Chock-full of Good News

The timing of God is impeccable.  Before last week’s journal was even posted Lucy strode into our path.  Actually she is crisscrossing our path.  After attending our group for the last couple of years, she is headed out on a new adventure.  Sunday evening Lucy came bearing gifts, one of which was the book At the Throne of Grace by John MacArthur.   

In the preface of this book, filled with his pastoral prayers, the author affirms some of the same points that were given in last week’s journal.  He says, “There is also a legitimate place for organizing our thoughts and planning the words we will take before God’s throne–particularly when the prayer is for a time we have set aside specifically for worship, either in private or in the midst of a congregation.   Composed prayers have the advantage of being more thoughtful, more to the point and less repetitious…Despite my concern that prayer books can easily be misused in a way that fosters ritualism and religious formalism, today’s evangelicals seem far more easily tempted by superficiality, self-indulgence, and prayerlessness.”

Here is a small section of one of his prayers chock-full of biblical content and the good news: 

“Father, through the cross of Christ

        we have been reconciled to You,

        and we exult in the hope of future glory.

“We were fallen creatures,

        without merit of our own,

        guilty to the core of our beings,

        justly deserving everlasting destruction.

“You are the One who opened our understanding to see the gospel

        and then You opened our hearts to embrace it.

Your Spirit revealed to us the hidden wisdom

        which even the rulers of this age do not understand.

You gave Your Son to die in our place, and with Him,

        You freely gave us everything we lacked.

“Nothing we could ever do can augment or add merit

        to what You have already accomplished on our behalf.

We simply rest in the perfect, finished work of Christ.

We thank you that the work of Christ

        is applied to us effectually and continually.

We know that we are thereby secure

        in the forgiveness Christ won for us at Calvary.

Strengthen our faith,

        seal our will unto obedience,

        and empower our lives to glorify You.

“In the blessed name of Christ we pray.  Amen.”

Walking With the Giants in Prayer

If it is recommended reading from our friend Jodi, you can be sure it will be interesting.  She is the one who sent three copies of A Gospel Premier to Mexico and forwarded a link to National Wear a Tea Cosy on Your Head Day.  The article is usually accompanied by such comments as “Thought of you when I read this” or “I found this helpful.” 

One of those suggestions came a few days ago.  Because of snow our office was closed.  After breakfast with the snow still flying, I sat at the fireplace perusing Facebook when a notification came from Jodi.  She suggested I read an article entitled, “WhyUse Written Prayers?”

The idea of written prayers has just not been my idea of a real prayer.  I’ve been more along the opinion of Garrison Keillor’s grandpa when he said, “If a man can’t remember what he wants to say to God, let him sit down and think a litter harder.”  To that Garrison’s Aunt Esther meekly replied, “There’s the Lord’s Prayer.”  Grandpa responded, “You call that prayer?  Sitting and reciting like a bunch of school children?” 

I learned from Jodi’s article, however, there are a number of valuable reasons for the practiced use of the written prayer.  Of the twelve reasons listed, let me highlight three:  

1) They teach us how to pray–We can learn to pray by “tracing over” the prayers of godly persons.  After a while their wording becomes a part of our prayer vocabulary.  It's a way of walking with the giants.  

2) They infuse our prayer life with rich biblical and theological content - The charge of being “a mile wide and an inch deep” has been leveled against modern Christianity.  There are a plethora of hymns, verses and prayers that can move us into the depths. 

3) They connect us to the wider church, both geographically and historically–There is something powerful about saying time-tested prayers in common with those seated beside of us, with believers around the world, with Puritan believers of the 18^th century and with great-grandparents of a previous generation.   

Seasonal Observations

 In a few days I’ll go to the depths of the basement, rummage around for a worn plastic bag, and take its contents out for investigation – a large planter base, an old plastic jar, gauze and a rock.  Curious items indeed but all are necessary for making a resurrection garden.  Dirt will fill the planter base then moss will give it texture.  If it’s within reach a few tiny flowers will be planted, pebbles will make up a path and crosses may be erected.  On Friday the gauze will go inside the jar and a stone will seal the tomb until it is rolled away on Sunday.

