The work of the Holy Spirit in Christian history has been reduced to an emotional and sentimental overreaction that is very individualistic and pietistic and borders on occultism devoid of any substance in the material and social realities of our life. But a careful reading of the primary experiences, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, would indicate that the phenomenon of the Pentecost in the early church created just the opposite. Pentecost experience and the consequent transformation that find in the book of Acts is one that calls into question the way the Western and American Christians do mission.
As we are about to celebrate Pentecost and realize its meaning for our lives as partners in Joining Hands, it is important to reflect how we relate to our brothers and sisters in the Third World, whether it be related to Joining Hands or any other short-term mission. I consider Joining Hands an attempt to open ourselves to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost tells us the story of a radical transformation of a community. The transformation is marked by a new sense of unity and community, transcending narrow nationalism and linguistic barriers and realizing perfect communication and community. “Devote men from every nation under heaven—(Each one) heard them speaking in his own language.” It was not uniformity imposed from outside (domination) but a unity achieved through a sense of solidarity despite diversity of language and culture. In the context of a homogenizing, market-driven, dominating, global culture that attempts to recreate human beings and the world in its own image, how much are we ready to listen truly to our Third World partners, to be truly in dialogue without imposing our categories of thought, models of development, and how we live our lives. Are we prepared to shed our individualism, be turned into a community, and transformed as a community? The Joining Hands initiative should be seen as an attempt to realize a new Christi-centric solidarity over against the Mammon-centric solidarity of transnational capital.
The Pentecostal experience gave the timid, fearful, disappointed and introverted group of disciples a new sense of courage so that they could stand up to the powers that be and proclaim the fact the One whom they thought was finished off is still at large and is alive, and that His (Christ’s) kingdom would have decisive influence in shaping history. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered….” “When they prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4: 31). It was this boldness that sent many Christians to risk their life for the sake of the gospel. The Joining Hands community is called upon to show this boldness in denouncing the unjust economic arrangements of this world and announce a more just and equitable world order, which in greater measure approximates God’s rule in Christ. It is easy to be sentimental about the poor and hug them and feed them, but it takes a lot more courage to speak out against the empire that perpetuates and promotes an unjust economic and political world order. U.S. Christians should be able to fulfill their own political responsibility to their own country with a greater sense of stewardship.
The Pentecostal experience transformed lives of the disciples together in three crucial areas: one, it created a spiritual communion: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts. 2: 42). They took time to expose themselves to the influence of the living Jesus in their lives. Second, it created a social community: “they were of one heart and soul”; “they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people” (Acts.2: 46, 47). Third, it created an equitable sharing of economic resources: “And all who believed together had all things in common and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them all, as any had need” (Acts. 2: 44, 45). “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts. 4:34). Joining Hands is called upon to represent to the world a new way organizing our economic, social, and spiritual life according to the Pentecostal model.
We are tempted to keep the Holy Spirit as something ethereal; but it has its concrete manifestations in our social, economic, and political realities. The disciples manifested this in a material way—in the way they organized their life together and celebrated it. If U.S. Christians cannot make the kind of simple life-style options—which would wean them away from soft drinks and an over-consumptive life style and which for Third World people would mean hegemony over their natural resources, land, livelihood and food security—and if they (U.S. Christians) cannot understand and empathize with the struggles of Third World people against the WallMartization of their retail industry, the Monsantization of agriculture, contract farming, special economic zones, and challenge other forms of imperialistic designs of “the beast,” and also envisage alternative ways of organizing their economic life other than that of capitalism, what would it mean to be faithful to Christ and be transformed by the Holy Spirit?
Pentecost provides us with an alternative vision, which would become an impetus for the creation of a new world under God and a prophetic warning to a world bound to destruction. “Where there is no vision/prophecy, the people perish/cast off restraint” (Prov. 29:18). These Pentecostal visions and prophesies are not confined to a literati or religious elite. It is given to all: “And I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams: yea, and on my man servants and my maidservants in these days I will pour out my Spirit.” It is these visions and prophesies that are going to be the basis for our striving for a better world. In India, Sri Lanka, Peru, Sacramento, people are rising up with visions of a better world of love, of solidarity, of peace, justice and harmony. Joining Hands is called upon to join hands with these diverse people united in a shared vision to strive for a better world.
