A Core Course

The Lord's Prayer shows up twice in the gospels.  In Matthew it is part of a larger teaching on prayer within what is known as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13)  In the gospel of Luke it is offered in response to the disciples saying to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray..."  (Luke 11:1)  The one underlying assumption common to both is that praying was not considered an optional spiritual matter for anyone who served God.  "Pray then in this way...."  Jesus begins in Matthew and "When you pray, say...."  in Luke's gospel.

In neither place does Jesus give any argument or rationale for praying.  He grew up in a home where prayer was practiced and both He and the disciples were immersed in a culture of praying.  In such a world there was no need to argue about the value of prayer.  Anyone and everyone knew its value.  It was something people did.  It was a part of their identity.  There was no need to say something like "If you pray."  "When you pray" was far more appropriate to the religious culture of all who heard this teaching on prayer.

Unfortunately, it is not so today.  Prayer is not heard in every home.  And, in some religious circles prayer is something that has little relevance to what is perceived to be the more important issues of the people of faith.  In the school of faith, prayer is more like an elective in the spiritual curriculum than an essential and necessary core course.  As we hear Jesus teaching about prayer, it is clear that there is no consideration given to the possibility that anyone seeking God would fail to pray.  Praying was something that only made sense to Him.  With Him prayer is assumed.  Would that such was true in this day as well. 

The Great Rescue

As a very young boy child, I have a memory of being at Panama City Beach and being caught in an undertow.  Maybe my memory has gotten embellished with the years of remembering, but I do know for sure that I was over my head, not going anywhere but out and down, and my cousin somehow got me safely to shore.  The details are remembered in a sketchy manner, but the big picture is very clear.  Had it not been for someone else, I would have drowned.  Someone came to rescue me from a situation beyond my control. 

 

From somewhere in the old gray matter this memory surfaced as I read the ending verses of Matthew's rendering of the Lord's Prayer.  The New Revised Standard Version takes those words learned from the King James Version "...deliver us from evil..."  and renders them to read, "...rescue us from the evil one..."  (Matthew 6:13).  Of course, few people today think of themselves as needing to be rescued from the evil one.  The Apostle Paul understood the reality of the struggle against evil.  Toward the end of his letter to the Ephesians he wrote, "...Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil"  (Ephesians 6:11)  And in the letter to the Colossian Christians he wrote, "He (God) has rescued us from the power of darkness..." (Colossians 1:13)

When we move into the spiritual realm, there is more to be seen than what is seen by the eyes.  To walk by faith into the Kingdom of God which Jesus opened for us through the cross and the empty tomb is to constantly be surrounded by mystery.  Some of the mystery speaks of God and some of it points us into a realm that seeks only to destroy everything God is about in the world and in our lives.  To ignore this reality is to risk great peril.  To ignore it is to declare that the battle fought against evil on the cross was an illusion.  The One who died on Golgotha fought against every form of evil and before the last breath was drawn, the victory had been won.  Evil was beaten, but not vanquished from the face of the earth, nor the hearts of men.  In the meantime the living Lord through the power of the Spirit always stands ready to rescue us that we might finally be delivered into the eternity being prepared for us. 

Led Toward Righteousness

While I have used and read the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible for most of my adult years, there are times when my mind carries me back to the King James Version which was the only one in town when I was growing up in years and into my faith.  Such a moment came as I made it to the 13th verse of the sixth chapter of Matthew which contains one of the lines in the Lord's Prayer.  The NRSV reads, "And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one."  Somehow those words just do not do for me what the KJV does as it says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

 

I reckon I have just prayed the Lord 's Prayer too many times using the older words to ever want to try to change them.  At first read, it seems like a strange word to read.  Is it saying to us that God, the good Father, might actually take us to a place where we are likely to stumble and lose our soul?  Surely, it is no more saying such a thing than it is for us to think that the father who shared in the moment of our creation would deliberately set us up for failure and pain.  A good father is one who only seeks good things for his children and if our earthly father would do such a thing, how much more would our heavenly Father do so as well.  Of course, we can credit Jesus with this logic!

 

What is required as we read the Words of this prayer and what is required as we pray it is sensible thinking that opens up windows of possibilities for us.  Jesus was certainly not telling us to seek the luring power of temptation, but to avoid putting ourselves in a position to be adversely affected by it.  It is better not to stand in the presence of the power of the evil one than to think that we can stand in such a place and not stumble.  It is better to pray for a road that takes us far away from the power of the evil one who desires to under mine our journey of faith.  Perhaps, these words of the prayer invite us to pray that we might be led in the paths of righteousness as the 23rd Psalm would suggest. 

A High Price

In the heart of the prayer we know as the Lord's Prayer are petitions.  The first one is for the body ("Give us this day, our daily bread")  (Matthew 6:11) and the second one is for the soul ("Forgive us...as we forgive") (Matthew 6:12).  The third one is for the journey ("And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us...") (Matthew 6:13).   The need for the daily bread petition is obvious enough.  Our physical life is dependent on the life giving day and the food which is an integral part of it. 

