My neighbor, several sites down from us, is Karl, a true westerner, a former bullrider and now crippled from riding ferocious bulls ... and hard, demanding work at west.
Karl's great grandfather owned a 46,000 acre ranch in Wyoming and was a close friend of Buffalo Bill, the western folk hero. When Karl's grandfather was married, Buffalo Bill was his best man and gave Karl's grandfather a wedding gift of one of his pearl handled revolvers.
Karl was supposed to get the gun in his grandfather's will. His uncle took the gun and never gave it to Karl. Karl says he would love just to hold the gun that Buffalo Bill used daily.
Karl is now using a walker and is bright intellectually and a fun conversationalist. I wish you could meet him.
________________________________
Friends are leaving us...for a time. Ken left for Seattle. Snarky left for Arizona. Jim and Pat left for Colorado. Monte and Carol leave tonight for Desert Gold park in Arizona. Don leaves soon for K&N park in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Doug and Alice leave in a few weeks for Yuma. Others will be leaving in the next month or two, heading for warmer weather for the winter. The resort here is still relatively full with many overnighters who are passing through. Soon, however, in November, the snows and cold weather will come, the winds will blow and this resort will have many empty sites. Dozens will ride out the winter here, several feet keep in snow. Helen and I will leave January 1, 2012, for Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump, Nevada and stay there for a month before heading for Texas to visit with dear friends in Alpine, TX. Donna and Manning are there and Floyd and Rubye are coming over from the San Antonio area. The six of us will join hundreds for the Annual Cowboy Music and Poetry Symposium in late February. Meanwhile we continue to enjoy our daughter and granddaughters nearby in Nampa (ID). Golf is great here and Helen loves the pool and hot tub. Boise offers many avenues of interest. Mission Aviation Fellowship is headquartered in Nampa. The Birds of Prey reservation is nearby, as is Bogus Basin, the beautiful snow skiing resort. We attend the Nampa Bulldogs football games and are proud of our two cheerleading granddaughters. We really enjoy our 'new' church family at Covenant Presbyterian led by pastors Phil and Brian and many capable, committed volunteers. Many fine restaurants, too, in Nampa and Boise. The fishing in Idaho is fantastic (if I could just find more time to fish!) I'm reminded of the sketch framed and hanging in our Roamer RV, given to us by Dick and Doris. It reads,"God does not deduct from the allotted time of man those hours spent in fishing".
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Confusion At All Levels
Since the PCUSA's deletion of its "fidelity and chastity" requirement for ordination, confusion reigns at most every level of the denomination. I know, the Fellowship of Presbyterians offered four alternatives for congregations to ponder: stay and seek reform, leave and fight in court for your property, form a new denomination or presbyeries within presbyteries, etc. But those choices only lead, at this point, to more spintering and more confusion. Just read the numerous blogs and subsequent post/responses and you easily see how confusion reigns.
Small congregations with severely limited resources have little choice but to stay in the PCUSA. They don't have the funds to fight in court for their property and the large churches aren't going to 'fund' them. Medium size congregations dont' want to exhaust the funds they might have to engage in court fights. Hostile presbyteries, who care only for protecting their boundaries and funds, will make life miserable for any congregation with limited resources that seeks to leave. Congregations of all sizes have at least a percentage of members who favor the 'progressive' wing and will vote NOT to leave, thus splintering the local church and producing ill-will at home. More overtures will land in the General Assembly's 2012 agenda seeking to overturn the 2010 vote on the 10-A amendment, or create presbyteries within presbyteries, etc.
Pastors of congregations with limited resources will fear loss of or drastically reduced income. Pastors of congregations with great resources will make sure they are protected in any new venture, thus leaving the smaller church pastors on their own and 'out on a limb'. Presbytery executives will follow the lead of the power-brokers in their presbytery and allow the attacks on smaller churches considering leaving the PCUSA.
Meanwhile, higher judicatores will face increasingly shrinking dollars. (The only action that got the attention of the hierarchy was the massive designating of benevolent dollars.) Mission dollars will be increasingly directed to para-church or independent mission organizations, thus straining our already strapped international missions ministries.
