There is Something About Prayer

This blog attempts to dig deep. Sometimes it succeeds and many times it fails. Whether it is a heady post dealing with the Kingdom of God, a soul searching during Lent, or a Christological exploration of Advent; the desire is that it exist as a means to consider a different perspective when thinking about God.

But why is it so important that we consider how we think of God? You may say, "God is God. It makes no difference what I think of him."

If that is the way you believe then consider the following: Through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, God broke into our present world with His future reality.

Why would we deny ourselves the opportunity to participate with a God that promises the opportunity to particpate with Him. I don't even know if that made any sense.

But there are a host of ways to participate in the life of God and we seem to neglect the most obvious.

Prayer.

I know. Prayer = Work. And we have focused enough energies on work, haven't we?

We must begin to look at prayer as being a major element in the mission of the church and the Kingdom of God. Maybe it is here that we can find our motivation.

We all have to admit that there is something about prayer! It says that we are less important than we think we are and I believe we all need a good dose of that. It says that there is something beyond, someone stronger, something transcendent, someone who knows the future.

We know all of this because of the way in which God broke into our world. I used to think that you had to be at the top of a cliff or in a sacred place or standing in awe at God's beautiful creation. But then I found out that it has little to do with context and has everything to do with understanding that I have been invited to enjoy the same extraordinary relationship that Jesus enjoyed with his Father. "....and your Father, to my God and to your God." This is what Jesus said.

And then I read somewhere that if we choose to simply try to bring ourselves into harmony with the created order as it is as present then we are actually embracing DEATH; not only nature red in tooth and claw but also the cosmos running down in the cold night of entropy." OUCH MAN!!! This world is out of joint!

Thy Kingdom come...on earth as it is in heaven. God has met us all in a unique way through the life, death, and resurrection. It all started with this tiny little boy born in Bethlehem. And now that he has gone his way into our hearts, wouldn't it be ridiculous if we chose to ignore him through lack of prayer.

Going Against the Stream

The following article was written by William Willimon in 1984. The words are, of course, a bit dated but my hope is that they will cause everyone to consider their hearts this Advent season.

The other day someone told me about a friend who had been asked to preach in the church of one of the famous television preachers whom millions watch every Sunday. On the way from the airport, the guest received these instructions: “People worship with us in order to feel good about themselves. Therefore, don’t mention the cross in your sermon. And don’t dwell too much on sin. And don’t mention the John Birch Society.”

Television does set certain limits on today’s successful preacher, doesn’t it? So does the spirit of the age. There is a new optimism abroad in the United States. Commentators agree: We Americans have decided to think better of ourselves. The flag-waving, athletic-financial success of the Olympics got us rolling. Last month, we overwhelmingly rejected the one whose opponent labeled him “Minnesota Fritz and the Temple of Gloom.” No one was in the mood for bad news. Everybody smiling, red-and-white balloons cascading, we have enjoyed a veritable orgy of self-affirmation. A man in Georgia being interviewed by CBS on election day: “I think there’s a new spirit in this country. You don’t see nobody stepping on our flag these days. People are just pleased to be Americans. They’re tired of all the talk about problems. They want to hear about what’s right and good.”

Therefore, pity the preacher this Advent. Sunday after Sunday, it’s Isaiah and John the Baptist. Not the Isaiah who sings so well in Handel’s Messiah, but the Isaiah of chapters 63 to 64, who laments the fate of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It is the raging plaint of a homeless people in a Babylonian death camp. They cry:
Thy holy people possessed thy sanctuary a little while; our adversaries have trodden it down.We have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities [Isa. 63:18, 64:6-7].

But we, 2,000 years later, have escaped the death camps so that we might celebrate Christmas. We are moving, have been moving since the first opportunity in late October, bedecked with tinsel, behind a fat, smiling, bewhiskered old man, toward cheer. Eggnogging our way to bliss. We are better off than we were four years ago and, presumably, we shall be even better off four years from now.

Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

And here’s the poor old church. Out of step as usual. Unable to catch the spirit of the times, swimming against the contemporary stream, the church is all gloom and doom. Isaiah 63 to 64 this December is the theological equivalent of the Nehru jacket. The world wants Christmas jingles and the church sings a lament! The world has visions of sugar plums dancing in its head and the church sees only angry Jews standing by the fence, wailing toward heaven:
thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know usand Israel does not acknowledge us [63:16].

We Americans are doing better, better and better. And the old church had better get in step or it shall be left behind as our joyous parade of happy, successful, progressive, positive people moves upward, upward and ever onward.

A few years ago we watched one of those annual Christmas specials that appear on television about this time of year. Smiling singers cavorted in a winter wonderland (in Hollywood), then everyone gathered by the tree as the happy couple, stars of the show, held each other’s hands, looked into one another’s eyes, and sang, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.’’
Scarcely a month later, their marriage was over amid bitter public recriminations and charges in court of abuse. Yes, we said, come to think of it, there was something a bit phony, a bit contrived in their yuletide joy.
Like this not-so-happy TV couple, there is something a bit contrived in our wave of national self-affirmation. If we’re doing so well, why do we drink so much at parties? If we are so happy, why must we so forcefully reassure ourselves and silence those who disagree? If we’re so happy, why must we talk about it so much? Ponder the annual office Christmas party. There is something forced, rather compulsive in our holiday merriment.

A kind of optimistic numbness sets in, in which honesty is impossible and a realistic assessment of our situation is blocked by the royal theology of success. True prophets bring about social change by simply helping people to weep for what they know they have lost, to exchange their national anthems for laments.

“The Christian faith is a thing of unspeakable joy,” says C. S. Lewis. “But it does not begin with joy, but rather in despair. And it is no good trying to reach the joy without first going through the despair.”

The Advent prophet meets us on our cheerful way up and inserts a cold, despairing word into our seeming optimism.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one that calls upon thy name,for thou hast hid thy face from us, and has delivered us into the hand of our iniquities [64:6-7].

Scarcely had the election ended before the inevitable truth-telling began. Yes, we do indeed have a deficit problem. Yes, despite certain promises, there will be new taxes, and new cuts. Reality intrudes itself.

Let us not be too harsh on the royal theology which we created. In our own lives, in our yuletide overspending, overdrinking, overhoping, overgetting and overgiving we act out a sad seasonal ritual: oh, that a new video recorder or a new car might fill the emptiness. Yet, we know that in the cold gray of January the bills come, the radio evicts Bing Crosby and we find that, alas, the “Peace on Earth and Good Will” of the TV Christmas specials barely lasted until New Year’s.

We are out somewhere, back against the wall, in some padded, comfortable, tinseled cell. Even though the guards outside have smiling, amiable faces, we are still their prisoner. Exiles, far from home.

The hope for us, says the church in Advent, is that we are out of hope, and we know it. We know, in our better moments, where our quest for self-affirmation has left us. Now, lost in the cosmos, victims of the monstrous technological toys we have created, we wander. America, with our bombs and bombers, our deficits for defense, our cheese and wheat stockpiled before the scandal of the poor and hungry shivering in the cold again this Christmas -- our ancestors wouldn’t know us.

The Advent prophet leads a sad litany made all the more sad because it is reality: “All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. . . . our Iniquities, like the wind, take us away. . . . thou hast hid thy face from us” (64:7-7).
That’s why the church generally refrains from singing Christmas carols during Advent. That’s why purple, the color of penitence, adorns our altar and the neck of your preacher. We dare not rush to greet the Redeemer prematurely until we pause here, in darkened church, to admit that we do need redemption. Nothing within us can save us. No thing can save us. We’ve tried that before. No president, no bomb, no new car, no bottle, no white Christmas can save.
No! to all false consolation, we say. No! to the empty, contrived merriment of a terminal world. Our hope must be in someone out there who comes to us. We find our way only because One comes, takes our hand and leads us home.

No thank you, we shall wait here, in yearning and silence, in darkness and penitence, for that One.

“In our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” (64:5).
Wait. Wait and see what is to be born among us. God grant us the honesty and the patience to wait long enough to find some real salvation.

Space...Time...Matter: Renewing It and Claiming It

Space, time, and matter....we can't escape it.

