St. John Studies

“Because prayer is an act of relationship, it should be an open and ongoing dialogue. First Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to ‘pray continuously.’ God may not be physically with us when we pray, but He is present with us, and prayer becomes our connection to Him. Whether we’re crying out in desperation or spontaneously asking for His favor, prayer is how we converse with God. It can be casual conversation or intense, emotion-filled petitioning. It can be done on our knees or in the car, shower, elevator or check-out line.*

I have to admit, I have prayed in all those places and many more.

2016 has been a year of prayer for me. I have had many prayers where God could have been in the room with me and we were having a conversation.   I laid my concerns on His throne.   The most intense prayer I had this year was when I got a phone call from a stranger about my wife being loaded into an ambulance and being taken to the emergency room of our local hospital. She had just had a car wreck. I remember getting in my truck and racing to the hospital, screaming to God. I wanted Susan to be ok.   I was scared out of my mind and I let God know it.**

But this post is not about me as much as it is about those who don’t pray.

Why don’t people pray?

Obviously, many don’t believe. They don’t know God. For many years, I felt like a man who could control life and I did not need God.   I had been introduced to God since my parents went to church but I did not have an ongoing relationship with Him. I did not take my concerns to Him.   I just worked things out myself and often I got stuck on problems that were not easily solved.   I had no idea that I could take my troubles and turn them over to God and have peace.   People who don’t really know God just try to handle things themselves and it can be frightening, it can be frustrating and it can be lonely.

Some people just can’t express themselves. They struggle to talk to humans; they struggle to talk to God. Words don’t come easy to everyone. To add to the problems of expression, many people feel they have to use the “correct” words to pray.   When you listen to people who pray in public, you will notice the same person repeating some phrases over and over, you know, “In God’s name” or “Thy will be done” or even “bless this food for the nourishment of our bodies.” There is a mistaken idea that there is some secret formula that must be used for prayer. I don’t think so. If you can, just express what is on your heart to God.

There are folks who talk to God as if He is Santa.   I guess this is normal but the wish list is there and you want what you want so you ask.   These prayers may be considered selfish but people pray them anyhow.   Instead of praying for people who truly have serious needs, we get distracted by our own needs.   Maybe this is due to the consumer-driver mentality that we have in our culture.   These prayers may not get God’s attention like other prayers can [I don’t attempt to reflect the mind of God].

The saddest person who does not pray is the person who has prayed for a loved one to be healed and they are not healed.   The loved one passes away. I know of a Christian woman who lost her child in a car wreck and she was the driver.   The mother survived the wreck but her little girl did not.   She prayed and prayed for healing and it was not meant to be. When her little girl died, she blamed God and went through a very damaging process of blaming God.   She got angry at God. She lost her belief in God and she dropped all her Christian relationships with friends and church family.   Things got so bad that she walled herself off from everyone and lived in her hate-filled world.   It is a common process because so many of us see God as a benevolent Deity, a caring Father who would never allow tragedy into our lives. The fact of the matter is that God is omnipotent but much of the harm that comes to us is not from God. People who mean to hurt us can have their way.   We can make horrible decisions that lead to pain and injury.   We do have free will.   We are allowed to make our way in this world and we steer ourselves toward disaster from time to time [sometimes even when God tries to warn us to correct our behavior].

In this post, I have attempted to write about practical reasons for man’s lack of prayer.   The person who tries to pray when there is no real connection with God, no relationship, the inability to express words, the Santa wish-list person and the individual who has been crushed by tragedy.  Bingham Hunter says that today is the “Age of Communication.”   I have my doubts. One of the things he cites is the current obsession with social media.   I don’t want to bash social media because people love it but as a communication professor, it is what I call “one way communication.”   You put your thoughts on twitter, Facebook and other outlets and people place feedback to your thoughts in response.   In today’s world the original thought may not be calculated in a very sensitive way and surely the responses are not.   I have seen some outrageous unfiltered comments.   People write words on their computers that they would never say to anyone’s face.

When it comes to prayer, if a person is fortunate enough to have a relationship with God, the response back from Him will not be “unfiltered”.   It will be what you need. I close with Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.”

*James Dwyer   Relevant Magazine

**for those who don’t know, my wife has made a full recovery

Prayer…

What does it mean for you?

For so many years in my life, I just did it but was not sure anyone was listening, and in those days I did it very, very little.

There were the rote prayers of church service that were mouthed in unison with others, half thinking about what I was saying.

And then finally it all changed.

