Dancing with Comcast (Again) and Dreaming of Net Neutrality

It's that time of year again: time to suffer through a long conversation with Comcast. Recent conversations with friends have taught me the value of doing so via online chat, not on the phone, so that I can multitask, and so that I have a permanent record of the entire conversation.

We want cable internet. We love the speed. We do NOT want cable TV or any other service from Comcast. Every time I have to explain this, the agent seems completely befuddled that anybody could possibly make such a decision.

"Noooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!"

Christy and I went through this chat together, with her typing the first half of the call and me the second half. I submit this transcript to all those who take solace in sharing each other's pain at a corporation's attempts to victimize the public. Note especially the part where we try to convince the agent NOT to send us a cable box, because it will save Comcast money.

I pray that I am gradually learning to see this annual dance as just that -- a dance -- rather than undue oppression, because honestly, there are way too many problems in this world that are actual problems. Maybe this means I am growing spiritually. But I hope it doesn't mean I'm learning to be more compliant with a corporation that counts on its customers not paying attention and thus being overcharged.

• Problem: We don't understand why our monthly bill for Internet Service Only suddenly increased by $17 with no explanation. A revised services price list was enclosed with our bill, but nowhere on the list did it show XFINITY Internet costing $88.95.

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• Sanjay > Hello JOSHUA_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Sanjay. Please give me one moment to review your information.
• JOSHUA_ > My Issue: We don't understand why our monthly bill for Internet Service Only suddenly increased by $17 with no explanation. A revised services price list was enclosed with our bill, but nowhere on the list did it show XFINITY Internet costing $88.95.
• Sanjay > Nice to have you on chat. Hope you are doing well today.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you.
• Sanjay > You are welcome!
• Sanjay > As I understand you want to know why your bill has increased. Am i correct?
• JOSHUA_ > Yes, we are considering leaving Xfinity for a more affordable internet service, but we wanted to give the company a chance to make us an offer to keep our business.
• Sanjay > No worries, Joshua. I am here to assist you. I myself too would want to be on top of my account, as well as the bills especially handling the payments. Please be assured I will do my best to help resolve your issue today.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you.
• Sanjay > You are welcome!
• Sanjay > Thank you for verifying account information before entering the chat room. Let me go ahead and review your account.
• JOSHUA_ > Please go ahead.
• Sanjay > While you are waiting why not check out www.comcast.com/Corporate/Learn/HighSpeedInternet/highspeedinternet.html and see how to take advantage of the full value of your High Speed Internet.
• Sanjay > Also, let me tell you about our Comcast Guarantee. It's our endeavor to provide you the best customer experience and stand behind our products and services. If you ever have a question you can reach us 24 x 7 either online or email.
• Sanjay > Thank you very much for patiently waiting.
• Sanjay > As I have checked your account, the increase in your month bill is due to a promotion rolled off.
• Sanjay > On 2nd July 2014 you signed up for our Performance with Blast Internet which has an introductory price of $61.99 for the first 12 months.
• Sanjay > Which has been rolled off and it has been changed to its Regular Rate $78.95 and that is the reason for increased bill.
• Sanjay > I regret to say that the promotion can not be extended further however let me take a look on your account to check your current services and ensure that you are getting the best value for your money.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you. I still do not understand why our most recent bill was for $88.95.
• Sanjay > Your prices for your package are $78.95 and $10 is the modem charge. So your bill is $88.95
• Sanjay > Joshua, I have consulted with my supervisor for your issue and reviewed best packages for you. We have found a GREAT deal for you. You can have Same Blast Internet with HBO, Streampix and 10+ basic cable channels. This promotion will be at $59.99/mo with 12 months agreement. After 12 months you can again change your promotion to a different promotion to lower your bill again. I hope it sounds good to you and I assure you that you will be enjoying your services with this package.
• Sanjay > Shall I go ahead and apply this deal now?
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you for finding this package. We actually do not want cable TV because we have a young child in the house. Can you offer us a similar deal of $59.99/mo for Blast Internet only? What would the monthly rate be AFTER this 12 month promotion runs out?
• Sanjay > Joshua, I regret to inform you that the promotion price with Internet only are not reflecting on your account because you recently accessed it. That is the reason we have selected the most basic cable package to bundle with your internet to lower your prices.
