My home church, which is small and not exactly a fuse box of sparking spiritual vitality, has opted to pull the ‘revival’ card—and I’m all for it. “Revival” is one of those words—like “hedonism” or “depravity”—that triggers a visceral reaction. Most likely, you experience a knee-jerk whim to embrace, despise, or at the very least feel curiosity about revival.
I tend to like the concept, which is to say my associations are more good than awful. When someone says “revival,” I think of clear light streaming through the windows of the soul or of the green fields and quiet waters of Psalm 23. In short, my picture of revival is Christ apprehended more clearly.
Stereotypical sweating, spitting preachers grandstanding in overheated tents are a foreign enough picture to me that I feel disgusted amusement instead of agitated animosity. Same thing with obviously choreographed services where polished solos and charismatic frenzies bust out ‘spontaneously.’ I snicker while feeling slightly sick. In other words, biblical revival is more real to me than the hyper-emotive revivalism that a lot of people rightfully hate.
Having said that, I’m not sure my church is down with revival. I suspect that the response to a revival emphasis (preparing our hearts for a deeper experience of God, which he, not we, will have to ‘engineer’) will be fairly low key for a couple of reasons.
First off, people love stability, predictability, and control, and attempt to avoid change at all costs. If this is true in the realm of ‘life stressors,’ it’s all the more true of spiritual experience. We get tired of the emotionally-draining scenes of brokenness, repentance, and horrific realizations of ingrained inadequacy, that we find in the Bible. Few people are exactly eager to get blindsided by a Psalm 51 experience—waking up and realizing that sin has left his fingerprints all over you, including inside your head. But God might be eager for this very thing to happen.
The other reason why many Christians would prefer to ‘eschew’ revival is that biblical revival tends to involve a lot of other people. So you end up being forced to see your friends more frequently than you’d prefer, in situations (like prayer meetings) that require way more investment than can be reasonably expected of people living in the 21st century. Someone might actually expect you to skip the game instead of skipping the service. Or (awful thought), someone might say, Hey, where were you, we missed you, and then what would you say? Uh, sitting at home. Avoiding the dangers of the freeway. Revival is far too connected for most of us.
Ultimately, I think that if anyone (including my church) is going to benefit from a revival focus, we’ll have to shelve our tender feelings for the status quo and adjust to the fact that God enjoys change—he happily utilizes the accompanying stress and emotional mayhem—and his objective is to test and reform and thus transform the heart.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Wrestling with Revival
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7 comments:
A lot of the time people are reluctant about revival cause it can be a painful process. Sometimes looking inside yourself to make the necessary changes is scary and we enjoy being comfortable. It also forces us to let go of things that we know aren't good for us but that we would like to hold onto. And liek you said, people enjoy being comfortable.
I was perfectly happy with Baptist revivals for what I received from them in terms of messages from God. What I loathed, however, was the expectation, that every one who attended was required to run up to the alter at the end of every service at the call of the evangelist.
It usually went something like this: At the end of the service, the preacher would ask us to bow our heads and close our eyes. Then he'd ask a question pertaining to the sermon, i.e. "Who here as done X?" Then "Raise your hand." Then "Come forward."
It was as if it were a contest to see a)who was the worst sinner and b) most repentent.
If revival means my heart, I'm in. If means a public display, I'll stay home.
Cheers.
Friend, in addition I hope this revival can be passed onto B. Rush and the 'Hawks after their recent backslidding in Austin. Man, was I disappointed.
Oops, sorry--that was me, David L.
You make an appearance in my post tomorrow.
Cheers.
Good read on the topic, Jess.
In my limited experience, Sherman Baptist congregations often do have an emphasis on changing one's physical location that I'm not overly excited about/impressed with. Some speakers make it sound like you can't know Jesus unless you get up and parade down the aisle RIGHT NOW.
You make an appearance in my post tomorrow.
I can't wait...
I hope this revival can be passed onto B. Rush and the 'Hawks...
The Jayhawks threw up prayers all night on Saturday. The prayers were not answered. Since I'm still deliberating whether to post on this or not, I'll just note that this loss reveals several things:
1) The baby Jayhawks weren't ready for the big-time hype and pressure of the Texas game (more of which will be coming their way in March).
2) KU's post players lack muscle and tenacity, and had absolutely no answer for Aldridge and Buckman (granted that Aldridge is a lottery pick).
3) The lauded Jayhawk defense folded when it should have kept them in the game. This relates to point 1.
I'm already hoping for a rematch with Texas in the Big 12 tourney. A Jayhawk hoops revival!
No one can say I didn't try to keep this comment on the original subject.
If revival means my heart, I'm in. If means a public display, I'll stay home.
You aren't the only one who feels this way. Much of the modern "come forward" mentality begain during the "revivals" of Billy Sunday and his contemporaries and signify little more than a shift towards an emotional-centered form of "worship". Revival definitely happens in the heart of man.
Just don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. I've had my heart changed and challenged many a night by a speaker seeking the instant-gratification of an altar call. I have to constantly remind myself to no let anyone's foolishness stand between me and God, least of all my own.
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