Quiet Groves of Prayer

When my dad moved our family from Maryland to Vermont in the late ‘80s, the nearest Advent Christian church was more than an hour’s drive away. And while we soon became members of that church and worshipped there as often as gas and circumstance would allow, we most often attended services at a little battle abbey up the road from our house. But any feelings of disconnectedness from our Advent Christian family soon dissipated when we discovered that we lived just a short drive from the William Miller farm, home and church located in Low Hampton, New York. For those unfamiliar, the grounds there constitute the birthplace of Adventism in America.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the William Miller Chapel, built in 1848 and overseen today by Advent Christian General Conference, is in many ways the home of the first congregation of our forebears. As a teenager, I can remember touring the home and farm of the Army captain, farmer and politician turned evangelist and being struck by the simple, austere nature of his life and livelihood. Touring Ascension Rock, a sprawling shelf of dolostone that is also on the register of historic places, I would often try and imagine the rapturous hope and desire of those earnestly expecting to hear the trumpet on that fateful day in late October and see Christ descending from heaven. And touring the chapel and attending the Heritage Sunday services held there every June, I would reflect on the curious tribe of disappointed souls who built that church building because they no longer had any other sacred space to call home.

But for those familiar with William Miller’s story, you know there’s one more important place on that property – perhaps the most important place. There was no plaque back then and no marker noting the spot but the little grove of trees between the house and chapel is a more significant location by far. For it was in that wooded retreat from the demands of home and country that William Miller got alone with God to pour out his heart and listen for God’s reply. This layman’s earnest studies of the Scriptures had filled him with a sense of urgent expectation of Christ’s imminent return. Such urgency, of course, demanded action but Miller felt ill-equipped and too little credentialed to take to any pulpits anywhere.

But there in that grove the Lord spoke encouragement to him. Whatever state of mind he had when he entered that grove to pray, Miller left with the quiet, confident assurance that should he be given an unsolicited invitation to preach that he should take it and preach the soon coming of Jesus Christ anytime and anywhere.

Over 175 years removed from that moment, we Advent Christians are still the keepers of an important word for the world. And while we must attend industriously to the demands of hearth and home and while we must work to maintain our steepled places of worship; indeed, there is nothing more important to our fruitfulness in this age than those quiet groves of prayer. We must all get alone with God and acknowledge him in this important hour. And then we must listen in that place for his still, small voice of direction. Should we be bold enough then to obey – perhaps the Lord will use us once again to change the world.