ALTHOUGH WE ALL know the theory, that chaos precedes revival, chaos never feels right when it is actually happening.

 Recently, we have experienced some aspects of that chaos, and it fascinates me to see how rapidly we act to dampen it down. I am reminded of a small accident which occurred
near our place recently.

 A woman had car troubles and had attempted to park her car on the hill near our place. Unfortunately, in the rain she failed to see the letterbox-type gully pit at the corner, and ended up with one rear wheel firmly planted on the sealed road and the other spinning uselessly above the gutter, while that side of the car rested on the lid of the pit.

 Hannahannalucy (our teenaged daughter and her two inseparable friends) were at our place, so I called them out and the five of us (including the driver) attempted to bounce the car across onto the roadway. Sadly, we were unsuccesful.

 When bouncing a car sideways works, it is necessary to get the car bouncing furiously, which can be a little alarming. It would be easy to feel that the bouncing was threatening to get out of hand, and to try to settle it down. But this defeats the whole object of the exercise.

 Similarly, revival can be seen as bouncing a stuck church sideways so that it can continue its forward motion again.

 Chaos is when things feel as though they are getting out of hand. It can happen in a number of ways.

 Often the trigger is some kind of material shock, such as part of the buildings -- or most of the finances -- collapsing. The most natural thing in the world is to get all hands to work fixing the problem. This focuses attention on the problem and attempts to restore the status quo. But it often ignores more important issues.

 Why has giving fallen? (In our case, the financial problem isn't quite that simple).

Why have numbers dropped? Do we need that room where the roof has fallen in?

 The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt works on the basis that material difficulties usually indicate a spiritual issue they need to address.

 The chaos can also come about through conflicts within the body. Conflicts can feel uncomfortable, particularly if they cause one of the family some hurt.

 Often, getting to the bottom of the real issues in such conflicts can be enormously freeing for a church, and a valuable step on the way to being just where God wants us to be.

 Revival is still possible: let's not damp any efforts to bounce the church off the rock and onto the way!

© Peter R. Green 1998.