It Takes A Church...

More Weekend Reading: Bono Interview

First Theopedia and now the Rolling Stone Magazine.  For something different, try on this interview with Bono this weekend.  Or you can go to this site and get excerpts on his views on religion. (HT: Evangelical Outpost)  I have no idea what he says in the interview, but I will be reading it just because I love the dude's music and passion for the poor.

If nothing else, this quote on his faith is priceless (and profound):

I'm the sort of character who's got to have an anchor. I want to be around immovable objects. I want to build my house on a rock, because even if the waters are not high around the house, I'm going to bring back a storm. I have that in me. So it's sort of underpinning for me.

Theopedia

EVery Christian should bookmark this page.  Following the lead of Wikipedia, we now have Theopedia. Surf through this site regularly and learn the good stuff.

So, class, here is your weekend homework.  And this, and this...

So Why Do We Pray it, if It’s not a Prayer

Let me end the week wrapping up some thoughts on The Lord's Prayer and how Jesus uses it in the Sermon on the Mount.  In previous posts I have explained that not only is The Lord's Prayer NOT a prayer (it's "scaffolding" for building a prayer life), but that wasn't meant to be said or sung in unison in worship services.

Still, I "pray" it and in church we "pray" and even "sing" it together.  Okay, so why the contradiction?

It is important to remember that this whole teaching on prayer comes as one of three illustrations of Jesus instruction in Matthew 6:1:  Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Once again, the focus of this section is not private prayers for privacy’s sake.  It’s not because shared prayers or spiritual practices are unseemly, but for one reason only:  So that we Kingdom people will only desire affirmation and praise from our Father and King. 

It is this Fatherly-focus, this Kingdom-contemplation that ultimately brings Kingdom transformation.  The more and more we give our offerings for the Lord’s praise, pray to seek the Lord’s face, practice spiritual disciplines for the Lord’s approval, the more we will become like our Lord. 

But here is the weird, “Secret Prayer” Irony:  We can’t truly seek God alone, all alone. 

We can’t seek his Kingdom and his will in our very lives, by ourselves.  Left to ourselves, most of us who are attempting to seek only God and God’s transformation will usually end up seeking out those things that will keep ourselves on the throne, our preferences, our desires.  We may not seek the praise of others, but left alone we’ll try to manipulate God for our own desires. 

I believe this is why Jesus taught us to pray corporately, even in private, “Our Father…Give us this day…forgive us our debts…”  This is why he taught his disciples together to pray in plural voice.  And this is why St. Tertullian, a brilliant second century apologist wrote that we only truly learn that Jesus is the Son and God is our Father from the Church who is our Mother.

This is why we pray and sing the Lord’s Prayer together in liturgical form, because we who desire to know God as King and Father and have his will and ways be part of every area of our lives need each other to accomplish it. 

And this is why you and I need to learn to become a Kingdom Community, even to pray for a Kingdom Community together.  Not in trying to impress anyone, not in trying to manipulate God with our words, but only as fellow disciples seeking God’s face, praying for God’s Kingdom to come into our lives..each of our lives...all of our lives. 

This awareness of our deep need for the church to be the church is why everytime I lead out in The Lord's Prayer in worship I start it with something like this:

O Father, we thank you that we are not trying to live out the Kingdom alone.  We thank you for the churches gathered around the globe this morning who are trying however awkwardly to be Kingdom communities. And we thank you for every disciple in every time and place who have prayed the way you taught your first disciples to pray..."Our Father who art in heaven..."

The next time you are praying the Lord's prayer in a group, thank God for the voices that are reverberating around you.  Thank God in your heart that you are not alone in some prison or ivory tower desperate for fellowship. Thank God that you are experiencing the grace of being together (as Bonhoeffer famously said) and ask that the God who is King and Father will reign and love in every area of your life, the church and God's earth as it is in heaven.

Praying without Goosebumps

Last week in our worship services we sang the Lord’s Prayer to end the service.  Our Choir Director led out in a strong baritone voice, the organist literally pulled out all the stops and we let loose with a strong rendition of the classic Mallote version.  By the time we got to the end of the prayer/song, many of us had goose bumps. 

It was a nice moment.  An Inspiring moment. And it's one that I know we'll have over and over again.

But let’s be clear about something: The purpose of "The Lord's Prayer" is not inspiration.

In fact, I think Jesus' actual teaching here is one of the most sobering and uninspiring challenges to the Christian faith.  We just don't often recognize it.

You see, long ago, the church edited Jesus’ words so that they would fit better in worship.  When we say or sing the Lord’s Prayer, we go from “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil” to the stirring finale, “Thine is the Kingdom, power and glory forever! Amen!”  It’s a true affirmation, a statement of faith and a glorious thing to affirm—but it’s not actually in the Bible. 

