Pastoral Letters

For calendar reasons, Easter (which is related to the Jewish Passover), and Pentecost (which is related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shauvot), are out of sync this year.  Easter Day for Western Christians was as early as it ever can be, whereas Easter Day for Eastern Christians was only last Sunday.  Last Sunday was also the final day of Passover 2008.  As we celebrate the Day of Pentecost next Sunday, Orthodox and Oriental Christians wait until 15 June, while our Jewish friends wait until 9 June for Shauvot.  It is rather nice when the three calendars coincide, but there is also something to enjoy when they separate us.  In years like this perhaps we can more clearly see that difference need not mean division.  Difference only leads to division when it is linked to human fear of the other.  This is a form of ‘stranger danger’ that once made good sense, whereas these days such left-over tribalism can be quite destructive.  Yet faith defeats fear, so healthy religion can be peace-maker rather than - as too often - peace-breaker.  Looked at one way, Easter Day and Pentecost and Passover and Shauvot scattered on different days in East and West and across the Christian-Jewish gulf, show us how little we have in common.  Looked at another way, however, these differences speak of the God who calls us all, the God who acts regardless of brand-name to redeem us in all of history, the Spirit alive in all our hearts transcending and uniting us as daughters and sons, sisters and brothers, as one human family.  There is an old saying and true: the walls of division we build here on earth do not reach up to heaven.  If we really believe this, we will no longer live in fear.  If we believe this, stranger-danger will no longer work its evil magic between us.  The outpouring of the divine Spirit on humankind on the Day of Pentecost brings everyone together.  Because the Spirit now gives utterance, even separate languages no longer cause confusion.  The tower of Babel is broken down at last, and arrogant human pride gives way to humility and realism.  As we each celebrate our festival days the choice is ours:  we can misuse them to establish and reinforce separate identities, or use them wisely as reminders of the rich inheritance we share.