Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their building up and encouragement and consolation. Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. (1Corinthians 14: 1-5)

I was once baptized into a Japanese Pentecostal church. My motivation was focused more on the intellectual growth of another than my own spiritual growth. But it did offer a unique, if not fully realized, spiritual opportunity.

Sunday worship was a cacophony of sound: brass music, drums, hundreds simultaneoulsly speaking in tongues, all while a sermon was also being broadcast over (very) loud speakers. Whatever the spiritual dimension, it was clearly an enthusiastic expression of social and psychological freedom.

Especially in the Japanese context I perceived the speaking in tongues as a declaration of personal value and spiritual independence. The surrounding culture emphasized conformance and self-depreciation. The Pentecostal experience encouraged self-expression and self-discovery.

The social and political relationships of those at Corinth also enforced deference. Many were literally slaves. To receive positive sanction for singing out and speaking out would have been a powerful call to self-actualization. The spiritual possibilities are significant.

Paul is careful to affirm this enthusiastic practice even while trying to direct it. What is translated above as prophecy might in non-religious terminology be called contextualization, interpretation, explanation, or even analysis. How do we make sense of our spiritual experience? How do we translate our experience for the benefit of others?