[aron]

I would like to approach ecstatic experiences from a personal level, from what I have "seen and heard" outside the LCs. And I want to relate this to my Psalms discussion because I see the psalmists' personal experiences, related in written scripture, and the subsequent public/group rehearsals -- "in the midst of the assembly I will sing hymns of praise" -- to be exemplars of the personal/group "ecstatic experiences" that

1. tongue-speaking
2. pray-reading and
3. sing/shouting hymns repetitiously

all aim for.

These practices all try to "go higher" or "go deeper" than the usual human communicative strategies; to "tap into the divine", as it were.

From my "coming closer" to the Psalms, and, from that experience, re-engaging again the words of the prophets, the law, and the NT, I can say that the Bible itself is a very emotionally-charged set of writings. "God loved us so much that He sent His only-begotten Son." Consider what is suggested by "so much"... that there is "so much" love in this gospel of Jesus Christ, right? Likewise, when we disobey, that there is "so much grief" to the Holy Spirit, and when one sinner repents, that there is "so much rejoicing" by the angels in heaven?

We often miss the emotionally-charged "so much" parts (of course I'm generalizing, but I'm trying to encapsulate my limited experience) in our traditional strategy of silently reading. Thus we feel the incentive to shout and fist-pump and repetitively chant, to "...get out of your mind and get your spirit in gear." In other words to go deeper. And this experience is easily driven or co-opted by the group "power play" dynamic.

My response is this: if we could see how much "spirit and life" was right there in the text, we'd not need so many noisy histrionics. If we scented the phenomenally rich spiritual landscape beckoning us in these words of scripture, we wouldn't so easily write them off, like WL did, as "fallen" and "natural". My view of "praise the Lord" may indeed be shallow and natural, but the praises of the angels and cherubim are certainly not! How can you say that the psalm-writer was not echoing something heavenly? How can you say how many spiritual levels may be right in front of you, staring you in the face?

When you begin to sense this, not just the Psalms but the whole Bible begins to suggest an "overwhelming emotional experience". The capacity of our emotions to contain the divine emotions expressed through the writings of the prophets and apostles and psalmists is like a shot glass underneath Niagara Falls: we might get some, even feel "soaked", but shouldn't presume to have caught it. These are truly "words of Spirit and life", and this Spirit is truly "given without measure". Then we can see David dancing before the ark; then we see the family of Jesus saying, "Someone restrain him; he is crazy" (Mark 3:21); and we see Festus interrupting Paul, "You are mad..." (Acts 26:24)

"...where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears."

The reality of God's love and power and righteousness and holiness have been there, presented before us, and plainly, all along. But we felt that we required "crutches" of our practice to touch it. When we are no longer little children we will no longer need crutches; we simply know it is true and real and good and we enter in. That may occasionally (or even often) involve shouting, praying, or tongue-speaking, but it certainly will not need them. In the long run they are "in part"; they are superfluous. And as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 13, they will indeed pass away.