IS REVIVAL IN OUR DAY POSSIBLE?

THOUGHTS ON SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IN OUR DAY
What if revival and renewal depends in some way on the witness of the Church? In this Lenten Season I want to be a faithful witness. Christian “witnessing” usually falls into one of two categories: either ACTIVIST, or CONVERSIONIST.
Activists create pressure. They seek to enact law. They form a moral majority or a green peace. They protest. Conversionists seek to evangelize. Nothing wrong with that-- except that all too often this means "Join MY group the way WE say and then circle the wagons and wait for the cavalry." I do not deny that I believe that people need to be born again, and that unless a person is saved he or she is lost.
But there is a third way. Stanley Hauerwas suggests that this "third way" is not in any way a blending of the other two, but a radically different approach to Christian reality! This third way says: EAT IN FRONT OF YOUR ENEMIES! Don't just try to block them in legislature, or persuade them to become a member of your church-- but show them your Shepherd!
Instead of an ACTIVIST APPROACH or a CONVERSIONIST APPROACH, this is A CONFESSIONAL APPROACH to Christian living. . . . saying: "Jesus Christ is MY Shepherd! He is MY Lord and MY Master. I will seek to do everything I do in a way to please Him and reveal Him to the world! I’m thinking here, of course, of the 23rd Psalm that we all know by heart- and that verse that says “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies!”
No for us to say “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nahh!” But to make it clear they’re welcome to join the picnic. It is NOT a table for two! Yes, it IS personal! But there is fellowship around the Shepherd's table. Actually the fellowship is not the primary thing-- even though sometimes it becomes the focus. But the fellowship is incidental to the MEAL.
Personally, I believe the way we observe Holy Communion, and the way we integrate our lives around being part of the Body of Christ, broken for the life of the Church and available to all who are invited by the Host is a key, if not THE key to renewal, revival, and spiritual awakening in our day, dark as it may seem.
-Russell Metcalfe