Through Grace, by Faith

A Sermon on Forgiveness and Action

As a young woman, my great-grandmother, Buda, joined the Renewalist church, which was part of the early Pentecostal movement in Minnesota. The Pentecostal denomination emphasized the restoration of the spiritual gifts (prophecy, miracles, healing, discernment, tongues) to the contemporary church. Specifically, they focused on speaking in tongues. Buda explained to us, her great-grandchildren, that being able to speak in tongues was proof those who joined the church had been baptized in the Spirit, saved. She joined the church on a frigid Sunday in February. She was called to the front of the rented room, just in front of the altar. She was placed on an old chair and asked to provide her testimony and prove her salvation, that is, to speak in tongues. As my great grandma recalled, she sat in that chair with the congregation watching her for at least twenty minutes before she realized she would not be allowed to leave until she spoken in tongues. “So, I babbled,” she said, “the kind of nonsense words toddlers make. The people watching me raised their hands and shouted, ‘Amen!’ and I was allowed to return to my seat.” The church elders considered all this part of Biblical salvation because the apostles did it on the day the liturgical calendar recognizes as Pentecost (Acts 2) and Paul lists speaking in tongues as a gift of the Spirit by which we…