PRESBYTERIAN AND PENTECOSTAL???

This month, my church newsletter column focuses on Pentecost, which is the day on which the greater church was born. For many years now, the term "Pentecostal" has been increasingly associated with speaking in tongues, which is a spiritual gift that I respect and celebrate. However, for the legions of believers who don't praise God in tongues, exclusive focus on just one of the Spirit's gifts is disenfranchising, disabling, and disappointing.  Tying the Spirit to a single spiritual gift makes it difficult for the rest of us to enjoy the Birthday party... BUT we need not despair because Pentecost is for us too- for all on us in the so-called mainline church- and for cerebral, stoic Christians everywhere.

In the first place, when we're baptized, we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, AND Holy Ghost, and what is more- for each of us, baptism is a tomb in which we die to self and a womb in which we are reborn as a new creation.  Knowing this, believing this, and living as if this is true is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  No one can profess Christ as Lord and Savior apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.  Secondly, when we join a Christian community, we confess our faith in the Holy Spirit, and if we are ordained as elders or deacons as we mature as Christians, we are ordained in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Indeed, as our recent PCUSA Statement of Faith notes, "we trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life."  The Spirit, our Confession goes on to say, justifies us by grace through faith, set us free from idolatry, binds us together with all believers, engages us in the word proclaimed, gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to work with others for justice and peace, and to witness that Christ Jesus is indeed Lord and Savior.

 In short, we are not only called into ministry by the Holy Spirit, but we trust in the Spirit for grace and courage and strength.  Our entire Christian journey relies on Spirit-power... BUT we are also blessed with many, many gifts of the Spirit.  There are Presbyterians who do speak and pray in the Spirit, BUT the rest of us are blessed with (and these are not mutually exclusive) the gifts of grace, courage, wisdom, discernment, faith itself, patience, understanding, proclamation, hope, expectation, unity, vision, and leadership- just to name a few in no particular order. Yesterday, I preached about Tabitha, and we discovered that she transformed her community with gifts of service and compassion.  These are gifts of the Holy Spirit, as is the willingness to do anything for Christ!   

Presbyterians who know Christ as Lord and Savior are Spirit-filled and Spirit-powered.  So, let's get ready for the party on May 19.  Bring your family and friends as we praise God with all of the strength and exuberance we can muster.  Pentecost was a day of inclusion, not exclusion, and it was a day of understanding, not confusion. Thus, our commitment to decency and order is well taken... but let's face it: knowing that we've been saved ought to bring a smile to our face and a dance to our step!  Some of us may even be led to raise our hands now and then!

Shalom,

pk