The love of God just broke through the distraction, injustice, anxiety, and shame of our age at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.
The Asbury Revival
It’s being called “the Asbury revival,” and for those of you who aren’t big consumers of Christian media, here’s what happened: On February 8, a handful of college kids from this small Christian college stayed in chapel singing and praying after the conclusion of the service. And then their worship and prayer and repentance continued. Other students returned. And they prayed and sang and shared all day and all night and again and again. Until thousands were converging on the town campus and waiting in line to experience the peace and joy within those chapel walls.
Conversation and Conflict
Major news outlets reported on what was happening. Podcasts covered the story. Social media was abuzz with conversation and conflict about it.
What happened? I think about reports of rising spiritual openness in America, including among Gen Z. I think about the professor who described it as “a quiet but powerful sense of transcendence.” And I think of the secular reporter who talked about the feeling of community, connection, and peace she experienced in that space and how different it was from the world of social media and clubbing and all the things the outside world thinks of as fun. But I also think to that day’s chapel speaker, who focused his message on the love of God.
Streams of Living Water
My friend Patricia recently mentioned that there are two ways to clean a glass of dirty water. One is to try to sift out the dirt grain by grain. The other is to just pour clean water into the glass.
It strikes me as no accident that this outpouring of God’s Spirit happened on the heels of a sermon about “becoming the love of God by experiencing the love of God.” We are a people desperately longing for the clean water of God’s love to pour over us, to wash us and refresh us and nourish us and heal us.
We don’t need a pilgrimage to Kentucky to receive that love. God’s love is available for you and me right now.
FREE RESOURCE: 5 Ways to Experience God’s Love and Practice Peace
More with Amy Julia
If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to receive regular updates and news. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads, and you can subscribe to my Love Is Stronger Than Fear podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
