May 15, 2016

Helen Jacobi

The Day of Pentecost     Acts 2:1-21     Psalm 104     Romans 8:14-17     John 14:8-17

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

“Amazed and astonished, they asked ‘how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?’” (Acts 2:7-8). I have always loved languages, learning the sounds and patterns, and learning about a culture through its language. A couple of years ago we took some Mandarin Chinese classes and discovered how challenging and amazing Chinese is as a language! I am determined to try some more though!

On the day of Pentecost we are told the people of Jerusalem and the people from “every nation” who lived there understood the message of the disciples. Jerusalem was a multicultural city like Auckland, and so Pentecost is a miracle of communication and understanding. Like walking down Queen St and understanding all the languages you can hear!

I spent most of the past week at our church’s General Synod (the governance body of our Anglican Church of Aotearoa, NZ and Polynesia). I was an observer so was not part of all the discussions but listened to the public sessions. Many of the words and language people used are like code; words that mean one thing in one person’s mouth and something else in another’s. The Synod spent a lot of the week discussing the proposal to allow for the blessing of same gender relationships.

Words used a lot were marriage and blessing – what is the difference between the two; unity – who is in and who is out; manaakitanga – the Maori understanding of hospitality; inclusive/ exclusive; and then those very Anglican words – formularies, canons, constitution, tikanga. But depending on who used them they meant different things. Take unity – unity could mean staying together so conservative parishes won’t leave the church; or unity could mean moving forward on same gender blessings so liberal parishes don’t leave the church. And manaakitanga could mean welcoming all; or it could mean giving conservatives time to do more work and catch up. The words were used in a way that people talked past each other and so the resulting status quo remains. We continue not to allow blessings or marriages for same gender couples. More work is to be done we are told. Another 2 years.

I have used some strong words in the media this week. I said

In my 24 years as a priest I have always been proud of my church. Today I hang my head in shame. We have chosen rules over love, and doctrine over gospel. We have imperilled the mission of the church. There were strong voices for change from many parts of the church but not enough. At St Matthew-in-the-City we will continue to welcome our LGBTI community and assure them of their place in our church and in the heart of God. We will not abandon them and will continue to work for justice. To them today we express our deep sorrow and seek their forgiveness.

My words were not appreciated by many at General Synod but I have had lots of messages by email and phone and on social media from NZ and overseas expressing support for us in our ministry at St Matthew’s.

Amongst all the comments on Facebook and twitter there are those who are choosing now to leave their churches; they have waited long enough. And I understand why they would make that choice. I have thought about leaving too. Of handing in my licence and walking away, because I can no longer work for an organization that discriminates in the way that it does.

But to leave would be to allow the “conservatives” to have control of the wider church, a church I have loved and served all my life. The church does not belong to them. The church belongs to us all and to God’s Spirit. We are the body of Christ, not the body of this doctrine, or that doctrine.

And so I will not leave, I will stay, and stand with those who wait. On Thursday morning after the vote in the Synod on the motion that stalled progress, I walked out and stood looking at the beautiful Napier harbour, and wiped away my tears. Two clergy friends, both gay, both with partners, came out at the morning tea break and joked that maybe after all they would be retired by the time they saw progress. And then graciously talked about what the next steps would be, how we would bring about change. I was in awe of their spirit of generosity. One said “well we are used to being on the outside with our noses pressed up against the shop window.” So I will not leave, I will stay, and work, and be part of the change.

What about us here at St Matthew’s? What about our community, our sisters and brothers with whom we share our faith journey? What about the Rainbow Community Church who worship here every evening at 7.30pm? On this day of Pentecost we reach out to each other and speak each other’s language; we know that unity means living together with diversity; we know that manaakitanga means welcoming all; and that marriage should be the aspiration of any couple who choose it.

At this time of challenge and disappointment we need to stand together in solidarity and deepen our sense of community, and deepen our sense of who we are as an expression of the body of Christ.

So it is just as well that over the next few months every 3 or 4 weeks we are going to be hearing more from each other. Parishioners are going to be “telling our stories”. Parishioners are going to take the sermon time and use it to share something of their life story and something of how their faith is interwoven in their life. They are going to model for us all how we might reflect in a similar way. Too often the clergy are held up as the “experts” on living a life of faith, but we are all experts. The stories will give voice to our diversity and round out our knowledge of who we are. Our prospective speakers are all feeling a little apprehensive about sharing something of their faith (and apologies to our video audiences, these probably won’t be videoed) but I know they all have stories worth telling. And on some of the Sundays we will have an after church discussion where you can also share a little of your own story or reflections. In this way we will pick up the work of Pentecost – following the words of the prophet Joel “I will pour our my Spirit and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams; even upon my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit” (Acts 2:17-18).

The Rev Winnie Varghese is a priest at Trinity, Wall St, New York and she has this to say about Pentecost: “The Spirit is our inspiration to discern what it means to follow (Jesus) in this time. Pentecost is the cue that we are supposed to look to more than simply the text, or our tradition or heritage… Pentecost is the opportunity to perceive freedom and human dignity in new ways for our time … because the Spirit is among us” [1]

And so we will get on with that work in these Sundays that follow; we will discern the Spirit at work in our lives and we will find strength in our stories; we will claim our place in our church as proud children of God [2].

[1] https://www.trinitywallstreet.org/node/11605

[2] Romans 8:16