Saturday: Individualism and Collectivism in a Living Blend
WEEK 11
SATURDAY
INDIVIDUALISM AND COLLECTIVISM IN A LIVING BLEND
2 Corinthians 8:12-15
We saw yesterday that the cloven tongues as of fire sitting on the head of each of them pointed to the fact that the individual, as an individual, was receiving the Holy Spirit. This is important, for there are those who insist that the coming of the Holy Spirit is a group experience and not an individual experience, and they point to the fact that the Holy Spirit came upon groups in the Acts in all cases except one—Paul.
Now this insistence upon the Holy Spirit as a group experience is a good correction, for the emphasis has hitherto been too individualistic. The individual experience has not been corrected and enriched by the group experience. Hence it has resulted in the individual going off on a tangent into all sorts of marginal or odd emphases. Group mysticism, says Quaker theologian D. Elton Trueblood, is almost always a safer and more constructive type of mysticism than individual mysticism. But while we have needed this group emphasis, we need it only as a corrective. There is truth in the fact that the individual, as an individual, can and does and should receive the Holy Spirit.
When the one hundred twenty looked up and saw that every person had a tongue of fire resting on his or her head, then they knew that God was dealing with individuals, and each was precious before God. Thus individualism and collectivism were put together in a simple act, the group and the individual both receiving the Holy Spirit. The world struggle is over these two emphases—individualism and collectivism. Which will determine the future? The coming of the Holy Spirit meant that neither one was the full truth; each needs the other. Individualism forgets that life is social, and collectivism forgets that life is individual and personal. Here they were put into a living blend. And the society that emerged illustrated this emphasis on both. They took the hint, and embodied it.
These two physical accompaniments of the coming of the Holy Spirit were scaffolding, which was taken down when the new temple was reared. They had accomplished their purpose.
O Lord, we thank you that you are teaching us, using the material as a pointing rod to the spiritual. Help us to see where they point and follow. Help us to insights through eyesight. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The material and the spiritual shall be blended today as the words and music of a song.