Change…Sacred…Management or how I discovered I may be a Pentecostal

Posted: March 13, 2012 by Ty in Musings, Spirituality
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It is interesting as we continue the debate within the church around who can and cannot be called by God. It is interesting because we have merged The Academy and the Spiritual. Yet where has it left us in the West?

With a cleric shortage, and a restoration movement underway. Think of what has brought us to this point:

The original Apostles (those who broke the ground) were tradesmen; harlots; unwed mums, sex abuse survivors, tax collectors, fishermen, terrorists, and mass murderers…

Yet as time progressed we became “official” and in becoming official we moved into needing licenses, more than the story and the Holy Spirit…trusting in God that whatever our calling is in our lives God is the one that called us, the community affirms and lifts us up (for it takes a community church to raise up a follower of The Way of Jesus of Nazareth).

Notice that there is no real academic requirements, no need for a bible college degree, or a seminary degree or even as the Reformers of the 15th Century were a “doctor of the church” or in depth theologian. But this is where we went post Constantine as we advanced forward we became more radically structured. Those that did not fit the “orthodoxy” or “orthopraxy” where declared “heretics” and eliminated.

As we moved forward we shaped an educational training program that stipulated one must have this academic acuity; be free of mental illness; be “typically developing”, have a penis, in some instances be of the nation of the national church, be heterosexual, have one wife and children (or when the church was realizing it was losing too much control pre-reformation, divorce their wife and cast their children out into the cold).

Yet as we watch each of the institutional norms has been pushed over, late 1800’s to mid-1900’s if you had a vagina it was realized God could call you to the ministry (note we knew this before Constantine, and it was even recorded in the New Testament). That the Holy Spirit would empower us to do things even greater than what Jesus accomplished.

Those who experience the world without sight or sound have received the call. If you have been divorced it is a-ok. As long as you are homosexual and willing to swear off companionship–sure—or maybe we should say yes…Those with developmental disabilities serving the sacraments and praying…the differently abled coming into fruition in the community…

Amazing how during this reformation we are seeing the academics of the church institution struggling for enrollment and making ends meet, yet at the heart of the matter is that there are many within the institution trusting within the Holy Spirit. This trust is leading to a removal of labels, a realization of what it means to live in a Trinitarian style community based around the Trinitarian Great Commandment of loving God with our everything, loving our neighbour as ourselves. This community created by God, Called by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to form itself on what this deep love and justice means.

This is where the reformation is leading us, as an institution struggles there are many that are just opening themselves to the Spirit, and yes, the changes that are happening in the labelless church is a blessing. For we truly only see the beloved of God, the beloved that on the 6th day God called very good and blessed; when he turned us out of paradise clothed us, loved us, gave us creation to build paradise in.

Lets as a people choose to live in this Spirit of inclusion, hope, love, and justice.

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Comments
  1. fidlerten says:
    March 14, 2012 at 7:18 am

    You’ve made some good points here.

    I was raised Pentecostal and at the age of eleven, called to preach the Gospel. So I’m very familiar with the Pentecostal doctrine though I could call into question some of the negative aspects of Pentecostals.

    We find God through faith and we’re cleansed of our sins because we believe in our hearts that Jesus died for our sins and through his blood we are made whole. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

    I am also a gay man. I don’t go to church anymore because I prefer not to have to defend my being gay. I also don’t have a sexual relationship and haven’t had one for at least the last decade. I now have the closest relationship with God than I’ve ever had. I pray daily and I depend on Him for my happiness and everything else, as far as my needs and my desires. I worship Him in truth because I know He knows all about me, especially what I feel in my heart.

    The most important ingredient to having a relationship with God is simply – don’t cut Him out of your life. No matter how bad you feel about what you’ve done and no matter if you think He doesn’t approve of what you’ve done or not. We can get back into God’s grace by simply saying “Forgive me” and He will forgive us no matter how many times we ask. That doesn’t mean we should just keep on doing what we know is wrong but no matter how difficult it is for us to live sin free, God is always forgiving and His mercy endures forever.

    He is the loving father who wants us to love Him as much as He loves us.

    The Church as it is now, is falling apart because they stopped being guided by the Holy Spirit. There are still many of God’s children within their ranks but as an institution, it’s not what God intended it to be. It should be a stepping stone for the lost to find God not a stumbling block to push people away from God and that’s exactly what it has become. Jesus came to this earth to bring the lost to salvation and that should always be the main goal of the Church.

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