Tonight we had a unique experience in glossalalia (the gift of tongues) at the Gathering. I was leading a song of worship at a particularly small service this evening. During one of the songs, I did something which is common for me to do on the evening service. I continued playing the chords of the chorus to the song, and broke into spontaneous worship created by singing words of praise which flowed improvisationally from my heart. This is something we have encouraged others to do as well, and so it is a regular practice during our Sunday evening services.Being a good ol' Pentecostal boy (well, that is I believe that all the gifts of the Spirit are active and alive today, and I "speak in tongues"), I began to express my worship in Tongues.
I thought to myself at one point that the words seemed somewhat familiar, but being monoglot American with only a smattering of understanding in Spanish, a few short years in High School (32 years ago) trying to learn French, a familiarity with Koine (biblical Greek, which I taught many years, Prof. Carlos Z., Pastor Phil Wyman, ago, but being a dead language is not something I ever spoke), and struggling to learn Welsh I put the thought out of my head. This expression of worship lasted a couple minutes, and when it was over the Prof. Carlos Z. said to me openly in front of the group, "You were worshiping in Spanish. Did you know you were worshiping in Spanish?"
My response was, "Wow! What did I say?"
Carlos responded by telling us some of the words, and thoughts which were expressed, and then we discussed this gift of Tongues for awhile.
Now that was pretty cool, and something which I have desired to see happen for many years - Thanks God!
I suppose some might say that my subconscious harbors an understanding of Spanish, which was somehow brought out at this particular moment, but that seems as far fetched to me as believing that this gift of Tongues exists supernaturally. I'll stick with the act of God theory here.
By the way, the book pictured above was written in the 60's but is still the best read on the subject I've ever read.
10 comments:
Very interesting. I am horrible at foreign language but I think that among the world's languages, spanish is one of the most beautiful sounding. If I catch myself speaking gibberish it either sounds spanish or hebrew. Those two seem to flow with ease compared to german or english.
Concerning the two theories you mentioned that explain this happening I wonder if it can't be both. Even if your subconscious was playing a role it would still be miraculous that it was brought together cohesively, therefore a sign of the Spirit of God in movement.
What was the word of the Lord? I think that if God went to such lengths to communicate last night, then what was said must be 10x more important than how it was said. Curious to hear the word...
It's great that you are working with your rational side, seeking alternate explanations (sanity), and it's great that you are glorifying God for the work of His Holy Spirit (sanctity).
To him who has, more will be given, which means, don't neglect this gift or bury it, but stir up the gift that is within you.
a reader
www.anongd.blogspot.com
Hey Carl,
Your point about the two theories working tandem is interesting, and something I had not considered.
Thanks
Hi Pixie,
I will try to have Carlos post here to respond to your question about the message, since he was the Spanish speaking interpreter.
At first he thought - hey I know that language, then he realized I was speaking Spanish, then he began to worship improvisationally in Spanish himself, and so he did not interpret the entirety of my speaking.
Thanks god-blogger,
Stir it up I will.
perhaps the very fact that it was spanish is a message in of itself.
Awesome! :)
What Phil said was that how much he loves God and how God loves us. Also how God loves the Church. I did not catch all of it since I was in shock that he sang in Spanish and I too began singing in Spanish. I wanted to respect Phil and what he was doing so I cannot verbadem tell you everything that was said.
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