as part of a Taize' worship service, based around Luke 23:39-43, on March 23, 2014
Do you have to be baptized in order to be saved? Do you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven? The answer is No. I often use this passage as scriptural evidence. Here we have a thief, dying beside Jesus, who asks, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom." Jesus replies, "Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." This is hardly the time or place for a baptism.
Baptism, like we have had today, is the usual way that the church acts out God's desire to save all persons. In the prayer of thanksgiving over the water, we rehearse how God has saved humankind all throughout our history, from Noah and the flood, to the Exodus of bringing the Hebrews out of bondage through the Red Sea, to the baptism of Jesus. God's arms are wide open, welcoming all people.
So I have performed baptisms in the Neo-Natal ICU and in the nursing home...and at every point in between, for little babies to the elderly dying ones.
God's desire to save everyone is illustrated in another way in this passage. Jesus saves a man, a convicted thief, just before his dying breath. Jesus is among the outcasts, the forgotten, the downtrodden, the sinners. When they, when we cry, "Jesus, remember me," he does remember us and promise us salvation.
The thief is helpless and hopeless. He cries, "Jesus, remember me." The answer is immediate, "Today, you will be with me in paradise."
What seems to be the most helpless and hopeless place in your life? I would have you go there and offer it to Jesus. "Jesus, remember me." What seems to be the most helpless and hopeless place in our world today? I would have you go there and offer it to Jesus. "Jesus, remember me."
We join our voices with all those down through our Bible story who called upon the Lord in their desperation: Joseph in jail in Egypt, Hannah who could not have children, Job who was righteous yet struck down, Jeremiah weeping over his people in Jerusalem.
Jesus overcomes the most hopeless situations. When we cry, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom," Jesus responds, "Today, you will be with me in paradise."
That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Prayer Practice: Family Prayer
from Acts 2:42-47, on March 16, 2014
What a week! A plane goes missing .....even with all of our technology, we can't find it. A vote on the Crimean peninsula on whether to join Russia or not. Then here in Austin, in the midst of wonderful celebration of South by Southwest, a man has too much to drink, drives into crowds of people killing 2 and wounding many more. We could use some prayer, couldn't we?
I am inviting you to pray during this season of Lent. Each week we will have a chance to practice some element of prayer. Each week there will be a practical way of praying for you to take home. Please be open to some new way of praying you can practice this week, this Lent, or for the rest of your life.
I know that I have entitled this message as Family Prayer, and some of you have come here as single persons. You are whole and holy in your own right. In fact, when it comes to prayer, each of us is called to our individual prayer life. Remember Jesus' words in Matthew's Gospel, "when you pray, go into your closet by yourself and pray to your Father who sees you in secret." So I don't mean to exclude those of you who have come to worship as a single person.
I call this message Family Prayer because as I read the passage from Acts the early church functioned as a family. You notice how they held everything in common. They ate together in worship and in homes. There was not much difference between the two. They joined together in the teaching, in fellowship, in eating, and in prayers. The church was a place where we became brothers and sisters in Christ, His family.
I will be offering some different ways we pray as His family. The first is Marriage Prayers. About 10 years ago I went to a national training event for men's ministries. We guys are sometimes slow to get things; we can be resistant to spiritual matters. So for one teaching module, they set it up as a game show. Competition, testosterone pumping. We would get points for each correct answer. I don't remember all of the questions, but I got these next 3. The first question was, What is the national rate of divorce among all couples in the United States? I guessed 50%. Wrong. It was 1 in 3, 33%. No points. The next question was, What is the national rate of divorce among Christian couples in the U.S.? I guessed it would be lower. It wasn't. It was exactly the same. Bummer. I thought being a follower of Christ would make a difference. No points. The third question came up, What is the national rate of divorce among Christian couples who pray together? It was lower. It was 1 in 1052! I have a degree in math, but it is from A & M. I had to take off my shoes to do this higher math with fingers and toes. It was less than one-tenth of a percent!
I came home from that conference and said to Cathy, "Honey, let's pray." Now, we had prayed together when we first got married. Then kids came along, and work came along, and we dropped it. But for these last 10 years, we pray most mornings. Not every day, but lots of them. For us, it is in the morning before heading out. It is in the kitchen, standing, holding each other. Sometimes no one says anything. Sometimes, only one of us speaks out loud. Most of the time, we both say something, usually very short, only a sentence or two. How, when, and where would you couples pray together? This may be your take home today.
