THE SPIRIT-DRENCHED WORLD AND THE RENEWAL OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Pentecost Mosaic by Holger Schue, 1500. Public domain.
Human sexuality is not the defining issue that divides the Anglican Communion. I don’t mean to downplay the battles surrounding sexuality in the Church or diminish the suffering of LBGTQ+ people or those who have left, but endless analysis has focused on all that. The greater divide is seldom addressed. Anglicanism is divided because we inhabit two incompatible life-worlds. Most Anglicans live in a sprit-drenched world where the spiritual world is seen to coexist with the material. In contrast, many affluent Anglicans, especially (though not exclusively) in the West, live in a disenchanted, technocratic world that has no room for miracles, angels, demons, or spiritual gifts. If we’re honest, this disenchanted world struggles to hold space for the existence of God. This is the real difference that frames the proliferating conflicts within Anglicanism.
I believe in the sanctity of same-sex marriage and the holy vocation of queer people. I also understand why our siblings in the global South would question our discernment on difficult issues given that many of us don’t see or acknowledge what is obvious to most people—the existence of a supernatural order, Powers and Principalities, spiritual forces acting in time, miracles, and other gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit. It must be frustrating to watch many wealthy North Atlantic Anglicans strive under a hopelessly quaint, provincial skepticism about spiritual matters. Because of ongoing colonialism very much related to our lack of spiritual insight, we hold the purse strings. (1) Often our projects for “development” in the rest of the world come with many strings attached and much cultural baggage. We think we can solve other people’s problems with money but are oblivious to the spiritual dimension of their problems – and ours.
For decades our declining numbers in the Episcopal Church have indicated a crisis of identity, evangelism, and mission. As the stupendously unsuccessful Taskforce for Reimagining the Episcopal Church demonstrated, this is not a technical problem with a technical solution. Our crisis is precipitated by our failure to discern the spiritual world and to attend to what the Spirit of God is doing. The Church has no mission apart from God’s. Unless we discern where God’s Spirit is moving and allow ourselves to be moved, we will fail every time. What we need in the Episcopal Church is a charismatic renewal.
-----
There have been always been those in the Church who emphasized spiritual gifts. (2) Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement emerged in the 20th century as the latest manifestations of this tradition in Christianity. “Pentecostal” typically refers to denominations that trace their roots to a series of early 20th century revivals, the most famous of which was the Azusa Street revival of 1906. Charismatics are members of existing denominations who experienced outpourings of the Holy Spirit within their own churches. Together they make up at least a quarter of all Christians in the world, 8% of the world’s total population. The vast majority of these Christians live in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. (3) Despite its recent profile as a sub-group of evangelicalism with all the political baggage that entails, American Pentecostalism, espoused gender and racial equality, pacificism, and the communal economics of the early Church (Acts 2:43-7) at its inception. (4) It emphasized the availability of spiritual gifts for all Christians. Pentecostals in the 20th century were radically committed to evangelism and missionary activity. (5) While some of this work was unhelpfully yoked to colonialism, Pentecostal missionaries were more successful than many others at accommodating and encouraging indigenous leadership. While many mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries scoffed at indigenous beliefs about the spirit world, Pentecostals and charismatics recognize these indigenous understandings, and—at its best—show how all can be transformed and healed by the power of Christ. (6) With this in mind, it is no wonder that the Pentecostal ethos is reshaping many Anglican provinces in the global South, as our siblings are becoming more and more “pentecostalized.” (7) A spirit-drenched world accounts for the lived experience of vastly more Christians than does the tired, desacralized worldview of the affluent West.
Pentecostal worship is often more spontaneous and rowdier than our liturgy accommodates. I am not advocating that we try to emulate Pentecostal worship. Let’s stick with the Book of Common Prayer. The spirit-drenched world is rustling on every page of our Prayer Book. What is missing is our ability to see it and orient ourselves toward this world to become conduits of the Spirit’s power. We must come to see our liturgy, first and foremost, as an encounter with the almighty God. Liturgy is not primarily a work of the people, but a powerful work of God. Our only choice is to fall down on our knees before the mystery of God’s power and offer ourselves—soul and body—for transformation. A renewal of the Holy Spirit requires just such a self-offering, both in public liturgy and in the liturgy of our daily lives. When we make these liturgies about us and our preferences, we leave little room to notice God’s Spirit acting. Spiritual renewal requires that we empty ourselves of our need to perform, to control, be entertained, or fed (in a consumeristic sense) by liturgy. An awareness of our need for healing and redemption naturally follows. Christ’s Spirit stalks every one of our public gatherings for prayer, just looking for an opportunity to move. Our openness and awareness afford this opportunity.
