Transcript Document

Creator
Liberator
A
Magical
Mystical
Way
Inspirator
An
Alt-Pentecostal Magical
Mystical Way Of Engaging
In Community
Transformation
Dave Andrews
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• Lets read the Story Of Pentecost and answer the question –
What role does the Spirit play in community transformation?
• 21When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one
place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came
from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and
came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled
them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from
every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd
came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them
speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not
all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each
of us hears them in his own native language? 9. We hear them
declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” Acts 2.1-11
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• One image used here for Spirit is ‘wind’.
• What does this metaphor of ‘wind’ represent?
• The words used in the Bible for ‘Spirit’ are the Hebrew ‘ruach’
and Greek ‘pneuma’ - ‘moving air’ like ‘wind’ and/or ‘breath’.
• We all know what its like to be ‘winded’ or ‘breathless’ and
how debilitating that can be. We all need to ‘take a deep
breath’ in order to function - to be fully human, fully alive.
• It is only as we take ‘a deep breath’ and are ‘filled with the
Spirit’ the Spirit animates us, enabling us to be fully human and
fully alive to our capacity for vitality, sensitivity and community
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• Another image used here for Spirit is ‘fire’.
• What does this metaphor of ‘fire’ represent?
• This suggests the Spirit is like fire - spontaneous, passionate
and explosive. It is ‘the divine spark that sets off revolutions’.
• John Taylor says ‘the Spirit is the source of any profound
human response’. ‘The Spirit demands a response. This
invisible go-between activates each of us from the inside’. ‘It
stirs, inspires, elicits, evokes, and provokes’ a responsiveness
to one another as human beings which creates community.
Taylor p15,17,18,
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• Another image used here for Spirit is ‘tongues’.
• What do ‘other tongues’ or ‘other languages’ represent?
• Paul Tyson says ‘Pentecost is the redemptive inverse of Babel’.
• Babel was an attempt to build a centralised global political
economy, based on technology rather than morality, using a
single universal common language to create a hegemony .
• Pentecost is an attempt to develop a global community of
local communities, that are decentralized, not centralized, but
empowered by the Spirit to relate to ‘different people’ in
‘different languages’ with the ‘same kind of sensitivity’.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• So, by ourselves, we cannot create community.
• The Spirit creates the possibility of community.
• We can only realise the possibility of authentic community to
the degree we take ‘a deep breath’ and are ‘filled with the
Spirit’ again and again and again; allowing the Spirit to ‘spark
within us’, ‘fire us up’ and ‘inspire us to respond passionately
and com-passionately to one another’; relating to all the
‘different kinds of people’ in our community in the ‘different
languages’ that they speak with the ‘same kind of sensitivity’.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• At Pentecost, the Spirit helped people create true community.
• The scripture says: ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles'
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and
to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders
and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the
believers were together and had everything in common.
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as
they had need. Every day they continued to meet together in
the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate
together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved’. (Acts 2. 4247)
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• The Spirit helped people create true authentic community.
• It says: ‘All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one
claimed any of their possessions was their own, but they
shared everything they had. With great power the apostles
testified to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace
was upon them all. There was no needy persons among them.
For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold
them, brought the money from the sales put it at the apostles'
feet, and distributed it to anyone as they had need.’
(Acts 4.32-35)
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• This is an not an exclusive Christian community, but an
inclusive Christ-like community – committed to the way of
Christ as a way of relating respectfully to all people regardless
of religion, tradition, status, class, caste, age or gender.
• It creates a society – albeit partially and temporarily – in which
the grace of God is the order of the day. The people ‘have
everything in common’; they ‘distribute their resources to
anyone according to their need’; and, so there is no-one with
an unmet need – ‘no needy persons among them!’
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• This is an not an exclusive Christian community, but an
inclusive Christ-like community – committed to the way of
Christ as a way of relating respectfully to all people regardless
of religion, tradition, status, class, caste, age or gender.
