{"id":666,"date":"2023-11-13T18:40:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T18:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=666"},"modified":"2023-11-13T20:18:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T20:18:35","slug":"pentecost-for-unitarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=666","title":{"rendered":"Pentecost for Unitarians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Reflection #71 (28th May 2023 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, people quite frequently ask me to explain what Unitarianism is, and how it relates to the Christian tradition, and other better-known religious paths. All sorts of people ask; often in settings where we don\u2019t have a lot of time to talk and we know we\u2019ll probably never meet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On days when I get a taxi home from church the cab driver will almost invariably ask \u201cwhat sort of church is that then?\u201d (and often they\u2019ll follow up with something that amounts to \u201cis it a proper church or just one you made up?\u201d\u2026 which is a conversation for another day perhaps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just this week we had a bunch of medics from the Physician Response Unit in our living room \u2013 this is the mobile A&E team which more usually follows the air ambulance around as a ground crew \u2013 they were sent out to give my dad, who is in the midst of immunotherapy, some treatment at home (so as to avoid taking him into hospital where he would be at increased risk of infection). And while they were doing their thing \u2013 marvellously, miraculously taking care of my old man \u2013 one of them struck up a conversation which rapidly took us deep into the same territory. Remarkably, this paramedic had heard of Unitarians, he had some thoughtful questions to ask about our way of doing things, and (without prompting) he noted the similarities between our outlook and his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

And in the last few days I also had a string of emails from an inquirer looking for a spiritual community and asking about our position in relation to Christianity and to other faiths. I did my best to answer. But none of these conversations lend themselves to a simple one-size-fits-all response I can just trot out. Everyone brings their own experience and prior understanding to the question, they have their own concerns about life and the living of it, and I need to try and tune in to all that context and subtext \u2013 as best I can \u2013 if I\u2019m to do a good job of representing our Unitarian faith to others, and do so authentically, while framing my answer in a way they are likely to be able to hear, understand, and connect with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The piece I just shared, \u2018Found in Translation\u2019 by Robert Hardies<\/a>, has something to say about all this, I reckon. The sermon that it came from was preached nearly 20 years ago now \u2013 I must\u2019ve first read it not long after that \u2013 I know it made a big impression on me (especially his claim that \u2018Pentecost is the creation myth of Unitarianism\u2019) and shaped my subsequent understanding of how we Unitarians use religious language and symbolism, how we must practice \u2018translation\u2019 in order to get over barriers of resistance and incomprehension, and how we make a habit of reaching out to each other across apparent differences in language and culture, knowing we will all be enriched by the exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder, what did you hear in the story of Pentecost, from the Book of Acts, that Antony read for us earlier? What resonances does it hold for you? What leapt out of it as an insight you will take away?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we heard a modern rendering of the story, taken from \u2018The Message\u2019, quite a free translation. Still, some of the language might come across as jarring or alien to Unitarian ears. Maybe you tense up on hearing the call to turn to God, and change our life, so that our sins might be forgiven, or the pronouncement that the spirit will come down upon \u2018every kind of people\u2019 and cause us to prophesy. Perhaps, quite understandably, you associate this sort of language with other churches, encounters with other religious traditions, that have been hurtful or even traumatic for you personally in the past. This sort of resistance is entirely legitimate and perhaps some of us just can\u2019t go there. Not today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m going to encourage us to play with the text, with the story, and try this practice of \u2018translation\u2019 together. Let us reach out across time to the people who were there, having that experience, and to those who originally handed it down, then wrote it down, then translated it again and again, until this rendition of this particular \u2013 strange \u2013 story reached our ears and eyes (and mind and heart) today. What can we connect with, in this tale of Pentecost, despite the gulf between their context and ours? I often say that Unitarians \u2018seek wisdom from wherever it can be found\u2019 and, for all their flaws, and complex baggage, ancient texts are a valuable source of collected human experience we can draw on. So what can we draw out of it, learn from it, to help us live our lives here and now, in the 21st century?