We also pray with Children. Hilary has wonderful resources at our website for you to peruse. Some simple ones are praying a grace at meals. Parents can say a line, and have kids repeat it. You can sing a grace like the Johnny Appleseed song or the Doxology. You can talk about sad times and glad times of that day, and hold those in prayer.
When our boys were young, they used to run through the parsonage in San Saba naked like wild creatures. To get them to slow down for supper, we used to turn off the lights, and light a candle. They were in awe of that. They would sit down and say grace and eat with us. You can use an icon or another picture to focus on.
At bedtime is another good time to pray with children. Children love routines. They bring comfort and security. You take a bath, get in your PJ's, read a story, say your prayers. Prayers can be "God bless...." and go down the list of people and pets. One really great way of praying is gratitude prayers, to say prayers of thanksgiving. Pastor Jim, our associate, taught me this. Go to bed, giving thanks to God for 5 things. Oftentimes, you will fall asleep before you finish. What a great way to go to sleep--thanking God.
I have some other ways we pray as the family of God. As I prepare these messages I try to listen for the ways God is moving around me. One I heard about from a man in our congregation recently. His fraternity brother from college asked him to come to Houston to celebrate the man's son's 16th birthday. Some 10 men gathered at a restaurant with father and son. The father said to his son, "Son, in the next 10 years of your life, you will be going through some of the biggest decisions of your life: you will be getting your licence to drive, getting a car, graduating from high school, going to college, getting a degree, meeting a spouse, maybe starting a family, starting a career. Son, these men will be here for you. If anything should happen to me, know that you can turn to them for help." One by one, each man said how they could help the young man. They were a Band of Brothers. This may be your take home from this message today.
To practice gender equality, we are trying to start this Mom to Mom program. Here young moms will not only bond together, they will also have mentor moms from the generation ahead of them. We all need the accountability and encouragement of each other. This may be your take home from this message.
I have another way of praying as the family of Christ called the church; that is through sound. It may be the richness of silence, or a breath prayer, or wind chimes. Another person associated with this congregation, who has cancer was telling me about sound as prayer. She goes with other persons who have these singing bowls. The sound washes over her. She said, "It feels like God's healing is flowing over me." It sounds like this (I do the ringing). This may be your take away from this message.
Pause now. How will you be practicing prayer as Christ's family? What is your take away. We were made to pray as individuals. We are made to pray in the family. That is the good news I have to share today.
What a week! A plane goes missing .....even with all of our technology, we can't find it. A vote on the Crimean peninsula on whether to join Russia or not. Then here in Austin, in the midst of wonderful celebration of South by Southwest, a man has too much to drink, drives into crowds of people killing 2 and wounding many more. We could use some prayer, couldn't we?
I am inviting you to pray during this season of Lent. Each week we will have a chance to practice some element of prayer. Each week there will be a practical way of praying for you to take home. Please be open to some new way of praying you can practice this week, this Lent, or for the rest of your life.
I know that I have entitled this message as Family Prayer, and some of you have come here as single persons. You are whole and holy in your own right. In fact, when it comes to prayer, each of us is called to our individual prayer life. Remember Jesus' words in Matthew's Gospel, "when you pray, go into your closet by yourself and pray to your Father who sees you in secret." So I don't mean to exclude those of you who have come to worship as a single person.
I call this message Family Prayer because as I read the passage from Acts the early church functioned as a family. You notice how they held everything in common. They ate together in worship and in homes. There was not much difference between the two. They joined together in the teaching, in fellowship, in eating, and in prayers. The church was a place where we became brothers and sisters in Christ, His family.
I will be offering some different ways we pray as His family. The first is Marriage Prayers. About 10 years ago I went to a national training event for men's ministries. We guys are sometimes slow to get things; we can be resistant to spiritual matters. So for one teaching module, they set it up as a game show. Competition, testosterone pumping. We would get points for each correct answer. I don't remember all of the questions, but I got these next 3. The first question was, What is the national rate of divorce among all couples in the United States? I guessed 50%. Wrong. It was 1 in 3, 33%. No points. The next question was, What is the national rate of divorce among Christian couples in the U.S.? I guessed it would be lower. It wasn't. It was exactly the same. Bummer. I thought being a follower of Christ would make a difference. No points. The third question came up, What is the national rate of divorce among Christian couples who pray together? It was lower. It was 1 in 1052! I have a degree in math, but it is from A & M. I had to take off my shoes to do this higher math with fingers and toes. It was less than one-tenth of a percent!
