My fundamental interest is getting to understand how to engage withthe power of the Holy Spirit outside of the kind of charismatic culture I have lived in for the last 57 years–particularly in missional settings.
That’s not to say that charismatic culture is all or even mostly bad but there are too many internal barriers and even a few integrity issues that just have to be confronted. Back in the early seventies people in the church of my culture could not understand what we were fussing about when we challenged the prevailing way of doing things–traditions which had formalized the ways in which the Spirit could be experienced; unstated rules about how worship was to be done etc. Over the last couple of years I have begun to hear people in their twenties raising the same sort of issues that bugged me 35 years ago. I think these guys are going the right way and I want to be with them.
The circle has turned. We’re here again. How is it that the charismatic free church experiment didn’t hold quite as much indisputable truth as we thought? Or perhaps it’s not a question of truth, it’s more a question of what was left behind, what was discarded hastily, why god doesn’t seem to fit our expectations and the world doesn’t seem to be captivated by our gospel? We’re here again, trying to break from the rigidity put in place by our last break for freedom – and yet we’re in danger of learning nothing, of making the same mistakes, of lurching towards something new or rediscovered without valuing the journey or how far we’ve come. Babbling tongues and shaky experiences are so easily dismissed as self induced euphoric episodes, brushed aside in embarrassment as we coolly embrace post-modern culture and find solace in a candle and a liturgy. Let’s not make the mistakes of our fathers, let’s take everything with us, let’s rediscover and retain what is good, let’s let god move how he wishes and let the holy spirit manifest in whatever fashion she chooses. Let’s not find ourselves here again, let’s move on with god.
Comment by Robin — Monday, 21 January, 2008 @ 12:18 pm