Revival in 1844

From a story of revival in Möttlingen in 1844, with Johann Christoph Blumhardt:

In Möttlingen there was little of the emotionalism of most religious revivals - no exaggerated proclamations of wickedness or public avowals of repentance.  What happened there was too quiet and sober for that.  Pierced to the heart, people from all walks of life were suddenly able to see themselves in all of their shabbiness, and felt compelled from within to break out of old ways. Most significant, this movement went beyond words and emotions and produced concrete expressions of repentance and forgiveness.  Stolen goods were returned; enemies were reconciled; infidelities were confessed and broken marriages restored.  Crimes, including a case of infanticide, were solved.  Even town drunks were affected, and stayed away from the tavern.


Source: Johann Christoph Arnold  -  Why Forgive?, pp.172-173

Isaiah's Corporate Repentance & Cleansing

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Source: Bible  -  Isaiah 6: 5-7

Luther's Opening Statement

Both as individuals and as a community of believers, we all constantly require repentance and reform - encouraged and led by the Holy Spirit.  "When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said 'Repent,' He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."  Thus reads the opening statement of Luther's 95 Theses from 1517, which triggered the Reformation movement.  Although this thesis is anything but self-evident today, we Lutheran and Catholic Christians want to take it seriously by directing our critical glance first at ourselves and not at each other.

Source: Lutheran - Roman Catholic Commission on Unity  -  Conflict to Communion:  Report of the Lutheran - Roman Catholic Commission on Unity, p. 7

St. Ephrem the Syriac

The lessons scripture taught were simple and clear. God did not play favorites. His love was bigger than all the controversies people invented to divide and destroy: “Our Lord,” Ephrem reminded anyone who would listen, “spoke gently to teach his followers the power of gentle words.”

Source: Joseph P. Amar  -  St. Ephrem the Syrian – “Harp of the Holy Spirit”, The Maronite Voice, 21 June 2019
https://www.maronitevoice.org/articles/2019/6/21/st-ephrem-the-syrian-harp-of-the-holy-spirit

Why Forgive?

Quoting Chris Carrier, who forgave an assailant who left him for dead:

There is a very pragmatic reason for forgiving.  When we are wronged, we can either respond by seeking revenge, or we can forgive.  If we choose revenge, our lives will be consumed by anger.  When vengeance is served, it leaves one empty.  Anger is a hard urge to satisfy and can become habitual.  But forgiveness allows us to move on. 
There is also a more compelling reason to forgive.  Forgiveness is a gift - it is mercy.  It is a gift that I have received and also given away.  In both cases, it has been completely satisfying.


Source: Johann Christoph Arnold  -  Why Forgive?, pp.85

Pope Francis

In a 49-minute speech to a decennial national conference of the Italian church -- which is bringing together some 2,200 people from 220 dioceses to this historic renaissance city for five days -- Francis said Catholics must realize: "We are not living an era of change but a change of era."

Source: Pope Francis  -  As quoted by Vatican Insider, 11 Oct 2016, "Catholicism can and must change, Francis forcefully tells Italian church gathering", Joshua J. McElwee, http://www.lastampa.it/2015/11/10/vaticaninsider/eng/the-vatican/catholicism-can-and-must-change-francis-forcefully-tells-italian-church-gathering-3SPjdW31a3R9grTkBMg26O/pagina.html

Unsettling *and* Live-giving

John, your impact on my life has been transformative and challenging. You started me thinking in terms that have moved beyond my sense of denomination to see the terrible fragmentation (disunity) of the whole body of Christ. This has been unsettling and life-giving. I now hope the congregation I serve will partner with a another congregation to do ministry. The other church is in need of a building and we are in need of partners to do the kingdom work God has given to us. We are a very old urban church but we are not too old to still dream. This is a slow process and the road ahead is not one I would have been able to walk 20 years ago. But when your eyes are opened to a bigger vision of the Kingdom, joined with a richer understanding of the church and the centrality of love for our neighbors, then you know you must be on the right track. For me, much of this started in my classes at a little seminary years ago where you taught me. That experience has produced some amazing and unexpected fruit.  I still don't have a real clear sense of where this journey is going even though it will be hard to walk. Thank you brother for speaking into my life when you did. And thank you for your enduring friendship.

