Monday, October 25, 2010

First things first


O my goodness, only two months till Christmas.

Funny how our sense of time is structured: “Two more months till Christmas day”, “Three years since Mom died”, “Four more days till school’s out”, and the big one I suppose, “I wonder how much longer I will live”. It’s that old Grandfather Clock song and the ticking crocodile in Peter Pan. Something out there is keeping track, tick-tocking our life seconds away. Mostly we try not to think about it, or maybe we just have more pressing things to think about, but the fact of our mortality shapes everything.

All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

It all sounds rather bleak, but it isn’t really; just the way things are. We’re temporal beings and life is fleeting.

Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:7-8

There may well be something that's eternal, but it isn’t me. So, if my little life matters, it's only as it relates to that whole, eternal thing. And the orientation of my life to that bigger something is part of what prayer is about.

The first part of the Lord’s Prayer is all about God, or more precisely, “Our Father in heaven”. This is Jesus’ way of reminding us, and encouraging us to remember, that we are contingent beings. That is, we come from, and exist for, something greater than we are: God’s holiness and the glory of his name, his kingdom and his will. And one of the great dangers of prayer is that it can easily reverse this priority and put us at the centre where we don’t belong.

I think this concern is the true source of much of the unease most people feel about those “pious folk” who delight in telling stories of how “I prayed for a parking space and got one right by the door. It was, admittedly, the handicapped space, but the sign had fallen down so they couldn’t ticket me. God is sooooooooo good!” Or, as a wealthy, Christian business man once told me. “I prayed for a house in the Okanagan and God led me to the perfect place. It was way under-priced because the man who’d owned it had died suddenly and left his widow desperate for cash.” When I asked him if he’d considered the possibility that God had intended him to pay her a fair price rather than taking advantage of her situation and, thus, become the answer to her prayer, rather than her being the answer to his, he was really quite annoyed with me. Go figure.

The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is about God because prayer is mostly about what he wants, and only secondarily about what we want. He is not a cosmic bellhop who exists to see that our stay on earth is all we’d hoped it would be.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his ;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3

And so our first priority in prayer is always: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matt 6:9-10


Friday, October 22, 2010

A different kind of kingdom


...your kingdom come,...
(Matt 6:10)

The “kingdom” is very prominent in Jesus’ teaching, but the concept is not unique to Jesus. He is interpreting an important Old Testament theme that developed over the course of the history of Israel. The story begins in Genesis.

Most of us are familiar with Noah and the ark (Genesis 6-9). This ancient tale tells of a time when God responded to evil in the world by sending a great flood to drown just about everyone. – Apparently fish were relatively well behaved in those days. – Noah, his family, and a mated pair of each kind of animal and bird were spared. (Actually seven of some animals, but that’s a detail that never quite makes it to the story books or nursery wall).

Now, children’s picture books and full colour murals notwithstanding, this is actually a pretty gruesome story. And by the time it’s all over even God seems to have decided he doesn’t ever want to go through the experience again.

"Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." ...

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ..." Genesis 8:21-22; 9:12-13

The rainbow, hanging in the clouds, is like an armistice memorial. It is a unilateral declaration of peace; God will not make war upon the earth again. But peace is war by other means, and the rest of the Bible is the story of the development of a new plan to deal with evil in the world. And that plan is the kingdom of God.

In chapter twelve of Genesis, God chooses a man named Abram (exalted father) and over the course of the rest of Genesis he slowly refashions this chosen one into Abraham (the father of a multitude). In other words, the begetting begins. Despite his old age, Abraham begets Isaac, Isaac begets Jacob, Jacob becomes Israel (man who struggles with God), and begets twelve sons (the original children of Israel). Their descendants become the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, then the twelve tribes in Canaan, then the nation of Israel, then a captive nation in Babylon, and finally a nation under the rule of succeeding foreign powers.

It’s through this process of disempowerment and marginalization that the idea of God’s kingdom emerges. This people, who began as just another tribe steeped in violence and competing for space and resources, slowly becomes a people of a very different kind, a people dispossessed. So, when Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi of first the century, living in Roman dominated Israel, takes up the term and speaks of his Father’s kingdom, he is speaking of a kingdom without power to wield or territory to defend. -- During his trial Jesus is asked about the charge that he had claimed to be a king. He replies "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." (John 18:36)

Jesus envisions a people who are in this world the way yeast permeates a loaf of bread (Luke 13:20-21), or light shines in a dark place (Matt 5:14-16). Yeast is not really part of the loaf the way flour is, but it makes an amazing difference. Light is not part of the dark room or street in which it shines, but without a sound or the fury of battle it drives out the darkness, permeates the world, and makes it a very different place.