It's just a mess! And the immediate future promises a greater mess church-wide.
For many, at present, there ares no clear-cut choices, only to leave and give up property and shelve local history, leave and fight court battles, wait for the Fellowship to propose even more options and wait to see if a new denomination is formed and what options/choices that offers.
I was birthed, nurtured, educated and ordained by the PCUS/PCUSA. I have no plans nor desire to leave the PCUSA. I grieve over the present state and the ill-advised decisions that brought us this mess. Now retired, I have little influence other than encouraging those pastors under stress and praying for the Holy Spirit to raise up some wise, courageous voices to lead us out of this 'mess' that is quickly becoming messier.
Do I have hope? Of course I do, yet I believe it will be DECADES before clarity and resolution is achieved. By then I will be in the Church Triumphant. Thanks be to God.
Small congregations with severely limited resources have little choice but to stay in the PCUSA. They don't have the funds to fight in court for their property and the large churches aren't going to 'fund' them. Medium size congregations dont' want to exhaust the funds they might have to engage in court fights. Hostile presbyteries, who care only for protecting their boundaries and funds, will make life miserable for any congregation with limited resources that seeks to leave. Congregations of all sizes have at least a percentage of members who favor the 'progressive' wing and will vote NOT to leave, thus splintering the local church and producing ill-will at home. More overtures will land in the General Assembly's 2012 agenda seeking to overturn the 2010 vote on the 10-A amendment, or create presbyteries within presbyteries, etc.
Pastors of congregations with limited resources will fear loss of or drastically reduced income. Pastors of congregations with great resources will make sure they are protected in any new venture, thus leaving the smaller church pastors on their own and 'out on a limb'. Presbytery executives will follow the lead of the power-brokers in their presbytery and allow the attacks on smaller churches considering leaving the PCUSA.
Meanwhile, higher judicatores will face increasingly shrinking dollars. (The only action that got the attention of the hierarchy was the massive designating of benevolent dollars.) Mission dollars will be increasingly directed to para-church or independent mission organizations, thus straining our already strapped international missions ministries.
It's just a mess! And the immediate future promises a greater mess church-wide.
For many, at present, there ares no clear-cut choices, only to leave and give up property and shelve local history, leave and fight court battles, wait for the Fellowship to propose even more options and wait to see if a new denomination is formed and what options/choices that offers.
I was birthed, nurtured, educated and ordained by the PCUS/PCUSA. I have no plans nor desire to leave the PCUSA. I grieve over the present state and the ill-advised decisions that brought us this mess. Now retired, I have little influence other than encouraging those pastors under stress and praying for the Holy Spirit to raise up some wise, courageous voices to lead us out of this 'mess' that is quickly becoming messier.
Do I have hope? Of course I do, yet I believe it will be DECADES before clarity and resolution is achieved. By then I will be in the Church Triumphant. Thanks be to God.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Some Voices of the PCUSA as it races to insignificance
From David Fischler’s blog:
The PCUSA has in effect chosen schism as well as heresy by passing Amendment 10-A. The denomination will just have to learn to live in the tiny ghetto it has moved into, along with the other dying mainline American churches.
From Viola Larson’s blog:
The San Francisco Theological Seminary has produced a document, “SFTS Inclusive Community Statement,” that directs students and faculty to “walk according to the course of this world” and to keep adding sin to sin. It promotes antinomianism which is heresy because it belittles the grace of God.
From Gary Miller’s blog:
I remember feeling, after every General Assembly I attended that no glory resulted. We brought vain glory to the wicked cause of the Libertines. We brought vain glory to those of who called ourselves Renewalist. The Libertines have won their battle to license sin.
From Mateen Elass’ blog:
By our action we have now alienated ourselves from the vast majority of our brothers and sisters around the globe. Already many of our sister Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in other parts of the world had warned us that they could no longer partner with us in mission should we take this step. Some of the same denominations informed us that in making this decision we would break fellowship with them because of our endorsement of homosexual behavior as normative while they remain convinced that it is a sin.
