Conscience, the Spirit and love.

John 16:1-15

‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

     Get out, and don't let the door hit you in the ass!  There is an entire and not so glorious history in churches of not accepting truth. There is a hesitancy to move forward. Perhaps it is intended as a test of sorts to judge what is truly a revelation of the Spirit and what is an erring strain of thought. Still, it may also be as simple as trying to maintain the status quo of a male dominated euro-centric church. For whatever reason churches do not always ( do not often ? ) embrace change. Two things are certain though. The Spirit is alive and vibrantly so with revelation for us. Secondly, one of the 'constants' of existence is change and growth. If we do not grow we wind up stagnating and death follows.

    If we look historically at some of the things that the the Roman church alone has railed against we see the tendency to hold back.  I recall reading an incredibly large text called the History of the Catholic church. I was saddened by some events but placated myself that the events were in unenlightened times. For example, Galileo. But how long did the church hold onto the notion of a earth centered existence? Perhaps what is even sadder still are those today that belong to the flat earth society. Yikes.  But I digress. I had a bit more difficulty when I came to Papal condemnation of  suspension bridges. Yup, you read that correctly.  And then there is the idea floated that indigenous peoples and people of colour did not have souls. In the realm of theology, how long was it before the abolition of Limbo? Examples abound in every religion.

      This is not a tome against the Roman church. It speaks of perhaps a universal tendency, a dislike of change and perhaps more, an unwillingness to relinquish power. It is a very good thing then that in the many churches, primacy is given to conscience.  As the Spirit does not exclusively reveal knowledge to the church alone, we can often find ourselves as conduits of spiritual revelation.

       The faithful, of which you and I are members, are often ahead of the curve. And here is the rub, it may come to a point where we are called to leave 'the church' , whatever that is for us. We may be excised from the faithful because we do not believe the status quo. That does not mean we are wrong. It certainly does not mean 'the church' is right.

       I am a believer that revelation and God's revealed world is enough to ascertain the movements of the Spirit and see evidence of God's love and existence.  No formal treatises are required. No great moralizing or logic is required. Certainly, we cannot use twisted logic and mental gymnastics to support what is patently false and obvious to the faithful. There is a term for that and it is Sensum fidelium.

        After all this, what is our message?  It is the joking mantra of the Episcopal church.  'The good thing about the Episcopal church is that you will find at least one person who believes what you believe'.  We have freedom to think and exercise our conscience. But most importantly, whatever we believe, whatever the Spirit reveals to us, honor it and love yourself and all of God's creations. In fact, in making your own judgments about what is true and real and of the Spirit, let the love of God be the arbiter.