Thursday, March 26, 2009

I Miss Mayberry

I miss Mayberry. Mayberry is the fictional American town in the television series, “The Andy Griffith Show.” It is a place where the local sheriff and his deputy have little to do and are always available to help find a lost dog or farm animal. It is a place where no one locks their doors and the most controversial topic is whether to spend money on choir robes or church building repairs. I grew up in a small rural community that had some similarities to Mayberry. Of course many would argue that if one were to look below the surface of Mayberry, North Carolina and Great Bend, Alberta, we would find greater complexities than first seen. However, the fact is, the world in which I live is considerably different from Mayberry or Great Bend.

We face many challenging issues in the 21st century, urban environment in which I live. How should we live? The author of Psalm 119 had similar questions. He asks, “How can a young person stay pure?” We might add, “How does anyone live a life of justice, truth, and love?”

The answer lies in verse 10. Psalm 119:10 says, “I seek you with all my heart.”

Aurelius Augustine (354 – 430 AD) said “Love God and do as you will.”* He rightly recognized that love is the key to doing what is right. If we truly love God, we will want to do what God desires. Psalm 37:4 similarly says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” If we truly love God, if we seek Him with all of our heart, we will truly want what God wants. This will apply in simple choices and in complex ethical issues. Maybe Mayberry can exist wherever we live.

Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
*St Aurelius Augustine Sermon on 1 John 4:4-12. Source. Translated by H. Browne. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170207.htm.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

For a Friend

Prayer For A Friend
Lord, I lift my friend to You, I’ve done all that I know to do
I lift my friend to You
Complicated circumstances have clouded his view
Lord, I lift my friend up to You

I fear that I won’t have the words that he needs to hear
I pray for Your wisdom, oh God, and a heart that’s sincere
Lord, I lift my friend up to You

Lord, I lift my friend to You
My best friend in the world, I know he means much more to You
I want so much to help him, but this is something he has to do
And Lord, I lift my friend up to You

‘Cause there’s a way that seems so right to him
But You know where that leads
He’s becoming a puppet of the world, too blind to see the strings
Lord, I lift my friend up to You
My friend up to You

Lord, I lift my friend to You, I’ve done all that I know to do
I lift my friend to You*
Today, I am praying for a friend.

*Written by Mark Hall; © 2007 My Refuge Music/Club Zoo Music/SWECS Music (BMI) (admin. by EMI CMG Publishing)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Empire or Kingdom

Ephesians 2:1-6 It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah (The Message).

Today, I realized the significance of these words: "You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live." In our culture, it is very easy to let the world tell us how to live. We wake up to our radio alarm clock and hear the DJ give us the latest spin on crime, gang shootings, political wrangling, the economy, job losses, real estate prices, or homelessness. Not only do we hear the supposedly objective newscasters assessment of our world but then the "morning personalities" give us their own cute chit chat about the news of the day. Somehow we seem to think they might know more about these things than we do.

The newspaper headlines scream out their messages with words like "economic tsunami," "investor outrage," "predator," "terrorist," and "death squad." The online dictionary I use to look up a word definition for this blog has a picture of a buxom bikini babe telling us how she lost twenty pounds.

It is easy to succumb to the messages of this world. It is easy to adopt the attitudes of the DJ, or the newspaper, or the talk around the water-cooler at work. It is easy to be pulled into the thinking of the surrounding empire.

But we, who follow Jesus, are part of a different kingdom. We are ambassadors from a foreign land. We are strangers and aliens in this land. We are called upon by the king to give a report and an assessment of this world. Our report must be tinged with sadness for the way these people live in this empire and joy for the standards of the world from which we come. We can rejoice that we have a kingdom that is very different from this world. It is a kingdom where justice, joy, peace, and love are the themes.

Part of Romans 12:1-2 says, "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think" (New Living Translation). Empire attitude or Kingdom attitude, the choice is ours.

Romans 12:1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you (The Message).

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Caught in the Middle

Poets are often better at expressing concepts of the heart. The music group "Casting Crowns" has a song called "Somewhere In The Middle." Here are the lyrics.
Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You’ll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You’re making me
Somewhere in the middle, You’ll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Somewhere between my heart and my hands
Somewhere between my faith and my plans
Somewhere between the safety of the boat and the crashing waves

Somewhere between a whisper and a roar
Somewhere between the altar and the door
Somewhere between contented peace and always wanting more
Somewhere in the middle You’ll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense
Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle
With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is
But will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle
Are we caught in the middle

Lord, I feel You in this place and I know You’re by my side
Loving me even on these nights when I’m caught in the middle*
Wow, Mark Hall has captured how I feel many days. I am a "fearless warrior in a picket fence" with "deep water faith" that plays around "in the shallow end." I want to go deeper, I believe I can go deeper, and yet I am caught in the middle. Lord, Jesus, help me to be a true warrior who ventures into the deep end.

