Praise in Praying

When we pray and most of us do, our praying can become like other things we do.  We hurry.  It is not a thing like leaving late and hurrying to arrive late, but embracing a pattern of prayer which makes us hurry to our intercessory prayer list.  Make no mistake.  Intercessory prayer is a good thing which is useful in the hands of God.  Instead the question being posed is, "When was the last time we came to our time of prayer and soaked ourselves in a season of praise?"  

If we wonder what this kind of praying might look like, or if we need some models to help us break with the way we have always done things, we might read the last six Psalms (145-150).  A further suggestion would be to start with Psalm 150 and read backwards to Psalm 145.  The suggestion is not to read them all at one time, but to allow these verses so full of praise to God to reveal a form for praising God in our prayers.  And finally, this paragraph of suggestions might also include the suggestion that the praise be allowed to come from a stilled and unhurried heart.  

One of the things which happens with this kind of praying is that it creates a different spiritual atmosphere.  It might be likened to walking into a cooling shade filled with the evening breeze after a day filled with scorching heat and soaking humidity.  It becomes a place that we do not want to leave.  It becomes a place where our spirit is powerfully refreshed and renewed by being in the presence of the Holy.  Once we arrive at such a place in our praying, the hurrying spirit is soon replaced by a spirit that longs to linger.

An Old and New Timepiece

Just before I retired, my watch gave out.  I remember looking at it one day and realizing that it no longer was keeping up with time.  In the moment I made a radical decision.  I decided not to replace it.  Perhaps, it was intuition leading me toward an unseen season which was about to dawn when I would leave the world of the day planner for a life more attuned to the sun dial I placed in a sunny spot on the farm.  Looking back I can see that laying aside the watch was a step that served to prepare me for a different lifestyle.  

As I walked into those early years of retirement, I was drawn toward a lifestyle of paying attention.  One of the things to which I learned to pay attention was the movement of the sun from the faint light of the morning to the soft fading light of the evening.  Without some conscious decision, I started noting the location of the sun and the shadows it set in place on the ground.  As the months began to add up,  the creation of which I was becoming a part started telling me the time as surely as had the wrist watch of a more hectic past.  What was interesting was that the more I paid attention to the present and the people in the present, the more I saw and heard.  

I not only began to see and hear the messages sent by the Creation, but also the messages sent by the Creator God who revealed Himself and made His voice known through the Creation.  Most folks who come to the farm speak first of the silence, but staying awhile and embracing the life it unfolds brings to the ear and the eye things which once seemed silent and invisible.  The Creation is really not such a silent place.  There is always a stirring in the trees, hawks and crows hollering in the sky, and "the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze." (Genesis 3:8).

Wrath and Righteousness

Talking about the love of God is far more popular than talking about the wrath of God.  Most preachers would prefer ignoring it in preaching and most people of the pews would rather not hear it mentioned in preaching.  The common consensus is to stay focused on positive and uplifting things.  The only problem is that the Bible speaks often of the wrath of God.  Romans 1:17 reads, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth." The problem of a God of wrath is compounded by another word Paul wrote a little later in the letter, "But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed..." (Romans 3:24)  

The Word of God calls us to live with the tension created by holding in the same hand "the wrath of God" and "the righteousness of God."  Understanding the wrath of God is more difficult than understanding the righteousness of God.  The wrath of God is not about vengeance, or uncontrollable anger, but about the justice of God.  The wrath of God is empty of grace as it is about evil getting what evil deserves.  Even as the wrath of God is empty of grace so is it empty of the lovingkindness which is implicit within the Old Testament word, "hesed."  It is hard for us to think of God in such terms. 

John the Apostle wrote, "...God is love...(I John 4:8, 16).  Of course, nothing makes this truth clearer to us than the presence of Jesus in the flesh in our world.  The righteous God who is disclosed to us is one of love.  He is one filled with lovingkindness.  He is one who gives the free gift of grace.  Thus, we live midst a mystery filled with theological tension that is not about choosing one or the other, but both.

The Purpose of Preaching

Back in the day when I started preaching, old sermons were written long hand on yellow legal pads.  The process produced a lot of yellow paper in the trash can as well as sermon filled yellow pages for the file cabinet.  As my fingers wore out, I stepped into the hi-tech world and started using a manual Royal typewriter which got rid of the yellow paper.  At some point a word processor came into the office which made such a quiet process that I had to program my mind to write without the noise of pounding keys.  I still went on to use a small forest of pine trees before my mind could grasp the paperless process where "hard copies" were no longer necessary.    

