Quiet Revival: Fruits

They say there is a quiet revival.

Praise God for it.

Students and seekers return.

The disenchanted bow the knee.

Secularism loses its grip.

Souls, stubborn as ever,

remember how to pray.

Churches alive with song.

Candles flicker against the dark.

Grace leaks through the cracks

of an anxious age.

And yet

every seed falls in a field.

And not every seed grows to fullness.

Some are snatched by birds:

consumerism,

nationalism.

Some are choked by thorns:

the deceit of wealth,

the cares of the age.

Some sprout fast,

but wither without roots.

We see it.

Tommy, the jailhouse convert,

turns testimony into fear.

Peterson draws the restless,

yet too often fuels their anger.

Brand confesses Christ with his lips,

but the spectacle is crude and hyped.

Worship leaders sing of Jesus,

align with Israel,

silent to the cries of Palestinians.

Pastors proclaim revival,

yet never confront hoarded wealth,

never question unrestrained capitalism,

silent also to the cries of the earth

as climate breakdown deepens.

Trump takes the microphone,

after a song by well known worship leaders

naming not love of neighbour

but hatred of enemies,

and the crowd applauds.

The seed may be snatched.

Or hybrid faith may grow,

where Christ is joined

to powers that do not look like Christ.

It could be this.

It could be that.

By their fruits you will know them.

For revival without repentance is shallow.

Revival without discipleship is brittle.

Revival without kindness

is a lie dressed in praise.

So pastors and leaders,

do not flatter empire.

Do not preach hopium.

Do not sell saccharine gospels

that float above reality.

Model Christlikeness.

Bear prophetic witness.

Speak justice.

Shepherd towards mercy.

For the Spirit still scatters seed,

even now.

Some will fall deep.

Some will take root.

Some will flower into kingdom,

justice-shaped,

mercy-drenched,

real as the wounds of Christ,

and as hopeful as his resurrection.

This is no cheap optimism.

This is hope-filled realism.

The kingdom come on earth

as it is in heaven.

So pray for growth.

Pray for fruit.

That the church, for such a time as this,

may look like Christ,

and love like Christ.

They say there is a quiet revival.

Praise God for it.

-Rev’d Jon Swales