 

Sadly enough, the way we live often seems to say that we do not see care for the soul with the same sense of urgency.  The life and well-being of our soul is dependent on a vital spiritual connection between ourselves and our Creator.  Jesus made it clear enough that if a choice is to be made between body and soul, the soul becomes more important.  "Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body..." (Matthew 10:28)  While both body and soul are important parts of the way we are created, the body is made for earth, but the soul for eternity.

If physical health is important, how much more important is spiritual health.  Spiritual health thrives on our connection to God and when an unforgiving spirit takes root in our heart, it is our spiritual health which suffers.  And, in the long run, our soul's life is adversely affected.  Without divine forgiveness we are spiritually undone.  Without it the sin in us takes control and there is nothing we can do about it.  To choose living with our soul in jeopardy is indeed the mark of a foolish person.  It is a high price to pay for a broken relationship.

The Hard Word

Many a soul has slept through the praying of the Lord's Prayer during Sunday morning worship.  Or, perhaps, somewhere between "Our Father'  and "Amen"  we hit the auto pilot button.  It probably just as well because by the time we get deep into the prayer, we have gotten to some of the really hard stuff.  And, what might be characterized as the hard stuff?  "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."  (Matthew 6:12)  Of course, Jesus was not talking about anything related to money.  He was talking about sin and broken relationships. 

Most of us would rather pray about other stuff.  Who among us wants God's forgiveness to be connected to our forgiveness of others?  Yet, here in this prayer we are praying is this part which asks Him to extend His mercy to us according to the way we are willing to extend it to someone who is a part of the people circle in which we live.  Is it really possible that God would withhold forgiving us simply because we are not willing or ready to forgive someone whose life is touching our life?  While some might argue that God is going to forgive regardless, the prayer He taught us to pray is a warning that to live with an unforgiving spirit is to tread dangerous ground. 

 

If we are tempted to think that forgiveness is not a serious matter, then we only need pray the words of the prayer until the serious consequences of being negligent sink in our heart.  It would seem that there is no point in seeking forgiveness for our own sins from God until our heart has been changed toward our neighbor.  To expect God to forgive us when we refuse to forgive others is to ask God to make us an exception to the rule which is, of course, one of the most basic definitions of the essence of sin.  Asking God to forgive us when we refuse to be forgiving is expecting God to compromise His integrity which is an unrealistic expectation on our part. 

Waking Up

The last church I served before retiring had an anesthesiologist in the pew most Sundays.  I remember one of the earlier Sundays when I greeted her at the door after the benediction by saying that she was the one who put people to sleep.  And then, I reminded her I could do that trick as well.  She responded by telling me that while getting people to sleep before surgery was important, what people really paid her to do was to wake them up!

As we pray the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, we come to that part of it which reminds us that God is the One who wakes us up every morning.  "Give us this day...." we pray Sunday after Sunday as we gather with the people of God in worship.  (Matthew 6:11)   From sleep we are aroused to live another day.  How many times have we talked about waking ourselves up, or having someone wake us up.  It is God who gives each day and as a fellow said the other day, "I thank God every morning for waking me up!"

He was a man who was far ahead of me in the wisdom category.  Too many days have been greeted with no sense of thanksgiving for this precious gift of being awaken by the Giver of the Day.  There have been so many, it is easy to take them for granted,  or to assume there will be more to come.  To live in such a way is to live foolishly.  Now is only the moment we have.  We do not even have the next moment in our control.  It is in the hands of God as is each day.  To wake up in the midst of the prayer Jesus taught us and to really pray the words is to live with gratitude for the blessing of the day that He is choosing to give. 

Daily Bread

As far back as I can remember into my childhood, table blessings preceded our meals.  We washed our hands, sat down together as a family, and a word of thanksgiving for the food was offered.  And while the blessing I learned and offered was a simple one, a part of growing up was taking part in this meal time ritual.  I am grateful for the memory, for the parents who put it in place, and for the way it taught me early on to be thankful for the food prepared and placed on the table.

 

The food placed on the table is seen differently after a life time of eating.  More than ever I am aware that the food is not just placed on the table by a mother, but by a host of other unseen people.  And, more than ever I am aware it speaks about the provisional care of God.  Perhaps, the learning started back in the day when I started praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray.  A part of the prayer has us praying, Give us this day, our daily bread."  (Matthew 6:11)  Here is a Word that takes us back to the source of the food which graces our table each day. 

 

The Creator God is the One who has put in place this incredible earth which gives life to us through an endless food supply.  The longer we live and eat, the more careless we become.  We become picky in our eating declaring we cannot eat broccoli, or some other God created food we deem to be disgusting.  We put more on our plate than we need or can eat and then rake what we do not want in the hungry mouth of the trash can.  A truly thankful heart remembers the source of the food, the fact that a thousand hands have worked to get it to us, and that every single mouthful is a blessing of life from the God who provides for us. 