*Written by Mark Hall
© 2007 My Refuge Music/Club Zoo Music/SWECS Music (BMI) (admin. by EMI CMG Publishing). As published at http://www.castingcrowns.com/album_aatd.htm

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Celtic Prayer

In the spirit of St. Patrick, I offer this

Prayer for Starting the Morning Fire
I will rekindle my fire this morning
In presence of the holy angles [sic] of heaven,
God, kindle Thou my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbour,
To my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all,
To the brave, to the knave, to the thrall . . . .*

Not many of us kindle our own fire in the morning but we might turn up the thermostat. This morning I flipped on the switch that starts my gas fireplace and as I did I prayed this prayer.

It is a prayer I need to pray more often. It is not easy to love my neighbour. It is much easier to love and protect myself. It is easy to find fault with my neighbour. “God, kindle Thou my heart within – A flame of love to my neighbor.”

*From the Carmina Gadelica as quoted in George G. Hunter III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West. . . Again (Nashville: Abingdon Press) p. 33.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Sent into the Wild

A few days ago I quoted this prayer from St. Patrick, the first Christian missionary to Ireland.

Prayer for the Faithful
May the Strength of God guide us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us.
- Against the snares of the evil one.

May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!

May Thy Grace, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and forevermore. Amen.


For several days I struggled with the sentiments of this prayer. In my mind, the prayer seemed rather selfish: guide us, protect us, direct us, defend us - the faithful. Yesterday, I read some of George G. Hunter III's amazing book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West. . . Again. I realized that I needed to understand the context from which this prayer was written. Patrick was indeed asking for protection, care, and guidance from God. But he was not asking for protection while he sat in the safety of his home. Patrick was the first missionary to conclude that God loved the 'barbarians' and that missions should be launched to show the love of God and the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of this place now known as Ireland. Hunter describes these people as warring tribes and
"emotional people, volatile personalities known for letting the full range of human emotions get out of control. In warfare, 'all the Celts . . . stripped before battle and rushed their enemy naked, carrying sword and shield but wearing only sandals and torc - a twisted, golden neck ornament . . . [while] howling and, it seemed, possessed by demons!'"
These are the people who had kidnapped Patrick from his family when he was young and with whom he had been a slave for many years. No wonder he prayed for protection.

After his escape from slavery, Patrick was trained as a priest before sensing a call to return to these wild barbarians. Patrick asks the triune God for protection as he willingly walks into certain danger. He travelled with a small band of faithful Christians who worked hard to get to know and to love the people to whom they were called. This is the context of his "Prayer For the Faithful." May my life be marked by a similar willingness to go where God leads, to take the risks necessary, and to ask for God's protection in the midst of the mission.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Doing Good

Galatians 6:7-10, New International Version:
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.


Paul, speaking to the Gaulish, ancient Celtic people of Galatia, reminds them not to be deceived. This is a common theme in the book of Galatians for these are a people who still held a memory of being deceived by and oppressed by druids, and now are in danger of being deceived by those who put more emphasis on outward appearances than upon matters of the heart.

I meet good people every day who do good things. I am not always sure of their motives for doing good things. How much of it is about outward appearances? How much of it is from the heart? For most of us our motives are probably a mixed bag of true and good reasons and selfish reasons and so I don’t want to be hard on others or even hard on myself if I find a hint of selfishness in helping someone else.

But these words make logical sense and ring true in my heart. We cannot turn up our nose at God; we can’t fool Him into thinking we are doing good if we are truly just doing things for our own selfish nature. We can justify all we want. But “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). We will reap what we sow. If we sow selfishness, we will reap the fruits of selfishness. If we sow spiritual seed, we will reap spiritual fruit. I don’t have to worry about other’s motives or the seed they sow. God takes care of that. I don’t have to worry if God understands my motives. He does. He knows my motives better than I know them myself. I can rest in Him knowing that He is worthy of my trust and I can get on with doing good to all people. It is the one who sows to please the Spirit that will reap eternal life.