It is a strange, powerless time. Between the private volunteer effort and the multi-million person event, there is a long blank spot. But it also runs the danger of separating prayer even further from action, and therefore denaturing the prayer itself. This kind of time spawns radical personal commitment. Persons who have made much money and found no wealth seek to spend their remaining time in service of others.
Privileged people seek simplicity.
They seek to minister to others' need, to others' pain, to find a place of genuine risk where life is truly engaged. Thousands in metropollitan Richmond are trying to see what they can do for children, and for others needing help. Thousands of others struggle with the gathering dusk of neighborhoods no longer friendly, incomes no longer viable, and employers no longer dependable. New kinds of churches are growing. The older ones lose power and influence.