OK, "perfect" may not be the best qualifier, but a smooth point of transition nonetheless. A side note: as I type this I have another window open listening to some of the songs on youtube.com that we will be doing in worship in the coming weeks... How Can I keep From Singing, Word of God Speak, Jesus Messiah, Nothing Without You by Bebo Norman, Mighty to Save, and others. Drop me an email if you want regular lists so you can sing at the top of your lungs on Sunday mornings.
So this seamless transition is all about prayer. The last week of the Christmas Conversations book deals with various questions on prayer and this last week our Sunday morning "New perspective" theme was on prayer. See, perfect transtion!
I promised in worship to share a prayer blunder from my life. It came in seminary in the one class that us pastors-to-be must take on worship. At the start of each class, a couple students would be called upon and given a specific prayer request. The goal for a grade was to pray for that request according to the format/formula we had been given. So my day comes. My name is called and I am instructed (not really asked) to pray for music teachers in Lutheran schools who are three years away from retirement and struggling with teaching kindergartners how to play the bongos, wood block, and xylophone to Twinkle, twinkle Little Star. OK, so I exaggerate a little, but only for effect. So I start praying in front of a whole class of pastors-to-be (The author of the Christmas Conversations booklet among those in the class) and under the observation of a professor holding a red pen and wearing a scowl. And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed... yeah, that formula we were instructed went out the window really early on. I remember walking back to my seat looking at the pity in the faces of my classmates and probably enduring a comment from the prof like, "Well, that needs some work."
I should probably pray every morning for music teachers in Lutheran schools to make up for the disservice I did them that day. Man, I really blew it. But we aren't praying for a grade on too regular of a basis and certainly never in God's eyes. I don't know that I am any better of a prayer crafter now, but I know I am a much stronger prayer. This process of starting a new church has forced me to depend upon God and cling to Him like never before. Prayer flows out of that dependence and that clinging. Sometimes there are words, sometimes not. God has grown me by praying with others in desparate situations where I know I will never say the right words to bring comfort. In those moments I can only hope to remind someone else of God's love for him and God's presence in her life. In those moments of praying WITH someone I know each time that we will walk away with a stronger and deeper relationship. I have prayed with people on-line, over the telephone, and in person. I have shared meaningful evenings with Crosspointe's Prayer Team.
I'm not going to give you a formula for prayer and I'm not going to tell you that I have the whole prayer thing figured out. But, as a pastor who probably received a failing grade in prayer in my seminary worship class, I will tell you this: you cannot blow it when you are praying. You don't need to worry about the right words and the right posture and the right timing. Just talk to God about your cares and concerns and know that He hears you with a love that will never run out.
I look forward to praying with you and growing in prayer together.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Christmas Conversation Day 32-33
How long has it been since you have watched or read a Christmas Carol? I haven't seen it in years, but I can still picture some of the encounter between Scrooge and his three Christmas visitors. The ghost of Christmas past takes Scrooge back to his childhood and his abandonment by his family, to an engagement broken off because his love for money had outpaced his love for people, and to other moments of brokenness and isolation and bitterness that had developed over the years. Even as he sees joy-filled moments, in the present he can only look at those as treasures left unappreciated and eventually lost.
The ghost of Christmas yet to come (future) takes Scrooge to an equally unpleasant place where all of our fears for the future come together: disliked by others, every penny earned now in the hands of others, appreciated more as dead than if he were alive. The sobering journeys to the past, present, and future spur a realization in Scrooge; a change must be made, lessons must be learned, a new person must emerge.
Our relationship with God has something to say about both our past and our future. God's love and His grace greet you with words of forgiveness that tear down the barriers between anything in your past and Him. That doesn't mean that consequences may endure, but God's forgiveness and the love He has for you in Jesus ensures that your past does not preclude you from a relationship with God. I love the Day 33 emphasis on God's forgiveness for our past and His faithfulness for our future. All of our past failures and our future fears we can entrust to God. The past, present, and future can all be surrendered to God, placed in His hands for safe keeping and guidance... for He is full of forgiveness and forever faithful. What is God calling you to let go of and turn over to Him, either from the past, in to present, or down the road in the future?
The ghost of Christmas yet to come (future) takes Scrooge to an equally unpleasant place where all of our fears for the future come together: disliked by others, every penny earned now in the hands of others, appreciated more as dead than if he were alive. The sobering journeys to the past, present, and future spur a realization in Scrooge; a change must be made, lessons must be learned, a new person must emerge.