From my blog (Larry Wood):
The once influential PCUSA has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members). The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination. Many more are sure to leave soon. Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually. Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies. Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomination with their property. We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church. Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures. It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.
(Note: I will post my thoughts on The Fellowship of Presbyterians after its meeting in Minneapolis this week and include the thoughts of many other bloggers.)
The PCUSA has in effect chosen schism as well as heresy by passing Amendment 10-A. The denomination will just have to learn to live in the tiny ghetto it has moved into, along with the other dying mainline American churches.
From Viola Larson’s blog:
The San Francisco Theological Seminary has produced a document, “SFTS Inclusive Community Statement,” that directs students and faculty to “walk according to the course of this world” and to keep adding sin to sin. It promotes antinomianism which is heresy because it belittles the grace of God.
From Gary Miller’s blog:
I remember feeling, after every General Assembly I attended that no glory resulted. We brought vain glory to the wicked cause of the Libertines. We brought vain glory to those of who called ourselves Renewalist. The Libertines have won their battle to license sin.
From Mateen Elass’ blog:
By our action we have now alienated ourselves from the vast majority of our brothers and sisters around the globe. Already many of our sister Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in other parts of the world had warned us that they could no longer partner with us in mission should we take this step. Some of the same denominations informed us that in making this decision we would break fellowship with them because of our endorsement of homosexual behavior as normative while they remain convinced that it is a sin.
From my blog (Larry Wood):
The once influential PCUSA has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members). The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination. Many more are sure to leave soon. Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually. Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies. Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomination with their property. We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church. Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures. It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.
(Note: I will post my thoughts on The Fellowship of Presbyterians after its meeting in Minneapolis this week and include the thoughts of many other bloggers.)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Some Excepts from Blogs, Articles, etc.
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."
-- 1887, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, re the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior.
"Not only can we look back to the pagan proclivity in parts of our denomination to do away with unwanted children but now the general push toward accepting sexual deviancy is affecting all else causing further sins of greed, manipulation and lies. Deviant sexuality and the sacrifice of children for the good of society are pagan values and just as they brought God’s judgment on ancient Israel, so they will bring God’s judgment on a denomination. Since it is supposedly okay to ordain those involved in unrepentant same gender sex, unrepentant sexual activity outside the bounds of marriage and unrepentant adultery, a different slant on morality may engulf much of our leadership."
-- Viola Larson, in her blog, Naming His Grace
"Since the watershed event passage of the provision to ordain homosexuals, is just now a present reality. Since we have declared that the Bible is no longer the ultimate authority in the PC(USA) and that human wisdom is superior to God's wisdom, many of us are resolved to distance ourselves from the Church body that nurtured and ordained us. It feels like the Presbyterian Church (USA) has changed the terms of the covenant I committed myself to honor in 1979, when I took vows of ordination."
"There is serious talk of a “New Reformed Body” – that is, a new denomination based on the theology and structure of Presbyterianism. It is impossible to know precisely where such plans will lead. It is certain, that God hates the breaking of any covenant relationship – a marriage or a denomination. As much as God hates divorce He hates faithlessness more. That is why Jesus declares that God’s law “allows” divorce because of the hardness of the human heart."
-- Gary Miller, in his blog, Reforming Gary
"I will not participate actively nor passively as any presbytery or congregation within the PCUSA ordains or installs anyone who persists in behavior defined by the Bible as sin. As one who knows God’s righteous decrees I cannot approve of those who do not practice them and thereby place myself under the same condemnation (Romans 1).
"Recognizing that this stand puts me at variance with the PCUSA, I know not what else to do but to set aside my ordination until my denomination repents of its corporate sin and returns to a shared standard of ordination aligned with the Scriptures. When the PCUSA changes its position on this matter, I look forward to the reinstatement of my ordination."
"Until then, I will joyfully serve as your sister in Christ in the PCUSA without the benefit of institutional ordination credentials and without the burden of a denomination’s corporate guilt. I hereby humbly set aside my ordination as a matter of conscience before the Lord."
