Andrew Wilson has written a highly readable, engaging volume seeking the integration of the streams that are regularly treated as contrastive: sacrament and Spirit. It is not that these are actually contrastive, but too many folks imagine they are distinct. Those who worship with candles, lectionaries, church calendars, and vestments versus those who worship with shouts, dancing, speaking in tongues, and altar calls. Yet Wilson contends these are not contradictory and nor should they be. While he is not proposing an explicit apologetic for these two streams to be joined, he is offering an implicit one. Even more so he is speaking to those who already may think these should be found together and offering them support toward a more biblical reflection of integration as basic to the church. The movements of this book are simple (though not simplistic): (ch. 1) Spirit and sacrament, (chs. 2-3) charis “gift” and chara “joy”, (chs. 4-5) eucharistic and charismatic. The intent is a proposed (ch. 6) “eucharismatic” (eucharistic/sacramental and Spirit-ed/charismatic) expression and experience for the life of the local church. This new term (eucharismatic) is intended to bring the two expressions into a fruitful intertwining as expressive of the fuller life of the church.

One of the many values of this volume is its positive framing of church expressions that are often put into juxtaposition as if antithetical. A similar sort of distinction was noted fifteen years ago in Sam Storm’s testimony and articulation Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist (Enjoying God Ministries, 2005) that juxtaposed “Calvinist” and “Charismatic” as poles that deserve to be brought together. Wilson’s own vision is less narrow by opening up to those which are sacramental/historic/liturgical and those which are charismatic/Pentecostal/renewal (with none of these terms intended as intentionally limiting to what might be offered). Wilson contends that the church that is committed to embodied life expresses itself in dress, smells, sounds, tastes, and movements that consider the whole person as incorporated into the life of the worshiping community. The integration of all of these as gifts and joy makes of a meaningful contribution to reflecting on the life of the church as it seeks faithful expression in local (and global) contexts.

Wilson does not dictate what the eucharismatic life and church looks like as this is a work of the Spirit in the context of specific congregations seeking to live faithfully in their contexts. However, he reminds his readers that just as “the church encompasses the whole body of Christ—cerebral and emotion, high and low context, introvert and extrovert, spontaneous and controlled, Asian, African, American, European, and so on—then local churches need to worship in ways that help everyone find joy in God, through Christ, by the Spirit” (57, original emphasis). This is enabled both by the many tongues of Pentecost and the many prayers and liturgies of the church historic and global.

As a full-time pastor of 22 years and one who still serves pastors globally through teaching, mentoring, and discipleship I will be recommending this book to fellow pastors and those I disciple in the pastorate. This book would serve a local church or group of pastors seeking to reflect on these issues (whether they consider themselves more “eucharistic” or more “charismatic” or even already a bit of a blend). It has the great potential to offer language for carrying forward conversations and seeking further reflection on this field of study. This book is precisely the kind of entry level work on the subject to spur further readings and deeper reflections perhaps moving to engage other works which likewise seek to integrate such things at a more advanced and detailed level of reflection.

Reviewed by Rick Wadholm Jr

Publisher’s page: https://zondervanacademic.com/products/spirit-and-sacrament

To my surprise I received numerous negative comments. Some saying that Jews are offended by these “mixed” Jewish-Christian Passovers. That is hard to understand, as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Several clergy from Orthodox and liturgical denominations strongly insisted that Jewish traditions and observances have no part in a Christian church. They seemed to take special offense at my claim that Passover was an Old Testament sacrament and could be observed by Christians to receive its grace.

Image: Gilabrand / Wikimedia Commons

I argued for the continuity of the Old Testament feasts as sacraments (that is, covenant rituals that are the occasion of God’s grace) in my previous work, Forgotten Power: The Significance of the Lord’s Supper in Revival.[1] Let me recap that argument. It contradicts the consensus of Medieval Western (and Eastern) theology which strongly affirms that sacraments were restricted to the New Testament period. For instance, the classic Catholic catechism definition of a sacrament is “An outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace.” Protestant definitions are similar, although often do not specifically mention Christ.  It is important to note that the Catholic definition was late in formulating and there was much discussion on the issue in the early Middle Ages. For instance, St. Bernard of Clairvaux argued that marriage was instituted directly by God and a valid source of grace even among non-Christians. However, St. Thomas Aquinas and his Christ-only view of the origins of the sacraments eventually won out and became official doctrine. Thomas’ view, of course, excluded the possibility that the God ordained rituals and festivals of the Old Testament were in any way sacramental and grace giving. His position passed on to Protestant sacramental theology where the mandated festivals such as Passover are termed “ordinances.”[2]

John’s Baptism as Jewish sacrament

What was missing in this consensus theology was an appreciation of what Paul said in Romans 11, that Jews are still a living root to Christianity. But before we get to that let me point out a critically important New Testament scripture that affirms St. Bernard and contradicts St. Thomas. It is found in Luke 7, where the writer (Luke) describes the spiritual effects of the ministry of John the Baptist:

All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.  But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John (vs 29-30).

Now, clearly John the Baptist is ministering as a Jew in the Old Testament era. He is identified by Jesus as such with the promise that Believers in Him will be even greater than the greatest Old Testament figures (Matt 11:11). From Acts we learn that John’s baptism was effective for repentance and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 19:2-4).  In any case, in the two verses above it is clear that those who receive John’s baptism had received a special grace for accepting God’s purposes. That is, an outward sign that gave a grace, i.e. a sacrament.