Testimonies
Sermon
For many people, testimonies in which someone relates the story of how they came to Christianity, still seem to be one of the most powerful means of hearing the Christian message. There's something about the sincerity of the person who stands to speak, which usually shines through their words. And to hear the words of someone who has had a profound religious experience can be very moving.
Unfortunately the other side of listening to a Christian testimony is a feeling of being excluded. Other people's testimonies can make some listeners feel inadequate and left out, because they themselves haven't had any particular Christian experience. This feeling of exclusivity is increased by those Christians who appear to judge the genuineness of others by their religious experiences.
Around twenty years ago the so-called Toronto Blessing swept this country. It came from a church in Canada which had experienced a number of somewhat bizarre physical reactions which were said to have come from an experience of the Holy Spirit, reactions which included fainting, barking like a dog, making strange noises, and speaking in tongues. Once these reactions were known across the world, they soon became manifest in many different churches, and those who experienced them reported that they were accompanied by feelings of great peace and love and joy.
But one of the problems which became apparent was that Christians then tended to be divided into two camps, those who had experienced the Toronto Blessing and those who hadn't. Each camp regarded the other with deep suspicion, with the added complication that those who had experienced the Toronto Blessing tended to regard those who hadn't as somehow deficient in their Christianity. It was as though you had to receive the Toronto Blessing to be a "real" Christian. The other camp tended to regard the Toronto Blessing enthusiasts as overly emotional, superficial and naive in their faith.
Something similar had happened around twenty years before the days of the Toronto Blessing, when "speaking in tongues", that gift of the Holy Spirit mentioned by St Paul (1 Corinthians 12:10) returned to this country in full force. Then it seemed that only those who could speak in tongues were regarded by some as "real" Christians.
But none of this is new. From the time of the young church in Corinth and St Paul's problems there, the history of Christianity is littered with people who experienced a sudden manifestation of a gift of the Holy Spirit and who then founded a new church of fellow experiencers. Quakers, Baptists and Methodists all sprang from the religious experience of their founder, and in the early days were all regarded with deep suspicion by the traditional church. Nowadays they in their turn are seen by most as traditional!
So unless we want to go on and on founding more and more new churches, perhaps in these days of trying to work together ecumenically, religious experience needs to be treated with sensitivity.
When Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain, they had the religious experience of their lives. They saw Jesus transformed into a heavenly being, and they saw those towering figures of their faith, Moses and Elijah, with him. But even before they returned from the mountain, they came down to earth with a thud. Peter wanted to hold onto the experience by building tabernacles to create a holy place, but Jesus refused to allow him to do so. And along with the other disciples, when Peter, James and John returned from the mountain they were unable to heal an epilectic boy. Perhaps this failure had something to do with the dispute which immediately followed this event, that argument over who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven! It seems that even though the three disciples had had a spiritual high like no other, apparently in practical terms this experience hadn't immediately made a huge difference.
But that wasn't really the point. The three disciples had seen Jesus transfigured and had heard God speaking directly to them, telling them that Jesus was his beloved son. And years later, it becomes clear that this was a defining moment for Peter. In the second letter of Peter the author gives Peter's testimony telling his hearers about that incredible moment, but now all these years later there's been time to reflect upon that experience on the mountain.
The author writes many years after the death of Jesus (this letter is thought to be the latest work in the New Testament and most scholars doubt that it was written by the apostle Peter himself, but by a later disciple,) and reflecting upon both the life and death of Jesus and that moment on the mountain which Peter experienced, the author is now able to see where the Holy Spirit was at work. And he's also able to see that the Holy Spirit had been at work throughout the days of the Old Testament, especially through the work of the prophets. It all adds up to a manifestation of the power and glory of God, and a clear pattern in God's work emerges.
The Holy Spirit is still very much at work in human lives today. Some people have a sudden and intense experience of Jesus, in which their view of him is transfigured and they realise for the first time that he really is alive and able to communicate with human beings. Those who reflect upon such an experience and are able to interpret it in the context of the Christian church can offer a very compelling testimony, just as the second letter of Peter offered a compelling testimony to his readers.
But not all the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and that lack of experiences didn't make them any the less disciples. The other nine weren't excluded from Jesus's presence because they didn't witness the transfiguration, they simply experienced his presence differently. And eight of those nine went on to become leaders in the early church, respected neither more nor less than those three who had experienced the transfiguration.
We're all in Christianity together. Our different spiritual experiences make us neither better nor worse Christians, simply different Christians. We should use our spiritual gifts and our spiritual experiences to build up the body of Christ, which means that we should use them sensitively, respecting and accepting one another. Testimonies which cause other people to feel inadequate seldom build up the body of Christ, rather they build up the ego of the speaker. But testimonies which inspire and encourage others to go forward in the faith can be both uplifting and strengthening.
