What to Pray For?

As a pastor I am often asked to pray for people. People come to me with requests to pray for illnesses of themselves and their family, financial hardships, difficulty with family, spiritual guidance and the list could go on . . . and on. As you can imagine I spend a lot of time praying, not just for other's prayer requests, but also for my own. All this praying is good, however while teaching on the Trinity at a youth conference recently it occurred to me that one of the most important things to pray for is often overlooked.

Taboo

Christians, as the people of God who should be assisting in the redemption of creation in Christ, have some difficulties to face. One of those is cultural taboos. There are many things which are considered taboo which we as Christians need to participate in. Our culture tells us that the homeless are on the streets for a reason which they caused and that we should not acknowledge their existence. Yeah, it is o.k. to give to the Salvation Army or volunteer at a soup kitchen around Thanksgiving. But actually acknowledging the homeless as people, that is something different.

The Healing Game

Here I am again

Back on the corner again

Back where I belong

Where I've always been. . .

I'm back on the corner again

In the healing game

Van Morrison's song The Healing Game is a heartfelt tale of an Irish singer returning to the streets to sing the long lost songs of oral tradition. As I was listening to this song the lyrics really began to resonate with me and I felt as if God was speaking to me through this song, and possible speaking to the entire Church through this song.

Bringing Religion Back

For about the last ten or fifteen years it has been popular among evangelical Christians to deny "religion." Many who have grown up in the evangelical church if asked what religion they were might answer something like, "I don't have any religion, just a relationship," or something else catchy like that. I hear this response, in one form or another, all over the place, from people in almost every denomination among the evangelical churches. This response has made me to ask two questions, which are the basis for this post. Why is it that the religious have turned their back on religion? And, Is it possible to be a Christian and not be religious?

Is Jesus a Polygamist?

When the Church is wedded to Jesus will Jesus become a polygamist? Is he going to be wedded to one body or to separate bodies? Many Christians live as if Jesus is a polygamist. They do not see the Bride of Christ as one but as many. Think about it at a macro level we have the Catholics, the Orthodox Church and the Protestants. At a micro level each of these can be divided into many other groups, the Protestants the worst. Some might argue that these are just different expressions of the same Body of Christ, while others consider all who are outside of their tradition as heretics. I lean more toward the former. However, these divisive groups do not act as different expressions of the same Body. They ridicule each other, they condemn each other, they refuse to work with each other.

Drop in Consumerism . . . Bad?

In the last decade or so there has been much critique on the consumer driven culture in which we live. Many people have spoken out against this vast expanse of consumerism. It finally seems that the message has been heard (well maybe) and it is being viewed as a horrible thing. It is actually being viewed as something which we should actually fear.

Redemption Song

“Old pirates, yes, they rob I;

Sold I to the merchant ships,

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless pit.

But my hand was made strong

By the 'and of the Almighty.

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom? -

'Cause all I ever have:

Redemption songs;

Redemption songs.”¹

While suffering from cancer the Rastafarian Bob Marley recorded "Redemption Song." The song is one which expresses a hope for future freedom, however at the current time all that can be done is to sing songs of this future freedom, redemption songs.

I'll be back

As you may have noticed, I have not posted anything new lately. Life has gotten really busy and I have not had time to post anything new.  When things slow down I will begin posting again.

Thank you for reading.

Unity as More than Equals

Unity seems to be a buzzword in many congregations today. It is good that many churches are seeking to bring unity among the body of Christ, however their approaches can be very damaging. The starting point of many congregations is to compare the good things their congregation has to offer with the bad things the other congregations in their areas have to offer. In doing this a barrier is created which will hinder the development of unity. Imagine if congregations began looking to the good things which other congregations had to offer, looking to the good which might develop if weaknesses are cast off and true unity in Christ were embraced. Imagine if we all began looking at others in the body of Christ as better than ourselves, as more than equals.

How Can They Get Involved?

Sitting around dynamic Church leadership meetings, church board meetings, church staff meetings, and the question almost always comes up, "how can we get people involved?" It seems that a problem exists in churches everywhere, a problem of Christians not stepping up and serving. I have another question to ask, it is not how can we get people involved, my question is "how can you not get involved?" Is it really possible to "take up my cross" and "present my body as a living sacrifice" if I am not involved?

The problem, seems to begin with church leaders. They are asking the wrong question. They should not be asking, "how can we get people involved?" They should be asking, "how can we get people to become followers of Christ?" Christian leaders (myself included) have greatly missed the point. In many cases we have come to the conclusion that if people are involved they are walking with God. It is not our role to get people involved, but to help people develop a relationship with Christ. If people begin to develop a strong relationship with God they will get involved. Our focus should not be on getting people involved in ministry but getting involved with Christ.