Speaking in the Spirit – songs of protest and the new reality
Council for World Mission has produced worship reflections on Empire for Advent, Holy Week and Easter and this production completes the liturgical set with a focus on Pentecost. I am grateful to the Mission Development Team for devising these materials.
Each of these reflections explores the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost through the medium of a song, itself an outpouring of the Spirit, voiced in praise or protest, announcing the alternative world we see as the Spirit’s gift.
The reflections often use the contributor’s mother tongue, translated into English also, as a further manifestation of Pentecost. You will find a Youtube link so you can play the song and follow the reflections further. Some are focused on communal and political moments and some on moments of personal struggle.
These reflections and songs invite us to see Pentecost, like Resurrection, as God’s Spirit leading us into an uprising against the silencing stultifying powers of Empire and death in all aspects of our lives.
Resisting the death dealing forces of empire requires vision, hope and power. These are gifts we find in the Spirit of Jesus enabling us for mission in the context of Empire. The first disciples discovered in the Risen Jesus hope for life after and beyond Empire. Then the Spirit came to give them the power to live that life now. CWM offers these reflections on Pentecost to deepen spiritualities of hope, strengthen Christian witness and embolden our demonstrations of life in fullness in the face of the traumas, terrors and tragedies of Empire.
Rev Dr Collin Cowan
General Secretary, Council for World Mission