Sign of the Spirit

A theological assumption I hold is that God’s Spirit is everywhere at all times.  This is easy to think and say, but it certainly is not evident all the time.  Much of my life it would be an assumption with little evidence to show.  Sometimes, however, I become aware that I have just seen a sign of the Spirit.  Sometimes this happens in my own life and sometimes it is something I see or read about in someone else’s life.  I just had one of the latter experiences.

Oddly enough, it came in an article in a newspaper I read on a daily basis, The New York Times.  I don’t read everything every day; that is a big newspaper!  But I do tend to run my eyes over most of the headlines and read some that seem pertinent or interesting.  Recently, one such headline grabbed my attention.  It stated: “Black South Carolina Trooper Explains He Helped a White Supremacist” by Dan Berry.  I had to begin reading.

The scene was a white supremacist rally in front of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia.  A black state trooper noticed one thing, a white guy who “was wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika.”  He seemed ill---potentially in trouble.  The details of the scene are Spartan.  We read, “The trooper motioned for help from the Columbia fire chief, who is also black.  Then with a firm grip, he began walking the wilted white man up the steps toward the air-conditioned oasis of the State House.”

Of course, this was only days after a white supremacist killed nine African-Americans in their church---clearly an act of racial hatred.  Leroy Smith, the State Trooper, emerges for me as a sign of the Spirit.  Of course at one level, it could be said he was only doing his job.  I agree.  But the article gives more details that demonstrate it was more than simply doing his job.  He was also a sign of the Spirit.  His act was caught on a photo and become widely disseminated on Twitter and other social media.

Smith was taken aback at the photo and its popularity, but said he “hoped the image would help society move past the recent spasms of hate and violence.”  That is exactly what I expect the Spirit of God would say to this world.  It sounds a great deal like the words of Jesus or the Buddha or any of the great religious leaders.  “Just say no to violence,” is the mantra of the Spirit.  Then the next section of the article was a clincher.

“Asked why he thinks the photo has had such resonance, he gave a simple answer: ‘Love.’”  If that is not the language of the Spirit, I don’t know what is.  And then, Leroy Smith offered this commentary.  “’I think that’s the greatest thing in the world---love,’ said the burly, soft-spoken trooper, who is just shy of 50.  ‘And that’s why so many people were moved by it.’”  I think this is profound

In fact, I would say it is theologically profound.  Love probably is the greatest thing in the world.  It would be fascinating to go into a shopping mall and ask people what they think the greatest thing in the world would be.  The range of answers might be stunning.  But I think Leroy Smith probably has the best answer---the right answer for me.  It is love.  I think that is why the New Testament writer of the letters of John could say that God is love.  It’s that simple and it’s that profound.

How did Smith come to perform his duty---or his act of love?  He was watching to make sure the demonstrators would not go crazy.  And then he saw one of them---the man whom he was to help.  Leroy Smith said, “He looked fatigued, lethargic---weak…I knew there was something very wrong with him.”  I don’t think the story ever reveals the name of the guy who was helped.  But in the Spirit it does not matter who it was.  It does not matte whether he was black or white, male or female.  It does not even matter that he was a white supremacist!  Some of us may have drawn a line at helping this guy. 

But Leroy Smith stepped right across that line.  We might say he was only doing his job.  I prefer to think he was more than a State Trooper doing his job.  He was a man of the Spirit who did something that became a sign of the Spirit.  He does not tell us his did it out of love.  But how else do you explain it when he himself said the photo had so much resonance because of love?

The powerful thing for me is not simply reading the story or seeing the photo.  The powerful thing for me is to understand this as an act of love.  An act of love is always the sign of the Spirit.  It is always contrary to the hate and violence, which also have so many signs in the world.  Nine dead South Carolinians in their church is surely too many signs of hate and violence.

It is ironic they were killed in a church.  In their own ways, they also were and are signs of the Spirit.  They were witnesses to their faith.  And then, they became martyrs.  I am inspired by Leroy Smith.  Inspiration, however, will also be a mere theological assumption unless it is followed by an act of love.  Then I also can be a sign of the Spirit.