A Parent's Prayer

Lord, today I thank you for parenting me;

 for far surpassing every expectation,

  fairly or unfairly,

placed upon the shoulders of my earthly parents.

You really have been my perfect Father,

 yes, my perfect Mother.

Your Word tells me that you are the father to the fatherless

and that we can call you Abba, or Papa.

You have described yourself as the One who will comfort us

 like a mother comforts. 

As we were made in your image—male and female you created us— 

I am thankful that the very best traits of the ones we call Mom and Dad

are all wrapped up in who you are.

Long before my parents’ love for each other conceived me,

You had ordained that I should live and grow up before You,

to show forth, in some faint way, the very glory and loveliness of You.                                                                            

I think of You today as the perfect parent

(though no one aspect of your character begins to define who You really are),

 because today I feel like a most imperfect parent.

I struggle with helping my children to rely less on me and more on You, 

with encouraging them to make wise choices

flowing out of a sure and secure relationship with you,

their Master and Designer.                                                                                                                                      

You who are the flawless One, full of grace and truth,

Direct me as their “interim parent,” in whatever stage they may be,

 to know when Truth is best applied, and, perhaps more often,

when Grace just fits.

Remind me today, Lord, of the wondrous fact that as You rule the universe,

Your thoughts toward me—toward my issues—

 are as countless as the sands of the sea?

And that my precious ones are no less precious to You

 than anyone else’s in all the world,

for You, indeed, parent us all.

I trust You today, Lord…

and await further instructions.

tad

Waiting for Strength to Arrive

The popular contemporary Christian song Everlasting God contains the phrase, “strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.”  This is a biblical notion for sure, but how foreign it is to our modern American approach to life.  We get stronger by waiting? We draw energy from inertia? By our seemingly obsessive activity, one would think that our weariness is not a result of insufficient passivity, but rather too little time.  Why?  Because we really could do less…we just choose not to.  If you polled most people on why they seem stressed or exhausted, one of the main complaints would be something like this:  There are just not enough hours in the day for me to accomplish everything I need to do.  But is that, in fact, the issue?  Do we just need more time?

A few years ago, a Hollywood movie addressed the issue of time as the new currency in a thriller entitled In Time, starring Justin Timberlake.  What intrigued me was the premise: a future society where the ultimate commodity is not money, not land, but time.  Imagine, in the not-too-distant future, that scientists have discovered a way to turn off the aging gene. As the threat of overpopulation looms over society, money becomes a thing of the past. Now, assets are measured in time; those with the most time also possess the most power. Meanwhile, the lower classes are forced to barter with the new elite if they want to live forever.

 

The concept is compelling.  And it rings true.  What we all wish we had more of—is time.  Time to get stuff done.  Time to go here and there.  Time to get and stay busy.  And certainly, more time to relax. What appears to be elusive for many of us is not acquiring more time, even for relaxation, but really learning how to rest. Not just a yoga, hmmmm-type relaxation, but what God’s Word refers to as stillness, the ceasing of striving.  Rest.  And there is much in the Word to establish the importance of resting, of finding rest…of actually pursuing rest. In his best seller Too Busy Not to Pray, well-known pastor, teacher, and author Bill Hybels suggests that our real need is not more time for more activity, but more time communing with the One who made us…and then Himself rested.

Genesis 2:2 begins “By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”

Psalm 46:10 reminds us to “Be still and know that I am God.”

Psalm 62 says “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken."

Luke 10:38-42 illustrates the restful posture of Mary, as compared to the busy, but un-peaceful, attitude of sister Martha.

Hebrews 4: 9-11 cautions: “There remains, then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their examples of disobedience.”

These are but a few of the references that are the basis for a contemporary poem, ‘Til They Rest in You, written by songwriter Tony Wood.

Comes an honest moment when each heart looks inside

Finding nothing here on earth truly satisfies 

Some choose to ignore the ache, some confess it’s true  

God, our hearts will have no peace ‘til they rest in You

Every pleasure, every thrill never is enough 

Every trophy, even gold, simply turns to dust 

Most still search to find real joy yet they never do 

God, our hearts will have no peace ‘til they rest in You

We yearn, we thirst, we stumble in the dark 

Discontent, for You’ve set eternity within each heart.

Thank You for my desperate days, feeling incomplete

Thank You for Your loving ways, leading me to see

 Jesus, You are all I need, nothing else will do 

God, our hearts will have no peace ‘til they rest in You 

Resting in God is less about relaxing and more about relinquishing.  The writer to the Hebrews tells us that “anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.”  As we jump into yet another school year and, as God’s people, embark on another cycle in the church calendar, take some time to reflect on how often you think or are caught commenting on your current or anticipated weariness.  Why not take an inventory of your “rest to work ratio” and see if it even comes close to the 1 in 7 standard set by the Creator of the universe.  He worked six days and rested the seventh, even thereby institutionalizing a Sabbath rest for His people.

