Or what happens with art-media that satisfies a high appetite... Plus, an unexpected endorsement of "Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania" (kinda) and my uncalled-for opinion on the Asbury Revival.
Brilliant article but my question is about the asides. Could you expand on how God doesn’t work communally? Considering that the majority of the early church letters in the NT are written to communities and we are told that when two or more of us gather Jesus will be with us, I can’t help feeling that God does want us to be in communities rather than as individuals on our own. I could be reading you wrong in dismissing God-working-through-communities so I’m hoping you could expand on that?
Ah, yes. I figured that might need further explanation.
As I understand it, divine action in a person's heart -- revival, repentance, worship, renewal, etc. -- happens *in that person's life,* apart from similar work which might be happening at the same time in another person's life. But when it happens to many people at the same time who are all part of the same community, it is *perceived as* happening communally. We think, "God is working among us," when "God is working within each of us" is a more accurate way to put it.
Think of a packed movie theater. We're all watching the same movie and, more or less, we're laughing at the same jokes, crying at the same tear-jerkers, and feeling shocked at the same plot twists. But the jokes aren't funny to us corporately. They are funny to us individually, but concurrently. I am laughing and you are laughing and he is laughing and she is laughing. But we are all laughing at the same time. The humor is *perceived* communally. (And perhaps there are a few who don't find the joke funny or totally miss it.)
Back to the context of revival: The other thing I had in mind is that no two people enter revival with the same state of mind, heart, or spirit. Life circumstances are different, spiritual journeys bizarre and disparate. From the outside looking in (or even as a person taking part in the revival), all we see is many people praying, lifting their hands, crying, singing the same songs, kneeling at the same altar, reading the same Scripture.
But what is really happening is: there's a man finally forgiving his wife for her adultery... a woman is forgiving her mother for childhood abuse... a business owner is repenting of treating his employees like shit... a child is realizing he's been disrespectful to his parents and is committing to change... a depressed college student is being lifted out of darkness and experiencing the light and rapture of God for the first time in ages... several others are committing themselves to rigorous schedules of Bible study and prayer... others who have been toying about with God find themselves suddenly within his jaws and helpless before him... still others feel nothing particularly special happening at all and it's just another Sunday (these folk are either jaded or they are further up and further in than the rest).
Everyone arrives differently and no one is impacted the same way. But it is all happening at the same time by people within the same physical space. Overall, the effect is communal -- but the cause (the actual act of revival) is individually instituted.
The same goes for the epistles. Yes, they were written to, received by, and read within communities, but everyone who listened to the letters came with their own unique baggage and spiritual standing. I doubt *all* the believers in Corinth were sleeping with their stepmoms, nor were all the Christians in Rome making fun of their vegetarian neighbors.
This is not to say that the same reviving act can't occur across everyone in a communal setting. Say, for example, 100 people gather and are led to give 100£ each to mission work.
This is also not to say that dramatic acts of God can't occur all at once to multiple people in a seemingly identical way -- like the power to speak in tongues descending on the Apostles at Pentecost.
And yes Jesus will be with us when I go to church in a few hours, but he is also with me now as I sit alone in my kitchen and type this reply. 🙂
That makes a lot of sense and also bridges the gap between communal letters and individual Bible study. Thanks for taking the time to reply!
Brilliant article but my question is about the asides. Could you expand on how God doesn’t work communally? Considering that the majority of the early church letters in the NT are written to communities and we are told that when two or more of us gather Jesus will be with us, I can’t help feeling that God does want us to be in communities rather than as individuals on our own. I could be reading you wrong in dismissing God-working-through-communities so I’m hoping you could expand on that?
Ah, yes. I figured that might need further explanation.
As I understand it, divine action in a person's heart -- revival, repentance, worship, renewal, etc. -- happens *in that person's life,* apart from similar work which might be happening at the same time in another person's life. But when it happens to many people at the same time who are all part of the same community, it is *perceived as* happening communally. We think, "God is working among us," when "God is working within each of us" is a more accurate way to put it.
Think of a packed movie theater. We're all watching the same movie and, more or less, we're laughing at the same jokes, crying at the same tear-jerkers, and feeling shocked at the same plot twists. But the jokes aren't funny to us corporately. They are funny to us individually, but concurrently. I am laughing and you are laughing and he is laughing and she is laughing. But we are all laughing at the same time. The humor is *perceived* communally. (And perhaps there are a few who don't find the joke funny or totally miss it.)
Back to the context of revival: The other thing I had in mind is that no two people enter revival with the same state of mind, heart, or spirit. Life circumstances are different, spiritual journeys bizarre and disparate. From the outside looking in (or even as a person taking part in the revival), all we see is many people praying, lifting their hands, crying, singing the same songs, kneeling at the same altar, reading the same Scripture.
But what is really happening is: there's a man finally forgiving his wife for her adultery... a woman is forgiving her mother for childhood abuse... a business owner is repenting of treating his employees like shit... a child is realizing he's been disrespectful to his parents and is committing to change... a depressed college student is being lifted out of darkness and experiencing the light and rapture of God for the first time in ages... several others are committing themselves to rigorous schedules of Bible study and prayer... others who have been toying about with God find themselves suddenly within his jaws and helpless before him... still others feel nothing particularly special happening at all and it's just another Sunday (these folk are either jaded or they are further up and further in than the rest).
Everyone arrives differently and no one is impacted the same way. But it is all happening at the same time by people within the same physical space. Overall, the effect is communal -- but the cause (the actual act of revival) is individually instituted.
The same goes for the epistles. Yes, they were written to, received by, and read within communities, but everyone who listened to the letters came with their own unique baggage and spiritual standing. I doubt *all* the believers in Corinth were sleeping with their stepmoms, nor were all the Christians in Rome making fun of their vegetarian neighbors.
This is not to say that the same reviving act can't occur across everyone in a communal setting. Say, for example, 100 people gather and are led to give 100£ each to mission work.
This is also not to say that dramatic acts of God can't occur all at once to multiple people in a seemingly identical way -- like the power to speak in tongues descending on the Apostles at Pentecost.
And yes Jesus will be with us when I go to church in a few hours, but he is also with me now as I sit alone in my kitchen and type this reply. 🙂