But when Jesus actually taught these words in the Sermon on the Mount, he said:

forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

And then added this phrase:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Sheesh.  Not exactly a goose-bump-causing finish.  According to Jesus (and this is so important that it is the only part of the prayer that he repeats a second time) we must offer forgiveness to others as generously as we need it ourselves. 

Forgiveness.  One author described the challenge of forgiveness as the emotional equivalent of “Everest without oxygen, Wimbledon without a racket, La Scala without a score.”  Forgiveness is a most difficult task.  Forgiveness is not excusing, it is not dismissing, it is not understanding.  It is giving up the resentment and right to revenge when someone has committed a culpable act that harmed us.  It is letting go of what we have against someone because of the love of God. This is the most practical point of our Kingdom piety: Becoming a person who is like the One who would cry from the cross, "Father forgive them..."

In every area of life we are to pray—like Jesus—so that in every area of our lives we become like Jesus—the one who lived this prayer.  Jesus our older brother who taught us to call God, Father. Jesus, our Lord who brought forth the Kingdom. 

Through his teaching on prayer Jesus is teaching us the way to be transformed more and more like him.  And this is seen nowhere more clearly than this one point that Jesus goes back and underlines after the teaching on prayer. 

My friends, let us never forget that we who were invited to live with Jesus in his Kingdom are not the innocent, but the rebellious creatures who ruined the creation and the Kingdom in the first place.  We are those who are worthy of judgment, who by our sins and actions have rightly earned rejection and condemnation. 

When Jesus invites us into his Kingdom, he is inviting the very ones who rebelled against the King.  He is inviting those of us who have done to turn from our ways of living without God and to now live under his reign and rule.  Jesus then invites us into a deep spiritual relationship with him that will absolute transform our lives.  Prayer is about making us Kingdom people who are like Jesus in every way, the hallmark of our lives being our forgiving others the way we have been forgiven.

Next Post: So, if this isn’t even a prayer at all, but is, in fact, Jesus’ teaching on “private praying” (Matthew 6:1) Why do we most often say it as a prayer, publicly?

King and Father

Last post we started talking about learning that Kingdom prayer is how we let the God who is both King and Father into every area of our lives. 

That understanding starts with noticing that in “The Lord’s Prayer” there is a juxtaposition of two titles.  In a sermon on what it means to live in the Kingdom of God, we are told to call God, “Father.”  In a prayer addressed to our “Father” the central concern is “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Kingdom praying is keeping a clear focus on the gift of knowing that the King of the whole world is our Father and that the Father has called us, his children, to be part of his work to bring the Kingdom to the whole world...beginning with this little piece of earth that is my life. 

Some years ago, Dr. Robert Munger wrote a little booklet called, “My Heart Christ’s Home.”  It is a classic work that has been reproduced literally millions of times.  When I was a young Christian it had as much impact on my life as anything I ever read. 

“My Heart Christ’s Home” is a parable that compares the human life to a home.  When we become a Christian we invite Jesus to enter our lives, but so many of us only invite Jesus into the entry way.  We want him in our lives, but not too far in.  Slowly, step by step, the booklet encourages you to invite Jesus into every part of your life like you would invite him into every room in your house.  The living room and your public relationships.  The kitchen table and your family life together. The study and your work life, your finances, the decisions you make about your future and your security.  The recreation room, garage and worskshop and all your leisure activities.  Your bedroom and the most intimate areas of life.  The cluttered closets with all the things you are trying to hide from him.  Slowly Jesus insists that every door be opened, every room made available to him until he literally lives and reigns in every part of our lives.

The Lord’s Prayer is very similar.  Jesus begins by reminding us that our Father already knows everything we need and would ask of him, so prayer isn’t about informing God of any fact, or any need or anything he doesn’t already know.  Prayer is our letting God into our lives for our sake--in every area of life.

In our worship, in what we praise, with all our ambitions and resources we seek to direct them for eternal purposes. 

In humble awareness of daily dependence for everything we need, including the very bread we eat. 

In every circumstance good or bad, righteous or sinful, in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health.  In every circumstance of life facing every trial including persecution and temptation. 

Kingdom praying brings the God who is both the loving caring Father and the Lord and King of all of life into every area of our lives.  Kingdom praying is learning to say, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done” in every area of my life Lord, because I trust that you are my gracious father.  Trusting in your fatherly care, I invite your reign into my life.” 

Which is key to a piety that God will reward. 

The Prayer That Isn’t

For so many of us, "The Lord’s Prayer" is the prayer of our childhood.  We learn it in Sunday School, we say it with our parents, it’s one of the few parts of the church life that some of us know by heart.  It's also the most readily recognized "public" prayer. In some places it's even said at football games. 

If someone asks us to pray, most of us could muster up "The Lord’s Prayer" to say.  But here’s the weird truth:It’s not a prayer.  It’s teaching about prayer.  If you look closely at Matthew ch. 6 you’ll see that Jesus is not praying, but teaching. 

