A Prayer for the Season of Advent

Often the work of theology (thinking and talking about God) comes in the form of prayer. Some prayers are spontaneous, that is to say, they come off the top of your head. I suspect, however, that all spontaneous prayer is actually not spontaneous at all but derived from deeper ongoing thought and reflection. Thus for me, a prayer I pray spontaneously is merely a verbalized form of written prayer. For me written prayer is a discipline for fleshing out what it is I want to say to God and at times, what I hear God saying to me. I wrote the following prayer for this Sunday's worship:

Lord, you come to us in the most simple yet beautiful of ways,

As an innocent, needy infant!

We thank you for this season of Advent,

For a time of waiting and eager anticipation.

This season has become such a frenetic

and much hyped holiday extravaganza!

What began with a baby born in a stable 2000+ years ago,

has been morphed into an onslaught of sale slogans promising to capture the essence of love itself, in a piece of jewelry, clothing, or toy.

Surely those of us who bear the name “Christ-ian”

know that in fact these extravagances have little or nothing to do with the birth of Christ. 

Its almost as if we’ve become so ill at ease with the sacred,

That we must find some way to gut it of anything holy. Only then, absent of holy fire can we wrap it up and give it away, as if it were ours to give.

We fail to realize that the gift of your love and grace in Jesus

would cost us everything we have and are, and yet it still wouldn’t be enough.

God, guide us past the check out lines, artificial trees, and blaring carols; take us to the simplicity of the Nativity,

And open our eyes to the mystery of your presence with us.

Remind us that only when we carry the grace of your son,

Jesus, in our hearts, and share your gift with others,

Do we truly celebrate Christmas.

Only then will we truly adore you.

A Good Reason to Take Action

In a recent article based on a five year project by the Barna Group, researchers documented a number of reasons young adults are leaving the church. While some of their reasons for leaving are predictable, "the church feels unfriendly to those who doubt," and "the church can be antagonistic toward things like science," some are less predictable. For example, 20% of those teenagers interviewed said that God seemed to be missing from their experience of church. That seems odd to me considering traditionally worship involves scripture reading, sermon and prayer. Perhaps another way to understand this is is to say young adults fail to connect with traditional forms of worship. Another reason given for their departure is the church's judgmental attitude. Young adults shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance often find the church to be closed minded, intolerant and judgmental. Why should we be concerned? Nearly three out of every five young adult Christians disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15. What that means is statistically speaking, the majority of young adults who have grown up in our church, attending Sunday School, Confirmation and Youth Group will disappear from active church life during their teen years, many never to return. That's a good reason not only to be concerned but to take action.

Generosity and Thanksgiving

There's incredible power "on tap" in both acts of generosity and thanksgiving. Obviously, if I'm on the receiving end of generosity I benefit directly from the gift. I can also benefit from the expression of my appreciation. Expressing thankfulness for "the good" others bring into my life, can lead to gratitude, and gratitude can lead to a healthier self and world view. I may even "pay it forward" by gifting another (just as I was gifted). This latter concept has inspired the Kindness Movement... one small act of kindness can lead to global change. If I am on the giving end, I not only have the satisfaction of doing something meaningful for someone else,  I give generosity a chance to change me from the inside out. Generosity is about priorities. It always requires us to turn our focus outward. And such "deadly sins" as greed, envy, and gluttony do not survive well in an environment of kindness and generosity. Too many of us are stuck, unable to move further along our faith journey because we are unwilling or unable to put love of God and neighbor before our love of self, comfort or possessions. God intends to use the power tools of generosity and thankfulness to make of us, cross shaped lives. Check out Colossians 3:14-17. I challenge you to exercise both generosity and thankfulness, and thus allow God's Spirit to do its' thing in your life and in the world!

WHY?

A 10 year old girl visiting the area with her family is abducted, sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. This horrific act is every parent's nightmare and it happened a short drive from where you and I live. How are we supposed to make sense of this tragedy? The fact is, we can't. There's no making sense of why someone would do something like this. These kinds of senseless acts are a painful reminder we live in a sinful broken world that has yet to fully experience the "peace on earth" the angels promised over 2000 years ago. God's Kingdom "on earth" has yet to be fully realized and Christ is counting on us, to not only pray for that Kingdom's coming but to actually get our hands dirty in the process of global redemption. It is no longer okay to hunker down and circle the wagons while everything goes to hell in a handbasket. This is an abandonment of the divine commission and the repercussions of our disengagement will have far reaching consequences for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Guys, you can only jail so many before the only safe places become prisons for the innocent.

A book recommended to me by our District Superintendent, Rev. Frank Alegria, is Bob Farr's Renovate or Die. The author writes, "The truth is that if we don't renovate (our churches) we are going to die. Many people would already say that we United Methodists are already an endangered species...We are going to have to sacrifice some of our ways of doing things and some of our personal preferences for the sake of those who do not yet know (the Gospel). I am not referring to our values, core beliefs, or our Wesleyan theology. No. I am referring to our focus, our presentation, our systems, and our ways of doing things."

We forget the Church is always one generation away from extinction. All it takes is one Christian refusing to pay the gift of faith forward (for example, because of personal preference) to break the chain leading to the redemption of millions of believers! Remember, its my job to push. " Because I didn't like this or that" won't float when we stand before Christ and he inevitably asks us WHY?