Disciple: Down, Up and Out
Pentecost and the Holy Movemnet
By The Rev. James Franklin
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’”
- John 20:21-23
I was fired from my first job out of college. I was working for a nationally known youth ministry when nine other ministers and I were fired for reasons that are to this day still unclear. All I can tell you is that it was for “theological reasons,” and it was terrible, divisive and took lots of therapy to undo.
So why bring it up? I tell you this story because it is a story of Pentecost. In the heat of that awful experience we thought, “This has nothing to do with God and everything to do with twisted human egos.” But, looking back, we can see that, in fact, it was a God-filled, downward movement asking us to trust there was some grander design – a picture not yet in focus. Down.
There were times I felt like I was just along for the ride (which in many cases was true), but we had reached a crossroads and decided to trust that God was not yet done with us. We said “yes” to trusting God, and we became open to seeing whatever it was God had in store for us. Up.
The Holy Spirit moved and out of death came life, and out of hardship and pain came resurrection: the founding of Reality Ministries of Durham, a vibrant ministry that focuses on the overlooked and underserved local populations and creates opportunities for teens and adults, both with and without cognitive impairments, to experience the life-changing reality of Christ’s love. Out.
CAN’T RESIST
One of my favorite theologians, Karl Barth, notes a pattern of movement throughout Scripture: from God-to-humanity and humanity-to-God, or in simpler terms, “down” and “up.” This movement occurs both cosmically and as microcosms all throughout Scripture. But in addition to the “down” and “up,” there is also a movement “out.”
Nowhere is this outward movement more visible than at Pentecost. “Pent” comes from a word meaning “five” and refers to the great 50 days after Easter. It is when we, as Christ’s Church, celebrate our birth – the Holy Spirit poured out on all.
In an eternally downward movement, “God moved into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14) God came down for the penultimate time because as we say in the Nicene Creed, “he will come again.” Not too long ago on Holy Saturday, we learned that Jesus went all the way down and destroyed death. From there, he began his upward ascent and completed his upward motion perfectly and in a way the prophets and we could never do. Then, instead of just giving us a commandment to go out and trusting we will do it on our own, we are given the Holy Spirit. She is the one who goes before us and who leads us out as a visible expression of God’s love to the world.
My friend and mentor, Jeff McSwain, says going “out” raises two questions: Do we go out because we are commanded to in Matthew and John? Or do we go out because we just cannot help but go?
I admit I often resist going out. As a missioner, it has been a growing edge to graft “going out” into my missional DNA: telling folks outside the concrete church walls the Truth of their belovedness. I think the reason I love the “mini-Pentecost” in John is because Jesus’ definition of “going out” is forgiveness. In campus ministry especially, that message of forgiveness often comes in the form of telling folks, “You are beloved.”
On the flip side, I know many Episcopalians who are great at going out and yet sometimes “go” without intentionality. They go without forgiving or telling someone, “You are beloved.” I’m guilty of it, too, and sometimes I also go without acknowledging the Holy Spirit has already gone before me and is present in the people I serve long before I serve them.
My favorite image of creation is the Trinity dancing together in perfect love. The down and upward movements are perfect in them as they say to each other, “I love you” and respond, “I love you, too.” I like to think that we and all creation are created out that love. There was such an abundance of it, they just couldn’t help but spill love out.
IN BEFORE OUT
So maybe first before we go out, we need to go in. Maybe we need to ask ourselves, “When have I truly experienced that abundance of love for myself? Do I believe I am beloved?” How have we, as a church, created space for those experiences to occur? What kind of Pentecost are we preaching when we skip the Jesus movements of “downward and upward” and go straight to the “outward”? The answer has been shared loud and clear from those – especially young adults – disenfranchised by a lack of authenticity in church.
When we create the space and time for these experiences of downward and upward movements, it creates an abundance that spills out. This is the “movement” in the Jesus Movement and the “Go” Bishop Curry encourages in us. I love how he stirs up that which is already within me: the power and motivation to go out that comes only of the Holy Spirit. The downward movement of God saying, “You are my Beloved” and the upward movement of Jesus saying for and with me, “I love you, too” is compelling enough to send me out because I cannot help but tell someone else about it. The space must be made to claim that Truth for ourselves before we can proclaim it.
Those folks in John 20:21-23 didn’t go out just because they were commanded. They went out because they had an authentic experience of God’s mercy and love. The message of perfect love from Jesus’ movements of incarnation, death (down); resurrection, and ascension (up) is so compelling we just can’t help but go out.
Photo: A scene from Reality Ministries 2016 talent show. Photo by Meredith Macy Photography.
The Rev. James Franklin is the diocesan young adult missioner for Winston-Salem. Learn more about Reality Ministries.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
