I was raised without much talk of "spirit," whether Holy Spirit or anything else. My only recollection of hearing the word was in terms of death, when one's spirit leaves the body.Spiritual talk, then, is a foreign language for me, like speaking in tongues without being Pentecostal.
My upbringing is cessationist, believing the Spirit's work was finished at the close of the apostolic era. Charismatics were way off my radar and the few times I heard my charismatic friends talk about church I got pretty scared. I know a lot more now, but I'm still uncomfortable with speaking in tongues, etc. That's not where I'm headed with spirituality.
So how can I talk about spirituality since I'm a post-cessationist, non-charismatic? Admittedly, it is a foreign language, but I and my compatriots are trying to learn the tongue.
One realization came from reading--you've got to love this--Acts 2:38. I knew the stuff about what I was supposed to do (repent and baptized) but the verse--yes the very same verse!--talks about receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit connected to baptism. Acts 2:39 says the promise of the Holy Spirit cuts across time and geography. Maybe there is some amount of spirit for me, a foreigner to the Spirit's land.
Eugene Peterson points out that the promise is not the promise of spiritual gifts, but the promise of the Spirit himself. This is not about what I can do, but about a powerful relationship with the Holy Spirit of God.
So spirituality begins with acknowledging that God is active in me by his Spirit. Talk about a paradigm shift! This means the spirit is doing more than merely animating me, waiting to flee my corporeal tent once I kick the bucket. It means never being alone, never far from God. It means having comfort to support me in what God wants me to do. It means having community support regardless of where I am.
So much spirituality talk today is about getting in contact with the inner me, having profound experiences that enrich who I am. Self-understanding and deep experiences are fantastic, but they don't necessarily have anything to do with the Spirit promised by God to meet me on the upside of the baptismal dunk. This spirit talk has no more Spirit than what I was raised with.
We need to move quickly past the albatross of a Spirit-free spirituality.
2 comments:
Rubel Shelly wrote in one of his books (I've read several) some helpful things about understanding the role of the Spirit. He put it something like this: "We have the Spirit, not to cause us to do unnatural things, but to help us to do Christlike things." The Spirit is there to be our helper. Excellent post. I'm also afraid of tongue speaking. ;-)
The way I understand the work of the Spirit in Galatians 5, it is to take control of us and bear his fruit in our lives. I am also thinking about the way the Spirit takes control of the Christian in 1 Corinthians 14, and 1 Peter 4:11ff. The Spirit does not destroy our free will, but neither does the Spirit merely "help" and "comfort" (in my opinion). That seems like a neo-Pelagian theology; that is a theology of works over grace and an emphasis on the effort necessary for the believer. Having a strong view of the work of the Spirit frees one from the nagging guilt of having to always be trying harder. It's not about trying harder and harder, but moving into closer and closer community with the Spirit. Right actions are a response to the love and community and grace of God, not a means by which we earn a relationship with God.
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