Good article.  Calvin College was "right up the beltline" from where I
went to school (Grand Rapids Baptist---now Cornerstone U).

Randy

> Interesting excerpts from an article in Christianity Today by James K. A.
> Smith (teaches philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.)
>
>
>
> Teaching a Calvinist to Dance
>
> In Pentecostal worship, my Reformed theology finds its groove.
>
>
>
> http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/may/25.42.html
>
>
>
> We can see this right in the DNA of the church. The church, you'll
> remember, is "genetically" Pentecostal. The birthplace of the church is
> Pentecost, at which some pretty strange stuff happened, strange enough
> that others didn't know what to make of it and so concluded that the
> apostles were drunk. But what I find really interesting about Pentecost is
> not just that St. Peter participated in the surprise of the Spirit, but
> that he had the courage to stand up and essentially say, "This is what the
> Spirit was talking about" (Acts 2:16). Peter was open enough to God doing
> something new and different that in the face of the madness that was
> Pentecost Sunday, he could boldly proclaim, "This is God!" When Jesus
> ascended and promised the Spirit, I don't imagine the disciples expected
> the scene that unfolded at Pentecost. And yet Peter exhibits openness to
> God surprising our expectations.
>
>
>
> The heart and soul of that Pentecostal spirituality is not the
> manifestations, but rather the courage and openness to see God in those
> unexpected manifestations, and to say, "This is what the Spirit promised."
>
>
>
> That means acknowledging God's sovereignty in worship in ways that have to
> be learned. I think most Reformed folk have learned habits of worship that
> effectively constrain the sovereignty of God by adopting highly defined
> and narrow expectations of the Spirit's operations. I long for a kind of
> "Pentecostalized" Reformed spirituality that expects the sovereign Lord to
> show up in ways that might surprise us. If we take our Reformed
> convictions about God's sovereignty seriously, then we can, with Peter, be
> boldly open to the Spirit's surprise. We need not immediately kick back in
> fear at what might sometimes appear to be the madness of Pentecost, but
> can have the courage to say the Spirit is at work.
>
>
>
>
> I think that's exactly the sensibility embodied by Jonathan Edwards,
> America's greatest theologian. While presenting labyrinthine theological
> sermons in monotone from his pulpit, the Puritan preacher witnessed
> strange manifestations, convulsing bodies, and shouts and yelps among his
> congregants. But Edwards the Reformed theologian was discerning enough not
> to write this off, but to say, "There's something of the Spirit in this."
> In Pentecostal spirituality, the Calvinist conviction about the
> sovereignty of God is extended to worship in a way that makes us open to
> and even expectant of the sovereign Lord surprising us.
>
>
>
> The Goodness of Embodiment
>
> Reformed folk, particularly in the Dutch tradition of Kuyper and
> Dooyeweerd, often emphasize the "goodness of creation"- that God created a
> material universe that he pronounced "very good" (Gen. 1:31). And although
> it is fallen, God is redeeming this world, not redeeming us out of it. An
> important piece of that affirmation is the goodness of embodiment-the
> goodness of the stuff we bump into, the bodies we inhabit.
>
> But that's precisely why I've always found it a bit strange that Reformed
> worship so often treats human beings as if we're brains-on-a-stick. All
> week long we talk about how good creation is, how good embodiment is. But
> then we have habits of worship that merely deposit great ideas in our
> heads, making us rather cerebral disciples. Despite all our talk about the
> goodness of creation and embodiment, in Reformed worship the body doesn't
> show up that much.
>
> Pentecostals, on the other hand, embody their spirituality. I would argue
> that Pentecostal worship is the extension of the Reformed intuition about
> the goodness of creation and the goodness of embodiment. We can see this
> in just a few examples.
>
>
>
> First, Pentecostals believe in healing-and they don't mean only
> "spiritual" healing. They think physical healing is part of what the Cross
> accomplished. God doesn't want to just save your soul; God also cares
> about your body. The Pentecostal emphasis on the healing of the body is an
> affirmation of the goodness of embodiment.
>
> Second, Pentecostals use their whole bodies in worship. Pentecostal
> worship can get a little messy; indeed, sometimes there are bodies
> everywhere! I can still remember the first time I ever raised my hands in
> worship-there in that Pentecostal church in Stratford. Tentatively and
> awkwardly raising your arms, hands trembling, you feel like an idiot-and,
> of course, that's precisely the point. To be in a position with hands
> outstretched, or prostrate on the floor, is to be in a position of
> vulnerability and humility. And that can be an especially powerful
> spiritual discipline for Reformed Christians, who are probably prone to a
> certain staid confidence in our intellectual prowess and doctrinal
> precision. I thank God for those practices of embodied humiliation that
> are part and parcel of Pentecostal worship; they were exactly the
> counterweight I needed as a young Reformed philosopher. But they were also
> fleshing out the theories I was absorbing.
>
>
>
> Because Pentecostals live out the Reformed affirmation of both the
> sovereignty of God and the goodness of embodiment, I don't experience much
> tension between these core aspects of Reformed identity and Pentecostal
> spirituality.
>
>
>
> The explosion of the Spirit's work in world Christianity reminds us that
> the church's DNA is Pentecostal. It is important for Reformed Christians
> to not be scared of that, and in fact, to see in it an invitation of the
> Spirit to live out the Reformed intuitions we talk about all the time.
>
>
>
> James K. A. Smith teaches philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids,
> Michigan.
>
>
>
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