A Lenten Awakening
As many of you know, I have been paying attention to the awakening that is presently going on at Asbury University. Although the venue for public services has changed, it remains strong, and people in the tens of thousands have arrived to visit the services from all over the world. I read Dr. Craig Keener’s insightful reporting of his experience as a professor at Asbury Seminary (read his article at this link). He is professor of New Testament and a scholar on miracles in the Gospels. As both a scholar and a resident professor, he is eminently qualified to comment on these amazing events.
But God had more in mind for me than merely reading and praying, reminding me of my own experience of my own spiritual awakening. I came to Christ in 1970 – a young, searching college student. It was the time of the Jesus Movement (which included a similar awakening at Asbury University that same year).
That wave of the Spirit also targeted young adults, and it was marked by deep repentance, intercession, charismatic manifestations of the Spirit, strong bonds of interdenominational cooperation, new musical expressions in worship, home-based radical hospitality, trust in the authority of scripture and an emerging passion for serving those in need – especially care for the poor and racial healing.
Not everyone who was in that movement would claim all those markers, but God used each of those markers to mark me. To this day, they continue to describe the things I find central to my calling and sense of mission. As someone recently said, “They are the grooves that keep you on track.”
That awakening happened over 50 years ago. The group of leaders who came out of that Spirit-filled season are aging out. We desperately need a new generation of leaders, and it seems that God is raising them up. A new and younger generation is the target of this present awakening. In fact, so important is this focus of reaching young adults that at the Asbury Chapel, no one is allowed to give public testimony who is over the age of 25. And it is worth noting that as this awakening continues, it is spreading to other college campuses. This movement is in its infancy (less than 3 weeks old!), and there could be much more to come.
What does this mean for me as I enter the practice of Lent in 2023? The events at Asbury have stirred a renewed anticipation in my soul. I am receiving email updates from one of the school’s leaders. But most importantly, I am praying for this awakening. And as I pray, the Holy Spirit is bringing a scrutiny to the Lenten task of self-examination that I did not anticipate.
How? The Holy Spirit is examining me as someone who was given the divine inheritance of that awakening some 50 years ago. The questions I asked then, I am asking now: God is on the move, and how can I be a part of it? Where am I alive to the Spirit’s presence in my life right now? Where have I been negligent? Where do I need to be “fanning the flame”? (See 2 Tim. 1:6, ESV.) How should I be asking God “restore to me the joy of [his] salvation?” (See Ps. 51:12). How is God using the Lenten call to repentance to help me grow in what it means to be God’s Spirit-led servant?
I ask the same of you: How has the Holy Spirit used you in the past? Is that still true? Is there a tenderness in your heart to the testimony of the scriptures and the leading of the Holy Spirit that still brings light to your eyes and purpose to your days? How and where are you praying for the hand of God to be at work in your homes and in your community? Where do you need to turn to God in abject poverty and cry out for the renewal of his Holy Spirit?
I believe the Holy Spirit is doing something historic at Asbury. But it is not limited to Asbury. Wherever we are, we too can be a part of what God is doing. I don’t have to go to Asbury, but I can be available for God to use me however and wherever he sees fit. Please join me in this cry: “Come, Holy Spirit!”
How have you experienced the Holy Spirit moving in your life during this Lenten season? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.