A Double Dare

A favorite read in these retirement years is a book written by Wendell Berry entitled, "Jayber Crow."  I have probably read it a half dozen times and recommended it to more folks than I can remember.  After reading those words, "...they will be done..." in the Sermon on the Mount, Jayber finds himself in the midst of a spiritual crisis, "I must have read that verse or heard it a hundred times without seeing or hearing....But then one day I saw it.  It just knocked me in the head.  This, I thought, is what is meant by 'thy will be done..."  It means that your will and God's will may not be the same.  It means that there is a good possibility that you won't get what you pray for.  It means that in spite of your prayers, you are going to suffer.  It means you may be crucified."

Life was never the same after this moment of taking seriously the words of this prayer.  No longer could he pray or think about God in the old ways.  "After you have said 'thy will be done,' what more can be said?"  Like the character in the book, it is easy for us to live with the lip recitation of these words without realizing how radical and life changing it is to embrace them.  We know that one of the functions of prayer is to get our lives in sync with the will of the Father in heaven, but who is there among us who really wants this to happen in every detail of our life?

Surely, it is true that a part of the ongoing spiritual struggle for many of us is stepping into that stream of obedience which can only be entered through the door of total abandonment to God.  We hunt for another entry point.  And the ones we find may satisfy for a time, but the longer we walk with an awareness of God opening up the road, Christ being within us, and the Holy Spirit leading with convicting power, the more dissatisfied we become with mediocrity in our spiritual life.  The dissatisfaction finally brings us before the door of abandonment where nothing really matters except, "thy will be done."  Standing before the door is not enough.  Dare we dare to enter?

Pray Carefully

It is a dangerous thing to pray this prayer that Jesus taught His disciples to pray.  It is the one we find in Matthew 6:9-13.  As we pray it with the gathered people on Sunday morning during worship services, we start out with the words, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done...."   The last two phrases are, perhaps, the most dangerous part of the prayer.  We should be careful as we pray it.  If it is a petition that is granted, everything around us is going to change.

 

And, we might not be comfortable with the change.  For God's Kingdom to be realized on this earth is something most of us would find frightening.  Think about it for a minute.  Nothing would be like it is.  And while we might say it would be a wonderful world, it would also be a world where power people, control freaks, and religious geeks would have no place.  It would involve living according to love in every situation.  It would mean an equality among people that would destroy every vestige of security for the status seekers.  It would finally mean that the reign of Christ would be paramount in every life.     

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done"  leaves nothing as it is and puts the order we have so carefully put in place in total disarray.  We should be careful   We should be careful about the things for which we pray.  God just might be listening.  God might just be in a mood to give us what we say we want.  But, of course, the most frightening thing about the whole business is that to pray the prayer as Jesus taught us to pray means praying according to the will of the Father and if there is anything which God longs to grant through our praying, it is His will.  Be careful. 

Shrouded in Mystery

Sometimes it seems we have become a little too familiar with God.  While such certainly sounds a bit strange since a part of our spiritual journey involves knowing God in a more intimate and personal way, it is also true that He is not like the best friend who lives up the street.  When Jesus was teaching His disciples about praying, He taught them to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name..." (Matthew 6:9)  As He taught them to pray, He was also giving them instructions to view with reference the name of God.  Instead of surrounding His name with familiarity, it is better to let it be shrouded with awe and mystery.

 

Back in the day when the Ten Commandments were etched in stone on the mountain, the third Word was, "You shall not take the name of the Lord Your God in vain..."  (Exodus 20:7).  Earlier when Moses was a wilderness man trying to get out from under the compelling call of God, He asked God, "...What shall I say to them?" when the people ask Your name. And in response God said, "I am who I am."  (Exodus 3:13-14)  And, of course, there also came a time in the Hebrew's response to God when His name became to sacred to speak. 

When we pray what we have come to know as the Lord's Prayer, there are those words early on which remind us of the sacred nature of the God to whom we pray.  Not only should His very name be spoken with whispered awe, reverence, and respect, but such should also infiltrate our attitude toward Him.  We are invited to offer our prayers to Him not because we are privileged people who walk alongside of Him as an equal, but because of the unmerited favor known as grace which He showers down upon us.  The One to whom we pray is God.  God is not like anyone else.  And though we are created in His image, we are still not like Him.  We need not worry about putting Him on a pedestal, He already sits on a throne "high and lifted up."  (Isaiah 6:1)

New Eyes

When Jesus told the disciples to pray, "Our Father in heaven,"  He surely was not simply trying to be superfluous in His language.  Yes, He could have just said to pray, "Our Father," but there is something very distinctive about this shared Father to whom we are all instructed to pray.  This Father is "in heaven," which speaks to us of a viewpoint we cannot see.  No matter how well we are able to understand our situation, it can never be as complete as the Father who listens and sees from heaven.

 

The Father in heaven to whom we pray has a view of the situation which is different than ours.  Our view is cluttered with fears of what might be.  It is cluttered with possibilities all of which seem like imminent realities, and finally, it is cluttered with predictions of doom that have as their basis past struggles and failures.  And when to this is added all the helpful thoughts of others who have figured out what needs to be done, the view we have becomes even more distorted and confused.  There is always something to be said for having "new eyes" look at what we are seeing all the time.  God has "new eyes." 

