Imagine a church capturing both charismatic and sacramental streams through recapturing God’s grace. Sussex-connected Andrew Wilson coins the amalgam ‘eucharismatic’, playing on the Greek ‘gracious’ origin of both ‘eucharist’ and ‘charism’, to bid expansion of narrowness in both traditions. Liturgical churches resonate with the worship of the church through the ages but can lack exuberant praise. Exuberant Pentecostalism can shrink away from sacraments through unease with formality. The author is prophet of the eucharismatic church of the future in which ‘the triune God is experienced… through the physical symbols of bread, wine and water, through the Word read and proclaimed, and the presence of the Holy Spirit among us’. In its aspiration to increase joy and deepen worship in churches across traditions ‘Spirit and Sacrament’ is a gift of a book.
Rediscovery of the sacraments among Evangelicals like rediscovery of scripture among Catholics is a work of the Holy Spirit in our age. Both link to rediscovery of God’s grace across the church and more especially the gifts or ‘charisms’ of the Holy Spirit. The inside cover commendations of this paperback herald how Andrew Wilson ‘dismantles dichotomies that pit the good gifts of God against each other and invites us instead to feast on the whole… drawing from the richness of the Pentecostal- charismatic and sacramental streams… offers a theologically rich and pastorally wise way of holding the best of both worlds together’.
This is a convincing, well-written book imagining a church that captures the best of both worlds, charismatic and sacramental through recapturing God’s grace as central. Wilson coins the amalgam ‘eucharismatic’, playing on the Greek ‘gracious’ origin of both ‘eucharist’ and ‘charism’, to counter and bid expansion of narrowness in both traditions. The more liturgical churches resonate with the worship of the church through the ages but can lack exuberant praise just as Pentecostalism with all its exuberance can shrink away from sacraments through unease with their age-old formality. The author is theologian, pastor and prophet of the ‘eucharismatic’ church of the future in which ‘the triune God is experienced… through the physical symbols of bread, wine and water, through the Word read and proclaimed, and the presence of the Holy Spirit among us’.
The book starts with a study on joy centring on Christ quoting G.K.Chesterton: ‘Man is more himself when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul… the tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in that respect’. That divine joy and intimacy with Christ has been inseparable from participation in the Eucharist down through the ages is well illustrated by quotations from past saints who speak in a similar way to those in our own age experiencing baptism or filling in the Holy Spirit.
‘What do you have that you did not receive?’ is the provocative title of a chapter on the eucharist followed by another chapter providing biblical defence of charismatic practice in the face of both Evangelical and Catholic detractors. The Corinthian church is charismatic, sacramental – and sinful! Despite shortcomings in the use of the charisms there is no question that when it comes to their pursuit Paul says ‘zealously desire spiritual gifts’ (1 Corinthians 14:1). Wilson traces use of these supernatural gifts through church history providing a fine apologetic for the charismatic movement.
The book ends with a chapter on how churches might become more ‘eucharismatic’ bearing in mind ‘we are adding practices that some in the church may associate with legalism, lunacy, or both’! The pastor’s opportunist eye to helping shape up church vitality is evident, serving liturgical churches as they introduce the ministry of prayer to individuals as well as charismatic churches incorporating the Creed, commending musical settings or background music as the text is recited together. To become ‘eucharismatic’ is an aspiration to make the most of God’s gifts of Word, Sacrament and Spirit which ‘could make some churches louder, some churches quieter, and some churches both’. In its aspiration to increase joy and deepen worship in churches across traditions ‘Spirit and Sacrament’ is a gift of a book.
Andrew Wilson Spirit and Sacrament An invitation to eucharismatic worship
Zondervan 2018 £9.99 ISBN 978-0310536475 128pp
Canon John Twisleton May 2019
