The Reverend Martin L. Smith noted in the June 2019 Sojourners magazine that “Joy is the partner, not the opponent, of a willingness to struggle, embrace pain, pay the costs of discipleship, and cross again to the dark side of the street where we meet those whom our society scapegoats and abandons.” He also wrote that the opposite of joy is numbness. Many of us get overwhelmed with the needs of the world and become numb to them-I believe it is a normal human reaction. I also believe that Wisdom as the Holy Spirit helps to prod us back into Joy.
I remember a time when I felt overwhelmed when I saw people who appeared to be homeless. I didn’t know what to do or how to respond. I didn’t want to support someone’s drug or alcohol addiction or be scammed into giving someone money when they didn’t need it. That is a very paternalistic approach to giving that I certainly hope I have left behind me. My dad, I guess, had a better approach when he went to the Hawaiian Islands back in 1990 and he told a story about meeting some men on the beach on Maui who asked him for money. My dad asked them if they were really just going to buy beer and they said they were. Then he gave them $10. They invited him to come live on the beach with them. I still rarely give money to people on the streets. Though I do on occasion now that I am retired from Chaplains on the Harbor. The last time I gave someone I know a gift card from Walmart-courtesy o f St. Mark’s discretionary fund. And, I went to a baby shower last Sunday afternoon and brought gifts. I encountered one of Jay’s congregants at that event. Both my attendance at the shower and my noticing that someone was asking for help, were appreciated. That is what we are asked to do-see people, see needs.
Wisdom speaks through these people. They receive a kindness and they recognize that I, that we-have crossed to the dark side of the street and met the scapegoats and the abandoned and that they don’t scare us. I am comfortable there. They’re my peeps and I love them. And, I don’t want them to think I have abandoned or forgotten them.
Today is Trinity Sunday and I am so happy we have this triune God we can speak of and to for folks like those I have met on the streets of Aberdeen-and the folks living on the margins that Jay has brought to our church. So many of the folks in our community were mistreated by parents and so many of them have been abandoned by their siblings. Sometimes God the Father and God the Son are not good images for them. If I can speak of a companion, someone who walks with them always, who dwells with them; maybe they can relate to the Holy Spirit. They have friends who have their backs and they know that I try my best to do that, too. Jay has demonstrated that he is here to support the folks who come for fellowship and discipleship and service.
I still visit folks I remember from Aberdeen and Westport when they end up in the county jail. It is a real joy for me-even though I would rather they weren’t in there. Wisdom calls out that we should not turn our backs on the very people Jesus would hang around if he were here.
I have called on the Holy Spirit to change hearts, to remove the scales from our eyes so that we can be open and understanding with those who need our help so they can tell the principalities and powers what they need to thrive in this world and that those powers will listen with open hearts. So, how is this Holy Spirit I mention so frequently more approachable than the Father and Son? Who is this Holy Spirit we claim as indwelling?
In this month’s edition of Sojourners, the theologian whose name I will mutilate: Dong Hyeon Jeong notes that we often consider the relational qualities of the Trinity. And theologians often mention the diverse gender identities of the Holy Spirit-though the Holy Spirit is genderless.
The Greek word, pneuma, is the origin of the naming of the Holy Spirit meaning breath or wind and has no specific gender. Parakletos, another Greek word, which means advocate, helper or comforter is a masculine word for the Spirit. The word in our Proverbs reading today is “hokma or wisdom in Hebrew, who is created by God and with God from the beginning of time. Hokma, also known as sophia in Greek, is associated with the Holy Spirit. Both [of these words for Wisdom] have feminine gender.”
“In other words, the Holy Spirit is described in various places with masculine, feminine, and neuter genders. I [Dong] appreciate the diverse gender possibilities of understanding the Holy Spirit because they provide a take on the Trinity that transgress the gender labels humans have created for ourselves. [This sets aside] our desire for simplistic understanding of the divine/Trinity, and they echo rather than obscure the mysteries and vicissitudes of our lives.” An entity of the Trinity we can perhaps all relate to.
St. Mark is a small church and we have the indwelling Holy Spirit here. Just like any Episcopal Church, there are all kinds of beliefs and opinions here and that is a good thing. Each of us can go out into the world claiming the power of the Holy Spirit-either as breath or advocate or wisdom-and see and hear and interact with those we are supposed to notice. Perhaps these are the very people Paul was speaking of when he wrote to the Romans: “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Or maybe he was also talking about me and all of you. God gives us the Holy Spirit and this indwelling companion gives us hope and endurance and wisdom. And, I hope, joy that keeps us striving for love and healing. Amen.