The Church today is dawned with new life springing up inside of it, as we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost! Even Creation itself, after remaining gloomy and dead throughout the winter months, has finally and completely sprung to life. The grey trees and brown bushes have transformed into beautiful flowers and the lush greens that we are reminded of in the Liturgical colors for this season. New life has descended for all of the world today…just when it was needed the most!
When I was preparing for my homily this week, I have to admit that I felt a bit overwhelmed when thinking about the events that have happened over these past 3 months in our lives.
Since the beginning of March, the world has mimicked the cold winters of creation, as we have all been inundated with stories of sickness, disease, political corruption, and death. What has made this time even more difficult is that the avenues that we have normally been able to use as an escape from these harsh realities had not been available to us. Restaurants and places to gather to discuss the issues of the day over a hot meal or a cold beverage were closed down. In the earliest days of these hardships, we were separated from our families and friends. Perhaps the most difficult of all, we had all been cast into the spiritual dessert, acting in obedience to our hierarchs, and navigating through difficult and different ways to connect to the Church.
Anxiety, depression, and tensions throughout the world were already at an all-time high, and then we were introduced to the murder of George Floyd. We turned on the news to hear stories of many peaceful protests, all meant to bring awareness to a very human problem that we have in here our country. Unfortunately, coupled with these calls for awareness, we also saw many souls that are shrouded in darkness, who sought to use this as an opportunity for sin by starting riots and looting businesses. These lost souls were trying everything they could to undo the peaceful calls for awareness.
This perfect storm of have hardships over these past few months has led to a major increase in not only racial tension, but also something much more dangerous: Division. Right now, there seems to be an unprecedented lack of sympathy, understanding, and love in our nation.
In many ways, the deceiver has succeeded in divided so many of the children of God. If we ever needed a Comforter to come to us in our short time in this earth, it is now, amidst the chaos.
I find myself asking through all of this, what has to happen for things to change and get back on the right track? What perfect speech or words offered by our politicians or religious leaders, is going to penetrate the hearts of the world and cause them to repent? What new policies or laws can be enacted that will cause everyone to get behind them and move on towards unity? The answer to these questions is “none of the above”, because Human division, whether it is from race, ethnicity, or political differences, will only come to an end from within.
There is a wonderful African American Orthodox Priest in the Mid-West named Fr. Moses Berry, who has spent a lot of his life trying to bring awareness to the racial and human divisions that we have in this country. I heard a story this week circulating on the internet, where he was once sitting on the back porch of his grandmother’s house, and he asked her why there were so many different races and types of people in the world. She answered: “There are all different types of flowers in God’s Garden. Some of us are roses, some of us are daisies, but it’s important to remember that we are all flowers in the Garden of God.”
What a beautiful image for us to have, especially this day of Pentecost, where one of the themes is one of “New Life and a New Vision!” As Christians, for our own sake, we have to start seeing the world and each other, through the lens of God’s Garden! The way we perceive one another needs to change. Whether someone is white or black, or if they are a rightwing conservative or a left wing liberal, whether they are born or unborn…it is time to shed the labels and start seeing the image of God in one another. Until the day that our behavior changes to reflect the reality that all of mankind is made in God’s Image, we will be doomed to repeat these dark days in our nation’s history.
On Pentecost, we remember how the lives of the Disciples were instantly changed by the Third Person of the Trinity. Their vision changed from one of fear of the authorities, to becoming bold proclaimer of God’s sacrificial love for us. We are also reminded of our own transformation that we received at our Baptism and Chrismation. That same flame of the Holy Spirit is re-ignited in us every time we partake of the Eucharist, go to Confession, and speak our Lord’s name in our daily prayers. If we were to pay more attention to the Holy Spirit’s work within us, than we do focusing on the differences that we might perceive in others, it will change the way we view the world. It will change the way we view ourselves. But perhaps most importantly, it will change the way that we view each other.
As we prepare to once again ride the waves of one of mankind’s violent storms, let us not forget to see the Holy Spirit in every person we come into contact with. This will be needed even more in the coming months, as we get ever closer to the November elections. Always remember that it doesn’t matter what wrongs someone might have done to us in the past.
It doesn’t matter what a person might look like on the outside. It doesn’t matter where or what a person believes in, or what side of the political spectrum they fall under. What does matter is that we shed the labels in our minds and in our hearts, and start see Christ FIRST in everyone that we come into contact with.
Change will only come from within, my dearest brothers and sisters…powered by the Holy Spirit, and guided by the people of the Church!