[aron]

Well I admit my bias up front. I found a kind of bustling excitement in the Local Church Movement (LCM) that I didn't get at Podunk Community Church. Instead of marking time, it seemed like a happening place. Certainly meetings were engrossing. A lot of singing, declaring, praying, loud "amens".

But over time it waned for me. I began to see that problems weren't getting addressed. Just shout "O Lord Jesus" and everything will be resolved. Judging others who were not in "the Recovery" - that started to bother me. Being alienated from other believers, assuming that they were all "darkened". Lack of care for those who need, both within and without. Elevating of men. Quarreling with other ministries. Etc.

And the excitement, looking back, began to appear shallow and contrived. Like those people at the Charismatic revival meeting: they're excited because they are supposed to be excited. But there's really nothing behind it besides some crass manipulations and people allowing themselves to get sucked in.

Today I was thinking about how this works in the world. Everybody is looking for something new, and exciting. Something to get worked up over. The entertainment producers constantly are trying to come up with something that appears novel, even if its really the same old schtick. The teeny boppers who faint in front of Frank Sinatra, shriek in front of the Beatles, or squeal when Justin Bieber points at them during a show are fully convinced that their experience is unique, when its actually a repetition. It's the same old contrived hokum, but people want it so they invest themselves.

Anyway, I'm just considering the spiritual corollary, that the counterfeit excitement of the flesh and euphoria of the soul has some counterpart behind the veil. Like Moses when he was the lost sheep-seeker - he was a failure by most accounts, having once been a prince of Egypt. Now he was semi-destitute, and an alien in a strange land. But he was determined to find that missing sheep, and God saw something good there. Moses suddenly saw a novel sight that made him turn aside. I was just thinking of the God who places "signs and wonders" in front of us, to turn us from our way. The "charismatic" experience seems to be related to this phenomenon, in some way. But chasing spiritual highs as an end in themselves, or signs and wonders as evidences of God's continued favor, becomes yet another illusion.

Certainly Lee was aware of the need to continually produce novelty. And he tried. But we have a God who is always new. We don't need to do anything.