Revival at Acadia

Acadia, 1931

I have been interested in the topic of revival at Acadia for quite some time, and have prayed for it as well for over a year. At our IVCF large group on Friday night, the speaker of the evening read and account of a revival that happened here in 1855, during which many people were baptised and even classes were suspended for some days to allow for this spiritual awakening. When I heard about this, I wanted to do more research. I knew Acadia had strong Baptist roots, but that was about the extent of my knowledge. My limited research on the spiritual history of Acadia has revealed some VERY cool things.
Today I got a book out of the library called Memorials of Acadia College and Horton Academy for the Half-Century 1828-1878. It was published in 1881 so it is a very old book.
In it is a section titled "Sketches of the Religious History of Acadia College and Horton Collegiate Academy" by the Rev. J.M. Cramp, D.D.
I have taken the liberty of copying some of that here, because I thought it was really remarkable. Italics are of the author; any other highlights are mine.

The year 1839 and the two following were prosperous years in the Church at Horton. The Lord blessed the preaching of the Gospel, and two hundred persons entered into covenant with His people in those years. A time of dearth followed, such a season as is very rarely experienced in Baptist communities. The seed continued to be sown, but there was no visible growth. No "blade," no "ear," no full corn in the ear." It was the time of the Irish famine; but it was a worse famine than that, it was a famine of the word of the Lord. When it came to an end, it was suddenly, almost like a surprise, as the Spirit descended in the day of Pentecost. And yet it was not a surprise; for some Christian women who mourned the four years of declension, and saw with grief vice stalking unblushingly among the people, established a prayer-meeting among themselves, and especially singled out desperate cases, which were prayed for by name. They expected to be heard, and they were heard. A strange seriousness began to prevail. "God's people were roused up, brother talked with brother, and together they bowed before the Throne in confession and supplication. Emphatic entries were made in the 'book of remembrance.' The unconverted were sought out, reasoned with, exhorted and entreated to repent and believe. The preachers preached with new power and unction. Crowds gathered night after night in the places of meeting, none caring to hide their feelings, or ashamed of manifesting them. God was present in His might and in His mercy. Strong rebels were subdued. Flinty hearts were softened. Those who attempted to mock were compelled to mourn. The laugh of the careless was exchanged for the tear of penitence. The proud and stubborn became 'poor in spirit,' One after another yielded, till at length, when the Church reported to the Association an accession of one hundred and forty-four members, it was found that every student in the College was ranked among the followers of Christ, not one was left."

Winter 2013

The winter semester is now in full swing and life is looking all right.
Here are a few stories from my life. I don't have many photos to show you but I do have a video a friend of mine "vlogged." It makes me smile.
Story number one: in which Hannah learns new things and conquers her fear, almost. Once upon a time, I was on the cusp of returning to school for the semester, eating lunch at the kitchen table with my family, getting ready for the trip back in about an hour. Then my Mom mentioned that our neighbour was selling her car for a ridiculously cheap price. I had kind of been thinking about getting a car, but thought that for the sake of my finances, it may not be a good idea. However, this was such a good price that I changed my mind. But, I did not have time to even check out the car before I went back to school. About a week later, my Dad called me and said I should buy the car. I tend to listen to my Dad on matters such as these, so I agreed. There was only one catch: it was a standard. A manual transmission. A stick shift. I had to be able to drive it the two hours between home and school. This thought caused me much anxiety. Last Thursday, a friend of mine graciously took me driving in his car, which was a standard. It was good to get practice but I stalled a bunch of times and did lots of other stuff wrong and I am not exactly sure why I did not cause him to go into cardiac arrest. If I was driving with me my blood pressure would certainly go through the roof. In fact it did. I think I got a burst of adrenaline, even, which is not something one would want while trying to be calm. Anyway. Friday I took the bus home to get my car. It was a little scary because it was a snowstorm. That day I bought a car, and on Saturday I drove my car to school. It was snowing and I had maybe a total of two and a half hours of stick shift practice in the past five years. But somehow, I made it. And I have been practicing driving since then.

