“I recently heard a definition for what it means to be Pentecostal: people of the presence. It's not about style, hype or following the way things used to be. Too often Pentecostals are dwelling on the glory of a past experience and they try to re-create that moment, often mimicking certain people or styles for it to happen again. Rather than seeking God, they are seeking an experience. They are seeking the presents of God rather than the presence of God. Thanks for bringing this subject to light. My prayer is that we will seek His presence and allow the Holy Spirit to saturate and empower us to do the ministry He has called us to do.”
When we seek God's presence and allow the Holy Spirit to saturate and empower us, lives will be transformed--even in the worst of environments.
Samuel Solivan points to the experiences of members of Hispanic Pentecostal churches in the United States, "Even though our communities remain destroyed, and we are forced to live our lives in inhuman living conditions, we still can attest to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives, empowering them to overcome their suffering, misery and despair." [1]
This hopefulness in the midst of suffering is what Solivan calls “orthopathos.” In using this term, he is referring to the power of the Holy Spirit that transforms “pathos” (the emotions of suffering and despair) into hope and wholeness. It is shalom that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7).Solivan sees orthopathos as being the interlocutor between orthodoxy and orthopraxis—the bridge between the proclamation of liberty and the eschatological realization of liberty.
Solivan writes, “To speak to a former addict, prostitute, alcoholic or street person who has been transformed by the power of the Spirit is to speak to someone who knows what orthopathos is all about.” [2]
Gutted, graffiti-defaced project houses stand as monuments to the failure of governmental and social service agencies that did not comprehend that taking a person out of the ghetto does not guarantee transformation. However, it is possible to experience change while still in the hallways of ancient tenement buildings. Even though El Barrio in East Harlem remains a concrete jungle filled with drugs, prostitution, murder, suicide, and suffering, the corítos (small choirs) of the Pentecostal churches sing songs of joy—the songs of Zion in an alien land.
Does Pentecostal spirituality involve emotionalism? Yes, of course. If one understands that emotive responses are normal expressions of an inward joy that flows from a supernatural, wholistic liberation, then tears, laughter, raised hands, and other demonstrations are not bizarre.
At this entry point of the “redemptive lift” process, Hispanic Pentecostals experience liberation from the ghetto while still in the ghetto. The transforming power of the Holy Spirit helps them believe circumstances can change. The Spirit assembles the transformed and believing individuals into an incarnational, serving, and equipped community that can evangelize and work for social justice.
[1] Samuel Solivan, The Spirit, Pathos and Liberation: Toward an Hispanic Pentecostal Theology (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd., 1997), 111.
[2] Ibid, 111.
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