So - what happened?

So what happened when Benny Hinn came to town? History will settle it out, but it may not be premature to make a couple of observations. For two nights, some 18,000 people (I forgot to count the 2,000 chairs set up on the floor of Boston Garden) experienced a joy and a unity which many had not thought possible. And there were two major new cracks in the egg containing an eaglet called Awakening.

Alex said it was the greatest expression of unity he's experienced in forty years of ministry. Ditto. I've been writing about what goes on in the Body of Christ for nearly that long. I was at the Kansas City Charismatic Conference, the first Washington for Jesus, and Promise-Keepers "Stand in the Gap." What we experienced at the Garden belongs on the same shelf with those events.

Curiously (but not surprisingly) there was no mention in the Boston Globe. In Sunday's Ideas section, there was a front-page article on the abortion-rights movement rediscovering religion, but not an inch on what happened at the Garden.

It is reminiscent of New York City in the fall of 1857. Jeremiah Lanphier's Wednesday Noon prayer hour had become an underground phenomenon. His church, "Old North Dutch, could not hold all the people who came to pray. Neither could all the other churches in lower Manhattan" or the firehouses and police stations, the restaurants and theaters.

Word reached the uptown editorial offices of that city's two great newspapers: Something extraordinary was going on downtown. "Nonsense!" scoffed James Gordon Bennett of the Herald. "If it was news, we would have heard about it!" His arch-rival, Horace Greeley of the Tribune, had exactly the same response.

Nevertheless, on the remote chance that something might be going on, they each sent their best man to cover it. When their ace reporters came back born-again and praising God, the astonished editors realized something significant was afoot. They began to cover it, and word began to spread of the Great Prayer Revival of 1857, which eventually went around the world and sparked revivals in both the Union and Confederate Armies.

When the one who controls secular media does not like a newsworthy event, he renders it a non-event by withholding coverage. That happened in Washington in 1980. Other than couple of photos of bizarre fringe elements and two column-inches of copy, the Washington Post ignored the fact that a family event of epic proportions had taken place on the Mall. But other newspapers did cover it, and the further west one got, the wider and deeper the coverage.

Twenty-six years later, there are many more vehicles to get the word out: ipods, live-streaming video, Christian radio and television networks, email, and the Internet itself. All who should know, will know.

So pass the good news on and keep an eye on that egg in Boston....

-David Manuel

Psalm 83 found in Irish bog on Tuesday

SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer (abridged)

DUBLIN, Ireland - Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker who spotted something while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

"This is really a miracle find," said Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland, which has the book stored in refrigeration and facing years of painstaking analysis before being put on public display.

"There's two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."

...The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations' attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.

Psalm 83
1 O God, do not keep silent;
be not quiet, O God, be not still.

2 See how your enemies are astir,
how your foes rear their heads.

3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.

4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation,
that the name of Israel be remembered no more."

5 With one mind they plot together;
they form an alliance against you-

There will be one fold & one Shepherd...

PBS has adjusted their lens. They're now looking at "a national prayer movement.” It’s not just in Boston; it’s everywhere, and the Noon Hour is only a tiny part of it. They’re still coming tomorrow, but will be filming, not interviewing.

Which is fine with us. Whatever God wants. They’re coming at 11:00, to set
up. Alex and I will be there at 10:45, to pre-pray. If you can join us, please
do; we need all the prayer we can muster. If you can't, pray that we stay
out of the way, and that Jesus be seen.

We had fun last week, when the Revere Noon Hour joined us and put our
numbers back above seventy for the first time in awhile. Funny thing, the sheep in
that fold hear Him and follow Him a lot like we do. It was a nice foretaste
of John 10:16, where He says He's going to put other sheep with us, and there
will be one fold and one Shepherd.

For I have placed you upon the walls of this city, to watch and to wait. It will not be for much longer. Every prayer that has gone up from this place – and from all the other places where hearts yearn for me, has been recorded. And now I tell you: the time you ardently desire is almost at hand. Use these final hours to set aside, once and for all, the things that keep you from intimacy with me. Then, when that glorious morning arrives, we will greet it together, hand in hand, heart to heart, glory unto glory.

-David Manuel, July 19, 2006

Kitty O'Shea's Prayer Group - July 10

Eight regulars gathered at Kitty’s to pray today, joined by Hank’s daughter.

We heard of Allison’s plans to produce a secular movie, with a redemptive storyline, with a non-Christian colleague. We remembered this project in prayer. We discussed what it meant to communicate winsomely and effectively in this culture. Andrea mentioned that she had joined an open air worship and evangelism session in the pit at Harvard Square on the previous weekend; and that it had been good to have light brought into that place. We prayed for one Albanian man whom she had met and spoken with on that occasion. The event will be repeated on 21 July.

We prayed too for some of the struggles going on around us:

• We were grateful for the Supreme Court Decision allowing the marriage amendment proposal to go forward, and prayed for legislators and those leading this cause;
• The Anglican Communion is fracturing after recent decisions by the US Episcopal church, and we asked for wisdom for the leaders of Episcopal churches here and abroad as to how to respond.

As we prayed for the city of Boston, we prayed that we would know how to speak life to the people of the city. We were struck by the energy and enthusiasm generated in the city by the World Cup final the night before, and asked that people would come to know the true source of energy. We prayed for leaders in this centre of power and privilege to come to know the true source of life. We prayed for the leaders of all churches in Boston that they would be praying and seeking God at this time.

Some were impatient for God to show and grow his work in this city. At least one present felt like the disciplines on the Emmaus Road—uncertain and somewhat confused about recent events, where so much expectation had been built up of Jesus moving in power; and yet a crucifixion was all that seemed to happen. We gave thanks that, like the disciplines on the road, Jesus draws near to us, and speaks to us in ways which open our eyes and warm our hearts.

My sheep know my voice, and they follow me...

If you can come to the Tremont Temple tomorrow (Wednesday) at Noon, by all means do. It will be a landmark for the Boston Noon Hour,as we'll be joined by Father Tom Dilorenzo, leader of outreach to Boston's homeless, and by Bob Ionello's men's prayer group which usually meets on Wednesdays, in Revere.

Other news: The PBS “News Hour” has gotten wind of the beginnings of big-R Revival Boston. They’re sending a crew here, and will be covering the Noon Hour on Wednesday, July 26.

As the time grows short, the need for patience is great. Lack of it connotes lack of trust in me. By now, even those who do not know me well, sense that I am about to do something of immense proportions. I will be relying on those who do know me well, to calm and steady the rest. Listen to me in the depths of your hearts. I will speak to you there. Become familiar with my voice and follow me. That means come when I call you to come, and do not go where I bid you not go. My sheep know my voice, and they follow me. Are you one of my sheep? Hear, know, and follow.

-David Manuel