This week Christians celebrate Pentecost - 50 days after Easter - the day marking the witness of the Bible's chapter 2 in the Acts of the Apostles. The day, the story recounts, was marked by a public demonstration involving great diversity of people and their transformation and empowerment by the presence of the Spirit.  

Jews and proselytes - from many lands and different races, cultures, and languages, gathered together in Jerusalem, as well as a core group of about 120 Galilean friends and companions of Jesus -  the one innocently crucified by the elites in power but raised by the life-generating power of divine love.  All were gathered to mark the gift of Torah - the divine law.

Into that crowd the Spirit moves with gifts of grace and courage. The language problem posed by diversity is transcended by uniting hearts and voices of receptive people sharing awe and inspired commitment to God's liberating deeds.   

On the fringes of the crowd stood skeptical onlookers, wary authorities, and their watchful armed "protectors of the law and order" but no peace.   From this lot rose the dismissive cry:    "They're just dangerous, drunken no-goods!"  

Here in Ottawa, as usual on Sunday morning during Covid 19 pandemic time, about 120 households gathered virtually for pentecostal worship as First United Church.    They remembered and acknowledged how the Spirit of life and love still moves people to rejoice, sing, share the peace of Christ, and they recommitted themselves to justice for God's whole human family and Creation.   

Their song and prayer rose as a praise and intercession, even as millions of households around the world lamented the cruel virus taking its toll of human victims.  They marveled at the demonstrators peacefully demanding justice in the streets of so many North American cities.  

The trigger that brought out these multitudes was yet again the killing of an innocent man - this time in Minneapolis. George Floyd was not a prophet, but he was one of God's children - part of the Holy One's human family. His suffering was brief but terminal - a police officer's knee on his throat cut off the breath of life and suffocated the spirit of this unarmed, hand-cuffed Black man. Three other sworn  protectors of law and order did nothing to respond to the victim's cries for breath and life.   They too  may  have contributed to the death and, at the least, did not intervene in the assault.   A bystander's video of the 9-minute crime provided clear evidence blocking any routine cover up of police crime in this case.

Hundreds of thousands - millions? - assembled in all their diversity - young and old, black and brown and white, male and female, affluent and poor - in 100 cities throughout the USA and even in several Canadian cities to protest and resist.   A peaceful uprising of people calling for justice.

The Spirit of love, justice, and peace moved the vast majority to take to the streets shouting "black lives matter" "stop the killing" "black is not a crime".   In a culture of systemic white domination and discrimination they were united in their demand to halt anti-black racism in contexts where impunity for racist abusers is deemed normal.   The additional suffering of racialized minority people victimized by the Covid 19 pandemic added another layer motivating protest.

On the fringes of the peaceful demonstrations, some goons and looters exploited the occasion to sow seeds of hate, destruction, and looting - all feeding media's lust for conflict and giving regressive politicians fodder to divert attention from police racism in the killing of George Floyd to "violence in the streets."

Those in authority surveyed the scene. Some spoke out expressing understanding for the demonstrators' concerns and condolences for the victim and family and calling for peaceful processes of change.   Houston's police chief denounced the killing of Floyd while urging demonstrators to stand up for each other.  Minneapolis' mayor acknowledged that the demonstrators' anger was deeply rooted in long-term racial inequality plaguing the city.  Police in Santa Monica even bent the knee to support protesters concerns.

Elsewhere, others stayed quiet and let the occupant of the Oval Office be the voice of calling for "domination" and armed engagement with demonstrators.  By threatening military involvement, by mocking governors and mayors seeking peaceful approaches as "weak", and by laying blame on "extreme left-wing terrorists" - as usual with little evidence to back up his  charges, Trump confirmed his heartless inhumanity in this tragic situation.  

Typically, he played to his core supporters' prejudices, all of whom he needs for his re-election dream to be realized in November.   Weaving justice with compassion in the quest for real peace - biblical values was far from his mind even when, toting a Bible, he walked from the White House to use St. John's Episcopal Church* damaged in melees of the previous night as a handy prop.  For him it was but a photo op to assure his voting core of his support of their fundamentalism in religious and social domination.

   

Police violence, which triggered the popular resistance, awakened more layers of outrage and  hostility.  Shooting demonstrators with rubber bullets, launching tear gas canisters in groups, and pepper-spraying bystanders  turning general anger into particular rage against increasingly militarized police forces.      

I persist in believing that the Spirit was present in this maelstrom with gifts that could yield fruits of justice and peace.  The demonstrators committed to peaceful protest witnessed to a better Way; the united voices of moderation and justice communicated that love was stronger than the violence and abuse that had triggered their gathering.  Authorities employing intelligent and humanitarian strategies courageously  countered the incendiary  threats of violence typical of totalitarian thug-led regimes like Russia and China.

Will the protests disturb enough to result in greater justice, more equality, stronger unity, more peace?   I hope so!  I believe in the Spirit's persistence.

Or is this just another climactic moment like those mass murder shootings that leave dead bodies and destroy family souls but soon the rest of society reverts to normal  -  until the next one?   I hope not. 

The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, told the Washington Post: “I am the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and was not given even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.”

"Trump’s message is at odds with the values of love and tolerance espoused by the church, Budde said, before describing the president’s visit as an opportunity to use the church, and a Bible, as a “backdrop”.

“Let me be clear, the President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,” she told CNN.

“We align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others. And I just can’t believe what my eyes have seen,” she added.

“I don’t want President Trump speaking for St John’s. We so dissociate ourselves from the messages of this president,” she told the Washington Post. “We hold the teachings of our sacred texts to be so, so grounding to our lives and everything we do, and it is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice.”

------------ 

"Let me be clear: The President just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese, without permission, as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,.... It was a charade. ...   He did not come to pray,"   Bishop Edgar Budde