As Jesus points us to "Our Father in heaven," He is pointing us to someone who clearly sees the bigger picture of our life.  He is pointing us to someone who sees not just the next step on the road of our journey, but the longer view of the journey as well.  What our Father in heaven is always seeking to do is to work for us in the best possible way.  The best possible way is not always the best short term fix, but it still remains the best possible way.  Our Father in heaven has a view different from us and He is also One who can be trusted to lead us toward it.  Even when we cannot see that such is where we are going, He is able to see and He can be trusted to get us there.    

A New Window

When the disciples of Jesus asked Him for some help in praying and they heard what we know as the Lord's Prayer for the first time, they could not have imagined that it would become the most prayed prayer in all of Christian history.  While it has become too traditional for some of the more contemporary services that only want to be as current as the most recent song on the most trendy Christian radio station, more churches than not have that moment of inviting its people to pray the Lord's Prayer together during Sunday morning worship.

 

As the people begin with those first words, "Our Father" it might be a good thing some Sunday if the preacher would holler out, "Stop!" and then when everyone got over the shock of being woke up from the prayer, additional instructions might be offered.  "Now, go find a stranger, someone you do not know, and talk with them for the next five minutes about what it means to have the same Father.  And at the same time ask yourself what it means to have this stranger as your brother or sister."

Most likely this is not going to happen next Sunday, but imagine for a moment it did.  In fact, this simple suggestion can become a spiritual journey for the next five minutes.  Each one of us can lay aside what is in front of us and in our mind put some stranger before us.  For some it might be a pointless activity created by a preacher with nothing else to do, but for others it might become a way of opening a new window to open when praying a very old prayer.  It could be a new way of viewing heaven as well as the soul.

The New Criteria

The book of Hebrews has some unforgettable sections.  It is so different from the other books which grace the pages of the New Testament.  One of those powerful sections is the eleventh chapter which  seems like a roll call of the faithful saints.  Beginning with Abel and moving to the prophets, the saints of God are remembered for their faith.  The first verse of the chapter serves as a prelude to this roll call as it says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." 

 

Here is a word which not only defines the essence of faith, but drives it home like a hammer drives a nail home into the wood.   An active faith always carries us into the realm of things which cannot be touched, proven, or seen.  Surely, when we see faith being expressed in visible ways, it is also true "...that what is seen was made from things that are not visible."  (Hebrews 11:3)  The Word tells us of the faith of the faithful and through its words we seem to catch a glimpse of what faith is all about, but it always eludes a  tidy definition because is has to do with "things hoped for...things not seen." 

 

Those who names are called in this chapter of Hebrews are those who lived in this world with a mindfulness of what was always invisible and just beyond their reach; yet, in their constant movement toward it, they modeled for the rest of us what it means to live in a world where the visible and the invisible are always intermingling.  The sacred is never separated from the secular, what is always seems to be shadowed with what is coming, and the life being lived and what can be known is always less than the unknowable shrouded in mystery.  Not knowing and not having all the answers does not separate us from the list of the faithful, but instead seems more like the criteria which must be embraced to become a member. 

The Spoken Word

Before and in
  the beginning,
   what is is not,
     not seen, but there
Listening.

Waters swirling,
   fast and deep,
    what is not,
     submerged
Anticipating.

From nothing,
  lurks invisible,
   what is coming,
     nearly visible,
Waiting.

Then and now,
  not apart,
   is not is now,
    the Word,
Speaking.

An Emerging Revelation

Why I am surprised when I am reminded of how much I do not know is something that amazes me.   I should not be amazed.  Yet, still I am.  A few days ago while reading "The Book of Creation" by J. Philip Newell, I came to such a moment.  Like you I have read the creation account in Genesis more times than I can count, but Newell caused me to read it differently as he wrote about the fifth day, "With the birth of the creatures there is the emergence of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching."   As Newell uses the word "emergence," he reminds us that such is the very nature of creation.  It is forever emerging.

And even as the creation is constantly emerging, so is the Creator making Himself known to the creation.  God is not someone Who can be known by a single title or description.  He is greater than all the names we might give Him and He is forever and constantly revealing Himself in ways that astound us.  Figuring Him out is not something which is going to happen.  Neither will He act and reveal Himself according to our expectations.  As there is an emerging quality about the creation, so is there an emerging quality about the Creator. 

What I do not know about the Creator of the creation is far more than the sum of all the things I call myself knowing.  As soon as the eyes of the heart catch a glimpse of the holy, it is no more.  Someone wrote the other day in a note that we never step into the same river twice.  It is indeed a powerful image that reminds us that what we know and experience in our relationship with God is never what is was yesterday, but instead, it is always emerging into something never before known and experienced. 

