Alexander McLaren, a late 19th century Baptist mystic, asserted that “If a Christianity has no mysticism, it has no life,” adding later, “Unless your mysticism be in the good, deep sense of the word ‘mystical,’ it is mechanical, which is worse.” (Photo Courtesy of John Sumwalt)
Special to United Methodist Insight | Feb. 16, 2026
There is an absence of mystical teaching and practice in much of Christendom today. This vital part of Christianity must be restored if the church is to thrive in the 21st century. Alexander McLaren, a late 19th century Baptist mystic (photo at left), asserted that “If a Christianity has no mysticism, it has no life,” adding later, “Unless your mysticism be in the good, deep sense of the word ‘mystical,’ it is mechanical, which is worse.”
Over the years I have heard many people in the churches I have served share amazing mystical experiences privately. But I have rarely heard these testimonies in worship. Nor have I heard affirmations of these kinds of experiences from most Church leaders, indeed quite the opposite. A witness to the numinous evokes almost as much skepticism in the church as in the secular world.
At a time when the North American Church is in a European-like steep decline, there are few sermons and Christian education programs that include teachings about visions, something Deacon Eddie Ensley, author of “Every Day Mysticism,” says “are meant to be a normal part of our spiritual experience.” Ensley adds, “What’s needed is help in awakening our natural style of sensing the holy….”
This is not to say that we need to start a mystical cult or a new kind of charismatic movement that gives precedence to visions over other spiritual gifts. We do well to remember the Apostle Paul’s pledge not to boast about his own vision of heaven “… so that no one may think better of me …” (2 Corinthians 12:6). And Meister Eckhart’s urging that Christians keep mystical experiences in perspective: “If a person were in a rapture as great as Saint Paul once experienced and learned that her neighbor were in need of a cup of soup, it would be better to withdraw from the rapture and give the person the soup she needs.”
Neither should we assume every vision is holy. John’s advice to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” is well taken (1 John 4:1). Ruth Haley Barton wrote in Sojourners magazine, “The mystical experience is not sought for its own sake, and is always informed by … spiritual teachings found in Scripture and the Church” (February 2009).
I started collecting vision and angel stories after hearing a number of remarkable accounts of visions that came in response to prayer. Timothy Paulson told about one night while he was in prison when he spent about twenty minutes kneeling by his bunk in prayer: “I cried out, ‘Lord, reveal yourself! I really want to know you.’ Suddenly a light, brighter than anything I had never seen before, surrounded me. A tingling sensation went through my body and I knew that God had touched me deeply. I was filled with God’s joy and peace … The joy and peace remained during the rest of my time in prison and since I have returned home.”
It occurred to me after hearing stories like these that there must be many others with such revelations to share. I started to ask everyone I saw. People nodded knowingly and told of the presence of God in their lives, of a vision, of a direct audible answer to prayer, of an aroma that could have only come from beyond, of a healing, of an angel visitation, of a dream or an appearance of a deceased loved one that brought comfort, indescribable joy, and peace. And, often I heard the words, “I have never told anybody about this before.
You may have heard these kinds of stories from people you know. You may have also heard people tell how reluctant they are to share their witness lest people think they are crazy. They are right to be careful. These mystical interludes are outside of our basic cultural understandings of reality, even in the church, despite numerous such passages in scripture and a rich history of Christian mysticism.
So who is the transformed soul to tell? Often spouses, other family members, friends, physicians, and pastors are dismissive and sometimes hostile, especially physicians and pastors. This paradigm shift is a threat to their comfortable orthodoxies, much the way Jesus’ teachings disturbed the religious authorities of his day.
"Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife" is a 2012 New York Times bestselling nonfiction book and autobiographical book written by the American neurosurgeon Eben Alexander. The book describes a near-death experience Alexander had while in a near death coma from meningitis. (Photo Courtesy of John Sumwalt)
Dr. Eben Alexander’s best-selling book, “Proof of Heaven,” has aroused the ire of both scientists and theologians. Still this eminent neurologist, who was once an articulate skeptic, persists in telling about his near-death experience which he calls a “beautiful gift” that has radically changed his life. Dr. Alexander says he knows that prayers are answered, that God is real and loves each one of us deeply and unconditionally. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey he describes God as the very essence of love, “a brilliant orb of light brighter than a million suns, awesome beyond any words, in and through everything.” He now attends worship regularly and tells his story to anyone who will listen.
Oh, how we need passionate witnesses like Dr. Alexander to bring life to our moribund maintenance devoted congregations. And, oh, how we need followers of Jesus who will lovingly hear people tell about what the tenth century Christian mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, called their “true visions through the Spirit of the Lord.”
John Sumwalt
The Rev. John Sumwalt is a retired United Methodist pastor in Wisconsin and the author of “Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives.” Email him.