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I take from the Pentecost story is that God speaks in a multitude of languages to human beings. Of course, the word \u2018God\u2019 itself may be an obstacle to some! Feel free to translate to \u2018Love\u2019, or \u2018Spirit\u2019, or \u2018the Cosmos\u2019 or \u2018The Good\u2019 (as favoured by Iris Murdoch) perhaps and see if the story makes more sense to you that way. So: God, or Love, or the Spirit, or the Cosmos, or The Good, speaks in a multitude of languages to human beings. We humans have such a diverse range of personalities, temperaments, learning styles, preferences \u2013 however you want to characterise it \u2013 and are situated in contexts shaped by culture, history, geography, climate, and so much more. Inevitably we each have a \u2018mother tongue\u2019 \u2013 metaphorically speaking \u2013 a default way of understanding the world and speaking about it that we\u2019ve grown up with. Even if we weren\u2019t brought up in any particular religious tradition, we will each have our own unique approach to interpreting the world as we move through it, our own way of seeing and engaging with life\u2019s ultimate questions, and speaking about such matters too. There are very many religious and spiritual paths, each rich and transformative, that can and should coexist. There\u2019s not just one right way. Which is not to say that \u2018anything goes\u2019!\u2026 rather that some deep truths about life and how to live it can (and must) be expressed and communicated in diverse ways. In the Pentecost story one unified reality is channelled, heard, and understood by each in their own tongue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This leads on to another learning I take from the story: That there\u2019s a lot to be said for being religiously bilingual \u2013 even multi-lingual \u2013 yes, we each have our \u2018mother tongue\u2019, the mode of expression which comes most naturally to us, both in our speaking and our listening \u2013 but if we extend ourselves a bit towards others, if we work to become at least conversant in alternate forms of religious language, this will almost certainly open us up to whole new worlds of wisdom, understanding, and connection. Something that comes up a lot in Unitarian circles is that some of us struggle with God-language \u2013 perhaps we\u2019ve got a particular understanding of what \u2018God\u2019 means, and we\u2019re sure it\u2019s something we don\u2019t believe in, so we object to using it at all \u2013 perhaps we are still working out our own theology and we\u2019re hesitant to dabble in such language when others seem so much more certain about what it means than we are. But, ultimately, people on both sides of this language-divide are involved in the same sincere and pressing questions about truth, meaning and purpose, about life and how to live it. It is important that we don\u2019t let our differing languages become a barrier to sharing in the struggle. Instead, let us make a habit of reaching out, beyond our little niche, in a spirit of curiosity and humility, and seeking to engage with other ways of speaking about the things that matter most in life. It may be that what we hear seems strange, even implausible, or simply hard to comprehend, but often it is possible to sift what we hear for the fragments of wisdom it will so frequently contain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third and final thing that I want to draw out about Pentecost is this: for me, this is not primarily the story of a supernatural miracle, a tale of people somehow temporarily taken over by the Spirit, which enabled them to speak in unfamiliar languages and pass on a special telegram from God. In a way, the important bit is what happened next, when the crowd cried out \u201cSo now what do we do?\u201d What do we do? And, in answer, we can look to what they did at least as much as what they said. This group of Jesus\u2019 followers came together in community in a way that \u2018walked the talk\u2019 of his teachings and example \u2013 they urged the people around them to change their lives, to reject the \u2018sick and stupid\u2019 prevailing culture of their day, and its oppressive ways \u2013 and they tried to live in a new way, seeking to coexist in harmony, and sharing their resources, so that everyone\u2019s needs were met. They ate together. They worshipped together. These people were fired up by the Spirit, filled with conviction and zeal, and with the desire to pass it on \u2013 to share this good thing they had found \u2013 in an open-hearted way. And people \u2013 some people, at least \u2013 liked what they saw. And began to join them in this new way of living. That\u2019s a story that inspires me and gives me hope. It speaks to the world we are living in, and the challenges that are facing us now, nearly 2000 years on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I draw this short reflection to a close I am going to repeat my invitation and encouragement to you \u2013 to reflect on what you heard in the story \u2013 and what insights you are going to take away. And I\u2019m going to end with an echo of our opening words from Jan Richardson and her Blessing for Pentecost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the place where you have gathered, Wait.
Watch. Listen. Lay aside your inability to be surprised,
your resistance to what you do not understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See then whether this blessing turns to flame on your tongue,
sets you to speaking what you cannot fathom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or opens your ear to a language beyond your imagining
that comes as a knowing in your bones,
a clarity in your heart that tells you
this is the reason we were made: for this ache that finally opens us,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for this struggle, this grace, that scorches us
toward one another and into the blazing day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May it be so, for the greater good of all. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An audio recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nhttps:\/\/www.kensington-unitarians.org.uk\/pod2011\/KU_jane.blackall_hybrid_sermon_28.05.23.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A video recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n