Sunday, June 30, 2013

Paul vs. Charismatics

Here's a blast from the past.

Do you remember how the non-charismatic church  pilloried and attempted to shame the excited and glowing ones who had just received what the Pentecostals call "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit" and were speaking in tongues all over the place?

Can't you just hear a dignified and affronted deep bass voice quoting I Corinthians, "All things... decently and in order" and "...there must be interpretation..." and stuff like that in the face of people whose hearts were leaping at the joy of knowing in their hearts for once that "this stuff is really real -- and I'm doing it!!!"

And then listen to the creaking strain as of ship's timbers (it actually only shows up in movies nowadays) as the charismatics struggled to bring their practise in line with that which they all revered as a rule book even though it's really a corrective letter by a fellow disciple addressing a church that he himself planted.

And now listen to the silence. Do you hear anyone breaking the rules and speaking in tongues anymore?

Leadership...

Luke 12:41-46
Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.
What does the job of leadership entail? According to Jesus in the above passage, it means taking care of and feeding fellow servants and not exploiting them. The servants belong to the master, not the manager. They have their work cut out for them. They don't need the manager to tell them what to do. They just need to be taken care of. Who'd want to be a leader under those conditions? I mean what about the perks?

Mary

As an introduction, the title. I'm not calling her St. Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the Theotokos or anything else that might come to mind....