Re-imagining the Holy Spirit: quo vadis?
19 Oct 2009
“In a recent book, Stories of Emergence: Moving from Absolute to Authentic, written by a diverse group of Christian leaders whose purpose was to comment on culture and direction of the Emerging Church, there was not a single account of pneumatological expression. Not one!…The Holy Spirit’s activity has become atrophied; in many of these circles people are desperate to understand more. The emerging church is asking its congregations to be girl scouts without giving them the cookies. This has to change. We desperately need practitioners who can articulate and demonstrate the Kingdom.[w]e need cultural iconographies that are both personal and purposeful demonstrations of God’s heart.” – Eric Keck, from his thesis: Pneumanaut: Demonstrate, Embody, Announce
I think my friend Eric is onto something. Where are the practitioners of the ways of the Spirit in the emerging and missional church? Where can such leaders and practitioners be heard? Where are the ‘positive deviants’ demonstrating? Where are we teaching and demonstrating the power of the Spirit…or at least talking about it and wrestling with it? Where is this being done…or is it all just re-framing and re-languageing of modernity at this point? Although since Eric published this, there has been some conversation sparked by Emerging Grace, RobbyMac and Brother Maynard in Post-Charismatic and their conversations on ‘Why Charismissional?’, and also the new book by Francis Chan Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect for the Holy Spirit will hopefully help further expand the conversation. Not that the lack of conversation about the Spirit isn’t somehow understandable, because giving freedom for the Spirit to come and be present and move and empower is not-so-nice-and-neat…in fact, it’s messy, but no more so messy than community and communitas (topics of which are in abundance in conversations, books and video format among the emerging church.) Yet in saying all of this, in fact I have named my fear, which is: the issue of spiritual expressions/gifts and the presence and power of the Spirit has been “bottled-up” into a nice-and-neat little side conversation in emerging church circles.
But let’s here from Keck again: “The demonstration of the kingdom is in itself an apologetic: no hype, no manipulation, but rather spiritual expression. It is power demonstrated in the immediate, power demonstrated in the actual, and power demonstrated that can only be defined as pneumatological…[t]he absence of this pneumatological expression will not only stifle the process, but will never holistically fulfill it…using The definition that the kingdom of God is the range of God’s effective will, where what the spirit chooses to accomplish is done, we find in this premise the beautiful notion that this same Spirit is available to us now, in the immediate.”
Recently in my own faith community we were having what we call a “ministry time” at the end of a Sunday service. In this time, we gather in little clusters and express needs and take time to pray for one another. Because we make space and time for God to move in our midst, this is often where I witness His work through us ala charismata. As ministry time was winding down and people were beginning to leave, a young 20-something guy who had been in my group was hanging with me and chatting. He spoke-up and said, “This is why I come to this church.” Intrigued by the big opening, I said, “Tell me what you mean?” He responded, “Well, we actually try to experience God together.and when we do it – even though sometimes it can be weird – most of the time at this church it is.chill, and people kind-of talked about the weird stuff, explaining it so I could understand. That made it easy for me to give it a go, and well, I like it.” Whether changing the lingua franca in naturally supernatural ways or dialing-down instead of hyping-up as easy-entry points for embracing the Presence and Power of the Spirit, I think the presence, power and gifts of the Spirit need to be a central part of the emerging church, but as an historian, let me appeal to history yet even more so, the future. Thus, at this point, before I skip to the end, I want to re-visit where I began – in deep church history.
Ramsey MacMullen is one who explained the apologetic of power vis-à-vis the charismata of the Spirit and the mission of the Church. MacMullen, an historian of ancient Rome and professor emeritus at Yale University, claimed in his book Christianizing the Roman Empire that indeed it was to a greater extent the power of the Spirit – seen in grace-manifestations of exorcism and healings – that the early Christians won their world. (I would also add the social dynamics Rodney Stark puts forth in his book The Rise of Christianity.)
