We need a Revolution, aka Reformation & Revival

This week my heart was wishing that a revolution of Grace would begin in our church.  And then I got a post from a pastor friend, Alex Bryan, which not just resonated with my feelings, but expressed my thoughts.  So, here it goes “Tonight my soul cries out for a revolution. I can’t absorb one more loss. I can’t take the look of one more set of formerly bright, young eyes, now dim, to the possibility of what Church might be. I just can’t take it anymore. Can you? On that note, I cannot abide one more intellectually-stimulating yet actionably-impotent confab shaped by Boomers and Xers reanalyzing why the Church is too often failing to capture the imagination of emerging, young generations, those in the church, and those without. I suspect, instead, we better start listening, and really listening good, as painful as it might be, to our offspring. Yes, to our own children, for God’s sake. But more so - but even more so - to the Gospels’ Clear Voice. The quintessential quartet sounds a compelling rhythm of human relevance: care for the poor, hospitality toward the outsider, repair for the broken, inclusion of the excluded, and the permanent end of all gated communities.”

Studying the quarterly on Luke I thought of how revolutionary Jesus’ message was in his time, and then thought about conversations I have had over few weeks with people, who think that we need something more than Jesus.  That “Jesus” is not an answer.  Again, pastor Bryan’s blog articulates best: “when people speak of Jesus, He is too often underestimated: “Jesus … well there’s got to be more.” Really? More than giving all that you have to the poor? More than turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, forgiving 70 x 7, and welcoming Romans to lunch? More than “taking up a cross” as the defining description of your life’s substance and trajectory?”

When you consider Gospel stories they call us to terrific and terrifying honesty, integrity, bravery, sacrifice, confession, humility, compassion, and love.   That is the Revolution we need.  Call it a Revival or a Reformation, it is a return to Jesus and His ideals.

Alex Bryan ends with this appeal “Jesus called human beings to form not a religion, but a community. A community coined Church. This community was designed to become a body unbound by the normal rules of clubs and cults, an assembly tasked with becoming the single greatest freedom movement in human history. This is what I believe, or at least what I really want to believe to the marrow: The Church, above all available alternatives, ought to capture the imagination of each new generation afresh. If the "Church" isn't doing this, we, I, am flat out missing it. Tonight my soul cries out for revolution. The Church of the present age is ours, and ours alone, to shape. We enjoy the historical testimony of Apostles, Reformers, and Prophets, but they cannot do the thinking and the dreaming and the acting for us. This is our moment. This is our time. This is our opportunity. What are we gonna do with it?”

Understanding the Unity for which Christ prayed

Since March 25 Adventist believers around the world are in prayer for the Unity of God’s Remnant church.  In reality I find many people have their own ideas of what unity means and how it should be wrought.   Apostle John records the last prayer of Jesus before crucifixion – Chapter 17 – the Prayer for Unity, especially verses 20-23, where Jesus prays for all His followers through the ages, who will believe through the Word of originally sent apostles,  “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”  This is the prayer that is yet to be answered!  I have witnessed how peoples’ personal opinions divide congregations.

Some think that as long as we are “in union,” “united” as one denomination, it will suffice.  Union is not unity.  There are “United” States, “United” Kingdom, without unity J.  There are families who enter into the “union” being disagreeable and are united in fighting one another J.  Others see unity as “uniformity,” expecting all to conform to certain standards.  Mennonites, Amish, some Jewish Hassidic communities strive for uniformity in dress, etc., yet it is not unity!  The example of unity was the early apostolic church in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended – their unity is described as a harmony, being of one accord, Greek term “homothumadon” (Acts 1:14; 2:1,46; 4:24; 5:15).  This musical term implies unity in diversity – it takes at least three different notes to make an accord and a harmony! The unity is the tune of the spirit, the attitude, being of One Spirit.  I discover the key for Unity promised by Christ (John 17:22) is in verse 5 – the Glory of being in God’s Presence.  When we seek God’s Presence, when God’s Presence is in our lives we cannot help but be in unity, by the Holy Spirit!  When people are not in unity one may wonder if they are of the same spirit J.

As I consider statements made by our pioneers on the subject of unity they indicate that we all need to reform, to change, to align ourselves, and that will follow the revival of the Spirit.  It also comes with a warning that “in every revival satan will bring those who are unsanctified in heart and unbalanced in mind…in all the history of the church no reformation has been carried forward without serious obstacles….there are some who bring heresies, that, if received, would eventually crowd out the love of the truth.”  (Great Controversy, 396, Ellen G. White)  Notice the result of heresies – crowding out the love and “accusing spirit.”  Jesus warned that toward the end the “love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12-13) and we must endure in love to the end in order to be saved.  Loving heart is the evidence of God’s Spirit, of God’s Presence in our lives.  Whatever the issue may be – ordination, spiritual formation, financial management, evangelism, going door-to-door – a telling factor is non-accusatory and loving heart.  First examine yourself, are you moved by non-judgmental loving spirit?  When you listen to people who claim to challenge things – are they being loving, non-accusatory, non-judging?  Only being in tune with Holy Spirit will make us sound in one accord.