The Church of Ireland

Diocese of Clogher

“REFLECTION BY BISHOP JOSEPH DUFFY AT THE ECUMENICAL OPEN-AIR SERVICE ON RATHMORE HILL, CLOGHER. PENTECOST2005”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water.”

Genesis 1 :1-2

 

To help us  draw out a little and expand on the unlimited horizons of  this short  text from the very beginning of the holy book ,  I am going to quote the words of the well-known  Pentecost hymn from the hymnal of  Stanbrook Abbey.

 

“Spirit of God on the waste and the darkness

hov’ring in power as creation began

drawing forth beauty from clay and from chaos

breathing God’s life in the nostrils of man.

 

Come and sow life in the waste of our being

Pray in us, form us as sons in your Son,

Open our hearts to yourself, mighty Spirit,

Bear us to life in the Three who are One.” 

 

Personally, I always associate this image of the hovering Spirit  with the story of the Annunciation in the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The angel Gabriel said to Mary : the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.

 

The  image is of  a bird hanging protectively in the air over its young in the nest. It’s the

Spirit giving  Mary  the miracle of a new human life  and sustaining that life,  the miracle  that  joins together for all time the Spirit and the incarnate Son of God, in the person of  Jesus Christ. In the womb of Mary Jesus and his Spirit entered human history together and are truly with us until the end of time.

 

The hymn I quoted mentions the Spirit drawing beauty from clay and from chaos. Let me confine myself to this consideration of the Spirit as the source of beauty in the world. At the present time we are having  an outbreak of social analysis in Ireland. I am thinking of all the articles, surveys, letters to editors, chat shows on the general theme : Where did we go wrong ?  We are aware of  contradictions all over the place.  At one level, we never had it so good.  Plenty of good well-paid jobs, eating out, big and elaborate houses, holidays in the sun, new motorways, spin-off comforts everywhere.

 

And yet we know  that all is far from well. Schools cannot get enough  special teachers to help disturbed  pupils. Young couples find it harder to cope, judging by the growth of the counselling business. One would have thought that the new big house would incorporate  a granny flat; instead the elderly are more often dispatched to the nursing home. Many people identify the problem as a spiritual one; yet we in the churches seem to allow ourselves to be sidelined as being irrelevant  and having nothing useful to say.

 

The question keeps turning up : What have we to offer ?  I am convinced that  the answer is linked with what we are celebrating today, the role of the Spirit drawing forth beauty from clay and chaos. People often remark on how vulgar and crass we have become as a nation.  Think of how coarse our language has become. The collapse of civility, the flaunting of wealth, the  intrusive crudeness of much entertainment. All money and no manners.

 

The churches can contribute here. How ? In the pursuit of courtesy and respect for others.

In the  graciousness of our statements. In the cultivation and celebration of what is of beauty in Irish life. In the quality of our liturgy.  In the calm and serenity of our style.