What the Spirit is Up To - June 28
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48; 1 Samuel 10:17-27; Acts 7:44-8:1a; Luke 22:52-62
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.” – Stephen, 36 CE.
This is Stephen, also known as Saint Stephen, apostle, martyr, and the one whom we as a community live up as the namesake for our own community. It’s also a Grateful Dead song that was played often in the 1960s and many have speculated it was just too difficult to play and eventually the song was phased out. Even the song met its gruesome death, although in this case, I don’t think it was the crowd’s fault.
Stephen’s death sets up the great irony of our church community: we are known for being welcoming, warm, accepting, and inclusive. Historically we have been a place where people with all sorts of different views have built meaningful relationships that have deepened each other’s commitment to mutual understanding and holy listening. This has caused tension at times, but I think that most of us realize that nothing worth doing is easy. And yet Stephen is killed for his preaching and truth-telling.
It is these words that Stephen preaches that enrage the crowd and led Stephen to be taken out and stoned to death. If this story doesn’t scare the beJesus out of preachers, I don’t know what would. Let’s just say, I not sure I am ready to invite someone who embodies Stephen’s preaching style into our pulpit.
But what he offers might be the most important theological truth we can consider: the Holy Spirit is active. What Stephen witnessed was the Holy Spirit doing something new in the midst of his people, deepening their understanding of God, who had access to God (it was more than just the circumcised), and people were threatened. They were threatened that the institution that they had loved was going to look entirely different.
As many of us are returning to in-person worship, some gone from being in person for almost two years, I wonder what we will notice that is new and different. Is it the people who are gathered, the way we sing, or how close we sit together? Is it the structures of leadership, new Bishops who have been elected, new clergy ordained, new people baptized and confirmed? Will the church look and feel different?
A good reminder at all critical junctions in our lives is to consider if we are longing for the way things have always been, or are we open to what the Spirit has been doing? These seem to be at the crux of what Stephen is preaching. At least, in the words of Stephen, my hope is we are ‘not opposed to what the Spirit’ might be up to.
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: Have you ever shared a truth that has caused people to be upset? What was your process for discernment in sharing that message? Do you still believe that it was the right time, place, and way to share that truth? Would you do it differently today?
Daily Challenge: Part of making space for what the Holy Spirit is up to in our lives is to grieve for what we are losing. Make a list of all things in church/faith that you miss that you used to enjoy and are no longer possible. Now consider new things that you have found meaningful and life-giving that were not possible before. How can we celebrate both?