Who Am I to Bless the Lord?

Scripture:

Psalm 103:1-2 (Amplified Translation)

1 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!

2 Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—

Observation:

Here, "to bless" means to sing the praises of; or, to practice adoration. This is an alternate meaning to what we usually mean by "bless" - to share ones favour (or the favour of God) with another in a way that empowers and strengthens.

Application:

I don't know if it is because I grew up in the Lutheran church, or maybe just an accident of how my peculiar mind works; but, I used to hear this Psalm (and the various prayers and worship songs that have been spun from it) as pridefully presumptuous. I would hear people say things like, "God, I just want to bless you and praise you..." and I would think, "Seriously? Who are you to bless the Lord? As if God needs, or desires my favour to empower the Divine will." Okay, I wish my response were that elegant. Honestly, it was more like, "yuck!"

A few years ago, I learned a simple acrostic memory aide for understanding some of the different aspects of prayer. It has helped me out of ruts in my prayerfulness more than once and it goes like this: ACTS

Adoration - intentionally (and often poetically) noticing the wonderful

things about who God is. This is a practice of joyfulness

and loving exultation.

Confession - taking a searching moral inventory and sharing this

with God in a spirit of reconciliation. This is a exercise

of humility.

Thanksgiving - we look for the many and various ways by which

God blesses us and we celebrate God's tangible

providence and activity in our lives. This is a

cultivation of gratitude.

Supplication - we pour out our longings and desires to God, asking

in hopeful expectation (as children as parents) for

God to intervene to bring justice, healing and mercy

to further fulfillment in the world. This is trains our

faith and trust in God alone.

So today, does God need my blessing, or yours?  Perhaps not.  

On the other hand, scripture and tradition seem both to commend our offering of loving exultation before and to the Lord. It is probably not a sufficient way to address God at all times if we are to grow as disciples of Christ Jesus. Then again, if we forego it completely, we might just be intentionally impoverishing our conversation and communion with the Lord.

Today, I feel a tug in the direction of adoration and confession. I will lean into those prayer postures and search for what God is offering me there.

How about you? What is your default prayer posture? What comes most easily to you? Why do you think that is? What do you buck against? Why might that be?

Prayer:

Holy God, Holy and immortal, Holy and eternal. To You alone belongs all glory and from You alone flows every blessing. You are Creator. You are Redeemer. You are Sanctifier.

Lord, I do not always return to You any portion of what You so freely and graciously provide. Sometimes it is an indication of my pride. Other times it is because of my shame. Either way, it is sinful. I ask for your forgiveness. I hope that You will continue the work you have begun in me and show me a better way to love and serve You and the world through You.

I thank you for the ACTS teaching and for the faithful teachers and Saints who have pointed me to more fruitful ways of praying. For Pastor Randy Mohr, for Pastor Randy Meissner, for many and various pentecostal brothers and sisters, I give you thanks. I pray you would continually pour out your grace and favour over them.

Amen.

Feel the Burn!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 20:9

9 If I say, “I will not mention him,

or speak any more in his name,”

then within me there is something like a burning fire

shut up in my bones;

I am weary with holding it in,

and I cannot.

Observation:

Jeremiah is weary. He has been called and given words of prophetic judgement to deliver to the people of Jerusalem (and all of Judah). Not surprisingly - people being people - they did not receive those words of correction well. They taunt and mock him. In this passage he is arrested and put in the public stocks to be shamed.

Jeremiah has every reason to quit. The passage even tells us that his friends are conspiring to "help" him reject the call of God. This section of Jeremiah marks the rock bottom for both the prophet and the people. The "word of the Lord" he bears to the people will shift from punishment to promise (once they are broken) and he will go on to become one of the most cherished prophets in the history of the people of God. But first, the long night of the soul. Jeremiah feels he can no longer endure the cost of discipleship, yet he despairs the agony of not heeding the word of the Lord - kindled like a coal fire within his belly.

Application:

One of the benefits of reading and re-reading scripture is that I have become familiar with its larger movements and themes. On its face, this passage from Jeremiah is bleak to the extreme: Jeremiah is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. But, I know the story doesn't end here. I know that Jeremiah proves - because of God's faithfulness - stronger than he ever imagined.

Again and again, I have read in scripture that the dawn is preceded by the darkest night.  

To paraphrase Matthew's gospel (chapter 4) as it 

paraphrases the prophet Isaiah (chapter 9):

"The people walking (living) in darkness have seen a great 

light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death a 

light has dawned."

Knowing this great sweep of the salvation-history of God at work in the world helps me greatly to bear any darkness and discouragement that comes my way. As dark as it gets, I know that God is present. As discouraged as I get, I know the story gets better.

How about you? Where are you at in the unfolding story of God's plan for your life?  

