A prayer for the church

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blessing, calling, Chrisitanity, Church, congregation, faith, God, Jesus, Ministry, prayer, spirituality

On Sunday I will be preaching at the congregation where I am worshiping and work with adults with dementia.  I will be talking about the welcome they have given me, and the signs of the kingdom that I see active among them, and then I will lead them in a prayer for the congregations and the various ministries that are offered to God in the congregation.  It seems to me, however, that this prayer is one that needs to be prayed for every congregation.

So please join me in praying for the health and vitality of congregations and the ministry that happens within them.

Let us join our hearts and voices to offer our prayers to God.:

Most holy God, from time eternal you have called us your people and directed us in your paths.  You have provided for us from the bounty of your earth.  You have provided salvation through Christ who died for our sins.  You have loved us, forgiven us and called us into your church. You have directed our hearts with the infilling of your Spirit and sent us forth to bring the good news to all people.  All that we have is yours.  All that we do is given to you with all the love and gratitude of our hearts.  You are truly great, and truly to be praised.

Today we praise you that you have called us into the Congregation of [name of your congregation].  Here we have been blessed by your love, challenged by your Word and called into your service.  Through the worship and labour of this congregation you have given our lives meaning and purpose and we praise you for the joy that we know in you and in one another.  May your blessing continue to flow in and among us.

We pray for the ministries of this congregation and all those who support those ministries with prayer, financial assistance and loving service, in order that your blessing may indeed abound.

We pray for ourselves as a congregation of your people, vowing to grow in faith, in truth, and in grace as we work together in patient service to one another and to the community outside our doors.

We vow to most sincerely acknowledge you, the only true God,  to trust you alone, look to you for every good thing, to humbly and patiently love you, fear you, and honor you with all our hearts.

The things good Lord that we pray for,
Give us the grace to labour for

We vow to regularly attend the assembly of your people and to learn what your Word teaches, to pray to you and for your church publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.

The things good Lord that we pray for,
Give us the grace to labour for

We vow to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies.

The things good Lord that we pray for,
Give us the grace to labour for

We vow to love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And we vow to live the way of love for you O God and for our neighbor.  We vow to serve all the least of your people with all our heart and to take pleasure in doing whatever is right.

The things good Lord that we pray for,
Give us the grace to labour for

We ask especially that you will maintain and prosper the ministries of your people in this place.

We ask all these things in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who has called us to faith and who sends us forth in ministry. Amen

May your congregation be blessed and may it be a place of blessing.

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Become what you believe

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Christianity, faith, God, holy spirit, hope, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality, Trust

Become what you believe.  When I read these words in Matthew today the phrase struck a chord in me.  This is all too often the way we live.  We put the emphasis on the “become”, and we put all of our effort into the becoming.

Let’s face it we live in a world that is filled with self-help strategies.  In books, on television and through social media we come across Spiritual Guides of every ilk who reinforce the message that we are in charge of our own destiny.  We are assured that programs such as seeing and visualizing what we want will make it happen.  We are told again and again that we can have or be anything that we want if we just work at it. 

After I read this passage from Matthew I started wondering about my own life.  How often have I tried by my own effort to become more?  What about all that hard work to change?  What about all that effort put into making my life what I wanted it to be?

 

Last night someone asked me what Biblical character I resonated with and my answer was Abraham.  Always living in the hope and expectation of the promise.  Always digging wells that others drank from.  Always striving to make his life turn out according to the Promise of God.  Then, most importantly of all, always being brought up short by God and reminded that life is lived by faith, not by our own effort.

I know that I get it wrong.  I put my own effort into making what I believe work, instead of simply resting in the grace and truth of what I believe and trusting God to make it work.

So I went back to the words that Jesus said, and I pondered the real truth in those words, that it is God who does the work for the becoming and that I am called to place my faith in him, and trust him in the working out of life.

This is what I read from Matthew chapter 9.  The translation is The Message

As Jesus left the house, he was followed by two blind men crying out, “Mercy, Son of David! Mercy on us!” When Jesus got home, the blind men went in with him. Jesus said to them, “Do you really believe I can do this?” They said, “Why, yes, Master!”   He touched their eyes and said, “Become what you believe.”   27-30

What I have been pondering all morning is the need for us to be believing, rather than to be working on becoming.  More importantly I have been realizing that what we believe is an important part of this process.  I could believe that I can be the next famous rock star or even a toadstool, and no matter how much effort I put into believing, it just isn’t going to happen.  It is important that our believing is in line with God’s will and then God will make the becoming possible.

