Archive for category Prayers
It Is Time to Step Away
Ministry is a difficult life. It is not just a job; it is not just a lifestyle; it is not something you can just put down or count as unimportant when it isn’t convenient.
At the same time, there are moments in the minister’s life when he must walk away. Sometimes you walk away permanently, but most of the time it is just a walk away. You step back to get some perspective or you go on a journey to get some distance. You might need to walk somewhere else, because the path you are on is too cluttered or too confused.
If you find you spend more time thinking about your church than you do your wife, you need to take a walk (preferably, holding her hand.)
If your church is more important than your kids, it is time to step away.
If ministry leaves you so weak that sin creeps in, you need to take walk.
If you feel overwhelmed more often than you feel led by God, step away.
One of our elders was listening to me explain something or show them something that we were doing and he commented to me, “you’re like a kid.”
What he meant was that I get excited about things, I tend toward an overflowing exuberance about what God is doing. When what we have seen that God can do becomes a reality, that is one of the greatest experiences in life for me. Nothing feeds my soul like seeing God’s vision become our reality.
Except, when I wake up in the morning and I get to take care of my family. When I have the time and the opportunity to make my wife’s lunch for her before she heads to work, when my daughter greets me with a hug and a smile after she wakes up, when I can spend a quiet evening just in their presence –that feeds my soul and I know the world is right, the church and home are in balance.
Getting to that balance, knowing when and where and how to know and experience the things that ministry has for me takes a lot of introspection. It takes a lot of walking away and thinking deeply, praying fervently and learning to discipline my life and my mind.
If there is one piece of advice that I can give to pastors both young and old it is this: never sacrificed home for church. Never make the church the mistress of your affections and your joy.
Awkward Silences in Prayer
Research shows that on average, Americans cannot stand silences in conversation that are longer than four seconds. At about 3.5 seconds, we start to think, “This is awkward” and we come up with something – anything to talk about. This fact was driven home to me on a 35 hour cross-country drive a couple of weekends ago. My friend Rod and I found something to talk about virtually the entire time (since we were riding in a car with no real audio or air conditioning.
My grandfather’s generation did not require the constant conversational interaction, and it was not uncommon to sit in his living room for long periods with absolutely nothing being said. His brain had developed differently in a world where there was not a constant auditory bombardment from radio, television, portable music devices and telephones. He was born into a world very different from our own.
By contrast, my daughter does nothing but talk. From the moment she wakes up until the moment we turn off the lights and tell her to be quiet and go to sleep, she talks incessantly. She is surrounded by a word full of not just sounds but words and thoughts. She watches TV, listens to music, and talks with others who are growing up in the same way.
There is a happy medium somewhere in between these two extremes. But increasingly, finding that balanced point requires re-training our brains. We have to push through the awkwardness of silence and attempt to discipline ourselves to form thoughts before uttering them.
Prayer is often an incessant chatter, I think. When people are called upon to pray publicly, sometimes they just throw words out there – formulaic phrases that we all hear in prayer. I know that I used to.
More and more often, I begin public prayer with 5-10 seconds of silence. It forces me to push through the awkwardness and the “pre-planned” phrases that pop into my brain. At about 3.5 seconds, my brain is screaming at me to open my mouth, but by the time I get to 5 or 6 seconds, that voice is silenced and I am able to focus.
I know that sometimes people find it awkward when I do this. Most people don’t realize that because the platform I speak from is higher than the seats in our auditorium, I can hear virtually every movement in the room. The sounds of people rustling in their chairs is quite audible, as if the child leaning over to her parent and whispering a question about whether I am going to start talking soon. We all laugh about these kinds of things, but they do happen.
When you’re praying, don’t be in a hurry to get through things. Take a breath and wait in the silence for a few seconds. Force your brain to align with the moment of prayer by being silent when it wants to be rushing. You will be surprised how different it is to pray after silence.