I want to share a few quotes from our deep church roots to encourage us on to freedom and exploration in following God and embracing the gifts He gives us in Christ Jesus through His Spirit:
- “[Some] are also receiving gifts, each as he is worthy, illumined through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit of understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing, another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of God…for the prophetical gifts (prophetika charismata) remain with us, even to the present time.” – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, from chapters 39 and 82
- “…for which cause also his [Christ's] true disciples having received grace from him use it in his name for the benefit of the rest of men, even as each has received the gift from him. For some drive out demons with certainty and truth, so that often those who have themselves been cleansed from the evil spirits believe and are in the church, and some have foreknowledge of things to be, and visions, and prophetic speech, and others cure the sick by laying on of hands and make them whole, and even as we have said, the dead have been raised and remained with us for many years. And why should I say more? It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church throughout the whole world, having received from God in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, uses each day for the benefit of the heathen, deceiving none and making profit from none. For as it received freely from God, it ministers also freely.” – Irenaeus, cited by Eusebius in Ecclesiastical History, 5, 7:3-5
And now the last word, or at least my last word: While we often ask the Spirit “quo vadis?” (“whither Thou goest?”), possibly we should be asking: “where have you come from?” Even as I just brought the past to bear and inspire us onward, I want to end by dominating both our past and present with the future; for the people of God, the people of the Spirit, the people of Christ jesus are people of the future. I have left something Steve Burnhope alluded to in a comment early in our conversation lay dormant, but now I want to take it up: the eschatological aspect. We are called to live by the Spirit in this age, and if we live by the Spirit then we walk by the Spirit. Thus I want to appeal to the fact that the Spirit empowers us to be people of the future in Christ, to taste the power of the age to come, and leave us with a few voices where I have heard the echo of the Spirit ringing in our ears and our hearts:
- On Being Charismatic: “It is a great reproach to us as Christians that we excite in the hearts of the unbelieving masses to little more than plain boredom. They meet us with smiling toleration or ignore us altogether, and their silence is a portent and a sign. Well might it cause us nights of tears and hours of prayerful self-examination. It is the Spirit of Christ in us that will draw Satan’s fire. The people of the world will not much care what we believe and they will stare vacantly at our religious forms, but there is one thing they will never forgive us – the presence of God’s Spirit in our hearts. They may not know the cause of that strange feeling of antagonism which rises within them, but it will be nonetheless real and dangerous. Satan will never cease to war on the Man-child, and the soul in which dwells the Spirit of Christ will continue to be the target for his attacks.” A.W. Tozer, The Warfare of the Spirit, p.4.
- The Spirit and the flesh: “A well-known passage in the book of the prophet Joel can be cited as the point of departure for our discussion in this book. It reads: Thereafter the day shall come when I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions; I will pour out my spirit in those days even upon slaves and the slave-girls (Joel 2:28-29) The Spirit of God and all human flesh – these are the two principal actors in this prophetic utterance. When these two actors step onto the stage before the silent but intensely expectant audience of the whole universe, the dark silence that has dominated the primordial world is broken. All human flesh becomes infused with the divine Spirit. This Spirit of God is contagious as well as creative. Men and women, regardless of age, sex, or social status, begin to dream dreams, see visions, and utter prophecy. The history of the Spirit-endowed human beings is thus begun. History as we know it is made up of the dreams, visions, and prophecies that human beings are enabled to make through the Spirit of God. History, in its most far-reaching sense, is the movement of the human spirit under the irresistible impact of the divine Spirit. It is the glorious and at the same time painful story of human spirituality caught in the bondage of the divine Spirit trying to realize its dreams, visions, and prophecies.” From the Introduction, Choan-Seng Song, Third-Eye Theology: Theology in Formation in Asian Settings.
