Pray, Then Act

Our church has been going through a series called "The Story."  It's a book that takes readers through a 31-week journey from Genesis through Revelation in chronological order.  It takes selected passages from scripture and adds transitions to make the Bible read as one complete story.  As a church we have been reading a chapter a week, which our pastor them preaches on each Sunday.  Today was the final day spent in the Old Testament, as we read passages from Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi.

What struck me during the sermon today (which I didn't pick up on while doing the reading myself) was that Nehemiah spent time in mourning and prayer before approaching King Artaxerxes about returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.  When the king asked him why he looked sad, Nehemiah prayed before he responded.  Throughout the book, Nehemiah always takes time to pray before responding, speaking, or acting.

Often today we act first and think later (or we act first and pray later).  I know that personally I rarely spend enough time in prayer before acting on something on I feel called to do.  I needed this reminder to take adequate time to pray and listen, before acting.  It is vitally important to connect with God and wait for His confirmation before acting.

Through scripture we are reminded to wait and pray.  In Psalm 46 we are told by YHWH to "Be still and know that I am God."  In Isaiah 40 we are told that "Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."  Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 that we should "Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstance."  Waiting to act and relying on God through prayer is so important and something i often forget to do.

Prayer is easily the most overlooked and underused tool we have at our disposal as Christians.  I needed to be reminded to spend time in prayer on a regular basis.  I need to make prayer a bigger priority in my life.  Prayer can't simply be something I leave for the end of the day, but it needs to be something I start the day with and dwell in throughout the day.  Today when armies go into battle, they first send in air support to bomb the enemy and survey the opposing army.  This is what prayer can do for us.

I'm going to make a commitment to make prayer a priority.  Is this a commitment you need to make in your life too?  Have you experienced the power of prayer in your life?  If you have, leave a comment and share that.

Preparing for Worship

The last hour before I go to bed on Saturday night is one of my favorite hours of the week.  This is the time I usually spend unwinding and preparing for worship the next morning.  I run the video screens on Sunday mornings, so it is my responsibility to prepare the show for the next day.  I have to enter the song lyrics, create announcement slide, type up the sermon notes, and put in the scripture text.

What I enjoy about this process is the way that it allows me to prepare for worship before heading to bed.  It allows me to detox from the week and begin to focus my energy on worship and instruction.  I get the opportunity to look over the lyrics of the songs for the next day and get a feel for the mood of our worship time.  Reading over the scripture texts and sermon notes provides me the opportunity to consider and reflect on the message I will hear the next day.

I think that it is important to prepare yourself for worship.  While we should be perpetually in a state of prayer and worship as Christians, it preparation is still necessary when entering into corporate worship.  Throughout scripture God called on his people to fast and consecrate themselves before going out to worship.  Christ himself spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry (one of the primary reasons behind the celebration of Lent).

Too often we rush into worship without having first prepared out hearts and minds to properly offer ourselves as living sacrifices.  We stay up too late on Saturday night and rise too early on Sunday morning.  Then we rush to ready ourselves and walk into church after the service has started.  I am thankful for this time on Saturday night and time on Sunday morning to ready myself for worship.  We need to set aside time each week to consecrate ourselves to become prepared for worship, so that what we offer to God may be acceptable in His sight.  The thought of what our worship could be like if everyone took the time to get their hearts and minds in order is almost too exciting.

My prayer is that I will always take the time necessary to quiet my mind and ready my heart to worship God in a manner that will be please Him.  May I always enter worship equipped to offer my entire self in worship as a living sacrifice. 

Christ! No more, no less.

Today on my way to work I popped my earbuds in and cranked up my audio Bible (exciting, I know).  As I have done a lot recently, I listened to the book of Colossians.  The book is the perfect length to get my from my apartment to the restaurant where I work, and it's message has been on my heart a lot recently, so it's something I've listened to almost daily for the past few weeks.

Every time I listen to this book, it is the end of the first chapter that speaks to me the most.

