Churches have been on the news these days for all sorts of reasons. Recently on a Sunday, when zoom services were down nationally, it was reported that “churches broke the internet.” A few Bishops were on the news raising their voices against leaders who don’t practice what they preach, for which they have received death threats. In other news, a government minister was responding to a Bishop who has asked him a question as a responsible father in a similar context, “I wish him well.” On another totally different news, a video of priests performing an Irish dance at the end of their online service went viral, for it was reported that, “it lifted their spirits.” With many of the services of the church happening online these days, it was commented that, “the church building is closed, but we are open online.” On this Pentecost Sunday, all these discussions about church, directs us to reflect on the birthing of the early church. In the North-East part of India, there has been a practice among the Tribal communities, to announce the birth of a child, which is to fasten the feathers of a bird on the door outside, for the community to know that a child is born in that particular family. A new birth calls for the celebration of a community. At Pentecost, as I read Acts 2, I recognise the ‘feathers are fastened on the door’ announcing the birth of a new church. Such a recognition allows us to dream and reimagine the birthing of a new church during and beyond the current lockdown? By the way, the bird and her feathers represent for me that mothering Spirit under whose wings the church not only finds warmth, love and direction, but also will be like the bird travelling to unknown destinations, whose path is ambivalent, unpredictable, intangible and elusive.
On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples gathered, the Holy Spirit came upon on them, there was fire, wind, speaking of many languages, hearing & understanding of different languages by those people living there, amazement and even criticism that they were drunk, all happening at that event. The early disciples were under different kind of lock down, living in the fear of death from the Roman empire, living in despair as Jesus is no more with them as their leader, for he ascended commanding them to be his witnesses and also living with an unfulfilled dream of seeing the messiah ruling them as a king. Amidst all of this, as the Holy Spirit came upon them, they started their life as witnesses in the public sphere, sowing seeds for what was going to be a church. Pentecost therefore was a moment for the birthing of the early church, for at that stroke, the church began to go out, and from then the early church began to grow in faith and in commitment. Allow me to discuss the goals on which the church took its birthing at Pentecost.
1. Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of inclusion:
Who is in and who is out? This has been an age-old question that people had to address right from the days of the early church. If you have to pin down one theme that runs across the book of Acts, it would be inclusion. Soon after Jesus’ ascension, the disciples brought in Mathias to be an apostle in the place of Judas. And when ‘they’ all gathered together, the holy Spirit came upon them. In Acts 1: 14, we see that, ‘they’ included the eleven disciples of Jesus, certain women, the Mother of Jesus and his brothers, and now with the new recruit Matthias (Acts 1:26), for they were all gathering in an upper room and constantly devoting themselves in prayer. Upon this community of people, the holy Spirit came down, for they all witnessed to the life and works of Jesus Christ from then on. That early church (thankfully they did not have a name/denomination for their group) was an inclusive diverse church, which included mother Mary and some unnamed women, besides men disciples including Mathias. Women did not enjoy equality due to the patriarchal society in which they lived, and so they were either excluded or forgotten. That early church was an inclusive church, which included women and men, old and young, longstanding members and a new comer. As soon as Jesus was ascended, the holy Spirit should have come upon the disciples immediately at least at Acts 1:14, but the Spirit waited till they all gathered, including the new entrant and then she came upon them. It was according to the agenda of inclusion, that the early church took its birth. This was a radical inclusion, for they had women and a new entrant apart from those men disciples of Jesus. The men disciples some fifty days ago on the Easter day, they did not trust the women disciple’s testimony of Jesus’ resurrection and treated that news as ‘idle stories,’ (Luke 24:11). But after the ascension of Jesus, I assume that the men disciples would have resolved with the women disciples and acknowledged them to be the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrections, and the Spirit of God was upon them to be an inclusive gathering.
