The Holy Spirit and the Work of Justice

A Few Reflections On Pentecost Sunday

Pentecost Sunday is special to me.

And I don’t just say this as a 4th generation Indian Pentecostal. I also say this as an advocate for justice.

After mobilizing the North American Church to prioritize justice for around a decade now, I cannot help but notice the many intersections between the Holy Spirit and the work of justice. In my experience engaging with US & Canadian church leaders on justice, the most receptive church leaders I’ve come across tend to be people open to the work of the Spirit in our day and age (especially Pentecostals).

On the flip side, the most resistant church leaders I’ve come across tend to be church leaders skeptical about the movement of the Holy Spirit in our time.

*Cough cough John MacArthur and his minions*

But what I once dismissed as mere coincidence, I have now come to see as a pattern.

Because openness to the Spirit always goes hand in hand with openness to being transformed by the Spirit to prioritize justice, liberation and inclusion.

After all, this is the same Spirit that empowers Jesus in Luke 4:18 (NRSV) when he says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed.”

Did you catch that?

The work of justice (the work of proclaiming good news to people in poverty, release to people in captivity and freedom to people in oppression) IS the work of the Holy Spirit.

And if we’re not in sync with the status-quo disrupting Spirit of God, we’re going to be resistant to the work of justice being carried out by the Holy Spirit in our lifetime.

Pentecost Sunday (as seen in Acts 2) is the Sunday when the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son upon the believers in Jerusalem - just as Jesus promised them before his ascension.

Here’s how the early church believers interviewed by Luke described their first experience of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:2 (NRSV):

“And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

Here’s what I love about that description - the Spirit moves as the Spirit pleases. And we can either get on board or get out of the way.

Because here’s what happens when we get on board with the Holy Spirit just like the Church in Jerusalem did on Pentecost Sunday as we see in Acts 2:44-45 (NRSV):

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

The Spirit of God breaks down all barriers - religious, socio-economic, sexual, gendered and racial. And she forces us to do uncomfortable things for the sake of our marginalized neighbours.

Following the Spirit of God into the work of justice, liberation and inclusion can be deeply uncomfortable for the people of God.

If you don’t believe me, just ask the apostle Peter or the Church in Jerusalem in Acts 11 when the Spirit drew the gentiles in. Or just ask the apostle Philip when the Spirit drew an African sexual minority (the Ethiopian Eunuch) in as seen in Acts 8.

Because the Spirit does as the Spirit (and the Triune God) pleases. And the Spirit of God will always draw in the marginalized outsider the way Jesus did during his life & ministry on earth. Therefore, we can either embrace this or get out of the way.

This is why a Church that is resistant to the Spirit of God made known at Pentecost will always be resistant to the Spirit’s work of justice - both inside and outside the Church.

For centuries, the North American Church has had the opportunity to be on the front-lines of justice, liberation and inclusion work. Instead, we’ve chosen to resist the Spirit by actively participating in sins like colonization, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, segregation, misogyny and homophobia.

So now that the North American Church has rejected the pull of the Holy Spirit towards justice, liberation and inclusion, the Holy Spirit is now achieving that through society and culture. Because the Holy Spirit does not really need us to achieve the reconciling just, liberating and inclusive work of God in our world.

Even as I critique the North American Church for resisting the Spirit of God, I think back to my own family & faith tradition’s history of resisting the Holy Spirit for centuries - until the Spirit had to show up again to correct my ancestors.

For centuries the tradition of my ancestors (the St. Thomas / Mar Thoma Church in southern India) resisted the pull of the Spirit towards including our Dalit (members of the lowest Hindu caste - often called ‘untouchables’) neighbours. For centuries, my ancestors in the St. Thomas tradition took pride in their upper caste ancestry by keeping their Dalit neighbours from being exposed to the just, liberating and inclusive Gospel of Christ.

Then, in the 1880’s there was a revival of the Holy Spirit among St. Thomas Christians in Kerala that led to us finally becoming inclusive of our Dalit neighbours. This work of the Spirit ultimately led to the birth of the indigenous Indian Pentecostal Church and a more justice-oriented & inclusive Mar Thoma Church in the early 1900’s.

My father’s side of the family comes from this Indian Pentecostal tradition and my mother’s side of the family comes from this Mar Thoma tradition - making me a recipient of both traditions today.

The good, the bad and the ugly. But above all, the correcting, reconciling, just, liberating & inclusive work of the Holy Spirit in both traditions.

May we in the western church be open to the ways in which the Holy Spirit still wants to correct us towards justice, liberation & inclusion - especially on this Pentecost Sunday.

What I’m Up To These Days

One of the reasons I’ve been radio silent here is because of the extended time away focused on intensive-book writing. I had a goal this week of writing 1500 words / day and have made strong progress in this direction!

I want you to know that these aren’t just word counts to me. I’ve poured every ounce of my heart into these words. These are honest and love-saturated words. And every word is carefully and intentionally crafted & chosen. I just wrote a fourth of this book this past week and I cannot wait for you to read this!

I also somehow knocked out 9 speaking engagements in 9 different cities across Canada between mid-April to early May. Here’s the most recent one I did at OneChurch TO (one of Toronto’s largest churches - also one of the most diverse & justice-oriented churches I know of) before going out on book-writing vacation. I share some of my Holy Spirit transformation story of going from being a Republican political consultant to a justice & liberation theologian here:

Until next time,

JT