A Prayer for Worship Leaders

Heavenly Father

I ask for a strong awareness of your presence in our corporate worship this Sunday. May our day be filled with anticipation and bereft of distractions. May we bring into worship the very parts of our lives that most need a touch from You.

Prepare me for the quiet and the powerful, the simple and the dramatic. Do in me whatever is needed that I may assist your people to have a profound and meaningful encounter with You.

Then, may I glory in You. Truly glory in You.

Amen

As promised....the occasional political rant

The election is less than a week away. I look forward to participating in the incredible privilege of voting. I also look forward to this train wreck of a campaign being over! (I am so excited, I spent the evening making one of those calendars with the doors that you open each day.)

At this point in the campaign it is an American tradition to declare with great disgust that this is nastiest presidential race ever. I typically chuckle when I hear that because our nation had some doozies in its formative years that have long been forgotten but would be difficult to match.

But we might actually be onto something this time.

However, this time it is not the candidates that are to blame. Line up the voters, the media and the candidates and amazingly it is the politicians who have the most to be proud of!

The print and television media's bias against McCain and Palin has been transparent and I hope will in time be at least somewhat embarrassing to those involved. On the other hand, many of the anti Obama emails I am receiving hourly almost make me look forward to getting the pharmaceutical emails as a change of pace. (I have been tempted to forward the pharmacy emails to the political emailers and political emailers to the pharmacy folks, but instead I am wearing letters off the DEL key.)

Who knows....maybe next time things will be different.

The Story of God -- Phrustrated Pharaoh

Some more thoughts from our Sunday night sermon series, The Story of God....

To Pharaoh it must have felt like he was trying to push water up hill. The more he attempts to make this unwelcome people go away, the stronger they become.

After trying to work them to death and then offering the worst nationalized health plan in history, Pharaoh is desperate. His final effort is to deputize the entire nation to perform "no mercy" killings on the Israeli newborns. But he could not even convince his own daughter to sign on to his program.

All of these efforts had focused on destroying the male population. Which makes the roll calls of Numbers chapter 1 suddenly more meaningful.

Reuben, 46,500 men. Simeon, 59,300 men. Gad, 44, 650 men. Judah, 74,600 men. Issachar, 54,400 men. Zebulon, 57,400 men. Ephraim, 40,500 men. Manasseh, 32,200 men. Benjamin, 35,400 men. Dan, 62,700 men. Assher, 41,500 men. Naphtali, 53,400 men.

Male only censuses seem to be quite standard for this time in history, but none has ever so specifically celebrated the hand of God. There was no missing generation of men....the despite the wicked heart and evil designs of a phrustrated pharaoh.

An Insolent Assembly -- Jeremiah 44

A group of Judean exiles have sought refuge in Egypt despite the very clear warning from God that they were not to leave Judah. Even if they felt life would be better -- more secure and more comfortable, they were not to leave.

They left.

To make matters worse, they went to Egypt. The defining moment for Israel had been his rescue of the people from Egypt and now they voluntarily return. It is like being rescued by a firefighter from a burning building and then running right back into the same building!

While they are there they begin to worship the gods of Egypt (like this group wasn't lost enough already!).

Against this backdrop, a great assembly of the people is called. Jeremiah is invited. Assemblies of this nature were often used for corporate confession. But shockingly, the people have gathered not to grieve their sin but to reaffirm their rebellion.

Their obstinacy is based on poor history. They reveal to Jeremiah that they never had problems while they worshipped false gods before. It was only when Jeremiah started making noise about stopping that the trouble began. Therefore, they were done with Jeremiah and going back to what worked.

May we never confuse the blessings of God, with the preference of our perspective.

A Prayer for Leaders

Heavenly Father,

As we lead your people, may we do your work. May our priorities come from your priorities. May our passions and frustrations be the same as yours.

May our leadership be strong and full of faith, full of boldness when needed and and saturated with patience when called for. Grant us wisdom and courage.

May we never confuse our will for yours.

Amen

A Prayer for Preachers

Heavenly Father

As we preach this week, may our words come from Your Word, may our thoughts come from Your Holy Spirit and may the results accomplish Your Purpose.

May we settle for nothing less than simply revealing You in the midst of this world.

Amen

Unwanted Seasons...Unseen Reasons

It is my turn to teach again on Sunday night for the Story of God. We turn to the opening chapters of Exodus and begin to consider the most significant event in the Old Testament (based on the number of OT references to this narrative).

What strikes me is that the Israelites are in Egypt because God led them there. But it is also clear they are not supposed to stay there forever. But, in the meantime the Israelites suffer bondage and bitterness under Pharoah. It had to be the most unwanted seasons in Israel's history.

Why the delay in the return to the promise land? Why were the people left vulnerable to bondage and slavery? Was it simply the wickedness of Pharoah's heart?

I guess the question I have is why must the blessed experience such suffering?

Yet, Exodus 2 reveals that God's timing was quite precise, and His awareness was comprehensive. So it seems the suffering was certainly part of God plan. Even for the blessed.

Note --
While they waited --

1) the people dramatically grew in number, preparing them for the conquest

2) the exodus would provide the shared experience which would define the new nation
3) they would have opportunity to learn to trust God for everything they would need
4) they would leave town loaded down with the wealth of Egypt

I wonder what powerful thing God may be doing in the unwanted parts of your life right now.

Jeremiah 41 -- A Misguided Super Patriot

In the eyes of many Ishmael (not that one, the one in Jeremiah) would be considered a super patriot. A freedom fighter. The kind of figure people name their children after and compose ballads about.

In the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem, with the help of a small dedicated band of brothers, Ishmael murders the Babylonian appointed governor in the city. Thanks to Ishmael, the foreign devil has received what was due him and maybe Judah is a step closer to independence once again. Cue the parade and tickertape.