 I think God is teaching me something through this car. He's teaching me to not rely on anybody but Him. He's teaching me to face my fears. I don't like when fear stops me from doing something I want to do. Thankfully, God does not let it stop me. It says in 1 John that perfect love casts out all fear. Perhaps driving this car is a metaphor for something. I do not know for what. You see, what I am most afraid of is getting out of my driveway... the backing up, the starting and stopping. I am just not very good at reversing, and sometimes I stall when I try to start moving. But once I am moving, it is not a problem. So perhaps this is a metaphor for things God calls us to...the hardest part is the starting, making that first move, taking that risky step.

Story number two: in which ACF boys are sickeningly sweet. One night this weekend I hosted a girl's night. We made cookies, painted nails, watched a chick flick.. pretty girly stuff, you know. Somehow, the guys got wind of this girl's night and at one point, we heard music at our door. We opened it to find a bunch of the ACF guys serenading us with ukulele, guitar, and their voices singing "I've Just Seen a Face." And they gave us all flowers. I kind of love the guys. I love the girls too. I love everybody. It was the kind of night that I am sure I will look back on in the future when I reminisce about my university days.

Prayer request: I have applied for a Wycliffe internship for the summer. Pray that I might be able to find a placement! Also, please pray for Acadia Christian Fellowship, we always need prayer!

More Urbana-related thoughts

I am back at school now. Today is the first day of classes but I only have a night class. It is a pretty good situation actually. It gives me a little extra time to think about the things I was challenged about at Urbana. I have been thinking about some of the lies we have been told about what is important in life. David Platt's talk made me think about this. The passage he spoke on was Luke 9:57-62. I will copy and paste that here.
 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is asking some radical things in this passage, things that make me uncomfortable. Following Jesus without saying goodbye to our family? I wonder if Jesus called me to that if I would do it. It is not a fun thing to think about. The fact is, Jesus is worthy of all my affections and all my allegiance. I think as Christians even we sometimes forget this. Here is a list of lies I think our culture, even our Christian culture, are telling us, lies that keep us from following Jesus. 

1. Family first. Family is good. I love my family. We are "us." And there is no-one quite like us. But Jesus does not call us to follow our family. He calls us to follow Him. This could mean separation from our family. This could mean missing graduations or Christmases or even weddings and funerals if Jesus calls us to something else. The thought of doing these things makes me really uncomfortable and makes me ask "would Jesus really ask me to do that?" Well, he asked those people in Luke 9 to do that. Jesus is not just a guy who offers us eternal life if we accept him into our heart. He is worth giving up everything for.

2. Get a good education. Again, too many times we put schoolwork first. Education is good. I love being in university. In fact, in the future I hope to be an educator in some way. But I see a lot of the young, bright, amazing Christian people here at school, including me, putting school before following Jesus. Hard work, discipline, and intellectual curiosity are things that I think are really valuable. But they are not as valuable as Jesus Christ. Sometimes, believe it or not, Jesus might be calling me to pray with people instead of finishing a paper. Who am I to think that my schoolwork is more important than God's work? 

3. You deserve it. I don't know what "it" is. It could be a break, an indulgence, even a relationship. But who am I to believe that I deserve anything except death? How can I have the audacity to believe that God, whom I sinned against, owes me anything? I deserve death, but mercifully Jesus has died in my place. 

4. Safety first. North American culture is kind of preoccupied about safety. Seatbelts, hand sanitizer, and warning labels are all things that exist to keep us safe from unwanted dangers. I certainly am not condemning these things (except maybe hand sanitizer, but that's a different story). But I think we should be open to the fact that Jesus may not be calling us to safe things. Anyone who has served cross-culturally can attest to that. Just being a Christian in some parts of the world is dangerous. One speaker at Urbana had served in one such country for many years with their spouse, who died there. The speaker said something along the lines of "Most people would say [my spouse] died that day. But I think [my spouse] would say [he/she] died at Urbana many years before." That is, when we die to ourselves, we are free to serve God. Here is a quote from the beloved Narnia novels by C.S. Lewis: "Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he's not safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you."

Here is a song. It turns out a lot of the things Jesus said were difficult. But he's worth it all.

