During the recent Festival of Faith at First UMC, questions and comments about altar calls once again emerged especially among those that this custom is not part of their faith heritage. This has challenged me to do some historical review and personal reflection.
The period of the Great Awakening seemed to generate a lot of concern about the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit and the need to count those who had been converted. As a result, the altar call gained popularity in the 1830’s with the rejection of the Calvinist teaching that human nature was irreparably depraved; human wills, not their natures needed to be converted. Preachers sought to create revival by using a time of decision following their preaching. This public profession of those gathered at the altar seemed to be an effective method of insuring this change of wills. D.L. Moody and Billy Graham continued to make use of the altar call and it became part of the evangelical Protestant culture. It is hard to find a scriptural basis for this, but we can name it as part of our tradition.
The current version of the altar call is usually offered in terms of rededication to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. With the organ playing “Just As I Am”, we are summoned to make this public witness to our faith. This becomes a moment of profound sacredness to many. However, some find this emotionally manipulative and without purpose. I think they may have a point to consider as this single act often creates a false impression that all is well with our souls when we answer this invitation. Also, it can be a time of judgment against those who chose not to participate. If we are seeking to claim Jesus, wouldn’t it be more transforming to heed the words of dismissal at the close of each worship service…the words that send us forth to live and serve guided by Jesus Christ? Isn’t it in the everyday that we are the most effective witness to our faith? Whether at the altar or in the pew, may we hear God's call on our lives and respond to it.
6 comments:
Hello.
Hello!
I am trying to respond to the call, but just right this second it's long distance. I will be back in town soon, and I promise I'll have a lot of comments for "Altar Calls".
I appreciate the opportunity to kneel at the altar for a rededication time. It is a high and holy moment for me.
I am not aware of who might choose to come or even what hymn is played.
For those who do not have altar calls in their background, I would ask for their understanding.
I would hope we are a church for all God's people.
I, too, cherish the opportunity to kneel at the altar where so many important moments in my life have taken place. Not only does it serve to bring me to a holy place and remind me of holy moments of the past, it connects me to those that are yet to come. I spend time before I approach the altar and after I leave centered in prayer. On the rare occasions that I just don't have it in me to go, to have that time in silence from the pew is still meaningful and precious. Time of reflection, quiet, prayer, and stillness before the altar are, indeed, high and holy and need to be offered often.
I always feel that it is expected of me. I find more peace, solace and holiness when I approach the altar of God alone. Sometimes the altar is in the church building. Sometimes it is in my home, sometimes on the beach, and other places.
I am positive that I need professional psychiatric help to overcome this problem, but (I wasn't gonna admit this) in this post Jim Jonestown world, I almost always flashback to the perverse tragedy in Guyana at some point during the duration of the crawling hesitant line. Since our actual time at the altar is so short as to be symbolic of our gesture, why not install prayer rails at the pews, or let us pray from our seats. I doubt that a public show of praying hands would be reverent enough, but it would not allow time for those of us with twisted psyches to conjure up images that question all the motives and intentions of the entire arena. I have asked hundreds of Christians over the years if they ever thought about Jonestown during altar calls, and many of them replied,"Yes,". Perhaps, unlike Communion or a Revival sermon aimed at making the congregation want to rush the altar en masse, the informal altar call carries an air of pleading for us to come or begging the question. I submit this Just As I Am, and the memory does not prevent me from Softly and Tenderly joining the line because if I feel the Lamb Earnestly and Tenderly calling, I Come.
I had not thought of the Jonestown likeness, but, I will never witness another altar call without thinking of this.
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