I recently read "Pentecost's Costly Gift" in the current issue of Journal for Preachers. The article's author, Thomas W. Currie of Austin Theological Seminary, offers a deeper understanding of the Pentecost narrative in Acts 2.
In the United Church of Christ, we have come to place the accent on the universality of the gospel--how the Spirit's coming breaks through the barriers of language and nationality. Currie writes, "When interpreted in this way, Pentecost becomes merely a reaffirmation of our own commitment to tolerance and perhaps even an expression of a kind of limitless Christianity that believes in little more than its own open-mindedness."
He claims that Acts 2, when taken in its entirety, offers an understanding of what a Pentecostal church that is shaped by the Spirit of the Risen Christ might look like today:
1) It is not about being a utopian community. "The church's life is not self-formed or an infinitely plastic thing but a received gift that brings with it a certain disposition, a posture of dependence, a sense of its own strangeness, even holiness. This sense has a shape and a name. It is called discipleship." We are in the church not as privileged members but as followers of the crucified Christ. We are Christ's disciples.
2) Unity is the chief characteristic of this church. "To bear witness to the Pentecostal nature of the church is, amidst all our brokenness, to confess that oneness that is ours in Christ and to pray that his Spirit would trouble our hearts and make us deeply ashamed of and uncomfortable with our disunity."
3) This church is aware that it has limits. The church is enlivened by the gift of the Spirit of its Risen Lord. It is not self-made. We are the Body of Christ in this time and in this space. We are finite and limited. "The gift is not in some vague spirituality that is only too happy to define itself, bur rather it is the concrete form of Christ's body in the world. This gift limits our efforts to construct our own identity, . . . . We receive our identity through the waters the Spirit bathes us in Christ."
4) The church is together because of the Spirit of Christ shapes us to witness to those powers and principalities that claim to be in charge. It is in the act of eating together that the church is formed. Acts 2 speaks more about eating than doing. The church's true identity and purpose is not in the idolatrous pursuit of a cause. "It is the life together that is formed and sustained by this eucharistic sustenance that gives shape to the church and enables it to challenge the culture at its roots."
5) The church is not a capitalistic enterprise. This church makes a conscious decision to reject consumerism. It lives a holy life that makes it distinct and able to challenge the values of the culture. "The idolatry of success, the blessings of prosperity, whether economic or political, the righteousness blindness toward the wretched of the earth, all of these are efforts to create a church without limits, to fashion something much more in our own image, a 'successful' church."
6) The church is a place of joy. The church rejoices in the gospel. It celebrates that resurrection is its reality. "Joy is the gift of the Spirit that knows Easter is true. Joy is the echoing response of those who have heard this word and eaten this bread and who refuse to look back. Joy is the soil in which hope grows."
As I think of the local churches where my faith has been formed and where I have served as Pastor and Teacher, I have seen glimpses of what Currie calls the Pentecostal church May we receive the church as God's gift. May we be united at the font and the table. May we live with values that are grounded in the gospel rather than the culture around us. And, above all, may we be God's people in a place of great joy.
Yes, let us "Be the Church!"
In the United Church of Christ, we have come to place the accent on the universality of the gospel--how the Spirit's coming breaks through the barriers of language and nationality. Currie writes, "When interpreted in this way, Pentecost becomes merely a reaffirmation of our own commitment to tolerance and perhaps even an expression of a kind of limitless Christianity that believes in little more than its own open-mindedness."
He claims that Acts 2, when taken in its entirety, offers an understanding of what a Pentecostal church that is shaped by the Spirit of the Risen Christ might look like today:
1) It is not about being a utopian community. "The church's life is not self-formed or an infinitely plastic thing but a received gift that brings with it a certain disposition, a posture of dependence, a sense of its own strangeness, even holiness. This sense has a shape and a name. It is called discipleship." We are in the church not as privileged members but as followers of the crucified Christ. We are Christ's disciples.
2) Unity is the chief characteristic of this church. "To bear witness to the Pentecostal nature of the church is, amidst all our brokenness, to confess that oneness that is ours in Christ and to pray that his Spirit would trouble our hearts and make us deeply ashamed of and uncomfortable with our disunity."
3) This church is aware that it has limits. The church is enlivened by the gift of the Spirit of its Risen Lord. It is not self-made. We are the Body of Christ in this time and in this space. We are finite and limited. "The gift is not in some vague spirituality that is only too happy to define itself, bur rather it is the concrete form of Christ's body in the world. This gift limits our efforts to construct our own identity, . . . . We receive our identity through the waters the Spirit bathes us in Christ."
4) The church is together because of the Spirit of Christ shapes us to witness to those powers and principalities that claim to be in charge. It is in the act of eating together that the church is formed. Acts 2 speaks more about eating than doing. The church's true identity and purpose is not in the idolatrous pursuit of a cause. "It is the life together that is formed and sustained by this eucharistic sustenance that gives shape to the church and enables it to challenge the culture at its roots."
5) The church is not a capitalistic enterprise. This church makes a conscious decision to reject consumerism. It lives a holy life that makes it distinct and able to challenge the values of the culture. "The idolatry of success, the blessings of prosperity, whether economic or political, the righteousness blindness toward the wretched of the earth, all of these are efforts to create a church without limits, to fashion something much more in our own image, a 'successful' church."
6) The church is a place of joy. The church rejoices in the gospel. It celebrates that resurrection is its reality. "Joy is the gift of the Spirit that knows Easter is true. Joy is the echoing response of those who have heard this word and eaten this bread and who refuse to look back. Joy is the soil in which hope grows."
As I think of the local churches where my faith has been formed and where I have served as Pastor and Teacher, I have seen glimpses of what Currie calls the Pentecostal church May we receive the church as God's gift. May we be united at the font and the table. May we live with values that are grounded in the gospel rather than the culture around us. And, above all, may we be God's people in a place of great joy.
Yes, let us "Be the Church!"
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