I have never embraced change easily.  I can remember the number of years I spent at each step of the sermon writing journey.  While the means of writing has changed, the process of writing sermons has changed very little.  The rules or guidelines with which I started are the ones still embraced.  Every sermon needs a heavy dose of praying before the first word becomes visible.  The starting point of the sermon is not about a social issue, or a personal opinion, but a text from Scripture.  My preaching professor from seminary said what I still remember, "No one comes to hear your personal opinion, they come to hear the Word of God." 

Another thing always remembered is that the pulpit is not for teaching.  There is a difference in preaching and teaching.  Teaching is informational and preaching is persuasive.  Preaching is to bring people into an encounter with Jesus that will unleash transforming power in their hearts.  Another word which might be used instead of persuasive is invitational.  It is imperative that the invitational dimension of preaching not be forgotten or neglected by the preacher.

God or Mammon

Jesus never said money was evil, but He did warn those who were investing in the Mount of Accumulation  to be careful.  It is in that section of Scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount that we hear Him saying, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth."  (Matthew 6:24).  According to Jesus, there is nothing wrong with having wealth.  The important thing is to be sure the wealth does not have us.  Money can be a problem for the poor man who only has a coin or two in the pocket just as a great portfolio of investments can be a problem for the wealthy.  

When we hold our money in our hand, what is really important is not the amount we see, but the attitude we have toward it in our heart.  Mark 12:41-44 tells the story of Jesus watching the giving of a widow who only had two small coins and the rich who gave large sums.  Jesus points to her as the one who carried the right attitude in her heart.  She could give everything because she knew God would take care of tomorrow.  The rich gave a lot but it was not enough to put themselves at risk for tomorrow.  If God did not come through, they had enough put back to take care of tomorrow.

Does the way we accumulate and give reflect anything about our faith in God?  Does our tight hold on the money in our hands speak of the hold it has on us?   Money did not have such a hold on the poor widow that she could not be generous in giving to God.  She knew God could be counted on to take care of her tomorrow.  On the other hand, the rich gave a lot, but it was out of their abundance.   What they gave they never missed.  They kept back enough to weather any of tomorrow's storms.  In the final analysis, giving answers the question, "Who do I trust?"   

Birthday Thoughts

Today is my birthday.  We all have them.  As our birthday comes, it enables us to celebrate by counting the years.  I have been blessed more than many of those I have known as friends whose years did not span nearly as many as mine.  Actually, while our birthday marks how many years we have lived, we always need to add nine months.  Our life does not start at birth when we take our first gulp of earth's air, but when the miracle of conception takes place in the womb of the woman we know as mother.   

When life begins has become such a political issue in our day.  We are told by some that not every child conceived has the right to life.  The Scripture takes us in a different direction.  Regardless of the circumstances of conception, the Word of God speaks of a life conceived as being one of value.  The first chapter of Genesis speaks of each created being bearing the imprint of the Holy.  The created human being along with all the rest of creation is seen by God as not just being good, but "very good." (Genesis 1:31)  Creation is not accidental nor without purpose, but is and continues to be a part of the unfolding plan of God.   

The purposeful plan of God first seen in conception is pointed out in a word that came to Jeremiah as we hear the Lord saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.."  (Jeremiah 1:5).  Another important word about the work of God before birth comes in the 139th Psalm.  "For it was You (God) who formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb...My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret...Your eyes beheld my unformed substance..." (Psalm 139:13-16).  All of life is a holy and precious gift and I am, as you are, grateful for every day which has been and is being given..

On the Eve

The journey from conception to the day which will mark 78 years is almost here.  Another sunrise will bring it into view.  It feels like standing on a threshold which speaks of ending and beginning.  What is past will end and what is unfolding will begin.  Of course, another way of looking at the moment is to see that what began is continuing.  Life is not so much about arriving as it is about moving toward what is unfolding.  On a day that is the eve of tomorrow, it is obvious that there is much to remember and much for which to hope.

A hymn which comes to mind has the words, "There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody; there's a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.  From the past will come the future, what it holds a mystery, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see." ("Hymn of Promise").  The passing of so many years has driven home the truth that control is an illusion.  No matter how hard we might squint and strain to see into the future, we can at best see no further than the end of our nose.  

Life is truly about endings and beginnings and as the poet, Robert Browning, wrote long ago, "the best is yet to be."  It has always been that there is light after darkness, hope after despair, and joy after mourning.  The lesson of the years is that no darkness is overcoming because as Job, the man of trouble, said, "In His (God's) hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being." (Job 12:10).  With such truth embedded in our heart we can move forward into any darkness which might unfold because we know God as the One who has brought us through all the things of ages that are past.