What’s In YOUR Barn?

Posted on July 29, 2013 by themondayprayer

Money just makes you more of who you already are. If you’re a jerk when you’re poor, then if you become rich you’ll just become a colossal jerk. If you are generous when you have little, you will have the opportunity to bless even more people when you have much. —Dave Ramsey

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

Ecclesiastes 1:1-23
Psalm 49:1-11
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21

For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? —Ecclesiastes 2:21-22

PRAYER FOCUS: Storing Treasure

On his recent visit to Brazil, Pope Francis lamented, “Oh how I would like a poor church, and for the poor.”

What? The Pope, cloistered in the Vatican City, sitting atop the massive wealth of the Catholic Church, wants to be poor?

You bet. Pope Francis is not wishing to be poor in the sense that the Body of Christ has insufficient resources to do the Lord’s work in this world. Rather, he means poor in the sense that the church is not burdened with idle resources, and not puffed up with the pride that attaches to massive accumulation.

In this morning’s Prayer we ask our Father-God, in His mercy, to cleanse and defend His Church, to govern it by goodness. Then the Lectionary confronts us with not one or two, but four scriptures that all point to one thing: Keeping our hearts focused on heaven and not earth.

As you read today’s Old Testament selection, remember that King Solomon invested in more “toys” than any man of his time: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure” (Ecc. 2:10). And yet he complains that, in the end, he hated his toys because he was going to leave them for someone else. “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun” (Ecc. 2:18-19).

In the Gospel selection from Luke, Jesus warns a group of religious teachers, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Then He told this parable:

The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. So I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll tell myself, you have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:16-20)

Jesus underscores the parable with a warning: “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). Right after that, He explains to His followers, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34).

Is it the goal of our lives to accumulate wealth then kick back and “take life easy—eat, drink and be merry?”

By the same token, is it the goal of the Church to accumulate wealth and run swollen bureaucratic employment schemes (“General Boards”, “Global Ministries”, etc.) for well-intentioned but poorly deployed workers?

A container catches and collects stuff; if you pour something into a container it will stay there unless you overturn it. A container is often known by its label. In contrast, a pipeline is a conduit to transport whatever you pour into it to the place where you want it to be. A pipeline is more often known by what it carries. If it gets clogged, it doesn’t serve its purpose. When it comes to stewardship of God’s blessings, which one of these more accurately describes you? Which one describes your church?

Corporately, churches control staggering amounts of wealth. Most church denominations “administer” massive, expensive, inefficient bureaucracies that either retain or consume for themselves a large percentage of the financial resources poured into them. Churches, as much as any individual, have been prone to building ever-larger barns. If our churches were more like pipelines than containers, what kind of witness would that give to a lost, hurting, and increasingly hungry world?

Consider that—
• 12% of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water.
• 1 in 7 people worldwide today are hungry.
• 1.4 billion people survive on less than US$1.25 per day.
• 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity and modern forms of energy.

The point here is too many people—and too many churches—have overinvested in the stuff they’ve stored in their barns. That’s not to say that some level of planning and resource management is misplaced or inappropriate. But the Lord knows where our hearts are. We can get a pretty good idea by asking:

• Of the resources God has blessed me with, which am I a container for and which am I a pipeline for?
• Which do I love more—the stuff in my barn, or the people I share it with?

Greed. It’s one of the original seven deadly sins. Institutions are as susceptible as individuals.

As with Pride, Greed can be a deceptively subtle poison. The antidote is to give, and to give both generously and joyfully. How much giving is that?

—Until that’s where your treasure is, Christian.

It’s Monday Morning. What’s in YOUR barn?

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Don’t Be Deceived

Posted on July 22, 2013 by themondayprayer

Truth by definition is exclusive. Everything cannot be true. If everything is true, then nothing is false. And if nothing is false then it would also be true to say everything is false. We cannot have it both ways. —Ravi Zacharias

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Colossians 2:6-23
Luke 11:1-13

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ (Col. 2:8).

PRAYER FOCUS: Don’t Be Deceived.

Before J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) and his Lord of the Rings Trilogy (1954), before C.S. Lewis (1891-1963) and the Chronicles of Narnia (1954) lived an even greater writer of Christian Allegory—a 17th century English street preacher named John Bunyan (1628-88). Bunyan wrote one of Christianity’s most enduring allegories, widely known as Pilgrim’s Progress (published in 1678).

