This is part six of a six part series on Preparing for Pentecost. You can read part five here.

Last Sunday, at The Falls Church Anglican in Virginia, Bishop Chris Warner confirmed around 40 people. He said the prayers from the 2019 Book of Common Prayer for most confirmands as he laid hands on them: “Defend, O Lord, your servant N., with your heavenly grace, that he may continue yours forever, and daily increase in your Holy Spirit more and more until he comes into the fullness of your everlasting kingdom.”  Powerful and standard ministry in Anglican circles.

But then, something more unusual happened. With his hands remaining on one head at a time, Bishop Chris waited for the Holy Spirit to give him revelation for each confirmand – a specific encouraging word for each one, which he spoke for the whole congregation to hear. My bishop was using a gift of prophetic utterance that he told me God gave him through his consecration as bishop. A few I spoke to afterwards confirmed the accuracy of the words for the one they knew.  It took a long time, but Bishop told us it was also a lesson in patience!  

This is a great example of the charismatic stream in operation during the liturgy. A church leader, who is a sign and symbol for the whole body of Christ, operating in a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit for the building up of the body (1 Cor. 14:3).  I have heard that several of our bishops now operate in this gift in this way. It’s becoming less unusual among us; it is a supernatural dimension of the normal Christian life. In Acts 1:5, Jesus promised that we would “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses….” This promise was first fulfilled through the gift of Pentecost described in Acts 2, and continues to be fulfilled among us today.    

Holy Eucharist is the sacrament of union with Christ; and Holy Baptism is the sacrament of salvation.  What, then, is the meaning of the sacrament of confirmation?  Our 2014 ACNA Catechism says that the grace given in confirmation is being “further empowered and gifted by the Holy Spirit for daily growth…”  Confirmation is about Holy Spirit empowerment in the gifts and fruits of the Spirit.  Take that in; we take sacramental account of our need for more and more Holy Spirit power.

You may ask, “Okay, but what is this power for?” Pentecost isn’t only about personal encounters with God made manifest, even though that is a part of it. Even more so, it’s about power for witness.  The reason we are blessed with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is so we can be a blessing to others! Generally, we will be a blessing to others when our heart desire is to bless God and glorify His Name in the earth.  It’s not really about us at all.  It’s all about God. Notice what the disciples did on the first Pentecost in Acts 2 after the manifestations of fire on their heads and empowerment with other tongues: they “declared the wonders of God in [many of our] tongues!” Given the context, my guess is that the wonders of God they shared were about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. That is why they were given the gift of tongues in the first place – it was for communication of the Gospel, so it could be understood. After Peter preached repentance and baptism, three thousand converts were added to their number that very day. 

Now don’t get me wrong. I dearly love spiritual experiences! I’ve had many, and sought many. I love the mountaintop. But if you have a spiritual experience that does not in some way result in witness and service that lifts up the name of Jesus, then you have a problem. Either your experience was not of God at all; or you have hijacked the Holy Spirit for your own glorification. That is a dangerous place to be. It’s close to idolatry. Only God should get the glory. Divine power is for service. He shows up in power in your life because he wants you to serve Him.  God wants to do something through you: using ministry gifts like encouragement, administration, and helps; and more supernatural gifts, like prophecy, healings, and discernment of spirits.  Like our Lord’s service, our service involves both proclamation and demonstration (1 Cor. 2:4); both word and works.

I don’t know about you, but I need more power to witness. I struggle just like many of you do from time to time, as I can shy away from mentioning the name of Jesus with people I meet. I once spoke to a young lady who came to my door to offer free roofing estimates. I engaged her in conversation, and God gave me boldness to speak to her about the Lord, invite her to church with a business card, and pray a blessing over her. It took me only an extra two minutes to talk to her about Jesus. Praise God, I did my job! Not my job as a pastor; no, that’s my job as a Christian. It’s our job description as followers of Jesus to witness to the love and power of Jesus to all the people of the world (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20). 

I don’t always do that. Most likely, you don’t always do that. Why not? Maybe you are like me. Sometimes I’m in a rush to fulfill a commitment; sometimes I’m not thinking about God or what other people need, but I’m only thinking about myself; and sometimes, I just don’t want to bother. You and I desperately need God to overwhelm us, to fill us with so much of His love and power that we can’t help but speak of Jesus every chance we get. God’s power came upon the disciples at Pentecost, and God’s power for witness can come on you, too. Let’s be prayed up and alert for opportunities to witness to Jesus’ love and power this Pentecost season.

The Rev. Clancy Nixon is Director of Renew, a ministry of Anglican Revitalization Ministries. He served as rector of a church he planted for 24 years, and he led church-planting and revitalization efforts for the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic for seven years. He continues to work with the province in healing and renewal ministries. If you’d like to learn more about Renew and how we might serve your congregation or diocese with a conference or coaching, please visit https://www.americananglican.org/renew.