• Sanjay > As this is a bundle deal so the Cable service can not be eliminated.
• JOSHUA_ > I'm afraid I don't understand. Why should we pay more for Internet alone than for Internet and cable TV together?
• Sanjay > These are the bundle deals, Joshua. Always bundle deals are cheaper. It is a promotional prices for the TV and Internet bundle for first 12 months. As you accessed the internet only on promotional prices, the same goes with Double Play and Triple Play bundles. However Double Play and Triple Play deals can be applied on your account as Comcast provides for new customers where you already have accessed the Internet only promotion so there is no promotion for new customer is reflecting on your account for new customers.
• Sanjay > That is why I can apply the Double Play deal at cheaper price on your account at this time and it is the best option available at this time which can lower your bill.
• JOSHUA_ > What if you gave us the bundle deal for $59.99 and billed us for both cable TV and internet service, and we never schedule a setup for the cable TV?
• Sanjay > Let me also inform you that we will be sending you a Cable box which will not have any monthly rental. So your monthly rental onwards will be $59.99 for package + $10 for modem = $69.99/mo + taxes.
• Sanjay > Joshua, as I mentioned that this is a bundle deal and the Cable can not be eliminated. We will need to close the order with sending you a Cable box and you may apply it at any time to access your Cable.
• JOSHUA_ > But if Xfinity never sends us the cable box, and never has to send employees to set up, that will save Xfinity time and money, and we'll both be happy.
• Sanjay > Joshua, I will select the self Installation.
• Sanjay > So there will be no charge for installation.
• Sanjay > However there will be a one time charge for Shipping you the box and the Self Installation Kit. The regular charge is $9.95 for shipping and $15 for Kit. However I am very much concerned to assist you and I can waive off the shipping charge at this time. So you only will be charged $15 for sending you the cable box.
• Sanjay > Rest assured this is a GREAT deal. you will be saving $18.96/mo with this deal.
• Sanjay > Also, it is more cheaper then what you were paying for Internet only before.
• Sanjay > As well as you will receive the prorated credits for current bill as well.
• JOSHUA_ > Would it be an option for Xfinity to wait for us to contact the company until we are ready for them to ship us the cable box?
• Sanjay > Yes, sure. What best I can do for you is I can place the order and if you want to take the Cable box later you can take it as well as you can take it at nearest Comcast office as well.
• Sanjay > Will that be fine?
• JOSHUA_ > Please confirm: We will not be charged for the cable box kit until we request it (or pick it up from a Comcast office).
• Sanjay > Joshua, the kit charge will still remain there. However you will not be charged for shipping. Yes, you can take the equipment at nearest Comcast office.
• Sanjay > If you want you can pick up the cable box from local office
• Sanjay > I can also place the order to ship the box however charges will remain same as $15 for the self installation kit
• JOSHUA_ > That's not yet an acceptable deal. As I'm sure you understand, we have no intention of ever picking up the cable box kit, because the fact remains that we don't want cable TV.
• Sanjay > Joshua, what best I can do for you is, I can process a credit of $10 on your account. So it means that you only be charged $5 for the same.
• Sanjay > I hope that will be fine with you?
• JOSHUA_ > OK, I think we have reached a deal. But for the record, this haggling is silly, as is our having to keep coming back to Xfinity to beg for a lower rate.
• Sanjay > I understand that however the regular prices are higher and to make your bill lower a promotional price is needed to be applied on your account and every promotional price has a certain time period.
• JOSHUA_ > Yes, the system is dysfunctional. But I am grateful that Xfinity's customer service seems to have improved a bit since the last time I had to do this dance.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you for that.
• Sanjay > You are welcome, Joshua! I understand your concern however these are Comcast defined deals and we can not make changes to make them permanent.
• Sanjay > Also I would recommend you to take the shipping of box at our end as it will be beneficial because I will waive off the shipping charge for you.
• Sanjay > Will that be fine?
• JOSHUA_ > Please do whatever I need to do in order not to have cable TV installed, and to only have to pay $5 for the box I will not use.
• Sanjay > Yes, as I will credit $10 on your account so you will be paying $5 on your account for Shipping you a kit. As well as you can connect you Cable box at any time and enjoy the Cable service you will be getting with this deal.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you. I will save this transcript and refer to it when we do this dance again eventually. How long will this promotion last, so I can be prepared?
• Sanjay > It will roll off after 12 months. It will be applied on 3rd July 2015 on your account and will roll off on 2nd July 2016.
• JOSHUA_ > OK -- that is on my calendar. Thank you.
