....in the Holy Spirit... continuing the series on The Apostles' Creed

(We're now getting towards the end of our series of posts by one of our members on The Apostles' Creed).

I believe in the Holy Spirit.

‘In the beginning … the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water’ Genesis 1:1

‘The Spirit of the Lord, indeed, fills the whole world, and that which holds all things together knows every word that is said’ Wisdom of Solomon 1:7 (Roman Catholic Bible)

‘No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you.’ Mark 1:10-11

In relation to this bit of the Apostles’ Creed I could have kept quoting little moments like this from all over the Bible, like the part of the Creed where the community reflects on the Jesus stories.  But in the Creed there is only one straightforward statement about Spirit.  Seemingly, the community isn’t talking about Spirit in the same way it was talking about Jesus. I say seemingly, because I will argue that that is exactly what it does; but we will get to that.

There is a schema, or story dynamic, that comes again and again from Genesis right through the Bible tradition; and that is the movement of the Spirit.  The movement or action of God in the world, known through the vehicle of creation.  We hear of that movement occurring over the water, before the world (as we know it) even existed, and it is no coincidence that the book of Luke talks of the Spirit coming over Mary, nor that the book of Mark has the Spirit descending on the baptised Jesus.  The narrative of the Bible is the movement of the Spirit through history, a tale of the working of God in and through God’s people; and when the authors of the various books in the Bible want to highlight the beginning of a particular work of God, when they want to highlight a new beginning that is in fact a re-beginning of that first work of God, they do so with a return to that ‘breath’ of God, that movement of the Spirit.

It is not going too far to say that, if I believe in any of what I’ve reflected on in this series of posts so far, it is this that I believe in.

If I can hear any whisper, feel any waft, see any ripple, smell any back note, get any aftertaste of God in the world, in my own life, in the community that values the Bible tradition, in the narrative of Jesus: then what I believe I have found is the movement of the Holy Spirit. 

We may see all sorts of other things at work: greed, pride, power, fear, alienation, shame, hurt; but so long as we can see the Spirit at work, we can be together, we can share the joy of that, the awe of that, the readiness to re-begin of that.

In the book Acts of the Apostles, the author presents the nascent community of believers as having the Holy Spirit come down upon them in wind and tongues of fire.  The author presents this moment as another re-beginning, another movement of the Spirit, and it is this continuation of God creating, this continuing of God at work in and through God’s people, this continuing of God being made flesh in Mary’s womb, this continuing of Jesus coming up from the river Jordan, that this last section of the Creed points up, and reflects on.

Just as the community was reminding itself of the God at the start of the story of how it understands the world; just as it was talking to itself around the narrative of Jesus; at this point, it is recognising the ongoing work of the Spirit in the community itself, in the world here and now, and affirming its firm hope that such a work will never end.  Again, this is neither a list of philosophical concepts argued over, nor a test of loyalty to a power structure: this is a community in conversation, using its shared stories and experience to give shape to a shared exuberance that wells up and spills over into a way of living in the world.

I believe in the Spirit as that which I recognise as ‘more’ in the world; that which runs through the Bible tradition and the Gospel narratives as the breath that gives it all life.  And I believe in the Spirit as the Wisdom and the Brightness, still there all over the world to be found by any who seek (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 6: 12-16).  So before we move on to reflect on what this means for Church, for the wider community, and for an understanding of how we live in the world, I just want to pause and affirm that I believe in the Holy Spirit.

Unitarian theology

There is nothing definitive, nothing formal, nothing official that can describe or encapsulate the mental models that Unitarians use to describe our world.  But there have been some good efforts at trying.

One of our favourite bloggers, whose blog you can link to at the bottom of this website, is Stephen Lingwood, and his latest version of what ties Unitarians together whilst setting us apart from non-religious types, is his blog entry of 17 July 2014, extracted below - cheekily, without his permission.

"Unitarianism is a theological tradition with commitments. This list could be improved, or put in different ways, but we really are committed to the following theological points:

1. There is a spiritual dimension to reality - though this should be understood as an existential claim rather than a metaphysical one. In other words there is a deeper, fuller, better, more mysterious, more alive way to live - and this is what the religions have been wrestling with for thousands of years.

2. Revelation is not sealed: the fullest truth about the nature of our lives and the universe has not once and for ever been revealed and codified at any point in the past. Instead we are part of our continuous process of seeking ever deeper, bigger and more complex understandings of this truth. We are part of a historical process of discovery.

3. The spiritual reality is imminently and fully present in the here and now. We do not look to the past for evidence of revelation or to the future for a time of fulfilment and completion. Neither should our attention be on the afterlife or some other place. Religion drives us deeper and deeper into this reality, not an escape from it.

4. Related to this is the affirmation that fundamentally reality, the universe, life is good. There is pain and tragedy, but ultimately "it was good" - it is good.

5. The human being (the human "soul" if you like) is a source and locus of spiritual reality. We are intimately involved in this: "the Highest dwells within us.... As there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens, so there is no bar or wall in the soul where we, the effect, cease, and God, the cause, begins." Emerson.

6. We are One - we are deeply intertwined with one another in an "interdependent web of all existence" or an "inescapable network of mutuality" (ML King). This may be point 5 above just described in a different way. The fundamental truth of our existence is that we are not separate but deeply connected with all that is.

7. Human beings have sacred inherent worth and value. For this sacredness not to be trampled human beings must be free. Therefore relations between people should be based on free consent and not coercion.

8. Related to this is the realisation that the human race is one. We have more in common than divides us. There is not one particular people who are superior. There is a foundational equality for all people.

9. We live in an non-optimal world where the oneness and equality of all is frustrated by various systems and forces. It is a moral obligation to seek to put this right and commit to justice. Or, to put it another way, love and spirituality cannot be separated. "You cannot love God without loving your sister." Religion must lead us to a greater compassion, and any religion that does not increase our capacity for compassion is a false religion.

10. Community is necessary. We cannot live out these truths in isolation, but must enter into the discipline of community-making to live out this calling in the world.

11. We are ultimately hopeful about this universe. Not immediately, "not without dust and heat" but eventually there is a reason for hope. "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." "

May 2014 meeting

Our May meeting took place at the very start of Christian Aid Week.  The two readings that were chosen reflected a theme that is common to both ancient religion and modern science – the interdependency of humankind and the survival need to give mutual aid.  The first reading was from Isaiah 58 and the second was derived from material available on the world wide web on the influence of Peter Kropotkin.  Despite considerable difference in language of the two readings, both perspectives asserted it to be a truth that health, well-being, and the satisfaction of a meaningful place in the world are bound up in helping each other and seeking justice through breaking down of oppression and social barriers.

We looked forward, to working with other churches in Ringwood in the coming week, as part of the Christian Aid Week campaign to deal with the impact and aftermath of war in South Sudan and Colombia.  And also, to giving thanks in joint worship on 18 May in Poulner Baptist Chapel.

The invitation was extended to all the participants to choose readings for future meetings.  We also agreed that we now have a working core to our congregation and discussed our next initiative for growth, which is likely to take a different, drop-in format, early on Saturday mornings. 

"Didymus" February 2014 Meeting

The Unitarian cause includes a challenge: the challenge to find – and live up to – what we are capable of believing, rather than what someone else says we should believe.

Although this may look like we have a choice about what we believe, if acted on properly, it’s not.