With the Holy Spirit and With Power: A Fable

I recently brought the attention of the latest posts by Father Baumann to the Prior, who thought the tenor of them quite judicious, but continues to be struck by the brawling that consumes the Church in Asia Minor. He has his own sides in this dispute from a doctrinal standpoint, but when I pointed out my impatience with the conservatives, he said, Peace, my son. The same Spirit blows through Asia Minor that blows through these halls. The same River washes us clean. The same Fire from heaven consumes our sacrifices. Even good doctrine should be tested, and frankly, I am not impressed by the cogency of those partisans you hang about with sometimes. You should be watching your own soul. You are overly wrothful, and not just at other members of the Body. Why were you so angry this afternoon?

I assured him that that particular vexation indeed had been treated too hastily and that I was going to show more restraint.

'Well, I certainly hope so. Nothing is worth hating one's fellows. But Father Baumann's reflections remind me of an old story. It is very ancient, dating to the foundation of this World. It concerns the first Archbishop of the See, who became convinced that there must be charismatic gifts in high abundance within his jurisdiction. His reasoning was that every time he wrote to a vestry asking for their nominations to a living, he always received an answer to the effect of, 'The Holy Spirit was very clear in suggesting N to us.' And reading the Apostle, the Archbishop supposed that gifts were provided according to the need of the Body. And thus he wondered why his See was so abundantly gifted with discernment, when he knew that there was a great deficiency of Sunday School teachers and a need for the relief of arthritis in many aged persons etc. And, of course, he always wanted to have someone to pray in tongues with him, because he believed that tongues were non-human languages and he could then learn by osmosis as it were. And so he asked the priests in charge of each parish to survey their communicants and ask such persons with spiritual gifts to present themselves to the Archbishop. Well, he was greatly disappointed. No one appeared except a man who handled venomous snakes, but the cathedral verger apparently chased the man away, and he appeared not to be a member of the Established Church anyway.

All was looking fairly grim until the Rector of Sancta Maria Victoria Nostra prope Palatinum dragged a man kicking and screaming into the cathedral. The man's gens would be known to you, but it's not as important to the story as the fact that he was a man of praetorian rank, who is protected by civil law from having hands laid him in this manner with quite stern penalties. The Archbishop was duly shocked. But the Rector said, 'He's been holding out on us, your Grace. He once mentioned something to me outside the Sacrament...' The Archbishop asked the Rector to leave off and help himself to tea in the Archepiscopal Cottage. The Archbishop then sat the retired Justice down, for such he was in civil life and asked him what this was all about.

'Well, your Grace. I was born on Terra as you know...in England and was baptized in a little parish church in the Westcountry. When I was little, the vicar used to invite the children of the parish to gather around when he baptized an infant. And during the prayers over the Font, I always felt a little queer...and queerer still when he actually baptized the child, as if my whole body was feeling the Holy Spirit come down and wash the sins away or seal the child in Christ. As I grew older, I noticed that the same queer feeling seemed associated with the Eucharist, especially with the Words of Institution and the epiclesis, as if there were static electricity drawn into the room at that moment onto the Holy Gifts. Oh, it all sounds very silly, but I developed a great reverence for the Sacrament then, which has continued all my days. And indeed, at my own Confirmation, some years later, I felt the same jolt in great measure as the Bishop laid his hands on me, and when he laid his hands on my fellow confirmands. As I grew older, this feeling drew me to the service of the altar as an acolyte and to the reading of the Word as a lector. Oh, how I feared being a Lector, but I felt as if the Holy Spirit were with me. Once, I had read the Old Testament for that day, some fiery words from Ezekiel, and afterwards, a local headmistress took me aside and informed me that she had seen a flame of fire on my shoulder as I read. O, how that filled me with fear...

'And from those days until now, I have felt so close to God in the rites of the Church through this queer feeling. It is a glorious blessing granted to so wretched a sinner as I, but it's not something I really like to talk about.'

The Archbishop asked, 'Why not? It testifies to the power and existence of God. It must have its uses. And it's greatly uncommon these days. I couldn't find anyone except a snakehandler on the entire planet.'