"This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me."  Colossians 1:26-29 (The Message)

The part the stands out to me the most is the line that says that the message of the gospel is "Christ! No more, not less."  I feel that too often Christians forget that the message of the gospel is about Christ.  Too often we clutter it up with debates about historical accuracy, morality, apologetics, abortion, gay marriage, or Republican vs. Democrat, and we forget what the gospel is all about.  Apologetics and morality are important, but not at the sake of Christ, and his crucifixion and resurrection.

We need to always remember that the most important thing is Christ.  We need to spend less time arguing about politics and whether or not contraception is morally permissible for Christians, and spend more time sharing the love of Christ with people that need to hear about it.  Instead of telling women who consider abortion how evil they are we should tell them about the unexpected love of Christ for them and the life growing inside of them.  We need to stop telling homosexuals that they are ruining our country and that allowing them to marry will ruin the institution of the family, without first telling them about God's unconditional love for them and the redemptive blood of Christ.

I hope that I never ignore important social issues, but I also hope that I never lose sight of what is most important.  If my conversations can always come back to the cross, then I have done what I am called to do.  The power of the gospel is found in the empty tomb, not moral prohibitions.  God created us for heaven, and Christ came to save us to heaven.  The message is one of hope and love, not terror and torment.  Jesus' death and resurrection restores the relationship God created us for.  While it does save us from the fire of hell, it more importantly saves us to the glory of heaven.

We need to always be aware that the message is simple: Christ!  No more, no less.  May the story of Christ dwell in the front of our minds, and drip off our lips.

Spiritual Growth Through Gardening

First, an apology.  It's only the second day of Lent, and I didn't get a blog post.  In my defense, it was written on Thursday, but I was having issues getting it to format and post correctly, so I went to bed and posted it this morning.  Please forgive me.

My church recently purchased two properties behind our campus with the intent of eventually demolishing the houses and planting a community garden.  When this first of these properties became available to us at an almost unbelievable price, we considered purchasing it simply because of how inexpensive it was, with no real vision or purpose for the property.  While discussing the possibility of purchasing this land, our pastor read an article about community gardens, and while doing so developed a vision to see this property turned into our own community garden.  Now with a vision, we moved forward with the purchase.

While we had a vision for this newly acquired land adjacent to our boarders, we still didn’t have a firm plan as to how to move forward.  Very shortly after this, however, a new family came to our church with a passion and clear direction for a community garden.  God took a church with a vision for a garden, and a family with a plan for one, and married them together.  A few months later we were able to purchase the property next to the one we had already obtained, to give us two lots that we could develop.

While this project is still in its infancy (both houses are still standing) it is exciting to see how God is moving and how he has already moved in the project.  The thing that I am most excited about is the way that life transformation can come through a garden.

A community garden truly is a communal effort.  It will be built and maintained not only by members of the church, but also by people who live in the neighborhood around the garden.  The surrounding neighborhood is one of the poorest in one of the poorest areas in Columbus.  Almost all of the people who live on the street rent the houses they live in, and many of the houses are vacant and boarded up.  This is an area with very little hope, and gardening teaches hope.  When you plant something, it doesn’t appear the very next day, or even the day after.  Growth takes time, and you have to have hope that what you plant will eventually grow into a fruit of vegetable.  If you don’t have hope, you won’t take the steps necessary for growth.  You won’t pull the weeds, water the plant, or prune the branches.  If you have faith that what you planted will grow then you will put in the work necessary to aid in that process.  People who have no hope of ever improving their situation similarly won’t put in the work to make improvement happen.  If we can teach people hope, we can teach them to put in the necessary work to see their hope come to fruition.

The garden is an important motif throughout scripture.  Jesus even compares the spread of the gospel to a man who goes out to plant a garden.  Some of the seed he scatters is devoured by birds, some begins to grow but soon dies because it has no root structure, and some sprouts quickly but is choked out by weeds.  Some, however, falls on good soil where it grows and thrives, producing a harvest much greater than what was sown.  This is like the gospel where many will hear, and some will sprout up, but will quickly fall away because of the cares of the world or a lack of depth in their faith.  However, some will grow and thrive, and will even lead to a greater harvest as they take the message of the gospel that brought them life and share it with others.

