Richard H. Bliese's formative moments

My mother, after having experienced the power of the charismatic
renewal in the early 1970s, cornered my father, a faithful Lutheran
pastor, with the following critique: "If Lutheran theology is so good,
how did it miss the Holy Spirit?" He had no compelling reply, even after
studying again his books from seminary. He later followed her and my
brother into the "baptism of the Holy Spirit."

Later vacations
were dedicated to figuring out what had just happened to our family.
What was the right parochial language to grasp this ecumenical
phenomenon? Could our tradition adequately explain the experience or
would we need our Pentecostal friends for answers?

While still in
high school my oldest brother, Karl, took the leap into the uncharted
waters of spiritual renewal. At first, the rest of the family just
watched from the shoreline. Karl would later go on to college and
lead—as a Lutheran—two different campus groups: Inter-Varsity and the
Baptist Student Union. Ecumenism was born into our family.