Orthodox forms in the Charismatic church

In general, as opposed to being divisive as many of my posts might suggest, I tend to look for points of unity in any debate. While I love a good argument, if it is an issue of true division, I generally will present my case in a way that seeks common ground. That being said, the point of this post is to highlight some items of unity between the Charismatic church, in which I was raised, and the Orthodox Church which I currently am attending.

I am by no means an apologist for the Charismatic movement. While I have still many friends and most of my family that associate themselves with Charismatic churches, I stand firm in believing that the Charismatic church is off base in a few major points: It often glorifies the individual leaders at the expense of the church body as a whole (see nearly every TBN evangelist), it generally lacks any authoritative church government by which to keep the individual churches in line (The many very public scandals: Jim Bakker, Marjoe, Robert Tilton, Ted Haggard, etc or in MC's friend's post here), it spotlights individualism by praising those who possess the most charisma rather than those with the most inner devotion to the ways of the Lord (often more grounded in sociology than in Biblical Christian tradition), and, lastly, it is founded upon an unbased belief that the early church was completely non-liturgical and free form in worship style when it really was none of those (since it was based on Jewish liturgy as documented repeatedly in writings such as those of Justin Martyr or the Didache). But there are plenty of detractors from the Charismatic movement, and I gain nothing by heaping insults on a movement which, in attempting to react against a church that often denies the power of the spirit of God, seeks to re-establish a spiritual foundation for the church rather than an intellectual one.

In learning about the Orthodox church, one of the first things that I noticed was the elevation of the sacramental approach to God. That finding God is more about experiencing Him in the practices of the church and through the living of a life in union with Him rather than focusing on an intellectual pursuit. In Orthodoxy this can be seen everywhere from the short, poignant message to the focus on the sacraments to the mystical style of worship with candles and iconography. However, this same emphasis can be seen in the Charismatic church (minus the sacraments). I have heard it said that while most protestants focus on the "Power of the Word", the charismatic church is focused on the "Power of the Spirit," and I believe that is true from what I have seen. While certainly focusing on the emotional aspects of worship far more than the Catholic or Orthodox churches, the charismatic church still has an emphasis on accenting the experience of the presence of God in a way that much of the rest of the protestant church has seemed to have dropped centuries ago in regard to their church worship (Though that is often the approach of protestant ecumenical movements such as "One Day" or the "Passion" movement, though their worship styles are probably best described as charismatic though they likely wouldn't claim that title...).

I spoke previously about Cessationalism (the belief that miracles ended with the Apostles), and as much as Catholics or Orthodox would deny that God has stopped working in miraculous ways, the Charismatic church would do so just as strongly. Their belief in the miraculous is a return to the truth of the ancient faith, for denying the Spirit of God in that way is nothing more than an elevation of John Locke as spiritual guide over the likes of Peter and Paul. Now that is not to say that our faith should depend on miracles, but we are called to live life in acknowledgment of the active miraculous power of the Lord (for what is the point of prayer if it is stripped of the experiential approach to God and the expectation of him to use prayer miraculously?). Whether it is in a belief in healings, prophecy or speaking in tongues, while one can question the means, one is hard pressed to question if Charismatics approach God with an expectation of the miraculous.

One probably more controversial similarity that I have noticed, which stems from the experiential approach to God over the intellectual one, is the deemphasis, in parts, in both the Orthodox church and the Charismatic churches on finding the right words to be spoken during prayer. While in public prayers the Charismatic church still often highlights the flamboyant prayers of its members with an emphasis on the words, but in personal prayer it practices what is known as a "prayer language," or a prayer to the Lord in "tongues." Their belief in this is that it is the Holy Spirit speaking through them in unintelligible words, but the practice of this is a deemphasis on thinking of words to pray and an emphasis on approaching God spiritually. In this approach, I see a very basic similarity to the Orthodox practice of Hesychastic prayer in which the person praying repeats a prayer (such as the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.") over and over while drawing into the presence of the Lord. I will be the first to say that my knowledge of Hesychasm is next to nothing, so if this is off base I welcome correction.

In a number of ways, such as the ones mentioned above, where the Orthodox church differs with mainstream Protestantism, I have found similarities with the Charismatic churches. And even though often those similarities are shallow, they seem to exist none the less and show that the Charismatic movements, while largely ungrounded, still has honest attempts to restore to the Protestant church some emphasis that have been lost from the early church.