-- Carmen Fowler LaBerge, president of the Presbyterian Layman
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Practice of Prayer
Prayer Expertise
Romans 8:26-27
Like many of you I have heard prayers offered in most every imaginable locale, prayers in many languages, prayers in a countless number of circumstances, and prayers from young and old.
When I was a child, Dr. McInnis’ pastoral prayer was longer than his sermon. When I was in seminary I would often worship at First Presbyterian, Atlanta, not only to hear Dr. Fifield preach, but to hear Dr. Howell pray. I’m sure Moses sounded just like Dr. Howell. I sat on a log in worship in Kananga, Zaire, and listened to a Zairian pray in Chuluba and marveled at the beauty of the words. I’ve heard persons pray in ‘tongues’ and understood not one word. I’ve heard prayers that made no sense and I’ve heard prayers that cut to the point in a hurry. I’ve heard lofty, magnificently worded prayers that seem to be ‘other-worldly’. I’ve listened to an illiterate black man murder the King’s English in his prayer and believed it to be the most honest prayer I’d ever heard. I listened to my dad’s prayer when we all thought my little brother was dying. (He did not.) I’ve listened to mothers and fathers, husbands and wives pray for their children, and I’ve heard children pray for their parents. Those prayers were usually powerful expressions of faith. I’ve heard a few sentences spoken in a prayer that seemed to me more from the heart than a long winded prayer. I’ve heard prayers that informed God of a situation as if God didn’t know what was going on. I’ve heard prayers that sought to impress those who listened. I’ve heard prayers that made me angry and I’ve heard prayers that reduced me to tears. Once, in a nursing home, when I was a student in seminary and had come to preach at that nursing home, an elderly gentleman prayed for me after the sermon and said, “God, this boy is full of himself. Put him in his place.” Some of you have heard my story about Mr. Alex, the oldest elder in my first church. I asked him to open a Session meeting with prayer and he said, as he spit tobacco in a can, “Pray yourself. That’s what we pay you for….”
I relate these memories because I want to ask, “Are there any real experts in prayer?”
Years ago I began collecting books on prayer. I had a full shelf of such books. Books on prayer by famous names, by pastors, by laypersons, by persons of many different faiths. Some of them were very helpful. Some were not worth the paper they were printed on.
I value today the prayers of Peter Marshall, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth and some by persons whose names you have never heard. I like to read the prayers in the Psalms, and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and the prayers of Sister Teresa and those of Martin Luther King. I’ve read insights into prayer that have stuck with me through the years. Like Fosdick’s admonition that if you only have three minutes to pray, spend two of them ‘listening’. Or Barth’s words, “If you have something you really need to say to God, you’ll not take forever to say it. It won’t be a long prayer.”
Are there any experts in prayer from whom we can learn ‘how to pray’, learn what prayer is all about, why prayer is so difficult or so easy for some?
What about Jesus? In John 17 we have what is referred to the ‘high priestly prayer’ of our Lord. It a lengthy prayer in which he prays for himself and then for believers. It is a prayer that soars from the lips of our Savior. In Mark 14 we have his breathless, three-sentence prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. That prayer leaps agonizingly from the mouth of Jesus.
In Mathew 6 we have a beloved prayer we pray here every Sunday – the Lord’s Prayer.
Who are the experts in prayer?
In our Roman 8 lesson, we are told “We are weak and we do not know what we ought to pray for.” Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it, “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.” The RSV puts it like this: “The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” The NIV reads, “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
Then, Romans gives us this huge promise: “The Spirit intercedes for all the saints.” The Spirit takes our stumbling, inadequate efforts to pray and infused them with his power and takes them to God the Father for us, in our behalf. What a promise!
The truth is, there are no experts on prayer. Only Jesus knew how and what to pray. We are weak, conceited, arrogant and illiterate when it comes to prayer. Still, in scripture, we are commanded to pray. We are invited to pray. We are encouraged to pray.
Rachel Henderlite, the first woman ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament, wrote a book entitled “A Call to Faith.” In it, she talks about prayer. I found her remarks helpful. Henderlite reminds us what ‘prayer is not’. Prayer is not, she reminds us, a practice session; rather it is warfare. Prayer is not a letter to Santa Claus, a litany of things we want. Prayer, she writes, is not a theological discourse, but an earnest conversation with Almighty God.