Here in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, "The Lord’s Prayer" is in the section where Jesus is teaching his disciples how to develop a, piety or spirituality (lit. "righteousness) that God will approve.  Right after giving and tithing (which he taught them first, by the way) Jesus teaches his Kingdom disciples how to pray. 

Now, for reasons that I will explain in another post, this prayer is usually recited as a liturgy, a set prayer, an act of worship.  And while I believe that is perfectly proper, we have to be clear that Jesus didn’t intend it that way. As I said earlier, "The Lord’s Prayer" is not a prayer to say, but a way to pray.   

The Lord’s prayer is a framework for prayer. It’s the scaffolding for building a life of prayer.  Not a technique, but instruction on how to transform our prayers into Kingdom prayers. 

And I said “transform” here, because I am assuming, just as Jesus did, that everybody prays. Prayer is not limited to Christians.  We pray because we are people, not because we are believers.  To be human is to know deep within us that there is something in this universe bigger than us and we desire to connect and communicate with it.  Any attempt to communicate with the Being-Beyond-Us is prayer. 

Now most of us would say that any prayer is better than no prayer.  That prayer is always a good thing because it’s better to be spiritually open then secular and self-striving.  But interestingly enough, Jesus doesn’t come and affirm the way people pray, instead he criticizes the most common forms of prayer and offers a correction. 

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. …
“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Jesus is mindful that most prayers fall into two categories, attempts to impress people and attempts to manipulate God.  So many of us approach prayer as if it nothing but either ceremony or or an opportunity to ask the Divine Genie to fulfill our wishes.

Whether prayer is an act of public piety intended to enhance your reputation, or prayer is a set of incantations meant to tweak the universe to your liking, Jesus condemns both as falling short of real and true prayer.  Instead he offers instruction on Kingdom prayer.

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you…. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Kingdom praying is not about our fulfillment, but our transformation.  In Kingdom praying, we seek only the face and favor of the King.  In Kingdom praying we focus our attention on the God who knows what we need even before we ask. 

In the Kingdom, Prayer is how we let the God who is both King and Father into every area of our lives.

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer is the arena for letting the God who is both King and Father to bring his Kingdom, his will to the little piece of earth that is your life.  And then through your life begin to invade this world with his love and grace, truth and peace.

Church Musings: Blessed Irrelevance

I will return to my ongoing postings about Becoming a Kingdom Community, but I also want to rekindle some conversation that began with my recurring series of posts on "Church Musings".  Church Musings is my attempt to highlight constructive discussion about the Church and what it is supposed to be as the mission of God in the world.

This post asks us to consider the supreme relevance of the church being irrelevant. HT: Steve Norris.

Bill Rice sent me an article on the Economist.com site that looks at church buildings in England where every indicator is that "church life" is on the wane. (<Shudder> They are looking at "California style" churches as an answer.) Bill also linked me to an interesting website that is asking the same kind of questions that we are at SCPC: What does a "successful" church really look like? What does God consider successful? What does God consider a healthy church? 

Next Post: Learning Kingdom Praying. 

Jesus' Secret Strategy

For a minute, I want you to imagine that you are Jesus’ chief kingdom strategist, kind of a Karl Rove for Christ. 

In Matthew 4, Jesus has come into the world announcing the presence and availability of the long awaited Kingdom of heaven.  You have sat back and listened as Jesus has told absolutely anyone who would respond to the message--no matter how spiritually bankrupt, how insignificant, how much they doubted their own righteousness--that they were invited to live their lives under the reign and rule of God (Matthew 5:1-13)

Even more, Jesus said, he would use all who follow him in living out the Kingdom of heaven here and now to be salt for the earth, light for the world.  Those who become kingdom disciples of Jesus will be the more essential people on the planet, preserving what is good, saving the world, the ones who reveal the light of God’s presence to all of creation.  (Matthew 5:14-17)

While we are invited to follow Jesus just as we are, he is not going to leave us as we are.  All who respond to the Kingdom message will be transformed into people of genuine righteousness, taking on the very character of Jesus.  (Matthew 5:18ff)

Now, it’s your turn:  If you were strategizing with Jesus to call and send out the most essential people in the world, part of his saving work, revealing God’s presence in the world, what would you have them do first?

If you were going to prepare people to be part of God’s reign and rule, literally training them to reign in their particularly spheres of the world as a representative of God what is the first thing you’d have them do?

Recruit?  Evangelize?  Share their faith?  Maybe come together in love and unity?

But what does Jesus do?  He tells the people who are going to make the greatest PUBLIC difference in the world to focus on secret piety. 

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)

Jesus goes on to use three examples of spiritual activities that need to become more private in order to develop our public witness.  First acts of charity, then praying, then spiritual disciplines (specifically, fasting), teaching his disciples to give in secret, pray in secret and fast (or other disciplines) in secret, for God’s approval only.

