“When you dwell in thought on important or profound matters, dwell also in the Spirit. Reason and Light combined give the truest fount of insight.”
–Aphorism 2
The idea of Pentecostal Christianity is a focus on
the Holy Spirit’s work among Christians today, in reference to the
events commemorated by the festival of Pentecost – the descent of
the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (and other followers of Jesus).
This happened during the Jewish Feast of Weeks, Shavuot,
commemorating Moses’ receipt of the law – the Torah – on Mount
Sinai, as well as marking the wheat harvest in Israel. Shavuot occurs
on the 50th
day after Passover (according to some traditions), and was thus also
known in the language of the New Testament, Koine Greek (including by
some Hellenistic Jews of the first century CE), as Pentēkostē,
or ‘fiftieth’. That word is also used in the Septuagint, the key
Koine translation of the Hebrew scriptures, to refer to the “year
of Jubilee” that occurred every fifty years, but its use to refer
to Shavuot is key to its importance as a term in Christianity. It was
adopted to commemorate the events of Shavuot so long ago – counting
the 50 days from Easter, which marks events that occurred at
Passover, though Easter and Passover now no longer necessarily
coincide.
At Pentecost, the
Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus’ followers and they “began to
speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit enabled them”
(Acts 2:4, New International Version). This is seen as the fulfilment
in (two of) the Gospels that Jesus would baptise with the Holy
Spirit, and it enabled the apostles and other followers to know what
it was they should be doing, and to speak to those that they needed
to despite not having known their language. What became known as the
Pentecostal movement, or Pentecostalism, emerged from Christian
revival movements around the turn of the 20th
century with a strong influence from the holiness movement. The name
reflects their focus on the baptism of fire, of the Holy Spirit,
though what some then take from it (their idea of how the Spirit
inspires ‘speaking in tongues’ today being a reasonably
well-known example) may be considered somewhat idiosyncratic. The
important point to my reflection here is that they believe strongly
that the Holy Spirit is alive in people today, at least in true
believers, and can inspire and guide them. They believe in prophetic
utterances, much like Quaker spoken ministry, though the degree of
continuing revelation involved is relatively limited given their
belief in sola scriptura,
that the Bible is fixed and finished, complete and sufficient. The
Holy Spirit can also inspire one to speak in tongues, seemingly
meaningless utterances that another person will be similarly inspired
to interpret. The Spirit can also, they believe, grant gifts of
healing and of miracles, and of unshakable faith – and there are
Quakers, even among the liberal branches of the Religious Society of
Friends, who would share such beliefs.
The Pentecostal
movement was the ‘first wave’ of what is now generally recognised
as Charismatic Christianity,
the name of which is something a source of linguistic confusion –
made worse by the fact that the misunderstanding of the term is still
somewhat applicable in some charismatic churches. I rather get the
impression that most people, hearing about Charismatic Christianity
and seeing some footage of the preaching in their megachurches, tend
to assume that the term refers to the supposed charisma
of their preachers, pastors, and leaders. Nice, simple, everyday
English word, and some of these people are actually pretty darn
charismatic, a factor that is very helpful in their fundraising
drives (themselves popular fodder for satire). However, the term
actually refers to the Koine Greek charismata,
the plural of charism.
This word refers to spiritual gifts, gifts of grace given by the Holy
Spirit to enable things to be done. In different interpretations,
they might only be those that are obviously miraculous, or they might
be more everyday, but among Charismatic Christians inspired preaching
is one of the most major forms of charism.
And what is our
spoken ministry if it isn’t inspired preaching, even if we don’t
like to use the term ‘preaching’? Who among us hasn’t heard
people speak of spiritual gifts (often in the context of
nominations), and indeed heard of Friends finding in themselves the
ability to do something they had no reason to think they could do –
once it was asked of them in service of their Meeting? Even though
liberal Friends are a long, long way from sola Scriptura,
and are not in all cases Christian, we are Pentecostal and we are
Charismatic, in the proper sense of charismata,
rather than charisma.
So, let us get
back to the aphorism that this is all in reflection upon, and put
Pentecostalism to one side for the moment. Essentially, I read it as
advice not to rely on our reason in any matter that is difficult or
important. The Divine within us is always available, and it might not
guide us in every matter, but it could
guide us in any particular matter. So if you’re trying to decide
what car or dishwasher or computer to buy, this isn’t something
that many people would suggest you sit in silence about and wait for
the Light to tell you what you should be doing. These are, to a large
extent, rational decisions. That doesn’t mean that our spiritual
experience has no part to play, however. The wisdom that we get from
the Spirit is not limited to clearly spiritual matters, even if we
shouldn’t expect it to give us all the answers. It can help us to
see which of two seemingly equal (but different) options is ‘right’,
even without understanding why it is so. It can help us to see
additional factors that we might want to consider, like the ethical
standards of a company, to which we can then apply reason. Maybe you
think of it as intuition instead, but my experience leads me to think
that some of what we call intuition is the promptings of the Divine;
some is our subconscious processing things in ways we can’t,
integrating things we don’t consciously remember – though who’s
to say that isn’t also an aspect of the Divine?
The advice of
this aphorism is balanced, however. It emphasises the need to involve
the guidance of the Spirit, which is an important emphasis for many
of us, but it also covers the need to involve our reasoning faculty.
We ask too much of the Spirit if we ask it to make all our decisions
without our own thought, and we will usually be disappointed when we
do so. To make proper use of all that is given to us, we have to use
our own resources, including the resources of the mind. We have the
ability to consider different factors, to weigh them up, to apply
entirely human insight to a problem, to see ways through it. To think
of problems and opportunities, and assess how different options will
mitigate or exacerbate the problems, or make best use of the
opportunities. The Spirit is a powerful source of guidance, but so is
our own mind.
How does this
relate to Pentecost? I think some of you will already have seen it,
but I will explain as best I can. I am a non-theist, and I do not
view the Bible with any authority. I don’t think the Spirit
descended on select people at a specific time; it has always been
with us. For whatever historical accuracy there may or may not be in
the story of Pentecost, I would interpret it as them becoming aware
of it. The gifts of the Spirit, the charismata, can be big and
amazing – maybe they can include sudden ability to speak a
language, but they certainly include the inspiration to speak
powerfully, and to discern spiritual decisions. They can also be
small and everyday, the little nudge to make the right decision or
the small inspiration that lets us do our jobs better. It is by
bringing our whole lives under the guidance of the Spirit, without
abdicating the use of our reason, that we most embody the charismata
that we are offered, and that we live out the idea of Pentecost.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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