In Acts 2: 17-21, as soon as people began to speak in diverse understandable languages, Peter stood up to speak invoking the prophecy of Joel, which further stresses the importance of inclusion in that early church. He begins his speech by calling all his audience as ‘friends’ (14v), where Peter builds bonds of friendship with the community gathered there. Peter, then spoke that the ‘Spirit of God will be upon every one,’(17v), and everyone means everyone, for the recipients of the Spirit of God includes, sons and daughters, young people, old people, servants again both men and women, each performing their own functions of visioning, dreaming, prophesying and towards the end the Lord will perform wonders and saves everyone (21v). In that early gathering at Pentecost, we recognise that the Spirit of God breathed a breath of inclusion, dismantling all barriers informing the readers that their gathering was an inclusive gathering as the Spirit of God came upon everyone, transcending divisions and barriers, affirming and recognising the worth and dignity of all people.
One of the problems for the followers of Jesus in the book of Acts was deciding who could belong to God’s people. In the book of Acts, we recognise that since Jesus came both for the Jews and the non-Jews, and that the Spirit of God wanted everyone from every nation and race to be part of God’s people, explaining that the spirit of inclusion, affirming diversity was the bed-rock of the early church. The early church was birthed on the rediscovery of inclusion as its key goal.
2. Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of margins:
At Pentecost, when they were filled with the holy Spirit, this inclusive gathering spoke in diverse languages as in Acts 2:4, we read, “The holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.” The wonder of Pentecost is not just in speaking different languages, but it was more about understanding those languages, for the people who heard them were excited asking each other “what does all this mean?” (2:12). With the hearing and understanding of different languages, we recognise that the birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of including the people on the margins.
Firstly, those people who understood the diverse languages spoken on that day were migrants from every country in the world who were living in Jerusalem and were working hard in keeping the city of Jerusalem alive through their work and contributions. These migrants were the first to understand the fiery tongues of Pentecost. Imagine if these migrants were not present on that day of Pentecost, the diverse languages that the disciples spoke would have been mere waffling with no meaning and purpose of speaking in tongues. The migrants added meaning to the fiery tongues of Pentecost, for in their hearing and understanding, the tongues found their meaning. The early sounds of the early church were to speak in the language of the ‘other’ and finding meaning of their speech in the understanding of the ‘other.’ Here it is also important to notice that at the noise of the fiery tongues a crowd gathered (6v). I assume in that gathering, there would have been some locals who did not understand what these disciples were speaking, who at the end remarked that these men were drunk. But these migrants “were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own language.” (6v).
Secondly, among these migrants some were born as Jews and others were chosen to be Jews (11v), and came from the margins of Jerusalem, the epicentre for religion and commerce. It is important to name these sites of margins, for many times in our readings we either bypass such names or overlook reading them thinking they are of no worth to the story. But by naming these sites of margins, we affirm dignity and self-respect to these people who were living on the margins. Bracketing the people on the margins has always been the logic of the empire, for their plight and struggle has either been unrecognised or trivialised based on the prejudices of those people in power. Luke in recording these sites of margins, was giving us a clue to recognise that the early church came to birthing, finding their meaning in the hearing and understanding of those people living on the then margins. These migrant communities came from Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Crete and Arabia (8-11v).
I am always fascinated by the African philosophical term for community Ubuntu, which is translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity towards others.” I am mindful that the African scholars gives a caution in (mis)appropriation of this philosophy, but since I am short of any better vocabulary to communicate this idea, I will (ad)venture to use this African term Ubuntu for mutual solidarity in a community. I recognise such an Ubuntu in the early church, for they recognised that “they were a church because the rest of the people are there” or “they were a church because of the community around, particularly the people on the margins.” The early church rediscovered and recognised themselves as a church only in relation to the people on the margins, and their inclusion of the people of the margins has always been the ingrained DNA of the early church.
3. Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of resistance:
Pentecost offers for me images of divine resistance. The logic of the empire has always thrived on the idea of creating ‘oneness,’ and ‘uniformity.’ The God of Pentecost resisted that idea of monopolising communities with oneness, in this case with one language. The Pentecost experience communicates an alternative politics of language. In other words, Acts 2 reflects that God has no one official language. This is the shocking revelation of the day of Pentecost, but this is often lost amid the day’s more bombastic metaphors of rushing winds, descending doves and intoxicated disciples with tongues touched by fire. Pentecost is a celebration of multilingualism, celebration of a community at its core with multicultural experiences. With the recognition and acknowledgement of multi-ethnic community with multi-languages, the early church envisaged for a diversified community and celebrated diversity in their life and practice. In those many languages spoken there, diversity was affirmed and upheld as part of the Spirit’s primary work.
The rediscovery of resistance is further understood when the God of the Pentecost resisted in speaking the majoritarian languages of their day. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the temple liturgies of Jerusalem, Hebrew. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the Roman empire, Latin. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the Galilean dialect, Aramaic. The God of the Pentecost resisted to speak in the languages of the dominant and powerful, and chose to speak in the languages of the people on the margins. In such an experience the miracle of Pentecost is witnessed.
When Peter stood up to speak in a clear voice to the crowd (14v), he retells the words of prophet Joel, and mentions that the Spirit of God chooses the young people, the old people and the slaves upon whom she will be poured on. In resistance to those powerful, the Spirit of God chooses the ordinary, the weak and the outcastes to be her partners in her mission. By choosing such people, the Spirit of God was liberating them, by taking them as her partners, and by working through and in them. The young, the old and the slaves, are the people who have been vulnerable, and among them the Spirit of God dwells, which is in a way saying that church happens among and with such people.
Reimagining the birthing of a new church today:
If Pentecost served as a birthing experience to the early church, which was primarily based on the rediscovery of inclusion, margins and resistance, in 2020 during this lock down, how do we reimagine the birthing of a new church today? Perhaps the rediscovery of the early church might serve as a signpost in our reimagining the church today.
1. As a church to take a rebirth today, the question that is still relevant is who is in and who is out? Who decides the boundaries? Can the boundaries be burnt by the fire of the Spirit, so that all are included, and all means all?
2. Are we as a church able to be understood by those people on the margins today? Are we speaking in languages that people in our communities are able to hear and understand? As a church how do we recognise the role and functions of migrant communities today?
3. Are we as a church subsumed by the languages of the powerful or are we joining with the divine Spirit in resisting to speak the language of the power and seek to identify with those people on margins by speaking their language?
The Spirit of Pentecost invites us to dream, to reimagine and to envision birthing of a church, that is relevant, open, resisting powers and being with and among the people on the margins. As a relevance of this reflection, I want to present to you my dream of a church for today.
Firstly, my dream is for an Ubuntu church, where we find the meaning of our existence only in relation to our community. “I am because we are” kind of a church. The longing of the community becomes our priority, the language that the public sphere understands today will be our communication, and the location of the margins becomes our dwelling and serving place. Secondly, my dream is for a ‘Fluid church,’ which is not bound by principalities and powers, but which takes its course following Jesus the living water in watering people’s lives and striving to quench the thirst of the creation around. This kind of a church can be online, offline, in line and out of line, but a church which is willing to be flown into the corners of a village and into the highways of the city, meeting people where they are and working with them for food, peace and justice. In order to achieve our dreams, we need to be open to the Spirit of God so that we are led by her and give up all that is me, mine and myself and take on we, us and together so that we can be flown as justice flows down like rivers and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. I invite you all to join in dreaming the birth of a new church today, for we need a shared vision, a bold vision and a transforming vision. The communities around us are waiting for the feathers to be fastened on our doors to announce the birthing of a new church today.
May the God of Pentecost journey with us in our dreaming, and join with us in achieving that dream, where our church takes a new birth in being and becoming a transforming community.
Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,
Pentecost,
28th May 2020
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