SPIRITUAL HANGOVERS AND GOD’S NEW THING 

There is a lovely bit in the Alpha away day talks where an Italian Roman Catholic priest is talking about the effects of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

“its intoxicating, not like with wine or getting drunk”

There is a such a thing as a spiritual hangover. An intense time of spending time in God’s presence and seeking his face, can lead to bodily exhaustion and emotional and mental inertia. In essence we might need to recover (see previous posts about being mind, body and soul and how they are all intertwined).

That was me on Bank Holiday Monday.

The task list was untouched. It was enough to even get out of bed let alone work out what to eat. I didn’t feel ill – just a bit wrung out. It often happens after preaching a particular type of sermon.

Holy Week was a great ending to out time of lament and repenting. Focusing on the failures of firstly Judas and Peter , in quite different ways, and then the complete absence of the disciples on Good Friday (“they fled”). It was a poignant reminder of the death on the cross exactly because we fail him. Greater love has no one than to die for ones friends , Jesus said.

Then, the joy of the resurrection and the promises of eternal life.

“This is too good a gift to keep to ourselves, in fact it would be selfish to do so!” I seem to remember saying on Resurrection Sunday.

It was heady stuff.

And then I crashed.

Recuperating, and focusing on what we had experienced, I have two words that I think we need to press into in this new season.

“GO!” and “Pioneering”.

More of that in a moment.

I have developed a particular view of Holy Week in the Christian calendar. In large part, what we do, our services of worship and reflection, are NOT evangelistic opportunities. That is counter intuitive to many. “Surely this is the time when we should be sharing with others – its such an important part of the Christian story”.

I would agree, but its not the start point of the conversation.

To invite people to our services of reflection and celebration, especially Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, is like giving someone the penultimate chapter of a book and expecting them to buy into the story. We live in a post-Christendom age where we cannot assume that the people we meet know anything of the story. Even Christmas!
Things that might have worked before, don’t any more.

Some never did, but they felt like we were “doing something”.

In my curacy, the churches together did a walk of witness. Each church would walk through the streets carrying a cross and meet in the centre of Horley holding an act of worship. An alternative was to meet in town and walk from there.

Either approach became less and less effective.

Because there was no one there!

“We need to witness”

But witness to whom? Most people were on holiday, visiting family, gone to the beach – you name it. They were anywhere but the town centre.

The enthusiasm of the ministers waned for these and other reasons for what had been.

I therefore have come to the view that whatever has been done in the past, Holy Week is actually a time for missional Christians to become internalised, not outward looking. Our services and the story of Holy week cannot take the individual parts and invite others into the story. Because it is literally incredible and make no sense. On their own, they are unconvincing or worse plain confusing.

Yet, with a big picture Gospel in our hearts, the elements of holy week are invigorating. From the depths of the injustice and agony of Good Friday we can magnify our joy at the resurrection.

The whole story approach of the Family Event introduces the broader picture to hundreds who we hope will come back , appetite whetted, to find out more. Seeds were sown.

But our services , often reflective, including a vigil and times of silence as much as hearing God’s Word and singing hymns and hearing choral pieces and praying. Listening to God. Speaking to him.

These are all part of a powering up for the believer.

I used to have a toy car set. It had Matchbox size metal cars on a track which could be twisted into various shapes of circuit with loops and straights and bends. The cars shot round the track propelled by a mechanism that they enter as they were losing momentum at the end of the circuit  and going in one end would by re-energised, propelled and spewed out full of energy back into the circuit again.

And that is what Holy Week can be for us. Go into the powerhouse, alone, to be propelled out again into the world.

So back to our two words.

GO! Is Jesus’ instruction to the disciples – to make disciples, baptise them, and teach them all Jesus commanded.

We should be propelled into the world by Holy week to do this with more energy, more urgency and renewed and equipped for the task with the cross and resurrection re-imprinted on our souls. Hearts on fire with love for Him.

The other is “Pioneering” which in essence means no longer being church building centric, but looking at ways, means and places outside our building where God is working, convicting people and getting them asking questions – such as “who is this Jesus?”.

There is a whole generation who are experiencing revival, here in the UK.

God is on the move.

He is doing a new thing.

Will we go and pioneer new ways with him.

Not abandoning the good of the old. But not holding onto the old with an iron grip.

For God is doing a new thing.

Let’s get on board.

Every blessing

Doug