Sunday August 4th | Part I

Wow! What a day. We split up and went to four different churches today. I went to a church called "Ondas de Paz" or "Waves of Peace" in English. It was a charismatic Methodist church. It was incredible to be a part of it all. Who knew such passionate and Holy Spirit driven Methodist churches existed? They danced without any hesitation. They sang with all their might. It was truly an experience of all their heart, mind, body, and soul. I hear many people saying the Holy Spirit is not present, or is at least suppressed, in our churches. If today taught me anything, we have to reclaim this aspect of our churches. I understand that in our American culture the charismatic church is pretty uncomfortable to some people. There were people dancing uncontrollably. There were people "slain in the Spirit" as they say, where they fall to the ground motionless. It was a very emotional experience, which is typical of the Venezuelan/Latin American culture: very emotional, very energetic.

I realize that if I simply seek to bring the exact experience back home I am not doing any good. I can't recreate an experience that springs from their cultural context and expect it to come alive in my very different cultural context. HOWEVER I do believe the Holy Spirit has been neglected and forgotten. I'm not sure many churches even know what the Holy Spirit would look like if it arose in us. It is both a fearful and wonderful thing. Fearful because it shows us that God is truly in control of us. Fearful because it expresses itself in ways that seem very foreign to us. It is wonderful though for the very same reasons. 

I believe God brought me to this church for a reason. For a while I have been wondering what my place in the UMC is. I don't fit the mold of a traditional,  liturgy loving Methodist. I prefer a more free, open worship experience (more like the charismatic expression). Today's experience showed me that the Methodist movement can be expressed many ways. I pray that if God leads me into the UMC, I will allow the expression and movement of the Holy Spirit come alive wherever I am. I know culture isn't changed over night, but I've learned that when the Spirit moves, no one can stop it. It is truly a transformational movement. It brings people to life. It was such an incredible worship experience for me. It was an answered prayer that God show me his Holy Spirit at work. Today I was awakened more clearly to that forgotten side of the Trinity. 

I pray God will awaken His Spirit in me. I pray that I don't think programmatically about HOW to bring the Holy Spirit in our churches, but that I simply depend upon the Holy Spirit and believe in its movement in whatever expression it chooses to come.