We pay an increasing amount of attention to the health and status of planet Earth. The threats of the causes and effects of climate change are of special concern to most people. Without considering the political implications of the conversation, at the heart of the matter is that we prefer to keep things the way they are. The possibility that life on the planet will be different in the future because of environmental change is both apocalyptic and frightening.
What ought to be of great concern is the instability along the Ring of Fire. There have been more than a few earthquakes and volcanic activity from Indonesia, Philippines and now Hawaii this year. It seems as if we are poised for a significant volcanic eruption which geologists say is well overdue anyway.
The created order of the universe is in a constant state of flux. It seems that every time scientists get something figured out, they uncover something new that they can either not explain, or that upsets the theory of everything from which they are working. This shows us not only the limitations of human knowledge, but also of the majesty of God in creating the universe.
At Pentecost we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus and in our prayer we ask that the Spirit “renews the face of the earth.”
Perhaps the imagery in the Acts of the Apostles reflects the memory of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, which not only completely destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, but also upset and transformed the climate and the “face of the earth” on a global scale.
There are two principal theological approaches to understanding the Holy Spirit and the life of the church. There are those who direct the Spirit, call upon the Spirit do act, but believe that the Spirit acts only in and through the ways in which the Spirit is supposed to act. For the most part they prefer to limit the Spirit to liturgical actions or the official acts of the church. The other approach is that the Spirit does what the Spirit does, that the Spirit moves about freely, and is continually transformative and renewing.
We see these two differing theological camps at work within the Church throughout history, and perhaps in a very particular way, right now. While we might be inclined to use the terms “conservative” and “liberal” to discuss the tensions within the Church today, such terms are inadequate and overly political. This is not a political discussion. This is a matter of fundamental theological presuppositions on the nature of the church (ecclesiology) and the function of the Holy Spirit within the Church (pneumatology).
As the eruption of a volcano, or the sweeping terror of a tornado, the Holy Spirit stirs things up, but always renews and refreshes. Were it not for what we call “natural disasters” (though insurance companies seem to prefer “acts of God”) the soil, the oceans and rivers, indeed the entire natural world, would have no way of regeneration and renewal.
On that seminal day, when the Holy Spirit shattered the world of the disciples of Jesus – yet again – and transformed them into the pillars of the faith, the world was made anew. From that moment till now we continue to experience these disruptions by the Spirit in the world. It takes discernment, yes, but most of all it takes faith – deep and profound faith – to allow the Spirit to work as the Spirit wills to continue to renew the face of the earth and enlighten the hearts and minds of the faithful.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.