Following the Spirit

Gospel: John 3: 1-8

In today's Gospel portion Jesus states that those born from above recognize the presence of the Spirit and follow where the Spirit urges them to go.  Like the wind, we can hear its sound, but we do not know from where it comes and we do not know where it goes.  We do not even know for certain where the Spirit is moving us entirely.  The life of the Spirit and for those guided by it are ones of complete and utter trust and surrender to its promptings.  

We must beware of those who will claim to know definitively where the Spirit is leading and definitively where it arose in the world.  Such claims arise from all sorts of theological places and camps.  Not surprisingly, they often are aligned with political movements and interpretations of the Gospel that seek only to exploit it in order to maintain and expand political power, influence, and wealth.  These spirits are to be avoided and cast back into the depths of hell from which they arise.

Over the next six weeks the Church has us enter into an extended meditation on the Spirit of God in order that we might listen for its voice in our lives so that we might be guided by it.  It is the Spirit of peace and joy, the spirit of patience and kindness.  It is not the spirit of war and vitriol, nor animosity or self-interest.  In these weeks leading to the great feast of Pentecost, let us seek to be led by the Spirit of God and to invite others to seek that Spirit of peace and joy as well.  Come Holy Spirit!

Thomas and Us

Gospel: John 20: 19-31

Thomas gets an unfortunate raw deal from the tradition because of this Gospel story.  Yes, he doubts even when the other apostles have stated they have seen the risen Lord.  However, if any of the other men had been in his place, the evidence suggests that they likely would be just as skeptical as Thomas had been.  No doubt this fact partially explains the gentleness with which Jesus employs in his interaction with Thomas in this scene.

Lest we judge Thomas in our smugness, by now we should realize that the Gospels are not designed as apologetic texts.  They are, rather, a vehicle for our own examination of our life.  We have been like the disciples and Pharisees throughout the Gospels in our own lives.  We have doubted, denied, betrayed, judged others, excluded others from access to Jesus, argued over who is more important, and everything else we see in disciples, Pharisees, and all others who interact with Jesus. 

The challenge of the Gospels is in recognizing ourselves in these various failures, and then responding to that awareness in the appropriate way.  Will we be like Peter or Thomas, weeping over our sins, or saying "My Lord and my God!" Or will we be hard of heart and insist there is nothing within us that needs change or reform, that it is others who need to change?  The Pharisee reads to find proof texts to justify themselves.  The authentic disciple seeks to know themselves and the Lord more clearly. 

The Synodal Way

Gospel: Mark 16: 9-15

Today's Gospel portion summarizes the various failures of the apostolic band in their disbelief.  It recounts their failure in believing the women, as well as the two men of Emmaus.  The passage notes how Jesus rebuked them severely for their refusal to listen to others in their experience of the risen Jesus.  We might surmise that these men may have refused to believe because they could not accept that Jesus would appear to these others and not to them.

In our own day we find similar patterns of disbelief.  A certain group with specific genitalia who are convinced of their ontologically changed status is convinced that God speaks only to them, that they need not listen to the experiences of others.  All truth is possessed by this elite group of sacerdotal men.  It is here where is found resistance to the idea of a synodal church, a church that listens and values the experiences of all her members.

The resurrection accounts are a foundational basis for the synodal way as a model for the church.  For it is within the experiences of all God's people that we encounter the risen Jesus, not only in the first Easter experience but in our own time.  It is only in listening to the experiences of all God's people that we arrive at a fuller and richer picture of the risen Lord and how that presence is at work in the world at all times and all places.