And when you’re finished with what you have to say, pause again. Let the echo of words fade so you can hear the grace of God’s listening. Don’t just hit God with your prayer list and then get up and run.
Praying for the Church
This past Sunday, I mentioned that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and I reminded everyone that we should not only be praying for Bedford Road but also for the other congregations in our area. Some are large, and some are small – but all are Christs.
Here’s just a few of the local (and not quite local) congregations I think of and pray for often.
Bedford Community Church
Bedford Foursquare Church
Bethany Covenant Church, Bedford
The Bridge, Milford
Christ Church of Amherst
Church at the Intersection, Merrimack
Crossroads Baptist Church, Pelham
Colonial Hills Baptist Church, Milford
The Dialogue Church, Manchester
Emmanuel Baptist Church, Hooksett
First Baptist, Amherst
Granite United, Salem
Grace Baptist Church, Franklin MA
(the congregation my father has pastored for almost 20 years)
Household of Faith, Milford
The Journey, Rochester
Lifeway Church, Derry
Lighthouse Baptist Church, Holbrook MA
(Nichole’s home congregation)
Manchester Vineyard Church
Manchester Christian Church
Merrimack Valley Baptist Church
Next Level Church, Dover & Portsmouth
River of Grace, Concord
Riverside Christian Church, Merrimack
Sheldonville Baptist Church, Wrentham MA
(the church my brother-in-law pastors)
Shiloh Community Church, Manchester
Southside Bible Fellowship, Manchester NH
There are others, but these are the ones in our area that I think of most often.
What about you? In the comments, add the names of some other congregations that we can lift up in prayer.
Stop Being a Chokepoint, pt 2
Posted by Erik in Church, Doesn't Fit in a Category, Prayers on July 19, 2011
Because I have been trying to be more aware of chokepoints in our congregation’s ministry, it has become even more obvious to me that I have become a chokepoint for far too many people.
Just this week, I noticed that people look to me for direction in areas as diverse as what parts of the property should be mowed, which paper to load in the copier (and how to clear a jam), contact information for someone else in the congregation, where we keep the A/V equipment, passwords for the WI-FI, printing paperwork for specific events, the phrasing of safety procedures, the order of worship for next Sunday, seating charts in the fellowship hall, and directions to a particular facility I visited once.
This is all in my capacity as pastor, mind you.
This list is not in any way a knock on the people who asked me these questions. It is however a matter of concern for me because I knew the answers because I am heavily involved in all of these areas. This is an unconscious involvement that comes from my desire to do everything with excellence.
Without being boastful, I think I’m pretty good at a lot of the things I do. Music, design, documentation, computers – these are things I do well. I see things very well. Unfortunately, that means I also mistakenly believe that since I see it, I also have to be personally responsible for it. I take on far too much because I mistakenly believe I am the only one who can do it.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The reality is that my tendency to be involved in everything stems from a lack of confidence in others. I don’t think others can do things – anything – as well as I can do them.
This is wrong.
This is a bad idea.
This will stifle the congregation.
This is sin.
Reservoir of Rage or Channel of Peace?
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against YHWH, and against his anointed, saying, ”Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: YHWH shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psalm 2:1-6)
It is no secret that some people don’t like to hear the truth. When people recognize that the truth comes from God, it can get pretty messy. Relationships can be shattered; lives forever altered.
If we are not careful, we followers of Christ can take people’s rage personally. We take on ourselves a burden that is really not our own.
Notice how the Psalmist lets the rage flow through him and to God? It does not say, “I will laugh” or “I will speak unto them in my wrath.” No, it says, “He that sits in the heavens”. The psalmist does not take on himself what is not his to take.
This is a lesson worth learning. To answer someone’s anger, we must let it flow through us and to the One who can handle it. When we take it personally, then we often respond in anger ourselves. To respond in anger is to respond in sin.
