prayer and fasting

There is something about the new year that provokes me to take time to pray and fast before God.  To slow down with God in order to speed up with life has been a part of Christian practices since the church began.  Look at this passage in the book of Acts:

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.   (Acts 13:2-3)

The pattern of prayer and fasting that results in clear direction is throughout Scripture.  I think that our spiritual forefathers have gotten something on us.  We are constantly looking to economic news or the latest headline to see where our country is going, but do we spend enough time looking at the headlines that are written in our souls?  It’s not that God is silent; He has already promised never to leave us as orphans.  It’s that we are not available to God enough to perceive what He is saying to us.  It is much easier to become enamored by the sense of urgency that we get with outside events than to realize the importance of internal events.  We have substituted the ease of information for the effort of waiting upon God for revelation.

When faced with an important life decision, do we look to the Lord or do we look to the next conference?  When faced with obstacles in our life, do we take time to stop and seek God, or do we become a flurry of activity?  There is much profit in activity, but if we get busy before we get quiet we miss something major.

I pray that 2010 will be a year of seeking after the Lord in prayer and fasting.  When was the last time that you fasted?  If you want to start, you can download a document on fasting at www.gracenyc.org.  You don’t have to do a 40 day fast.  You could just skip a lunch and pray.  Then try 2 meals and read the Scripture instead.  Seek after God.  Take the time to slow down.  Then listen.  There are many “Set apart for me…” moments that are yet to be discovered.

wedding wishes

I was privileged to do a wedding in San Diego over the holidays.  It was a fun (and exhausting) time as the ceremony was put together in a mountain retreat center.  The temperature was in the 60’s and the environment was peaceful.  Excitement filled the air as the two families and their friends came together to celebrate the new life this couple was stepping into.

The ceremony was brimming with wonderful idiosyncrasies.  It was truly an expression of community.   One particular aspect of this event caught my attention that I think is worth mentioning.  One parent from each side of the wedding party took a moment in the ceremony to give a short message from the Scripture.  That in itself is not unusual.  What was unusual was the contrast between the two.

The first parent eloquently spoke of their child.  With 6 degrees from higher institutions, this petite woman had the elegance that comes from years of learning.  Her love for her daughter and her hope for this marriage washed over the listeners.

The second parent spoke with passion and fire.  Raised as a hard rock miner, this bear of a man spoke with the plain yet clear voice of that which comes from years of learning in a different way.  The school of experience has as much credibility as institutions.  The strength of his life proclaimed to us the joy of a father proud of his son.

The thing that struck me the most was how different these two were, yet they both were children of the gospel.  One highly educated, the other self taught.  One elegant and insightful, the other powerful and clear.  Yet the power of the Holy Spirit flowed through each of them as they poured their love for their children out in words that impacted the small group that assembled that day.   Each life carried it’s own pain and each life carried it’s own authority.

This is one of the reasons that I marvel at the teachings of Christ.  The gospel has the height to make sense to someone from the halls of academia, but it has the depth to reach people from the harshest backgrounds.  The apostle Paul puts it this way:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (Gal. 3:28)

This gospel was created for hearts that are ready to hear the words of God, it is not activated by intellect or willpower.  Humility becomes the great equalizer for the things of God, and therefore humility also opens up opportunities to ANYONE who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ.  My prayer is that I never lose sight of the reality that my walk with God is propelled and hindered by the condition of my heart.   I pray that you never lose sight of that as well.

words

I was at a conference recently where a well known speaker was making the point that we are becoming less word oriented and more image oriented.  He said that we are coming out of the “Gutenberg age”  and into the ” Google age”.

I respectfully disagree.

I believe that we are inescapably word based.  No matter how many images we see we will always need words to figure out what that image means.  Think about when you saw something that you thought was very cool.  What was the first thing that you did?  You probably told your friends!  It has been well said that for every image we see we will need a thousand words to describe that image.

I’m not refuting that we are in an age of digital images, but I often wonder if this is more our excitement about new technology than a major shift.  Imagery has always been a part of the human experience, but as we are bombarded with more imagery our humanity will kick in.   We’re finding out that we’re not that good at multi-tasking.  The press is still puzzled about the success of talk radio. (I’m not endorsing the content of talk radio, just that the power of the spoken word is alive and well.)   The talk has just begun about shutting down the email at times, putting the iPhone on airport mode, and coming back to sacred space -  times where we are silent and left to the words that flow inside of us.

The Scripture tells us that, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)  God has identified Himself as the Word.  He made us for words so that we can know Him.  The farther that we get from words, the less we know the One who made us.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

connecting dots

Remember those sheets of paper with the numbered dots?   As you connected one dot to the next with a pencil an image would form.  I think that our lives are lot like the process we go through when we connect dots.  We see the dot that we’re on and the next dot to go to, but we still don’t see the picture.