The real world is where things happen. Communities deal with crime, city councils gather, PTA meetings take place, families gather around dinner tables, individuals visit the doctor and dentist, and kids go to school. In other parts of the world hunger is common, wars continue, anarchy is a way of life, and the innocent aren't protected.

We can't escape space, time, and matter. And neither should we try.

The resurrection of Christ has taught us many striking things about ourselves and our world. One truth among many is that God intervenes in this world while using his people to bring around transformation.

It is much easier to concentrate on simply 'saving souls.' As a result, many would say that the focus is only on justice and social issues. But I think the church is finally discovering that it can't be schizophrenic for any longer.

So if the church is the primary avenue in which God will bring about his new creation, then what exactly is the church's mission. N.T. Wright puts it like this, "The mission of the church is nothing more or less than the outworking, in the power of the Spirit, of Jesus' bodily resurrection and thus the anticipation of the time when God will fill the earth with his glory, transform the old heavens and earth into the new, and raise his children from the dead to populate and rule over the redeemed world he has made."

The global church must become organized. We must begin to work together. We must begin to claim in advance space, time, and matter. We must begin invest in it and in the people who make up this world.

If we do not claim this space, time, and matter and do not become involved in it's renewal then we will simply claim it and use it only for the passing of time and only for our individual benefit.

So what can the church do? Well, I sincerely believe that a church can find it's ONE cause, mission, or purpose. Once the church determines its primary mission or "what it is known for" then a church can place most of its resources into making a difference. A church would not do this for a warm, fuzzy feeling. Rather, the church can feel guilt-free as it understands it's unique role in the Kingdom of God. Imagine if other local churches took on the effort.

A city could be changed.

So where is God leading your particular church? Where is God leading our church? Is it racial reconciliation, is it urban ministry to teens, is it ministry to the handicapped, is it a childcare for HIV infected children, is it playtime for children of single moms, is it a tutoring program for inner city kids, is it providing shelter, is it a place for the arts, is it a place for cleaning up the city, is it the environment, is it action in city government, is counseling services, or is it hospital care or even the hospital waiting room?

God's hope, through the actions of his Son Jesus, is the renewal of all things! The amazing moment of the resurrection has ushered in this future realization. We must claim this hope that is ours in the gospel and it must guide the manner in which the mission of the church is shaped and reflected.

The Peaceful Trasfer of Power

No matter your political views, we have a lot in which to be thankful. We take for granted the fact that each four to eight years, we have a peaceful transfer of power in this country. We need not be as anxious. Power will be given over to another leader along with encouragement and prayer. No bloodshed, no violent takeover, no voter fraud, no coup; just a bitter loss for one side and a joyous day for the other. Let us thank God for the peace that does exist here and pray for a new day of peace across the world.

The Turning Point

Looking back...looking ahead...and considering where we are in this Kingdom of God thing, it would do us all good to remind ourselves that we have turned the corner. I think we forget this. And what would this turning point be: the resurrection of Jesus.

Some of you may be thinking...it's not Easter so why write on the resurrection? Well, when you think about it, it's the resurrection that gives us our private hope in life and more importantly it provides the mission of the church.

We have been taught one primary thing about the resurrection and it always seems to get stuck on the significance of what it means for our own eternal life. This is all true. I often tell people that because Jesus was raised...I will be raised. This is so true.

But the gospel of Mark has a different sort of emphasis. He, the first gospel writer, is telling his readers that "Jesus has been raised so it would be in your best interest to go and see him for your own eyes. You can find him in Galilee. He told you this would happen and all that he said about himself and the coming Kingdom of God has been found true. God's Kingdom has now been established on earth as it is in heaven. So go! You'll find out for yourself that this is less about you and more about the mission that is ahead."

