It has never been cool to be Pentecostal. I don't mean not cool in that i'm ok and so are you, it's cool sense; but in the traditional --cool: adj. hip, rendering one the service of gaining cultural credibility and approval-- sense. Pentecostalism has yet to be the flavor of any month (in the contiguous United States that is). Being pentecostal gets one the opposite of credibility. Even very close friends of Pentecostals write papers about how it is all aberration. I know. And because being an adolescent is all about wanting to be deeply, truly approved of by one's selected or remote peers, I learned to keep what went on at church, at church.
A lot went on at church . Stuff I can't take back, most of which I really don't want to. But I have grown beyond thinking I need or even want to be palatable. So I am going to own up to my own spiritual history- I am so Pentecostal you can't imagine it. And what you are imagining, those people on that channel, is so far away from what I am talking about that I don't want you to try. So I will expound- I have had ecstatic experiences. lots of them really. It isn't an everyday thing and, thank God, they are no longer the "goal", but they have played a really wonderful part of my life as a Christian. Dreams. Visions. Prophecies. oh, and to round it out, the Bible, the community of faith, and generous heap of good evangelical coursework. These things, in addition to my relationships, make up who I experience myself to be in Christ. oh, and this blog and the ones you guys write.
My thesis is about my Pentecostal grandparents and their cohorts. It is such a blessing to come back to this ground, this soil I was birthed in, and see how they tilled it, lived in it. as a third generation Mexican-American I feel cut off from my own family tree by virtue of speaking English, being educated, and being middle-class. I ALWAYS felt this distance growing up, though I also felt loved, and this thesis is getting me closer to people now gone.
Funny, I recently read that people who have a sense of ethnic identity feel somewhat happier.
God works in mysterious ways. Early Pentecostals were notoriously suspicious of education! It gets worse: veneration of ancestors, prayer to them, etc, was downright heretical, but i light a candle in my grandmother's china cup when i research and write, just hoping she'll help me out anyway, cause i think she probably can.
Erica, my third wife came out of the Assemblies of God. She introduced me to Pentecostalism. She helped me feel the spirit (and get slain in it); she taught this WASP to put his hands in the air. Ultimately it was too alien and too unintelligible -- but oh, how I loved the folks I met there and that overwhelming sense that Jesus was HERE, right NOW, in this ROOM. Love that. And I still do a little bit of spiritual warfare when I get on airplanes.
Posted by: Hugo Schwyzer | March 01, 2005 at 10:37 PM
I'm relatively new to Pentecostalism, awakened to the mysteries of the Holy Spirit here at college. Oh, life makes so much more sense nowadays! I feel like I've finally unearthed my true heritage, as a spiritual being with spiritual experiences. I'm now learning to integrate soul and body.
Just wanted to say hello, let you know I've been reading your blog for a while. Thanks for the thoughts you've stirred up in me, etc. I think I found your link in a comment on Relevant a while back.
Posted by: david | March 02, 2005 at 02:01 AM
Thanks for visiting mine. I used to be Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) but am now a Quaker. One extreme to the other eh? At least they are both peace churches.
Posted by: Tom Cunliffe | March 03, 2005 at 01:05 AM
Uh, dude. The Assemblies of God had a peace background at one point, but they slaughted that a long time ago. It created John Ashcroft. I'm not saying that the peaceable aspect of Pentecostalism is unrecoverable, but its certainly not a peace church. Certainly not. Wait a sec, was that sarcasm?
Posted by: Thunder Jones | March 03, 2005 at 08:21 AM
I am considering becoming Pentecostal or a member of Church of God in Christ. I think that contrary to popular belief, cessenism (rejection of God manifesting His Holy Spirit in tongues and miracles), is a heresy. I have friends who are Calvinists (John Calvin was a cessasionist) but they are becoming more open to things of the Spirit.
Posted by: purple people eater | March 03, 2005 at 08:42 AM
great post erica. i am a pentecostal and that means that I am alot of things at this point. I view the world thru sancocho lenses and well like some have already mentioned here, I love the experiential journey of pentecostalism. I can't argue that away. Its real I've felt it. As to society, it is cool now to be "spiritual" but not necessarily naming anything. I am just. I just live. I am becoming. The journey continues.
Posted by: liz rios | March 03, 2005 at 04:26 PM
Erica - so glad you gave up Lent :). Great post. Sometimes, I call myself a spiritual mutt. Raised Charismatic Roman Catholic, I attended a Jesus People coffee house as young child with older siblings, I found Jesus again in the Vineyard, then traveled to bible churches, a charismatic episcopalian church, was part of an alternative post-modern anglican community in Australia, and now, have found a home in Quaker meeting.This post intrigues me, much. I am still so charismatic- just in a Quaker sort of way. Thanks for this.
Posted by: anj | March 04, 2005 at 12:52 PM