Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
I have seen and I testify : a very biblical way of knowing.
But, we might say, that was John the Baptist; hardly your average benchmark? Surely we shouldn't expect any such dynamics today.
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he
we should all have at least that testimony of seeing Spirit dynamics?
experience first.
But what of the treasured framework of scripture? Well yes, but the New Testament witness is that experience is constantly re-ordering the frame, reshaping what they thought they knew. Indeed the whole biblical narrative is doing that. What is God really up to?
How does Israel end up with a crucified messiah as the hope of the nations? Experience has to play its part, tell us how this works. Paul had better scriptural knowledge than most of us - and still had the wrong end of the stick - until an experience with the risen Jesus corrected him.
On reflection there is much of this in Scripture. Peter doesn't open the doors to Gentile mission after a 3 day conference on the missional implications of messianic fulfillment of Old Testament promise; pondering the meaning of the inclusion of 300 Philistines in David's bodyguard and the real meaning of the Abrahamic promise.
No - he has a vision that gets him out in a Gentile's house - where he sees the Holy Spirit fall on Cornelius and his household.
Those involved do not appeal to scripture as the verification - the argument hinges on experience.
"The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God."
We get the whole thing twice; an account of what happened, and then Peter's recounting to those Jewish Christians who aren't impressed by fraternizing with the Gentiles.
And so in recounting this to the Jewish Christians he cites the experience in detail:
"I saw a vision ..
"I saw something like ..
"I looked into it and saw ..
"Then I heard a voice ...
"I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! ..
“The voice spoke from heaven a second time..
"This happened three times ..
“Right then three men... stopped at the house where I was staying ..
"The Spirit told me..
"He told us how he had seen an angel appear ..
"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them ..
And acknowledges that only after experiencing all this did an understanding begin to form.
"Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ "
Thats Peter - who spent three years with Jesus.
And that dramatic story carries the day.
"When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” "
We better be careful about dismissing the role of experience!!! - the biblical picture is that sometimes we work out what Spirit of God is up to through observing Him in action.
Certainly its Peter - a trusted leader among them - we don't want to be at the mercy of every untested claim. But even if we acknowledge that risk, we have to maintain an attitude and a mindset that is still open to the basic willingness to looks and see what God is up to. The desire to avoid errant or risky ideas of guidance might minimise that, or tend to relegate it to history.
Yet Peter is hardly going to say experience doesn't matter. Or his listeners ask, "When you walked on the water Peter, did you consider the biblical antecedents?" No, Jesus said come; the relevant biblical antecedent is that God's people follow Him, come what may - not that they have seen everything before.
The bible is all about unexpected experience. God is leading them out. The waters part. The Magii have come. Mary is pregnant. The Messiah is here. John is baptising. The Spirit comes upon Him. Jesus is transfigured. The body is not in the tomb. Paul is arrested on the road. The Holy Spirit has come as tongues of fire and a rushing wind - and now even on the Gentiles
Scriptural understanding and categories are always catching up with all this. And it must do so - i'm not at all dismissing the need for sound learning that draws out the resonances of these events. I love learning here - pursuing more. But ruling experience out of court as a primary witness, as the data that theology has to deal with, is a mistake. As is systematizing it all to a known quantity; can hardly be God's story if we manage to do that.
More formal ways to say that might be to claim the primacy of history as the ground of both being and knowing; of ontology and epistemology - though these hairy terms are useful only to buttress the simple claim that what actually happens is the primary evidence; the story, our story, matters more than just propositional truth. I'm reflecting on this again as i listen to a post grad series of lectures - the lecturer a continuing example to me- as he was 20 years ago - of reconciling academic intellect and pentecostal dimension. (I've worked in science and maths and IT as well as education since then, and certainly appreciate propositional truth - but can see the biblical story doesn't come that way. I'm not even sure the scientific one always does for that matter.) Or as Whitehead - who was certainly no anti-intellectual - said of philosophy, the primary appeal must always be to immediate experience. If the system can't explain that, its lacking in truth.
And we don't just want to talk about the story of the past. We want to be surprised by the dimensions of unexpected experience as God does something among us! That's biblical!
