Is College Hill Presbyterian Church...a Pentecostal church?
On the one hand, obviously, no. Pentecostal Christians are known for exuberant worship, prophetic words and speaking in tongues. Presbyterian Christians are known for decency and order. There is a reason they call us the “frozen chosen.”
However, on the other hand...well, hear me out.
(First, a caveat: In this column I will use the capitalized “Pentecostal” to refer to the family of Christian denominations that trace their roots to the Azusa Street revival of 1906 and are characterized by the practice of speaking in tongues. I will use the lowercase “pentecostal” to refer to the church of Acts chapter 2).
As it so happens, Presbyterian and Pentecostal are the two kinds of Christians with which I have spent the most time. I may have only been an “official” Presbyterian minister for 5 months or so, but I attended a Presbyterian seminary and married a Presbyterian minister. That has to count for something!
As for Pentecostals, I spent the balance of my adolescence dating two different girls, both of whom belonged to Pentecostal churches. And since both of them had strict parents who frowned on traditional dating activities (like going to the movies), I had to attend Sunday night church in order to spend time with them. I logged a LOT of hours in Pentecostal pews. And that was before assisting a college professor on a research project into early Pentecostal theologies and then actually serving as a seminary intern at a Pentecostal congregation in New Jersey.
These are two traditions I know well, two traditions that have been a blessing to me. And I suspect the Spirit of God would like to make us Presbyterians a little more pentecostal.
We celebrate the day of Pentecost as the birthday of the church. (It falls this year on May 23rd). According to the Book of Acts, fifty days after Easter, the Spirit of God swept into an upper room where the disciples had gathered. Divided tongues of fire appeared over each head. Then the Spirit drove them out of that cramped little room, down the stairs and out into the streets where God’s work awaited them in the world.
Looking back on the story of our birth--especially as we contemplate a return to in-person worship--I cannot help but see some ways in which CHPC may indeed be called to become a little more “pentecostal.” Like the preacher that I am, I will suggest three of them:
A pentecostal church is an outward looking church. The first disciples--all 120 of them--may have felt kind of cozy in that Upper Room. They had everything that they needed in the company of one another. But when the Spirit of God shows up, we cannot stay confined in our comfortable ruts and familiar routines. The Spirit drives the church out -out into the world, where hurting neighbors need our help and where helping neighbors can heal our hurts.
A pentecostal church is a diverse church. The 120 disciples were strikingly homogenous. All of them were Jewish folks from Galilee. They spoke the same language, shared the same rituals, ate the same food. And there is great comfort in sticking with your kind. But when the Spirit of God shows up, we cannot stick to “our” people. God has some other people that God is eager for us to meet -people who are not like us, people who bring different experiences and different gifts. And we cannot be complete without them.
A pentecostal church is an intergenerational church. The coming of the Spirit causes quite a ruckus. So, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and speaks up, trying to tell the gathered crowd what is going on and what all of this means. In the course of his sermon, he quotes the words of the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams….. “
I cannot prove it, but the disciples of Jesus always seemed to be about the same age to me. And it is all too easy to stick with our own generational cohort, to disregard the perspectives of those who may be younger or older than we are. But when the Spirit of God shows up, the Spirit's wisdom is not limited to those who were born in the same decade as me. Our children shall prophesy; our elders shall dream dreams. And the church becomes a place where we make room for all voices, all perspectives, all ages. We hear the Spirit more clearly when we learn to listen more widely.
Is College Hill Presbyterian Church a pentecostal church?
Maybe not yet. But thank God it can be.
On the one hand, obviously, no. Pentecostal Christians are known for exuberant worship, prophetic words and speaking in tongues. Presbyterian Christians are known for decency and order. There is a reason they call us the “frozen chosen.”
However, on the other hand...well, hear me out.
(First, a caveat: In this column I will use the capitalized “Pentecostal” to refer to the family of Christian denominations that trace their roots to the Azusa Street revival of 1906 and are characterized by the practice of speaking in tongues. I will use the lowercase “pentecostal” to refer to the church of Acts chapter 2).
As it so happens, Presbyterian and Pentecostal are the two kinds of Christians with which I have spent the most time. I may have only been an “official” Presbyterian minister for 5 months or so, but I attended a Presbyterian seminary and married a Presbyterian minister. That has to count for something!
As for Pentecostals, I spent the balance of my adolescence dating two different girls, both of whom belonged to Pentecostal churches. And since both of them had strict parents who frowned on traditional dating activities (like going to the movies), I had to attend Sunday night church in order to spend time with them. I logged a LOT of hours in Pentecostal pews. And that was before assisting a college professor on a research project into early Pentecostal theologies and then actually serving as a seminary intern at a Pentecostal congregation in New Jersey.
These are two traditions I know well, two traditions that have been a blessing to me. And I suspect the Spirit of God would like to make us Presbyterians a little more pentecostal.
We celebrate the day of Pentecost as the birthday of the church. (It falls this year on May 23rd). According to the Book of Acts, fifty days after Easter, the Spirit of God swept into an upper room where the disciples had gathered. Divided tongues of fire appeared over each head. Then the Spirit drove them out of that cramped little room, down the stairs and out into the streets where God’s work awaited them in the world.
Looking back on the story of our birth--especially as we contemplate a return to in-person worship--I cannot help but see some ways in which CHPC may indeed be called to become a little more “pentecostal.” Like the preacher that I am, I will suggest three of them:
A pentecostal church is an outward looking church. The first disciples--all 120 of them--may have felt kind of cozy in that Upper Room. They had everything that they needed in the company of one another. But when the Spirit of God shows up, we cannot stay confined in our comfortable ruts and familiar routines. The Spirit drives the church out -out into the world, where hurting neighbors need our help and where helping neighbors can heal our hurts.
A pentecostal church is a diverse church. The 120 disciples were strikingly homogenous. All of them were Jewish folks from Galilee. They spoke the same language, shared the same rituals, ate the same food. And there is great comfort in sticking with your kind. But when the Spirit of God shows up, we cannot stick to “our” people. God has some other people that God is eager for us to meet -people who are not like us, people who bring different experiences and different gifts. And we cannot be complete without them.
A pentecostal church is an intergenerational church. The coming of the Spirit causes quite a ruckus. So, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and speaks up, trying to tell the gathered crowd what is going on and what all of this means. In the course of his sermon, he quotes the words of the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams….. “
I cannot prove it, but the disciples of Jesus always seemed to be about the same age to me. And it is all too easy to stick with our own generational cohort, to disregard the perspectives of those who may be younger or older than we are. But when the Spirit of God shows up, the Spirit's wisdom is not limited to those who were born in the same decade as me. Our children shall prophesy; our elders shall dream dreams. And the church becomes a place where we make room for all voices, all perspectives, all ages. We hear the Spirit more clearly when we learn to listen more widely.
Is College Hill Presbyterian Church a pentecostal church?
Maybe not yet. But thank God it can be.