Anglicanism: Three Streams, One Church — The Charismatic Stream

Last week Fr. John spoke about the Evangelical Stream. He talked about the Evangelical Stream as part of the Three Streams that make up the fullness of worship in the Christian Church. He talked about how being part of the Evangelical Stream is something that we are all called to be, and as part of that our mission is to share the Gospel message with those that we encounter. He also talked about how the Evangelical Stream does not carry any more weight than the Charismatic or the Sacramental stream. So today I want to spend some time talking to you about the Charismatic Stream and what that stream looks like.

The Charismatic Stream, much like the other streams, is more than a worship style. The Charismatic Stream is a lifestyle that we live as Christians. It is a lifestyle that dates back to the very birth of the Church, and it is the catalyst that has launched rapid expansion of the Church each and every time a Charismatic move has come upon the Church.

So what does it mean to be Charismatic? For this let us take a look at Acts 2:

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."

So from Acts 2 we begin to get a glimpse of what the Charismatic Stream looks like. The Charismatic Stream of Anglicanism is not a style of music or worship; it is a way of walking in the gifts that God has poured out on His church in order to spread the message of salvation to the ends of the earth. When we describe Charismatic Anglicanism, we — as Thomas McKenzie says in his book *The Anglican Way* — are describing "Christians who believe that the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit seen in the New Testament may be normally experienced today." All throughout the history of the Church, wherever the first Christians ministered, miracles, signs and wonders followed them, and every time there has been a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church, the church has experienced increase. Most recently we saw this in the modern age with the Pentecostal movement.

I am going to give a plug for a great companion resource to this sermon series: Thomas McKenzie's book *The Anglican Way* gives a great explanation of Anglicanism, and I can't recommend it enough. In his book McKenzie says that:

"The charismatic movement entered the modern age by way of the Pentecostal movement. In 1906, a man named William J. Seymour held prayer meetings on Azusa Street, Los Angeles. The Azusa Revival saw the coming together of men and women from a variety of ethnic groups. Together, they experienced supernatural manifestations of God. This revival gave birth to Pentecostalism. At first, this was a movement primarily among the working classes and urban poor."

Looking around our mission, I would venture to say that a prayer meeting at Azusa Street probably didn't look much different than what we look like here — people of all different backgrounds and races, coming together to experience God to the fullest — and it is in those encounters that they, and we like them, have new life in our faith. But unfortunately in the Pentecostal movement they started to put too much emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit, creating what would be like a religious elite — a separate class of Christians who were better than the average Christian because they have received the gifts of the Spirit through the baptism of the Spirit. Because of this, as Anglicans we can be Charismatic, but we are not Pentecostal.

According to McKenzie, "The Charismatic movement began in the American Anglican Church through a specific person. Dennis Bennett was an Episcopal priest at St. Mark's Church in Van Nuys, California." Bennett would attend a Pentecostal prayer meeting where he received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Not long after, he accepted a position at a church in Seattle where he started to tell his church about this new and exciting way to experience God. Other ministers would eventually join him, and within a few decades the Pentecostal-influenced ministers were in churches all over North America.

In *The Anglican Way*, McKenzie talks about how in the "1960s and 1970s, [the] movement became more distinct from Pentecostalism and was called the Charismatic movement. The Charismatic movement has had a great influence within the Anglican Church." McKenzie continues with saying that the Charismatic movement is more influential in non-Western nations, and it is in these nations that the Anglican Church has seen the most growth. These churches have experienced growth because they are open to the move of the Holy Spirit. They allow the Holy Spirit to guide them, and as I said earlier, every time there has been a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church, the church has experienced increase. These churches welcome a new outpouring over their churches; the priests and bishops are spirit-filled believers who allow the Spirit to guide and direct them. They expect the supernatural to take place, and it does.

It is because of the Charismatic movement within the Anglican Church that we are reminded that our experiences with God are to be both personal and supernatural. Because of this, most Anglicans around the world today believe in the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, and this is why many of us, myself included, are Charismatic.

