Of Pentecost and Pentecostals

I am still thinking about The Day of Pentecost.  That’s not a bad thing.  It is an extraordinarily important day in the life of the church.  In fact, for the first several hundred years of church history Pentecost, not Easter, was the great spring festival.  The gift of the Holy Spirit and the universality of its importance overshadowed even the Celebration of the Resurrection in the liturgical life and practice of the church.  So, it is a day that deserves more than passing mention.

I must admit, though that it is also a day that confuses us a bit.  We hear words like “Pentecostal” and we think of enthusiasts and speaking in tongues and somewhat fundamental theological positions.  These are not always accurate assessments, but this is what frequently comes to mind.  Mainline Christianity has allowed the more emotion-driven arm of the church to highjack terminology that rightly belongs to all of us.  We are all “Pentecostal” if we are Trinitarian at all.  We do not subordinate the Holy Spirit to the other Persons of the Holy Trinity.  We do not isolate God-people as “Creatorists.”  We do not cede the name of Jesus to the few.  So, why should “Pentecostal” be a description that puts middle-of-the-road Christians ill at ease?

I understand that there is a certain avoidance of “guilt by association.” A lot of hard-core, right-wing folks who identify themselves as Christians sometimes take extreme religious and political stances with which moderates and liberals are uncomfortable.  Some thinking seems to take the position of “If that is Pentecostal, then I want no part of it.”

A similar avoidance response can be found in regard to the “speaking in tongues” phenomenon that many Pentecostal groups exhibit.  This is odd, because the linguistic miracle of Acts 2 was that the peoples of the known world heard the gospel proclamation in their own native language.  It was a miracle of understanding, of comprehension, and of unity.  The glossolalia, the speaking in ecstatic (and unintelligible) languages of 1 Corinthians 12 and of modern Pentecostal practice is the polar opposite of anything that occurred on the biblical Day of Pentecost.  To label practitioners of “speaking in tongues” as Pentecostal from a biblical point of view is inaccurate at best.

So, I am on a campaign to re-habilitate “Pentecostal.”  Because, even lacking the gift of speaking in tongues, I am one.