, now the Holy Spirit could only come to people who were baptized, through the leadership of the church. And thus the Spirit was only available to Christians. Those of other religions did not have the Divine Spirit. They were not valued and respected because they did not have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was also defined and confined by its incorporation into the Trinity. This doctrine which emerged in the first few centuries of the church was fraught with controversy and was then concretized forever and ever, amen. There were those who saw the Trinity as God, Logos (word), and Sophia (wisdom). There were those who believed the son and Spirit came from God. Others believed the Spirit issued forth from God only, not from the son. This is one of the root causes of the split between the eastern and the western expressions of Christianity. Was there submission within the Trinity? Or were the three parts completely equal? These were topics of fierce debate as Christianity struggled to solidify its identity and its power. So, in our stream of Christianity, we basically got an all male, all equal Trinity. Three aspects of one God. And a hierarchical, patriarchal church.

The Holy Spirit now did the bidding of the church, basically, in the name of God. In some ways, it seems as if the Holy Spirit went from being a free agent of a mysterious God to the lackey of an institution. Calcified in a doctrine. A bird in a cage. No longer disrupting power, no longer universal and inclusive, but blessing certain human power arrangements and those they favor.

My spouse, Jeff, teaches at a Catholic High School. We see the well-intended domestication of the Holy Spirit in a cheer that was led by the school chaplain at an opening assembly. The chaplain led, “Seniors, who loves you most?” And the students cheered back, “The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!” And it went on from there, class by class, setting the tone, reminding the students of their spiritual roots and the core values of the school. Not a bad thing.

But are they thinking about the Spirit calling the students to challenge the power arrangements of society? Or calling the young people to confront their leaders and those in authority even in the school? Are they thinking about the kids being called to serve in situations, beyond the military, that might prove fatal? Do they think about asking these young people to be led by a force that, as we read in the gospel of John, “blows where it wills”? About submitting themselves to a force that leaves them no control? I don’t think the chaplain thinks he is promoting rebellious radicalism. Yet that’s what the Holy Spirit used to be all about. . .

In his poem, “Spiritus,” Steve Turner beautifully shares the contradictions in the common conceptions of the Holy Spirit:

I used to think of you
as a symphony
neatly structured,
full of no surprises.
Now I see you as
a saxophone solo
blowing wildly
into the night,
a tongue of fire,
flicking in unrepeated patterns.

[Steve Turner, in Resources for Preaching and Worship Year B, compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, p. 151]

We are left thinking about the possibility of the Holy Spirit being liberated from the imprisonment imposed by the doctrine of the church. Can we think of the Holy Spirit in new ways? Actually, maybe in old ways? Can we think of the Holy Spirit unleashed to heal the pain of the Earth? Can we conceive of the Spirit poured out upon all flesh, not just some flesh? Can we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit empowering bold actions which challenge the divides of our day? Can we receive the Holy Spirit breathing new life into the church, the human family, and creation? Do we have the courage and the freedom?

Considering the domestication and containment of the concept of the Holy Spirit, maybe it is better to simply neglect the doctrine of the Holy Spirit so that Spirit may be redeemed. Amen.

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