Power and Piety

Elishah said to Elijah,
"I pray you, let me inherit
a double share of your spirit."
2 Kings 2:9

The discussion at General Synod about the blessing of same-sex unions has raised the question, " What is a blessing anyway?" When a young woman asks her parents for their blessing to marry the man she loves, she is really asking for their approval of her choice. Those who are opposed to the church blessing same-sex unions are expressing their disapproval of such relationships.

This attenuated meaning of "blessing" as mere approval should remind us that there was a time when blessings-and curses-were words with power. In today's gospel, after the Samaritan villagers have refused to receive Jesus, his disciples ask, "Lord, you you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?" (Luke 9:54).

In the Bible spiritual power, for weal or woe, is exercised both by word and deed. The double share in Elijah's spirit which Elisha requests is a double share in his prophetic power. From the writings of St. Paul we may infer that the effects of the holy spirit were well known during his time. The Epistle to the Ephesians includes the admonition, "Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit" (5:18).

But such spiritual drunkenness, or ecstatic prophecy, was viewed with suspicion by the early church, and when it was revived by Montanus in the 2nd century, he and his followers were exterminated as heretics. In our own day, spiritual power is no longer mediated by the institutional church but rather through gifted individuals.

When my wife and I were on holiday in Stratford, we visited a couple who had moved there some years ago from Toronto. The wife, a retired Anglican priest, has been in a car accident which resulted in multiple fractures in her left arm. She told us of her treatment by a therapist, which can only be described as miraculous.

Noting that the left arm was totally without energy, the therapist moved her hands repeatedly over the affected area, without ever actually touching it. She led her patient back, step to step, to the time of the accident, until the pain was almost unbearable. She advised saying repeatedly, "Thy will be done." When it was all over, the arm was healed. I exclaimed spontaneously, "Now that's real power!" Our friend readily agreed.

Before he ascended into heaven, the risen Lord promised his disciples, "You shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:8). Sad to say, the Anglican Church of Canada seems to be experiencing a power outage. At a time when the thirst for spirituality is greater than ever, we are wasting our energy on internal blood-letting over an issue which Canadian society has already decided.

I have no regrets over the church's loss of power in the public sector. When I direct my gaze south of the border, I am glad that here in Canada piety has been privatized, and to be Christian in Canada is to be discreet. But as a priest I deeply regret that our church seems no longer to impart the spirit which was given to us at Pentecost and to each individual in baptism.

When we sing our communion hymn, let us be mindful of what we are asking for:

Come down, O love divine,
Seek thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with thine own ardour glowing.