Our relationship with God has something to say about both our past and our future. God's love and His grace greet you with words of forgiveness that tear down the barriers between anything in your past and Him. That doesn't mean that consequences may endure, but God's forgiveness and the love He has for you in Jesus ensures that your past does not preclude you from a relationship with God. I love the Day 33 emphasis on God's forgiveness for our past and His faithfulness for our future. All of our past failures and our future fears we can entrust to God. The past, present, and future can all be surrendered to God, placed in His hands for safe keeping and guidance... for He is full of forgiveness and forever faithful. What is God calling you to let go of and turn over to Him, either from the past, in to present, or down the road in the future?
Christmas Conversation Day 28-31
Alright, I have it in my mind to complete posts for the entire devotion booklet... counting this one I am thinking I am down to 3 (of course, with me, that means maybe 4?). At the same time we will be transitioning some of the blog use to our new series of Sunday messages bringing new perspectives from God's Word with the new year.
In an act of great audacity, I am going to tweak Ryan's (the author, a sem classmate, and sem intramural opponent) Day 28 metaphor. When I think of God's work in my life it is not necessarily as a work-in-progress and a constant attempt by God to make me a better person. I'm not thinking in terms of surface improvements like filling in pot-holes or cracks or even repaving over road that has been worn-down. I'm also not thinking in terms of lane expansion so that God is adding more road to what was already there or beautification as if He were making the ride more enjoyable by adding pleasant things to experience along the drive.
The Bible talks in terms of the old being gone so that something new can be created. God doesn't come into our lives to make improvements, He comes to remove the old and bring the new. He comes to kill that which is in opposition to Him and raise up a new person living a new life with a new heart filled with a new love that provides new impulses, new desires, new attitudes, new behaviors, new everything. Within the metaphor, God puts on the hard hat, takes a jack hammer to our life, comes in with some heavy equipment to drag out the remnants, and then He lays down a new road (the metaphor gets tricky here and probably breaks down so I will simply describe the new road as...) that connects our life to Jesus.
I love the way Ryan then uses three days to demonstrate an awesome truth about your relationship with God and the new life that He brings. God knows you and He has created you with a certain uniqueness. You and you alone are you (That is my profound statement for the day). That means that YOU have interests and talents and passions and "mad skeelz" all given by God. And YOU can use these things you like to do and these things you are good at doing to glorify God and serve others. You don't have to be someone you're not and fit into someone else's image of an ideal you. Be the YOU God has made you to be. YOUR relationship with God will carry with it some of YOUR uniqueness. God will heal you and strengthen you and challenge you and grow you and use you based on the you that He has made you and you alone to be. What do you look forward to the most in a relationship (Pause, ponder, ponder some more, proceed)... apply that answer to your relationship with God.
In an act of great audacity, I am going to tweak Ryan's (the author, a sem classmate, and sem intramural opponent) Day 28 metaphor. When I think of God's work in my life it is not necessarily as a work-in-progress and a constant attempt by God to make me a better person. I'm not thinking in terms of surface improvements like filling in pot-holes or cracks or even repaving over road that has been worn-down. I'm also not thinking in terms of lane expansion so that God is adding more road to what was already there or beautification as if He were making the ride more enjoyable by adding pleasant things to experience along the drive.
The Bible talks in terms of the old being gone so that something new can be created. God doesn't come into our lives to make improvements, He comes to remove the old and bring the new. He comes to kill that which is in opposition to Him and raise up a new person living a new life with a new heart filled with a new love that provides new impulses, new desires, new attitudes, new behaviors, new everything. Within the metaphor, God puts on the hard hat, takes a jack hammer to our life, comes in with some heavy equipment to drag out the remnants, and then He lays down a new road (the metaphor gets tricky here and probably breaks down so I will simply describe the new road as...) that connects our life to Jesus.
I love the way Ryan then uses three days to demonstrate an awesome truth about your relationship with God and the new life that He brings. God knows you and He has created you with a certain uniqueness. You and you alone are you (That is my profound statement for the day). That means that YOU have interests and talents and passions and "mad skeelz" all given by God. And YOU can use these things you like to do and these things you are good at doing to glorify God and serve others. You don't have to be someone you're not and fit into someone else's image of an ideal you. Be the YOU God has made you to be. YOUR relationship with God will carry with it some of YOUR uniqueness. God will heal you and strengthen you and challenge you and grow you and use you based on the you that He has made you and you alone to be. What do you look forward to the most in a relationship (Pause, ponder, ponder some more, proceed)... apply that answer to your relationship with God.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Christmas Conversations Day 23-27
As I go back over these days, written with the intention of being read in the days before and after Christmas, a consistent theme jumps out at me that links each day with the others. In each reading I am hearing a call to something bigger.
