Have you ever felt “full of the Spirit?” – Nathan Taylor
Nathan’s post is the first in a series of blog posts leading up to the 2011 General Assembly.
The nature of the Holy Spirit, how it works and is known, is the subject of much differentiation among God’s many children. Some of God’s people feel that if they cannot “feel” the Spirit, it must not be present. On the other hand, that which seems Spirit-filled to some can feel downright chaotic to others. Our many human experiences and traditions measure the presence of the Spirit with a variety of yard sticks.
Finding a worshiping community in which to meet God as our true selves is an important consideration. If we are not careful, however, our cultural tastes can divide us from the beautiful witness to which we are called as a whole people. In fact, our peculiar heritage as Baptists puts us in the midst of this tension every Sunday.
Very few of us in the US can say that our faith heritage comes from this or that unbroken line of “low-church” or “high-church” Baptists. In one meeting house, we hash out, act out, and hope for those elements of worship and ministry that seem most fitting to our own sensibilities of what it means to be Baptist. It’s not that anything goes. It’s that, over the space of 400 years, many ways of being church together have qualified for residence under our big, Baptist tent!
Our family is diverse, and in that diversity can lie both promise and peril. The promise is that we might become a testimony of grace in a divided world by finding unity in the Spirit. The peril is that we may allow our preferences and very real historical divisions stand as insurmountable obstacles to the actualization of God’s Kingdom.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…
With these powerful words from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus inaugurates his public ministry (Luke 4:18). A few verses before this, Jesus is returning from his retreat in the wilderness during which he confronted the devil. It is said that he was “filled with the power of the Spirit,” and word spread about him through the Galilean countryside.
The image might come to mind of an emboldened prophet, who powerfully and effortlessly strolls back into Galilee…low sunlight radiating behind him, outlining his figure. What was in his eyes? His thoughts? His stride? His breathing? With what purpose did he move? With what was he possessed as he picked up those scrolls, claiming the words of Isaiah for a new era?
If we claim to follow Christ, this is our Lord. While sometimes we have domesticated him into a friendly, neighborhood super hero, Luke’s Jesus is one who rolls in from the desert having stared down the devil. The same Spirit who walked with the Hebrews across the Red Sea is upon him. The force of God’s presence throughout human history has coalesced upon his person. He is ready to do business.
Are we?
Would it be too bold if our prayer for the people of CBFVA were to call upon this very same Spirit? Do we have the nerve to consider that God might use us – us! – in yet unimagined ways to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor? May it be so in 2011.
Rev. Nathan Taylor serves as the Associate Pastor for Christian Formation & Children at Central Baptist Church, Richmond.
Posted in Blog
This article has got me thinking! I have two responses for you. First, the more difficult one: no, I don’t think its too bold for us fellowship baptists in Virginia to call upon the Holy Spirit, especially as we consider our witness. I think however, our experience of the Holy Spirit would be more potent if we did as Jesus did, and “stared down the devil” in “the desert” as we made this request. How many times have we faced adversity and strife (work of “the devil”) and we cut and run? Fear of confrontation can lead us away from being ourselves, and I think if we CBFVA folks spent time in the barren places of our lives face to face with our personal devils, our experience of the Spirit would be deeper in our inner-selves. This is true for all Christians, is it not?
Second, in response to the question found in the title of this post, yes, I have had unique experiences of the Holy Spirit in my life, and I can name those times because I was aware in those sacred moments. I hesitate saying “full of” because I learned the lesson of what Dr. Sam Balentine said was one of the greatest lies in the hymnal “I Surrender All” (All? Really? ALL??) In the spirit of that lesson, I don’t want to say I was “full” of the Holy Spirit, but I have had unique experiences of the Spirit in my life.
Thank you for provoking me to thought!
The word of God declares that we are to pray in the Spirit, speak under the authority of the Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit. In addition, if we are to worship God, then we are commanded to worship in Spirit and in truth. In other words, we really shouldn’t attempt to do anything without the effort of the Spirit of God leading us and direction us. I agree with Bro. Taylor that we have to call upon that same spirit which was made available to us upon the ascention of Jesus. At which time, if we, as the body of Christ, regardless of race, culture, or denomination, can be used to break generational strongholds, break racial barriers, break economic divisions, and break denominational divisions – how much better, peaceful, and fulfilling life would be.
“Our family is diverse, and in that diversity can lie both promise and peril. The promise is that we might become a testimony of grace in a divided world by finding unity in the Spirit. The peril is that we may allow our tastes, preferences, and very real historical divisions stand as insurmountable obstacles to the actualization of God’s Kingdom.”
AMEN!
Thanks Steve, Antonio, and Josh for your thoughtful comments. To flesh out my thought a little further, I’m really taken by this idea of Jesus reaching back to Isaiah, which reaches back to the generations of God’s people. Sometimes our expectation of what the Spirit is or does is so non-anticipatory. Realizing that we have the opportunity to call upon the same Spirit that was with Moses as he confronted a Pharoah has the potential to rearrange our reality in the present. If God is giving us dreams of heretofore unseen levels of cooperation and shared ministry between historically anglo and historically black congregations (and more), we’ll need that same Spirit. If we don’t expect much, not much will happen. But what if we raise our expectations?
We’ve just observed the MLK holiday once more. If you need inspiration, go to the web and pull up a video clip of King’s last speech – the last 3 minutes or so – where he says that he’s been to the mountain top. It really wasn’t that long ago. What was he thinking as he made those comments? What did he think was possible, going forward? What could churches of different cultural backgrounds do in the community if we actually knew each other instead of rotating in separate orbits? We are a part of each other whether we realize it or not. I find that thought both sobering and energizing.