The Pilgrim’s name is Christian, the protagonist of the allegory. Christian sets out on a journey from his hometown, the “City of Destruction”, to the “Celestial City”. Along the way, Christian meets an array of people and creatures who represent the influences—for better or for worse—we all encounter in our walk of faith. One of Christian’s greatest challenges is discerning what (and who) to believe. Some of the more dangerous influences include:

• Worldly Wiseman – a reasonable, practical man Christian encounters early in his journey, who urges Christian to give up his religious foolishness and live a contented secular life.
• Talkative – a fellow pilgrim who travels with Christian for a while, but whom Christian eventually rejects for valuing empty spiritual words over good deeds.
• Mr. By-ends – a user of religion for personal ends and social profit.

During the course of the story, each befriends Christian and travels with him for a while. As Christian discovers, each character presents a subtle, yet clear and present, danger to Christian’s progress towards the Celestial City. Bunyan’s excellent and highly enjoyable allegory offers a literary echo to what the Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians.

In Chapter 2, verses 6-7, Paul exhorts the Colossians to continue to live in Christ, to be rooted in Christ, built up and strengthened in faith—just as they had been taught. Paul warns against three things that confronted the church at Colossae:

1. False Theology. Primarily Gnosticism (and some forms of Jewish mysticism) that held that God did not deal directly with man and the material world, but that He dealt with the world through a series of angel-like mediators. Paul took care to show that Jesus did the work of reconciliation Himself (Col. 1:19-20).
2. False Humility and the Worship of Angels. The Gnostic prided himself upon the special visions of secret things which were not open to the eyes of ordinary men and women. Angel worship was another Gnostic heresy (and form of Jewish mysticism), that Paul was careful to warn the Colossians against (Col. 2:18).
3. Worldly “Rules”. Beware of rules that have the appearance of wisdom, “but lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Col. 2:23).

The competing “philosophies” that threatened the Colossian Christians were an eclectic mix of early Gnosticism, local mystery religions, and Greek and Jewish mysticism. What made it so dangerous to the Christians of Colossae was its subtlety. It was not overtly sinful and licentious; indeed, it seemed high-sounding and highly intelligent. In our time we might refer to such philosophies as “spiritual but not religious”.

In the past half-century or so, the Church has seen the infiltration of certain alien theologies, such as the concept of “karma”. In Eastern mysticism, particularly Hinduism, karma dictates that “you get what you deserve”, i.e., when we are good, we deserve to receive good; when we are bad, we deserve to receive bad. In the flow of this logic, we should do good because it benefits ourselves, not others, which is fundamentally selfish.

Some might argue that Paul agrees with karma when he explains to the Galatians that “a man reaps what he sows” (Gal. 6:7). But in the context of the very next verse, Paul clearly disagrees: “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8). Paul is saying, in God’s logic, we do good not because we expect some karmic return, but because our goodness glorifies the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we are to do good, and to seek good, motivated by love and not selfishness.

Karma is revealed as a false theology not because it denies the consequences of sin, but because it denies the consequences of Grace. Karma defies Grace. In fact, we deserve death. But the great and wonderful message of the Cross, and Christianity, is that through that magnificent act of Grace, God offers us Life. Paul warned the Colossians not to be deceived by this kind of grace-preventing thinking, and to consider themselves dead to it.

In today’s Lectionary Prayer we pray that, with God’s help, we may pass through this temporary life and not be stripped of our eternal things—truth, faith, hope, salvation. We, like Bunyan’s Christian, and like the early church at Colossae, are confronted by forces and influences that compete for our allegiance and seek to divert our attentions. Sometimes those are events and circumstances. Sometimes they are other people. We guard against these false things by knowing what is true. It’s why we study the Word, why we pray, why we fellowship with other Christians. Don’t be deceived!

It’s Monday Morning. How well do you know the Truth? Are there any alien philosophies you might want to reconsider? As we prayed a moment ago, may God increase and multiply His mercy in our lives.

And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity” —Paul David Hewson, better known by his stage name, Bono, of the Irish rock band, U2.

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Ripe or Rotten?

Posted on July 15, 2013 by themondayprayer

Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it. It’s time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself. —Francis Chan, from Erasing Hell.

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit. “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
I replied, “A basket full of ripe fruit.”
Then the Lord said, “Like this fruit, Israel is ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again. In that day the singing in the Temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” (Amos 8:1-3 NLT)

PRAYER FOCUS: The Fruit We Bear

When is the best time to eat a banana? If you’ve peeled more than a few, you’ll know that bananas are only at their best for about a day. Such a banana should have a rich golden color with just a few brown freckles. The end should neither snap off nor squish down; it should open cleanly and reveal the sweet and succulent fruit underneath the peel. A banana is at its best at the moment when it is ripe.