Day 23: My relationship with God is not just between me and God. My connection with God is something bigger, it connects me with other Christians, pulling me into a community (what a deep and meaningful word which we easily take for granted) with other believers and equipping me to share the awesome joy God gives to me with those who need to experience it. I love the admission here that we gather not just because we get along (there will be disagreements), not just because we have the exact same interests, not just because those sitting in worship with us are our best friends forever. We are connected with one another in a unity which is much bigger- the love God has expressed for us in Jesus.
Day 24: We all have our certain preferences when it comes to the brand of milk we drink, the shoes we wear, or the fast food joint we hit when time is short. Maybe you like an aisle seat on a flight or maybe you are a window person. Maybe you like it cold (you are insane) or maybe you like the July heat. Packers-Vikings. Coke-Pepsi. Fake Christmas tree or real. When it comes to church we have preferences too, but there is something bigger. Jesus. More than the music, more than the teaching style, more than the color of the pews, or the absence of pews, or the use of hymnals or projection screens... it is Jesus that defines the church, leads the church, grows the church, and unifies the church.
Day 25: Our feelings are constantly in flux. Moods come and go. Situations change, for the better as well as for the worse. But there is one thing that stays the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is something bigger than how I feel right now or what my life looks like in this moment. God's loving faithfulness which saves people from sin and its consequences will not change and it will not waver and it will not lessen. You may doubt whether God could love you, you could wonder if God has disappeared and left you to face life on your own, you may feel like the whole world is against you and there is no hope. But God's love is bigger than you could ever imagine.
Day 26: A new-born, confused parents, a census issued by the government, simple clothes, the humble manger scene. It doesn't look like much, the whole thing comes across as pretty insignificant actually. But there is something so much bigger going on in Bethlehem as God comes to be with us. Good news of great joy!
Day 27: The joy and celebration of Christmas is limited on the calendar to one day. We bemoan the stores that begin pulling out red and green merchantise in October and who can name more than three gifts of the 12 days of Christmas (11 pipers piping, five golden rings, and a partridge in a pear tree... bonus 2 turtle doves... can you beat 4?) Christmas gets thrown out with the wrapping paper and packed back into boxes which are placed in the back of the closet. But there is something bigger. A God who wants a relationship with you. A God who desires to transform every aspect of your life and fill it with meaning. A God who would give anything and has given everything for you to know Him.
Day 23: My relationship with God is not just between me and God. My connection with God is something bigger, it connects me with other Christians, pulling me into a community (what a deep and meaningful word which we easily take for granted) with other believers and equipping me to share the awesome joy God gives to me with those who need to experience it. I love the admission here that we gather not just because we get along (there will be disagreements), not just because we have the exact same interests, not just because those sitting in worship with us are our best friends forever. We are connected with one another in a unity which is much bigger- the love God has expressed for us in Jesus.
Day 24: We all have our certain preferences when it comes to the brand of milk we drink, the shoes we wear, or the fast food joint we hit when time is short. Maybe you like an aisle seat on a flight or maybe you are a window person. Maybe you like it cold (you are insane) or maybe you like the July heat. Packers-Vikings. Coke-Pepsi. Fake Christmas tree or real. When it comes to church we have preferences too, but there is something bigger. Jesus. More than the music, more than the teaching style, more than the color of the pews, or the absence of pews, or the use of hymnals or projection screens... it is Jesus that defines the church, leads the church, grows the church, and unifies the church.
Day 25: Our feelings are constantly in flux. Moods come and go. Situations change, for the better as well as for the worse. But there is one thing that stays the same yesterday, today, and forever. There is something bigger than how I feel right now or what my life looks like in this moment. God's loving faithfulness which saves people from sin and its consequences will not change and it will not waver and it will not lessen. You may doubt whether God could love you, you could wonder if God has disappeared and left you to face life on your own, you may feel like the whole world is against you and there is no hope. But God's love is bigger than you could ever imagine.
Day 26: A new-born, confused parents, a census issued by the government, simple clothes, the humble manger scene. It doesn't look like much, the whole thing comes across as pretty insignificant actually. But there is something so much bigger going on in Bethlehem as God comes to be with us. Good news of great joy!
Day 27: The joy and celebration of Christmas is limited on the calendar to one day. We bemoan the stores that begin pulling out red and green merchantise in October and who can name more than three gifts of the 12 days of Christmas (11 pipers piping, five golden rings, and a partridge in a pear tree... bonus 2 turtle doves... can you beat 4?) Christmas gets thrown out with the wrapping paper and packed back into boxes which are placed in the back of the closet. But there is something bigger. A God who wants a relationship with you. A God who desires to transform every aspect of your life and fill it with meaning. A God who would give anything and has given everything for you to know Him.
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