I had a moment of greatest need in my life.   I found myself backed into a corner with nowhere else to go and I prayed a prayer full of lament, a prayer full of regret, a prayer of great concern, what some would call a “foxhole prayer.” I prayed a prayer where I needed God for the first time in my life. In the circumstance I was in, I did not know what to do, so I asked God what to do.

And I got an immediate answer! I knew it as soon as it was received. It was not an answer that would have been from me but nevertheless, I felt it deep within my soul.   It came in the form of a voice from within my mind and it shocked me.   Nevertheless, I knew it would work.   I knew it would start my life down a new path and I knew I would never be the same.

I did what I was told to do.   In fact, I followed the instructions to the letter.

And it has made all the difference in my life.

From that day, approximately twenty years ago, I began to see prayer differently. I began to see that I had a God who was listening to me, a God who loved me, a God who was willing to work with me to help me be a better person.

I have always been an early riser and soon I began to lay down my burdens to my Lord early in the morning.   I guess many of my first prayers were selfish but I had a lot of problems and I needed a lot of help.   The main thing is I developed a habit of talking with God.   Also, I continued to feel that God was listening, that God loved me and cared that I was trying to have a relationship with Him.

At this time, I began to understand the idea of being born again.   I had gone to the altar and confessed my sins and confessed that I needed God in my life. I was raised to go to church but now I began to feel God at work in my life. I understood what it meant to have a hunger for Him, a hunger to worship, a hunger to pray, a hunger to read His Word.   I fell in love with Jesus Christ thanks to many Christian friends God sent my way.   They tenderly guided me to Him.   They were the human manifestations of Jesus, the answer to the prayer, “God I need help!”

The relationship has continued over the years. I still feel the presence of God, but I have had my mountain top moments and my times in the valley of the shadow of death but He was there and is here now through it all.

My prayer life has continued and I have found myself capable of praying in public. I have prayed for people in the grocery store. I have prayed for people on the street.   I have prayed with people over the phone. Sounds silly to some I guess but God seems to tell me when the time is right. I have never had anyone question my sanity.

Within this past year I have had a new prayer life.   I have begun intercessory prayer at my church.   It is a daunting task because I learn of the many troubles of my congregation and my community. At times I am filled with despair as I hear of someone who is struggling with cancer, suffering through the horrible effects of a car wreck, or living a life of constant pain.   I find myself overwhelmed by their situation and I can’t get their situation off my mind. I am humbled to pray for my church, the pastor and all the staff. I know there are forces in this world that want to keep my church from functioning and I pray for protection from those negative forces. I am humbled by this new role. At times I feel inadequate but I know people in my church need to do this and I am one of those people who have been called to do it.

On October 18, 2016, I fell ten feet from a ladder, breaking my pelvis. I am in the healing process that will take some time and I have come a long way. Let me tell you, I have had people all over my church and community praying for me. I have felt those prayers.   Lonely, anxiety ridden times were not so lonely because I have found God there with me in those scary hospital rooms. Many times I have felt a peace that is unexplainable, a peace that settled me down and got me through the night, got me through the pain. Truly, I have seen people in my life who have been placed there by God to help me through this time of repair and recovery.   I have never needed this type of prayer before, prayer for healing.   I am on the road to a full recovery and I am learning every step of the way. I watch for God, I listen for God and I am here to testify that He is real. He is working in my life, in my body.

I begin our new book The God Who Hears by W. Bingham Hunter with my personal testimony about prayer.   Maybe that is fitting. I know there are those who were like me. They think they speak to an empty room.   The God they are praying to is unresponsive.   We will discuss every angle of prayer in the upcoming days.

I thought it best to begin by exposing my bias.

Yes, I believe in prayer.

In military tradition, the “Last Post” is the bugle call that signifies the end of the day’s activities.

I use this reference to indicate that my post of November 8 [Election Day] is my last post as I reflect on Adam Hamilton’s Seeing Gray in A World of Black and White. However, it is not my last post on this blog.

I began posting my thoughts on this book on March 2016. That seems like so long ago but it really wasn’t. I decided to use this book because of the peacemaking nature of its content.   The book has caused me to reflect on many thorny issues that have divided the church, from evolution to the acceptance of other faiths. I have devoted posts to thoughts about the Bible. I have discussed the messy truth about spirituality.

I have finished this past several months on the most divisive issue of 2016, our presidential election and how it has torn the church apart.