So, when we pray for the coming of God’s kingdom we are praying that God’s rule in our lives will be increased and, so, his influence through us in his world, i.e., your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt 6:10) Jesus is reminding us, therefore, that prayer is primarily about God’s influence on us and, through us, on his world. Prayer is like the flowers turning toward the sun, not that they might influence the sun, but that they might be influenced, and through the influence of sunshine become humble, local, unassuming examples of what the sun can do.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Let God be God

...in heaven, hallowed be your name,... Matt 6:9

There are probably few English words more loaded than “heaven”. It conjures up pearly gates, streets of gold, cloudy vistas of angel choirs, people in long white robes strumming on harps, and many other images far to dreary to contemplate on such a lovely day. It’s the place everyone wants to go, but only if they can’t possibly stay here. About all one can really say for the traditional view of heaven is that it’s marginally better than the traditional view of the alternative. In fact, for Huckleberry Finn, the prospect of spending eternity with his straight-laced, maiden aunt was enough to tip the balance in favour of perdition. It’s a close call. The Apostle Paul wrote "...no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9) but sometimes I think we’re not even trying. At any rate, when Jesus refers to “heaven” in the first line of his prayer, I doubt he had much of that in mind.

Most thoughtful people of every time and place have understood “heaven” to be a metaphor for transcendence. To say that God is in heaven is to say he is above all this, not to suggest that he is to be located somewhere in the sky. The psalmist, about 3000 years ago, declared:

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. Ps 139:7-8

We turn to “Our Father in heaven” as an elementary schoolchild might turn to a parent. He or she knows that parents are not limited by the rules and predicaments that impinge upon a child in grade two. A father or mother has the authority to intervene from a position of independence but, by the same token, Moms and Dads are not subject to their children either. One can appeal to them but, in the end, they will do what they do.

The Lord’s Prayer, therefore, begins where all prayer begins, with the absolute sovereignty of God. –Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. (Psalm 115:3)– And we affirm that this is as it should be, for this is what the next phrase, hallowed be your name,... really means. To be hallowed (holy) is to be set apart, over and above.

But all this being said, we approach this sovereign God as our Father, not some impersonal power, serenely indifferent to our concerns. Like any good parent he is more concerned with our well-being than our wishes. Like any good parent he takes a much longer view of things than we do. And like any good parent he might say “yes”, “no”, or “have you thought about this?”. In the end, appealing to Mom or Dad, or appealing to God, is not a good strategy for getting what we want. It’s really about checking to see if we’re still on course, still tracking with the overall plan that’s well beyond my ability to comprehend.

This, of course, brings us to the next few words which we will deal with next time: your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt 6:10)

PS: Debate about heaven is well beyond the competence of mere mortals, but it can be amusing if we manage to retain a sense of humour. Witness this church sign debate between the Catholics and the Presbyterians. Is it just me, or do you also get the impression that the Catholics are having more fun?




ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN




GOD LOVES ALL HIS CREATIONS
DOGS INCLUDED






CATHOLIC DOGS GO TO HEAVEN
PRESBYTERIAN DOGS CAN TALK TO
THEIR PASTOR






FREE DOG SOULS
WITH CONVERSION





ALL ROCKS
GO TO HEAVEN



Saturday, October 16, 2010

"'Our Father...”


As I’ve said, the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9b-13) is only a very small portion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), Matthew’s general overview of Jesus’ teaching. It’s four and half verses out of a total one hundred and nine. The sermon contains other prayer teaching, and deals with far more than prayer, but this small portion does set out the main principles of prayer according to Jesus. Though people quite properly recite it as a formal prayer, it’s more than that. It’s the pattern Jesus expects in the prayer lives of his disciples. So, lets begin with the very first words, "'Our Father...”; two words that have profound implications, not just for prayer, for everything.

