Friday 9 November 2007

Using yesterday's material from Walter Wink's book "The Human Being," I'd like to continue.



"And everyone who speaks a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Lk. 12:10; Matt.12:31-32; Thomas 44)
Jesus' refusal to deny their charge (Jesus is having Beelzebul -working on his side) outright is astonishing. Does it mean that he is willing to acknowledge that he might have a malevolent element at work in him? If so, one might conclude that he saw the same sinister element at work in everyone...this vivid sense of the universality of sin could be the presupposition of his teaching about loving enemies. He is clear that, in the name of the Human Being, he can make wrong decisions. Decisions are fallible. Therefore one may speak against the Human Being, precisely because it is not identical with the Holy Spirit.



Vision is different from the actual. In some ways, to speak against the Human Being is so raise a voice against or in criticism of what is coming to life and may be coming to life in a way that is not the vision of what is to be. The Holy Spirit is the vision of what is to be. It is the very breath of God that whips up the beginning of all things and calls all things into being and moves all things to their fulfillment. We are not qualified to speak against that power. To do so would be a joke. To do so would be to attempt to turn the vision - which we are not able to see completely - into something we think might be the vision...at least for us. There is nothing spooky or scary about this Spirit. It is not like it will "get-cha." Rather, when we attempt to speak for this Spirit or raise our voice against the Spirit, it is as though we are playing the role in life that we have never been given nor shall we ever be given it. We are creatures of the Most High - saints...not God and God's Spirit. That Spirit is out of our realm and yet it is the only power that pulls us beyond our present place and enables us to change and dream and be transformed and forgiven so that we may see the brilliance of our Humanity when we are as one in peace.



Connection: Don't try to rule or control the power of our God. It is enough to learn to live with the power we have been granted for an expansive and blessed life together. Let's start there.



Holy Spirit and Wind of New Life, take us and lift us and send us along the way of your creative breath. In the meantime, help us to trust in you alone. Amen.