Most people are hard at work trying to get ready for the last war. In World War I, almost everyone assumed that the battle would be won quickly through cavalry charges. Few foresaw the truth, that this War to End All Wars would drag on for four horrendous years, introducing Europe to trench warfare, mustard and chlorine gas attacks, and fortified machine gun positions that would lock the continent in a crippling stalemate.
Some argue that the US military is caught in a similar situation today. Captivated by the success of the aircraft carrier in World War II, the US Navy relies heavily on its flagship supercarriers. But when the next great crisis comes, will these huge, expensive vessels be a source of strength, or just giant targets to be taken down through innovative tactics that were unthinkable 50 years ago?
These are questions for military historians, admirals, and tacticians. I have neither the expertise nor inclination to decipher such riddles. After all, I’m seeking to be a follower of the crucified savior; what interest do I have in military matters?
The warriors of this world tend to get stuck with the strategies that emerged victorious from the last conflict, and we nonviolent, spiritual warriors are no different. It is so easy to get lulled into thinking that our comfortable habits will continue to bring home the bacon, many decades and centuries after the fact. I think of old Quaker suspenders and bonnets, of altar calls and revival tents. Even the pageantry of public protest, a ritual mostly unchanged since the activist glory days of the 60s, fits the bill. The forms are still with us, but the power has largely moved on.
How do we know when we’ve gotten stuck in the forms of the past? It’s rarely clear cut. Though it’s probably not faithful to live entirely in nostalgia, pure innovation brings its own problems. In all of our old ways, there’s a lot of baby with that bathwater. How to tell the difference?
That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. If we rely on her, she’ll give us the wisdom and discernment we need to make those tough choices – to abandon comfortable forms when they’re getting in the way of real love, compassion, and connection with people around us. She’ll also let us know which forms and traditions that we should be keeping, teaching us how to hold them in ways that are life-giving and appropriate for our time and place.
Are there areas in your life where you and your community are hanging onto the past in unhealthy ways? What would it look like to release your expectations and find the Spirit’s intention for you, here and now?
Wow, hit the nail on the head!
Thanks, Eden! 🙂
Micah, I agree that we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit — and I suspect far too many people are not.
I am curious about you referring to the Holy Spirit as she. Is this a theology perspective, an effort to portray God differently, or a desire to grab our attention?
Good question, Peter. I feel a little self-conscious calling the Holy Spirit “she”, because I know it will seem like I’m trying to make a statement. And maybe I am, but that’s not really my intention.
I don’t believe that God has gender, but is rather beyond any human gender identity. Yet, in English, we don’t have a gender neutral pronoun that refers to a person (and I do believe that God is a “person” in a very important sense). So, I can either refer to God as “it”, as if he were an inanimate object, or I have to use either “he” or “she.”
For lots of reasons, “he” is the default pronoun for God, and it’s the one I typically use. Yet, I feel that consigning God to a single gender doesn’t do justice to his majesty and not-like-us-ness. So, I generally refer to God the Father/Creator as “he”, and of course Jesus is a “he”, but for some reason it feels a little more natural to use “she” for the Holy Spirit.
Again, I don’t think any member of the Trinity has gender (except, of course, Jesus – and that’s probably more complicated than we imagine). So switching to “she” for the Holy Spirit (rather than the default “it” that I hear so often!) seems permissible, and maybe even helpful, to me.
Micah, when I was young, I wanted to equate the Trinity with the nuclear family. Father and Son were easy to match up, so that meant the Holy Spirit had to be mom!
I think that now, my relationship with the Holy Spirit might be enhanced if I occasionally thought of him as a her.
Thanks, again!
Besides which, in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the word translated “Holy Spirit” is female.
When i’m anxious & afraid now I ‘surrender’ whatever it is & i’ve noticed an improvement. The way I flow in life is like time is a wave carrying me forward every moment. The whole world is experiencing this moment & I am always & have always been in god as christ has made the way to put me in life. to be aware of what is immediatly in front of my consciousness & see that god intends for me to love god & love others I think I have to surrender my illusions abt being in control of ppl, places & things. This takes an enormous amout of trust in god’s will!
Generals and prophets alike have often focused on the task of “confrontation.” Maybe that’s been the central metaphor of both secular warfare and the Lamb’s War. If Jesus “is the Yes to all of God’s promises” (2 Corinthians 1:20), that “Yes” must include a “No!” to the forces that try to frustrate those promises.
We’ll continue to need to confront, but we’re learning more and more about the dehumanizing effect of focusing only on confronting, including the nearly universal tendency to objectify our opponents. So we need to figure out new and creative and Spirit-immersed ways to confront.
I’ve found fertility in three other metaphors, to go along with confrontation.
One is the metaphor of the “incubator” … creating the conditions for tomorrow’s activists and mystics to emerge, and for the community to nurture them.
Second, the “observatory,” the community function of watching the world, and the specific places where we’re called to notice pain and bondage, along with the resources to maintain that observation with knowledge and prayer.
Finally, “laboratory,” an arena where we can practice the habits of confrontation, nurture, and ultimate victory. Sometimes our congregations can be laboratories where we learn the habits of trustworthy behavior and healing that we’re urging on the wider world, earning the credibility that should back up our public exhortations.
Thanks, Johan. This is helpful.