I knew that much of Hamilton’s book is devoted to politics. I first encountered it in 2012 when Barack Obama was running for reelection.   That was a tense time and we did a speakers’ series on the book at my church.   Today the tension regarding politics is even worse.   I think anger is a more accurate word as we get ready to elect either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

I knew the politics discussed in the book would be tough to write about because I wanted to follow the premise of the book. I wanted to “find gray” in a world of black and white. When people are lined up against one another and demanding that others listen, I wanted to get people to realize there is more than just the right and wrong view or there is more than just the black and white view.   To find new ground you have to think about your position and think about other positions too.   You have to keep a cool head. You have to work to understand. You have to know where others are coming from.   You have to search for common ground.

For Christians this election has been so tough because of the choice we have to make between two very flawed candidates.   For me politics has always been a tough fit. I have never felt that comfortable as a Christian in the political arena.   John Piper* says it best when he describes Christians: “as redeemed children of God our primary and decisive citizenship is in heaven, not America.” To put it plainly, Christians are not supposed to be of this world; we are of God’s kingdom and this election has been so worldly that participation reflects poorly on our belief system.

I am not advocating that we not vote.   I recently broke my sacrum and my pelvis and I am in the process of rehabbing my body but I will go vote.

Still with my blog, I have sought to sow seeds of peace with Hamilton’s book, not seeds of discord.

I have tried to promote thoughtfulness, not anger and disgust for others’ positions.

I have asked that we find common ground, build bridges.   I want us to have harmony in our country.

I have faith in my Lord. I have faith in my fellow Christians. I even have faith in America. Kathleen Parker is a columnist for the Washington Post and she has some thoughts that I would like to pass along. Her thoughts look beyond the attention getting strife of the day…   “Today as we wring our hands and say things like this country has never been this divided before, we need to stop.

Yes, it has been divided before and we survived the division.

The Founding Fathers, for all their cleverness were hardly soft spoken. The Civil War needs no editorial comment. The 1960’s weren’t exactly a paddleboat cruise down the Mississippi.”

What is different now?   We are literally bombarded with news, much of it false. Too many people put outrageous things on social media.   Everything today is BREAKING NEWS! when it is really not.

Parker puts it all in perspective. “If Trump wins, he will be held in check more or less by a House and Senate…not even Republicans are eager to follow his lead. There won’t be a wall.   He won’t impose some religion-based immigration restriction…He won’t nuke Iran…He and Vladimir Putin will hate each other respectfully.”

If Clinton wins, “she’s not going to suddenly become a lunatic…She’ll manage the military because she like Trump, honors the troops and they know it. She will make her Supreme Court appointments and will protect Roe v. Wade but otherwise the jury’s out. No matter who she appoints, the Supreme Court will follow the box of chocolates rule. You never know (exactly) what you are going to get.”

Folks, we will survive this election.

Christians we need to realize we have a higher calling than just the rough and tumble of the political world. Our job is to testify to other Americans that there is a better way and that better way is not to make America great again. We need to remember that we are advocating for a transfer of citizenship…

That is our job and that “transfer” is an eternal one…

From Piper’s “Desiring God” Blog November 5, 2016

The radical center…

Have you ever heard of that? You are probably familiar with the radical left and the radical right but “radical” center?

What is so radical about a centrist position?

In the past decades, the centrist position has been most often described as “wishy-washy,” not radical. To be a centrist is to be weird. The fashionable thing to do is take an EXTEME position.

What has it gotten us? [a partial list]

A Kansas church that lines the funeral processions of American soldiers carrying signs like “God hates gay people.”

Occupy Wall Street movements went across the country as more and more people demanded financial accountability in large financial firms.

Islamophobia groups like Counterjihad have taken root as more and more Americans fear the rise of Islam in the American world.

Black Lives Matter is a grass roots movement designed to address injustice against African-Americans in American society today.

The Ku Klux Klan has been on the radar more than ever lately as they have openly endorsed political candidates.

Depending on your view, each of the examples of extreme positions above may be more or less palatable but you have to ask yourself, why do we need to go extreme in the first place?   What does an extreme position get us? The short answer is, it gets us an extreme response.   When people go extreme, it is so much harder to get anything accomplished.   We all get mired in the production of red hot rhetoric that accomplishes nothing.

I know that the American Congress is not on par with Black Lives Matter or Counterjihad, but why do you think precious little has been accomplished in recent years with our elected congressional representatives? They are too busy standing behind the walls of their party affiliations hurling fire bombs at the other party.

As a young junior high student, I belonged to a young person’s book club and I remember getting an edited copy of John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage in the mail. This 1957 Pulitzer Prize winning book detailed the acts of courage in the political lives of eight U.S. Senators. Senator after senator found a way to work with other legislators to accomplish the work of the country. They put their own political ambitions aside to do what was right for people who needed their leadership.   In some instances, they committed political suicide in order to help do what was right for America.

