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Spiritual Experience as Everything or Nothing

Is this really what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”?  I didn’t say it out loud, but that’s the question I asked myself from the back of the uncomfortably humid gym while otherwise ordinary-looking, middle-aged adults screamed and wailed, danced and fell prostrate.  I was sweating. Maybe because of the heat.  Maybe because of how awkward I felt, like a Wallflower at a high school dance.  A friend had invited me to attend this Pentecostal church plant with him.  It was the opening worship song.  I was already planning my exit.

I didn’t grow up in a charismatic tradition. For every amazing story of the supernatural, there’s a sobering counter story of suffering, and for everyone who is honestly looking for more in their Christian life, there is a guarded person in search of healing from a manipulative charismatic environment.

If we are to explore healthy and helpful models for knowing the Spirit as a person and living in the Spirit’s presence and power, a good place to start is with humbly acknowledging that the church, both historically and in the present, tends to gravitate toward two unhelpful models: the expression of the Spirit’s gifts as everything and the expression of the Spirit’s gifts as nothing.

On one side of the aisle ecstatic expression is the main event, the most sought-after experience of the gathered church.  Ironically, in these settings the third person of the Trinity is often minimized into a power source to tap into or a high to reach.

On the other side are those who are entirely passive when it comes to the Spirit’s gifts and expressions.  Despite professing openness to spiritual experience, they may see it as suspect or even dangerous.

These two unhelpful models are not new but ancient.  In fact, Scripture gives two narratives that can teach to recognize and resist these models:  I call the stories “The Curious Case of Simon the Magician” and “The Subtle Tragedy of Nicodemus.”  These are our next two sermon titles.

Acknowledging how we may have been malformed or deformed by unhealthy expressions of our spirituality is an important first step toward being formed by a healthy expression of our relationship with the Spirit.