The spiritual renewal we need in the Episcopal church must be firmly rooted in the sacraments and the ancient voice of the Church universal. While Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement have been known for an anti-sacramental stance, this is not inevitable or theologically consistent. The logic of spiritual renewal is exactly the logic of the sacraments. Everything hinges upon the expectation that God’s presence is available here and now and can be experienced in real, tangible ways. In charismatic renewal, as in all sacramental action of the Church, the transcendence of God condescends to the immanence of humanity through the power of the Spirit. This sacramental conviction undergirds and sustains every branch of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. If this is not true, if God doesn’t actually show up in reality, then to hell with it all. (8)
The Episcopal Church experienced a charismatic renewal in the mid-20th century with enormous, on-going impact. (9) While many charismatic Episcopalians have left for ACNA or other churches, there are still some in our midst. Regardless of differences, these folks ought to be cherished. One reason behind the mass exodus of charismatics from the Episcopal church is that charismatic spirituality was hardly ever integrated into our sacramental life. It was usually confined to marginal gatherings rather than taking its place at the center. Baptism and the Eucharist are the most natural places to exercise spiritual gifts. At Baptism, we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We invoke the Holy Spirit over the water because we cannot be initiated into Christ’s body any other way. We prophecy over the newly baptized when we seal them with the power of the Spirit and mark them as Christ’s own forever. In this mystery, the Spirit is reaching across eternity to constitute God’s future as the new reality of the newly baptized. It’s surprising we don’t get more excited about this. In the Eucharist, Christ is made present to us in a powerful, tangible way. The climactic moment of transformation in the Eucharistic prayer is when we call on the Holy Spirit to descend upon the bread and the wine (and, in some prayers, upon us). This is nothing short of a new Day of Pentecost. Here, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus’ disciples, the Church is consecrated, constituted, vitalized, and the whole world is turned upside down. Can’t we see the fire? If there was ever a time to speak in tongues, it would be then.
Healing by anointing with oil and laying on of hands is another site of spiritual renewal. Healing flows naturally out of the Eucharist and is an integral part of our Prayer Book tradition. We’re quiet about it, but people are healed by God in our parishes all the time. I’ve seen it. It’s normal. Christians ought to expect God to show up and change things as a matter of course. There are difficult questions about healing and God’s providence that often prevent us from talking about it in supernatural terms. But our care with these matters should not lead us to obscure or diminish what God does in our midst; even if we don’t understand it.
Our spiritual renewal must be chastened by the wisdom of the Church. Charismatic spirituality, at its best, is a mystical tradition within the Church. Without being rooted in Scripture, the Creeds, and apostolic authority, mystical spiritualities almost always go off the rails by substituting the magnetism of a leader for the bulwark of faith. The prosperity gospel and other perverse forms of spiritual and emotional abuse occur when charismatic spirituality is not checked by the Church’s authority. Mysticism and spirituality are not meant to be individualistic pursuits. They happen in and for the whole Body.
Now is the time for the Episcopal Church to rediscover the spirit world. Our ability to evangelize and grow depends on it. Moral therapeutic deism isn’t working for us. Neither is the notion that we can bring about the Kingdom of God on our own. We may not have to “leave our brains at the door” of the Episcopal Church, but it sure seems like we have left our hearts there, along with most of the hurting people of this world who are looking for transcendence. To face our denominational crisis and address the divisions in Anglicanism we need a spiritual renewal. We need to teach and preach again about the existence of angels, demons, and miracles. We need to stop crossing our fingers when we run across the ubiquitous references to the spirit world in our liturgy. Is there any point to our singing “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty”, if we do not truly believe that we join with the voices of Angels and Archangels? Do we really think we can fulfil the promises of our baptismal covenant that our times desperately call for—striving for justice and peace, respecting the dignity of every human being—if we have not first renounced Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness and declared that Jesus is Lord of all? We cannot open our own eyes to the spirit-drenched world any more than we can deliver ourselves from evil. Let us pray God opens our eyes to see the spiritual dimension of reality as it is. If we dare trust our prayer to be answered, our transformation will be far more radical and far-reaching than we can ask or imagine.
For the connection between a desacralized worldview and colonialism see, Michael Saler, “Modernity and Enchantment: A Historiographic Review,” American Historical Review 111, no. 4 (June 2006).
William L. DeArteaga, Agnes Sanford and her Companions: The Assault of Cessationism and the Coming of the Charismatic Renewal (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015), 11-55. For the continuity of the Pentecostal tradition within the history of Christian mysticism, see Daniel Costello, Pentecostalism as a Christian Mystical Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017).
This according to a comprehensive 2011 study by the Pew Research Center. Indications are these movements have only grown in the intervening decade.
For the complex history of racial equality that quickly collapsed to inequality and segregation see, Ian MacRobert, The Black Roots and White Racism of Early Pentecostalism in the USA (London: Palgrave, 1988). For a succinct history of women ministers in early Pentecostalism see, Cecil M. Robeck Jr. “Women in the Pentecostal Movement,” accessed November 1, 2020, https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/women-in-the-pentecostal-movement/. For the history of Pentecostal pacifism see, Jay Beeman, Pentecostal Pacifism: The Origin, Development, and Rejection of Pacific Belief among the Pentecostals (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2009). For a look at contemporary Pentecostal socialism see, Andrew Wilkes, “Living in the End Times: An Interview with the Rev. Osagyefo Sekou,” accessed October 20, 2020, https://www.religioussocialism.org/_an_interview_with_rev_sekou. None of this should obscure the racism, misogyny, classism, and other prejudice that is found in Pentecostal and charismatic churches just as all these sins are found in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition.
Allan H. Anderson, Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2007).
Cf. Opoku Onyinah, “Deliverance as a Way of Confronting Witchcraft in Contemporary Africa: Ghana as a Case Study,” in The Spirit in the World: Emerging Pentecostal Theologies in Global Contexts, ed. Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009).
Cf. Jesse Zink, “’Anglocostalism’ in Nigeria: Neo-Pentecostalism and Obstacles to Anglican Unity.” Journal of Anglican Studies 10, no. 12 (Nov. 2012).
Borrowing the phrase from Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being, ed. Sarah Fitzgerald (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1988), 124-5.
For a classic testament of Episcopal charismatic renewal, see Dennis J. Bennett, Nine O’Clock in the Morning (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1970). For a historical and theological exploration of its roots, see DeArteaga, Agnes Sanford and her Companions.