Yes, there are books on prayer that can be helpful, and some books on prayer that can be dangerous to our spiritual health. Yes, there are helpful acronyms others have found helpful. There are many suggestions about how and when and where to find your prayer time most effective. Bookstores are full of such help. Libraries overflow with volumes on prayer.
But there are no experts on prayer, except Jesus.
Yet, we have these words of the Apostle Paul; “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Thank God for that. Let us not forget that we have scriptural helps for our prayer lives. Both the Old and New Testaments provide us many insights into a meaningful, effective prayer life.
Read of the life and writings of Brother Lawrence, author of a little book entitled “The Practice of the Presence of God”. His name was Nicholas Herman, born in France in about 1605. He came from a humble background and was not a learned man. In 1629 he was converted and gave his life to Jesus. After some time as a soldier, he entered a religious community and took the name Brother Lawrence. Though he worked in the kitchen the rest of his life and died in 1691, his influence became widespread. He had discovered an aspiring way of prayer which consisted of a simple and constant practice of the presence of God. Though not many of us will be able to practice his unceasingly high thoughts of God, he can teach us something terribly important about our prayer life. Brother Lawrence was not an expert in prayer, but he taught me, 400 years after his death, that prayer is not primarily ‘something I do’, but rather, prayer is an attitude -- an awareness of God’s presence in all of my life. Prayer is not made proper by being on one’s knees, or folding one’s hands, or speaking correct and acceptable words to God.
Prayer is first of all an attitude, an awareness of the presence of God, a practice of continually being open to the Holy Spirit.
Yes, it is important to find time to be in a posture of prayer, to say words, to fall before God in praise, confession, intercession and petition. But, listen to Brother Lawrence: "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it. The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”
Let me repeat that last line: “The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”
In his last letter Brother Lawrence wrote these words: “God knows best what we need. All that He does is for our good. If we know how much He loves us, we would always be ready to receive both the bitter and the sweet from His Hand. It would make no difference. All that came from Him would be pleasing.” Brother Lawrence died within days of his last letter.
The last words of Jesus on the cross were a prayer: “It is finished.” Within moments he was dead. His promise to his disciples and thus to us was that he would give them and us his Spirit to empower us. That same Holy Spirit takes your stuttering efforts at prayer, wraps them in his perfect will, and takes them to God the Father for you.
So, pray. There is no perfect way to pray. Just pray. It doesn’t matter how you pray. Just pray. Better yet, develop an attitude of prayer. Become aware of the presence of God.
Practice being there.
Romans 8:26-27
Like many of you I have heard prayers offered in most every imaginable locale, prayers in many languages, prayers in a countless number of circumstances, and prayers from young and old.
When I was a child, Dr. McInnis’ pastoral prayer was longer than his sermon. When I was in seminary I would often worship at First Presbyterian, Atlanta, not only to hear Dr. Fifield preach, but to hear Dr. Howell pray. I’m sure Moses sounded just like Dr. Howell. I sat on a log in worship in Kananga, Zaire, and listened to a Zairian pray in Chuluba and marveled at the beauty of the words. I’ve heard persons pray in ‘tongues’ and understood not one word. I’ve heard prayers that made no sense and I’ve heard prayers that cut to the point in a hurry. I’ve heard lofty, magnificently worded prayers that seem to be ‘other-worldly’. I’ve listened to an illiterate black man murder the King’s English in his prayer and believed it to be the most honest prayer I’d ever heard. I listened to my dad’s prayer when we all thought my little brother was dying. (He did not.) I’ve listened to mothers and fathers, husbands and wives pray for their children, and I’ve heard children pray for their parents. Those prayers were usually powerful expressions of faith. I’ve heard a few sentences spoken in a prayer that seemed to me more from the heart than a long winded prayer. I’ve heard prayers that informed God of a situation as if God didn’t know what was going on. I’ve heard prayers that sought to impress those who listened. I’ve heard prayers that made me angry and I’ve heard prayers that reduced me to tears. Once, in a nursing home, when I was a student in seminary and had come to preach at that nursing home, an elderly gentleman prayed for me after the sermon and said, “God, this boy is full of himself. Put him in his place.” Some of you have heard my story about Mr. Alex, the oldest elder in my first church. I asked him to open a Session meeting with prayer and he said, as he spit tobacco in a can, “Pray yourself. That’s what we pay you for….”
