Then, when the service ended a small group of students stayed
behind to continue praying together. All morning, they prayed. All afternoon.
When evening came, they were still there and more students were joining them.
They continued in prayer all through the night and the next day, and the days
after that. And they are still praying.
Some people posted videos on TikTok, which caught the attention of
the world. Pretty soon, young people were dropping their plans and heading to
Asbury. Flying in from Hawaii, driving down from Illinois, college students are
being drawn to this place to be a part of the experience. They have filled the
1500-seat chapel and overflowed into other spaces. They’re calling it a spiritual
revival.
This is not the first time such a thing has happened at Asbury University.
Since its founding there have been more than a half dozen revivals. Back in February
of 1970, there was one that ran for eight days. Revivals are in the Asbury DNA,
you might say. The school is named for the Methodist preacher Francis Asbury, a
circuit-rider in the 1800s. His preaching drew large crowds and tremendous
enthusiasm. Spontaneous revivals sometimes grew out of these meetings.
The people at Asbury are saying that this thing happened spontaneously.
There was nothing special about the day it started. There was no plan to begin
a revival. It just happened. But here’s the thing: there is a definite tension
between, on the one hand, the understanding that authentic spiritual revival
can only happen spontaneously and, on the other hand, the desire to make it
happen.
Another circuit-riding preacher, George Whitfield, preached to
large crowds as he traveled around the colonies in the early 1700s. He also had
a powerful impact on the people who came to hear him. But I recently read that
after each of these meetings, someone would report to Whitfield on the numbers
who repented of their sins, whose lives were changed by his preaching. And each
time Whitfield would say, “Allegedly.” Because he knew that high emotion was
sometimes the work of the Holy Spirit, but sometimes it was just emotion.
Sometimes, people just want to get swept away. Sometimes, people
are just looking for an escape.
That doesn’t mean that every sign of spiritual revival is fake. It
just means that it takes time to tell the difference. No one should go out and
write the book about the historic Asbury revival of 2023 just yet. But for
people with hearts hungry for the Spirit of God to move through our world,
there is fervent hope.
We call things like this mountaintop experiences. Lots of us have
had them a time or two. Maybe at a large church conference or church camp.
Maybe even alone on an actual mountaintop. The powerful sense of the presence
of God touching you and changing you – it does happen. And it may feel so good,
you want it to keep on happening. You want to stay in it forever.
But, as they say, eventually you have to come down from the
mountaintop. Back into the world. Because the purpose of mountaintop
experiences is not just to feel good. It is to make real and lasting change for
good.
Jesus didn’t bring Peter, James, and John with him up to the
mountaintop because he wanted to make them feel good. They all went up there
with him to bear witness to his glory. The sight of Jesus shining like the sun,
surely much too bright for them to look at comfortably. The presence of Moses
and the prophet Elijah standing beside him, talking amongst themselves, must
have been intimidating.
It was thrilling, even if not comfortable. So thrilling that Peter
wanted to stay up there. He wanted to build little shelters for Moses, Elijah,
and Jesus, and enjoy this glorious gathering forever. But it was a bad idea. And
if Peter remembered what Jesus had said to them six days earlier, he would have
known that.
Six days before this mountaintop experience, Jesus had spoken with
his disciples and told them that he was going to Jerusalem, where he would
undergo great suffering at the hands of the religious leaders – the scribes,
the elders, the chief priests. He told them that he would be killed and rise
again on the third day. And he said to his disciples, “If any want to become my
followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
If he remembered that, Peter knew that the mountaintop was not the
destination. But it was a very important sojourn along the way, because on the
mountaintop Peter, James, and John had a glimpse of the power and glory at work
through Jesus.
They went back down the mountain and returned to the others. Jesus
continued his work of healing the sick, casting out demons, and teaching – all
the way to Jerusalem.
The ones who were caught up in it couldn’t necessarily tell what
it was they were a part of. Only time would tell, and it did.
One thing we can say with certainty is that spiritual revival
leads to something bigger than itself. The historic revivals we have known in
our nation have led to historic changes. The first Great Awakening, as it is
called, led to the evangelical movement in America, creating new forms of
worship, casting a wide net for Jesus. The second Great Awakening led to the
abolition of slavery in our nation. The Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in the
early 20th century led to the Pentecostal movement that has taken
the gospel all around the globe.
On the morning of February 8 when this current movement began at
Asbury, there was a multicultural gospel choir singing in the chapel service
and I can’t help but wonder about the significance of that. The movement of the
Holy Spirit is always expansive and inclusive. The movement of the Holy Spirit
always leads to greater love. As Jesus’ life very clearly showed, it does not
come without sacrifice, but sacrifice that shows forth the glory of God.
Presbyterians aren’t big on revival. Maybe because we like decency
and order too much. The Holy Spirit wants to disrupt our order and make
something new.
It turns out Asbury University likes some order too. The
administration announced this weekend they will be imposing a schedule in the
coming week. No more round-the-clock praise and worship. They will set the
times for it to begin and end and some limitations on who will be welcome to
attend. They will have time for students only, and some time set aside for the
general public. There seems to be some concern about safety, which I can
sympathize with, but we will see what happens. Will the revival just spill over
into other, unrestricted areas? Will it go on about the same, only in a
slightly more orderly way?
Or will they effectively stifle the work of the Spirit? I hope
not.
But maybe what we will see is people moving down from the
mountaintop and into the world with the engaging, inspiring, inclusive, and
loving Spirit of God, doing the work, just like Jesus did.
The truth is the church needs revival, as often as we can get it.
We need revival to remind us what we are for, why we are here. We need revival
because we get tired and hungry for God’s goodness, thirsty for God’s Spirit.
We need the mountaintop experiences, even if they are a little
scary. We need them so we can go back down the mountain refreshed, renewed, and
ready to change the world in Christ’s name.
May it be so.
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