Think of this way. You can either try to be a dam, holding up other’s anger and letting it build up as a reservoir inside you until it bursts and you act in anger yourself, or you can be a channel through which the person’s anger flows to God – who handles justice and deals with recompense.
When you don’t block the anger up for yourself, you are clear to be a channel for the peacemaking that God wants to have flow through you. This is how we can become peacemakers, as Jesus called us to be in Matthew 5. As channels for anger to pass through us, we are also channels for peace to pass through us. We become streams of peace in a turbulent world rather than reservoirs of rage.
Just a thought to ponder.
“To Be With God”
Posted by Erik in Church, Definitions, Doesn't Fit in a Category, Personal, Prayers, Things We Shouldn't Discuss on March 25, 2011
Heaven.
That place where you go when you die. First, you stroll through the pearly gates and meet St. Peter, then you get a crown and a mansion and can eat all you want. There’s a temple and lots of holy people around, angels singing from the clouds. You get a harp. It’s great.
Of course, that image is entirely wrong. Oh, some of it is in the Scriptures, but the way we perceive it and the way it will truly be are two different things.
First of all, there is not a single reference in the Scriptures to good people getting to “go to heaven.” Go ahead, look for it.
Let’s get some cold hard facts down before we go forward. For the sake of argument, let’s take the truth of the Scriptures as a given and recognize the following:
- There will be a resurrection of the dead. Jesus believed it. Paul believed it. There’s no missing it.
- There is a difference between those who are found “in Christ” and those who are not. (We can argue about what that means another time.)
Resurrection is a Change of Life
Now that we’ve laid those things out there, let’s consider the fate of those “in Christ.”
Although all will be resurrected, those in Christ will not suffer “the second death” described by John. This is inherent in their unity with Christ. These people – described variously as the faithful, the righteous, and a number of other descriptors – will continue in life.
“I am the resurrection and the life.” (Jesus)
The life that they will continue however will be a transformed one. According to the Apostle Paul:
…Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:50-54)
The resurrection of the righteous will be to “the kingdom of God” – something that is incorruptible and does not die. Paul is at great pains to point this out. We will not be resurrected just to repeat this life. We will be resurrected to a different kind of life. He does not view death as an end, but rather as a transformation.
He also seems to connect our death to the “last trumpet.” This might have been because Paul believed the resurrection would happen in his lifetime. Every generation of Christians has. Paul believed he lived in the last days of this age because he did. We do as well.
Where Do We Experience This Change of Life?
The medieval church divided the afterlife into four realms:
- Hell – the place where the unbaptized pagan and heretic goes to be tormented forever
- Limbo – a theologically necessary place for the unbaptized children of believers
- Purgatory – the cleansing place where believers have their sin purified
- Heaven – the presence of God, reserved for the cleansed, or sanctified – hence the term saint
It is important to note that their reasons for this division were of theological necessity. Very early on in the development of institutional Christianity (after the 4th century CE), baptism into the church was considered the beginning of salvation. Baptism cleanses one from original sin (the sin we inherit from Adam) and initiates you into the Kingdom. This is why liturgical churches still baptize infants.
Obviously, during our lives we commit our own sins. We are not cleansed of the tendency toward sin, just the original sin. Therefore, since God cannot have sin in his presence, we will have to have that sin cleansed from us before we can join him in heaven.
It is easy to see how this four-tiered system developed. Later, a medieval poet named Dante Aligheri perfected the idea and developed levels within these realms. Although the most famous part of his Divine Comedy is “Inferno”, there are two other parts as well – “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso”.
When one reads the Scriptures with an open eye, it becomes quickly evident that God is not in the business of taking us somewhere else. According to Paul, we are changed instantly. We don’t go somewhere to wait for the end times. We go there instantly.
I am not going to claim how this works, but I don’t think that right now all the righteous people are up in heaven watching us and cheering us on. This idea of everyone watching us originates in a very poor interpretation of Hebrews 12:1. It would appear that there is something going on. The Revelation speaks of a marriage supper and an awful lot of singing and shouting. But my point is that whatever is going on/will go on in wherever Paul meant when he said “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:7), it is not some kind of eternal state of bliss with clouds and harps.