And Matthew...well he expanded on what Mark said and put it something like this. "So now you are convinced that Jesus was raised in full body and was fully restored. What do you think this means for everyone? If he was a mere spirit raised from the dead then you would have no real hope or at least you would never be certain of all the things in which he spoke. There is a great purpose ahead. And it's not going to revolve around you own private spiritualilty. Again, if Jesus was raised as spirit, then you may have a case. But Jesus was raised in restored flesh, bones, and blood. And now the person of Jesus is enthroned as the Lord of heaven and earth. The future Kingdom that you have read about so much is now here. That's right...it is here among all of you. And the way in which you are being called to participate in it is to put it into practice by pledging your allegiance to him and seeking the welfare of others. God is with us is now Jesus with us and it will be so until the transforming work in this world has been completed. The resurrection is a far cry from a sentimental happy ending to a bad day. Rather, it is the turning point for everything else. Now go and reread the Hebrew scriptures and you'll see that it all makes sense. There you will find a beautiful story of suffering and vindication...of exile and restoration...and a further vindication of not only Israel but of the entire world. I urge to complete the ongoing dangerous and difficult task of being followers of Christ our Lord. See...we have turned the corner...this is a new world that must be seen in a new light."

May we as believers see ourselves as people on a mission to transform the world!

A Sense That It All Makes Sense

Say the word "evangelism" to several Christians in a room and you will receive a host of different reactions. Some feel that evangelism is a gift while others shiver at the mere mention of the word. No matter how the word makes us feel, undoubtebly conditioned by our past experiences with the church, I believe that the Church's growth and survival depend on it. I'm certain that my own negative reaction concerning evangelism is most likely stirred up from past images of loud revival preachers, salvation tracks scattered on the pavement, and overly aggressive believers.

My belief is that most...not all...have walked away from negative presentations believing that God is bigger than what was presented. I remember being forced to pray a prayer with 65 young people in Ecuador. Every single one of the young people were interested in what I had to say. After all, I appeared as the educated, wealthy American. As you might expect, all of the boys and girls raised there hand to accept Christ as their "personal" Lord and Savior. Had I done any good or had I continued the tradition of conveying God as small and safe...capable of being manipulated?

I'm not sure that the typical presentation of the gospel by committed Christians makes sense in our culture. The gospel of Jesus is presented as the quick ticket out of this world. Meanwhile, the world is crying out for something greater. They know there has to be a plan and it cannot merely exist to prepare ourselves for the next. Just try to tell the average non-Christian artist or musician that God doesn't care about this world...that God only wants to deliver you safely into heaven when they die. Most would never buy into the idea of it because to them...this world is important and often beautiful.

The gospel must be presented in such a way that the culture can relate to it. Of course, this has to be done without being clever or appearing as a technique. Here are a few thoughts.

First, the church must seek justice for those who are weak and poor. Forget about the fear of encouraging hand-me-outs to those in need. Let's help people. It is our Christian duty. It is what the church is about. The social gospel didn't work years ago and neither should Christians organizations attempt to revive it. However, working FOR the kingdom of God mean that we must work for the justice of others. The church must embrace justic toward other and become comfortable with the word; make it synonomous with Christianity.

Second, the church must celebrate community and creation. Christianity was never meant to be so private. Never let the words, "your personal Lord and Savior" come across our lips again! Coffee and doughuts, popcorn and pizza, dinner and a movie; whatever it takes. We must be together because we want to be together. Celebrate what has been given to us while working for those who are without.

Maybe then people will see what can happen when the gospel takes root. People will then discover that it really does make sense. And when people gain a sense that it all makes sense...then they will discover that it is actually tranforming the way that they think and feel about most everything. Jesus can become this kind of reality to people. And the only way to express it is through learning about God in the Bible and gathering with other believers. I believe that most people out there with a mere inkling of God-consiousness will be surprised to hear that God has a plan for the world; that he is working in history and wants them to be a part of something good and eternal.

Opening Celebrations and the Myth of Progress

I have to admit that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony was impressive. The fireworks, the movements, the images, the symbolism all came together to dazzle the mind and make a Super Bowl half-time show look like like low budget concert.

Only a state run government could put on such a show. Maybe this is why it also bothered me.

If the Olympics ever return to the United States, there will be no way to upstage what we witnessed on Friday night. We would never be able to come up with enough sponsors to fund such an operation. So I mentioned to my son that he would never see anything quite like that again.