I relate these memories because I want to ask, “Are there any real experts in prayer?”
Years ago I began collecting books on prayer. I had a full shelf of such books. Books on prayer by famous names, by pastors, by laypersons, by persons of many different faiths. Some of them were very helpful. Some were not worth the paper they were printed on.
I value today the prayers of Peter Marshall, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth and some by persons whose names you have never heard. I like to read the prayers in the Psalms, and the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and the prayers of Sister Teresa and those of Martin Luther King. I’ve read insights into prayer that have stuck with me through the years. Like Fosdick’s admonition that if you only have three minutes to pray, spend two of them ‘listening’. Or Barth’s words, “If you have something you really need to say to God, you’ll not take forever to say it. It won’t be a long prayer.”
Are there any experts in prayer from whom we can learn ‘how to pray’, learn what prayer is all about, why prayer is so difficult or so easy for some?
What about Jesus? In John 17 we have what is referred to the ‘high priestly prayer’ of our Lord. It a lengthy prayer in which he prays for himself and then for believers. It is a prayer that soars from the lips of our Savior. In Mark 14 we have his breathless, three-sentence prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested. That prayer leaps agonizingly from the mouth of Jesus.
In Mathew 6 we have a beloved prayer we pray here every Sunday – the Lord’s Prayer.
Who are the experts in prayer?
In our Roman 8 lesson, we are told “We are weak and we do not know what we ought to pray for.” Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it, “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.” The RSV puts it like this: “The Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” The NIV reads, “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
Then, Romans gives us this huge promise: “The Spirit intercedes for all the saints.” The Spirit takes our stumbling, inadequate efforts to pray and infused them with his power and takes them to God the Father for us, in our behalf. What a promise!
The truth is, there are no experts on prayer. Only Jesus knew how and what to pray. We are weak, conceited, arrogant and illiterate when it comes to prayer. Still, in scripture, we are commanded to pray. We are invited to pray. We are encouraged to pray.
Rachel Henderlite, the first woman ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament, wrote a book entitled “A Call to Faith.” In it, she talks about prayer. I found her remarks helpful. Henderlite reminds us what ‘prayer is not’. Prayer is not, she reminds us, a practice session; rather it is warfare. Prayer is not a letter to Santa Claus, a litany of things we want. Prayer, she writes, is not a theological discourse, but an earnest conversation with Almighty God.
Yes, there are books on prayer that can be helpful, and some books on prayer that can be dangerous to our spiritual health. Yes, there are helpful acronyms others have found helpful. There are many suggestions about how and when and where to find your prayer time most effective. Bookstores are full of such help. Libraries overflow with volumes on prayer.
But there are no experts on prayer, except Jesus.
Yet, we have these words of the Apostle Paul; “The Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Thank God for that. Let us not forget that we have scriptural helps for our prayer lives. Both the Old and New Testaments provide us many insights into a meaningful, effective prayer life.
Read of the life and writings of Brother Lawrence, author of a little book entitled “The Practice of the Presence of God”. His name was Nicholas Herman, born in France in about 1605. He came from a humble background and was not a learned man. In 1629 he was converted and gave his life to Jesus. After some time as a soldier, he entered a religious community and took the name Brother Lawrence. Though he worked in the kitchen the rest of his life and died in 1691, his influence became widespread. He had discovered an aspiring way of prayer which consisted of a simple and constant practice of the presence of God. Though not many of us will be able to practice his unceasingly high thoughts of God, he can teach us something terribly important about our prayer life. Brother Lawrence was not an expert in prayer, but he taught me, 400 years after his death, that prayer is not primarily ‘something I do’, but rather, prayer is an attitude -- an awareness of God’s presence in all of my life. Prayer is not made proper by being on one’s knees, or folding one’s hands, or speaking correct and acceptable words to God.
