transform the whole

Tribalism is really a form of egoism.

It's all about my people, my religion, me, me, me.

Marty Rubin

__________________________________

I keep thinking about those disciples of Jesus

All huddled together “in one place”

I don’t know what they were talking about

I don’t know what they were doing

But what is clear is that they had separated themselves from “others”

I suspect they shared their common stories

I suspect they broke bread, and drank wine

I suspect they enjoyed the comfort of being part of the “inner circle”

Those who had been with Jesus

Those who had “gotten it”

And I suspect they would have sat there

In that one place

A closed circle

The Jesus Tribe

Forever

But then the Sacred came

Rushing and roaring like a might wind

Burning like a fire

Then the Spirit came

And singed their butts

And blew them out the door

Tumbling them into the streets

Into the midst of the crowds

Tossing them like a human salad

Mixing them in with the dregs of humanity

With saints and sinners

With people brown and people black

And maybe even people white

Mixing them in with

Parthians, Medes and Elamites;

Residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,[b] 10

Souls from Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and Libya

Strangers from Rome and Crete

Even Arabs

And in the power of the Love

Connecting them

Giving them tongues to speak

And (more importantly) ears to hear

It seems that the Spirit does not like closed circles

And does not like walls and barriers

And does not tolerate division

The Spirit does not allow us to play it safe

Or stand aloof

Arrogant observers, keepers of “the secrets”

The Spirit breaks us open

Spills us out

With the unfiltered enthusiasm

of the one who has had too much wine

gushing, babbling

awkwardly familiar

and before we know it

we are welcoming

accepting

forgiving

sharing

praising

but mostly we are mixed in

Sacred Yeast

Empowered not to add to our tribe

Not to stand apart

Not to “lord it over”

Not to control

But to touch the whole

To touch the whole world

To touch all people

To transform the “whole”

With love