One could be tempted to believe, especially with all of the symbolism of harmony and unity, that we are finally experiencing progress in the world. Beijing was motivated to erase certain events from the past and seek redemption by looking forward into the future. And these two images seem to compete with each other through every dazzling act. If it was not hundreds of people in straight lines it was a choreographed image of a happy circle.

Although very impressed, I am reminded that true progress in this world is actually a myth. Sounds depressing and it makes me out to be a pessimist, but I nevertheless believe it is unfortunately true.

Ehhemmm...let me once again quote N.T. Wright. "The relentless progressivist politicians feel obliged to offer us projects that have to be dressed up with the relentlessly postmodernist techniques of spin and hype; in the absence of real hope, and all that is left is feelings. Persuasion will not work because we're never going to believe it. What we appear to need, and therefore what people give us, is entertainment. "

"This Utopian dream is in fact a parody of the Christian vision; that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world will come together to produce a vision of history moving forward toward its goal, a goal that will emerge from within rather than being a new gift from elsewhere. All we really need is education and hard work."

The real problem with the myth of progress is that it cannot deal with evil. As the Olympics carry on (and I watch), we are also aware of the new crisis in Georgia and the old crisis in Dar fur.

Let me also say this...I completely understand that the Olympics are about an idea. No one actually believes that when the closing ceremony arrive, all things will be peaceful.

But as a Christian I must examine the world as a world that ultimately will find it's renewal through the actions of God. What the creator God has done in Jesus Christ and through his resurrection is what HE intends to do for the entire cosmos.

Life After Life After Death

Where are our departed Christian loved ones anyway? I find it startling that we don't search the Scriptures for more of a definitive answer. We all speak of heaven but admittedly know little about it. We are unable to break free of the Hollywood version of what eternal life...or what heaven...is all about. Every once in a while we may read a Pauline passage that refers to the journey as involving two places...not just one destination of paradise. Are we all going to join the Christian departed in a state of sleepy unconsciousness until Jesus takes us home? Or does a middle state exist at all? Most of us were taught at a very young age that when a believer dies, he is instantly joined with Christ in eternity...no questions asked. Just the thought of a restful stop along the way is a painful sound to our Protestant ears.

For all of you that grew up as a Southern Baptist, you will be able to relate to the following conclusions concerning heaven.

1. It is a fuzzy place.

2. If you accept Christ you are in...even if you only half-heartily meant it in the first place.

3. Christ will be at the top of the stairway ready to give you a hug for believing in him rather than other religious leaders who teach that you must work for it.

4. This world matters but not really because it is going to be burned up one day.

5. Flesh is evil and enjoying the flesh is evil unless enjoyed through Christian marriage. Funny how marriage makes the flesh un-evil.

6. Because the flesh is evil...your soul is going to heaven to be with either a soul Jesus or a Jesus in bodily form. Who can really be sure of such things?

7. If there is a middle place along the journey to blissful paradise, it is only a type of sleep until God burns up the non-believers in true apocalyptic fashion. Duck!

8. Jesus will then be ready to take you to heaven where your ancestors and friends are already doing cartwheels. You will be instantly happy that you chose the Protestant Jesus over the Catholic Jesus or any other errant version preached from the church down the street.

9. You will be pleased to find that Jesus is tall, thin, and blue-eyed with sandy-blond hair.

10. Heaven will be a combination of everything you wanted to do but couldn't do on earth and a continuous, joyful praise to God. Although you won't admit it, your enthusiasm comes from the idea of playing ping-pong wherever you want and flying around anywhere you want.

I admit that I am being very sarcastic but there truly is part of me that resents not being told the truth as a child.

But here is what I have come to believe.

There is a middle place. It is not called purgatory. We do not have to work our way out of this middle place but we will remain in restful happiness until Jesus returns as Judge. (Even the most liberal among us must admit that judgement will have to come to those who took up the direction of evil and played it out in areas such as Rwanda and Dar fur)

Let's go ahead and call THIS place heaven...and refer to life after life...after death as the new creation. We'll keep our bodies but they will be made perfect. And this is why the hungry child matters. This is why the abused wife matters to us. We will be saved in our bodies and it will done in community. We will all enter the New Jerusalem together.