Tired of striving?  Tired of working for fulfillment, acceptance, significance?  How about waving the white flag of surrender?  Take time.  Make time. Put intentional space into your day or week to meet with God and consciously give Him your stress and weariness. And then take Jesus at his word in this busy season:  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matt. 11:28)

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In Remembrance

Our church celebrates communion once a month.  Some call it The Lord’s Supper.  For others, it’s the Holy Eucharist.  In some church cultures, a worship service is incomplete without this special meal.  Others view it as something to be treasured, and fear its losing some of its special-ness by it being a part of every gathered community. 

Coming from a very traditional, ritualistic even, church background, I understand this concern.  There is a commonly held axiom in communication that to the extent that something is familiar, it loses its impact.  Said another way, the more we know what’s coming, the less intently or expectantly we receive or anticipate it.  I still recall singing portions of the liturgy (the repetitious and routine parts of the worship service) as a child while, at the same time, looking around the room, waving to late-comers, or wondering why I had worn one brown shoe and one black.  Imagine the impact of the words, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, on my heart, while I am simultaneously winking at the cute girl across the aisle.  Talk about your multi-tasker!

Wherever you land with the frequency and significance of communion in the worship life of the church, know this.  Observing it was a big deal to the one who instituted it—Jesus himself.  For all the ways the church loves to celebrate/commemorate the birth of Christ, Jesus really didn’t say much if anything about remembering the beginning of his earthly life.  What he did not want us to forget, though, was how (and why) he died.

Every four or five weeks, our church hauls out this special table and uses it as the centerpiece of our stage as a visual reminder that during this gathering, we are going to intentionally look back.  In fact, the table has the words “Do this in remembrance of me” etched right on the front of it. The words are from Jesus himself, spoken on the night he poured his heart out to his dearest friends, broke bread, and washed their feet.  He seemed to be saying that what is about to happen, as critical and destiny-changing as it might be, can actually be lost or forgotten if you don’t treasure it, memorialize it, even, in a sense, institutionalize it.  Imagine the passion in his voice at that moment.  He was pleading with them to let the sacrificial act this meal represents be burned into their memory like a brand that can never fade away. Why?  Because we forget.

What was that first “last supper” like?  It was a night filled with drama and profound implications.  If you saw “The Passion of the Christ,” you will recall the opening seen in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus faced the Enemy head on and prayed the prayer, “not my will, but Yours be done.”  What you might have not remembered was that scene historically came immediately after the upper room meal.  So on the night called Maundy Thursday, Jesus loves on His disciples in a final special meal, endures unbelievable spiritual warfare as He prays alone in the garden, suffers the humiliation of betrayal at the hands of one of his own inner circle, and is arrested.  Might it be worth a tradition to recognize those events?  Many still do.

While Jesus warns us against vain repetition (Matthew 6:7), he does not advocate never repeating anything.  Indeed, that is what traditions are: determining those events, occurrences, and corporate experiences which are repeated, whether it is weekly, monthly, annually or otherwise.  This is suggested in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers: “Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God.” (Numbers 10:10)  This wasn’t just a Hebrew thing, it was a people of God thing, suggesting that part of trusting God for our future was remembering our past.  And part of retaining the identity as a unique work of God’s hand was to replay, occasionally, our unique story. Doing certain things in remembrance helps keep us, as the transforming people of God, anchored in our spiritual and cultural roots.

If, in this contemporary American culture which seems addicted to the new, we find that nothing we do seems worthy of repeating, then maybe it wasn’t worth doing in the first place.  Conversely, God forbid that we ever allow the priority of our fellowship to become the mere perpetuation of traditions.  But recognizing our propensity as fallen creatures to forget even the things that should matter most, let’s agree on this: some things are still worth doing in remembrance…lest we forget.

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Proverbs 2.0

During these lazy, crazy days of summer, yours truly is choosing to exercise his right to take a break himself (call it literary laziness).  But rather than leaving you with nothing to read, I am opting instead for a selection of random quotes from folks wiser and, in some cases, more humorous than I.  Included in this blog are just scattered thoughts and life observations which should remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, but always to be pursuing God-likeness.  I like to call lists like these:  Proverbs 2.0. 

Don't let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.

The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close.

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has.

A lot of church members who are singing "Standing on the Promises" are just sitting on the premises.

Be fishers of men. You catch them. He'll clean them.

Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.

Don't put a question mark where God put a period.

Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.

Forbidden fruits create many jams.

God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called.

If God is your copilot - swap seats!

A bird in the hand is safer than one overhead.

A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

If you are willing to admit faults, you have one less fault to admit.

You cannot get to the top by sitting on your bottom.

Rather than asking God to bless what you’re doing, find out what God is doing, because it’s already blessed.

Love one another.  No, really.  Love one another.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            tad