Source: Anonymous Pastor  -  Edited version of email sent to John Armstrong, quoted in John's Friends letter, 9 Sept 2020, and used by permission

Restore the Ancient Anointings

63 – Abraham. Moses. Ruth. David. Elijah. Mary. John. Polycarp. Anthony. Patrick. Teresa of Avila. John Wesley. William Carey. Billy Graham.
64 – God’s anointing—his hand upon individuals—permeates 4,000 years of Judeo-Christian history, reaching across the Christian traditions.

Source: George Miley  -  Maturing Toward Wholeness in the Inner Life, Chapter 1, "Restore the Ancient Anointings"

How to follow up the Year of Mercy?

The one thing I must do, that I am compelled to do, is to repent.  Repentance is understood by some as an act of humiliation, but what our egoism perceives as humiliation is actually liberation. We caricature repentance as humiliation because we are afraid of leaving behind the life we have created out of our own self striving and self interest.
Repentance is the proper response to God’s mercy, (which is the form God’s love takes when it is received by a sinner).  God’s mercy engenders a response and if our response is acceptance, then our acceptance takes the form of repentance.  Repentance is manifested in willingness to change one’s mind, one’s attitude, one’s behaviors-one’s way of life.
For the disciple of the Lord Jesus this means rejecting a self-centered life and accepting a Christ-centered life-the Christ-centered life is a way of faith, hope and love.  Turning towards God necessitates a turning away from all that is opposed to him. Repentance necessitates deliberating choosing God’s way, rather than my own way.
The experience of God’s mercy never leaves us the same or merely affirms us as we are. Personal transformation always precedes and is the condition for the possibility for cultural transformation. The experience of God’s mercy is a summons to repentance, which is always followed by a summons to mission.
The great follow up to the Year of Mercy, it seems to me, is a year of repentance.  It is only through repentance that we can move forward in mission.

Source: Father Steve Grunow  -  Father Steve Grunow, CEO, Word on Fire, As quoted by Kathryn Jean Lopez, Crux, 13 Nov 2016, https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2016/11/13/mercy-can-help-america-heal-bitter-political-season/

Azusa

Father Alexei, I know you are the official representative of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese on ecumenical events, so what do you see as the most significant fruits of the Catholic-Protestant interaction at Azusa Now?

“There are two things,” he answered. “First, this is very much in line with Pope Francis’ thinking. In ‘The Joy of the Gospel,’ he writes about our relationship with fellow Christians and he writes these words:

‘We must never forget that we are pilgrims journeying alongside one another. This means that we must have sincere trust in our fellow pilgrims, putting aside all suspicion or mistrust and turn our gaze to what we are seeking.’

“And, that is exactly what we did in the Coliseum on Saturday,” he said.

“The other significance is the forgivingness factor: at the end of the week for Christian unity, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the ‘un-Gospel-like behavior on the part of Catholics against Christians of other churches.’

“The mutual exchange of forgiveness between Catholic and Evangelical-Christians on Saturday wondrously reflected this forgiveness.”

Source: Jennifer Wing Atencio  -  "Christians pack Coliseum for revival: Catholics join thousands of  believers to mark 110th anniversary of Pentecostal Azuza revival", Angelus News, 13 April 2016
https://angelusnews.com/news/christians-pack-coliseum-for-revival-catholics-join-thousands-of-believers-to-mark-110th-anniversary-of-pentecostal-azuza-revival

Forgive & Forget?

As Glenn's life (and countless others) shows, forgiving always involves the conscious decision to stop hating, because hating can never help.  Contrary to the simplistic proverb "forgive and forget", however, it does not necessarily require forgetting.  Who can cast off the memories of a childhood marked by abuse? and how can someone in a wheelchair possibly forget that he or she will never walk again?  Nor does it need to involve confronting the perpetrator.  In the case of sexual trauma, this is probably not even advisable.  Still, for some people, a face to face reckoning may prove to be the only way forward.

Source: Johann Christoph Arnold  -  Why Forgive?, pp.9

Want Power?

First comes cleansing, then comes power, as Joshua related:  "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" (Joshua 3:5)  We cleanse ourselves by repentance, which is to humble ourselves and acknowledge our sin, then we go to the cross for the forgiveness and power to turn away the sin.  The Scriptures teach repeatedly that we cannot only do this for ourselves, but for the entities that we identify with.  This is one of the great lessons of the lives of Joseph, Moses, David, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and most of all - our Lord Jesus Himself.  Is this not what Jesus did for us on the cross?  To bear our sins He had to become one of us.