Yet, God's Word seems oddly silent when it comes to celebrating Ishmael. The story is simply told, quickly followed by the story of Ishmael's own defeat and ultimate flight from Judah.

So why does hero status allude this super patriot?

Included in his violent efforts at Judean restoration was the murder of a group of pilgrims that had come to Jerusalem in a spirit of mourning in order to offer sacrifices where the temple once stood. It is not entirely clear why he did this. May be he did not want word of the murder of the governor to get out. But in the process he killed the very kind of worshipper that God had long been looking for in Jerusalem!

Furthermore, it seems Ishmael may have been motivated by self interest more than any thing else. As a member of the royal family, he had lost more than any one else. And as one of the few surviving members of the royal family, he possibly had the designs for his new royal signet ring in the back pocket.

Ultimately, Ishmael finds himself fighting himself not just fighting against Babylon but against God. The word from Jeremiah had been pretty clear that Babylon was God's instrument.

Passion and commitment do not trump submission and obedience. We must be strong and courageous, but only under the authority of the Commander of the Lord's army

May you do something significant today...but only the right things.

Story of God (Continued)

I shared a while back that we would be starting a new sermon series entitled The Story of God. The series would attempt to provide a narrative overview from end of the Bible to the other, helping our folks see the consistency of God's work and to help them place into context the Biblical stories they already know.

One of the elements to the series that I have been looking forward to is that a couple of our staff members would be taking turns with the teaching. This past Sunday night, our children's minister David Harper spoke on the life of Joseph.

Covering Joseph in one message is no easy task, but David did a great job. For me the strongest section was hwhen e challenged us to find ourselves in the story, but he confessed that he had far more in common with the brothers than he did with Joseph.

The brothers, he pointed out, were

1) most likely to fear the worst in a situation

2) shackled by guilt of their past

but they were

1) forgiven instead of blamed

2) and incredibly they were invited to dine at the master's table, even though the master knew the very worst about them!

Oh, what grace. I couldn't have said it better myself.

On Vacation

Anonymous left a comment earlier today inquiring to my whereabouts. He is right, my family is on vacation. The blogging had gotten a little thin as I was caught by an administratively busy season in our church life and needing to do some extra work in terms of advance sermon preps.

But I shall return next week refreshed and renewed.

In the meantime, keep up with some of our vacation adventures at my wife's blog www.mylouisianaview.blogspot.com. (Not included are any pictures of some wonderful running opportunities, including a 17 miler on a converter railroad line in the crisp weather, surrounded by beautiful fall leaves!)

God bless you this week.

Impressive Image

Here is a fascinating image I came across while I was on vacation. Each line represents a cross reference from one chapter of the Bible to another chapter of the Bible. What a wonderful gift God has given us!




—Image courtesy Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University; Christoph Romhild, North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church/Science

I love you pastor.

As preachers we want to be careful of our words. To mean what we say and to say what we mean. So when someone outside our family and our most intimate acquaintances says "I love you", how do you respond?

For some the words, "I love you" are easy to speak. For others they always seem awkward, even to those closest to them. Early in my ministry I never had given the question much thought. (In large part because the topic had never come up. Which likely speaks to the depth of impact of my earliest days as a pastor, serving only on the weekends while I attended seminary during the week.)

I think the question really came up the first time while I was being interviewed for what would become my second pastorate. It seemed the former pastor was uncomfortable with this level of relational vocabulary. I think I can understand the pastor's reticence to water down the meaning and depth of our language's most important words. But I also heard the hurt of an unreturned "I love you."

The result is that for years I found myself thinking way too much when someone said to me "I love you pastor."

I have come to understand that a huge element of my call as pastor is to love my congregation. I think this is part of what Jesus was speaking to Peter about on the beach. "If you love me, feed/tend my sheep." I have no desire to be a hireling, employed to simply manage sheep. I want to be a shepherd. A shepherd knows his sheep. A good shepherd loves his sheep.

So, today it gives me great pleasure to humbly reply, "I love you too."

Jeremiah 39 -- The Shoe Drops

Thirty eight chapters of warnings. Vividly told, precisely predicted. Yet in reading chapter 39, there is a shock to the suddenness of the fall of Jerusalem. The siege is described as beginning then within a sentence, two years have passed and there is a breach in the wall. It is over.

The king escapes....but only temporarily. He is taken to Babylon, as are the vast majority of the population of the once great city of Jerusalem. King Zedekiah's children are slaughtered before is very eyes. The nobles of Jerusalem are killed as well. The walls of Jerusalem are torn down.

Aside from the rampant sin and rebellion I have at time sympathised with the kings of Judah during Jeremiah's ministry. The word from God was to surrender to the enemy. They were counseled to seek peace terms before a battle had even been waged. No patriot would do such a thing. No true leader would be party to such capitulation. Nothing could be worse.

Well, God said there was a fate that was worse. And Zedekiah saw it unfold before his very eyes. His family and his friends executed. The city emptied of its people and filled with an occupying force. The walls turned into a heap of rubble.

Hindsight is always much easier than faithsight. Heeding the warning is more difficult than the foreseeing the woe. But be certain of this...God's Word is true. It will be just like He said. These surely must have been Zedekiah's thoughts as he sat in chains reviewing the recent turn of events. Alas hindsight is easier, except for the fact it is useless.

But there were some who had faithsight, including Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. In the previous chapter, he alone had stood to defend Jeremiah to the king. His words even swayed the king to most likely save Jeremiah's life.

The chapter of woe, ends with a footnote. Ebed-melech the Ethiopian was spared the destruction of the city due to his faith in God.

Hindsight may be easier, but faithsight is where I want to live. It is where I want my people to live.