Pentecostalism and sacramentalism are not mutually exclusive. By its very nature Pentecostalism is sacramental. Sacramentalism suggests that God mediates salvific grace through material means. The Pentecostal doctrine of baptism in the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of speaking in other tongues provides the paradigm for Pentecostal sacramentalism.
The material/physical aspect of Pentecostal spirituality is evident throughout the Jerusalem Pentecost event (Acts 2). The Holy Spirit descended “from heaven” into this physical world. Believers heard “a noise like a violent rushing wind;” they saw “tongues as of fire.” The Divine Pneuma (wind/Spirit) “filled the whole house;” tongues of fire rested upon the believers and they were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Believers “began to speak with other tongues” and the crowd heard “them speak . . . in our own language.” Peter explained the advent of the Holy Spirit as the gift of Father and Son “which you both see and hear.” Luke tells us that “those who had received his word were baptized” and that believers devoted themselves to “the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread (taste, nourishment) and to prayer.” The pathos of the Pentecost event was “feeling a sense of awe.” Pentecostal spirituality is not simply spiritual; it is encountering the Holy Spirit with our human senses as the Spirit moves and interacts in our physical world. Pentecostal spirituality is a material/physical spirituality. So, how is this material spirituality reflected in Pentecostal worship?
First, we dedicate, or consecrate, a sacred space. Church is sacred people (saints) and sacred space. Cheryl Johns refers to the sacred space as an “enchanted space,” a space with a “charged atmosphere, created by the Holy Spirit, where the communion of saints, transcending time and space” gather with us. These sacred places “offer a therapeutic vision of salvation that connects the material world to the spiritual world” (Youth and Christian Education Leadership, Fall 2010, 14-18). Therefore, these sacred places are sacramental places, places where God is encountered, spaces of grace. Pentecostal worship spaces are simple, but worshipers who have encountered God will testify to “standing on holy ground.” Pentecostal worship is a Spirit-movement towards the altar – the place of encounter with God. The people of God assemble together at the altar to pray for each other and offer praises to God. At the altar the penitent is justified, sanctified, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. At the altar those who are sick are encouraged, comforted, strengthened, and sometimes healed. As believers gather at the altar to worship and pray, the heavens are opened and the Spirit falls. The altar is the place of continuous outpouring – the worshiper pours oneself out to God and God pours Godsself upon the worshiper. The Spirit that is poured out lifts the worshiper into the presence of God. The altar is a “heavenly place” (Ephesians 2:6). The altar is a sacred place of transformation because it is at the altar that the believer comes to know God. This salvific knowing of God is not limited to the recitation of a sinner’s prayer or the responsive reading of a creed. For the Pentecostal believer, faith is not born through a rational process, but through encounter with God. The encounter with God informs the Faith and forms the believer. The walk of faith is to live in an ongoing response to the presence of God. The altar is the sacred place where the walk of faith begins, and the place where the believer should frequently return.
Pentecostals have never considered themselves to be committed to a form of worship (liturgy), but there are certain sacred rites that Pentecostals have practiced because they reflect the Biblical tradition. The sacramental rites of water baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Footwashing, and anointing with oil with laying on of hands (hereafter referred to as the Anointed Touch) have been common in Pentecostal worship. Jerome Boone has written that sacramental rites are the “hidden curriculum” of the worshiping community. As sacred rites, sacraments have the capability “to order reality, to communicate reality, and to transform reality” (Journal of Pentecostal Theology 8, 1996, 129-142). They are formative in that the sacred rites serve to shape spiritual identity.
The most common of the Pentecostal sacraments is the Anointed Touch. Since it is a prevalent sacramental rite among Pentecostals, we will consider it as a paradigm for understanding other Pentecostal sacraments. The Anointed Touch is an excellent example of the material/physical nature of Pentecostal spirituality. The practice of praying for the sick by anointing with oil and laying on hands has been central to Pentecostal faith and practice. Early Pentecostals believed that Spirit-baptized believers are a means through which the Spirit may operate to do the works of Jesus Christ. This expresses the sacramental nature which is essential to Pentecostal spirituality. The church is a visible and physical expression of the extended hands of Jesus Christ to those who are suffering. The material means of grace in this sacramental rite are the touch of the Spirit-filled believer and the anointing oil. Pentecostals believe that divine healing is the salvific work of Christ and Spirit; but it also involves the “prayer of faith” and the anointed touch. For Pentecostals, sacraments require a material means and are efficacious when they are observed in faithful obedience to the Scriptures by the sanctified church where Christ and the Spirit are present.
Pentecostals have long affirmed that God can effect miraculous healing through the sacramental rite of the Anointed Touch. It is simply a matter of faith. Is it not also a matter of faith that through the words of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, the elements of holy sacraments can be permeated by God’s presence? Therefore, due to the animating presence of the Spirit, the “bread and wine” are consecrated so that by partaking of this meal, believers partake of the body and blood of the Savior. Sacraments are spiritual graces and those who participate in faith encounter the “real presence” of Christ through the Holy Spirit. The elements of the sacraments are material substances which the Spirit touches. In the observance of the sacraments, believers touch the elements and are touched by the Spirit. The elements of the sacraments are mediating gifts of grace because of the presence of the Spirit. As we approach the altar to participate in sacramental worship, we do so in the Spirit.
The celebration of the sacraments in Pentecostal worship should be understood as an opportunity to invite the saints once again to the altar to encounter the Holy Spirit. Just as the Spirit animates Pentecostal worship in inspired preaching, anointed singing, joyful shouts of praise, and dancing, the Spirit also animates the sacraments. Through the Holy Spirit, worshipers transcend time and space as they share sacramental experiences with Christ and the redeemed community. Through Christ the High Priest and the Spirit of grace, sacraments are more than mere reenactments or memorials to God’s redemptive acts; the baptismal water, the towel and basin, the bread and wine, and the anointing oil become mediatory gifts. In Christ and the Spirit, celebration of the sacraments becomes participation in God’s redemptive acts. Worship becomes an expression of ongoing saving faith. The Spirit’s movement in and through the sacraments is the agent of spiritual formation in the worshiping community. The effective call of the Holy Spirit is a call to life together. The Holy Spirit calls us to eternal life in fellowship with the Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit. The Spirit calls us that we may share eternal life in the fellowship of the redeemed.
