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Who You Are the Reverend Katherine Kerr John 14 Who You Are The Reverend Katherine Kerr John 14 As a young girl, Moana of Motonui was taught the legends of her Polynesian Island home, great tales of the goddess Te Fiti whose heart possessed the ability to create and sustain life. This heart, manifest as a beautiful jade stone carved with an intricate design, was coveted by all the other gods and goddesses. One day, it was stolen by a shape-shifting demigod named Maui. Without her heart, Te Fiti’s fertile and creative power disappeared, and a great darkness began to spread over the islands of the South Pacific. For many years the island of Motonui was able to escape the dreaded curse of famine and plague, and its people lived a joyful and peaceful existence. As the daughter of the chief, Moana was raised to understand her responsibility to her tribe and its traditions. One day she would be called to take her place as its chief, and so she must learn the gifts of her island and how to harness those gifts for the good of all the people. But from a very young age, Moana felt the call of the sea in her veins. No matter what she was doing, Moana found herself constantly drawn to its vastness and mystery. Her father sensed that, and warned her against ever voyaging beyond the reef that surrounds Motonui, protecting the island and its inhabitants from the mystery and uncertainty of the sea beyond, and he constantly reminded her of her duties to her people and their island. Sadly, idyllic life on Motonui could not ultimately avoid the spreading plague. With resources diminishing and crisis looming on the island, Moana, with encouragement from her spiritual and eccentric grandmother, defied her father First Presbyterian Church | 200 West Trade St. | Charlotte, NC 28202 | www.f irstpres-charlotte.org and set off on a mission beyond the reef to find Maui, recover the heart of Te Fiti and restore prosperity and health to the islands. Thus begins the grand adventure of Moana, the animated Disney film which was released in 2016. It made waves almost immediately for its strong female lead (who is not technically a princess), its lack of a fairy tale romance, and its respectful portrayal of a non-Western culture. Like many other animated Disney films, it is visually arresting, often hilarious, and full of catchy, ear-worm inducing songs. But it is less of a Cinderella story and more like an Odyssey. As the mother of a 3 year old at the time of its release, there was no way I could avoid it. Turns out I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. The first time I saw it, I was hooked, and my love for the film has not diminished since. I love it for all of the reasons I just mentioned, and also because, though it is in no way a Christian film, in it I see powerful picture of the work of the Holy Spirit. Today is Pentecost Sunday, the traditional birthday of the church. It is the day we place special emphasis on the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Now, according to Trinitarian theology, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are coequal persons in the Trinity, meaning that one is no greater than the others. But we all know that the Spirit often gets the short shrift. Theologian Alister McGrath humorously calls the Holy Spirit “the Cinderella of the Trinity,” remarking that “the other two sisters may have gone to the theological ball; the Holy Spirit got left behind every time.” God the Creator is the all-powerful master of the universe, God the Redeemer is Jesus Christ who took on human flesh to save us from our sins. God the Sustainer is a little bit harder to capture. The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which can be translated as wind or breath, and that gives us a hint as to why it is so hard for us to grasp who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does. We can’t see wind, and we can’t capture breath, but we certainly experience them, and we cannot live without them. The same can be said for the Holy Spirit, which we understand to be how we experience God’s redemption and salvation, and the force that energizes us for discipleship. It’s hard to describe, but we know it when we feel it. First Presbyterian Church | 200 West Trade St. | Charlotte, NC 28202 | www.f irstpres-charlotte.org And so, as I watched Moana the first time, and marveled at how masterfully the writers portrayed this young woman’s struggle between her external identity as the good daughter and her powerful inner call to strike out beyond her comfort zone seek the greater good for her community, I thought again and again of the Holy Spirit. And that’s interesting considering that this movie is rooted in ancient Polynesian mythology and not Trinitarian Christianity. But one of the reasons we’ve chosen to consider popular movies in our sermon series this summer is that, as reformed Christians, we value the work of the Holy Spirit in our world and don’t believe that we can capture it or control it. While we know that God’s revelation was made perfect in Jesus Christ and attested to us in scripture, we also trust that God is at work in the world, and in our lives, in ways we cannot explain. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s work pours forth into human lives, relationships, and actions, and can be borne witness to in countless way, even an animated Disney film. At the beginning of the movie, Moana’s father sings a song entitled, “Who You Are,” outlining to Moana the uniqueness of her culture and the gift of her responsibility to it. It is an homage to family and tradition, and a reminder that we are all grounded in something – we are all who we are in part because of where we come from. Our identity as human beings in a particular context- ethnicity, religion, gender, family- matters to each of us. Living our identity is not always simple and it’s not always comfortable, but it is a part of everything that we do. As Christians, we root that identity in our understanding of God’s creative power, and believe that, as we read in Genesis 1, we were all created in the image of God. Honoring who we are honors the one who created us. Moana accepts and appreciates her identity, and yet. And yet, she feels a calling in the deepest part of her to venture beyond that which is expected of her, the Moana that everyone else sees. She tries to resist it, but its power is too great. In the cornerstone song of the film, she sings, “see the line where the sea meets the sky? It calls me. And no one knows how far I’ll go.” Anyone who has ever felt a calling to something can relate to this. Rooted as we are in our own identity, we are also all called to something outside ourselves, and First Presbyterian Church | 200 West Trade St. | Charlotte, NC 28202 | www.f irstpres-charlotte.org it is the Holy Spirit that animates that call, pulling us out of our own selves and towards something greater. To be sure, we are not all called to risk our lives to sail the sea and recapture a jade heart from a buff demigod. Most of our callings are not as supercharged and dramatic as Moana’s. But that makes them no less significant. You may be the popular kid in school whom everyone admires and wants to be around, and yet you find yourself drawn to those on the outside who no one seems to notice. Perhaps you are a full time parent who relishes raising your children and yet you feel called to return to school or to the workforce to participate in something outside your family. Maybe you’re a successful businessperson who loves the thrill of the deal, and yet you find greater satisfaction giving your money away to people and organizations that need it than accumulating it for yourself. You may be a natural athlete who wins races and scores baskets with ease and yet your heart doesn’t truly soar until you pick up a paintbrush and create beautiful art. We all have an identity, and we all have a calling, and they are not always exactly the same thing. And that can be a challenge, as can many aspects of a life of discipleship. In our gospel lesson today, we heard Jesus tell his disciples that they would not be alone after his departure, that he would send an Advocate, a counselor, advisor and companion. And that is the Holy Spirit. This passage from John is a key point in Jesus’ ministry with his disciples. A part of his farewell discourse, it is his way of imparting what his disciples – then and now – most needed to know. And something they clearly needed to know is that God would not abandon them with Jesus’ departure from this earth. From the beginning, Father, Son and Holy Spirit existed in perfect unity, and the cross would not – could not- change that. In our world today, there is a deep hunger for the spirit, and many interpretations of what it is. Most cultures have their own versions of spirituality, many of which First Presbyterian Church | 200 West Trade St.
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