That then leaves the questions, “Where do I want to place my faith?” “What is my faith dependant upon?”

Where:  in God
What:  God’s word

So what have I chosen to believe today?

I have chosen to believe that I am a child of God and beloved in his kingdom.

I have chosen to believe that God has called me forth for a purpose and will fulfill that purpose in me.

So now with simple trust, hope and expectation I give myself over to God and allow him to bring forth what I have and will become in him.  Like Abraham I will learn to quit striving in my own effort and give over my heart, my hope, my life to God and trust that God will make all things possible in his time—whatever, whenever.

This is my prayer:

BECOMING

Before you, O God, I am humbled.
Everything I have tried has not worked.
Create in me a new heart, filled with trust and hope.
Order and reorder my thoughts that you word lives in me.
Make me open to hear the speaking of your Spirit.
Instil in me and new desire for faithfulness.
Nurture within me the gifts of the Spirit that they will fill my very being.
Grace me as your child that I may become all that you desire me to be.  Amen

Detour

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Christianity, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality, Trust

Last night I was at a meeting at a church in a nearby town.  That town has a lot of road construction happening in the blocks surrounding the church.  As a consequence there are detour signs almost everywhere.

The sign that I noticed last night made me chuckle.  

Who ever put up the sign, situated it so that it was directly in front of the main doors of the church with the arrow pointing to the doors.  

It made me ponder, what if every time our own lives were under construction we took a detour through the church?

spending time in prayer?
seeking advice from trustworthy spiritual advisers?
being guided by the Holy Spirit?

The mind boggles.

More to the point what if I were better at following the detour signs that God places in my path, so that my transition times flowed with his mercy and grace?

The heart soars at the possibilities.

 

wake-up music

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calling, Christianity, God, holy spirit, Jesus, Listening, Ministry, prayer, Religion, spirituality

 

The last two mornings I have woken up humming these words:

 

 

With the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.

Those words form the ending couplet of the verses to the hymn “Lord you give the great commission”  

 

 

Lord, you give the great commission:
“Heal the sick and preach the word.”
Lest the Church neglect its mission
and the Gospel go unheard,
help us witness to your purpose
with renewed integrity;
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Lord, you call us to your service:
“In my name baptize and teach.”
That the world may trust your promise,
life abundant meant for each,
give us all new fervor,
draw us closer in community; 
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Lord, you make the common holy:
“This my body, this my blood.” 
Let your priests, for earth’s true glory,
daily lift life heavenward,
asking that world around us
share your children’s liberty; 
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Lord, you show us love’s true measure:
“Father, what they do, forgive.”
Yet we hoard as private treasure
all that you so freely give.
May your care and mercy lead us
to a just society; 
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Lord, you bless with words assuring:
“I am with you to the end.”
Faith and hope and love restoring,
may we serve as you intend,
and, amid the cares that claim us,
hold in mind eternity; 
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Words: Jeffery Rowthorn

Words © 1978 by Hope Publishing Co,, Carol Stream, IL 60188. 

 

This has been among my favorite hymns for a long time, but we have not sung it in worship in a very long time, so there is no reason for the tune to be stuck in my head and come forth from my dreams.  No reason, that is, other than the Holy Spirit is working in me and through me.

Yesterday and today I pondered what this wake-up music could mean and concluded that it was meant as a call to prayer.  So these past two mornings I have been praying for whatever new gifts I need to fulfill my calling to ministry as well as a fresh outpouring of gifts that I may be renewed and prepared in all aspects of ministry.

My prayer:

Lord, you bless with words assuring:
“I am with you to the end.”
Faith and hope and love restoring,
may we serve as you intend,
and, amid the cares that claim us,
hold in mind eternity; 
with the Spirit’s gifts empower us
for the work of ministry.

Fulfill that calling in my by giving me the new gifts you desire me to have and with a fresh outpouring of your Spirit on me, that I may always serve you as you intend.  Amen.

