If you
move to Salt Lake City, I suppose you ought to know a thing or two about
Mormonism. If you wind up in Jerusalem, brush up on Judaism. Indonesia… well,
you get the idea. What I did not know, though, was that if the cold hand of
fate at some point leads you to Tulsa, Oklahoma you are better off getting to
know a thing or two about Pentecostalism. Oklahoma is Bible belt. I knew that. But
I didn’t imagine it would be much different than Kansas. I knew that
qualitatively speaking Oklahoma is a far worse place than Kansas, but I didn’t imagine
the differences in the spiritual climate would be so stark.
Manhattan
is a religious town in a lot of ways, but it seems more practically minded in
its pursuit of Christianity. Tulsa, in my admittedly anecdotal experience, is
far different. In the same way that Colorado Springs serves as a hub for
evangelical Christianity, Tulsa serves as a hub for Pentecostalism. There are
several large Pentecostal churches and a number of smaller ones.
I have
only been here for a little over three weeks and wouldn’t presume to pass a
judgment on this issue, but at this point I can only say that this is the first
time I have ever really been around a pervasive Pentecostalism and I am glad
for the opportunity. Not that I see myself converting, but I am enjoying the
increased perspective it is giving me on this unique movement. Pentecostalism
is the one form of Christianity that is booming around the globe right now, and
my knowledge of it to this point consisted in brief readings on the sociology
of the movement and sound bites of Joel Osteen and random other snippets of
preachers working crowds into frenzies on TBN.
In other
words, my knowledge wasn’t very nuanced or very deep. And this limited level of
understanding allows me to be casually dismissive, something which I don’t like
very much. I feel like there is too much of this in our culture: everybody
knows that they are right and just wishes everyone would listen to them, but
they would never dream of extending the same courtesy. By nature I think humans
tend to ghettoize ourselves around like-minded folk—to good and ill effect at
times. The university is an almost perfect model of this—originally intended to
allow for dissent and opposing voices, it has turned into an echo chamber with
quite clear lines. In any event, like with most shortcomings, I see the speck
in my neighbor’s eye before noticing the plank in my own. And I want to give
due diligence in seeking out why so many people are attracted to this
theological model.
A perfect
case in point is a coworker of mine who attends one of the larger Pentecostal
churches in town. When I first found this out I was tempted to be dismissive,
and he said a few things off the bat that would have allowed me to feel
justified in doing so. But what I have learned over the past few weeks is that
he is absolutely sincere and absolutely faithful in the way he lives out his
faith (two things I cannot say for myself). He really believes that God doesn’t
want people to be sick and so he allows faithful Christians to act as healers. Moreover,
he has stories of him doing this. And he doesn’t strike me as the type of
person to lie about something like this. Maybe he is, but he doesn’t feel like
a charlatan. Knowing him as I do, it almost feels disrespectful to suggest that
he might be.
In short, I feel a wall breaking down in my heart. Not, let me
reiterate, the one that stands between me and acceptance of Pentecostal
theology, but the one that allows me to dismiss them out of hand and not have
to deal with them. I have enjoyed my conversations with my coworker and found
him to be very generous (though not at all interested in hearing about my own
Calvinism—you would have thought I had just kicked a puppy when I told him I was
a Calvinist—but maybe this wall will break down for him, too) and look forward
to more talks in my remaining time here. And for someone naturally inclined to
pettiness and tribalism, I am enjoying having my perspective broadened and my
humility and basic charity towards others increase.
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