Observation of the church calendar is not something Diana and I practiced in the earlier years of our marriage.  I’m not exactly sure why, maybe it was the bad word associations in our minds…ritual, meaningless, dead, liberal, religious.   

We have discovered that celebrating the days and seasons of the church year to be a catalog of remembrance….of recollection.  It’s an opportunity to collect our thoughts and focus them on the particular events or meanings surrounding Christ’s life.  Seasons interrupt the normalcy and regularity of the ordinary with intensity.  Participation is not to make us ritualistically religious but more alive.  More alive to Christ. 

These seasonal observations are much like the spiritual disciplines of fasting, prayer or simplicity.  They prepare the ground as a farmer does in the spring when he cultivates the fields, plants the seed, waters the plants and then waits for God to give the increase.  Observations do nothing in and of themselves, but they prepare our hearts for a work of God’s grace.  

The Lenten season in particular is a time of reflection, watchfulness and devotion that readies us for the celebration of Christ's death, burial and resurrection.  It’s forty days to ponder alienation, propitiation, reconciliation and to rediscover the familiar stories that give meaning to these words.  Most of all it’s a time set aside to wonder and to worship.   

Lessons Upon Reflection

As a young man Saturday mornings found me chauffeuring my grandfather to the local radio station.  Once there he would make his way to the broadcast room, throw his ever present hat on the table, open his well-worn Bible and wait in front of the microphone.  Then came his opening statement, “Thank you, Wayne.  We greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We welcome you to this discussion of the lesson tomorrow found in the book of….”

The scripture always came from the International Sunday School Lesson.  It was a uniform, 6-year plan for reading and studying the Bible used by many pastors throughout the United States including many in our local area.  Grandpa’s intention was to use this common worship plan and the radio broadcast as a way of mentoring other pastors who were using the same material.

Churches that use a cycle of Scripture for reading and preaching actually do offer some distinct advantages over churches that adhere to an independent unscripted approach.  It allows for a consistent and thorough overview of Scripture that accentuates the whole counsel of God and avoids pet doctrines and concerns.  It also gives a unifying connectedness with fellow believers throughout the world and gives a historical rootedness with previous generations.  We are unlikely to find this same stability in churches that are purposefully faddish in their services and church life.

Sunday mornings found me again chauffeuring grandpa, this time to Bluffton, Liberty and Wolf Creek – the three country churches he pastored.  And again the International Lesson was the focus as Grandpa stood at his small lectern on floor level and taught.  The order of service always included a responsive reading.  This worshipful work of the people gave opportunity for a community response to the sacredness of God.  Everyone engaged, all participated, we were all one on an equal playing field. 

I did not think much about these things at the time, but as I reflect upon them now I can see they have been powerful in forming my identity in understanding myself, the worshiping community and our response to the Lord Jesus.  It’s a good reminder as we move into the season leading up to Resurrection Day.    

(Top: Side view of Liberty Church which was originally a two room school.  Side: I was a little young for driving here but that is my grandpa and I.)

The Story of Adolphus

The story of Adolphus gives an excellent illustration of providing a door of empathetic graciousness to others.  It is from the book Church: Why Bother?  

“I learned an enduring lesson about what grace looks like in action from my church’s response to Adolphus, a young black man with a wild, angry look in his eye.  Every inner-city church has at least one Adolphus.  He had spent some time in Vietnam, and most likely his troubles started there.  He could never hold a job for long.  His fits of rage and craziness sometimes landed him in an asylum.

“If Adolphus took his medication on Sunday, he was manageable.  Otherwise, well, church could be even more exciting than usual.  He might start at the back and high hurdle his way over the pews down to the altar.  He might raise his hands in the air during a hymn and make obscene gestures or he might wear headphones and tune in to rap music instead of the sermon.