 

listening….

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Christianity, faith, God, Listening, Meditation, prayer, spirituality, Trust

A few weeks ago I downloaded a meditation app to my phone.  I have used it during the quiet spaces of many mornings ever since.  It helps me focus my breathing, and to concentrate on being present with God.

The app chimes at the transition moments in the prayer time.  I like that it moves me from the focus on breath and helps me stay deeper in the presence with God…much better than always peeking at my watch to see if time is up.

Today my friend’s dog was in the living room as I started to pray.  After the first minute the transition chime sounded.  And the dog started barking and ran to the door.  2 minutes later the phone chimed again and the poor dog went wild, barking at the door, running to me to come and see, barking some more.  It certainly broke my concentration.

“Silly dog,” I said, “That’s not the doorbell that’s my phone”, but he simply carried on as if he knew better than me what he had heard.

Finally I started to reflect on the message in his behavior.  He heard the chime, but he believed it to be the doorbell.  That begged the question how many times have I mistaken another voice as God’s.  How many times have I run after a voice that led me into something that God had not intended.

I meditate, so that I can learn to listen for God’s voice.  I don’t want to run off and follow other voices, I want to learn to trust that as I listen for God to speak that I will hear his voice clearly.

 

Today my prayer is simply this:

I come to you O Lord with an open heart.  Touch me and speak with clarity that I may know your voice, hear you speaking and follow you.  Amen.

Biblical Prayer

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Christianity, Confidence, faith, God, hope, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality

I have known that Biblical Prayer is an important part of our prayer life, indeed we need only look as far as the Lord’s Prayer to know how very important to all of us the prayers contained in Scripture are.  But to be truthful I haven’t really used them very often, preferring to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and pray in the moment and as I felt led.

But today I found a prayer that I want to speak, a prayer that I want, even feel I need, to make my own.

It comes from Exodus 33.  This is a low time for Moses.  While he was up on the mountain with God, inscribing the Tablets with the Commandments the people were below making a golden calf.  God had been angry enough that he proclaimed that he would no longer travel with the people.   This was one of those turning points in their relationship.  How much could Moses ask of God, and how bold was Moses to ask God to keep his promises to always be with the people….

And this is what Moses said to God:

 Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you have said to me, “Bring up this people”; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.” Now if I have found favour in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favour in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.’  Exodus 33: 12-16

Moses by the boldness of his prayer held God to account, reminded God of his promise to always be with them, leading them forward and keeping them safe…. and God remembered his promise…. God’s promise is greater even than his anger….. and God again promised to be with Moses and the people.

At this time when I am waiting to hear God speak, this boldness in prayer speaks to me.  As I wait for God to show me the new direction in my life this demand that God keep his promise and walk with his people gives me courage.  

So today, and for the next little while, based on the boldness of this prayer of Moses my prayer is:

 Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.” Now if I have found favour in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favour in your sight. 

as a companion to this prayer is the great hymn of faith:  Guide me, O thou Great Redeemer

Guide me O thou great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land
I am weak but thou are mighty; hold me with the powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and ever more…feed me now and ever more.

Open now the crystal fountain, when the healing stream doth flow
let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through
strong deliverer, strong deliverer be thou still my strength and shield…be thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; 
Death of death and hell’s destruction, land me safe of Canaan’s side
Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever sing to thee…..  I will ever sing to thee..

 

 

 

Lead me O God as you have promised, walk with me in this journey and prepare me to embrace the life and calling that is prepared for me.  Amen.   

 

 

Sabbath time

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Christianity, faith, God, Jesus, prayer, Religion, Sabbath, Searching, spirituality, Trust

Yesterday I posted this nugget of wisdom on my Facebook timeline:  “The world isn’t a forest of measuring sticks. The world is a forest of burning bushes. Everything isn’t a marker to make you feel behind or ahead; everything is a flame to make you see GOD is here. Ann Voskamp.

and then I wrote:  Definitely words to live by here. Therefore today I will look for the flame that shows me God is here.

 

I have to admit that yesterday I was fairly successful in keeping my eyes on God and gaining my strength from the assurance that he goes ahead of me to prepare the way.

It helped that I had some wonderful pointers from godly people to help me with that assurance.  

