Transforming Spirit: Ecstacy and Inclusion (Bruce Epperly)

 Acts 2 is one of the most exhilarating passages of scripture.  It marks a new beginning for the early Christians, as they receive the promised baptism of the Spirit, are empowered to declare the gospel in multiples of languages, and begin a movement of growth that continues to this day.  Bruce Epperly offers in this essay the third installment of his journey through Acts, focusing on the ecstatic and inclusive work of the Spirit in the church and in our lives.  I invite you to ponder this text and this commentary.  

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Adventurous Theology #3
Transforming Spirit:  Ecstasy and Inclusion
Bruce G. Epperly
Acts 2:1-41

Living with the Acts of the Apostles will transform your life and your community of faith. Spirit-centered faith is both ecstatic and inclusive.  Strap on your safety belts and put on your crash helmets when the Spirit shows up in dramatic ways!  Be prepared to go to unexpected places!

 In the dynamic call and response of the divine-human relationship, prayer leads to an opening for a surprising and dramatic revelation of God's Spirit.  Yes, God was present in the ongoing prayer and community life of the earliest Christians.  God's still small voice echoes through stillness as well as storm.  But, when we pray, we open a field of force that enables God to be more creative and powerful in realizing God's vision for ourselves and the world.  Prayer is an act of partnership with God and creation in which we take our place alongside God in creating the future for us and the world. On the day of Pentecost, the prayers of the first Christians were answered with a deep and convincing experience of God's presence, not just for themselves but for the wider community.  The Spirit is never a private possession, though we may experience it in moments of solitude; it always drives us from individual transformation to communal and planetary transformation.  The Spirit always lures us toward unexpected missions for transforming the world.

Ecstatic experiences transcend nation and ethnicity and call us to see everyone as God's beloved child.  The apostles speak in other languages awakening the pluralistic Pentecost community to the message of Jesus the Christ.   People hear God's words of hope in their own tongues and not the tongue of an external or imperialistic power.  Pentecost is about ecstasy and drama, but it is just as importantly about unity amid diversity.  The gifts of ethnicity and diversity remain, but find  their  meaning in the larger divine vision for humankind.  We can never fully experience God's revelation apart from our affirmation of God's presence in strangers and aliens.   God's healing includes all creation and we cannot be fully healed – indeed, fully saved – without the salvation of creation in all its diversity.

The global and universal are always experienced personally.  God's Spirit will enliven “all flesh.” All groups of people – young men and women, elderly persons, rich and poor – will receive visions and dreams.  Today, we must expand our concepts of divine revelation to include persons of all gender and sexual identities, immigrants, homeless persons, children, persons of other faiths, and enemies.  God can and does speak through all things.  The whole earth will be transformed by our mystical experiences.

The interplay of divine call and human response leads to deeper and more inclusive experiences of call and response.  Those who have been touched by the Spirit ask for further guidance and receive greater energy and power.  Everyone who calls will be answered personally in terms of her or his experience and social location.  In this instance, calling on God requires repentance, that is, a renewed mind and transformed behaviors, fitting their transformed experiences.  As the apostle Paul proclaims, “Be not conformed to this world [the familiar world of injustice, materialism, self-interest] but be transformed by the renewing of your find.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Pentecost is a challenge and invitation to be spirit-centered; to open to surprising manifestations of God's Spirit, to expect miracles (quantum leaps in spirituality and healing energy working within natural forces) and accept them when they occur even when they challenge our current world views and religious practices.  Progressive and moderate Christians can have worship, praise, preaching, and spiritual practices as lively as the Spirit's movements.  The Spirit lures us onward on a holy adventure, which includes creation in all its wondrous beauty.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion.  He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life.  His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected 2009 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.  His most recent book is From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, written with Daryl Hollinger.