• Sanjay > You are welcome!
• Sanjay > Your order number is : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• JOSHUA_ > Got it.
• JOSHUA_ > One more question: I have a bill sitting here for $89.82. Should I wait for a new bill, or pay only part of this one?
• Sanjay > You will be receiving the Cable box with in 3-5 business days. Once you receive it, you can activate it under this link : http://www.comcast.com/activate
• Sanjay > All the credits will be reflecting in your next bill.
• Sanjay > However you can pay the current bill by subtracting these credits.
• JOSHUA_ > So my new total is ... ?
• Sanjay > Sure. Let me check that for you.
• Sanjay > You can make your current balance zero by paying $73.42
• JOSHUA_ > OK. I will do that today.
• Sanjay > Your prorated credits will be of $16.40
• JOSHUA_ > OK.
• Sanjay > Thank you.
• Sanjay > Is this "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" the preferred email address for Comcast account related notifications?
• JOSHUA_ > No, I have never used that email address. Please use xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
• Sanjay > Sure. let me update that for you.
• Sanjay > In order to receive the pricing you have been quoted today let me give you a link to accept the terms of this agreement. Please go to: http://www.comcast.com/eloa/English/agreement
• Sanjay > Please enter your account number : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Sanjay > And today's date for order.
• Sanjay > Please help me with online reference number.
• JOSHUA_ > It looks like this locks me into a 12-month contract. I don't believe you mentioned that before.
• Sanjay > Joshua, I mentioned it at first place.
• Sanjay > However you may any time upgrade your services and there will be no Early Termination Fee.
• JOSHUA_ > OK, I see: "This promotion will be at $59.99/mo with 12 months agreement." Is that it?
• Sanjay > Yes, that is correct.
• JOSHUA_ > What if I move during the 12 months?
• Sanjay > You can move your same service to your new address and there will be no Early Termination Fee. As well as there is no Early Termination Fee or can be waived in case of upgrading your services.
• JOSHUA_ > And what happens after 12 months if I do nothing? Does a new contract begin automatically?
• Sanjay > If you directly will cancel this, there will be a Early Termination Fee. However the above options are the best options to avoid Early Termination Fee.
• JOSHUA_ > So, since I never intend to upgrade to a bundle ... the only way to avoid an early termination fee is to contact you at precisely the moment when the contract is about to expire, and then not renew it?
• JOSHUA_ > Please pardon all my questions, but I am determined not to be taken advantage of. My history with Comcast has made me hyper-vigilant.
• Sanjay > Oh, I am sorry if you have any bad experience with Comcast. I understand your concern, Joshua.
• Sanjay > Joshua, you can any time make changes when your promotion will roll off and change your package to any lower promotional prices again .
• JOSHUA_ > Almost all bad experiences, except for the speed of the internet, which is unmatched. In many place, you have a monopoly, and it's not good for your business model.
• JOSHUA_ > I will mark that month on my calendar and be sure to address this when it is coming up. Do you need anything else from me?
• Sanjay > I will make notes of your words on your account so that Comcast will surely take it as feedback.
• JOSHUA_ > Thank you.
• Sanjay > You are welcome, Joshua!
• Sanjay > Have you accepted the agreement?
• JOSHUA_ > Yes.
• Sanjay > May I please have the online reference number?
• JOSHUA_ > Where is it?
• Sanjay > It will reflect to you once you will submit the agreement form.
• Sanjay > Please go to: http://www.comcast.com/eloa/English/agreement
• JOSHUA_ > Oh, I missed that. I have closed the window already. I saved the contract as a web page on my hard drive.
• Sanjay > Enter your account number : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and today's date for ordered placed and your zip code.
• Sanjay > Okay. let me see if you have accepted it.
• Sanjay > Yes, that is correct. You have accepted it. Thank you, Joshua.
• Sanjay > To sum up, I have reviewed your account details and informed you that the bill has increased due to the promotion rolled off. I also have applied a new promotion on your account. It is Internet Plus with Blast. The prices for the same will be $59.99/mo for first 12 months. The second year price will be increased by $15-20 however you can make changes after 12 months to lower your bill again. Also there will be a $15 Kit charge on your account but I have credited $10 on your account so you will be paying $5 for the same only. You will be receiving the new Cable box with in 3-5 business days. Your new monthly rental onwards will be $59.99 + $10 for modem = $69.99+ taxes.
• Sanjay > Your satisfaction is my priority. Is there anything else I can assist you with? I am more than glad to help you out further.
• Sanjay > No worries, it has been accepted by you. It is reflecting here so there is no need of online acceptance number now.
• JOSHUA_ > You have everything you need? OK. I think we're FINALLY finished. And I thank you for your assistance, but I dream of the day when the FCC will bring Comcast into compliance with net neutrality.

To Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace

homily preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Bellingham, WA

by the Rev. Josh Hosler, Curate

The Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 2015

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85; Acts 13:14b-26; Luke 1:57-80

Jacopo Pontormo, Nativity of St. John the Baptist

The last time I preached on John the Baptist, it was the season of Advent, a time when John is featured prominently in our Sunday lectionary for two weeks in a row. Now here we are at the opposite end of the year, celebrating John’s birth. Why do we celebrate John’s birth on June 24? Simply this: Mary found out she was pregnant, and she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant. That would make John six months older than Jesus. Christmas Eve is December 24, so naturally, we observe John’s birthday on June 24.

Today’s readings play well together, giving us a broad perspective on John’s place in our faith. You may have come away from the Isaiah reading with one or more melodies from Handel’s Messiah running through your head. Isaiah speaks to the Jews in exile in Babylon: the exile is over, and the Persian king Cyrus has given them permission to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem and their temple. This motif of exile and return features prominently as a precursor of the liberation Jesus brings us from sin and death. So in the same way that John prefigures Jesus, the return from exile prefigures eternal salvation.

Likewise, the psalmist looks to times in the past when God has liberated the people, and he prays for another restoration as soon as possible. From whatever situation he is writing—probably the Babylonian exile—the psalmist’s perception is that God is punishing the people for their sins. God has every right to do so, but could it please end soon? Yes: there is a quiet confidence that justice and mercy will win the day, because this is how God’s world works. As it says in another psalm, “Weeping may spend the night, but there is joy in the morning.” And Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, lays out a very brief version of salvation history and announces that the descendants of Abraham living in his day are beneficiaries of God’s salvation in Jesus.

Finally, we have the Song of Zechariah. You may remember that John’s father Zechariah, when he first heard that his wife was pregnant, did not believe it, so he was struck dumb for the duration of the pregnancy. We hear today the first words he speaks once his lips are loosened—a canticle of praise to God for continually delivering God’s people. “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And so there is the biblical history into which all these pieces fit. But who are those who “sit in darkness and the shadow of death”? And how will our feet be guided “into the way of peace”?

The last time I preached on John the Baptist, it was the season of Advent, and a grand jury had just decided not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown. I preached about racism and white privilege, and while my sermon was generally well received, there were those who felt that politics are best left out of the pulpit. Others felt I was just wrong about some things, and that led to some good, respectful conversation.

But here are we again. It’s a different situation in a different state, but once again the focus of attention can be summed up in three words: “Black Lives Matter.” And once again, to say “all lives matter,” while well intentioned, is merely a distraction from what we need to be talking about.

