Humans are all the same

RELIGION TODAY Published Saturday May 10th, 2008

One of the problems with the Bible is that it is too easy to take it as history.

The stories we read seem to have specific settings -- for example Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod. When we read something like that we can get out a book and look up the exact years that there was a king named Herod. Then to narrow it down, we can cross reference Roman records to tell us when Cyrinius was Governor.

History does not move us as much as story does. If you watch a historical documentary, for example, you might learn something that happened in the past; but you don't laugh and cry the way you do when you get wrapped up in an excellent movie. I think the Bible was intended to be the type of story that gets inside us, that moves us, that brings an emotional response that makes us fall in love with God.

If Peter and the other disciples were moved like that in their encounter with Jesus, and I believe they were, then the best I can hope for is to read about it second hand and say, "Good for them."

If we could only hear stories from the Bible in a way that they impacted us more directly -- if we stopped thinking about it as "history" and used the Jewish tool of Midrash, or telling stories about stories, to bring it to life -- it might impact us the way it was intended.

Here is a story of Pentecost: A fair chunk of time after the believers had last heard a message from God they were having coffee together at Timothy's. It was a beautiful day and they were sitting out on the street side café. Suddenly, inspired by what could only be called a spirit of truth, they began to talk about their faith to each other. Now, it happened that there were people from all kinds of faiths living in Moncton -- and all varieties of Christianity. And as the people moved along the sidewalk and overheard this heated conversation; each of them recognized something tugging at their own hearts. Whether they were Baptist or Jewish, Roman Catholic or Islamic; Presbyterian and Buddhists, United Church, Wesleyans and Baha'i -- each of them heard this small band of believers talking about what they themselves believed... and it shocked them. What if, they ended up saying to each other; What if God is bigger than we thought? What if God speaks to all these other people too and we are not as different as we always thought?

See, that is the story of Pentecost. As it is told in the Bible and set in Jerusalem it becomes a story about cultures and languages; Jews and Greeks, Arabs and Edomites are all mentioned because it is precisely these characteristics that separated people -- nation and language. But in the world of today, almost everyone knows English -- especially if they use the internet; and almost everyone who might overhear us is Canadian; but we are still a people divided. And we are a people divided, mainly, because of our personal beliefs.

This even holds true if we break out of religious circles -- we define ourselves by which hockey team we root for, whether or not we believe in capital punishment, what political party we claim to support, where we went to school; it is in fact our beliefs about issues that allow us to say "I am not like you, thank God."

We were, however, the story of Pentecost assures us, supposed to be together. Humans are small and fragile in the face of the dangerous world we inhabit and when it comes right down to it we need each other.

It could be as small as needing someone to hold the door open for us when our arms are full; or smile at us when we are having a bad day, or as large as wrapping their arms around us when a parent dies. We need each other because life is hard -- and we, for some inexplicable reason, make it worse on ourselves by pretending that all those other people out there are completely different than us and would never understand.

The miracle of Pentecost is that something, some force of the universe, intervened with these people and reminded them that when it comes right down to it, we are all the same.

Let's let that same spirit blow through our community this spring!