Let us thank God for the way Joining Hands is being used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. These visions are dangerous; they are considered as subversive by the powers that be; but Holy Spirit gives us the courage to dream.
As we are about to celebrate Pentecost and realize its meaning for our lives as partners in Joining Hands, it is important to reflect how we relate to our brothers and sisters in the Third World, whether it be related to Joining Hands or any other short-term mission. I consider Joining Hands an attempt to open ourselves to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost tells us the story of a radical transformation of a community. The transformation is marked by a new sense of unity and community, transcending narrow nationalism and linguistic barriers and realizing perfect communication and community. “Devote men from every nation under heaven—(Each one) heard them speaking in his own language.” It was not uniformity imposed from outside (domination) but a unity achieved through a sense of solidarity despite diversity of language and culture. In the context of a homogenizing, market-driven, dominating, global culture that attempts to recreate human beings and the world in its own image, how much are we ready to listen truly to our Third World partners, to be truly in dialogue without imposing our categories of thought, models of development, and how we live our lives. Are we prepared to shed our individualism, be turned into a community, and transformed as a community? The Joining Hands initiative should be seen as an attempt to realize a new Christi-centric solidarity over against the Mammon-centric solidarity of transnational capital.
The Pentecostal experience gave the timid, fearful, disappointed and introverted group of disciples a new sense of courage so that they could stand up to the powers that be and proclaim the fact the One whom they thought was finished off is still at large and is alive, and that His (Christ’s) kingdom would have decisive influence in shaping history. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered….” “When they prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4: 31). It was this boldness that sent many Christians to risk their life for the sake of the gospel. The Joining Hands community is called upon to show this boldness in denouncing the unjust economic arrangements of this world and announce a more just and equitable world order, which in greater measure approximates God’s rule in Christ. It is easy to be sentimental about the poor and hug them and feed them, but it takes a lot more courage to speak out against the empire that perpetuates and promotes an unjust economic and political world order. U.S. Christians should be able to fulfill their own political responsibility to their own country with a greater sense of stewardship.
The Pentecostal experience transformed lives of the disciples together in three crucial areas: one, it created a spiritual communion: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts. 2: 42). They took time to expose themselves to the influence of the living Jesus in their lives. Second, it created a social community: “they were of one heart and soul”; “they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people” (Acts.2: 46, 47). Third, it created an equitable sharing of economic resources: “And all who believed together had all things in common and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them all, as any had need” (Acts. 2: 44, 45). “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts. 4:34). Joining Hands is called upon to represent to the world a new way organizing our economic, social, and spiritual life according to the Pentecostal model.
We are tempted to keep the Holy Spirit as something ethereal; but it has its concrete manifestations in our social, economic, and political realities. The disciples manifested this in a material way—in the way they organized their life together and celebrated it. If U.S. Christians cannot make the kind of simple life-style options—which would wean them away from soft drinks and an over-consumptive life style and which for Third World people would mean hegemony over their natural resources, land, livelihood and food security—and if they (U.S. Christians) cannot understand and empathize with the struggles of Third World people against the WallMartization of their retail industry, the Monsantization of agriculture, contract farming, special economic zones, and challenge other forms of imperialistic designs of “the beast,” and also envisage alternative ways of organizing their economic life other than that of capitalism, what would it mean to be faithful to Christ and be transformed by the Holy Spirit?
Pentecost provides us with an alternative vision, which would become an impetus for the creation of a new world under God and a prophetic warning to a world bound to destruction. “Where there is no vision/prophecy, the people perish/cast off restraint” (Prov. 29:18). These Pentecostal visions and prophesies are not confined to a literati or religious elite. It is given to all: “And I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams: yea, and on my man servants and my maidservants in these days I will pour out my Spirit.” It is these visions and prophesies that are going to be the basis for our striving for a better world. In India, Sri Lanka, Peru, Sacramento, people are rising up with visions of a better world of love, of solidarity, of peace, justice and harmony. Joining Hands is called upon to join hands with these diverse people united in a shared vision to strive for a better world.
Let us thank God for the way Joining Hands is being used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. These visions are dangerous; they are considered as subversive by the powers that be; but Holy Spirit gives us the courage to dream.
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