Alas, it is such a short distance from ripe to rotten.

In today’s Lectionary Scripture we visit once again the Prophet Amos. In his time, the nation of Israel had become ripe—ripe with sin. Powerful people were taking advantage of the powerless. The religious establishment was well supported, but it was without either moral force or moral content. Their faith was dead. God was marginalized. Even the priests at Bethel had become corrupted and compromised.

The Lord had sent prophets to them, calling out their sin, calling them to them to turn away from it and back to Him, warning of consequences if they didn’t. For most of these prophetic messengers it had ended poorly.

Imagine for a moment that Amos lived not in ancient Israel, but in the Wild West. When Amos walks down the main street, he was like a new sheriff sent to drive the evil gunslingers out of town. Everybody knew there was going to be a shoot-out and ran for cover. Amos had earned a reputation as a straight shooter who always hit the mark.

Sheriff Amos had a special fondness for confronting The Powerful People. You know—the ones who hired outlaws to rob the town bank and then boldly drink it away in the town saloon; the ones whose cattle rustling was driving the honest ranchers into bankruptcy; the ones who used power and force to co-opt men and corrupt institutions. The town pastor might have spoken out against the Powerfuls, but had instead made friends with them because they were so generous in their offerings. The pastor didn’t want to offend the sensibilities of those who were financing his church construction.

You get the picture.

In the fourth of four visions, God shows Amos a basket of fruit (sometimes translated as summer-fruit) and asks him what he sees. In ancient Israel, fruit was normally symbolic of a good harvest and plenty of food. But God explains to Amos that Israel was a dichotomy—of fruitfulness and yet famine, of luxury and yet poverty, of religion and what John Wesley once called “the form of religion without its power.”

Keep in mind that Amos prophesied at a time of prosperity and confidence. It’s hard to be a prophet when all seems well. Nobody welcomes such a person. Who wants to hear about famine when the winds of prosperity prevail? We want to be told “smooth things”—that all is well and will continue to be well, even when the message of correction is life-saving.

Amos wasn’t sent to criticize Israel for being successful. He did not declare that it is wrong to enjoy life, to be involved in good business and making a profit, or to create wealth. He scolded them for abusing their power for personal gain, for being dishonest in their transactions, and for ignoring the plight of those they cheated. Most of all, Amos was telling them that they have loved these things more than God Himself, and that they will now have to account for the ripe fruit of their deeds.

All fruit begins with a flower. It buds, it grows, and eventually ripens into what it was always going to be. A plum will not grow from the seed of an orange. By the same token, a melon will not grow from the seeds of noxious sticker weeds. The seeds we sow will one day bear fruit; there will be a harvest. The nature of that harvest will depend entirely on what we have sown, and cultivated to fruition. Our early choices define whether our harvest will be sweet or bitter, ripe or rotten.

Amos warned Israel of the coming of the worst kind of famine—the kind that comes when God withdraws from us and leaves us to our own devices, to suffer the predictable consequences of what we’ve done. “People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” (vv. 11-12).

It’s Monday Morning. If God showed you a basket of the things in your life, which fruits would be ripe? Would any be rotten?

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Being Plumb

Posted on July 7, 2013 by themondayprayer

Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything. –Peter Marshall, U.S. Senate Chaplain, 1947.

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.” (Amos 7: 7-9 NIV)

PRAYER FOCUS: Being Plumb

My wife and I were in Guatemala practicing primitive construction. We were part of a small work team in a tiny village called Lemoa building a retreat center onto an orphanage there. (Imagine a combination lunchroom/auditorium/pantry/storage room for up to 100 children and adults). Our supervisor, Efrain, who spoke less English than we spoke Spanish, was remarkably nonchalant about a lot of things on the job site. We wore no hard hats, no safety goggles, no lifting belts or steel-toed boots. There weren’t even any OSHA inspectors for crying out loud!

We were building with concrete blocks, or “bloques” (say: ‘block-ace’) in the local vernacular. We mixed concrete using a bag of cement, sand from a pit, and dirty water. Sometimes we made a batch of “mezcla” in an ancient wheelbarrow. Sometimes we just made mezcla on the ground close to where we were working. Efrain was, shall we say, casual about our accuracy in measuring the mezcla’s ingredients. Likewise with the precision with which we cut the medios bloques that formed the end pieces and spacers of our rows. Man it didn’t even have to be real level! Mas o menos…ya esta bueno.