The Barber Shop

I had made an appointment about a week ago to get the haircut I got today.  As I was sitting there with hair falling all around me, I remembered how it used to be when the "ears needed lowering."  In the rural town I attended high school, there was a two chair barber shop.  It had one of those spinning peppermint candy poles outside the door.  Of course, no one made an appointment.  Men and boys just showed up and sat down to wait a turn.  No numbers were given at the door.  Each person in waiting knew who was there before he arrived and who came in after he took his chair.  I can never remember an argument over someone getting out of turn.  Not having an appointment meant waiting an hour or so for your turn, but no one seem to be mind.  There was plenty of interesting conversation.

 

As I sat there in the midst of my remembering, I knew that no one today would tolerate that kind of waiting for a haircut which is why appointments are given.  Perhaps, we have all gotten more important.  Or, maybe we just no longer have the time nor the patience to wait.  The truth is we are all in too big a hurry to go into a barber shop and sit patiently while three or four guys get haircuts ahead of us.  In a hurry is what we are.  And because we live in such a hurry we miss out on so much important stuff happening in the present moment.  One of the important things happening back in the days of the barber pole was a boy being in the room with other men talking about and doing men stuff.  This is just one of the things missed out on today because we are too busy to stay in the present moment.

 

The longer I live, the more in love I am with the present moment.  More than ever I have come to realize it is the gift God gives to us that will never be given again.  He gives it so that we might squeeze everything out of it.  The gift of the future may or may not be there.  What God gives He always gives to bless us.  It is sad that we are so busy running toward whatever is out there in the future that we miss out on the blessings of the Father who loves and provides for us what is needed for our present moment living.

Another Source

In these retirement years it has been a blessing to have been planted in the midst of an uncluttered creation.  There are no buildings to obstruct the view, no plats of asphalt and concrete to hide the ground, and the colors are as pure as God has made them.   But, it has been more than just an experience of admiring and beholding with awe the beauty of God's creation.  Even more it has become a season of listening for the voice of God and knowing His presence in this uncluttered creation which surrounds me.

 

While it may sound strange to some, the Word of God itself reminds us that the creation is an open door to the revealed presence of God.  In Job 12 we find the ancient man speaking to one of those who have come to help, "But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you..."  (vs. 7-8)  Finding this to be true has become an important part of the spiritual journey which is unfolding up the road before me. 

 

There was a time when only the written Word known as Holy Scripture could be counted on to speak for God, but in these days the Creation has become known as still another authentic source of divine revelation.  As heretical as it may sound to some, this old preacher is not the first to come to such a conclusion.  Wiser men and women who lived with a deeper awareness of God than have I walked this ground long before me.  To read about the lessons they learned gives me greater confidence that this new way of listening for the Voice of God is not only authentic, but also so in sync with what the God of the Scripture reveals to us about Himself. 

The Way

The trouble with current preaching and the theology under it is that it is often empty of the cross.  The cross is at the core of the gospel message, but no one would think such is the case based on how often the cross is lifted up.  Perhaps, someone along the way decided the cross was too offensive to our senses.  After all, it is a horrible picture of painful suffering and agonizing dying.  However, the biggest hurdle for many of today's followers of Jesus is the difficulty experienced when it is presented as something necessary for a right relationship with God.

 

Our contemporary culture sometimes seems to present and preach a gospel empty of the cross.  We would rather have messages that make us feel better about ourselves and a word that tells us that being better than we were is the real goal.  To embrace the reality of the cross is to embrace the reality that we need something outside of ourselves, something beyond our control, and something we can never completely understand.  The reality that Christ accomplished something that is life saving and life changing for everyone of us is mindboggling.  But, then, an unboggled mind is not required.  Faith is required. 

 

The cross is not about what we want, what we would prefer, or about what makes us feel good, but about the plan of God to deliver us from the guilt and penalty for our sin.  And, perhaps, our final objection to the cross is that it means being honest about the presence of sin in our lives.  Sin breaks us.  It separates us.  It destines us to life without the presence of the holy in our lives.  It is more than we can handle through human effort or intellect.  What is necessary is Someone outside of ourselves and beyond our control to deliver us.  Jesus is that One.  The means by which the deliverance we need takes place is through His suffering and death on the cross.  For us, for you and me, He died.  He said, "I am the way..."  (John 14:5)  which says it all. 

The Beginning

Reconciliation does not begin with saying, "I'm sorry."  Neither does it end with those same words.  The words of apology mean important and necessary work has already been done.  Long before we go to someone seeking to make it right once again, the hard work of the heart has been done.  It is inside of us that reconciliation begins.  Its beginning is not evident by some visible act.  What is evident is that something started in us which has grown to some expression that is visible.

 

What we would like to say is that it is easy since we are a follower of the One who died on the cross to reconcile all at-odds groups and individuals into one body, but honesty requires it is not so easy.  Knowing what Jesus lived and died to do does not mean that we always automatically and naturally make the right choice.  Sometimes it requires more than human will, but a the hard convicting presence of the Holy Spirit.  Reconciliation may be expressed in verbal work, but it is always heart work.  Reconciliation always begins in the heart.  It must take root in the heart, or it will be blown away at the first burst of difficulty.