The first thing we see is that, for Jesus, prayer is uncompromisingly communal. The emphasis on the “individual” that characterizes so much Evangelical theology, is essentially a heresy. Creation is an immense web of interdependent relationships in which nothing and no one can be “individual” in any meaningful way. Each of us is the product of two other people who are themselves products of genealogies that go back virtually forever. We share a community, language and culture with countless others. What is there about any of us, from our eye colour to our ideas, that did not come from someone else? – I remember my mom telling me, “The only reason people say you’re like your father is that they never knew my father.” Truth is, I never knew her father, but somehow I shared his body type, mannerisms, sense of humour, annoying eccentricities, etc.

Each one of us is a particular instance of a communal reality. When we stand before God in prayer, therefore, we do so with all the others who stand before him, whether they acknowledge it or not. And that means everyone: brothers and sisters, friends, neighbours, strangers, fellow Jesus followers, and enemies.

But this is not just a great community, it’s a family. When we go to prayer it’s not just our common God, but our common “Father” we address. Surely God, as any good parent, relates to each child particularly, but it’s a particular instance of the relationship he has with all his children. I cannot, in my relationship with God, set myself against my brothers and sisters, any more than my children can set themselves against their siblings with me. What God desires for me, though it may be specific to me, is only a particular instance of what he desires for all his children, and what I must desire for them too.

Elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt 5:44-45)

Why do good things happen to bad people? Perhaps it’s just part of the randomness of the universe, but Jesus suggests a much more unsettling possibility. God loves them just as he loves us, and he desires good for them. And Jesus goes even further to suggest that, if we are God’s children, we should love them and desire good things for them too.

As surely as prayer is founded upon my relationship with God, it is also founded upon my relationship with everyone and everything else. I suppose everything, including radical monotheism, has its downside. If there is only one God, and only one creation, I cannot have my own personal God any more than my own personal sun or my own personal air.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in his poem The Death of Arthur, said it beautifully”:

"More things are wrought by prayer

Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice

Rise like a fountain for me night and day.

For what are men better than sheep or goats

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer

Both for themselves and those who call them friend?

For so the whole round earth is every way

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

I would add only that we pray for friends and enemies alike. Prayer is an expression of the family of God and a longing for the unity of all things.


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Speaking of Slippery Slopes


Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel is a prayer by Jesus. It’s quite long and deeply personal so clearly Jesus did not limit himself to the recitation of formal prayers. But in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), he sets out, in what we now call the Lord’s Prayer, a simple pattern of prayer for his disciples. And it’s prefaced by a few words of caution. The warning is for everyone, but pastors, preachers and all those who pray publicly from time to time need to pay particular attention.

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8)

First, beware of hypocrisy. If I pray, particularly in public, because:

  • as a pastor it is expected of me,
  • I want to be seen as a man of God,
  • I enjoy putting words together for public consumption,
  • I have things I want to say that are hard to preach about, but when alluded to in prayer are difficult for people to take issue with,
  • I like to be the centre of attention,
  • people tell me my prayers are particularly powerful or beautiful,
  • and so on and so forth,

I just may find that my prayers can be answered without God’s involvement at all. It’s the prayer of my heart, not my mouth, that matters to God. He might graciously grant what I want, and even what I can only manage to want to want, or even to want to want to want. But it seems a bit much to expect him to grant what I’m only pretending to want in order to impress other people. To shamelessly misquote Abraham Lincoln "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool God ever!!!."

The other problem we have is babbling. God knows all we need and all we want. For Jesus, prayer is clearly not about informing or convincing God of anything. So don’t talk too much in prayer, it only gets in the way.

So we should never forget that public prayer is a great opportunity for temptation; what the Catholics call an occasion of sin. And most pastors have a story or two to tell.

One of my pastor buddies, for example, told me of an occasion when he heard himself say, in the middle of the service, in the pastoral prayer, “'Or to put that more simply'. Just who did I imagine might have a problem understanding what he’d just said?” he chuckled. “God? Think I forgot for a moment who I was talking too”. Then he added ruefully, “Or perhaps I remembered.” -- At times like that you’re relieved to know that most people doze off in the pastoral prayer and will never notice a subtle faux pas, no matter how outrageous.

Another pastor friend of mine once called his congregation to prayer with this gem: “Now let us bow our heads and pray the prayer that Jesus taught us. ‘Now I lay me down to sleep...’” Guess even the pastor dozes off occasionally.

Of course there must have been times when I embarrassed myself in public prayer, but unfortunately these occasions seem to have been reduced to repressed memories. Sorry ‘bout that.