A Good Enough Theology: Spirit-Centered Progressivism/Embracing Pentecost (Bruce Epperly)

We continue the journey into what Bruce Epperly calls a "Good Enough Theology."  Last week, Bruce looked at the contributions of the Quakers, especially their use of silence and waiting upon the movement of God, for guidance.  This week, Bruce goes in another direction and seeks insight from Pentecostalism, a movement that affirms God's empowering presence now, in this day.  Although it has its own set of problems -- I know of these first hand as a former Pentecostal -- it has also reintroduced into the mainstream of Christianity the experiential side of Christian faith.  It has also reminded us that God is still present and active.  Bruce believes that progressive Christians can profit from attending to the strengths of this movement.  I invite you to read and to share your thoughts.  Oh, and next week he turns to evangelicalism!

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A Good Enough Theology:

Spirit-Centered Progressivism/Embracing Pentecost

Bruce Epperly

Good theology embraces the whole person - body, mind, spirit, relationships, and the planet. It is committed to growing in wisdom and stature through its interactions with the religious world, literature, secularity, and science. A balanced theological diet embraces the Pentecostal spirit as a catalyst for intellectual as well as experiential growth. (Next week, look for “one thing we can learn from fundamentalism.”)

Today’s Pentecostal Christians trace their beginnings to the day of Pentecost, described in Acts 2 and the spiritual adventures, described throughout Acts of the Apostles. Acts of the Apostles describes a lively and expanding faith, constantly being driven beyond its theological and cultural comfort zone and continuously open to experiencing signs and wonders.

While progressive and liberal Christians are often accused of expecting too little from God, Pentecostals have little humility when it comes to expecting God to show up in our daily lives. According to Pentecostal Christians, God regularly appears as a source of healing, inspiration, revelation, ecstasy, and mystical experience. The hallmark of Pentecostal faith can be found in these words from Acts 2:

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy,

And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I shall pour out my Spirit;

And they shall prophesy.

Pentecostal Christianity is driven by the spirit to embody new possibilities as they are revealed to us. Faith embraces the non-rational as well as the rational, emotion as well as intellect. While there are Pentecostal excesses (for example, identification of prosperity as a sign of divine blessing; seeing speaking in tongues as God’s primary gift and judging as spiritually deficient persons who lack such gifts; and an over-emphasis on the supernatural as violating cause and effect relationships), Pentecostals follow where God leads: in contrast to fundamentalists, who follow a rigid understanding of scripture, Pentecostals ordained woman as pastors and spiritual leaders, because they believed that Spirit trumped scripture, and God’s Spirit called forth women to lead.

Acts 2 presents a dynamic, fluid church, making it up as they went along – integrating theology, spirit, social concern, and hospitality.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together…, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Pentecostals then and now have expected great things from God, and great things from themselves as mediators of God’s blessings. They have been leaders in reclaiming the healing ministry of the church as well as inviting people to be open to the unfettered movements of God’s spirit in dreams, ecstatic experiences, and spiritual discernment. Pentecostals balance the horizontal this-worldly orientation of progressives with their openness to the breaking in of the spirit. While progressives affirm that God works through the normal movements of cause and effect, nevertheless, progressives are invited to awaken to dramatic, yet naturalistic, movements of God’s spirit – to be open to signs and wonders within the everyday world. The natural world is always more, not less than we can imagine – what we describe as “miracles” may be quantum leaps of transformational energy, emerging in the divine-human all and response. A dynamic law-abiding universe is, in fact, a greater revelation of divine love and care than one in which God breaks in supernaturally and arbitrarily.

Pentecostal spirituality reminds us that God inspires us in many ways: through the mind and theological reflection, but also through dreams, intuitions, synchronous encounters, visionary experiences. Of course, as I Corinthians notes, each of these needs to be integrated with solid theological reflection, and this is where the gifts of progressive and process-oriented theology make a difference – progressive and process-oriented theology affirm that God is present, inspiring us in every aspect of our lives, but that divine inspiration is always contextual, always related to the good of the community, always aimed at wholeness and beauty. God seeks abundant life, but “prosperity” is not automatic, or solely the result of our faith in a linear fashion; the prosperity gospel is not individualistic, but embraces the whole earth. God wants all creation to flourish, not just the favored or faithful few.