This week I pray especially for the members of Mother Emmanuel AME Church, and for all other predominantly black churches. I pray for those whose skin color makes them targets for the rage of irrational people, people who were raised with a twisted view of the world. These black churchgoers may indeed feel that they are sitting “in darkness and the shadow of death.” I cannot fully understand what this is like.

This past Sunday, Marsha preached an incredible sermon about the shootings in Charleston. It is on our website, and I commend it to you. But racism cannot be preached away. We each have to address it ourselves. When I look back on my life, I find all sorts of times when I could have spoken out against racism but chickened out, when I could have educated myself, but found other things to do instead. As I have matured, I have become more forthright in this matter, speaking up against injustice and going out of my way to learn from those whose experiences I cannot ever share.

Many voices in our country are calling for white people to be idle no longer in the face of racism. The disease cannot be ignored away. It needs to be talked about, and those of us who are white have a duty to listen humbly, not to rush to conclusions or to explain away the experiences of others. We need to educate ourselves on our own history. We need to know about the shameful actions of our ancestors and our contemporaries. This does not mean crippling ourselves with guilt. It means opening our eyes to a wider reality, and then moving through that reality bearing and receiving the merciful love of Christ.

This can happen through books, and websites, and movies, and conversation. It can happen in little ways, like by removing the Confederate flag from all public spaces. It can happen through public action, as it did several days ago when hundreds of white people marched near the Confederate Museum in Charleston to protest racist terrorism. It can also happen around the dinner table with extended family, by stepping into the discomfort with words of truth.

Friends, nine of our brothers and sisters in Christ were murdered last week because of the color of their skin. Many white people want to do something about it. We want to fix the situation. But here’s the thing: very often, because of our limited experience, our efforts to fix things are misguided. The number one action we can take is to listen to the voices of black Americans, to spread their words around, and not to remain stuck in a white people’s echo chamber. That means that my preaching and your listening to me don’t count, because a white man is preaching. It’s up to each of you to seek out black stories, black experiences, black perspectives.

As for me, I’m reading a book right now by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It’s a work of fiction called Americanah, and its two main characters are Nigerians, one of whom moves to the U.S., and the other to London. The experience of having black skin, but not sharing a common history with other black-skinned folks around them, is one the author clearly understands and communicates beautifully and heartbreakingly, and it explores the scourge of racism in a number of enlightening ways.

This week, how will you honor the lives of Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lee Lance, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, and Susie Jackson? Please pray for them. Please pray for the man who killed them. And please, together, let’s find new ways to listen and to learn, and to speak out boldly against the evil of racism.

This is our work to do; God cannot do it for us. We have the prophets of old, including John the Baptist, to teach us what justice is. Let us listen to them. Let us follow Jesus our Savior in giving our very souls to the work of reconciliation. And all the while, let us trust that God can and will guide our feet into the way of peace. Amen.

Chaos in the Midst of Order

sermon preached at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Bellingham, WA

by the Rev. Josh Hosler

The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5B, June 7, 2015

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Dove of the Holy Spirit

Do you find it a little unsettling that, to many of those around him and even to members of his own family, Jesus appeared to be insane? Never mind that his very presence could heal lifelong diseases. Never mind that his quick wit kept turning his critics’ judgments back on themselves. It just didn’t compute. How could this regular guy from Galilee be doing these things?

In the past 2000 years, we have seen the followers of Jesus do some pretty amazing things. We also have seen Christians behaving badly. But look at the ripple effect that Christianity has brought to our world. Among other things, once the Roman Empire got hold of it, Christianity set about ordering the world, for better or worse. And many of us here are old enough to remember a time when Christianity and the very best of life in the United States seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Today, many Americans long for a simpler time, a time when Christianity was the assumed religion.

It’s very different now. No longer can we assume that the person coming into St. Paul’s from off the street has had any exposure to the most basic teachings of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I find this pretty exciting, because it means that the people who are here really want to be here! But we are also in uncharted waters, and that will require both patience and imagination.

