Is the Holy Spirt Moving in Ireland? (On Pentecost Weekend, No Less)

Is the Holy Spirt Moving in Ireland? (On Pentecost Weekend, No Less) May 23, 2015

Many across the world followed the results of Ireland’s referendum vote to enshrine the legality of gay marriage in their constitution. This is historic because it’s the first time marriage equality has been constitutionally enshrined via popular vote.

Ireland is an unusual country to take a leading position on the contentious issues of gay rights, given their 15210755282_4205df4162heavily Catholic influence and their conservative history. Divorce was illegal in Ireland until  20 years ago, after a 1995 constitutional referendum made it possible for married couples to divorce. The divorce law is still pretty traditional, compared to many countries: divorcing couples must have been separated for four of the previous five years and there has to be “no reasonable prospect of a reconciliation.”

It’s not hard to imagine that in another 20, 30, or 50 years, inequality of LGBT rights will be overwhelmingly considered, by a vast majority in historic Christian and western contexts (at the very least), a barrier that had to be broken down to bring about true justice and fullness of life for all people.

When Christians interpret movements of justice- and peace-making, we tend to assume that the Holy Spirit is at work, “leading us into truth” (Jn 17:3) and bringing life and light into dark places. At Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out on flesh, creating a new movement of empowered Jesus-followers who went on to transform the world.

What if this same Spirit of life and liberation is at work even now, just today, in the people of the Republic of Ireland? What if the message to the watching Christian world is that this is indeed what the Spirit is saying to the churches?

Irish journalist Stephen Carroll, tweeted this earlier:

Dublin-born Unitarian minister Chris Hudson, whose All Souls church in south Belfast holds regular services for LGBT Christians as well as those of other faiths, said: “Many leaders of Christian churches called on the Irish people to vote No, but the Irish people did not heed them. Instead people decided to ‘love their neighbour as themselves’ and decided to embrace the spirit of the law instead of the letter of the law, bless them.
“Church leaders really need to look at their message of exclusion and the people’s embrace of inclusion. Christianity is alive and well among the good people of Ireland, but the church leaders need to catch up.”

pentecost-decent-of-the-holy-spirit-495As a Trinitarian who affirms the full divinity and personality of the Spirit, I am struck by the significance of what this Unitarian minister is saying. Sometimes Christianity and its leaders need to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, through the people of God. Sometimes this is the only way for the church to hear the message–and to respond to the flow of the Spirit, the Advocate and Comforter, who leads us into greater truth and opens the path to life, in the presence of God.

Today the world observed a historic vote for equality, in a conservative Catholic country, on Pentecost weekend, leading into Pentecost Sunday. Now, I’m not one to make grand claims about God’s providence within history–or in the present. But I do affirm the Nicene Creed, and believe in the “Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.” When the Spirit blows (as it pleases), she creates a new reality, and draws us toward a better way of being human. And it also seems that when the Spirit moves, it is often in spite of and in prophetic renewal of institutional forms of church, rather than borrowing from their power.  On this Pentecost Sunday, I ask: If this were in fact a movement of the Holy Spirit, would there be a better time and place?

 

 

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/28643687@N08/15210755282″>Celtic crosses, the Church of St Peter, North Rauceby, Lincolnshire, England</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a>

 


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