Poet T. S. Eliot famously observed, “We had the experience but missed the meaning.” All practicing Christians have had experiences of the Spirit. Most Christians in traditional churches weren’t taught the meaning.
Eliot was referring to the “sudden illumination” of meaning beyond temporary circumstances, deep meaning across generations. Christians have moments of sudden illumination of a reality beyond themselves. When those moments reflect God’s love and grace in Christ, that is the Holy Spirit working on them.
“Experiences” don’t lend themselves to the colorless propositions of truth told in doctrinal language or in behavioral “scientific” descriptions. Experiences of the Spirit are best shared by poets and storytellers.
John Shea is a storyteller and theologian. In his book An Experience Named Spirit, he offers what I think are the best categories for types of religious experiences: 1) mystery experiences that stress expanded consciousness, 2) conversion experiences, which stress change of mind, heart and behavior, and 3) revelatory experiences, which stress the communication of a message.
His book is very challenging for me because he mostly just tells stories. I am looking for greater truths and generalizations. But that is his point. Storytelling has a power of involvement and appreciation that the mere noting of patterns or talking about experiences analytically does not have.”
Another theologian and storyteller I admire is Episcopalian Robert Capon. He offers the analogy of building a porch entrance into a house. Most of traditional theology consists of constructing ever more elaborate porches to ensure the safety of those entering. But we don’t talk much about what actually happens within the house, where we can and should experience an affirming, more life-involving relationship with God that draws us closer through his love and grace.
Of Shea’s three “categories” of where to look for religious experiences, I will touch on mystery stories here and conversion and revelatory experiences later.
Great mysteries remain in modern life. Where did humans come from, why is space endless, why is human life sacred, why is death inevitable, what happens to a person after physical death? It seems that the more we know about the brain, DNA and the atom, the less we know for sure about life forms we can observe. In the 21st century, I see greater openness to the supernatural in our culture. Encountering mysteries humbles us.
Christians can tell stories of special encounters with mysteries like these and how they felt. Christians annually encounter the mysteries of how God could become flesh at Christmas, of how God could die on Good Friday and then of what this new life is that we celebrate at Easter. Every believer has a story to tell about special feelings they experienced in one of these celebrations, perhaps only days after losing a spouse.
So share your story of encountering familiar biblical mysteries in the church year. Our church staff contributed to an Advent booklet of personal memories of Christmas past. It is widely read. Believers can even share with others great stories of joy in funeral celebrations of the life of a firm believer who has now entered eternity.
In spring 2019, the wooden roof of the ancient Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burned. Huge Gothic cathedrals usually deliver an experience of awe at their great height and beautiful windows. Millions want to restore this awe-inspiring architectural treasure. Does that mean the Spirit is working in them? Today, probably not. That would only be true for those who associate it with Christ-centered worship. Jesus taught that where two or three (or 100, or 5,000) are gathered in my name, there am I among them in my Spirit.
If you want to have a Spiritual experience worth sharing, go worship some Sunday at a great Gothic Cathedral. The two best in this country are in Washington D.C. and Manhattan. Imagine how much more powerful the experience was years ago when thousands of others added their presence and voice.
You do not have to travel great distances to experience “God moments” in your life. They are all around us, but it does require the proper heart & mindset to witness them. When we put ourselves in the trenches, the nursing home visits, volunteering at the shelter or the local food pantry we can certainly feel the Spirit at work within our own hearts, but we easily can become overwhelmed by the amount of pain & suffering being experienced by so many. It seemingly just keeps getting worse, but we are empowered by the Spirit to continue on and so we must. But quite often there is little “recharging” of our faith happening. This is where doing Planned Acts of Christian Kindness (P.A.C.K.) is very different. You still unselfishly serve the Lord through helping others, but in the case of P.A.C.K. you let the Spirit pick & choose and you opening give Him all the glory! Many of the PACK events take place at pre-selected busy public locations where you will perform a pre-determined act of kindness for anyone that comes your way. The totally free helpful service or practical gift makes approaching others easy and the surprising joy created greatly increases the “success” rate, i.e. getting the recipient to accept the free act of kindness and the “Connect Card”, which gives all the credit for what just happened to Jesus! It is love and grace being expressed through this refreshing & unusual act. On the back of the card is a warm invite to your church or whatever else you are doing for the Lord right in their own community. They are most welcome to come and learn more about Jesus. This approach causes us to get in the habit of loving on all people no matter what our eyes & mind are telling us. Those barriers drop away and you become much more open to what God is trying to do for others through you. Through powerful testimonies coming from the least likely recipients and some amazing timing it becomes crystal clear as to His divine presence! To bring His peace & comfort to them at a time only He knew they needed it the most! PACK creates a joyous occasion where fellow believers comes together and actually have fun sharing the love of Jesus with everyone, but this is why when these “God moments” come at you totally out of the blue they are so powerful that you never can forget them! So recharge your Spiritual batteries today by getting PACK started at your church and out in your community. The PACK program is totally free and will show you how. It is now at work in 110 countries! Just go to http://www.acts18.org to get the free download! God bless!
Great article, Dave. Always enjoy receiving your insights. Life really is mysterious and wonderful, isn’t it!
Hi, John. Thanks. The Robert Capon analogy of a porch getting the individual safely into the house sticks with me. We in our Lutheran heritage spend a lot of time building porches. But we are not very good at sharing what it is like once we get into the house.
In most of our churches people like to talk about what “we’re doing” rather than about what God is doing. “We’re doing worship, we sing hymns, we pray, we’re teaching Sunday school, we’re collecting food for the food pantry.” This thought process and attitude make God the object of human action, rather than Christians the object of God’s actions. Lutherans rarely talk about what God is doing, in their church or in their lives. But is that their fault or the church’s fault? How many Lutheran congregation’s provide opportunities for people to share spiritual experiences in a comfortable small group setting? How many allow people to give a testimony on Sunday morning? Not many!
Hi, Bill,
Challenging observation. In a way, my observation is the opposite. Lutheran formal worship is mostly about what God does. Church people do talk about what their church is doing. But they don’t talk nearly enough about what God is doing in their personal lives. I have observed that Lutherans like to let their church involvement be their personal witness to others. And that witness is not very effective when churches do mostly the activities you can find in any social organization.
I think we are both committed to closing the gap between what God is doing in personal lives and what believers talk about. We tend to talk small-talk when we should be doing God-talk.
Dave
Dave, I agree with you that our liturgy primarily is about what God is doing; the question is, do our parishioners see it that way? My guess is the liturgy and most of everything else that happens in their congregations is about what we’re doing. Not too many Lutherans are comfortable giving a personal testimony about what God is/has been doing in their lives. Then I have to wonder why that is. Is it because they never have been taught to think that way or because it’s too embarrassing or uncomfortable to talk about God working in their lives? I do have to say, however, that your Holy Spirit workshop opens up the doors to giving people the opportunity and permission to share these stories in a small group setting, which is something that is a very positive experience for the individual and the entire congregation.
Bill,
I just wrote a new blog tracing our hesitance to infant baptism, vs believer baptism among Evangelicals. We never have an occasion to talk about changes in our spiritual life. Infant baptism is good and proper. But we need to supplement it with occasions when at least others can model talking about their faith. This change in church culture is going to take a long time. My Virtual Church Fellowship programming is still in the works.
Dave