 

Paul also speaks of spiritual growth in terms of a garden.  He talks about how some are called to plant seeds, some are called to water, but it is God’s Holy Spirit that causes growth.  We see this same principal at work in an actual garden.  We can plant a seed, water it, and do all of the necessary things for growth to happen, but we cannot make the plant grow.

Life is always seen as beginning in a garden in the Bible.  When God created man he placed him in a garden.  Jesus' resurrection happened in a tomb that was found in a garden.  Just as life appears anew in a garden every spring, new life in Christ comes through the garden.

I am excited to see the change that happens at my church and in my community in the coming months and years as we plant a garden together.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  The word Lent comes from English and German roots meaning long or spring, but the original Latin term for this period of the Christian calendar meant fortieth, as in, the fortieth day before Easter.  Ironically enough, Ash Wednesday occurs 46 days before Easter (next Tuesday marks the fortieth day before Easter).

The period of forty days, however, is a significant period in scripture.  It rained for forty days at the beginning of the great flood (Genesis 7-8).  Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai as he received the covenant from God (Exodus 24, 34).  The spies were sent into the Promised Land for forty days to explore the land (Numbers 13).  Goliath challenged the Israelite army for forty days before David stood up to him (1 Samuel 17).  After killing the prophets of Ba'al, Elijah traveled for forty days before reaching Horeb where the Lord appeared to him in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19).  Jonah gave the people of Nineveh forty days to repent and turn to God or be destroyed (Johan 3).  Jesus spent forty days fasting in the wilderness before being tempted by Satan at the onset of his public ministry (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4).  Christ also spent forty days on earth after his resurrection before assenting into heaven (Acts 1).  This period of time is clearly significant throughout the Bible and it is fitting that we should set aside this period of time to draw closer to God.

The season of Lent and the practice of marking believers with ashes in the form of a cross on the forehead dates back to the very early days of the church.  Traditionally this serves as a day for confession and repentance (similar to Yom Kippur in the Jewish tradition).  On this day people typically fast, confess their sins, repent, and ask for forgiveness in order to refocus on their relationship with Christ during the Lenten season leading up to the Easter celebration.

Here is a brief video my father recorded today explaining the history and significance of Ash Wednesday (and it includes a humorous story as well).

 As an American Baptist, it has never been my practice to celebrate this season with any special significance.  While Lent is not part of my tradition, this year I have decided to celebrate in my own way.  In order to better focus on my relationship with God I have decided to sacrifice some of my time (time that would normally be spent watching television, napping, reading sports articles, goofing around on Facebook, watching YouTube videos, etc.) and practice the discipline of writing.  This will allow me to read and reflect, and put my thoughts down in a concrete way.  Hopefully this will spark conversation and engage others in this pursuit of growing closer to Christ through writing and reflection.

The Lent Project

Tomorrow begins the official start of Lent, the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.  During this holy season, it is traditional for Christians to practice self-denial in the form of fasting.  While most don't fast completely, many choose to go without eating meat (with the exception of fish on Fridays), or they give up some luxury (sweets, electronics, Facebook, etc.).

As a Baptist, it is not part of my denominational tradition to celebrate Lent in the way that most liturgical denominations do.  I have never given anything up during the lenten season, and don't intend to this year.  However, I am going to celebrate Lent for the first time.  Instead of practicing self-denial, I am going to practice self-discipline.  For the next 40 days I will post a blog every day.  Some may be very brief, only a sentence or two reflecting on a verse or a thought that I had while others will be more thought out and well developed posts.

I hope that you will join me in the project by reading and commenting on my posts and engaging in a conversation during this season leading to Easter as we draw closer to God together.