I came home from that conference and said to Cathy, "Honey, let's pray." Now, we had prayed together when we first got married. Then kids came along, and work came along, and we dropped it. But for these last 10 years, we pray most mornings. Not every day, but lots of them. For us, it is in the morning before heading out. It is in the kitchen, standing, holding each other. Sometimes no one says anything. Sometimes, only one of us speaks out loud. Most of the time, we both say something, usually very short, only a sentence or two. How, when, and where would you couples pray together? This may be your take home today.
We also pray with Children. Hilary has wonderful resources at our website for you to peruse. Some simple ones are praying a grace at meals. Parents can say a line, and have kids repeat it. You can sing a grace like the Johnny Appleseed song or the Doxology. You can talk about sad times and glad times of that day, and hold those in prayer.
When our boys were young, they used to run through the parsonage in San Saba naked like wild creatures. To get them to slow down for supper, we used to turn off the lights, and light a candle. They were in awe of that. They would sit down and say grace and eat with us. You can use an icon or another picture to focus on.
At bedtime is another good time to pray with children. Children love routines. They bring comfort and security. You take a bath, get in your PJ's, read a story, say your prayers. Prayers can be "God bless...." and go down the list of people and pets. One really great way of praying is gratitude prayers, to say prayers of thanksgiving. Pastor Jim, our associate, taught me this. Go to bed, giving thanks to God for 5 things. Oftentimes, you will fall asleep before you finish. What a great way to go to sleep--thanking God.
I have some other ways we pray as the family of God. As I prepare these messages I try to listen for the ways God is moving around me. One I heard about from a man in our congregation recently. His fraternity brother from college asked him to come to Houston to celebrate the man's son's 16th birthday. Some 10 men gathered at a restaurant with father and son. The father said to his son, "Son, in the next 10 years of your life, you will be going through some of the biggest decisions of your life: you will be getting your licence to drive, getting a car, graduating from high school, going to college, getting a degree, meeting a spouse, maybe starting a family, starting a career. Son, these men will be here for you. If anything should happen to me, know that you can turn to them for help." One by one, each man said how they could help the young man. They were a Band of Brothers. This may be your take home from this message today.
To practice gender equality, we are trying to start this Mom to Mom program. Here young moms will not only bond together, they will also have mentor moms from the generation ahead of them. We all need the accountability and encouragement of each other. This may be your take home from this message.
I have another way of praying as the family of Christ called the church; that is through sound. It may be the richness of silence, or a breath prayer, or wind chimes. Another person associated with this congregation, who has cancer was telling me about sound as prayer. She goes with other persons who have these singing bowls. The sound washes over her. She said, "It feels like God's healing is flowing over me." It sounds like this (I do the ringing). This may be your take away from this message.
Pause now. How will you be practicing prayer as Christ's family? What is your take away. We were made to pray as individuals. We are made to pray in the family. That is the good news I have to share today.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Prayer Practice: Lord, Teach Us To Pray
from my Lenten Series, from Luke 11:1-4
You were made to pray. God hard-wired you just for this. Prayer is talking with your closest friend. It is talking and listening. There is nothing weird or unusual about praying. You were made to pray.
Little children pray very well. Maybe it is only as we get older that we get self-conscious about praying. We start rating ourselves. We get intimidated. We say, "I can't pray like Billy Graham." So we stop.
What I teach is this: Pray as you can....not as you can't. There are many right ways to pray. Silence, journalling, art, meditation on scripture, breath prayers, with images/icons, singing, flashing prayers, mission projects, all are wonderful ways of praying.
When we don't know what to pray, there is a prayer waiting for us. We call it the Lord's prayer, but really it is our prayer, the model prayer that Jesus gave us. I am glad to see those closest to Jesus still needed help in praying. "Lord, teach us to pray," they ask. So we do today. It takes the pressure off. It is a learning process. We never finish. It is liberating. It is like a research project.