- Paul’s Ideal: Charismatic Community: “To appreciate the force of Paul’s concept of church, we must note the following points. The basis of community is the shared experience of the Spirit. “The koinonia of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 13:13-14; Phil. 2:1) means primarily “participation in the Sprit,” the common experience of the Spirit which was the other side of the coin from their common faith in Christ (e.g., Rom 8:9; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; Gal. 3:2-5); note the strong appeal to experience in Phil. 2:1-2. It was this shared experience which drew them together and out of which oneness grew;: 1 Cor. 12:13 – one Spirit, therefore one body; Eph. 4:3-4 – the unity of the Spirit is something given, the oneness of their starting point as believers, not something they create, but something they can maintain. In short, for Paul the unity of the Christian community is not primarily something structural, but rather the unifying power of a shared experience of grace inspiring a common gratitude and purpose.[i]t follows that to be a member of the body of Christ is by definition to be charismatic.” James D. G. Dunn, The Christ and the Spirit, Vol. 2, p. 249.
- On Being Charismissional: “Every Christian who has received the Holy Spirit is now a prophet of the return of Christ, and by this very fact he has a revolutionary mission…: for the prophet is not one who confines himself to foretelling with more or less precision an event more or less distant; he is one who already lives it, and already makes it actual and present in his own environment. Consequently it means bringing the future into the present as an explosive force…it means understanding the present in light of the future, dominating it by the future, in the same way as the historian dominates the past.” Jacques Ellul, The Presence of the Kingdom, p. 40.
And so I conclude with this classic prayer from the Church of the province of the West Indies:
| Almighty God, our heavenly Father, the privilege is ours to share in the loving, healing, reconciling mission of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, in this age and wherever we are. Since without you we can do no good thing, May your Spirit make us wise; May your Spirit guide us; May your Spirit renew us; May your Spirit strengthen us; So that we will be: Strong in faith, Discerning in proclamation, Courageous in witness, Persistent in good deeds. This we ask through the name of the Father. |
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Church of the Province of the West Indies |
16 comments
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Comment by rodney neill
9.56 am on 20 Oct 2009
hello steven
It is my impression that much of the ‘emerging church’( a contested and slippery term) is now broadly part of the liberal progressive stream of the Christian tradition ( old mainline denominations) and so has left the charismatic movement behind including its understanding of the gifts of the Spirit – the whole theology of the Spirit is being reenvisioned in new and diverse ways due to many factors including
- a stress on a negative apophatic theology of God as Mystery
- a rejection of supernatural deliverance/healings/prophecies as part of an outdated medaevil world view
With the influence of panentheism the Spirit is symbolised as the Life-force, Energy or All-encompassing Spirit of the Cosmos in a non-dual vision of reality with an emphasis on connecting with the Spirit via spiritual disciplines esp meditation.
This is a very generalised senario – I think it is the theological assumptions inherent in the gifts of the Spirit teaching which many in the emerging church would reject.
all the best
Rodney
Comment by Steve Burnhope
7.48 am on 21 Oct 2009
Rodney,
I don’t want to hijack this thread, or distract from Steven’s main theme, but it is this question of our expectations of the Spirit in today’s “charismatic church” (or is it today’s “post-charismatic church”?) that more than anything else underlies my postings in this series.
The reason I think we need to find the Spirit afresh (he’s still around) is that ‘no Spirit’ means no experience of God beyond the merely intellectual, for the Spirit is ‘God experienced’ among us.
However, this does not mean that we have ‘got it right’ up to now in the charismatic world. Indeed, the shallowness, triteness and at times downright egotistical power-tripping of much that has been passed off as ‘the Spirit’ must deeply grieve the Spirit.
If I may be somewhat presumptuous, I suggest the reason “some churches/fellowships inspired by the charismatic movement … are in a degree of crisis as the Holy Spirit does not seem to be moving today [as in the past]” may be because he has ‘had enough’ of the reductionism of the charismatic movement, which has forgotten (or never learned) about his person and work beyond the narrow practice of ‘public gifts’ and ‘words from the Lord.’
I suggest that if we are to re-experience a genuine moving of the Spirit amongst us, in a “new-charismatic” movement, we need to firstly learn (or re-learn) the broader context of his person and mission, and then to humbly allow him to re-image his working in and through us, freed from the narrow strictures of the charismatic movement as was.