And much like those sheets of paper, we are surprised when we find out that the next dot is not in the direction that we thought that it should be.   It almost seems counter intuitive to move the pencil across to connect dot 22 to dot 23.  Yet if we do so, eventually we see a pattern emerge that amazes and delights us.

We can feel so much anxiety about connecting dots, but we do well to remember the Scripture when it states:

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. “ (Ephesians 2:10)

You and I are an image that reflects God’s workmanship.  I’m not so sure how well we see that image, but that’s not our part.  Our part is to connect with those works that God has prepared in advance for us to do.   As we do, an image will form, but that image is for the delight of our Father and not ourselves.

God already sees an image in us, given to us in Christ Jesus.  He connected the dots of our sin and brokenness to Himself.  He connected the dots of our fear and anxieties to His promises.  There is a peace and comfort for those who can see that He is connecting the dots of our lives even when they don’t see the image that is forming.  Out of our simple connection of dots comes an image of Jesus Christ – an image that is beautiful to God.   I take comfort that my Maker sees things that I don’t.  I take peace in simply connecting the next dot.

sabbath

It’s been a challenging 8 weeks.  In the first phase of our church plant we were struggling and praying that God would add people to this work.  Now that God is answering our initial prayers we’re struggling to lead people from different walks of life into a community of Christian witness to this city. The pace has increased, the demands have quadrupled, and the weight of our choices have ramifications that affect our entire community.  In the midst of this exciting and pressurized world I have to say:

Thank God for sabbath.

As the pace gets faster and we have to work smarter rather than harder, God has given us a prescribed rest to rejoice in His creation.  Just as God rested on the 7th day and said, “This is very good.”, we need to take time to stop and enjoy what God has provided for us.  One of the things that I have done right is mark off a day to rest and disengage with my work world (which in may case, is the demands of church).

If I get the Sabbath concept, I’m basically saying that when I obey God’s words and rest I am trusting that He ultimately is in charge of His world.  In disengaging from my everyday work, I worship God and surrender to His care.  This has been a lifeline to me and I pray that it becomes one for you too.

breathing into dust

I’m coming back to prayer.

Not that I was that far from it.  Starting a church has a curious way to cause you to get callouses on your knees.  Each week is a new challenge, which causes that sense of crisis, which causes one to cry out to God.  But even then, the practices of faith such as prayer and Scripture reading can become routine and stale.

It’s interesting to me how the practices of faith have their own cycles.  Sometimes prayer is exciting and dynamic, other times it is as dry as dust.  But there is nothing like when God gathers that dust and breathes His life back into it.  It can create something that is dynamic because it looks like His image again. That has to happen over and over again in our walk with God.

We all need God to breathe His life into us.  Our part is to stay faithful, even when those practices go from a raging river to a desert.  Dead reading of Scripture is better than no reading at all.  Eating the dust of a dull prayer becomes a part of the refreshing when we feel the waters flow down from the mountain.

The key for all of us is to stay on task no matter what the season.  The dust becomes full of life and reminds us of who we are.  We grapple with our fallen nature and the image of God when we apply ourselves to seeking God.  It’s a part of this life.  May it be a part of your life as well.

breaking out of the box(es)

“I just visit a different church each week, that’s what I do.”   In her early 50’s, the woman making this statement to me had a sweet smile and warm eyes.   She had come very early to find the location and made herself comfortable in a cushioned seating area.  I found her to be a very friendly person.

That was until I started to try to move some of the storage boxes with our church supplies.  You see, we meet in an off Broadway theater.  And like many churches that rent where they gather to worship, we use storage bins to hold the basic items that we need.  If you come early enough on a Sunday morning you’ll walk into a room filled with large plastic bins of supplies for all of the assorted things that we do in a service.

Our friend had found the corner where most of the bins were stacked and promptly nestled herself behind them.  The moment that I began to move some of the bins to put them away prior to the service, her demeanor changed; she became agitated.  The agitation started graciously at first, “Oh no, you don’t have to move these for me.  I don’t mind them at all.”  I was very gentle at first, explaining that it was no trouble at all.  She would be able to see the service if I moved the bins.

She countered, “Please don’t move these bins.  I can see just fine.”  In New York, space is a premium, so I had to explain to her that we would probably need the seating area as people arrived.  This did not deter her.  In fact, she actually became more adamant.  As I put my hands on one of the bins, she grabbed it to keep it in place.  I found myself playing a little tug-of-war with this sweet woman!  Except now, she wasn’t looking so sweet.  Then it dawned upon me – she sat there so no one could get close to her.  I did have to move the bins and we were pretty full, but she had to let me take down those walls.  Fortunately, a young lady in our congregation came over to meet this woman.  The distraction was wonderfully helpful.

After the service I thought on this awhile.  Isn’t this a story for all of us?  We are attracted to what God can do in community, yet we are scared to be known.  Like a moth attracted to a flame, we are made for relationships. Yet like this woman, we want community to be on our terms.  But community on our terms is not really community, it’s manipulation.  We keep building our walls of plastic bins to try to control the very people who can help us.