Today we use the model prayer as a way to get started praying. First, our Address of God. What name do you use to address God? In the model prayer, we say Our Father. Father is one of the most common ones. Father is used 15 times in the Old Testament and 245 times in the New Testament to address God. I went on the internet this past week and looked up names for God. There were 100's. How do call upon God?
Second, we offer praise to God. In the model prayer, we say Hallowed be thy name. Here we praise God for who God is, for what God does, for God's character, for God's attributes. How do you praise God?
Third, we ask. In the model prayer, we say, Give us, forgive us. I know that in other places Jesus says, that the Father knows what we need even before we ask. I also know that Jesus says we are to ask, seek, and knock. I think God likes to hear us ask even though God knows what we already need. It is part of the relationship, the asking. The more we ask, the better we get at asking for the right things.
Let me illustrate with my cell phone. Here I will take a selfie, that is a picture of myself. That is how we often begin our life of prayer, asking for ourself alone. That is not wrong. But it is a beginning place. Now let me turn around and take a selfie with you, just like they did at the Oscars. We are all in the picture. That's how our asking gets shaped, from me to us. Look at the pronouns in the model prayer. Our, us, ....they are all plural. We were made for community. God shapes our asking as we pray. What are you asking for today in your prayers?
Finally, we close. We leave with respect, with politeness. The model prayer does with a benediction. We often pray in Jesus' name, that is, praying as Jesus would have us pray. We often say, Amen. Amen means, So be it, may it be so, I affirm this, or Yes. In Battlestar Galatica, they say, So Say We All!
Take a moment to pray now.
There is another simple way of praying using the acronym ACTS.
The A stands for Adoration. How do you adore God?
The C stands for Confession. Here is something we need to do that we don't always do so well. We need to humble ourselves, to admit that we can't save ourselves. We need to come clean before God. Lent is like spring cleaning for the soul. We need to tell the truth about ourselves before God, trusting that God forgives. We need to make room for God to move in our lives, letting go of hurts and sins. What do you need to confess this day?
T is for Thanksgiving. This is one of our most basic prayers, paying attention to how God is moving in our lives. For what are you thankful today?
S is for Supplication. That is a big word for asking. Another way of talking about supplication is saying, Help. Where do you need help today?
The good news is that when we say, Lord, teach us to pray, He does. Amen.
You were made to pray. God hard-wired you just for this. Prayer is talking with your closest friend. It is talking and listening. There is nothing weird or unusual about praying. You were made to pray.
Little children pray very well. Maybe it is only as we get older that we get self-conscious about praying. We start rating ourselves. We get intimidated. We say, "I can't pray like Billy Graham." So we stop.
What I teach is this: Pray as you can....not as you can't. There are many right ways to pray. Silence, journalling, art, meditation on scripture, breath prayers, with images/icons, singing, flashing prayers, mission projects, all are wonderful ways of praying.
When we don't know what to pray, there is a prayer waiting for us. We call it the Lord's prayer, but really it is our prayer, the model prayer that Jesus gave us. I am glad to see those closest to Jesus still needed help in praying. "Lord, teach us to pray," they ask. So we do today. It takes the pressure off. It is a learning process. We never finish. It is liberating. It is like a research project.
Today we use the model prayer as a way to get started praying. First, our Address of God. What name do you use to address God? In the model prayer, we say Our Father. Father is one of the most common ones. Father is used 15 times in the Old Testament and 245 times in the New Testament to address God. I went on the internet this past week and looked up names for God. There were 100's. How do call upon God?
Second, we offer praise to God. In the model prayer, we say Hallowed be thy name. Here we praise God for who God is, for what God does, for God's character, for God's attributes. How do you praise God?
Third, we ask. In the model prayer, we say, Give us, forgive us. I know that in other places Jesus says, that the Father knows what we need even before we ask. I also know that Jesus says we are to ask, seek, and knock. I think God likes to hear us ask even though God knows what we already need. It is part of the relationship, the asking. The more we ask, the better we get at asking for the right things.
Let me illustrate with my cell phone. Here I will take a selfie, that is a picture of myself. That is how we often begin our life of prayer, asking for ourself alone. That is not wrong. But it is a beginning place. Now let me turn around and take a selfie with you, just like they did at the Oscars. We are all in the picture. That's how our asking gets shaped, from me to us. Look at the pronouns in the model prayer. Our, us, ....they are all plural. We were made for community. God shapes our asking as we pray. What are you asking for today in your prayers?