Ready to quit? Crying out for release from the task at hand?  

Feeling the burn of a word from the Lord that needs to be acted upon?

Wherever you are. You are not alone. You are a vital character in God's great and unfolding plan to recreate and redeem all the cosmos. Hold on. The dawn is come!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, when I am honest, I know I cannot bear the full weight of your call upon my life. I am too reliant upon the opinions of fickle friends, not disciplined enough, too selfish, not wise enough.

Thank you that I do not have to bear it alone! Thank you for family. Thank you for communities of faith and encouragement that show me how worthy following you is - especially Vern, Debra, Rose, Kim, Jayson, Ernie, Michael, Tim, Ed, Amy, Heidi, Sharon, and Tiffany. Amen.

Uncomfortable Discipleship

Scripture:

Jeremiah 18:4-6

4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Observation:

I am in God's hands. Sometimes that feels great. Other times it is uncomfortable and inconvenient.

I have seen massage therapists in the past for a variety of reasons. At the spa, for a relaxing day of renewal, the hands of the masseur are so comforting and gentle. But, when you are working on rehabbing and recovering from a muscular-skeletal injury, their treatments can be agonizing.

In a similar way, God's hands upon me are gentle, comforting and restorative at times - especially when I am so fragile that it is all I can endure. Yet, God is no genie in a bottle who's only purpose is to comfort me and grant my wishes. God is God and I am not. As such, God sees fit to challenge and correct me towards often unseen purposes.  

The process is difficult, even painful at times. It might even 

seem abusive if it were not for the deep and abiding trust 

built up through being held in God's gentle and gracious 

hands through some of the most difficult and painful 

moments of my life.

Application:

In parenting, as in pastoring; in discipling as in community organizing, those we teach and lead cannot reach their potential without some discomfort. If we are to coach well we must sometimes bring difficult correction or critique. However, those we lead will not follow long if we are only ever slapping their wrists and breaking them down. In the quest to lead well, I can never underestimate the reservoir of gracious presence and encouragement that must be built up and maintained if those who would follow me are to be able to receive and integrate the painful challenge required to reach their potential.

Prayer:

Put me in Coach! I am ready. I haven't got here on my own. I know there is a risk I will fail. When I do, I know you won't call it anything other than what it is - failure. But, I also know that you will never write me off because of a failure. All the time and love you have invested in me till now makes me sure of that! Thanks coach! amen.

Where's Waldo?

Scripture:

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Isaiah 45:15.

Observation:

How can a god that loves to play hide and seek be our Savior?

When I send my kids to the swimming pool, I don't want to have to wonder about if there is a life guard on duty or where the heck said guard is. Shouldn't an existential saviour be at least as obvious and just as readily accessible?

Perhaps the important part of Isaiah's assertion is that God is not absent but hidden. Maybe God's game is more "where's Waldo" than "hide and seek" (although, God loves us to seek!). 

If you recall the Waldo books they are filled with interesting and intricate pictures. The game is to endeavour to find Waldo (always wearing the same tell-tale outfit) amidst the chaos and bustle. Perhaps God isn't so much actively hiding as we are missing God for two basic reasons:
1) we get distracted by all the other activity in our lives; and, 
2) we get caught looking for God on an ivory throne with a bejewelled crown of gold, when the chosen divine accoutrement is actually a cross and crown of thorns. 

In the first case God is hidden by our lack of focus upon the central things, in the second God is hidden by our inadequate visions of how kings ought dress and act. 

Application:

God is often hidden, but God is always present.  

To our horror and great relief, 

God is here, God is with, God is near, God is now. 

Prayer:

Playful God, thank you for so delighting in your creatures as to move always alongside us. Grant me grace today to glimpse (and glimpsing see, and seeing imitate) your humble glory amidst crying babies, quarrelsome kids, and goons that drive to fast upon the highways. Amen.

Church and State

Scripture: 

1 Timothy 2:1-4

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Observation:
Wait. What?  
Did my bible just tell me to pray for kings and prime ministers? What about the separation of church and state?

(Aside: Although it is commonly understood as endorsing stick secularism, the vision of Thomas Jeferson and other framers of the U.S. constitution and its Bill of Rights made no such claim. In a letter written to the Danbury Baptist Association (1802) Jefferson wrote: "...make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. ..." Thus, the originators of the phrase, "separation of church and state" intended not to create a strictly secular society, but to create a society where no one church (and, by extension, religion) enjoyed a privileged or "established" status within the political realm. The upshot was, that the government would not be free to dictate forms of worship or tenets of belief upon those governed.)