On Sunday I heard a great sermon on the life of the children of Israel as they wandered through the desert.  The starting point of the sermon was this verse from Exodus 13, which has been where I have been trying to keep my faith focused this past month..

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

The preacher spoke of the time in the desert as a time which was necessary and would lead to coming to know God better, if we don’t fall into the temptation to become whiners and complainers along the way….

Then later in the week I had lunch with someone who is destined to become a good friend.  We talked about my experience of not finding a new place in which to fulfill my calling in ministry, and the experience of homelessness.  She talked with me about her own experiences of unemployment and homelessness and how God always provided at just the right time, but not until the right time.  

We agreed that the life of faith is never easy and that sometimes it resembles stepping off of a cliff without a parachute to hold you up, or a net to cushion your fall.  As I prepare to move from my current place of sojourn and am finding the places to store more of my things and prepare to move on to the next temporary oasis in the desert, I feel more of the free fall than the confidence in God.

We talked about my current focus in prayer, which is that I be able to hear God speaking.  Then I said that I was wondering if the fact that I can’t hear God speak is because he hasn’t spoken yet…. and she spoke those same words at exactly the same time.  WOW.

She has certainly experienced more periods of homelessness than I have and she pointed out that what gave her strength in the process was looking at it as Sabbitical time. Sabbitical time…. not unemployment.  Sabbitical time…. not homelessness.

What a new perspective, this is about being in God’s place, God’s care, and God’s timing.  This is a time for spiritual growth to prepare for the tasks that are to come.  Like Elijah in the desert being brought food and told to eat and sleep for the journey to come would be long.

 

So yesterday when I posted Ann Voskamp’s wisdom on facebook and resolved to look only unto God for direction and leading instead of trying to figure things out and make them work for me, I struck out with confidence.

This morning, the first email I opened was from yet another congregation informing me that after prayerful consideration they did not believe that my gifts matched the direction of ministry the congregation was seeking.  

My initial reaction…. tears of bitter disappointment…… FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY with this reminder from God…. you have promised to go only where I lead.  In repentance I said, “You are right and I am sorry.  You are merely redirecting my feet to the path you have prepared.  I will follow your leading.”

A few hours later I got an email from a congregation that invited me to read their website, their profile and if I was interested to submit my profile in application. Is this the place I am being led to?  That I don’t know.  What I do know is that I need to read the information, pray and prepare and if there is a pillar of cloud and fire to be seen, I will go forth with God.  But only if God’s presence indicates that this is the path to follow.  

So here we go again, wandering in the wilderness and wondering is this the final lap–the path that leads to the Jordan River and the promised land.  Only time will tell.  I wait for the revelation of God, and reaffirm my intention to walk in faith.   

worth the wait….

Tags

Christianity, faith, God, hope, Jesus, Patience, prayer, Religion, spirituality

Today I did something I have avoided doing for a long time.  I signed up as a follower on another blog.  It’s not that I don’t like some of the blogs I dip into… I do, a lot.  But some days just reading the blogs I do follow regularly is a challenge.   And if I haven’t checked my reader in a while maybe even a chore…. but today I was poking around in all the blogs on prayer and found the one called, http://drawingfromthewell.wordpress.com

It speaks to me for a couple of  reasons.   First of all its because of Thomas Green.  For years I have tried to read his books about drinking from a dry well.  I have written about this struggle before.  I know there is a message in them for me, but I never seem to go there…. so the title of this blog touched me in an area that I know I have some learning and growing to do…

Secondly and more importantly perhaps, it speaks to me because it reminded me that when we wait for God to answer prayer it is something that is worth the wait.  As someone who is in the I want an answer and I want it now mode, I need to hear that.  

So now I have another blog that I will check regularly and maybe the wisdom found in its pages will help me to walk with God in the silence of the wilderness, with faith instead of grumbling.  ….That is my goal, my hope and my prayer.  

perspective

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Christianity, faith, God, hope, Jesus, prayer, Religion, spirituality, Trust

This past month or so it has been creeping up on me–anxiety, worry, despair, fear and their ever present companion–depression.