But Efrain broke with his friendly easy-going nature on just one thing, and on this he was totally serious. Efrain frequently dropped a plumb line to check that our walls were indeed going up straight. He was insistent. He was persistent. And he pulled off a couple of rows of substandard work just to make that point. Each bloque, each fila, could suffer a whole lot of mas o menos on muchas cosas, but the plumb line had to be perfecto!

That’s what the Old Testament prophet Amos is talking about in this week’s Lectionary Scripture. Amos protested when he saw visions of God’s wrath against Israel by locusts and by fire. And in each case, God relented. But then God set a plumb line and announced He will “not spare” Israel for violating it. Amos issues no protest. Why not?

Because Amos had been warning the children of Israel about false gods and fake godliness. Amos knew that God’s word was the universal plumb line, and Israel was nowhere close to it. The Israelites’ moral standards had degenerated. They were not upright. They had stopped loving Him; they had stopped loving each other.

In construction, whether primitive or hi-tech, the plumb line tests whether something is upright, indicating whether a column or a wall will stand on its own, whether it will support weight, whether it is useful for other purposes. A plumb line provides a single, inerrant standard against which anything can be measured. The question, “Is it plumb?” can only be answered with a yes or a no. When God set His plumb line, He was (and is) looking for those people who are living and loving right.

Consider this week’s Lectionary from the Gospel of Luke, when an “expert in the law” asks Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the question around and then the man replies, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus tells him he has answered correctly, to “Do this and you will live” (Luke 10: 27-28).

As is the case with so many “experts” this one sought only to justify himself, so he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is a lesson unto itself. But the question is a good one and we want to press into it.

Christians can suffer a fair amount of mas o menos, in Efrain’s words, but we have to honor two things above all: 1) We love God above all things and with all we’ve got—not just love as in feel love, but as in to honor and obey love, and 2) We love our neighbors actively and unselfishly, as we love ourselves. This is God’s plumb line.

Where’s your plumb line? Where’s your church’s?

For just a moment, let’s move past how you live, or even how you behave, and get right down to what you love.

Because, you see, this past week has been busy. And it’s about to get a lot busier on the questions of what you love and what you believe.

In the United States, the Supreme Court has just repudiated traditional marriage. The U.S. Department of Defense has indicated that it will sanction (i.e., court martial) Christian service members who share their faith with others. These decisions will have political and moral repercussions throughout North America and beyond. Churches that oppose these decisions will suffer uncomfortable consequences.

In the Middle East, horrific attacks on Christians have continued—now eclipsed by other violence—but include the public beheading of a pastor in Syria and the incarceration and physical abuse of pastors in Iran. Over the past few weeks there have been multiple bombings targeting Christians in Iraq and Egypt and Libya and Lebanon, all without drawing one word of protest from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. President, or the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C.

Not. One. Word.

Who is your neighbor?

• Is it a Syrian Christian a half a world away whose priest was just beheaded, or a Coptic Christian in Cairo whose family was just burned out of their house?
• Is it a Muslim neighbor who has been quietly asking you what you think of Jesus in the Koran?
• Is it the lesbian in your office?
• Is it the unborn child in your womb?
• Is it the black teenager down the street, who the neighbors think acts suspiciously, who has never known his father?
• Is it an illegal immigrant looking for work so he can keep his children in Guatemala from starving or being sold into the sex trade?

Who is your neighbor, Christian? If not these, then who?

Because our Father-God has sent us to reach each of them, to love each of them. And yet we must love them enough not to compromise the moral truths God calls us and them to live by. Don’t imagine you can do this on your own, because if you could, what would you need God for?

If we love God above all that, it should work out just fine.

We need to figure out whether our lives touch God’s plumb line, and where they violate it. We need to figure out the same thing about our churches. God has set His plumb line to measure us, yes, but also to remind us we need His grace to love like He does. God’s building a house that will stand.

Therefore, this week we pray together that we “may know and understand what things we ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them.”

It’s Monday Morning. We need to get busy. We have less time than we might think.

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Independence Day Prayer

Posted on July 4, 2013 by themondayprayer

Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day for the United States of America.

This is a prayer by George Washington (1732-1799), who commanded the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, presided over the convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution, and was elected to become the first U.S. President:

O Eternal and Everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before thy Divine Majesty, beseeching Thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy Great Goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech Thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul.

Direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit, from the dross of my natural corruption, that I may with more freedom of mind and liberty of will serve Thee, the everlasting God, in righteousness and holiness this day, and all the days of my life.

Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wanderings, and direct my thoughts unto Thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber. But daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends and kindred, unite us all in praising and glorifying Thee in all our works begun, continued, and ended, when we shall come to make our last account before Thee blessed Saviour, who hath taught us to pray, “Our Father…” AMEN.

May God bless you. And may God bless America.

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How I Treat You

Posted on June 30, 2013 by themondayprayer

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. —C.S. Lewis

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6:2, 9-10 (NIV)

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

PRAYER FOCUS: Empathy

This week we pray for grace that we may be united in love to one another with pure affection. If I could see you through the lens of this pure affection that I pray for, what difference would it make in how I treat you?

C.S. Lewis’s most famous sermon “The Weight of Glory” ends with a sober reminder that every single person you encounter on the street, in the classroom, at your workplace, or at home is an immortal being, made in God’s own image.

This week, dear readers, we simply ask you to watch the short, extraordinary video below. We strongly recommend you go to “full screen” as you do. May God bless you.

VIDEO: Empathy

[Full Disclosure: Empathy was professionally produced as a vision statement for the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. While The Monday Prayer has no affiliation with this medical facility, we have been deeply moved by their message. As Christians we are called to do exactly this: to look past the images we see of people to behold in them what is unseen and true—to train our eyes to see each other as our Father-God does.]

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours.” —C.S. Lewis

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Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace

Posted on June 23, 2013 by themondayprayer

“Dear God, I’m doing the best I can.” —Frank (a 7 year-old, in Children’s Letters to God)

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

2 Kings 2:1-14
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:13-25
Luke 9:51-62

“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:19-25 NKJV).”

PRAYER FOCUS: The Fruit of the Spirit

You just have to love American Country Music. It doesn’t appeal to everyone, and sometimes the lyrics need a bit of translating to people who don’t routinely listen to it. But there’s no denying that you can stumble across golden nuggets of wisdom in a country song.

Consider “Raising Hell and Amazing Grace” by Big and Rich.

Somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace
Is a place I keep finding myself
Yeah I get a little crazy trying to have a little fun
Then I end up back where I started from
Down on my knees, I pray
Oh Lord let me see another day
Somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace

The songwriters describe the struggle of someone who tries to live a “good” life, who knows the Bible and loves Jesus Christ, but who lives a worldly life as well, drinking and carousing on Friday nights. And so he lives in this place between the sin he engages in (“raising hell”) and the amazing grace he receives from God. The song might make more sense to an American Christian in Gulfport, Mississippi, or Houston, Texas, than to a Christian in say, New York or London. And the translation from English to Tagalog or Arabic or Portuguese might get interesting, if not downright awkward.

Don’t get us wrong, here. We’re not trying to promote any lifestyle other than becoming the “holy temple acceptable to God” that we pray for this week. But we’re not naïve enough to think that Christians live and work in any world other than the real one. We sing about our lives because the things we live are real. And this particular American country song some of you may have never before heard expresses not only the reality of many Christian lives, but also captures the very essence of what Paul is trying to explain to the Galatians in chapter 5, verses 22-23.

Writing in the original Greek text, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit as having nine attributes. Since there is no one suitable word in Greek he uses the singular to say the fruit of the spirit is “love-joy-peace-patience-kindness-goodness-faithfulness-gentleness-self-control”. The Apostle may have been thinking of the Hebrew word chasad (or chesed), which, although rich with meaning in the Hebrew language, doesn’t translate well into either Greek or English.

That means if you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, you already have this fruit-with-nine-names. The key concept is that it is one fruit. If you are loving, will you not also have joy? If you have love and joy, will you not also have peace and patience? Will you not also have the virtues of kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? But like any fruit, the Fruit of the Spirit does not spring automatically from our lives. We need to cultivate it from its bud to full maturity.

You might be kind and good, but need to work on your patience. You might have great joy and peace but need work on self-control and gentleness. The country song by Big and Rich is a tragic lament about finding one’s self “back where I started from” after being drunk on Friday and hung over all of Saturday.

Make no mistake: the “acts of the flesh” that Paul lists in verses 19-21 will war against the Fruit of the Spirit. In fact they are contrary to each other (v. 17). Fleshly behaviors hurt us. They hurt others. It is not enough to point to one or more characteristics of the Spirit’s Fruit and reason that it somehow offsets or compensates for our sinful acts.