N.T. Wright adds that "it is on earth that things matter, not somewhere else." And maybe that is why Jesus spoke so seldom about future life (Gehenna or heaven).

It's time that the Christian church take up the language of eternity that will connect us to the world around us.

Thomas' Aha! Moment

N.T. Wright, one of my favorite New Testament writers, shares a parable from the Easter Oratorio. He writes that Thomas, like any good historian, wants to see and touch. He wants to remain in the protective realm of what he understands to be true and possible. So Jesus meets his request and presents himself to his sight and invites him to touch. But Thomas does not take Jesus up on his offer (which completetely goes against the image above) and comes to a place where he transends the type of knowing in which he is accustom and passes into a higher and richer one. So in the parable below, the image of the Red Sea is used to portray the doubt that Thomas faced and his transendent acceptance of what God can really do.

The sea is too deep
The heaven's too high
I cannot swim
I cannot fly;
I must stay here
I must stay here
Here where I know
How I can know
Here where I know
What I can know.

Jesus then reappears and invites Thomas to see and touch. Suddenly the new, giddying possibility appears before him:

The sea has parted. Pharaoh's hosts-
Despair, and doubt, and fear, and pride-
No longer frighten us. We must
Cross over to the other side.
The heaven bows down. With wounded hands
Our exiled God, our Lord of shame
Before us, living, breathing, stands;
The Word is near, and calls our name.
New knowing for the doubting mind,
New seeing out of blindness grows;
New trusting may the sceptic find
New hope through that which faith now knows.

And with that, Thomas takes a deep breath and brings history and faith together in a rush. "My Lord," he says, "and my God."

Heaven...vague and fuzzy optimism?

Jesus was raised from the dead. There is a certain promise made in this great God-event. The promise is that because Jesus was raised....I will be raised. But for some reason the Christian church, and many of its leaders, find it convenient to dilute this doctrine in order to pave a way for a feathery interpretation of eternity. In fact, our idea of heaven and hell has been madly shaped by our culture and we toy around with one of the most important and life-changing verses in the Bible; "On earth as it is in heaven."

I am guilty, even though I should know better, of perceiving death as a great enemy. Most of us feel this way because we don't understand what will happen to us one day and it is natural to fear the unknown. I see my children getting older and my hair getting thinner and I just can't stand it. And I imagine we all fall victim to believing that "heaven" can't be as good as this world because we will only praise a jealous God. Further, we won't be able to experience the tangibles that make this life so meaningful. These are our culturally driven ideas that invade our senses and really have nothing to do with the New Testament teachings of Jesus.

Imagine if the global church redefined its position on eternity and declared it no longer to be "heavenly" or "fuzzy" or a place where only your soul goes when the body dies. No wonder we struggle in areas of justice. If only our souls go to heaven, then the health of the mortal body is of no real importance; all will be worked out in the end. But that same verse keeps creeping back up on me, "on earth as it is in heaven."

Did you know that when the English churches began to preach about this feathery place where only your soul retreats, that social justice concerns began to be less important. It didn't take long for the American evangelical churches to preach only about repentance and salvation. This left little room for talk about what the Christian church should do about injustice, hunger, violence, abuse, civil rights, equality, and poverty. I do see the church catching up and finally realizing this great mistake; but we have a long way to go. I think change will come as soon as the majority of churches take on the old, forgotten doctrine of "the resurrection of the dead." Our society is ready for such talk. Society is screaming at the church to tell them something else besides the salvation of the soul. There is very little in the New Testament about the soul and heaven. However, there is a ton of passages that deal with how to actively live our lives as Christians during the here and now. Our faith should be practiced in community and it should exist for people outside the church.

So, if we begin to reexamine our view of heaven then we may begin to realize that Jesus taught about a New Jerusalem; a new creation and a new earth. And there lies our connection to the world around us...to all living things. We should care about the welfare of others and of ourselves because our bodies do matter. Jesus was raised in bodily form and we will be raised in bodily form. That should be our hope and now all of a sudden, eternity seems real and perfect, not fuzzy and only optimistic thinking.