I have weathered a lot of changes in the past year or so, none of them welcome.  But there has been grace in the turmoil, and I have been given a wonderful opportunity to rest and heal and figure out what God is calling me to next.  Well, I have rested and healed, but I have no clue where or what or how God is calling.  And that is disturbing, because I know that in the new year I will again face changes…. 

so I have been praying and worrying and laying awake nights trying to figure out what to do.  In that process I have been shutting down, not sharing, and keeping it all in.  And that has been blinking a huge welcome sign to the companions that are offering to join me on the journey.  But I don’t want them.  I want faith.

Today I was reading in Exodus about the journey of the people of Israel and how they are brought by God to the place by the water, but then they take their eyes off of God and see the pursuing Egyptian army.  Their response is fear.  It struck me that we have a choice in how we respond… with fear or with faith.  For me fear makes me crawl inside myself; but faith compels me to share the burden.

That’s what happened to me yesterday.  It began in the morning as I read in Exodus 13 about the start of the journey that the people of Israel were about to take.  It struck me that for every step of the way God was with them.  

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.  Exodus 13: 21-22

At no time were they alone.  God was with them, morning, noon, night.  Everywhere they were going, God was with them, in fact a little bit ahead of them clearing the way.  They didn’t know where they were going, their job was to just follow the pillar of cloud and fire and to trust that God was leading them in the right way.

My problem is that I want to know.  Actually more than that, I want to control.  I don’t think that I like living on the edge like this… and yet, yesterday I was reminded that I am not living here alone.  God is with me.  Better than that, God is just a little bit ahead of me, preparing the path, clearing the way.

That became clearer in the afternoon, as in caring and sharing time with my covenant group I shared what I am praying for, worrying about and losing sleep over.  Almost immediately there was a solution to one problem that I thought was insurmountable.  What a gift.  What joy to know that God was working it all out.  And why wouldn’t he be.  Not so long ago he worked out another insurmountable obstacle and gave me a place to live…so of course God will work out the arrangements for the next few months, years, and decades of my life.  I can stop worrying, and more importantly I know that when I start trusting and having faith and sharing with those whom God has given me that I will gain a whole new perspective.  

Faith begins with the gift from God, but it often comes displayed in human packages.  

Our need to thank God

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Acrostic, Christianity, God, grace, Jesus, prayer, Religion, Salvation, spirituality, thanksgiving

The theologian Dallas Willard writes:  Our need to give is greater than God’s need to receive.

This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving.  When I think of our need to give being so great it makes me wonder about our need to give thanks to God.  Certainly it can be said that our need to thank God is greater than God’s need to be thanked.

That is certainly true when we think about the enormity of what God has done for us.  From life to redemption, from redemption to forgiveness, from forgiveness to salvation, and from salvation to eternal life.

There is so much for which we are thankful, and yet when we thing of how much God has done and continues to do, we can be overwhelmed with the need to say thank you.  So overwhelmed that we may not have the words to express what we really feel.

 

How then does the creature say thanks?  On Sunday we will sing the hymn, “God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale”, which speaks repeatedly of our need to say something, but also of our inability to say it.

 

The questions the hymn asks:

How does the creature say awe?  How does the creature say praise?
How does the creature say grace?  How does the creature say thanks?
How does the creature say care?  How does the creature say Life?

The answer seems to lie in the final wonderment of the hymn:

How do your children say joy?  How do your children say home?

Our relationship with God transcends the creator and being relationship.  When we have experienced the woe of knowing that we are separated from God and then the joy of saving grace, we realize that we have been elevated to the status of family.  We have been adopted.  We have been given access to everything that God has.  Indeed we say joy.  Indeed we say that we are come home.  And then with hearts overflowing with love and thanksgiving, we realize that there is no way to be able to say an adequate thank you.  What is best for us to do is to simply enjoy the life God has given us, and live in such a way that we share that joy and love and awe and praise with the whole world so that they too may know the grace of salvation.  

 

There are no words to adequately express what we feel…let us simply rejoice in the Lord.

 

 

Let us pray:

REJOICE

Revive in us, O God, a desire to thank you with our whole being
Establish our joy upon the firm foundation of your grace
Join our hearts in joyful praise
Open our voices to sing your praises
Incite within us the need to thank you, praise you and serve you
Call us forth into the newness of being
Enlist us in your work of calling all people to redemption.  Amen.