And not just dramatic moments or power encounters - though by all means lets not squeeze that out of the picture - but what is God doing in quieter ways in our daily lives. Can we see it?
(update - discussed more in the comments).
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
on power, sparks and trams
i remember watching a tram driving along Swan St, Richmond. As sometimes happens, it was making intermittent contact with the powerlines above, creating little showers of sparks, and jerking a bit, as the power it needed was momentarily disconnected.
I found myself thinking that the tram bouncing down the street, drawing attention to its power source with showers of sparks, is actually not using the power that effectively. A neighbouring tram quietly humming along might be less impressive, but using power more according to its design.
Made me think, since i was pretty immersed into a pentecostal world at the time. (As an aside, thats a fact i don't feel any need to retrospectively denigrate, rather much to retain - much was grounded there that i am still grateful for - not least dimensions of experience and teaching. (That includes the formal study i did there one year, all deepened under a teacher who is still a prime example of serious theology and Spirit empowerment; the trajectory to becoming an NT professor at Regent was already well underway, post his Cambridge phd etc - and having just downloaded a thirty hour teaching series i can see many of the same themes were already in place. Also found that another theological text i'm revisiting is cross linked against that time in various ways and levels of connection, even family members in the local church. So i'm willing to assert that simple dismissal of Pentecostal dimensions may turn out to be too simplistic - my own story there is more subtle than that).
Anyway the tram did make me think, back then, about the benefit of getting on with it in an empowered way, rather than needing to always have displays of power - that might even not be a good thing at times. Still a relevant observation - although maybe only needed if a church culture can tend to lean a bit too much that way (wanting to cultivate the sparks all the time).
Of course its biblical to see signs and wonders - and one form of evangelism pursues these 'power encounters' as a testimony to the God who is there and who cares. But there are also other trams full of evangelicals on their way to beach mission or work in the office or whatever it is. God bless them too.
And may we know when we are meant to be in one or other ... when a visible zap of electricity is needed, and when consistent faithfulness on the way to the daily destination is more what is needed. Both are good and to be developed. Demonstrations of power are not faulty - unless we're meant to be getting on with it today. Getting on with it is not bad, unless we sometimes need to stop and explain why we can do this - and touching the wire might be good to show that too.
evidence of power? consistent work? 'both and' - not 'either or'
I found myself thinking that the tram bouncing down the street, drawing attention to its power source with showers of sparks, is actually not using the power that effectively. A neighbouring tram quietly humming along might be less impressive, but using power more according to its design.
Made me think, since i was pretty immersed into a pentecostal world at the time. (As an aside, thats a fact i don't feel any need to retrospectively denigrate, rather much to retain - much was grounded there that i am still grateful for - not least dimensions of experience and teaching. (That includes the formal study i did there one year, all deepened under a teacher who is still a prime example of serious theology and Spirit empowerment; the trajectory to becoming an NT professor at Regent was already well underway, post his Cambridge phd etc - and having just downloaded a thirty hour teaching series i can see many of the same themes were already in place. Also found that another theological text i'm revisiting is cross linked against that time in various ways and levels of connection, even family members in the local church. So i'm willing to assert that simple dismissal of Pentecostal dimensions may turn out to be too simplistic - my own story there is more subtle than that).
Anyway the tram did make me think, back then, about the benefit of getting on with it in an empowered way, rather than needing to always have displays of power - that might even not be a good thing at times. Still a relevant observation - although maybe only needed if a church culture can tend to lean a bit too much that way (wanting to cultivate the sparks all the time).
Of course its biblical to see signs and wonders - and one form of evangelism pursues these 'power encounters' as a testimony to the God who is there and who cares. But there are also other trams full of evangelicals on their way to beach mission or work in the office or whatever it is. God bless them too.
And may we know when we are meant to be in one or other ... when a visible zap of electricity is needed, and when consistent faithfulness on the way to the daily destination is more what is needed. Both are good and to be developed. Demonstrations of power are not faulty - unless we're meant to be getting on with it today. Getting on with it is not bad, unless we sometimes need to stop and explain why we can do this - and touching the wire might be good to show that too.
evidence of power? consistent work? 'both and' - not 'either or'
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)