Browsing: worship

A lot of us may embrace and engage in the large prayer tent on Fountain Mall and various conversations surrounding the three-day Christianpalooza, also known as FM72. There is beauty in having a space for that on a college campus. However, this is one of numerous examples of public, almost performative, Christianity at Baylor.

In 1945, a group of Baylor students began leading a series of worship gatherings that came to be known as the Waco Youth Revivals. The meetings sparked a nationwide Youth Revival Movement that is registered as one of the largest student-led revivals in American history. Today, FM72 leaders believe God can “do it again.”

Every Monday night, a gathering of Baylor students can be found singing, worshiping and declaring the same message: They’d “rather have Jesus.” Now, what began as a small group of Baylor students leading one another in prayer and worship is returning to its roots of being student-led.

“We just all sing together, we have a great time and fellowship,” Ivey said. “We come from all walks of life and that includes Christians and non-believers and many other religions as well. It’s a place where hopefully everybody feels safe to sing and worship to the best of their ability.”

Our faith is an opportunity to transcend this world and get a glimpse of the heavenly banquet that awaits us. But to make use of this opportunity, we must quiet ourselves in peaceful contemplation. We must remember that Christians have been practicing for over 2,000 years, and that many traditional hymns are rooted in this rich, longstanding history. We must abandon contemporary frivolities that disrupt sacred celebrations.