I imagine that every period in history seemed bizarre and unsettling to the people living in it. And I do think we live in a time more unsettling than many others. But if so, then Jesus’ time was another of these. Around the year 30, Greek, Roman, and Jewish influences were about to collide in Galilee to create a new kind of chaos in the midst of a very uneasy order.

In this passage we have Jesus’ family coming to take him home, to remove the embarrassment and shame of this crazy person from the marketplace, this favorite son now rumored to be possessed by a demon. But Jesus’ wit and stories win the day here, as usual. Jesus tells us that a house cannot be plundered until the strong man living there is tied up. So if Jesus’ power to heal comes from a demonic source, then the demons are now doing good things, and Satan’s army has switched sides!

From this story Jesus goes on to assure people of the forgiveness of their sins, but the big fat asterisk that follows is just as shocking as the breadth of his assurance. First, “people will be forgiven” is not a great translation. The Greek word here is actually “all.” So Jesus states that ALL sins and blasphemies will be forgiven—and then comes the asterisk. All sins and blasphemies will be forgiven, except for “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”

If the universality of Jesus’ forgiveness shocked us, we might think, “At last! Here is an unforgivable sin. It’s good to know that Jesus has at least some standards. After all, he can’t just forgive everyone of everything! There can’t be a get-out-of-consequences-free card! Now then … what is it exactly that can’t be forgiven, so I can demonstrate that it’s something only other people do?” Hmmm. What exactly is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”?

Well, as usual, Jesus puts the burden of interpretation on us, to move us beyond individualistic rules and into relationships with each other and with the living God. If we really want to know what “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” means, we have to entertain the notion that we might just be the guilty ones. We need to let that worry us, and we need to wonder how any sin that hasn’t been defined for us or of which we’re not aware can possibly be unforgivable.

Now, when dealing with this passage, it’s all too easy to get caught up in our preconceived notions of what words like “demon,” “Beelzebub,” and “Satan” mean. Much of our unease with these terms comes through the filter of a century of bad horror movies. So I want to invite you to let go of the image of a man in a red jumpsuit, with horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. We tend to make Satan either too tame or too terrifying. On the one hand, we might recruit the little red man to be our scapegoat, as in, “the devil made me do it.” On the other, we might come to think of Satan as a sort of anti-God—all-powerful and locked in an eternal struggle we don’t know who will win.

I don’t believe either of these things to be true. Rather, my experiences and knowledge lead me to understand Satan as whatever force in the world causes real destruction of human lives and relationships, but which is ultimately powerless in the face of love. Someone said to me once, “We know that evil is a real force, because it takes energy to resist it.” Amen to that. Even people who don’t believe in God are forced to acknowledge the reality of evil.

But the Christian counterclaim is that whatever war evil was waging, it has already lost. It takes audacity to look at all the evil in the real world—executions, molestations, natural disasters, greed, hoarding, terror, neglect, disease—and to claim that there’s an even realer world, sitting right on top of the one we usually see, in which all of these horrible, painful things actually come to nothing on the scales!

The force working against evil in the world is what we call the Holy Spirit. She doesn’t get much press. Her holiday, Pentecost, has yet to be discovered by marketers. Sometimes she leaps out from behind a bend in the road and shows us unimaginable beauty. At other times she puts people in our path and urges us to show them compassion and human connection. At times she brings us healing, comfort, or reassurance, against all evidence to the contrary. And sometimes she holds a mirror up to our actions and reveals them to be inexcusable, even when we thought we were carrying out some necessary evil for the sake of the greater good.

Grace is her artistic medium. Surprise is her secret weapon. She exposes what is evil and shouts it from the housetops. And, like it or not, chaos is her fertilizer.

Yes, chaos—not order—is the ground from which the Holy Spirit usually springs. Ever since that Day of Pentecost when many languages were heard and understood, as if the Tower of Babel had come crashing down and etymology were working in reverse, the Holy Spirit has thrilled to be at work in the wreckage of our lives. She shatters our carefully constructed categories.

