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?”