Paul closes by exhorting the Galatians, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (v 25). So let it be with us. Yesterday in church, we worshiped God and celebrated our acceptance as His own sons and daughters. But sometime this week some of us may find ourselves “down on our knees” (again).

It’s Monday Morning. Let us pray that by living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit we might better grow and show His Fruit. (There’s probably another country song in that…)

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Witness Where You Are

Posted on June 17, 2013 by themondayprayer

“What we need is a desire to know the whole will of God, with a fixed resolution to do it.” —John Wesley

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to guide and guard those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

1 Kings 19:1-15
Psalm 42
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39 (This story is also presented in Mark 5:1-20)

Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him (Luke 8:38-39, NKJV).

PRAYER FOCUS: Witnessing Where You Are

“My name is Legion, for we are many…”

I don’t remember exactly when they came. But by the time He found me they controlled nearly everything I did.

It was horrible—worse than you can imagine. There were lots of them, more than a thousand. They were inside my body, inside my flesh. They felt like maggots crawling under my skin, devouring me alive. I used to cut myself open to let them out. But they didn’t go.

Their voices were a constant nightmare. Terrible and full of hate–always accusing me about the very things they made me do. No matter how much I cried out and begged them to stop they never did. I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t sleep. It was torture.

They made me do unclean things I can’t even describe. My family and my neighbors put me in chains and leg irons to keep me from hurting myself or anyone else. But the dark ones gave me strength to break those restraints. No one would come near me unless they were armed with weapons. No one could help me. So I lived in the tombs among the dead, running naked among the bones and the corpses. It amused the dark ones who drove me.

I was aware of His coming by the change in their voices. Their concern grew into alarm and then into a frenzy of fear. I heard them say the name “Jesus”. Then I saw the boat come onto the shore and He got out. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, but I knew only such a man could save me. For the first time since the demons entered me I dared to hope.

I started towards this Jesus, but they wouldn’t let me. So I fought them. In a moment of defiance I lurched down the hill to the shore, throwing myself at His feet. There, the dark ones took control again. Some of them mocked Him. Others were afraid. Against my will, I heard my own voice scream “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”

Jesus asked me my name. When I looked up and saw His eyes—His eyes, so full of compassion and love and understanding and forgiveness—I knew my hope was true. I tried to say, “Help me, please, help me,” but they wouldn’t let those words come out. The words that did come out were not my own. Full of lies and blasphemy, the voice mocked me and it mocked Him. They said my name was Legion, as though that were very funny.

But it was the last time they would mock me. Jesus commanded them to release me and come out. His voice sounded like thunder and it boomed with authority. They begged Him repeatedly not to send them into the Abyss (they were terrified of this). They asked Him to send them into a herd of nearby pigs and He permitted it. Then the swine did what I couldn’t do—reacting to the demonic violation of their bodies, they stampeded down the hill and into the water where they drowned themselves.

Suddenly the darkness was gone. The awful voices were gone. Their hateful accusations were replaced by His gentle words of love and forgiveness. My tortured, fragmented mind was whole again. I felt clean. I looked at the One Who Healed me and his eyes spoke to me a peace and love that words could never carry.

Jesus and His men gave me clothes and ministered to me. Sitting there talking with Him, even my thoughts were healed. It was wonderful just to be near Him. I never wanted to leave His side. I had only met Jesus, but I knew I owed Him everything…

All three of the synoptic gospels tell the story of the demon-possessed man of the Gerasenes (also called Gadarenes, on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in an area generally known as the Decapolis). They paint a chilling, heart-rending picture of this man’s torment, defilement and despair. And the gospels agree that he had been this way for a long time. The Devil is a cruel master to those he leads into captivity.

Now the Gerasenes/Gadarenes region was heavily populated by Gentiles and not Jews. The swineherds who were tending to the pigs “ran off and reported this in the town and in the countryside.” The curious people came out to see what all the fuss was about. They found the formerly crazy naked man cured, clothed and in his right mind. Oddly, instead of expressing gratitude they were overcome with fear. They asked Jesus to leave.

The man begged to go with the One who set him free. But Jesus told him, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

How difficult these words must have been to hear! While surely Jesus was moved by this man’s devotion and gratitude, our Lord nevertheless had other plans for him. Like so many of us who have been misled into sin’s captivity, this man was now a witness against the evil darkness that once bound him. Jesus didn’t tell him, and He doesn’t tell us, to pretend that none of the bad stuff ever happened. Our scars are as much a part of our testimony as our words themselves.