And when that happens we can all begin to see a light shining in a dark place, and discover the day dawning and the morning star rising in our hearts.
Unfortunately the other side of listening to a Christian testimony is a feeling of being excluded. Other people's testimonies can make some listeners feel inadequate and left out, because they themselves haven't had any particular Christian experience. This feeling of exclusivity is increased by those Christians who appear to judge the genuineness of others by their religious experiences.
Around twenty years ago the so-called Toronto Blessing swept this country. It came from a church in Canada which had experienced a number of somewhat bizarre physical reactions which were said to have come from an experience of the Holy Spirit, reactions which included fainting, barking like a dog, making strange noises, and speaking in tongues. Once these reactions were known across the world, they soon became manifest in many different churches, and those who experienced them reported that they were accompanied by feelings of great peace and love and joy.
But one of the problems which became apparent was that Christians then tended to be divided into two camps, those who had experienced the Toronto Blessing and those who hadn't. Each camp regarded the other with deep suspicion, with the added complication that those who had experienced the Toronto Blessing tended to regard those who hadn't as somehow deficient in their Christianity. It was as though you had to receive the Toronto Blessing to be a "real" Christian. The other camp tended to regard the Toronto Blessing enthusiasts as overly emotional, superficial and naive in their faith.
Something similar had happened around twenty years before the days of the Toronto Blessing, when "speaking in tongues", that gift of the Holy Spirit mentioned by St Paul (1 Corinthians 12:10) returned to this country in full force. Then it seemed that only those who could speak in tongues were regarded by some as "real" Christians.
But none of this is new. From the time of the young church in Corinth and St Paul's problems there, the history of Christianity is littered with people who experienced a sudden manifestation of a gift of the Holy Spirit and who then founded a new church of fellow experiencers. Quakers, Baptists and Methodists all sprang from the religious experience of their founder, and in the early days were all regarded with deep suspicion by the traditional church. Nowadays they in their turn are seen by most as traditional!
So unless we want to go on and on founding more and more new churches, perhaps in these days of trying to work together ecumenically, religious experience needs to be treated with sensitivity.
When Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain, they had the religious experience of their lives. They saw Jesus transformed into a heavenly being, and they saw those towering figures of their faith, Moses and Elijah, with him. But even before they returned from the mountain, they came down to earth with a thud. Peter wanted to hold onto the experience by building tabernacles to create a holy place, but Jesus refused to allow him to do so. And along with the other disciples, when Peter, James and John returned from the mountain they were unable to heal an epilectic boy. Perhaps this failure had something to do with the dispute which immediately followed this event, that argument over who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven! It seems that even though the three disciples had had a spiritual high like no other, apparently in practical terms this experience hadn't immediately made a huge difference.
But that wasn't really the point. The three disciples had seen Jesus transfigured and had heard God speaking directly to them, telling them that Jesus was his beloved son. And years later, it becomes clear that this was a defining moment for Peter. In the second letter of Peter the author gives Peter's testimony telling his hearers about that incredible moment, but now all these years later there's been time to reflect upon that experience on the mountain.
The author writes many years after the death of Jesus (this letter is thought to be the latest work in the New Testament and most scholars doubt that it was written by the apostle Peter himself, but by a later disciple,) and reflecting upon both the life and death of Jesus and that moment on the mountain which Peter experienced, the author is now able to see where the Holy Spirit was at work. And he's also able to see that the Holy Spirit had been at work throughout the days of the Old Testament, especially through the work of the prophets. It all adds up to a manifestation of the power and glory of God, and a clear pattern in God's work emerges.
The Holy Spirit is still very much at work in human lives today. Some people have a sudden and intense experience of Jesus, in which their view of him is transfigured and they realise for the first time that he really is alive and able to communicate with human beings. Those who reflect upon such an experience and are able to interpret it in the context of the Christian church can offer a very compelling testimony, just as the second letter of Peter offered a compelling testimony to his readers.
But not all the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and that lack of experiences didn't make them any the less disciples. The other nine weren't excluded from Jesus's presence because they didn't witness the transfiguration, they simply experienced his presence differently. And eight of those nine went on to become leaders in the early church, respected neither more nor less than those three who had experienced the transfiguration.
We're all in Christianity together. Our different spiritual experiences make us neither better nor worse Christians, simply different Christians. We should use our spiritual gifts and our spiritual experiences to build up the body of Christ, which means that we should use them sensitively, respecting and accepting one another. Testimonies which cause other people to feel inadequate seldom build up the body of Christ, rather they build up the ego of the speaker. But testimonies which inspire and encourage others to go forward in the faith can be both uplifting and strengthening.
And when that happens we can all begin to see a light shining in a dark place, and discover the day dawning and the morning star rising in our hearts.