But like all things in Anglicanism, there has to be a balance. So how does a Charismatic fit into a liturgical worship setting? It is actually quite simple — it is because ordered worship is, and has always been, the standard for worship. McKenzie reminds us that "Jesus himself worshiped in liturgical settings. Synagogues and the Jewish Temple had ordered worship. When Jesus' disciples asked him how to pray, he didn't respond 'Pray as you feel led.' He gave them a liturgical prayer, the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1–4). Freedom is important, but so is Spirit-led order. God is the Lord of truth and beauty, not the bringer of discord and confusion." This last part is so important: *God is the Lord of truth and beauty, not the bringer of discord and confusion.* Simply put, God is not going to do anything that causes a disruption to the service.

McKenzie gives us four common Charismatic values:

1. Intimacy with Christ 2. Being filled with the Spirit 3. Supernatural Power 4. Mystical Experience

**Intimacy with Christ** is available to all of us who are willing to let go of our "religious controls." We have been given this amazing gift — the ability to know that Jesus Christ is with us always, that he is not just some historical figure from the past. Because of the Holy Spirit we have the ability to know and walk with Christ and pray that he does things in our lives. No other religion out there has the ability to walk hand in hand with their God. But we have been given the grace to walk hand in hand with the one true God in the person of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit that lives and reigns in each and every one of us.

**Being filled with the Spirit** is something that all Christians have been given the gift of, and to those of us who walk in the Charismatic Anglican way, we are asking the Holy Spirit to fill us and walk with us daily. As Charismatic Anglicans it is a reality that being spirit-filled is something that we all experience. We experience it in joy and in peace; we experience it in the convicting power of God when we are reminded of our sins. No matter how the Holy Spirit shows up, the fact of the matter is that He is showing up daily and is with us — whether we feel His presence or not. Scripture tells us that there are certain fruits that a person shows if they are truly filled with the Spirit of God, and those fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You don't need a self-help guru to teach you how to be happy, or to have peace. You simply need to ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill your life.

**Supernatural Power.** McKenzie tells us that "the greatest miracle of the Holy Spirit is conversion. While a person is spiritually dead, locked in her sins, the Spirit of God comes into her heart and adopts her to the Father." But that is not the only way that God works. As Charismatic Anglicans we can rest assured that God will not leave us alone — that he is always working on our behalf, and that when He does, the intervention manifests itself in many different ways. We can see these supernatural manifestations happen in the form of healings, we can see them in the form of answered prayer, we can see it in restored relationships. When God is present, there is no telling how He will work things out. But I want to offer a word of caution: God is NOT a genie in a bottle. He does not grant wishes. That is to say that sometimes the healing doesn't come, or the blessing, or the restoration of relationships just doesn't happen. It doesn't mean that God isn't there working things out; it just means that God is working on it in a way that we may not understand or be able to see at this time.

**Mystical Experience.** God has a way of using mystical experiences to move in the life of the Spirit-filled believer. The days leading up to me being offered the position at the hospital, I was in the chapel praying. A young man dressed in scrubs came in and sat across from me a few pews behind me. While I was praying for myself, I felt something on the inside tell me that I needed to pray for that man. So I sat there and silently prayed for him for about twenty minutes. I didn't know what I was praying for or why in the world I was praying for that man, but I did it nonetheless. After I was done praying, I got up and started to walk by him. He looked up at me and smiled, so I stopped and asked if he was alright. His response seemed a bit odd at the time, but it makes sense now. He responded, "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright." At the time I thought he was talking about himself. But the very next day I was offered my position at the hospital. I believe that this man was there to reassure me, and was actually there to pray for me. I have never seen him before and have not seen him since, but those words of comfort put me at ease, took away any anxiety I had, and reminded me of a very valuable lesson: when you feel the Spirit moving you to pray — *pray!* As Charismatic Anglicans we believe in the mystical experiences that happen, and we anticipate that they might even happen to us!

The experience I had in the chapel was a mystical experience — I believe it with all of my heart. But it was an experience that happened only because I was open to it. There is something powerful that happens when a Christian is walking in sync with the Spirit of God. The Charismatic Stream of the Anglican Church should always be in balance with the other streams, and it is in that balance that we are able to come into the fullness of worship that Christ intended for His Church.