I am an evangelist and pentecostal. I am also a Christian, but those first two are things about me outside of the faith system I use.
By saying I am an evangelical is to use the literal meaning of the word -one who tells good news. I mean I love to share things I’ve found or figured out, learned or inherited. I love to tell stories about the whos hows and whys of a thing happening or project started. It is ALSO true that I am a preacher of the Gospel, and I am pretty evangelical about it as well, but not at all in the American Evangelical Christian mainstream way. I think there is a Gospel message or metaphor about most things, and I love sharing it. I do not assume anything other than receiving what I am offering happens with another person and I guess that’s the primary distinction. I’m not out to make Christians. Not my job.
When grilled about this by the ordination committee of the Evergreen Association of American Baptists, USA, when asked about my ecumenical work and my interfaith marriage and my utter disinterest in conversion rates or soul-saving, I responded as I always have… Who am I to put a timetable on any soul’s relationship with God? Who am I to dictate how or when or why someone’s soul is moved by a human expression of this relationship with the Divine? I whole heartedly believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has something for all humanity, and there is no requirement or threshold that makes one eligible.
I also believe this about physical therapy. It is a miracle discipline when done well. I have re-learned how to manage and arrange my body several times now as an adult, and I wish it were as readily available as massage therapy, which can also be life-changing. I guess I believe this about therapy in general, that therapy has something for all humanity. Mental health therapy when done well can be incredibly regenerative, and I have NEVER met any person who couldn’t benefit from good therapy. Not a single one. I certainly preach this, and try all the time to faithfully practice it. Evangelical about therapy… Ha!
As far as the Pentecostalism goes, that is a reflection of the deep and abiding relationship I have with the Holy Spirit that goes far beyond any doctrine or practice of Christianity. The language of Christianity is incredibly helpful for me here, and I have been drawn to the mystics of the church for as long as I could read. But I have believed for some time that the Spirit of God, the force of the universe, the power behind love is this force. Spirit is the still small voice that speaks in the night. Spirit is the inner teaching guide, our intuition and deep self-knowledge.
The closest alignment I’ve found in Christianity, to any articulation to how I see Spirit moving in the world outside of liturgy and worship, is Walter Wink. Wink was a 20th century Methodist theologian committed to nonviolence and what he called Engaging the Powers, an open and honest acknowledgement that the spiritual reality is as active and involved in our world as any material or social reality. He believed that entities, organizations, corporations -I’ve added cities and places- have a spirit that can be recalled to its own higher nature.
But most often we encounter Spirit just out and about, and with misuse in great abundance. Sports event riots spring to mind when I think of a perversion of what group spirit can move the many to do. Marches and mass protests can be healthy manifestations of that same group spirit to urgent action, but to do that well takes intent and prior training.
A community or group of friends, a large family perhaps, might also have this kind of sense of self, its own spirit of being. Neighborhoods can carry their own feel, and absolutely someone walking through it can gain a sense of that spirit. Sometimes fractionalization takes over, and we have a creation of Us and Them, another misuse of this spirit that binds.
The armed insurrection at the US Capitol last year is an excellent example of this Spirit being perverted, an outright manipulation for insidious and violent forces. I’m still shaken by the memory of what was unleashed, and it surprises me not at all that we haven’t really been able to face it as a people, as a country.
Denial is not effective deflection, but that’s another post for another day.
I call myself a Pentecostal because I feel -perceive- and live in these currents of spirit moving through and in our world, and because in my own life, and in the lives of many I know, that inner guide, the Paraclete of the New Testament, the advocate and teacher is trustworthy and separate from me. I believe I have an awareness of the alchemy of spirit in the places that are desperate for it, thirsty for a radical shift.
I feel all of these ways about the Body Politic. There is an essence of being of this place, this country, that we have abandoned. But it is findable, for it is of Spirit. There is an internal movement in how we do or do not vote or act, and this too is of that inner guide, or can be. I am interested in the ways that our common good is embodied, and how we move towards that goal. How do we nurture that Spirit of Community that engenders common care, and mutual decision making?
I am a downright Evangelist for participation in the process. I even consider conscientious non-involvement to be a hopeful stance, because it is at least considered. I am behind all efforts to increase the electorate, or increase public participation in decision making, or to expand our understandings of who has standing to act in the first place.
We are nearing a Federal election, and it’s an important one to be sure. I have great hope that it will be the largest Midterm participation we’ve ever seen. But that’s never what gets folks to the polls. People who might not always vote tend to do so for a specific reason or person. I have engaged several eligible but disheartened or bitter or apathetic voters by discussing the small things that DON’T get press attention but that really matter to people -a pit bull ban or a bill to increase access to mental health treatment.
I do not know what those issues are in your area but I guarantee they exist. Weaving these connections works for people, and brings them to a place of action, in part because they can see themselves reflected in the choices. This is a powerful shift, and possible in almost every election cycle.
I am naming myself an Evangelical and Pentecostal voter, because it is essentially true if not culturally true. It matters, the hows and whys to our actions and movements in the collective sphere, and in personal realms.
What do you need and want to share? What is the Good News you know to be true? What are the ways in which we feed and nurture a generative community spirit, and how are we miserly? What changes need to be made to best ground our places, our lives, our sense of self, in a Spirit of common endeavor and mutual need and support?
We have all we need to build the world we can see. All that is required is us.
May it be so.