The Temptation of Saying Too Much
Monday, June 13, 2011 at 4:22PM As I read through the Workbook, I came across the same paragraph several times. It was the GSC's "Global Ends Policy." Near the beginning of each of seven different GSC "ends policies" reports (on pp. 190, 214, 229, 242, 257, 290, and 305), this policy statement is printed in full:
"Empowered by the Holy Spirit and in covenant with the general secretary and staff, the General Synod Council will carry out its responsibilities in order to ensure that the Reformed Church in America will be a denomination where congregations are following Christ in mission, equipped and empowered for faithful and fruitful ministry, which requires all we have and all we are to the glory of God."
I don't know when this policy statement was written, or by whom. I am sympathetic to the task they faced. Such things are very difficult to write well.
Even so, I would like to urge some changes. For the language we use is important, reflecting our values or perhaps implying values that are not our own. This statement, I believe, says more than it should.
My problem with the statement is with the very first clause: "Empowered by the Holy Spirit." I understand what is intended here. The authors want to affirm the importance of the work of the Spirit. That's good. Very good, in fact. But what is actually said goes beyond that. The clause states something remarkable: that the GSC is, in fact, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
But it says too much, presumes too much, to say that any of us are "empowered by the Holy Spirit," except perhaps in retrospect. We are called to rely on the Holy Spirit, to pray for the empowering of the Spirit, to seek the guidance of the Spirit, to give thanks for the Spirit's blessings when they come. But we can never assume, in any endeavor we are about to undertake, that we in fact are so empowered.
Clearly, the burden of the opening of the statement (from "Empowered" through "staff") is to indicate how the GSC "will carry out its responsibilities." They are things that the GSC must ensure. But we cannot ensure the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We can only call upon that empowerment, pray for it, rely upon it. I would urge this simple modification: replace "Empowered by" with "Seeking the Holy Spirit's leading ...."
Dan Griswold
Reader Comments (6)
If you think about it the Holy Spirit lives in us and therefore we are empowered by the Spirit. All the power of the Holy Spirit is for Gods glory and can be used through us. We have an exchanged heart by the sacrifice of the cross. People keep praying for the Holy Spirit to show up, and I really don't understand that. He is always with us, he is always for us, the question is can we trust him to work through us and can we stop trying to do his work?
I understand Dan's concern, however I have to agree with Goris. The Holy Spirit is ever present in us and among us. We profess this in our sacraments and in our creeds. My constant prayer is that I stay out of the way of the work of the HS around me, in and through me, My continual prayer, "Lord may I be attentive to the presence, voice and work of the HS." When we say, "Come HS", have we forgotten Gen 1? In fact the HS works through us even when we are unaware.
Words mean nothing if we have no heart to live them.
We say come Holy Spirit because we mere mortals need to experience the presence of God by the Spirit. It is how we are wired and through human existence we have spent a great deal of time seeking the presence of a god. When our God the Creator of all things, by the Spirit is made known to us in a personal way for the glory of the kingdom, we are manifesting a greater love and presence among the world that we live in.
In this we are therefore are empowered to live out the call upon our lives using the gifts, skills, talents and passion given to us by God. We because of our human weakness all to often we push the Spirit away and rely on our own ability. I agree that we all need to seek the Holy Spirit and so we say, come Holy Spirit.
If we really want to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in and through our actions, we must confess, pray, listen and obey. This may mean that we simply stop forcing our human agenda and call upon God through the Son by the Spirit to live out "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
When our leadership, denomination, GSC, Synod and all connecting elements call upon the Spirit of God and worship the the Almighty without a clock or agenda we will see a new Pentecost and not just what we write on paper. The Living Water that is within us and the Spirit will forever alter our feeble efforts as we support the reign of God.
COME HOLY SPIRIT
A little history might be helpful. As the events we now call the Reformation began to unfold, it was the claim of the Church (with a capital C) that it acted by the power of the Spirit. The Reformers would not contest the claim that the Spirit works through the Church (after all they all confessed the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds). Their issue was the presumption that the church could somehow channel the Spirit. So theirs was always a confident prayer for the Spirit. I hear Dan's query from that perspective.
A second, polity matter might be at issue. The GSC is not an assembly of the church. It is on the one hand an agent of the Synod -- on the other hand the executive committee of the synod. So this it's members function not together in Spirit-led leadership, but in service to the synod itself.
I agree with your suggestion, Dan.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing* spirit" (Psalm 51:10-12).
We are promised the presence of the Spirit, if we abide in Christ. (Vines and branches, anyone?) We are not promised the constant empowerment of the Spirit no matter what we do or fail to do. To affirm that we are empowered no matter what makes the statement ("empowered by the Holy Spirit") almost empty of meaning, because it makes it a general affirmation that can applied to most anyone.
Here's the problem: when a group of people claim that their decisions are, in fact, empowered by the Holy Spirit, then they have rejected the notion that we can sin, and do so even in our best acts
The Spirit remains free. Christians, even though forgiven and being sanctified, remain sinners. To forget this leads groups to triumphalism and abuse.
Lastly, Although there is some Biblical warrant for saying that the Spirit is in us, (e.g., John 14:17), there is also a lot in the NT about the need for us to be in the Spirit. We should not understand the former apart from the latter, lest we start treating the Spirit as our possession, rather than the other way around.