Internet Monk on revivalism
I still can’t believe this guy isn’t a Lutheran! But in a way it is reassuring to me that he isn’t because, even though he isn’t a Lutheran, HE GETS IT. What is IT? It’s taking a trek through the land that he, and I , and many bloggers have. We survived, went on to find decent churches and create blogs where we post our ridiculous experiences. Michael Spencer, The Internet Monk, writes…
Want to make me feel bad? Sure you do.Here’s how you do it. Drop me back into my revivalistic roots and leave me there for an hour. I’ll feel bad. And I’ll feel bad about feeling bad. The guilt levels will rise. Aisle walking tendencies, long dormant, will reappear. Misery about all my failures as a minister and as a Christian will soon overwhelm me. I won’t kick the dog, but I may look like the dog that was kicked. Why? It’s hard to say, except that revivalism is a huge part of me from days when I had little choice about what I was hearing, seeing and experiencing as a Christian. There are aspects of my basic mental framework around the idea of God, what he asks of me and how I relate to him that are going to be forever trapped in a Baptist revival meeting and in the rhetoric of revivalism. Revivalism, in my life, is a version of Christianity that continually stresses my own failure- and our corporate failure- to adequately submit to God, surrender to God, serve God or pray to God. It is this failure that accounts for the deadness of churches, a lack of “victorious living,” and, of course, the failure of millions to come to Christ in a spiritual awakening/revival movement. Read more here
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