Like the Quakers, Pentecostals invite us to see “more” and expect “more” from our world. They remind us that there is a “burning bush” on every pathway and that God is constantly speaking in our lives. Progressives can embrace this dynamic theology, balancing it with our sense of social justice and our vision of God’s universal revelation and care. The ever-present, still speaking God of progressive faith, calls us to see holiness in the ordinary and wonder in our daily tasks. Truly this makes for a good enough theological diet; a good enough theology to live by.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including  Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected 2009 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.  His most recent book is   From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, written with Daryl Hollinger.

Turning Back the Clock -- A Pentecost Sermon

Acts 2:1-21 and  Genesis 11:1-9


The story of the Tower of Babel is a rather odd one, and yet it sets the stage for the Pentecost story. In the Genesis story a group of people discovers how to make bricks, and they use them to build a city with a tower that reaches to the clouds. This discovery offers them the means to control their own destiny. Now, they can build walls to protect themselves from outsiders and ramparts that allow them to climb into the heavens and touch God.

We understand the need to protect ourselves from outsiders and the need to reach for the stars; both are part of human nature. What may seem odd to us is God viewing all of this as a threat. Apparently, as the story gets told, the Creator of the Universe is worried that if humanity gets the right tools and abilities, they might storm the very gates of heaven and take over. To keep them at bay, God decides to confuse their languages and scatter them across the land. This may all seem rather petty, but there is a message here about hubris, alienation, and reconciliation. When we read the story of Babel with that of Pentecost, we discover that what was confused is now redeemed.


1. THE PATH TO ALIENATION

Although we might struggle with the way Genesis describes God’s response to the Tower of Babel, this story reveals a distinctly human problem – that is, hubris. Hubris is the arrogant belief that there are no limits or boundaries, and we can do whatever we please, whenever we please, with no consequences. This includes controlling all of our relationships, including our relationship with God.

In the Wednesday Bible Studies, we’ve been talking about God’s will and sovereignty. There are some among us who struggle with this question, which isn’t surprising for Disciples. Our theological fore bearers resisted the Calvinist understanding of sovereignty and stressed human free will. Although it’s understandable that we would resist overly rigid ideas about divine sovereignty, we must be careful about pushing the pendulum the other way. If there are no limits and no rules, then we face the danger of falling into anarchy and confusion.

Examples of hubris are many. They range from the innocent showboating of a football player who allows himself to be caught just short of the goal line to the forces at work in the financial sector that led to the recent global financial meltdown. Then there’s the Gulf oil spill, which lead to the death of eleven workers will cause billions of dollars of damage to the environment and the industries that depend upon the Gulf – all because the ones drilling for the oil failed to observe the limits to their equipment.

This path to alienation is symbolized by the Babel story, but the problem starts much earlier in the Genesis story. Indeed, it starts when the Serpent suggests that by eating the forbidden fruit humanity would share in divine knowledge. There are dangers stemming from the desire to control our own destiny, and the destinies of others. The biggest danger is that it leads to alienation from God and from our neighbors. You see, if we think we’re in control, it’s likely that our desires will collide with those of our neighbors, and alienation sets in.



2. THE PATH OF RECONCILIATION

The path out of this dangerous situation, which is symbolized by the Babel story, leads us to the Pentecost story. In this story, which has become very familiar to church people, the people of God gather in an upstairs room for prayer, and as they pray the Spirit falls, and things change. From the mouths of this new people of God flow words of grace and healing in a multitude of languages. As a result, everyone in the neighborhood, no matter where they hailed from, understood the good news, and their confusion turned into understanding, and the alienation that separates one from God and neighbor began to dissipate. The Spirit becomes for them and for us a sort of universal translator – to borrow an image from Star Trek.