Jesus point: We will make the biggest impact for the Kingdom on the world by learning to keep our focus on the Father.

Jesus method for world transformation is to begin with heart transformation.  To wean his disciples off of the approval and affirmation of the world so that they are freed to seek only God’s approval. 

Jesus helps us recognize that our desire for praise and recognition from people can in the long run keep us from actually making a difference in our world.  What happens when our doing good ISN’T praised by people?  What if we need to love our enemies, when the people around us want them punished?  What if righteousness demands forgiving someone that the world deems unforgiveable?  What if we need to live out our faith in a cause that is unpopular, unrewarded, even costly to career or resume? 

Jesus has told us that as his Kingdom followers, our responsibility is not to be well-liked or praised, well-regarded or affirmed, but to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world—even if that means that our very acts of goodness and piety are like shining a light in eyes that have been accustomed to the darkness.   

Do you want to become truly salt and light in the world?  Do you want to be part of God’s work to preserve and save the world?  Do you want your life to reveal God’s presence in the world?  Then you and I must refocus our lives away from ourselves and more and more toward God.  And we do that through a committed, cultivated secret spirituality that seeks only God’s praise, God’s reward. 

“We’re alone in public…”

  In the most recent issue of Time Magazine, Mark Dery, author and cultural critic, observes:

“A lot of technologies, such as Flickr, blogging and the iPod, seek to turn the psyche inside out, to extrude the private self into the public sphere.  You have people walking down the street listening to iPods , seemingly oblivious to the world, singing.  More and more, we’re alone in public.” 

After spending a long thought-provoking day at GodBlogCon 05, I have been churning in my head about how excited a group of bloggers were to actually put down our laptops and talk to each other (with lots of coincidental live blogging, of course).  The conversation about blogging and Christian Community ultimately brought us back to both genius and the limitation with the blogosphere: we can “connect” but not touch, we can talk but not see, we can hear without knowing. 

Most of us were far more impacted by conversation, handshakes and lunches together than by anything we have written or read so far.  And part of our excitement is recognizing and embracing the limitations of blogging.  For, example, part of what we realized is that we all continue to need more diversity, more interaction, more voices, more relationship, not less. 

In the same article, David Brooks wonders if the internet is actually hindering what he calls “demographic diversity” even while it helps create more “geographic diversity”: “There once were millions of people in Elks Clubs and Elks Clubs were incredibly diverse.  These days, with say, online dating, you can screen people who aren’t demographically like yourself.”

In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins said that organizations who wish to leave an enduring legacy need to recognize that technology is nothing more or nothing less than an “accelator” of the core values, vision and beliefs of a group.  Or as Esther Dyson, said: “The internet is like alcohol in some sense.  It accentuates what you would do anyway. You can be a loner or you can connect.”

What was reinforced for me at the conference and reiterated by suggestions like Bill Rice’s is that genuine Christian community, discipleship and cultural transformation cannot be brought about through any technical medium if the commitment to Christian community, discipleship, and transformation are not the “hardware” that is at the core of all we do. 

As someone deeply committed to enhancing healthy, faithful, missional Christian communities, I need to keep thinking about both the potential and problems of this technology, with this one clear conviction: Blogging is not an answer, but a tool.

Tomorrow, I'll leave GodBlogCon behind and jump back into more reflections on Becoming a Kingdom Community.

GodBlogCon: The Morning After the Panel

John Mark Reynolds, Mark Roberts and yours truly at the GodBlogCon Panel discussion hosted by Hugh Hewitt, foreground. (Thanks to Mike's Noise for the pictures.)

A lingering thought the morning after is that the effectiveness of the Blogosphere for the future may depend more on the relationships built face to face then any thing ever written on a blog.

I most enjoyed meeting and talking "blog shop" with some of the most creative minds out there, (like David Wayne, Mark Daniels, Joe Carter, Andy Jackson, and Bill Rice) but I also missed "meeting" and seeing a few of my regular reads: Amanda Witt, Steve Norris, Craig Williams, Brad Hightower, KC Wahe.  Another time, friends?

Perhaps the best part is getting to know people by name and not "blog nickname".  I have been thinking more and more about Andy Jackson's admonition for Christian bloggers to be more forthcoming about personal information and point of view as a way of being more authentic and honest.  More and more I wonder if "anonymous" or pseudonymous blogs are contradictory to Christian witness.

For those of you who were there and heard me answer Hugh's question of whom I wished would most blog: I said that we needed Rob Asghar's voice back in the blogosphere.  He's in London and Rome celebrating his birthday and undoubtedly concerned about his family in Pakistan, but a note encouraging Rob to reengage his dormant blog would might nudge him back into the fray--and we'll be all the better for it.