Sorry, We’re Out of Spirit
John 7:37-39
7:37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,
7:38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
7:39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Well, dear friends, it’s PENTECOST, the “stepchild” of Christian Holy Days. Charismatics and Pentecostals have celebrated it as long as they have been around, while the larger “organized” denominations have observed it as the “birthday of the church.” We know the history: Jesus told the Twelve to “stay in Jerusalem” until the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and then to “move out” as witnesses to other regions, even to the “ends of the earth,” as we saw in last week’s Acts text. On what we acknowledge as “Pentecost” (fifty days after Easter), the Holy Spirit DID come upon the Twelve and around 100 others gathered in the “upper room,” and plenty of “Hollywood” pyrotechnics transpired—“tongues” of flames hovering over each one of the Spirit’s recipients, a loud, clambering wind, and each one “witnessing” to the Gospel in various languages they purportedly did not know, but that were understood by the various “pilgrims” to Jerusalem that time of year, each in her or his own tongue. In the language of “Seinfeld,” things got “jiggy.”
Ever since, the debate about how and when the Holy Spirit is at work, and among whom, has raged on. Charismatic Christians and Pentecostals often use their “speaking in tongues” as proof of the Spirit’s presence and work among their fellowships. However, there again the debate continues. Is the “prayer language” kind of speaking in tongues the same thing as what happened at Pentecost? It seems not, as the bystanders recognized those manifesting glossolalia as speaking earthly, known languages, not some “heavenly tongue” that is often seen as what is ”given” to Pentecostals as a kind of prayer or meditation tool. Then there is the kind of “speaking in tongues” that is listed among the gifts of the Spirit, whereby one person in a fellowship or worship service “speaks out” a message in “tongues” to those gathered, while another is “given” the translation of the message. Supposedly, this “message” is right from the throne of God. When this “prophesy” is a simple encouragement, or a message that edifies the Body of Christ who hear it, maybe it is. However, sometimes those messages “go off the rails,” and may fall prey to the kind of spiritually-juiced “ecstasy” that creates more problems—or doubts—than affirmation. For example, when I was a young adult growing up in my hometown, a charismatic prayer group had grown up among a group of folk influenced by the then popular “Charismatic Conference” held annually at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. This local group claimed some renown as one whereby occasional “prophesies” that came to them via a “tongues” message would seep out into the community at large, and create no small degree of havoc. One time, a “warning prophecy” got transmitted by a tongues-speaker that if our town didn’t “forswear its wicked ways,” God was going to send a flood that would be up to the level of the site where the prayer group met, in an old church building beside the junior high school. Two facts will demonstrate that this message was not transmitted by anything divine: our town used to flood often during ice jams on the river during Winter, so people were generally afraid of floods; and if that prophecy were ever to come true, most of the Eastern United States would have been submerged, as the junior high was high on a large hill, overlooking the town. This wasn’t the only time a few “inspired” locals got “jiggy” with the Holy Spirit and shook up the populace.
Not to disparage the Pentecostal-types, as they certainly have their place in the Body of Christ, but my own brief foray into the charismatic movement as a young adult taught me to be much more cautious with peddling any “message” I might receive as coming from God. I am proud to be a member of a religious denomination that does NOT disrespect the “sign gifts” of the Holy Spirit, but generally steers clear of them, for the most part. And while we United Methodists DO have a strong belief in the work of God’s Holy Spirit, as evidenced by Mr. Wesley’s own “heart strangely warmed” experience on Aldersgate Street in London on May 24, 1738, we have not ended the debate, even internally, about when and where the Holy Spirit is working, and through whom.
This is the last Pentecost that many of our current United Methodist Churches will celebrate together. Both “sides” are claiming that the Holy Spirit is leading them to go in different directions. The disaffiliating churches are claiming a variety of different “leadings” of the Spirit, some having to do with maintaining a prohibition against persons of the LGBTQ community being able to be in a covenant relationship with each other with God’s blessing, or of being ordained to Christian ministry by the church. Some go even farther than this, disavowing that persons may even BE gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender at all, and still have a vital relationship with God, even via the grace-giving and forgiving agency of Jesus Christ. Others in the disaffiliating churches maintain that the current United Methodist Church is not “faithful” to a view of “scriptural authority” they believe is “right” or “orthodox.” There are other objections to United Methodism these parties have, depending on whom you ask, but they all DO claim to be “following the leading of the Holy Spirit.” Some of these churches (and pastors as well) may stay “independent” after their “divorce” from the UMC, while others will align with the new Global Methodist Church, but already several OTHER factions have been forming, in an attempt to “sell” yet a different “vision” of where the Spirit is going.