Pentecost is a natural response to Babel, but God began sorting things out and setting things right from the beginning of these times of trouble. He does this first of all by calling on Abraham and Sarah to be the means of blessing to the nations. Through his seed, we’re told, the nations of the world will be blessed. As Christians, we believe that this seed, through which the world will be blessed, is Jesus. Pentecost carries this message of reconciliation into the future, for with the birth of the church and the coming of the Spirit, the process of reconciliation is set in motion. That which was lost in the confusion of Babel, is now restored in Pentecost’s gift of languages.

We all know what happens when we’re confused and when communication falters. To overcome this disability, we seek ways of communicating.

There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that illustrates how confusion can be overcome through the telling of stories. In an episode, called Darmok, Captain Picard finds himself alone on a deserted planet with the captain of an alien ship. The two captains face the dangers present on this planet, along with the possibility that their two ships could end up in battle. Although the universal translator allows for them to hear the words spoken, they still can’t communicate. You see the Tamarians use stories and metaphors to communicate, and in order to bridge the gap, Picard must find analogies and metaphors that carry the same meaning in his own language. Dathon continually speaks of "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra," a story about two heroes joining forces to defeat an enemy. Picard isn’t able to understand the meaning of this reference, until he remembers an ancient Babylonian story, the Gilgamesh Epic. It is in this story that he finds the key that breaks down the language barrier. What we learn from this episode, is that if we’re willing to learn each other’s stories, we’ll find a bridge that leads to healing and hope. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok)

I don’t need to tell you that we face a world that’s full of confusion and even chaos. The world seems to be getting smaller because of air travel and communication devices, but we still find it difficult to understand and communicate with each other. We still struggle to find the words, the stories, and even the language that will help us bridge the gaps that lead to suspicion and anger.

While the Babel story speaks of confusion, the Pentecost story offers a way of reconciliation. With the coming of the Spirit, the barriers that divide human beings from each other begin to disappear. And as we allow the Spirit to work in our lives, then we become agents of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19-20). The Spirit provides the language so that we can build the bridge that will bring us together and allow us to work together – not so we can storm heaven and take over, but so we can experience the reign of God on earth as it is experienced in heaven.


3. BUILDING THE BRIDGE THAT CROSSES THE DIVIDE

The story of Babel is about people trying to find a way to touch God, but in a way that God deems inappropriate. Perhaps they weren’t ready or their motives were wrong. Whatever is the case, God put a stop to it. But with Pentecost God provides a bridge so that we can come as one people into God’s presence. Where reckless ambition once led to confusion, now trust in God brings reconciliation.

There’s something else interesting about the story of Babel. In building a city they would have built walls, and we build walls out of fear. In life fear results from a lack of knowledge, and a lack of knowledge begins with a failure to communicate. It’s fear that keeps us apart and leads to misunderstanding and misrepresentation.

Pentecost, on the other hand, celebrates the coming of the Spirit, who empowers the church to carry the message of God’s reconciling grace to the world. It’s a message that builds bridges across gender, ethnic, language, socio-economic, religious, and political divides. It allows us to listen to the voices of the other, and it does so because the Spirit of God is there to translate the many voices present in our world.

Babel is about arrogance, but hearing God’s voice in the stories of others requires humility. It takes humility to recognize that we don’t have all the answers to life’s questions, and that God might choose to speak in ways we don’t expect, and which we can’t control. But if we trust in God, and let the Spirit move in our midst then we’ll begin to hear God speaking to us, and maybe God will speak to others through us. And the means by which this happens is the stories that we tell about God’s reconciling love and presence in our lives. May we truly hear these stories of grace and love and take them to heart, so that we might experience reconciliation and healing.


Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Troy, Michigan
Pentecost Sunday
May 23, 2010