June 4thPickled In the Spirit
- by Troy Watson
In all four Gospels, John the Baptist introduces Jesus as the Messiah, with a specific job description. "He is the one who will baptize people with the Holy Spirit.” (MT 3:11, MK 1:8, LK 3:16, JN 1:33)
The last thing the risen Christ says to his disciples is, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5)
Jesus did not want his disciples to do anything without being baptized with the Holy Spirit first. He did not want them to preach, serve, minister…do anything, without the power and guiding presence of the Spirit. Because when we do things in the name of Jesus, under the banner of God, without the Holy Spirit, we usually end up being part of the problem, not the solution.
One of the oldest documented uses of baptizo (the Greek word for “baptize”) is found in an ancient pickling recipe. To be baptized in the Spirit is essentially to be pickled in the Spirit. Although this may sound a bit silly, the imagery it evokes gives a helpful perspective on what Spirit baptism is. To be baptized with the Spirit is to have our consciousness soaked in the presence of God, and as a result, our being takes on the flavour of God and Divine love. (Remember the Bible tells us God is love.) It transforms how we live and what we manifest in the world.
The only way I know how to do this, is to do what the disciples did in Acts 2. Pray.
But we must pray with a mind, heart, body and soul that is focused, open, seeking and surrendered to our Creator. The more often we practice this, the more we experience becoming aware of God with us, and within us. Our consciousness is pickled in the Spirit.
Our consciousness is like a radio receiver. (In the olden days we would have to turn on a thing called a radio to tune into different radio stations (or frequencies) to hear music. I believe most vehicles still have radios if you want to try it out or if you forget how it works.) When we tune the dial of a radio to different frequencies, we hear different songs. Those songs were already playing, but we couldn’t hear them until we tuned into the right frequency.
Spiritually speaking, we tune the dial of our consciousness to different frequencies by what we focus on. If I focus on what I don’t have, I tune into scarcity, envy or desire. If I focus on how the annoying driver in front of me is negatively impacting my life, I tune into frustration or anger. If I tune into the many good things and people in my life, I tune into gratitude and abundance.
While we don’t always get to choose what we experience and go through in life, we do get to choose what we focus on and what frequency we attune our awareness to.
The ultimate purpose of prayer is to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” To be in a state of harmony with the Spirit, so we begin to act and speak in sync with the Spirit.
We become like “new creatures” when we “walk in the Spirit.” I’ve found this to be true. When I intentionally tune into the Spirit, I become like a new person. I’m still Troy, of course, but I’m a God-soaked Troy. Like a pickled egg is still an egg, but now has the strong flavour of what it’s been pickled in.
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, the day we remember and celebrate the birth of the church, the moment the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit. I sincerely believe what this hurting and broken world needs, is a Spirit led church with more people who are pickled in the Spirit.
So don’t leave Jerusalem, don’t leave home, (especially if you’re going to act and speak in the name of Jesus) until you’ve been pickled in the Spirit.
-Troy Watson is pastor at Avon Mennonite Church