In other words, our interpretive points of reference (our expectations of him) are not “the ways the Spirit moved last time”, or “how we have always understood the gifts of the Spirit”, but something renewed and re-imagined.
Critical in this is that our priorities must become his priorities, which I don’t think they always have been in the past, because charismatics have not had eyes to see or ears to hear the Spirit’s person and agenda beyond the ‘charismatic gifts.’
A whole industry grew up to explain, expound and bottle ‘How To Be A Charismatic’ (often comprised of extra-biblical material – e.g. personal interpretations of personal experiences which become normative teaching on what to expect), to a point where one wondered just where they got it all from.
We shall need to search hard and prayerfully, and engage in deep conversations, but once our understanding of the Spirit has been re-positioned in this broader, richer, more relational context, I have hope that we may encounter his gifting and supernatural moving afresh.
However, I do feel we will first need to let go of the old expectations bequeathed to us by the ‘first charismatic movement’ and allow our understandings to be radically made anew.
Amongst other things, it will involve a gentler, humbler, more communal, more natural and more genuinely accountable hermeneutic.
Comment by steven hamilton
11.16 am on 21 Oct 2009
i wholeheartedly agree Steve – expectations continue to be a major issue…
Comment by steven hamilton
12.54 pm on 21 Oct 2009
i wanted to add a piece from my friend down in australia at ranges community church, scott aitken. i think what he says here has much to do with what we are taliing about:
“Yesterday (Sunday) at Ranges Cat spoke about identity as a Christian, highlighting some of her struggles with it. One thing that stood out to me was a quote by Thomas Merton. I cannot recall the exact wording, but the essence of it was that we are closest to God when we breathe. The quote was used in the context of reflecting on spiritual disciplines, and the difficulties some of us have in connecting with God through quiet times, prayer, reading the bible . I can resonate with this. There is something deep within me that affirms that my very breath is prayer and worship to God.
Later in the day I spoke with a young woman who has been thinking about sacred pathways, or the various ways of connecting with God. She spoke about naturalists, intellectuals, etc. She may have mentioned others, but again, I just remember what seemed relevant to me. Naturalists connect most with God in nature. In the heart of the forest. The sea. Intricacies of tiny living things. This is me. Words are not necessary, either spoken or thought. Intellectuals connect with God through learning, reading. There is little I love more than the fuel of discovery burning in me as I delve deeply into problems or challenges in my faith.
This led me to wonder whether we have over-spiritualised what it means to connect with God. I think we tend to look for a certain type of feeling, perhaps the sense of being emotionally overwhelmed, transported out of ourselves in some way, excitement, or euphoria. Mountain top experiences that seem incredibly few and fleeting. I wonder if this is the desire we bring to “church”, the benchmark by which we measure our worship experiences. And no wonder many of us are left wanting. We wonder then if God was “there”, or perhaps the worship leader wasn’t “annointed”.
But what if it is so much more simple than that? Forget the hooks and tags and musical artisans, maybe my own breath connects me far more deeply to God than any riff ever could. Do you ever lose yourself in a moment or perhaps many – where enthusiasm and passion flow energetically through you? I experience this when I am playing my guitar, when I am photographing, drawing, walking through the bush, drifting in the sea. Or perhaps driving at sunset on a balmy summer’s night with my favourite music playing. Perhaps these moments are a connection with God, an experience of the Holy Spirit, that is all the more beautiful for the fact that it is not strived for or contrived by our attempts to somehow bring God into something or somewhere he already is.”
Comment by Steve Burnhope
2.02 pm on 21 Oct 2009
I think there’s a lot in what you say here, Steven.
For many people, brought up as good ‘charismatics’, the sacred pathway equals the worship band in the meeting. When they do certain things in certain ways/styles, then that is a ’spiritual experience’ and the moving of the Spirit. But if they don’t do the ‘Spirit moving’ formula very well, then it isn’t. As you rightly say, “the worship leader isn’t anointed.”