After reading the book and being so impressed by John Kennedy, I applied to be one of his pages. I figured I admired him so much, why not be the Kentucky page to serve him in the senate, along with 49 others pages from the other states. I did not make the cut.

Maybe that job would have launched me into politics but would I want to be in the extreme political climate we have today?

No.

You see, I believe in trying to understand people.   People don’t think alike. That is ok.   But just because there is variety of thought, it is not necessary to disparage people who don’t think like us. It is important to stand strong with your own views, listen to others, try to figure out why others hold their position and discuss your position in a civil manner.   The goal is not to change another person.   The goal is to understand the other person. Instead of feeling the need to crush another person with your verbal assault, just talk with the idea that you may build a bridge instead of a wall.

John Wesley said “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding all these smaller differences.”*

Of course Wesley is speaking of the Christian world and most of this post has been dedicated to the secular world but for many Christians, there is no gap between the Christian life and the secular world.   For the authentic Christian, how we worship is how we live. We don’t just say our Christian words on Sunday; we use them throughout the week.

People of the radical center are searching for ways to make things work. People of the radical center are willing to take the best ideas of the right and the left and construct something that moves us forward.   People of the radical center take the words of Paul to heart “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen [Ephesians 4:29].

As we get ever closer to the great presidential election of 2016, my prayer for the country is that we can find our way back to the “radical” center.   That we emphasize what unites us more than what divides us. That we can give up the need to force our views on others just to feed our own egos.

It begins with me.

It begins with you.

Let us talk together.

*from “Catholic Spirit” Sermon by John Wesley

I plan to post on thoughts inspired by Adam Hamilton’s book Seeing Gray in a world of Black and White until election day November 8, 2016.   On November 9, we begin a new study based on W. Bingham Hunter’s book The God Who Hears.

“And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister [1 John 4:21].”

There is a problem.   With the incendiary rhetoric of this presidential election how could a conservative love a liberal?   How could a Democrat love a Republican?

We have to. God does not say that conservative Republicans must love their conservative brothers and sisters.   He says love your brothers and sisters.

What would a conservative Republican have to embrace in order to love a liberal Democrat?

Liberals don’t talk about the Bible much because they tend not to use God’s Holy Word to make their case for society.   But if you ever get involved in a theological discussion with a Liberal Christian you will soon see that they think God’s most important commandment about loving the Lord with all your might and loving your neighbor as yourself is truly the guide for all of humanity.

[Yes, believe it or not, some liberals are Christians too].

Liberals are also very concerned with God’s admonitions to take care of the poor, visit the prisoners, take in a stranger, and create opportunities for others to be lifted up. They feel there are many ways to exercise your faith.

A distinctive characteristic of the liberal Christian is the belief that in many areas of life, “judgment should be left to God, that being more open, tolerant and respectful is part of what makes [the liberal Christian] humble about their faith, and I am in awe of people who truly turn the other cheek all the time, who can go that extra mile that we are called to go, who keep finding ways to forgive and move on. Those are really hard things for human beings to do, and there is a lot, certainly in the New Testament that calls us to do that.”*

“Let’s stop and get real.”

Sounds like the liberal ideal is very naïve, and coupled with the idea that government can play a role in promoting the greater social good, liberalism is cast as very unrealistic by conservative segments of American society.

“Let’s stop and get real.”

For every liberal who touts that Obamacare can be tweaked and fixed and continued, there is a conservative who wants to funnel government money into supporting our law enforcement officers.   For every liberal who wants to invest in solar and wind power there is a conservative who wants to funnel government money into national defense.

Before we go too far and say liberals want to spend us all into deeper debt, conservatives have to admit they have their own expensive government spending priorities too.

I know I have barely scratched the surface when it comes to exploring the nature of conservativism and liberalism but I return to the idea that Christ has commanded us to love our brothers and sisters.

I am no “holier than thou” person but I can see good things in both perspectives. I like the emphasis on responsibility in the conservative point of view.   Just because a person has government help at some time in their life to make ends meet does not blind me to the idea that it would be better for a struggling person to work for some of the great opportunity that this country offers.

When conservatives begin talking about eliminating government debt and instituting more fiscal responsibility, I am not naïve to the need for this.   Our country could do a better job with government funds.   I am not sure the government is the most efficient way to help others; I don’t close my eyes to government waste.

I like the liberal’s focus on helping others.   Should we not do that? They think the way to do that is through the government; obviously many have their doubts. Our society has many who have serious needs and it is right to help those with serious needs.

