God Calling III: Worship in the Vernacular

I Corinthians 14

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek (the Greek used by common folk) not Classical Greek (that used by the educated). In Jesus' ministry, his native tongue was Aramaic, which was the language of the common Jew from 539 BCE (following Israel's return home from exile and the building of the second temple in Jerusalem) until about 70 CE (the invasion and destruction of that temple). A similar theme is found in the Reformation that God's Word be allowed to be translated from Latin into the different vernacular languages of the people. In the Methodist movement, the Wesleys did not permit worship in Latin. At the same time, religion tends to offer an alternative way of experiencing life and reality. At its best, it is a better way of seeing things from the perspective of faith through a relationship with God. To talk about "life in the Spirit" and studying spiritual gifts is one way of exploring this alternative way of life. Jesus' mission was to demonstrate and to proclaim the kingdom of God in this world. The long-term strategy for that was the creation of the Church. At it's worst, religion can become an exclusive club with exclusive practices, including languages and codes.

Glossolalia, ecstatic utterance described in I Corinthians 12 and 14 (and in parts of the book of Acts), what theologian Michael Green calls "a love language unto the Lord" had become a major feature of the worship life of the Corinthian Church. In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, speaking in tongues is used both privately and in public. In private, it is often called a "prayer language." It sounds to the ear, like a form of babbling, a free form of speech that is a celebration of God's presence in prayer or singing. In I Corinthians 14:2, Paul writes, "For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit." In 14:18, he writes, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you." So Paul himself worships in this way.

In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, this free form language is both spoken (usually subdued so as not to stand out as an individual – though I have sung concerts in Pentecostal settings where the "prayer language" grew quite loud as a group) and sung (quite a beautiful and ethereal sound, the free form sounds sung in the sounds of a single chord - much like an overtone series on a guitar). When I was at Oral Roberts University, Sunday evening vespers had this as a regular practice. Singing "in the Spirit" would go on for several minutes, even 10-15 minutes. Though I rarely attended, for a reserved Presbyterian at the time, it was an unusual and impressive experience. If you have friends who worship in Pentecostal , Assembly of God or interdenominational charismatic churches (Trinity Church in Lubbock, for instance), you may want to ask them about "praying or singing in the Spirit." At the height of the charismatic movement in the United States, during the 1970s, praying and singing in tongues was more prominent than it is today.

Paul's dispute with the Corinthians was that they made this largely private worship practice a central feature of their public worship. It is not a taught language, so no one could translate. Therefore, in public, Paul required that speaking in tongues in worship, when offered individually must be accompanied by another spiritual gift, the interpretation of tongues. As such, the message is understandable to everyone present and functions in the same way as prophecy, as a message given from the Lord.

In Pentecostal and charismatic worship, a person will speak out individually in glossolalia (free form or ecstatic speech). Then the worship will become very quiet as the worshipping group expectantly awaits someone to receive an interpretation. As such, it is not considered a literal translation, but a representation of the same message in the vernacular where everyone can understand. When you took the spiritual gifts survey, 24 of the questions were on speaking unknown languages and interpreting them. In United Methodist settings, as well as most mainline settings (the writer of the survey is a Presbyterian), most people mark "rarely" or "never." Some denominations forbid the practice entirely, relegating tongues and interpretation as a purely early church phenomenon that is now extinct and unnecessary.

For Paul, the problem with the Corinthian use of tongues was they were making it so strange and mystical that it had no practical value, but was rather the practice of people who saw themselves as "more spiritual" than others. I call this "super-spirituality", and it is a hazard for any religious body. Of course, there is the opposite extreme, "empty spirituality," where worship and devotion are just a rehearsal of learned creeds and songs without there being a sense of God's presence among the people. That one is the much more common hazard.

The bottom line for Paul is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit must be practical, including speaking in tongues and interpreting them. Spiritual gifts make the ministry of Christ portable, public and practical in the lives of people. How is God using your gifts to do that?

But I have an even more haunting question. How much of our present day worship and ministry is really in "the vernacular", in the language and practices that are accessible to people and their needs? Much of the language of the church is full of theology: justification, sanctification, pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit), eschatology (the study of Revelation and second coming themes), soteriology (understandings of salvation), ecclesiology (understandings of the church), et cetera ad nauseum. We talk about faith, grace and salvation as if the people around us really understand what we're talking about. Is the church speaking Latin again or speaking in tongues that are largely unknown or at least outdated? It is true that the language of faith communicates a reality that is hard to describe in secular terms. In music, we need a score. In football, we need a playbook. In the military, we need a manual. We need to be people who will communicate the reality of God's world-changing love, power and grace in the vernacular. We also need the gifts of the Spirit to be shared in ways that people can receive and understand them. In the end, that's what this course and what God's call on your life is all about.