Source: John Dawson  -  What Every Christian Should Know About Reconciliation, p. 22

Dwight Longenecker

The idea that Evangelicals can make a real contribution to Catholicism is not simply an Evangelical impertinence insulting to Catholic sensibilities.  Even Evangelical converts to Catholicism – often the most hard-core of Catholics – can welcome Evangelical outreach.  For instance, Dwight Longenecker – once a Bob Jones Fundamentalist, then an Anglican vicar before finally ending up in the Catholic camp – writes, “I stand here calling myself an evangelical Catholic.  I value, and thank God for, the Evangelical customs and traditions in which I was brought up.  I want ordinary Catholics to become more aware of the riches of that Evangelical tradition.”  (Longenecker 2003, p. 17)

Source: Paul Miller  -  Footnote 3 of "Evangelicals Cooperatively Evangelising & Discipling with Catholics in Faithfulness to Evangelical Distinctives", by Paul Miller

I see a people ...

I see it happening, this great new gathering of the people of God.  I see an obedient, disciplined, freely gathered people who know in our day the life and powers of the kingdom of God.
I see a people of cross and crown, of courageous action and sacrificial love.
I see a people who are combining evangelism with social action, the transcendent Lordship of Jesus with the suffering servant Messiah.
I see a people who are buoyed up by the vision of Christ's everlasting rule, not only imminent on the horizon, but already bursting forth in our midst.
I see a people ... I see a people ... even though it feels as if I am peering through a glass darkly.

Source: Richard Foster  -  Streams of Living Water, p. 274

A Huge Surprise!

Then a voice from heaven told me, ‘Peter, get up! Kill and eat.’ (8) I said, ‘Lord, I will not! I am a Jew! I have never eaten anything in my life that was impure and unclean according to our food laws.’ (9) The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ (10) This happened three times, and then the sheet was taken back into heaven.

Source: Peter  -  As quoted by Luke in Acts 12:8-10 (IEB)

Robert Schuman

The Rome ceremony of March 25, 1957, is currently being referred to in the media as ‘the birth of the European project’; yet the official birth-date is May 9, 1950, when Robert Schuman presented his surprise proposal for the pooling of French and German coal and steel industries in a three-minute speech in Paris.

In what must surely count as ‘the defining moment of post-war Europe’, Schuman’s Declaration laid the foundation of the European house in which today 500 million Europeans from 28 (soon to be 27) nations live together in peace. This is why May 9, and not March 25, is called Europe Day. This fact remains a best-kept secret in some of the founding member nations like the Netherlands, but is widely known in newer member nations like Slovenia, which I visited last week.
...
Today, once more, Europe is at a crossroads. That is nothing new. The history of the European project is a story of many crises, each one another uncertain step towards an unknown future. Schuman himself lived through many crises, buoyed by his Christian faith and his commitment to ‘a democratic model of governance which through reconciliation develops into a community of peoples in freedom, equality, solidarity and peace and which is deeply rooted in Christian basic values’.

Source: Jeff Fountain  -  "That Roman Plot", Weekly Word eNewsletter, 27 March 2017, http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=65605d9dbab0a19355284d8df&id=0ec5e383c4&e=0b86898e11

Mississippi of the Spirit

But today our sovereign God is drawing many streams together that heretofore have been separated from one another.  It is a little like the Mississippi River, which gains strength and volume as the Ohio and Missouri and other rivers flow into it.  So in our day God is bringing together a mighty "Mississippi of the Spirit."

Source: Richard Foster  -  Streams of Living Water, p. xv

The African-American Museum

Robin Young: Does it ever get painful?
Jerome Grant:  For me, I haven't taken the time to go through the building fully.  It's difficult for me.  … I take it time by time.  The first time that I really went through the history gallery downstairs, was actually three weeks ago, where I've fully seen a lot of stuff that's really heartbreaking, very difficult to digest.
Robin Young:  If you don't mind, like what?
Jerome Grant:  I’ve seen some of the slave ship pictures, the railroads, I mean, everything from shackles, the whole nine, it's difficult, you know, it's difficult to live in a world where we are deemed to be free Americans, and then to see that that it was very troubling for a lot of us to ...
Robin Young:  How recently!
Jerome Grant:  Oh yeah, so it's very difficult.  But at the end of the day, you can't understand your future unless you understand your past, and I'm working on it.

Source: Jerome Grant  -  "African-American Museum Chef Showcases 'Edible Exhibit'", Here & Now, KBUR, 6 Feb 2017, http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/02/06/jerome-grant-museum-african-american-history