What I am saying is there will always be serious disagreements over topics that divide conservative and liberal [reproductive rights, gun control, immigration and same sex marriage] but can’t we see that for the strength of this country we need to find ways to unite on some things.  I am reminded of the battle motto “United We Stand: Divided We Fall.”** Democracy is our uniting fabric and if you study democracy, it is about citizens finding different ways to take care of each other.   That does not mean it cannot be accomplished in a manner where individual profit cannot be made. It does not mean that it cannot be accomplished with a very efficient government response. The thing is that it needs to be done for the greater good of our democracy. We must learn to take the best ideas of both views and use those for the betterment of society.   Yes folks, we need to return to the days when a liberal Democrat and conservative Republican can hammer out legislation that helps our democracy.

Let’s return to the Christian perspective and see if we can respond to the command to love our brother and sister.   I think we can but we have to emphasize the need to love others.   We won’t get the job done if we emphasize our differences.   I venture to say if you are reading this and you are a conservative Christian you have one major idea in common with the liberal Christian.

That idea should be a love for Jesus Christ.

*Ed Kilgore New Yorker Magazine

**also on the Commonwealth of Kentucky flag

I am so happy to return to St. John Studies.   When I last notified folks who read St. John Studies, it was four days after my fall.   On that date the surgery had been done and I had gone from “fall” pain to surgery pain.   Many of you have had several surgeries but at the age of 64, this was my first and following this process has been a real education.

I have not been interested in much except the diminishment of my pain.

Things began to turn around last night.   I have a wonderful friend, one of my best friends, who asked that I come to his church today and talk about our friendship at a special ceremony marking the many years of his ministry.   I was honored to be asked, but then came the fall.

Now I am in a rehab. hospital for five or six more days and of course could not be at this special service to explain our special connection.   I told him after this happened that I wanted to write a statement to be read in my absence and as I worked on it last evening, I began to feel my mental focus return.   I recognized that the pain was subsiding and I could put thoughts onto a screen.   Hallelujah!

Little did my friend know he was doing me a great favor.   He was pushing me down the road to recovery.

There are very few days until the election and before I plunge back into politics in my next post, I know I have to give credit where credit is due. After surgery was over, I was wheeled into a private recovery room on the Trauma Floor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

I was groggy and in deep pain.   You surgery people know what I am talking about.   I was not scared because God helped me all through the process. But as I lay in bed, a man* came to my room.   He gave me his testimony.   He was an independent businessman who spent Thursdays of every week going to patient’s rooms on the Trauma Floor at Vanderbilt telling his story.

You see, he had his own fall several years ago. He was trying to remove a window out of the second floor of a home and was trying to jerk the casement when suddenly the weight shifted and he found himself being dragged out of the window, falling nineteen feet to a bricked surface.   He had fractures all over his body.

James 1: 2-4.   “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

He said there will be rough days ahead, days when I would feel so bad that this has happened to me, rough days ahead when lack of ability to do the basic acts of life would cause me despair, days ahead when I may slip into depression.

But then he said this.

“God is here for you on all of those days.” I told him I felt God the night before the fall, right after the fall and I know God was with me during surgery prep, surgery and recovery.   In short, I have felt the Holy Spirit all the way through this.

Some of you may say things like “God caused the fall!” No, He did not. But let me tell you God can use my fall to teach some very important lessons to a guy like me: lessons about the meaning of life, lessons about the significance of the minor things I take for granted and lessons about the power of the Holy Spirit.

He then told me about the massive amount of fractures and surgeries he had to undergo and how God walked him through the whole process.   I don’t think he had consultations with the medical staff but he echoed what they all said.   In approximately three months, I would have a complete recovery.   I had heard it from doctors but it was so special to hear it from him.

Here was hope. He had suffered so much more than me and he completely recovered.

You see for me, the medical piece of the puzzle is not enough. I have to have the spiritual piece of the puzzle also. I won’t complete my recovery without God helping me through this.

God will help me through this.

Every day now, I say prayers of thanks for small things, the right foot that is less swollen, my ability to use the sock helper device to put on my sock, I can shave myself, I can taste food and yes, now, I can write.

My first post back on St. John Studies had to be devoted to my best friend and this stranger.   My best friend matters so much to me because he kick-started me back to writing: this stranger with his words of hope meant so much because he got me to see the light that was shining in my future.  God bless them both.

Romans 5: 3-5

“Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.…”

*I have tried to get the man’s name or email so I could do more research on him but the Peer Visitation Program coordinator has not released his name.   I understand why she can’t.