Did you happen to catch the news story last week out of Phoenix? Hundreds of angry demonstrators carrying lots and lots of guns surrounded a mosque just before weekly worship—Christians behaving badly yet again!* So what did the Muslim worshippers do in response? They invited the protestors in to worship with them. Some of protestors took the Muslims up on their offer, too. One man told the press afterward: “They made me feel welcome, you know. I just think everybody’s points are getting misconstrued, saying things out of emotion, saying things they don’t believe.” Another demonstrator, who had been wearing a deeply offensive T-shirt, was seen after worship shaking the hand of a Muslim and saying, “I promise, the next time you see me, I won’t be wearing this shirt. I won’t wear it again.” These two men, at least, were open to the Holy Spirit, and boy, is she sneaky!

I believe it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to look at the situation in Phoenix and say, “What we call the Holy Spirit cannot be at work in Islam. Therefore, no reconciliation actually happened there.” To say this is to limit the scope of God’s action, simply because we fear the consequences of not possessing the entire truth.

But it’s not fair to call out other people’s blasphemy and leave it at that. At this point I have to stop and ask, “Have I ever stood in the way of other people’s grace, comfort, and healing—ridiculed them instead of honoring them, simply because they worked against my limited understanding of the way the world works? Have I ever been guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?” And I can barely finish the sentence before knowing that I have, of course I have, many times in my life. So what are the consequences?

Jesus tells us that such blasphemy is eternal and cannot be forgiven. But I don’t attribute that to God’s unwillingness to forgive. I think it’s about getting ourselves stuck. If we would rather ridicule the Holy Spirit than honor her work, how can we possibly accept forgiveness when she extends it to us? Yet such blasphemies do not define our entire lives. I may be guilty of an eternal sin, but I am also the recipient of so much love and forgiveness I don’t know what to do with it all. When I choose to rest in that love and forgiveness, instead of in the guilt of my past, I find that the Holy Spirit really is at work in me. And so I pray that my favorite sins, the ones I shield from God’s forgiveness, may be placed alongside God’s mercy. In short, I trust that there may yet be grace, because in my best moments I know that’s how God works!

If you have ever experienced the chaotic force that brings good out of evil, the Holy Spirit has brought grace to you. If you have ever been healed of an illness, the Holy Spirit has healed you. If you have ever been called up short, forced to acknowledge that you were wrong, and thus found your worldview expanded, like that tiny minority of protestors in Phoenix … that’s the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is not safe, but she is good. She is not bound by the church, yet wherever she goes, she invites the church to be.

Wherever Satan sets up shop, the Holy Spirit breaks in and ties him up. She invades our homes, too, calling us beyond mere tribal loyalty into compassion for those to whom we bear no obvious obligation. She sees our urge for a monarchy, for a recognizable nation like other nations, for a king who will fight our wars for us, and she invites us beyond it into the mess of democracy. Then she sees the disintegration of our democracy through greed and anemic self-interest, and she calls us even beyond that into worlds we don’t yet understand. She throws conventional wisdom out the window and adopts a new blueprint, plans for building the Kingdom of God out of the ruins of over-functioning religion and human tragedy.

The Holy Spirit is holy trouble, trouble that may well leave our lives in a shambles. But then we will see that our carefully ordered lives were always a sham, that we have never been in control, and that we can breathe a little easier knowing that God’s vision is much larger.

I hope you hear today that the Holy Spirit really is at work in you, too, that God loves you more than you can possibly imagine, and that chaos and disorder do not contradict that basic fact. Satan’s house is plundered. The prison doors are open, and we are set free to follow the Holy Spirit wherever she may lead us. Amen.

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* For the record, somebody did take me to task about this line. Were these Christians really behaving badly? They were operating within the bounds of the first and the second amendments of the Constitution. To which I reply, yes, I bet they were. But I would point out that there’s a huge difference between what is legal and what is moral. And it seems to me that showing up armed to the teeth and threatening worshippers of any religious community is just plain evil. That’s why the Holy Spirit went to work there.