 

Our attempt to be reconciled may be rebuffed or rejected and as this happens the reasons for the brokenness in our past may once again find fertile ground.  What is often forgotten is that another's response to our own inner heart work does not have to change the results of that work.  We live at one with another in our heart even though it may not be something which is allowed visibly.  Our reconciliation is not dependent upon the heart of another, it is only dependent upon the heart within us.  When reconciliation in us is nurtured by the Holy Spirit and planted deeply in us, it will enable us to live in peace and without anger or resentment even though the one with whom we seek reconciliation is not yet ready for such a relationship.

Doing the Right Thing

It is as the old South Georgia farmer who was faced with a changing social culture back in the '60's said, "Preacher, I know what the right thing to do is, I just ain't ready to do it yet."  Most likely we have all been there when it comes to knowing what is right and then not doing it.  Some people of great faith have struggled along these lines.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate...I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."  (Romans 7:15, 19)

 

The need for reconciliation can stare us in the face and we will still choose to live with a broken relationship.  We know what we ought to do, but we just refuse to do it.  I have done more than my share of dragging the feet when it comes to getting some broken relationships in order.  Early in my ministry a controversy arose in the church I was serving and before all the dust had settled brokenness had settled in and taken root.  When I was packing to leave one of my antagonist came and apologized only to have it turned aside by his preacher.  Several years later when news came that misfortune had fallen upon him and my first response was "He got what he deserved, " I realized how deeply I had allowed my anger to root.  There was some heart work that I knew needed to be done.

 

So much time and energy gets wasted when we live midst known broken relationships.  So much of life and the present moment is wasted as we allow something from the past to take such a hold on us that we cannot see where it has taken us.  When we live in a broken relationship with another, we have not only separated ourselves from someone of value in our lives, but we have also driven a wedge in our relationship with God.  While some may say that nothing is difficult for God, it must surely be difficult for Him to hear our professions of love for Him when we cannot love someone He has put in the circumstances of our life.   

Praying or Pretending

When it comes to reconciliation work, Jesus sets a high bar.  Reconciliation work is not just required when we know we have caused others problems or hurts.  Efforts toward reconciliation are not just required when we know we are in the wrong.  Jesus takes things to an entirely different level as He says, "If you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled....and then come and offer your gift."  (Matthew 5:23-24)  There are no free passes.  There are no exceptions.  No one is too special.  If we become aware of brokenness in any relationship, then obedience calls us to do something about it.

 

What we are called to do is to make right what is broken.  Figuring out who is responsible, or at fault is never the issue.  How can we know if a relationship is busted?  Actually, most of us need no help answering the question, but some things are so obvious they stare us in the face.  When someone's name sends us into a quiet fifteen minute mental exercise of imagining all the things we would like to say, there is a problem.  When someone is seen coming and we find a reason to cross the street, or be busy with something we did not know we had to do, there is a problem.  When we take pleasure in hearing about some misfortune falling upon someone and we hear ourselves saying, "They got what they deserved," there is a problem.  When we are quick to criticize and slow to pray, there is a problem.

What may be true is that reconciliation is not going to happen in some of the broken relationships of our lives until we have sincerely held them up before the Father in our prayers.  If hearing Him reminding us that His forgiveness is connected to our willingness to forgive and we are unmoved, then our hearts have grown harder than the one Moses encountered in old Pharaoh.  Praying is a good place to begin, but finally there comes a moment when that praying pushes us toward restoring the brokenness.  If our praying does not move us in the direction of reconciliation, then we have not really been praying.  Just pretending. 

The Hard Work

When we start looking for some of the truly hard passages in the Scripture, one which always grabs its share of attention is found in the 5th chapter of Matthew.  Of course, Matthew 5 begins what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.  And while there is not much about the Sermon on the Mount which brings easy to mind, the section beginning in verse 21 of chapter 5 is one of the tough ones for most of us.  What makes it so tough is that it is a teaching on reconciliation and reconciliation is one thing which causes most of us more trouble than we want to admit.

 

The passage is fairly simple.  As we read, we hear Jesus saying, "So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother and sister, and then come and offer your gift."  What is most troubling about this Word is that blame has no place.  In fact, to seriously consider what Jesus is teaching is to realize that determining who is at fault is not the issue.  Of course, who is at fault has always been the issue for us.  If someone wrongs us, or hurts us, the first step should belong to them.  Is that not how it works?

 

Well, maybe it works that way for those who do not speak of following Jesus, but it can never  be that way for those who profess faith in the way of Christ.  To get the teaching is to understand that reconciliation is more important than placing blame, being right, or not being perceived as a doormat.  If we realize that there is something broken in a relationship with another, then following Jesus means doing everything we can do to restore the brokenness.  There is no other option for the believer who desires to be faithful to the Christ. 

