On Friday night, roughly twelve thousand young people gathered at Rogers arena, the closest thing Vancouver has to a communal temple, for a church service/rock concert. This was Passion’s 3rd time to Vancouver, and after the huge turnout, there will undoubtedly be a fourth.
Something very meaningful that happens when a sizable portion of our city’s youth gathering in the public temple (the arena where our demi-gods named Luongo and Kesler regularly battle enemies on our behalf) to give praise to another name, a greater name, than the ones hanging in the rafters. It is certainly encouraging to realize that there are literally THOUSANDS of us Jesus Freaks in this city, and to join together in song is no less than inspiring.
Now, Passion isn’t just your typical concert. They bring it to another level, and don’t leave out some other important bits of the Christian walk than just worship. After a few songs, Pastor Louis Giglio encouraged us to pray ‘Passion style’, meaning with a couple neighbors, for a few different things. The first thing we prayed for was for the health of Daniel Sedin, the Canuck’s best goal scorer. It might be debatable whether this is the best use of our prayer power, but could you imagine if Daniel was healed, and the city started asking all the Christians to start praying for the team? That would certainly get people talking. Here’s hoping that Daniel wakes up all better this morning. What a witness that would be!
We also prayed to welcome Jesus into this place where ‘the lifeblood’ of the city resides. It was actually pretty powerful if you think about it. This is our city’s temple: the place where people come to worship athletes and rock stars, where the name of Jesus isn’t usually proclaimed. It was a powerful reminder that there are more important things than hockey, and a subversive statement to the religion of entertainment that permeates our culture.
Passion integrated prayer, but also a mission: to help end human trafficking. They introduced a project called 72 Days For Freedom (check it out at 72daysforfreedom.com). So it wasn’t just about hearing Tomlin and Crowder, but doing something as well.
Finally, Louis spoke on Jesus power to raise a little boy from the dead, and how he can also wake us from the dead: our hearts, our passions, that part of us that is so relentlessly beaten down by our culture, by shame, by our everyday routines. If Jesus can really raise the dead, that changes everything. If he can raise US from the dead, what else is there to be afraid of?
Then David Crowder took the stage to lead us in some hymns, and the ever popular tune ‘How He Loves,’ before Tomlin joined him to end the evening. We were also encouraged to give money towards and pray for people in South Africa, reminding us that the Church is a worldwide entity: that people in Atlanta gave to make Passion Vancouver happen, and now we can help make Passion Africa happen. Truly amazing!
In the end, I left encouraged at how my faith isn’t just a personal lifestyle choice: it’s truly a worldwide movement of people committed to learning how to really live and really love one another.
Now if only we could convince David Crowder to get his band back together and come back for an encore… preferably during the intermission of a playoff game, so we can get the rest of the city singing along, too.