Finally, we close. We leave with respect, with politeness. The model prayer does with a benediction. We often pray in Jesus' name, that is, praying as Jesus would have us pray. We often say, Amen. Amen means, So be it, may it be so, I affirm this, or Yes. In Battlestar Galatica, they say, So Say We All!
Take a moment to pray now.
There is another simple way of praying using the acronym ACTS.
The A stands for Adoration. How do you adore God?
The C stands for Confession. Here is something we need to do that we don't always do so well. We need to humble ourselves, to admit that we can't save ourselves. We need to come clean before God. Lent is like spring cleaning for the soul. We need to tell the truth about ourselves before God, trusting that God forgives. We need to make room for God to move in our lives, letting go of hurts and sins. What do you need to confess this day?
T is for Thanksgiving. This is one of our most basic prayers, paying attention to how God is moving in our lives. For what are you thankful today?
S is for Supplication. That is a big word for asking. Another way of talking about supplication is saying, Help. Where do you need help today?
The good news is that when we say, Lord, teach us to pray, He does. Amen.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Prayer Practice: Fasting and Prayer
from my message on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2014, from Matthew 6:1:, 16-18
Fasting. Fasting is going without food in order to get closer to Christ.
It is not the Christian diet plan. You may lose weight, but that is not the point of fasting.
It is not to manipulate God...or the government...or another person.
It is not for everybody. If you have a medical condition like pregnancy or a heart condition, don't fast. I don't recommend fasting for children. Don't fast if you are doing it on a whim. Only fast if you are called to do it.
It is not done for show. That's the warning that Jesus gives in this passage. We don't fast in order to show others how holy we are.
For me, it is always fasting and prayer. Prayer and fasting are always linked. The hunger we feel in our bodies reminds us to be hungry for God. One church member here calls fasting, biofeedback. Our body helps us remember to turn to God in prayer. We fast to clear out, to make room for God to move in our lives.
It is an ancient practice. We pick up our Bibles and find Moses the lawgiver fasting, King David fasting, Elijah the prophet fasting, Queen Esther fasting, the people of Nineveh fasting, and Anna the prophetess fasting. Of course, our prime example of fasting is Jesus. As he began his ministry, Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days of prayer and fasting. At the end of that time, the Tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, change this stone into a loaf of bread." And Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." What we are really hungry for is a relationship with God.
We get our 40 days of Lent from this example of Jesus. We prepare for the holy mystery of Easter by taking this time for prayer and fasting, to clear out the clutter of our lives, to grow closer to Christ.
I invite you to a season of fasting and prayer. You could begin by missing just one meal a week. That's what our Disciple Bible Study is doing this Lent. Ten people skipping one meal for 6 weeks, we are going to take the money that we would have spent on that meal and pool it together. We will amass a few hundred dollars that we will give to a mission. My wife Cathy reminds me that more than the money, there will a freeing of time. We will save the time we would have spent buying the food, preparing the food, and eating the food. We will find 1 to 2 hours a week that we can redirect to prayer.
You might try a Danial fast. Our associate pastor, Jim, put me onto this a few years ago. You can read about it in the Old Testament book of Daniel, just 12 chapters long. Daniel has been taken captive in Babylon. He wants to show that his God, the LORD, is better than the gods of Babylon. He goes on a 3 week fast, where he eats no delicacies, no meat, and no wine. Basically, he is a vegan, eating only fruits and vegetables, nuts and berries. He comes out much healthier. But the point was to show who really is God.
Cathy and I have practiced a Daniel fast in the recent past. We did with a specific issue in mind. What we found was that we grew less anxious and less invasive about this issue. We were able to let go of our control and give it over to God. It is good to fast with a purpose in mind, something you want to turn over to God, to show who really is God.
You could also fast from some distraction, like forgoing watching TV, or going on the internet, or getting hooked to social media or playing video games. You could use that time for prayer.
You could also fast from some behavior. I once had an associate pastor who used the season of Lent to fast from cursing. You may not believe it, but we pastor can cuss. After 40 days, she found that God had removed that tendency from her.
You may need to fast from overfunctioning, trying to do too much, overbooking. I had a spiritual director who said that for Lent, she was not going to take on any new thing. Of course, she was asked to lead a group to Rome and other holy sites in Italy. She answered, "No." What a powerful word.
