Spirit of the Heartland

Did you catch that gospel reading? It was, of course, an explanation of total ministry! Completely incomprehensible, something new and foreign.

That's why we don't understand it. The Holy Spirit is like that. Always trying new things that make no sense and at the same time those new things may be the only thing that really makes sense.

It was like that on Pentecost. Everyone was baffled by the behavior of Jesus' followers. But wasn't because they did not understand what was being said. Rather because they all heard the good news in their own language. Speaking in tongues is not an exercise in babbling nonsense language It is speaking your own broken language, and trusting that the Spirit will take the words and translate them for those who listen.

The Spirit doesn't seem to be translating for us this morning. Maybe that's because this Greek reading the way it is supposed to be – it's not "new and foreign" but "original though strange" – the "we always did it that way" original version that we wouldn't want to change. More likely it's because the Spirit knows perfectly well that we have in the community of the church, people who can translate for us.

So listen now to one translation of the Holy Gospel according to John.

"When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

This story happens on the day of the empty tomb. The disciples are living in fear. Jesus has died. Everything has changed. His tomb is empty. The disciples' world has fallen apart. The old ways don't work anymore. They're scared and clueless about what to do next.

Has that ever happened in your world? Your world falls apart. The old ways become impossible. And you're left feeling helpless and hopeless.

It is the story of a child whose parent dies. Or someone widowed after 40 years of marriage. It is the day your boss tells you you no longer have a job. Or the night your husband leaves you.

Something is lost and the world falls apart. It is now, when we at Our Saviour's know that our Rector has died. I don't mean Father Charlie, or myself, or any other priest who has gone before us. I mean the idea of "our Rector," the possibility of that old familiar world where the parish priest "does" the worship services and runs the parish; where our rector preaches to us and prays for us and visits us in good times and bad. That familiar and much loved world is falling apart. Not only here but in congregations large and small all over. We can no longer afford to pay someone to do the ministry for us. And even if we had a sudden huge financial gift or a dozen new wealthy pledgers we might not be able to find anyone interested in doing the ministry for us.

Sometimes it feels like our parish is going to die. It feels like we are widowed and don't know how to get the car serviced or the checkbook balanced or the dinner cooked, because our spouse always did that for us. It feels like we are going to die, and some who are widowed do just that.

It feels like the disciples on that first Easter Day, locked in an upper room, left leaderless and confused. But the disciples, and others who are widowed don't die. Some get busy and do "widows work": Bob, widowed at age 67, goes to community ed cooking classes. Gladys, about the same age, learns to drive. And the disciples are sent out by Jesus, just as Jesus had been sent by the Father.

These people have spirit. Their world falls apart and the old ways no longer work. So they learn new ways. It's as bewildering and amazing as those tongues of flames sitting on the heads of Jesus' followers.

It is the Holy Spirit that fills people with power and shows us new ways to do the same old things. That's what the list of spiritual gifts in First Corinthians is – "Widow's work" – a way for the confused early Christians to do the work Jesus used to do for them. And today the Spirit has given us all the gifts we need to do God's work here at Our Saviour's. Total Ministry is our "widow's work" – the work that can give us new life.

The Spirit inspired a bunch of apparently leaderless, frightened Galilean fishermen to change the world, so the Holy Spirit just might be able to help us put our lives and our church together in a new way.

If our world falls apart and we desire new life, today's readings give us a hint about where to find it. The Holy Spirit seems to show up when people gather: When Jesus comes among his friends, they are gathered behind locked doors, and they receive the Holy Spirit, That Pentecost of rushing wind and dancing flames, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, begins with "they were all together in one place."

It is when we are together that we are the Body of Christ. In writing about the Body of Christ, Paul reminds us that we need one another. Whether we've lost a spouse, or a job, or our idea of ministry, our hope to be filled with the Spirit and to find new life is in gathering together.

Many of us, when faced with a loss, naturally retreat into solitude to lick our wounds. That's part of the healing. But if we stay isolated, it's harder for the Spirit to help us find new life, and we may miss the gifts the Spirit gives us to teach us our "widow's work." Today's readings remind us that it is in gathering with others that we can find new life ... and peace.

When our world falls apart and all the options sound like Greek nonsense, if we gather together and listen carefully, we may hear the rushing wind of the Spirit and Jesus may come among us and say, "eirene humin."

And then, if we aren't in isolation, the Spirit gives someone a gift of translation and we hear, "Peace be with you."