The Restoration of Eden
Here’s what John, the writer of the Revelation, seemed to believe would happen at the end. His vision of our eternal place was a global restoration of Eden. In one single magnificent image (Revelation 21), he pulls everything from the Hebrew Scriptures together. The heavens and earth will be destroyed and remade. God’s mountain will descend from earth, and the New Jerusalem of Ezekiel’s visions will stand on its top. God Himself will dwell among us once again.
To be honest, I don’t think anyone can be absolute on the details. Our fanciful imagery doesn’t do justice to the image of the prophets, who saw roads and altars and people working fields in this new heaven and new earth. This eternal destiny isn’t just a big party. It seems to be a restoration of what Eden was supposed to be.
- In Genesis 2, Adam is called to care for the garden. He is supposed to tend it. Because of sin, that got twisted into making bread “by the sweat of his brow” in Genesis 4.
- In Genesis 2, the beasts of the field seem to all get along with each other and man. There is a natural rhythm. By the time of Noah in Genesis 9, animals are afraid of humans. Sin has turned creation against man.
- In Genesis 1-3, God walks in the garden. He comes down for chats with Adam and Eve. I don’t need to quote Scripture to tell you that doesn’t happen anymore.
All of the Edenic things will be restored. The world is upside down today. God, through Jesus, is putting it right. John saw the final steps of that putting right. We glimpse what it will be like, and those hints of eternity keep us moving forward.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
God is not destroying and rebuilding. Yes, there is destruction of that which cannot be redeemed and transformed in creation. But he is at work restoring what our sin stole from us. The eternal destiny of man is not somewhere else but where we were intended to be in the first place – in his presence. And his presence truly is paradise.
What Do We Call It?
Referring to this eternal destiny as “heaven” is so common today, that I use the terminology myself. But I am careful to explain to people that it doesn’t mean what they think it means.
Remember when I started this with saying the Bible doesn’t say people “go to heaven”? That is because there is a lot mythology tied to that phrase. It is true. But in the Bible, Jesus does use the word “heaven”. He uses it as a synonym for God over and over again. If you read the Synoptic gospels, you will see that the gospel writers used “Kingdom of Heaven” and “Kingdom of God” interchangeably whenever quoting Jesus or talking about his mission.
It is not wrong to refer to our eternal destiny as “heaven” as long as we know that means the presence of God. (The Jehovah’s Witnesses love to point out that people don’t go to heaven when they die. You can throw them off their game by showing the parallels of Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of God and point out that heaven is wherever God is.)
My preference is to refer to our eternal destiny as “in the presence of God.” Because Jesus gives us new life through his atonement for sin, then we can enter into synergy with God’s Spirit. We experience, as I mentioned, hints of the eternal and the change from this life to the next should be a relatively seamless one as we journey with Christ.
After all, the same John who wrote the Revelation also wrote:
The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)
We are being transformed through Christ’s resurrection to be like him. This is not a transformation we can necessarily detect or hold over the heads of others in the manner of the Pharisees. Rather, it is a mysterious transformation that occurs as the Spirit of God draws us to Jesus.
Heaven is not here on earth. We don’t create it. We don’t carry it with us. But at the same time, it is being formed in us because Jesus is at work. The church that is moving with Jesus should be transformed by His Spirit.
There is plenty imagery to aspire to. Think of Enoch in Genesis 5:
All the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:23-24)
We pass from this life to the next in union with Christ. There is just one life that passes through resurrection. We should not so much be looking forward to “getting away” from this world but to continuing our journey with God.
That’s my opinion, anyway.