Our fasting and prayer may reveal our deeper motives and desire and agendas. It is a powerful spiritual discipline.
You may think that you are giving up something. Thomas Merton came from a wealthy, privileged background. He felt a calling to become a Trappist monk. His friends thought he was crazy, giving up all that money and activity. He thought of it as liberation, being freed up to worship God.
That is the point of fasting and prayer, simply to focus on God, to grow in relationship with Christ. That is the good news I have to share.
Fasting. Fasting is going without food in order to get closer to Christ.
It is not the Christian diet plan. You may lose weight, but that is not the point of fasting.
It is not to manipulate God...or the government...or another person.
It is not for everybody. If you have a medical condition like pregnancy or a heart condition, don't fast. I don't recommend fasting for children. Don't fast if you are doing it on a whim. Only fast if you are called to do it.
It is not done for show. That's the warning that Jesus gives in this passage. We don't fast in order to show others how holy we are.
For me, it is always fasting and prayer. Prayer and fasting are always linked. The hunger we feel in our bodies reminds us to be hungry for God. One church member here calls fasting, biofeedback. Our body helps us remember to turn to God in prayer. We fast to clear out, to make room for God to move in our lives.
It is an ancient practice. We pick up our Bibles and find Moses the lawgiver fasting, King David fasting, Elijah the prophet fasting, Queen Esther fasting, the people of Nineveh fasting, and Anna the prophetess fasting. Of course, our prime example of fasting is Jesus. As he began his ministry, Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days of prayer and fasting. At the end of that time, the Tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, change this stone into a loaf of bread." And Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." What we are really hungry for is a relationship with God.
We get our 40 days of Lent from this example of Jesus. We prepare for the holy mystery of Easter by taking this time for prayer and fasting, to clear out the clutter of our lives, to grow closer to Christ.
I invite you to a season of fasting and prayer. You could begin by missing just one meal a week. That's what our Disciple Bible Study is doing this Lent. Ten people skipping one meal for 6 weeks, we are going to take the money that we would have spent on that meal and pool it together. We will amass a few hundred dollars that we will give to a mission. My wife Cathy reminds me that more than the money, there will a freeing of time. We will save the time we would have spent buying the food, preparing the food, and eating the food. We will find 1 to 2 hours a week that we can redirect to prayer.
You might try a Danial fast. Our associate pastor, Jim, put me onto this a few years ago. You can read about it in the Old Testament book of Daniel, just 12 chapters long. Daniel has been taken captive in Babylon. He wants to show that his God, the LORD, is better than the gods of Babylon. He goes on a 3 week fast, where he eats no delicacies, no meat, and no wine. Basically, he is a vegan, eating only fruits and vegetables, nuts and berries. He comes out much healthier. But the point was to show who really is God.
Cathy and I have practiced a Daniel fast in the recent past. We did with a specific issue in mind. What we found was that we grew less anxious and less invasive about this issue. We were able to let go of our control and give it over to God. It is good to fast with a purpose in mind, something you want to turn over to God, to show who really is God.
You could also fast from some distraction, like forgoing watching TV, or going on the internet, or getting hooked to social media or playing video games. You could use that time for prayer.
You could also fast from some behavior. I once had an associate pastor who used the season of Lent to fast from cursing. You may not believe it, but we pastor can cuss. After 40 days, she found that God had removed that tendency from her.
You may need to fast from overfunctioning, trying to do too much, overbooking. I had a spiritual director who said that for Lent, she was not going to take on any new thing. Of course, she was asked to lead a group to Rome and other holy sites in Italy. She answered, "No." What a powerful word.
Our fasting and prayer may reveal our deeper motives and desire and agendas. It is a powerful spiritual discipline.
You may think that you are giving up something. Thomas Merton came from a wealthy, privileged background. He felt a calling to become a Trappist monk. His friends thought he was crazy, giving up all that money and activity. He thought of it as liberation, being freed up to worship God.
That is the point of fasting and prayer, simply to focus on God, to grow in relationship with Christ. That is the good news I have to share.
Monday, March 3, 2014
just imagine: greater things
from my message on March 2, 2014, from John 14:12-14
Great things are still to be done.
Jesus said, "Those who believe in me will do the works that I do, and greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
What did Jesus do? He healed....not just bodies, but minds, spirits, relationships, memories. He fed people, sometimes with bread and fish, and sometimes with his words. He forgave people, and gave them another chance. He even raised the dead.