You see, the swineherds could testify to what happened to their pigs. But only the healed man could witness to the power and the identity of his Healer. Obedient to his Deliverer and Savior, the man we now know as the Gadarene Demoniac returned to his home, healed and restored, and started telling people throughout the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. He witnessed where he was, not where he wanted to be.

It’s Monday Morning. Consider how much the Lord has done for you. Have you shared that with the people in your life?

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Welcome, Sinners

Posted on June 10, 2013 by themondayprayer

“Love becomes weak if it is not strengthened by truth. Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love.” –Nicky Gumbel, Anglican Priest and developer of the Alpha Course.

PRAYER: (From the Lectionary)

“Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, AMEN”

SCRIPTURES: (From the Lectionary)

1 Kings 21:1-21a (Elijah vs Ahab, in re Naboth’s vineyard)
Psalm 5:1-8 (Lead me, O Lord…)
Galatians 2:15-21 (For I am crucified with Christ…)
Luke 7:36-50 (Jesus, Simon the Pharisee, and the sinful woman)

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them… (Luke 7:36-38)

PRAYER FOCUS: Welcoming Sinners

Would you seek treatment at a hospital that mocked your sickness? What if the doctors and nurses refused to see you because you were ill?

This week’s Scriptures are packed with power and insight. But we draw our focus upon the extraordinary prayer taken from the Lectionary:

1. We pray that God will keep His household the Church in His steadfast faith and love.
2. We pray that we may proclaim truth with boldness—through God’s grace.
3. We pray that we may minister justice with compassion—through God’s grace.
4. We pray in the name of—and for the sake of—our Savior Jesus Christ.

This prayer is extraordinary because it speaks precisely to one of the greatest problems in the Church today. How, exactly, do we speak “truth with boldness” and yet “minister justice with compassion”?

What did Jesus do? In our Gospel passage, Luke 7:36-50, we see Jesus responding to a dinner invitation to the home of a Pharisee named Simon (no relation to Simon Peter). Luke does not provide much in the way of a description of Simon’s house, or his household, but we do see Jesus recline at the dinner table in the place of an honored guest, per the traditions of that day. The “sinful woman” approaches Jesus not directly, but from behind, as was the custom of a maidservant. Once in His Presence, she begins to weep at her fallen state. She washes his feet with her tears and she dries them with her own hair. She anoints his feet with kisses and a perfume that likely cost her several months’ wages.

Simon the Pharisee clearly knows this woman, and knows of her reputation. He has the courtesy not to say anything out loud. But he wonders how Jesus could be a prophet if he lets this “notorious sinner” (Amplified Bible) touch him.

Jesus addresses each of them, in turn, speaking truth with boldness and ministering justice with compassion. First He speaks to Simon, “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (vv 41-42).

Simon answers correctly, but then Jesus has a further lesson for him. That lesson begins by beholding the sinful woman, to acknowledge her common, if fallen, humanity.

“Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but she from the moment I came in has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with [cheap, ordinary] oil, but she has anointed My feet with [costly, rare] perfume. Therefore I tell you, her sins, many [as they are], are forgiven her—because she has loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little” (vv. 44-47, Amplified Bible).

You see, Jesus didn’t need to prove to the woman she was a sinner. She already knew that. What she needed more than anything was a word of encouragement, an acknowledgement that she wasn’t worthless. Jesus speaks truth with boldness when he acknowledges both her many sins and the repentance she shows in her tears and perfume. He ministers justice in love, “Your sins are forgiven—your faith has saved you, go in peace” (vv. 48, 50).

But Jesus did need to instruct proud Simon in what a penitent sinner, a remorseful sinner looked like. Of course she would respond with greater love and gratitude. Jesus spoke to Simon’s hard heart with a boldness befitting the situation. And in doing so, He ministered justice to Simon with an equally measured compassion.

Thus is the modern Church transfixed: We must understand that sinners will come to our churches broken, perhaps even “notorious”. We cannot meet them at the door and beat them further with a litany of the sins they already know by heart. Hey, you better get a grip on your drinking, and that porn on your computer—what a sicko! Now stop all that sinning, pal. OK, see you next week—don’t forget to wear a nice tie!

Like Jesus, let us welcome them—even as we ourselves once came in penitence to those same Feet. We cannot leave them mired in their sin, nor can we speak a compromised truth, which is no truth at all. But we must acknowledge and accept their gesture in coming forward, and in love begin the conversation that Jesus wants us to have with them.