It is important to remember that 1 Timothy was written in an era before Christianity became the "established" religion of the Roman Empire. The church in the early first century enjoyed little official status. In fact, even the fierce persecutions came later. The truth is the first followers of Jesus represented an insignificant minority group in the greater scope of society. They were so marginal they barely warranted attention from kings or rulers - let alone praise or persecutions.

As such, this passage is not asking us to make kings or rulers through our "established" power to legitimize. It is not a call to place flags in our places of worship or sing the national anthem in church while campaigning for the Lord's Prayer to be taught in public schools. This passage reflects first God's providential love for the people of God - all the people of God. It is less about the power of the king, or the will of the people; and, more about the powerful will of God that "everyone be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Application:

Being in the midst of a federal election here in Canada, what is the Lord saying to me today through this passage?

I hear God affirming that good government is important - vital even - to God's purpose for the world.

I hear God challenging me to let go of the cynicism and 

partisan encampment that has become so prevalent today. I 

hear God calling us to participate in the process as agents of 

peaceful and fulsome discourse in pursuit of truth as 

opposed to mere facts or Colberian "truthiness".

I hear God making specific provision for the protection and nurture - as God is wont to do - of the least and marginalized: entrusting their care in part to those who hold power and privilege through their positions.

I hear God charging the church to care for, respect, support, and hold accountable those who occupy positions of governance for as long as they occupy those seats - whether or not they come from the same religious, political, racial, or socio-economic tribe.

I hear God showing me that prayer is as good a place as any 

to begin to respond to this call.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, 
In You alone do I put my trust. You are faithful, just and true. Yet, it is your will to work through human agents to accomplish much of your will as you expand the borders of your Kingdom here. I give you thanks that I live in a place that is basically peaceful and just. I pray for those who are charged to uphold the peace so that all might be free to search for your Truth. Today I pray especially for our civic, provincial, federal and ecclesial leaders, that they would exercise their duties with vision, humility, grace and vigour. I pray for Mayor Camille Berube, Mayor Don Iveson, Premier Rachel Notley, MLA Shaye Anderson, MP Mike Lake, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Tom Mulcair, Justin Trudeau, and Elizabeth May.

To You: King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

First Things First

Scripture: 

1 Timothy 1:1-11
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

Observation:

As the writer encourages Timothy to stand firm against those who have altered the gospel for their own purposes he 
(most likely a he) cautions agains improper understanding of "the law". "...the law is good, if one uses it legitimately."

This begs the question: How are we to use the law legitimately?

1) "The law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient." Some of those altering the gospel were ignoring the radically unconditional grace of God by making it dependant upon adherence to part or all of the law. In such a system, the gospel is diminished to a sticker that good little boys and girls receive for achieving perfect attendance to the law. By acknowledging that the law is given not for the innocent but for the guilty, we begin to shift from the error that the law is a manual that shows us how we can earn God's love or wrath through our actions/inactions.

2) The law is not a cure. It is the diagnostic test that allows us to get a handle on what exactly has gone wrong. In this sense, the legitimate use of the law is to kill us that we might be saved. Here's what I mean by that: the first use of the law is to help us see how futile it is to try to be either independent of God or worthy of God's love by our own actions and merits. The first use of the law is to kill our pride, so that we might be open to right relationship with God and neighbour. This is essential to understand because it allows us to read the laundry list of sins and shortcomings that follows as it is intended: instead of a list meant to highlight the flaws and sins of others, it is a list meant to show me that I have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in many and various ways. For this disease the gospel is the only cure.

3) The law is only ever used legitimately in dynamic tension with the Gospel. 

The law says, "you are broken and unable to stand on 

your own two feet before God. Deal with it." 

The gospel says, "Thanks be to God, you don't have to 

stand on your own two feet. Deal with it." 

Out of this dynamic interplay is born the second use of the law. Once we know that we can do nothing apart from the providential and redemptive love of God, the law becomes a tool by which I can constrain my sinful nature as I am nurtured, called, gifted, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit to live in right relationship with God and neighbour. To be clear, it is not a path to perfection (see #1), but an invitation to more fulsome participation in the receiving and sharing of what God so freely gives.

Application:

There is no getting around it, I am "... lawless and disobedient, ... godless and sinful, ... unholy and profane...". I am one of those "... murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers...".

I need the law to sober me up from feeling superior. I need the law to kill my pride. But the Lord continues to show me that it doesn't do anyone any good for me to wallow in my failures. God, through the life, death, resurrection, ascension and continuing reign of Christ Jesus, has redeemed me and turned me inside out. So, no longer do I need to stand superior over friends or strangers; nor, can I lay down from my calling to invite people to follow me as I follow Jesus, who shows us all a better way.

Prayer:

Holy Dad, help me to let the law be the law and the gospel be the gospel today so that I can be the me you have created me to be: nothing less, nothing more. Amen.