Some Parting Thoughts
A friend once asked me why I would want to go to heaven, knowing that all the judgmental bigots that exist in Christianity were also planning on being there. He would rather die uncertain than be certain he would be with the Christians he had known in life. That’s rough – but unfortunately, it is a true assessment of what calls itself the church here on earth.
Sadly, there is very little of heaven at work in most organizations and groups that call themselves churches today. Because they have bought into the medieval ideas, either they reject the whole afterlife (liberalism) or they become obsessed with death (most of evangelicalism, if we’re honest with ourselves). Perhaps if we realize that we are journeying toward the coming Age rather than either trying to be it now or longing for it as a “payday some day”, we would become hints of heaven ourselves.
I can think of no better way to end this post than with Jesus’ own prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
(Matthew 5:9-13)
Tessarakoste is Upon Us!
Posted by Erik in Meditation Guides, Prayers, Preaching on March 8, 2011
Tomorrow night at Bedford Road Baptist Church, we will begin our observance of the Easter Season! This year, we are journeying with the people of Judah as they go through the period known as the Exile. This was a very important time in the development of not just the Hebrew Scriptures and the people’s identity but also in their longing for the Messiah and their growing desire for the resurrection – both of which are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The printed meditation guides will be available on Sunday during the worship gathering.
In previous years, I have used the blog to send out the daily meditations for everyone, but this year I am going to just attach the PDF of the meditation guide.
You can download the guide by clicking here.
It is formatted as a booklet, which means the pages will appear out of order. To print it, print it double sided and then staple it in the middle. (Most inkjet printers will prompt you on how to reinsert the paper to print it properly.
The Danger of Christian Celebrity
One of the most important reads of my ministry life was Confessions of a Reformissional Rev by Mark Driscoll. In a time when I really needed a good old fashion kick in the can, this book was just that.
Of course, when Driscoll wrote the book in 2006, Mars Hill Church was a very different thing than it is now. Driscoll was virtually unknown outside of the Acts 29 network and a few groups that sat on the fringe of Christian conversation. When I read about Driscoll in Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz (which I’ll mention again in a moment), he was the “cussing pastor”.
Today, Mark Driscoll has become the almost de facto face for super hip congregations across the country. With his smirking face, his outspoken ways and his super trendy metrosexual look, Driscoll is seemingly everywhere. He speaks at conferences all around the world, and he writes numerous books every year. It is a wonder that he has time to teach at the growing multi-site congregation that was the basis of Confessions of a Reformissional Rev.
(It takes a lot of guts to dress like this in public – or just an overwhelming desire to look ‘cool’.)
I have become disillusioned with Mark Driscoll over the years. He has become increasingly caustic and mainstream as Mars Hill has blossomed. In some ways, he has become a caricature of the man who wrote Confessions and I cannot help but feel grieved about that.
The same could be said for Donald Miller. His book Blue Like Jazz was one of the best Christian books I’d ever read. It really changed my mind about a lot of things – not the least of which was God’s attitude toward ‘liberals’ – Christian or otherwise. When he wrote the book, Miller was an out of shape, neo-hippy writer who lived in a house with four other guys and attended a secular college. Today, he is a fit, well-off Christian writer who lives in his own place and has given up much of the trappings that made Blue Like Jazz so great.
Donald Miller was once awkward and uncomfortable with his celebrity. He didn’t know how to speak to large groups. He was just a good guy whom Jesus loved. But today, he is like my generation’s Max Lucado. There’s just something formulaic about what he does. There’s no burning passion in his stuff.
All of this leads me to Rocky III – because all roads lead to Rocky movies. In Rocky III, we find that Rocky has lost his confidence and has become a paper champion. He has lost “The Eye of the Tiger” (which thankfully, the band Survivor found for him and put to music).
Something happens to people when they become celebrities – even if it is a tiny niche like the evangelical Christian niches of Driscoll and Miller. People who were once hungry enough to be consumed by their passion are filled, and the hunger fades. They continue to operate, believing they are hungry and passionate, but really they are contented and the edge is lost. They lose their way, and they lose what made them worth listening to in the first place. (Sort of like what happened to bands like The Clash when they hit it big.)