• It creates a society – albeit partially and temporarily – in which
the grace of God is the order of the day. The people ‘have
everything in common’; they ‘distribute their resources to
anyone according to their need’; and, so there is no-one with
an unmet need – ‘no needy persons among them!’
• But, like every revolution before and every revolution after,
this spirited little community revolution was hard to sustain.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• We read earlier that ‘those who owned lands or houses sold
them, brought the money from the sales put it at the apostles'
feet, and (the apostles) distributed it to anyone as they had
need.’ (Acts 4.32-35)
• However, it wasn’t long before there were complaints that the
distribution favoured the majority group – the Hebraic or
Hebrew speaking Jews – over the more minority group in the
community at that time – the Grecian or Greek speaking Jews.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• Lets see what they did about it
• ‘The Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It
would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word
of God in order to wait on tables. Friends, choose seven men
from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and
wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will
give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus,
Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a
convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the
apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them’ (Acts 6.1-6)
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• Now it is clear this process still has a long way to go before it is
completely congruent with the modus operandi of the Spirit.
• Most obvious to us from our vantage point would be the fact
that there is still an obvious gender bias in the proposed
solution to the problem – ‘men dealing with women’s issues’.
• Nonetheless there are significant signs of substantial
progress.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• One positive sign is the Grecian widows felt free to complain.
• Another positive sign is the Hebraic majority heard what they said,
took it seriously, acknowledged there was an injustice and agreed to
address the issue expeditiously.
• Yet another positive sign is the proposed solution to the problem
was accepted on the basis that it ‘pleased the whole group’.
• And yet another positive sign is the people elected to supervise the
distribution to ensure that the Grecians got a fair go, were –
according to the list of the Greek names given – all probably
Grecians themselves. This meant, they had all agreed to give the
power to the minority, to control the distribution of the resources, so
they could ensure their rights for themselves.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• This is a great example of the Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical
Way Of Engaging In Community Transformation as a work in
progress – as a group of people, grappling with ongoing
issues, slowly but surely working towards a practice of
revolutionary self-organised, self-managed ‘self-control’ that
reflected the ‘power of the Spirit’ in the process. (Gal.5.22)
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• To the great consternation of the key stakeholders in the
status quo, Paul and his co-conspirators were ‘able to do
immeasurably more’ than one might have imagined they
would have (Eph. 3:20). They chose the “things that are not” –
to nullify “the things that are”.’ (I Cor. I:26-28). And time and
time again they helped ‘foolish’ people confuse the ‘wise’ and
‘weak’ people confound the ‘strong’ (1 Cor. 1:26) in their quest
to develop radically inclusive and egalitarian communities of
faith in the midst of an established religious tradition which
had previously disenfranchised them. They succeeded to such
an extent that one horrified observer is recorded as saying –
‘these people have turned the whole world upside down!’ down!
(Acts 17:6)
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
We will only be able to do likewise if we likewise
1. Try to meet one another’s needs.
2. Create spaces for each other to share our concerns.
3. Hear what people say and respond to them sensitively.
4. Re-solve problems in a way acceptable ‘to the whole group’.
5. Support, equip and enable people to develop their own
power to deal with their own ongoing dilemmas the best that
they can.
An Alt-Pentecostal Magical Mystical Way Of Engaging In
Community Transformation
• At the end of many services Christians often pray The Grace.
• John Taylor says ‘The Grace’ in 2 Corinthians.13.14, refers to
‘the communion’, the ‘in-between-ness’ of the Holy Spirit.
• The phrase ‘is often translated “fellowship”, but (Taylor says is
that) “fellowship” is the result which we can feel and see.
What causes the “fellowship” is the gift of awareness which
opens our eyes to one another.’ This is the gift of the Spirit.
• The Spirit is not merely the ‘ground of our being’ but the
‘ground of our meeting’. ‘The Holy Spirit (is) the elemental
energy of communion itself.’
• ‘May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’
Creator
Liberator
A
Magical
Mystical
Way
Inspirator