'Well, that's just it, your Grace. There are so many problems associated with it. First, there is the question of faith. I believe that I sense the Holy Spirit, but aren't we supposed to believe rather than see? I've always feared what would happen if it stopped. It often feels dimmer or even absent when I am not in a properly holy frame of mind. What if it were to stop altogether? Would I still believe in God? I should, shouldn't I? Second, there is the question of other experiences. My encounters with the Holy Spirit did not stop at the gates of the Church of England or this Church. The Roman Catholics, the Orthodox, and the Lutherans all seem to be gifted with it to the same extent. I've seen glimpses in non-Christian religions, too. And can you explain why the Holy Spirit seems to be associated with Mexican women making hot chocolate? This is why it's so silly. I don't have any charismatic gifts of this sort. It's endorphins or something. Third, what do you do if you go to a church and don't encounter the Holy Spirit in the ordinances. What's that supposed to mean? Do you tell them? There are some Protestants who would say that I have been associating with an unclean spirit that confuses the catholic churches from the Word of God.

'Well, my son, I guess you must have faith like anyone else. You must trust that you encounter the Holy Ghost without any certainty. But again, I say it must have its uses. Such gifts are meant to build up the Church. Why did you hide your light under a bushel?'

'Your Grace, the England of my youth was a tempestuous place ecclesially. The Church of England was rent with controversies about women priests, sexuality, and the role of non-Christian religions in national identity etc. Frankly, if I had said to anyone that I initially founded my belief that women were valid matter for ordination on my spiritual gifts, I would have been entering inadmissible evidence into the debate. Such things cannot be verified. Some would believe I was consorting with the Evil One. Others would want to use my gift for their own purposes. My gift also became rather problematic in the sexuality debates. It's a sort of ana-Donatism to believe that a gay priest must be all right with God if he celebrates validly, isn't it?'

'I suppose so. But surely there must be some use to it. The Apostle assures us that these gifts aren't given in vain, and indeed the Lord warns most strongly in the Parable of the Talents that all that we are should be used. God gave you ability to interpret the civil law and execute equity. Why did you use one gift rather than another. Because one gave you profit?'

'Most Reverend Father, surely you don't think I've done nothing? I have tried to use my gift as best I could, not as baking soda to drive others to rashness but as a way to be leaven to the Church. I have seen my gift as a spur not to fall asleep but to re-examine issues that I normally would let others opine on, and as a way to see that some questions do not have easy answers. It's why I am so happy to be a catechist here, because I am allowed to proclaim the kerygma clearly here but also can look at secondary issues and adiaphora from both sides without confusing the catechumens. In England, it would have been nearly impossible to do so with the way the controversies were so mixed together that you were convinced that everyone who was liberal on sexuality thought the Cross was utterly without power or everyone who was conservative on women's ordination believed that women were utterly barred from being Lectors or serving at the Holy Table.'

'But the gift is so uncommon. It needs to be spread through the Church. Or the very few individuals who have it must tell us about it.'

'I don't think it's as uncommon as you think. Some of the Fathers make arguments and use images that seem very familiar to me, and I can't but think that some of the intense devotion to the Eucharist in the Middle Ages might have been an occasionally narcotic response. That should warn us that the gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit ought to map onto one another. I don't think it's rare today either. That headmistress likely had it. That's two in one small Devon parish, isn't it? But isn't it better that we be quiet about it? Would you rather be tossed about on every wind of doctrine or fooled by some charlatan? Wouldn't you rather have a few irenic or occasionally strident people spurred to look again in the Scriptures, to examine if the tradition we received is what it always was, and strive for Holy Wisdom? So won't you let us be, your Grace?"

The Archbishop replied dejectedly, 'I suppose so. But promise me one thing. Will you figure out some way to discern good Sunday School teachers?'"

"Ah, Brother Prior, I said, does the story really end with a joke?" "It does the way I tell it." "But is it true? Is the Church of God sustained in the way the Justice said?" The Church of God fortunately is sustained by more wonderful things than these, indeed, the fullness of the Triune God. It is not as if those of whom the Justice speaks are like the righteous ones in Jewish lore who keep this world in being. If the story is true, and I do not know whether it is true or not, it suggests that the Holy Spirit may not always speak in such a way that those who receive are certain of the One they hear. It re-asserts the ancient teachings to be skeptical of prophets and those who claim spiritual certainty of the will of God. But most importantly, it is a warning to listen carefully to everyone and to cultivate what little measure of holiness we have in this life through the merits of Our Savior in hopes of hearing what He wishes us to do. It's a lesson, my son, you should consider very well, especially when you feel the need to scream at the Fathers.