Prayer is first of all an attitude, an awareness of the presence of God, a practice of continually being open to the Holy Spirit.
Yes, it is important to find time to be in a posture of prayer, to say words, to fall before God in praise, confession, intercession and petition. But, listen to Brother Lawrence: "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it. The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”
Let me repeat that last line: “The practice of the presence of God is a way of life that anyone who seeks to know God's peace and presence can practice -anywhere, anytime.”
In his last letter Brother Lawrence wrote these words: “God knows best what we need. All that He does is for our good. If we know how much He loves us, we would always be ready to receive both the bitter and the sweet from His Hand. It would make no difference. All that came from Him would be pleasing.” Brother Lawrence died within days of his last letter.
The last words of Jesus on the cross were a prayer: “It is finished.” Within moments he was dead. His promise to his disciples and thus to us was that he would give them and us his Spirit to empower us. That same Holy Spirit takes your stuttering efforts at prayer, wraps them in his perfect will, and takes them to God the Father for you.
So, pray. There is no perfect way to pray. Just pray. It doesn’t matter how you pray. Just pray. Better yet, develop an attitude of prayer. Become aware of the presence of God.
Practice being there.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
I Just Don't Get It!
In 1983, the PCUS (southern Presbyterian church) and the UPUSA (primarily the nothern Presbyterian church) denominations merged and produced a national church of more than 4,000,000-plus members. The merger secured for the united denomination a national presence with considerable influence in social, political and religious circles.
Now, in 2011, twenty-eight years later, the once influencial PCUSA (the united denomination) has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members). The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination. Many more are sure to leave soon.
Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually. Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies. Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomonation with their property.
We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church. Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures. It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.
What happened to the once great PCUSA?
Consider: (1) The liberal approach to interpreting Scripture -- 'make it fit your personal biases'. (2) The failure for decades to fund missionaries -- from 1000 missionaries world-wide to a few hundred. (3) The questioning of the lordship and saving power of Christ -- 'most any religion will do'. (4) The approval of the ordination of unrepentant, practicing gay and lesbian elders and ministers -- see A-10! Etc, etc!
My liberal friends say, "You just don't get it. It's a new day. We won. Get over it."
I remember the day when we stood for something noble. I remember fighting the good fight for racial justice. I remember standing proudly for the rights of women and children. I remember when we spoke with one voice and the nation listened. I remember when I was once proud to be a PCUSA minister.
Once there was a great effort to 'renew' the PCUSA from within. The multi-group effort has failed. Now there is wide-spread talk of wholesale schism, of starting a denomination within the denomination (how laughable is that?), of starting an entirely new denomination made up of congregations that leave the PCUSA to join a new denomination, and of many local churches leaving to join with the EPC or the PCA or whatever!
There are many clerypersons fearful that leaving the denomination will cost them their pensions. Not so, but it causes anxiety among many of them and stops them in their tracks.
After 45 years of ministry in the denomination, I have no intentions of leaving the PCUSA. I'm retired, but supplying pulpits and engaging in presbytery and local missions. This is the church that birthed, nurtured, education and ordained me. But it is not the same church today. If I live longer enough, I may be around to help 'turn off the lights' of the PCUSA. I pray that is not the future.
The ordination of practicing gays is, in effect, come July 10, a 'local option' for congregations. Litigation of properties, per capita payments, etc., will fill our denomination's court agendas. More wasteful spending in a denomination of shriking members and dollars will occur. Conservative congregations will lose members, even if they choose not to ordain practicing gays, because some members will not want to be associated with a denomination that ordains unrepentant gays even if their local church refuses to follow the liberal policies of the PCUSA.
It is a sad, sad day in the PCUSA.