BTW, wherever do we get this idea about being (or not being) ‘anointed’ from? Is it helpful? Does not that way of thinking and talking simply promote dualism and egotistical ministry styles?
Oh for a broader and deeper understanding of connecting with God, and for theologians to provide a theological and biblical framework for people to situate their experiences (such as those you mention) rather than feeling a little ‘guilty.’
Comment by rodney neill
10.13 am on 20 Oct 2009
I still have contact with some churches/fellowships inspired by the charismatic movement in my home location which are in a degree of crisis as the Holy Spirit does not seem to be moving to-day as at times of renewal in the past – your very articulate and perceptive questions then become very relevant about the way foward for these chuches.
Rodney
Comment by steven hamilton
11.02 am on 20 Oct 2009
thanks rodney!
Comment by James Prescott
11.52 am on 20 Oct 2009
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, I do believe we can over-emphasise the experience over the relational, but also we underestimate where we can see the Spirit. We can see the Spirit at work in whatever is good in the world, whatever is true and whatever we see a glimpse of God. This could be in a church service, or seeing a sunset, or hearing a piece of music which connects you with God, or at a concert, or watching a film, or hearing wise words from a public figure or friend. Wherever we experience God, we are essentially seeing the Spirit and hearing from Him. Labels don’t matter to God, and sometime we may see the Spirit in something which Christians or churches, or even society at large, would consider ‘non-Christian’. The Spirit is so much bigger and all-encompassing than we realize sometimes. Jesuis had more than one meaning in mind when He said ‘Seek and you will find’, I think. Look for the Spirit, and you will find Him.
Comment by steven hamilton
1.21 pm on 21 Oct 2009
indded james…i think the experience is the relational…and it happens anywhere and everywhere we seek God (or as abarham joshua heschel proclaimed in his great book title: God in search of man)…when we connect with God there seems to be something “out” and something “in” that meets each other…
yes, seeking and finding are absolutely Kingdom-oriented activities!!
thanks for sharing james…
Comment by len
9.48 pm on 23 Oct 2009
One of the things I love about Newbigin is his thorough Trinitarian perspective… always quick to acknowledge the Spirit..
Also these posts .. “vision and mission” http://nextreformation.com/?p=2919
And then this second one a reflection on Alan Hirsch mDNA (which felt non-Trinitarian but the book closes with a note on the need of the Spirit
http://nextreformation.com/?p=2916
Comment by steven hamilton
12.26 pm on 24 Oct 2009
thanks len! these are helpful trails for us…
but what do you think? has the Spirit become a loast note at the close of the book? perhaps you see/know of more engagement going on…?
Comment by len
10.18 pm on 23 Oct 2009
Related, Steve Addisons book “Movements That Change the World” gives proper place to the work of the Spirit in renewing the church and reaching the world..
Review http://nextreformation.com/?p=2918
Comment by steven hamilton
12.28 pm on 24 Oct 2009
great recommendation…i’m going to check this out now
Comment by george hemingway
11.58 pm on 26 Oct 2009
I have heard both Frederika Matthews-Green and Todd Hunter speak at length on the significance of the Holy Spirit in an emergent and transformed Church, so I know that they speak of such things. I just wonder why they did not explicitly address the work of the Holy Spirit in their contributions to this particular book.
I am intrigued with a footnote on pages 164 and 164 of Phyllis Tickle’s the Great Emergence: “For them (medieval mystics like Joachim of Fiore) from the beginning to the birth of Christ was the two thousand years of primary emphasis on God the Father. From the coming of Christ to 2000 was to be the two thousand years of primary emphasis on God the Son. From 2000 CE to 4000 CE would be the two thousand years of the primacy in worship and in human affairs of God the Spirit. To complete the biblical scheme of seven millennia, the era from 4000 to 5000 CE will be the consummate and glorious union of all three parts of the Godhead within space/time.”
Hmmmm.
Comment by steven hamilton
3.11 pm on 27 Oct 2009
it is intriguing…what intrigues you the most about this footnote?
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6.46 pm on 6 Nov 2009
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