The Great South Land and the Universal Spirit of Pentecost

The South Land of the Holy Spirit

More than 425 years ago, during the season of Pentecost, a Portuguese explorer by the name of Pedro Ferdinand de Queirós was sponsored by the Pope and King Philip III of Spain to seek out the mysterious, yet-to-be-discovered southern continent — Terra Australis Incognita, the unknown south land.

De Queirós set sail from Peru with the purpose of discovering this far-flung land. In May 1606, he arrived on the shores of the largest island of what is today the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Thinking that he had discovered the unknown south land, de Queirós claimed it all for Christ, for church, and for king, under the name Terra Australis del Espiritu Santo — the Southern Land of the Holy Spirit.

De Queirós was a devout Catholic with a strong missionary fervor. He named the point where he struck land Vera Cruz, the True Cross. A Pentecost mass was celebrated near a stream that he named the River Jordan, while he took measures to establish a colony named Nova Jerusalem — the New Jerusalem.

The Holy Spirit figures largely in all of this. Not only was this unknown south land claimed during the season of Pentecost, it was also believed this possession was a sign of divine favor, gifted to the Europeans by God.

De Queirós' venture didn't last long. It was abandoned just one month later, and he sailed back to Peru, never to raise another expedition. He died eight years later, still believing that — although he had fallen short by more than 3,000 kilometres — he had stood on the land mass of the mysterious southern continent.

But the story didn't end there. De Queirós' passion and zeal gave birth to the idea of the great South Land of the Holy Spirit. This idea continues today, prompting the belief that this nation, Australia, has a special destiny as a Christian nation — that God has a special intent, a unique purpose for this land.

An Explosive, Liberating Event

Luke's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is by any measure an awesome day. Devout Jews from every nation under heaven gathered in Jerusalem. They witnessed an electrifying, mind-blowing event as the Spirit of God broke in, declaring a new reality.

The Apostle Peter is truly emboldened as he announces that this coming of the Spirit is a fulfillment of God's promises, marking the beginning of something radically new in human history.

And this is what Pentecost is — an explosive, liberating event, marking the beginning of something radically new. It's a movement of renewal and transformation, pointing to a world where divisions break down, where boundaries are breached, and barriers are dissolved as the good news of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to all nations.

Nations and the Whole Inhabited World

The reference to nations is important here. In the Bible, the word for nations is ethnos, meaning a collective of people who share a common identity. It is where we get the English term "ethnic" from. Nations in the biblical sense is also known by the term oikoumene, which refers to the whole inhabited world.

So this Pentecost event — this manifestation of God's power and glory among the devout Jews from every nation under heaven who had gathered in Jerusalem — was the launching pad for a vision and a movement that has a universal intent: to proclaim Christ not just to a gathering of diverse Jews in Jerusalem, but to the whole world.

Two Things to Consider

Today, there are two things I would like you to consider.

First, Pentecost challenges us to proclaim the good news of Jesus in word and action by breaking down all those divisions that keep us apart — race, culture, gender, nationality, and all the other human-made divisions that can turn us against one another.

Second, and this is where de Queirós and his story of the Great South Land comes in: God has no favorites. To suggest that God uses a particular people, a particular culture, a particular denomination, or a particular nation destined to proclaim the Christian faith is a misnomer.

This means Australia is no more favored than any other nation to be a witness to the Spirit. The church, the body of Christ, and the gospel we proclaim is not — and never should be — defined or restricted by geographical location, ethnic identity, culture, language, or tradition. We as a Christian community are not defined by our particular ethnicity, culture, or nation.

In Australia, Not of Australia

And this is where the Uniting Church makes it very clear. For we are the Uniting Church in Australia, not the Uniting Church of Australia.

Can you see the difference? To be of something is to be defined and bound to it. To be in something is to have an impact, to inspire something, to carry an authority beyond a specific place or context, and to therefore offer a vision beyond itself.

So de Queirós' passion and zeal, which gave birth to the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit, really doesn't add up. Pentecost calls us to look beyond ourselves to a bigger picture — where, in a world that seems to be increasingly fragmenting into self-absorbed categories of race, culture, tradition, and nation, the gospel offers a radically different vision, where no one is excluded and where everyone, every race, every culture, every nation has a calling and a place.

Amen.