I think about the plastic bins that I use to keep people away while I’m in the middle of community.  Busyness, position, there are a lot of ways that I create artificial divides between me and those directly around me.  To go from anonymity to relationships can be a terrifying process.

Yet that is where God constantly takes us.  Christianity has doctrine, but that doctrine is about a relationship with God.  The fountainhead of our faith is relationship.  Why would we be surprised that the Holy Spirit keeps taking us to expressions of community?  The church is not man’s idea; it’s mandated in Scripture as God’s plan for the world.

I’m praying for my new found friend.  I pray that she comes back to Grace, but if she doesn’t I’m praying for people around her who won’t let her stay hidden behind plastic bins.  We all need people to come and take those walls down.  It may be terrifying at first, but it is ultimately liberating.

Isn’t that what Jesus came to do?  To set us free so that we could be free indeed?

a high wire act

I saw a tightrope artist go across the Lincoln Center today.  As I watched the clown precariously walk on that shaking, thin wire over our heads I couldn’t help but think of our walk with God.  I could imagine what was going through his head as he took his first few steps.  If his world is like mine, no matter how many times he walks that wire there is a sense of “what am I doing here?”.  Each shaky step brings both a bracing for the next step and a sigh of relief that the last step held him sure. 

Another thing is that he can’t look down, nor can he get lost in the final destination.  No, each step is what he needs to focus on.  Occasional glances to the end point encourages him along the way, but each step has to be sure and firm.

He also can’t go too fast nor too slow.  If he tries to rush it, he’ll lose his balance and plummet.  If he goes to slow he’ll psych himself out with all of the dangers around him.  No, it’s a slow and steady pace that will get him to the end of his journey.  There is too much banking on this step to be preoccupied with what had happened 5 steps ago.

I find our walk of faith to be like that.  If you look around you or look down you can get overwhelmed by your circumstances,  but if you look ahead and focus on what is in front of you you can take the next step.  According to Scripture the apostle Peter walked on the water, yet when he saw the wind and the waves he began to sink.  One thing stands out to me about that story: what does wind and waves have to do with walking on water?  We can criticize Peter for sinking but he was the only one to step out of the ship.

When the tight rope walker got to the other side of the Lincoln Center and stepped on the roof of the building, there was a shout from all of us.  No one was a loud as the walker himself, who had finished his task and now could celebrate his achievement.

At the twilight of his ministry, the apostle Paul said to his protege Timothy:

I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.  (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

May we all be able to celebrate at the end of our walk.  But until then, we just need to focus on the next step…

when crashing traffic is good.

I was at a concert at Columbia University last night that was hosted to bring awareness of the issue of child trafficing.  I met Grace Akallo and was deeply moved by her story.  Grace was captured at the age of 15 to be a part of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.  It is an army almost entirely made of abducted children. Grace is becoming an international spokesperson for the plight of children who are being used against their will.

These are the things that should provoke our conscience.  We have much to do to stop the tide of horror that children face everyday on this earth.  There is a walk this Sunday to bring awareness to the sex slave trafficing of children around the world (it’s just as real in the U.S. as anywhere else).

This is not pleasant stuff, nor should it be.  The gospel compels us to look at the world as it is and to bring it toward what it should be.  Would you please join me in making a stand and getting involved to stop the slavery of our generation?  Don’t go the other way, these children are depending on us.

west of Eden

Many people are talking about the recent incident of Kanye West commandeering the microphone from a stunned Taylor Swift as she accepted an award at the MTV Music Awards.  The negative press has been overwhelming as the media has declared that Kanye “crossed the line”.

I find it interesting that on a show that has a history of being outrageous (remember the Red Hot Chile Pepper’s prank?  If not, don’t ask) we have finally found the “sacredness” or the spot where they say, “This cannot and MUST not be tolerated.”  It tells me that even in an industry that can talk of relative truths and values that preach what feels good must be right, there are boundaries that are to held.  Kanye was just feeling it, right?  How could he be denied?

Where does this response come from?  Certainly not from the values that make them money every day.  I believe that it comes from a source that cannot be escaped from, try as we all do to bury it.  The image of God tells us that we were made for more than predator and prey.  We were made for His honor and respect.  When Kanye preyed upon a young teenager at a key moment in her life we all went “That’s wrong!”  This is another clue that we were made for more than what this world and it’s values can define.  The Kanye West incident showed a glimpse of our sense of right and wrong, and in doing so we echo the voice of the One who made us – a holy and righteous God who will judge the earth.

Yet don’t we all have our moments where we want to take the mic?  Or shout out “You lied”?   It’s just that we have enough social restraint (most of the time) to not do what we saw Kanye do.  If God looked at the intentions of our hearts, where would we stand?  I know that I would be guilty.  But Jesus Christ took that judgment upon himself to redeem the Kanye West in all of us.  Jesus alone stands as the place where God’s justice and mercy meet.