Spiritual Problems

Prior to the Asbury Revival of 1970, the school had gone through a great season of turmoil.  People with different views about God's view of the future butted heads.  By the time I arrived the conflict had ended, but the spirit of controversy and confusion still had an upper hand.  When folks talked about Asbury, it was mostly about the struggles of the past instead of the hopes for the future.  Not all the hurt feelings had been forgotten and healed. 

The Revival came in the aftermath of this confusion and chaos.  Real revivals have a way of providing leadership into God's future and even as this happened with many who knelt at the altar, so did it happen with the life of the college.  After the revival the conversation changed.  Many of the held hurts, resentments, and memories from the past were no longer cherished, but forsaken.  While a revival may be measured by the experiences repentant souls have while kneeling at the altar, they are also measured by how life is lived when the fervor has subsided and life once again goes forward in the ruts and routines of life.

While some might characterize the college's problems before the revival as political, personal, or power struggles, they were actually spiritual problems.  Spiritual problems find healing when real revival takes place.  What was true of the institutional life of the college back then remains true for the troubled institutional life of today's sacred and secular communities.  The ever present chaos and turmoil speaks to the depth of the spiritual brokenness of the current crop of institutions.  New laws, meetings, and compromise will never change the spiritual brokenness.  Spiritual problems need a Spiritual Healer.   There is One, but unfortunately His wisdom and guidance is not our first resort, but our last.

Never Satisfied

Back in the day when I was a student at Asbury College, there was a great deal of teaching and preaching which was centered around what was commonly called being filled with the Spirit.  Some also spoke of baptism in the Spirit.  When I started listening, it seemed that it was a spiritual experience to be desired by any believer.  In certain circles it almost sounded like the Galatian heresy which Paul addressed when he wrote about the "Jesus plus" heresy.  And, while it may not have been altogether true, many who professed such an experience seemed to see themselves as being spiritually superior to those who did not have this experience in their spiritual resume.

 

As the Asbury Revival broke upon us some fifty years ago, there were many who went to the altar seeking more of God.  Actually, what was being sought was a lifestyle which spoke of God having more of us.  I remember well the feeling that I wanted more in my spiritual life.  Mediocrity became something which I no longer wanted.  When I knelt and sought a life controlled and directed by the Holy Spirit, I arose as someone who would always feel that there was something more out there.  While I may have been an experience seeker in the beginning, as I began to travel that road I came to a place of knowing that what started at Asbury was a fundamental change in terms of my walk with God.

 

Having tasted new wine, I could never be satisfied with the old.  Having seen what it looked like when the Spirit broke into our midst with overwhelming power, I could never be satisfied with less.  The revival moment set me out on a journey of never being able to get completely away from a hunger and thirst for God.  Instead of arriving, it set me forth on a journey which I came to understand as one directed by the Spirit and one which I was able to walk only because this same Spirit gave me the power to walk with a greater sense of confidence and faith. 

Mystery and Grace

It has been a long journey.  A lot of miles and years have been traveled since that Tuesday morning at Asbury College when the Holy Spirit broke in upon everything that was normal.  I have always been grateful that I was present in those days.  Asbury was a place to which I went kicking and screaming.  Like Jonah I ran to a different place before finally choosing to go where I knew God was leading me.  Had I stayed the course of my own rebellious spirit, I would have missed out on one of the most life shaping spiritual moments of my journey with God.

 

For some who managed to stand in the distance as observers, it surely seemed that it was a moment when emotions got the better of people.  And indeed as the altar filled time and time again, there were people weeping, and shouting, and even laughing.  I was one of those who knelt at the altar during those hours and I was one who rose never to be the same again.  After those days, I could no longer be content with just getting by, mediocrity in my spiritual journey, and being where I was.  It was hunger and thirst for more of God that pulled me to that altar and that hunger and thirst has carried me forward through a lifetime filled with times of joy and times of darkness.

 

In those days I came to a deep awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit.  It was the beginning steps of a life that would lead me to an unfolding understanding of what it meant to belong completely to God.  In the excitement of the beginning, there was a sense that I had somehow arrived, but the further I walked the more I realized that arriving was never really the destination.  What was important was going in obedience to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Even though I came to a new awareness of the presence and  power of the Holy Spirit in those days, it is also true that what seemed so clear in earlier days is now more filled with holy mystery and impossible to understand grace than I could ever have grasped in the beginning. 

The Holy Spirit Fell

While I have made a point over the years to avoid making a god out of the Asbury Revival which changed my life fifty years ago, it has served as a defining word for revival and it has been an event which has received more than its share of personal reflection.  As I remember and read the Scripture for some Word which will bring additional clarity, I often pause at the beginning of the second chapter of Acts.  There the Word say, "And suddenly..." (Acts 2:2) which speaks to what happened.  One minute we were sitting there enduring chapel and the next minute the Holy Spirit became a filling presence. 

