Joining Hands at Pentecost: A Vision for Transformation

The work of the Holy Spirit in Christian history is nowadays reduced to an emotional, pietistic and personal drama that is empty of social witness — which is exactly the opposite of the experience depicted in scripture of the phenomenon of Pentecost in the life of the early church.

In the Book of Acts, the Pentecost experience and its consequent transformation calls into question the way we do mission and the way we relate to less fortunate sisters and brothers in the Third World. With Pentecost fast approaching, it is important for the Joining Hands networks worldwide to reflect on how we relate to our sisters and brothers in the Third World. To me, Joining Hands is an attempt to open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost tells of the radical transformation of a community.

Such transformation is marked first by a new sense of unity and community, transcending narrow nationalism and linguistic barriers and realizing perfect communication and community. “Devout men and women from every nation under heaven — (each one) — heard them speaking in his or her own language.” It was not uniformity imposed from the outside as a kind of domination, but a unity achieved through a sense of solidarity despite diversity of language and culture.

In the context of today’s homogenizing, market-driven, dominating global culture that attempts to re-create human beings and the world in its own image, how much are we ready to truly listen to our Third World partners? To be truly in dialogue without imposing our categories of thought, models of development and (ways) of living our lives? Are we prepared to shed our individualism and truly be community? To be transformed as a community?

Our Joining Hands initiative is our attempt to realize a new Christo-centric solidarity over against the Mammon-centric solidarity of transnational capital.

Second, the Pentecost experience gave timid, fearful, disappointed and introverted disciples new courage to stand up to the powers that be and proclaim that the One whom they thought was finished off is still at-large and is alive. What’s more, they believe Christ’s kingdom will have a decisive influence in shaping history.

“Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were uneducated common men, they wondered …” (And) “When they prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) It was this boldness that sent many Christians to risk their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

Joining Hands community is called to show this boldness in denouncing the unjust economic arrangements of this world and to announce a more just and equitable world order, which approximates God’s rule in Christ. It is easy to be sentimental about the poor, to hug them and to feed them, but it takes courage to speak out against empire, “principalities and powers” that perpetuate and promote an unjust economic and political world order. We should be able to fulfill our political responsibilities within the contexts of our own nations with greater sense of calling. This is all the more so in the case of Christians from the most affluent and powerful west.

Third, the Pentecost experience transformed the community’s life in three crucial ways. It created spiritual communion; “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and prayers.” (Acts 2: 42) They took time to devote themselves to the influence of the living Jesus in their lives. It created a social community; “They were of one heart and soul.” “They partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people.” (Acts 2: 46, 47). It created an economic egalitarian community. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them all, as any had need.” (Acts 2: 44, 45) “There was not a needy person among them.” (Acts 4:34)

Joining Hands is called upon to represent a new way to the world, organizing our economic, social and spiritual life according to the Pentecost model.

It is tempting to keep the Holy Spirit ethereal; but the Spirit has concrete manifestations in our social, economic and political realities. The disciples displayed such discipline over their material lives, both in how they organized their life together and celebrated it.

Excessive consumption by the empire literally eats up the lives, the livelihoods, the land and the resources of people in the Third World – taking what it needs and leaving poverty and devastation behind. They tell us this over and again. So while we think of Pentecost as a time of speaking, perhaps it is, for First World Christians, a time of listening to how indulgence hurts others, including their own brothers and sisters. The Wal-Martization of retail industry, the Monsantization of agriculture and the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are some of the concrete ways in which neo-liberal economic policies play havoc among the poor in Third World countries. Without challenging these economic designs, which require lifestyle changes and political action for First World Christians, how can they bear witness to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit?

Finally, Pentecost gives us alternative visions that are the impetus for creation of a new world order under God and a prophetic denouncement of a world that seems bound for destruction. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:19) Such vision is not confined to a literati or religious elite. It is given to all:  “And I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams.”

These visions and prophecies are our basis for striving for a better world:  In India, Sri Lanka, Peru, Sacramento, St. Louis, Des Moines and elsewhere around the world, people are rising up with visions of a better world of love, solidarity, peace, justice and harmony. Joining Hands is calling us to literally join hands as diverse peoples united in a shared vision to strive for a better world. Let us thank God that we may be used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, although these visions are dangerous: They are considered subversive by the powers that be.

But the Holy Spirit gives us courage to dream.