Spiritual Hiccups - Almost Christian

I've always found today's reading in Acts somewhat curious.  Paul comes across some fellows who are called simply "disciples" and "believers."  There is no disciples of whom or believers in what, just disciples and believers.  So these fellows must in some way be attempting to follow Jesus.  But then we discover that these fellows didn't receive the Holy Spirit at their baptisms.  In fact, their baptism apparently wasn't Christian but one connected with John the Baptist.  (This doesn't necessarily mean that they had gone to be baptized by John in the wilderness.  John's disciples were still active long after his death.) 

So it would seem that these folks received a baptism of repentance from a disciple of John, and they also had heard and embraced the gospel of Jesus.  But because they have not received the Holy Spirit, the story in Acts views them as not yet full Christians.  They are almost Christian, but without the Holy Spirit, without being gifted by the Spirit in ways that would help build up the Church, they don't quite meet the minimum standards.

I once preached a sermon from this story that got one member terribly upset.  She insisted that as long as she had faith she was "saved" (her word), and that was that.  Everything else was icing on the cake.  But these verses in Acts seem to disagree.  They insist that if the Spirit is not present and at work in someone's life, they are not quite Christians, almost Christians.  (I'm not talking here about the status of such folks when they die.  I'm talking about whether or not they are part of the Jesus movement the Acts story calls "the Way.")

We Presbyterians have tended to be suspicious of things too associated with the Holy Spirit.  We like things "decently and in order," and the Spirit is too unpredictable, too messy.  Does that mean that we are almost Christians?

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