Another word/view...from Mateen Elass:
"...in Americanized ethnic Christian communities, one finds extremely high percentages of resistance to our denomination’s capitulation to the nonbiblical world view on sexualtiy which infuses our culture. Look at the Korean Presbyterian churches, the Hispanic, the Native American — all of them are largely united in their opposition to the direction our church has now taken. If such ethnic believers, immersed in our permissive culture, can feel so strongly, you can imagine what their compatriots back in their homelands think of this matter." (see Elass' blog below)
Blogs worth reading:
http://reforminggary.blogspot.com/2011/06/where-is-church.html
http://mateenelass.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/historic-moments-part-2/
Now, in 2011, twenty-eight years later, the once influencial PCUSA (the united denomination) has lost more than half its members and continues to bleed members (last year we lost more than 60,000 members). The PCUSA has seen more than 150 local churches leave the denomination. Many more are sure to leave soon.
Contributions to the regional and national judicatories are shrinking annually. Many local churches simply refuse to fund the ultra-liberal higher governing bodies. Presbyteries spend enormous amounts of money to challenge in court the efforts of many local churches to leave the denomonation with their property.
We have been relegated to a second rate, inconsequential church. Yes, there are many individual, local PCUSA congregations which are vibrant, growing and serving their communities, committed to the lordship of Christ and faithful to the Scriptures. It is the denomination that is suffering and at great risk.
What happened to the once great PCUSA?
Consider: (1) The liberal approach to interpreting Scripture -- 'make it fit your personal biases'. (2) The failure for decades to fund missionaries -- from 1000 missionaries world-wide to a few hundred. (3) The questioning of the lordship and saving power of Christ -- 'most any religion will do'. (4) The approval of the ordination of unrepentant, practicing gay and lesbian elders and ministers -- see A-10! Etc, etc!
My liberal friends say, "You just don't get it. It's a new day. We won. Get over it."
I remember the day when we stood for something noble. I remember fighting the good fight for racial justice. I remember standing proudly for the rights of women and children. I remember when we spoke with one voice and the nation listened. I remember when I was once proud to be a PCUSA minister.
Once there was a great effort to 'renew' the PCUSA from within. The multi-group effort has failed. Now there is wide-spread talk of wholesale schism, of starting a denomination within the denomination (how laughable is that?), of starting an entirely new denomination made up of congregations that leave the PCUSA to join a new denomination, and of many local churches leaving to join with the EPC or the PCA or whatever!
There are many clerypersons fearful that leaving the denomination will cost them their pensions. Not so, but it causes anxiety among many of them and stops them in their tracks.
After 45 years of ministry in the denomination, I have no intentions of leaving the PCUSA. I'm retired, but supplying pulpits and engaging in presbytery and local missions. This is the church that birthed, nurtured, education and ordained me. But it is not the same church today. If I live longer enough, I may be around to help 'turn off the lights' of the PCUSA. I pray that is not the future.
The ordination of practicing gays is, in effect, come July 10, a 'local option' for congregations. Litigation of properties, per capita payments, etc., will fill our denomination's court agendas. More wasteful spending in a denomination of shriking members and dollars will occur. Conservative congregations will lose members, even if they choose not to ordain practicing gays, because some members will not want to be associated with a denomination that ordains unrepentant gays even if their local church refuses to follow the liberal policies of the PCUSA.
It is a sad, sad day in the PCUSA.
Another word/view...from Mateen Elass:
"...in Americanized ethnic Christian communities, one finds extremely high percentages of resistance to our denomination’s capitulation to the nonbiblical world view on sexualtiy which infuses our culture. Look at the Korean Presbyterian churches, the Hispanic, the Native American — all of them are largely united in their opposition to the direction our church has now taken. If such ethnic believers, immersed in our permissive culture, can feel so strongly, you can imagine what their compatriots back in their homelands think of this matter." (see Elass' blog below)
Blogs worth reading:
http://reforminggary.blogspot.com/2011/06/where-is-church.html
http://mateenelass.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/historic-moments-part-2/
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
SAD DAY!
Sad day for the PCUSA for approving the ordination of practicing gays and lesbians as pastors, elders and deacons. Our once great denomination is, in the words of many prominent church leaders, 'deathly ill'.
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