We should pray to God that he save us from our own celebrity. If there are two sins that Christian leaders and writers are susceptible to, they are envy and pride.
We envy the influence and popularity that our celebrities have, and we become consumed with pride when we achieve a bit of the same influence and popularity.
We get comfortable with the acclaim of our peers and the accumulation of followers.
We lose the fire we have when we are barely hanging on, just trying to keep up with the Holy Spirit.
This is not a critique or accusation toward Mark Driscoll or Donald Miller or any other Christian leader/writer. It is more a warning for myself because I do aspire to help others see the glory of Christ’s Church and to use the written word to encourage people in the unorthodox ways God can work.
Wholly Dependent on the Word
My friends, it is too easy to become dependent on something other than the Word of God for your sufficiency in life and ministry. It is simply too easy to become consumed with some idea or some egocentric goal and forsake the divine authority.
Anyone can quote the Bible and convincingly show that it supports their position. We can make the Bible say what we want it to say. Pastors and teachers sadly do this all the time and people listen without considering what is being said. And all too often – far too often – what they say is out of harmony with the Word.
By “The Word”, I do not mean simply the written Word – a collection of letters jumbled into words, verses and chapters on a page in some translation.
I mean the Eternal One, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, He Who Is and Was and Is to Come, the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, the Savior of the Nations, Jesus Christ.
I would be an atheist were it not for Jesus. Nothing else of religion – be it Christian or otherwise – has any resonance for me. But for Jesus, there is nothing for me anywhere in the world of religion. He is literally all there is.
In my ignorance, he has taught me. In my blindness, he has led me. In my foolishness, he has reproved me. In my darkness, he enlightens me. In my pride, he humbles me. And he does it all without malice or hate. He sees me as no one else can.
His words are precious to me. Each sears into my heart. He writes his message on the tablet of my heart, and I am both wounded and changed.
So, when I hear people evoke his name for their agendas, call upon him to bless their religious games, it cuts to the quick. When people misquote Him or use His words to mean something he did not mean – when they try to bend Him to their will, I feel like Simon Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. I take up my sword and I flail away wildly,
“NO! NO! You’re wrong! Let Him go! Let Him GO! You abuse Him!”
Tears burn my eyes – tears of rage and tears of shame. Not tears of my own shame, but tears of shame that others like me would disgrace him so. I bellow and stomp and roar, for He is precious to me. I lose control.
But it is not mine to judge and execute. Even then my foolishness is turned on its head, and he heals despite me.
And still he remains. He takes their abuses, and still pours his grace upon them. The one who sought forgiveness for those who parted his garments still works despite me and despite those who misuse him. This I will never understand. Those I would strike he allows to continue. He reminds me that I am not called to their lives but to my own.
He is too wondrous to treat as our own, for his purpose is beyond our own. It is worse to misuse him than to reject him. May we instead long after Him – the Living Word – and become wholly dependent upon Him in all things.
Inversion Moments
Posted by Erik in Doesn't Fit in a Category, Personal, Prayers on October 28, 2010
Every once in awhile, as I read through Scripture and study it, something that should have been apparent to me becomes apparent. Light dawns on marblehead and I realize that the way I’ve always read a passage is upside down.
In studying for this week’s message (I’m preaching on David’s encounter with Goliath of Gath), I had one of those moments.
I call them Inversion Moments. They are the moments when you are reminded that the narrative of Scripture does not exist to show me how to live but rather to show us Christ.
I love when Jesus takes the text of Scripture – even the 3,000 year old parts – and flips me on my head so I can see just how upside down my thinking is.
God, I know that the way we see the world is upside down and that your Son Jesus came to earth, lived, died and was resurrected to show us how upside down we are. Thank you for inverting us, for letting us glimpse the way the world is supposed to be.
Amen.
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