August 20, 2007 at 9:11 pm · Filed under Reflections, Feature, Scripture
We get a wonderful glimpse into the nature of God’s Kingdom in the opening chapter of the Gospel of Luke, especially in Mary’s Magnificat — Luke 1:46-55 — her song of celebration when Elizabeth recognized that Mary was carrying the Christ in her womb:
My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant….
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
There is more, but these verses were enough for me. I turned them into this prayer:
Lord,
May we not be proud, but humble.
May we not be rich, but hungry.
Hungry — so that you may fill us with good things.
Let us rejoice in you, and know your joy.
Let us rest in you, and trust you to do the mighty deeds.
Help us to live faithful lives, day after day, from generation to generation.
May we come to see things as you do, though it turns them upside-down.
August 18, 2007 at 4:19 am · Filed under Reflections, Feature
Early this past summer a dear, sweet, powerful, honest-to-God minister of the Gospel reached out and grabbed me with this challenge:
Why do we spend so much time praying for ourselves, our needs, our fears, our hopes and desires — or even the hopes, fears, needs and desires of others?
Jesus taught us to pray for one thing before anything else:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come …”
Everywhere Jesus went, he announced “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent!” “The Kingdom of God is among you.”
In preparation for Jesus’s ministry, John the Baptist preached the same thing: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Jesus sent out his disciples, saying, “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’” (Matt. 10:7)
He taught us, very plainly, to seek the Kingdom first, before anything else. Everything else will follow. (Matt. 6:33)
He taught us to pray for the Kingdom before food, forgiveness, or safety.
“Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Above and before anything else, this should be our first desire.
Is it?
I’ve begun disciplining myself to stop and pray for the Kingdom, first. To pray very simply, and then stop and listen, before praying anything more: “Your Kingdom come.”
(First, to be honest, I had to pray that God would restore my desire to pray. I’d struggled with that for awhile, recently. I find that happens to me from time to time. So now, that desire is returning, and with it, this new wrinkle.)
Then comes the next challenge. Do I know what in the heck I’m praying for?!
And so I’ve begun re-reading the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. It could be Matthew, Mark, or John. But I love the fact that Luke and Acts were written together as a single piece (by the disciple, Luke, to Theophilus), and they tie together everything from the announcement of John the Baptist and Jesus’ birth to the first disciples’ courageous ministry after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
As I read, I’m asking seven questions. I think they’re great questions. I think they’re God’s questions — that is, questions God wants us asking:
- What does the Kingdom of God look like? What happens when it comes?
- To whom does it come?
- What must a person do to enter into the Kingdom and enjoy its riches?
- What kinds of worldly forces try to stop the Kingdom of God?
- Why can’t they stop it? How does the Kingdom keep winning? (Which it does, against all odds.)
- ARE there forces — perhaps within us — that CAN stop it from coming?? What are these forces? How do we overcome them?
- And now, with regard to our own condition, what should we be longing to see happen among us? Among whom will it happen? How can we best help it to happen? What will it look like when it comes?
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April 7, 2007 at 7:33 am · Filed under Reflections, Quotes, Feature
Tocqueville recognized, with acute insight, a great deal of the genius of Christianity in America. Writing in the 1830s …
“[I]n America religion has, as it were, laid down its own limits. Religious institutions have remained wholly distinct from political institutions, so that former laws have been easily changed while former belief has remained unshaken. Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America …The Americans, having admitted the principal doctrines of the Christian religion without inquiry, are obliged to accept in like manner a great number of moral truths originating in and connected with it.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. 2 (New York: Vintage, 1990) 6.
“A strong hold on the public mind,” “a great number of moral truths,” “former belief has remained unshaken …”
Obviously, things have changed a bit since when Tocqueville wrote. Just as obviously, American Christianity bears as much a share of the blame as does American anti-Christianity.
For example, something is badly broken with the way we practice our faith when one of our most vocal voices of contemporary American atheism, Sam Harris, finds that the most hate-filled attacks against him come from Bible-quoting (so-called) Christians. Thus, he writes:
“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”
If our faith is what we say it is, hatred has no place in it. Hatred is grounded in fear, and we know that there is no fear in true faith. Likewise, there is no need to grasp for power. No need to dominate or control others. We are already grounded on The Rock. What more do we need?
May we rediscover our faith afresh, recover our confidence, and regain the influence we could wield if we dealt with our neighbors — including our unbelieving neighbors — as we should.
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