“As part of worship, LaSalle had a time called ‘Prayers of the People.’  We would all stand, and spontaneously various people would call out a prayer–for peace in the world, for healing of the sick, for justice in the community around us. ‘Lord, hear our prayer,’ we would respond in unison after each spoke request.  Adolphus soon figured out that Prayers of the People provided an ideal platform for him to air his concerns.

“‘Lord, thank you for creating Whitney Houston and her magnificent body!’ he prayed one morning.  After a puzzled pause, a few chimed in weakly, ‘Lord, hear our prayer.’

“‘Lord, thank you for the big recording contract I signed last week, and for all the good things happening to my band!’ prayed Adolphus.  Those of us who knew Adolphus realized he was fantasizing, but others joined in with a heartfelt ‘Lord, hear our prayer.’

“Regular attenders came to expect the unexpected from Adolphus’s prayers.  Visitors had no idea what to think: their eyes would snap open and their necks would crane to get a look at the source of these unusual prayers.

“Adolphus called down judgment on all the white people in the church who had caused Mayor Harold Washington such stress that he had a heart attack.  He railed against President George Bush who sent troops against Iraq while people were being killed in the streets of Chicago.  He gave regular reports on the progress of his music group.  Some of these prayers we met with an awkward silence.  Once Adolphus prayed ‘that the white honkey pastors of this church would see their houses burn down this week.’  No one seconded that prayer.

“Adolphus had already been kicked out of three other churches.  He preferred attending an integrated church because he enjoyed making white people squirm.  Once he stood up in a Sunday School class I was teaching and said, ‘If I had an M-16 rifle I would kill all you people in this room.’  We white people squirmed.

“A group of people in the church, including a doctor and a psychiatrist, took on Adolphus as a special project.  Every time he had an outburst, they pulled him aside and talked it through, using the word ‘inappropriate’ a lot.  ‘Adolphus, you anger may be justified.  But there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express it.  Praying for the pastor’s house to burn down is inappropriate.’

“We learned that Adolphus sometimes walked the five miles to church on Sunday because he could not afford the bus fare.  Members of the congregation began to offer him rides.  Some invited him over for meals.  Most Christmases, he spent with our assistant pastor’s family. 

“Boasting about his musical talent, Adolphus asked to join the music group that sang during communion services.  It turned out that he had absolutely no musical ability.  After hearing him audition, the leader settled on a compromise: Adolphus could stand with the others and sing, but only if his electric guitar remained unplugged.  Each time the group performed thereafter, Adolphus stood with them and sang and played his guitar, which, thankfully, produced no sound.  Generally this compromise worked well, except for the Sundays when Adolphus skipped his medication and felt led to do a gyrating Joe Cocker imitation across the platform as the rest of us lined up to receive the body and blood of Christ.

“The day came when Adolphus asked to join the church.  Elders quizzed him on his beliefs, found little by way of encouragement, and decided to put him on a kind of probation.  He could join when he demonstrated that he understood what it meant to be a Christian, they decided, and when he learned to act appropriately around others in church. 

“Against all odds, Adolphus’s story has a happy ending.  He calmed down.  He started calling people in the church when he felt the craziness coming on.  He even got married.  And on the third try Adolphus was finally accepted for church membership. 

“Grace comes to people who do not deserve it, and for me Adolphus came to represent grace.  In his entire life, no one ever invested that kind of energy and concern in him.  He had no family, he had no job, he had no stability.  Church became for him the one stable place.  It accepted him despite all he had done to earn rejection.

“The church did not give up on Adolphus.  It gave him a second chance, and a third, and a fourth.  Christians who had experienced God’s grace transferred it to Adolphus, and that stubborn, unquenchable grace gave me an indelible picture of what God puts up with by choosing to love the likes of me.  I now look for churches that exude this kind of grace.”

(Church: Why Bother? My Personal Pilgrimage: Philip Yancey, Zondervan Publishing; 1998, p. 34-37)