You’ve heard this here before–there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who are forgiven and those who are not. Our mission is to move as many as possible from the second group to the first.

It’s Monday Morning. Let us strengthen the truth with our love, yet let us speak that truth through acts of love and grace.

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The People in Our Lives

Posted on June 3, 2013 by themondayprayer

“The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world.” —C.S. Lewis.

“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” —C.S. Lewis.

PRAYER: (from the Lectionary)

“O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding that we may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, AMEN.”

SCRIPTURES: (from the Lectionary)

1 Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

PRAYER FOCUS: Witnessing to the People in Our Lives

The reality of his impending death had not fully sunk in, but it was gathering weight by the minute…

For eighty-five years, Dave had almost never been at a loss for words. He was, as they used to say, as smart as a whip. He was a voracious reader. His mind had accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge—so much that his six grown children referred to him as “Google Before Google”. No one had played Trivial Pursuit with him since 1993. If Dave couldn’t answer a question outright he could usually deflect until the answer either came to him or he could work his way around it.

But the question had stopped him cold: “Dad, where do you stand with the Lord?”

This was the second time in three weeks he was in a hospital ICU room. For the past eight years, he had been fighting a disease called multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He couldn’t quite beat in into remission, but he had already lived far beyond the life expectancy of most with this disease. And he had always rallied to come back.

It wasn’t like Dave didn’t know about Jesus. Throughout his childhood, his parents had dragged him to Sunday School and church. He’d heard all the usual Bible stories and could still recite most of them. He reckoned he’d read the Bible more than most Christians he knew. He knew about salvation and the Cross and all that—at least in theory. He didn’t dispute anything in the Bible. He even believed that it was true.

Dave had always had an independent streak. Some might call him stubborn, but he preferred the terms well-read and self-reliant. He had never needed anyone to save him from anything. In fact, he couldn’t exactly remember when, or if, he’d ever asked anyone for help. He had lived his life pretty much on his own terms, and felt no need to apologize–until now.

His daughter and son-in-law were kneeling next to his hospital bed, looking him straight in the eye. He knew they were not perfect, but they were serious about their faith in Jesus Christ. And right now Dave knew two things: 1) these two loved and respected him very much, and 2) they were very serious about the answer to their question.

“I don’t suppose I know.” It was the truth. And it dawned on him that maybe he ought to get serious about this, too.

“We don’t feel comfortable with that, Dad. We won’t feel comfortable until you are certain. It’s your choice, of course, but we want you to make the right one.” They gave him what he used to call the “elevator speech” about being saved. It was far from perfect. But it got the point across. And they loved him enough to ask him the question.

When Dave started to speak again the words caught in his throat. His eyes filled with tears. “I just don’t want to seem like an opportunist, jumping on at the end of the ride and everything.” In other words, I know I need Jesus, but I’ve done it my way so long I’m embarrassed to ask for his help.

They assured him he was no more opportunistic than any of us. They told him further that the Lord loved him more than he could imagine, and that he has been waiting all these years for him to take this opportunity. Eternal Life was his for the asking—but he had to ask.

Dave nodded his assent. The three of them held hands while he prayed, “Jesus I believe…take your place in my life.”

After praying, they read him the Bible passages about all heaven rejoicing (Luke 15:7, Zeph 3:17).

That day would be Dave’s last “good day”. The disease was moving faster than anyone had thought. By the end of the next day, he would not be conversant. Five days after that he would pass quietly from this life to the next.

This is a true story. Dave is my father-in-law. On the day after tomorrow, we will bury him in the same cemetery with his parents, who will be overjoyed to see him in heaven.

Shortly after my wife and I prayed with her dad, one of his neighbors walked in the room. He got right down to business. “Dave, I want to talk to you about Jesus Christ and His promise of salvation.” Dad smiled and told him he’d just prayed for that.

Still later that evening, Dad’s brother-in-law (and best friend) came in and asked the same question.

In retrospect, we find it reassuring to see other people in Dave’s life who were willing to step up and share their witness. It was good to have backup.

Our point in sharing this is simple: The people in our lives are not there by accident.

From those of us who have received God’s Gift of eternal life, He expects cooperation in sharing the good news. Yes, it can be awkward; it can be intimidating. It’s the right thing to do. But it’s not enough to think about it—we actually have to do the right thing. If you love them, ask the question. It’s a matter of life and death.

It’s Monday Morning. Stop and think about the people in your life—where do they stand with the Lord? How about you?

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