 

As I have sought to describe that day I often think about the end of the Cornelius narrative.  As Peter was preaching in the house of Cornelius, the Word says, "...the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word."  (Acts 10:44)  While some might not like the description since it seems to imply some three tier universe, the image of the Holy Spirit falling upon us always seemed like an appropriate image.  In an unexpected and surprising way, everything in that place seemed filled with the holy and those who heard words of testimony found themselves overwhelmed by the sudden work of the Holy Spirit. 

 

One of the things experienced over and over again during those days was the blessing of the word that was shared.  Wherever the testimony of the Asbury Revival was shared, the Holy Spirit fell.  A group of us went as a witness team to Olivet Nazarene College.  There was a scheduled planned revival in place.  We went into the pastor's office as complete strangers before the evening service began and asked for a few minutes to share about what God was doing at Asbury.  He dared to agree.  One of our team stood to share and before he finished the altar was filled with those seeking God.  The only way I can speak of that moment and others like it is "...the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word."

A Personal Story

It was fifty years ago today that I stepped into Hughes Auditorium at Asbury College and made the decision not to be satisfied with a mediocre Christian life.  The Asbury Revival of 1970 broke upon us that morning extending a scheduled chapel service and interrupting the next week of classes.  In the midst of it all, the Holy Spirit worked in my heart to bring me to a deeper desire for God.  Two days changed my life.  There was the night shortly before my 18th birthday in Alamo when I gave my life to Christ and there was this moment fifty years ago when I was in the place where the Holy Spirit fell with unmistakable and overwhelming power. 

I almost missed what turned out to be a powerful life changing spiritual experience.  Five years after my Father's death, my mother re-married to a Methodist preacher.  He was a graduate of Azusa College and before long he was putting the word about Asbury College in my ear.  When I left home, it was the last place I wanted to go.  After two years at Young Harris College, I made the decision to finish my college years at Georgia Southern College. After one quarter I knew it was not where I belonged and so I left for Asbury, but kicking and screaming in protest as I went. 

I arrived at Asbury full of scornful skepticism for everything for which Asbury stood.  A fall revival on campus that first year started the softening process on my heart, but it would take some time for me to allow God's Spirit to take hold of my life.  The February morning when the Holy Spirit fell upon us in chapel brought me to the altar of the auditorium where tears of repentance were shed and where a new awareness of God's presence began to take root in my life.  I have been forever thankful that God did not give up on me and cast me aside as He should have done, but that His grace prevailed over my rebellious spirit and arrogant heart. 

The Savior

The revival culture of my past was characterized by preaching that was invitational, singing old gospel songs which focused on the saving work of Christ, and people going forward to an altar to pray prayers of repentance.  Many a person has started their walk with Christ at the altar of a revival meeting.  In some places where revivals played such an important part in the life of the church, folks would talk about waiting for the next revival to give their life to Christ.  It was as if the revival week was the only time such could be done.

 

Even as it is true that the traditional revival meeting has largely disappeared from the life of today's church, what is to be mourned even more is the loss of some of the basic elements of the revival tradition.  One of those things is invitational preaching.  Preaching has become more of a moment to teach, or to promote the needs of the institutional church than to invite people to Christ.  It almost seems that preaching today feels an embarrassment with such a moment.  And while the revival preacher never preached with the assumption that everyone in the sanctuary was rightly related to Christ, preaching today seems to assume that everyone present is already a follower of Jesus. 

 

Making such an assumption undercuts the work the Holy Spirit desires to do in our midst.  The Holy Spirits seeks to point people toward Jesus, but too often the church points the listening people to other things.  When the revival preacher stood up to preach, people expected to hear about Jesus, the way His blood was shed to handle sin, and the common need of us all to believe in Him.  Fine sermons about other themes are surely preached today, but when the saving act of Jesus is left out of the mix, the church and its people suffer and languish in despair. 

Old Time Religion

When I was growing up in South Georgia, any church worth its salt had at least one revival each year.  These revivals were not the two night version, but more likely to run from Sunday night to Friday night.  And, while the tradition was more prevalent in the rural areas, most urban churches got on board as well.  My first appointment was a three church charge and the first summer I was there, each church had a week long revival and expected their greenhorn preacher with an empty sermon barrel to preach them!

Somewhere along the way the revival tradition started shortening the days allotted for this special time of evangelistic services until it finally simply disappeared from the ecclesiastical landscape.  Maybe the church no longer needs reviving.  Maybe everyone has gotten to the perfect place in terms of a relationship with Jesus.  Or, maybe no one is sinning anymore and so any call to repentance is irrelevant.  Some might say the people in the church have become too sophisticated and the church no longer needs this tradition which came out of the rough uneducated culture of the frontier days.   

It may be true that revivals often lent themselves to over the top emotional experiences, but it seems that our worship devoid of any emotion at all is equally as bad.  However, these revivals also provided a set aside time for spiritual examination, bent knees at the altar, enthusiastic singing, praying for others and being prayed for by others, and invitations to forsake whatever was standing in the way of a strong and life giving commitment to Jesus.  Maybe it is true that just the church of my past needed and benefited from such moments, but I have a hunch the church of today still needs it and could benefit once again from some of this old time religion.