Meanwhile, in the United Methodist Church, differing views of how “inclusive” the church will become will still abide and argue, hoping their view will be the one endorsed by the upcoming General Conference in 2024, and become the official “rule” or policy of the post-separation United Methodist Church. This post-separation denomination will continue to have its traditionalists, its centrists, and its progressive voices, I’m sure, and all of them will continue to lay claim to being “led by the Holy Spirit” to their views.
So, who is right? Can such divergent claims ALL be “of the Holy Spirit”? Well, ask yourself, barring any fringe groups or cults out there, are there any of the other “mainline” Protestant churches (Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, varieties of Baptists) that you would want to write off as “apostate” or just plain “wrong” in their interpretation and practice of the Christian faith? Most likely not. We may not agree with them on some points of doctrine, but we would feel quite “guilty,” were we to dispatch them as so errant that they are no longer “Christian”—a judgment WAY beyond our “pay grade.” So we acknowledge our differences with these bodies, and yet engage freely in ecumenical mission and ministry with them. Why can’t we do the same thing with our differences within our own denomination? What caused these differences to rise to the level of such a church-wide “divorce” as is the Paragraph 2553 disaffiliations? And what of the Roman Catholic Church? I have not heard a single member of the Wesleyan Covenant Association condemn the Roman Catholic Church like some have their own “flesh and blood,” the United Methodist Church.
Is it possible the Holy Spirit IS leading in all of these different directions? And IS it possible that, like the Christian practice of ecumenism, could have been a model for keeping the UMC together? You tell me. I, for one, believe this is what Paul was getting at when he talked in Corinthians about a “variety of gifts,” but the SAME SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit CAN and DOES lead Christians in many directions, all designed to diversify the Body of Christ, and to help the Gospel appeal to the widely diverse human community. When did the Christian faith degrade to “circling the wagons” of “doctrinal purity” or “scriptural orthodoxy”? Wagons have wheels. Our various “wagons” were meant to carry us to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth with the inclusive, forgiving, and accepting Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today’s text is obviously written of a time BEFORE Pentecost, but it is an account of Jesus’ own dream of what the coming Holy Spirit could mean for his church. “Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me,” Jesus says here. The “anyones” and “whosoevers” in the Gospel of John—and in the messages of Jesus, for God’s sake—are about as inclusive as can be. How dare we develop litmus tests for EITHER “orthodoxy” or “inclusion.” Both factions are guilty, when they do. The church today needs to HEAR ANEW that the Gospel is for the “whosoever believes in me” crowd, and the “anyone who is thirsty, come to me” folk. Period.
So, if the Holy Spirit might actually be afoot in ALL of these “factions” or “flavors” of the Christian faith, where is the UNITY? Unity is a person—Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us in this text today that there was, as yet, “no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” What if this is true, even in the post-Pentecost time? The Spirit goes into hiding when we aren’t glorifying Jesus Christ!
Friends, I have to say that this whole disaffiliation thing has been a personally painful thing to me, and I know I am not alone. I am still praying that I can believe the message I am currently sharing with you! Can I believe the Holy Spirit may be working in all of these divergent factions? And can I come to accept that God will USE those who have inflicted such pain during the disaffiliation process? I know I have to, but currently I’m inclined to just keep arm’s length, as the insinuation that my “household” is errant, “not orthodox enough,” or doesn’t “believe the Bible,” just vexes me. My problem is that I love Jesus, and Jesus says, then “just love these people.” So, I’m having a little problem with Jesus, right now. I’m sure it will pass. It has before.
I don’t know about you, but I NEED a fresh Pentecost! And I need to get back to the business of glorifying Jesus so the Holy Spirit will not run out on me—and on us! I know the Holy Spirit will continue to offer the Good News of Jesus Christ to “everyone who thirsts,” and to all the “whosoever believes,” be they gay or straight, and anything in between. Won’t you join me in “working out our salvation with fear and trembling,” in our effort to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ? And in doing so, may we untether again the Holy Spirit of God to search for souls in need of redemption. And while we are on this quest, may we also re-embrace that old UMC chestnut, “Open Minds, Open Hearts, and Open Doors.” Amen!
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