Just another Urbana post

Right now I am in Urbana withdrawal. I re-read my notes. I re-watch videos of the sessions. I re-listen to the worship songs. I inundate my family and friends with stories. They are not too too annoyed, yet. Meanwhile, I have a thesis that is just begging to be written. But I unfortunately cannot bring myself to work on it right now. It is only a few days until I go back to school and become busy again, so I want to work on it now when I have this wonderfully empty schedule and this warm fire and yet, my mind is preoccupied. Urbana was an intense few days during which a lot of truth was spoken. Thinking about writing my thesis, thinking about going on Pinterest or Facebook or watching another episode of Modern Family makes me think of a truth I was reminded of at Urbana: the truth that we do not have time to waste our lives. On the plane back from Urbana, I started reading one of the books I had bought at the massive bookstore there. Before the actual book even started, in the forward, I encountered a truth that has kept turning around in my head: "The truth is, we are not tired and busy because we are doing too much. We are tired and busy because we are doing the wrong things."

When I think about my life, I am not concentrating on things that are really important. I spend a bunch of time entertaining myself, then I say that I do not have time to do things like pray or build relationships. So many times I use busyness as an excuse not to do what God is calling me too. The next time I am tempted to use that as an excuse, I will rethink the reasons why I am busy. Jesus never said anything like "Entertain yourself," or "You deserve a rest" (He said he will give us rest, but that has nothing to do with us deserving it). He did say this, though:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Urbana

Urbana is the name of a missions conference for students that is put on by InterVarsity. It happens every three years in St. Louis, Missouri. This year, there were about 18,000 people there. I was one of them.
The theme of the conference was "The Great Invitation," from the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14. We are invited to a great banquet, the opportunity to serve Jesus. I need to digest some things from the banquet of Urbana. My little green notebook is full of cursive in black pen, little tidbits of things I heard from the speakers, seminar leaders, and others. Already, I have watched videos of some of the speakers from Urbana, because I think their messages needed be heard more than once to sink in.
Besides the main sessions when the thousands upon thousands were gathered in a football stadium and worshiped our God in many different languages and styles, there were also morning Bible studies, afternoon seminars (I got to take part in the Canadian Student Leader Track), an exhibit hall with row on row of missions organizations and seminaries, a bookstore, communal meals, and, at the end of each day, a roommate huddle.

Building caregiver kits

What was in the kits

The first few days at Urbana, I was absolutely overwhelmed. Exhausted from the traveling and the time change and the stress of constantly being around thousands of people, I was in survival mode for the first few days, just trying to get through it, looking for any opportunity to rest. But somehow, it became enjoyable to me as the week went on. The crowds of people still frustrated me but it was encouraging to think that these were people like me, people who had come to hear from God and who were open to serving Jesus. This was especially evident at the Caregiver Kit Build. One night, we were told to try not to bring anything with us to the evening session except for a pen, so that our hands could be free. Arriving at the Dome, we saw that the floor was covered with boxes. Near the stage were two shipping crates. That evening, we learned about the tragedy of AIDS in Africa and the way Caregivers- community volunteers with no medical training who cared for their neighbours by praying for them, rubbing their shoulders, making tea, and other small things- were serving their communities. That night, we got to help the Caregivers by assembling kits for them to use: kits filled with washcloths, cotton pads, latex gloves, water purifiers, soothing gels and medications. We even got to write an encouraging note to the Caregivers in the packages and put it in. I could feel the Holy Spirit so much that night. We watched a video about a community in Swaziland that the Urbana organizers had visited. A Caregiver was named Shortie. She would go around to her neighbours and show them love any way she could. From the video, it was clear to see the beautiful heart this woman had. I got goosebumps when, to everybody's surprise, Shortie walked onto the Urbana stage, to a standing ovation. I got goosebumps when a pharmaceutical rep who had changed his corporate culture into a generous one declared "Tonight, you are going to change the world." OK, there were a lot of goosebumps involved. And I know it's not all about goosebumps. But I think that night deserved some goosebumps. We were celebrating what God had done (and is doing!) for us by helping others in the world who need it. I know the teensy bit of love I showed by filling two bags full of supplies is nothing compared to the love Shortie has for her neighbours each day. And I know that love is nothing compared to the love Jesus has for us.

This will probably be the first post of many about Urbana!