So do we. We are called to do even greater works. I have been preaching 36 years now. I remember preaching on this passage decades ago when AIDS first came out. I said that I could envision the day when we would find a cure for AIDS. I open up my newspaper this very morning, and there is an article about a vaccine for AIDS in clinical trials. Not just medicines, but therapies, treatments, procedures. Not just physical healing but counseling, listening, praying, recovery programs. We buy mosquito nets, and have food pantries, and support groups, and housing efforts.
We are doing greater things than even Jesus. One, we have the multiplier effect of so many more years. Now, 2 millienia. Two, we have the multiplier effect of so many more people. How many billions of believers have there been over the years.
We realize that these greater works are not a matter of individual efforts. We are the body of Christ. All of our spiritual gifts are added together to do greater things for Christ, in His name.
There is that intriguing language, about asking for anything in Jesus' name, and Him granting it. What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? We had that question last Sunday evening in our Disciple Bible Study class. Is it like magic? If we just say the right words, Jesus makes it happen? Is it manipulation? We just know the right formula to get Jesus to act?
Our Disciple Bible study came to the conclusion that to pray in Jesus' name meant to pray like He prayed, to pray for the things He prayed for, to pray with Jesus what He is still praying for today. We get so in tune with Jesus that His prayers are answered through us.
We continue to pray that our God will be honored, that God's reign will be recognized, that human needs will be met, that sins will be forgiven, and that we will be saved in times of trial.
Our greater works are not to draw attention to ourselves, but that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Is there still plenty of work to be done? Are people still hungry? Are there still hurts in the world? Is there still injustice? Is there still sickness? Is there still loneliness?
Great things are still to be done.
I was at a wedding yesterday involving folks from this congregation. After the wedding, I asked the bride and groom what were their plans for today. I fully expected to hear about their honeymoon. They said, "it's Interfaith Hospitality Network at our church. We are going to be helping those homeless families move into our church for temporary housing." I found that to be very encouraging.
Greater things are still to be done.
Great things are still to be done.
Jesus said, "Those who believe in me will do the works that I do, and greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
What did Jesus do? He healed....not just bodies, but minds, spirits, relationships, memories. He fed people, sometimes with bread and fish, and sometimes with his words. He forgave people, and gave them another chance. He even raised the dead.
So do we. We are called to do even greater works. I have been preaching 36 years now. I remember preaching on this passage decades ago when AIDS first came out. I said that I could envision the day when we would find a cure for AIDS. I open up my newspaper this very morning, and there is an article about a vaccine for AIDS in clinical trials. Not just medicines, but therapies, treatments, procedures. Not just physical healing but counseling, listening, praying, recovery programs. We buy mosquito nets, and have food pantries, and support groups, and housing efforts.
We are doing greater things than even Jesus. One, we have the multiplier effect of so many more years. Now, 2 millienia. Two, we have the multiplier effect of so many more people. How many billions of believers have there been over the years.
We realize that these greater works are not a matter of individual efforts. We are the body of Christ. All of our spiritual gifts are added together to do greater things for Christ, in His name.
There is that intriguing language, about asking for anything in Jesus' name, and Him granting it. What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name? We had that question last Sunday evening in our Disciple Bible Study class. Is it like magic? If we just say the right words, Jesus makes it happen? Is it manipulation? We just know the right formula to get Jesus to act?
Our Disciple Bible study came to the conclusion that to pray in Jesus' name meant to pray like He prayed, to pray for the things He prayed for, to pray with Jesus what He is still praying for today. We get so in tune with Jesus that His prayers are answered through us.
We continue to pray that our God will be honored, that God's reign will be recognized, that human needs will be met, that sins will be forgiven, and that we will be saved in times of trial.
Our greater works are not to draw attention to ourselves, but that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Is there still plenty of work to be done? Are people still hungry? Are there still hurts in the world? Is there still injustice? Is there still sickness? Is there still loneliness?
Great things are still to be done.
I was at a wedding yesterday involving folks from this congregation. After the wedding, I asked the bride and groom what were their plans for today. I fully expected to hear about their honeymoon. They said, "it's Interfaith Hospitality Network at our church. We are going to be helping those homeless families move into our church for temporary housing." I found that to be very encouraging.
Greater things are still to be done.
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