It wasn’t a 9/11 terrorist attack, a Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a new COVID-19 pandemic or still another mass shooting, but the opposite. It was something beautiful and inspiring, a look upward instead of downward. To be sure, it was unexpected and of attention-grabbing importance, but it was filled with love instead of hate. It was soothing, spiritual truth that induces insights instead of shock that results in ugly feelings.
Major disasters sometimes smeared with blood are known to attract major attention and that’s often justified because of important information the news stories share about the world. But here was a gentle occasion, no hurt, no sour words, nothing frightening, just goodness shining bright and somehow causing 50,000 people from America and around the world to come flooding in. The destination was not some big city. What we had was a religious awakening at Asbury College, a multi-denominational school in the small, rural town of Wilmore in my native and beloved state of Kentucky.
After a religious service, students remained seated in most of the 1,489 auditorium seats, not just for an hour or two but for two weeks. Yes, two weeks, not because of planning but spontaneously throughout the day and much of the night, singing, praying, hugging, jumping, filled with joy, sometimes lost in meditation, experiencing a new sense of meaningfulness, a new vision of their lives, a new connection with each other and with God, they said.
