From Father Dale Fushek

A PASTORAL LETTER ON “REVIVAL”

I am sitting on an outdoor balcony in Maui. The balcony overlooks the incredible Hawaiian ocean which is filled with shades of light blue, navy, and turquoise. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God for the beauty of His creation. I am also filled with gratitude to all of you for the wonderful gift of this trip. You all made my 70th birthday one I will never forget. The gift of this vacation to Maui was certainly the icing on the cake.

I want to write to you about revival. The word literally means, “life again”. For many, as soon as they hear the word revival they immediately think of Billy Graham and the wonderful work he did for Jesus. He certainly moved many souls to come to Christ. Others hear the word revival and they think of the old days when Wally and the Beaver went to Sunday school. In other words, they think about the nostalgia of their own childhood and long to go back to the days filled with simplicity and goodness. True revival, however, calls us back further than that. Real revival points us back to the early days of the church. Those early days were filled with passion and persecution. The early days of Christianity were also filled with dreams of changing the world.

Today, we live in a high-tech world. Technology points us forward to a newer and supposedly “better” world. We need to remember that technology is neither good nor bad. It is simply a tool, and not a lifestyle. Unfortunately, tech- nology has been “the way” humanity lives and survives.

We are called by God to live a different “way”, that is, the way of Jesus. In fact, the early Christian church referred to the Jesus movement as “the way”. For us, today, we need a “way” of living the Christian life in the modern world which is dynamic and alive in a technology filled world.

Humanity needs revival. We need to cherish human life, the earth, and the time we are given. We need to cherish the talent each person is given and the opportunities that lie ahead.

Revival today must be a movement of the SOUL.

Many authors and pastors have written about revival. There is no doubt they are much smarter and more insightful than I am. I do have ideas, however. I believe there are five steps to revival today.

Step One:

We seek to remove death. Jesus has already done that for us in His resurrection. He removed physical death and offered us eternal life. Our job is now to remove sin from our lives.

Sin causes death to our souls and spirit. We also need to remove addictions. Addictions deaden the human spirit.

Everything that causes numbness and apathy needs to be eliminated from our lives.

Step Two:

We seek to allow God to breathe new life into us through the power of the Holy Spirit. It seems our society is gasping for air. The air we need is GOD. We need to breathe again and welcome the Holy Spirit into our churches, our lives,

and our world.

As Pope John XXIII prayed for a “new Pentecost”, we need to pray for one.

Step Three:

We seek leaders to articulate a new vision for the church. Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Our current leaders, political and spiritual, appear to be weak and pre-occupied with securing the future of our institutions. We need leaders who are prophets and are willing to articulate what church can look like in the 21st century.

Prophets, as you know, do not foretell the future. Rather, prophets speak for God and remind us of how God works.

We are being called to step into the vision Jesus has for us today.

Step Four:

We seek to re-form community. In order to facilitate revival, we need companions on the journey. Companion comes from the Latin word meaning, “with bread.” Companions are those that we share meals, Sunday mornings, and ministries. Companions lift us up, support us, and refresh us.

We cannot do revival alone.

Step Five:

We seek to get out of God’s way and allow him to work. In order to surrender to Him we have to give up control.

Revival will ultimately be a movement of God.

 

We in the church, all churches, have been mediocre in living our faith.

In June, we will be hosting two nights on re-imagining church. In the fall, we will be hosting a “school of revival”. Our hope is that you will join us on this journey.

Come Holy Spirit.
Happy Pentecost 2023!