Aurora... All We Can Do Now...

We don't always understand why the bad and senseless things happen in our world...   and we aren't always in a position to do anything about them when they do happen...  but we can always pray.

Today, we learned of a shooting rampage that occurred in Aurora, Colorado last night, as fans who were watching the new Batman movie, were attacked by a man armed with tear gas and several weapons.  At least 12 people died in the attack and many more were injured.  The various news stations on radio and tv can fill you in on other details.

At this point, the only thing most of us can do to help this situation is to pray...  for the people shot and injured, for those who were killed and for their families and friends.  I would suggest that we also pray for the gunman (who authorities believe they have in custody) and his family and friends who may be trying to make just as much sense out of this as the family and friends of those who were shot.

At times when our hearts ache, it is hard to know what to pray.  I saw this on Facebook and am using it in this post... if you are not sure what words to use as you pray, borrow these...   but also know that God's Holy Spirit is also praying to God for you with deep "groanings that cannot be expressed in words" (Romans 8:26 NLT).

This incident reminds us that life is fleeting...  don't wait to tell those you love, your friends and family, how you feel about them... and spend some extra time with them... and remember those whose lives have been changed forever because of this event, and countless others like it that never make it into the news.

Beginnings of True Discipleship...

"Read and pray daily.

It is for your life;

There is no other way:

Else you will be a trifler

All your days."

~John Wesley

Prayer, Praise and Daily Devotions...

As you woke this morning and began your day, did it include a little time to say, "Praise you" and "Thank you" to the Lord?  Praising God simply for who he is and thanking him that you woke to see his newly created day?  The Psalmist reminds us:


"From the rising of the sun to it's setting the name of the LORD is to be praised."
                                                                                               ~PS 113:3 NASB


"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."                                                        ~Ps 19:1 NASB


"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting."
                                                                                               ~Ps 118:1 NASB


Did you give all of this day to the Lord?  Did you invite the Lord into your life, to guard your heart and guide your steps, as you live out the day? Or did you, as so many of us do, simply get started with the busy-ness or even the fun-ness of the day, thinking that there was so much to do, that you had no time now for a "devotional time" and you'd do it later?  


In his book, A Pocket Guide to Prayer, Dr. Steve Harper reminds us "God does not call us to have a devotional time but to live a devotional life."


There is much that can be said of what it means to live a devotional life, but in the context of this post, I believe it means prayer is to be ever present in every aspect and at all times of our daily lives.  


The Apostle Paul reminds us:
"Pray without ceasing;"  ~1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB


Prayer is not meant to be just another thing we do added onto the rest of the things we do in our daily lives... it is not meant to be another item to check off of our daily to-do list...  Rather, prayer is to be that which undergirds, infuses and invades all of the other aspects of our daily lives, in both obvious and subtle ways.  Prayer, as communication with God, is that which keeps us in contact with our source of strength and joy and wisdom and life, so that we might get through all of each days challenges - challenges that usually exceed our to-do list.  


Again Paul reminds us:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  ~Philippians 4:6-7 NASB


The day is not yet over... we can still give thanks and praise to the Lord for this day... we can yet connect to our source of strength and joy and wisdom and life for the living of this day.


Once again, borrowing from Dr. Harper's A Pocket Guide to Prayer, I offer this simple prayer for you to use as you begin to live your "devotional life":


"Dear God, I rise from my bed of sleep, to adore your holy name, to live for you this day, to work with you in the building of your kingdom, and to find in you eternal life.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen."


Don't wait until tomorrow morning when you are getting out of bed to pray this beginning prayer.  Wake up from your "sleep" and do it now!

A new commandment I give you, that you love one another...  John 13:34

Christology...

By the very definition of the word, Christology is the study of Christ.  We seek to understand Christ and the work that he did by asking the questions: Who is Jesus?  What is the significance of his work?  And even as we begin to look for our answers, we find that these are questions that were being asked even while Jesus still walked on this earth, as all who marveled at his teachings and at his miracles and at his mighty deeds asked themselves and each other, “What kind of man is this?” (Matthew 8:27 NIV1984)  The inevitable question that would have followed, even if it was an unspoken one was, “What does this mean?” 

It was the same question John the Baptist wondered, as he sent his followers to ask Jesus if Jesus was the Messiah.  In answer, Jesus told them to report to John what they had seen and heard of Jesus, so that John could answer Jesus’ implied question: What does my work tell you about who I am?   In asking those questions posed by the study of Christology, I find myself, like John the Baptist, being asked by Christ, “What does my work tell you about who I am?”  And then the next question is asked, “What does who I AM mean for your life?”

... amazing love

Trayvon Martin... Tragedy in Sanford, FL

A tragedy has occurred in Sanford, FL.  It happened a month or so ago...  a young man lost his life when shot by another person.  By this point in time, probably most of you who are reading this post have heard some if not all of the news coverage surrounding this event.

As I have thought about this, I have come to the conclusion that this tragedy shows that we humans still have a ways to go in how we relate to other people and in how, at the core of things, we think of and view other people.

Jesus viewed all with whom he came into contact through the eyes of love.  He went out of his way to relate to the people in his day who were thought of as being on the margins of society - women and children, "tax collectors and other sinners", the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, those who were not Jews...  Jesus brought healing and reconciliation wherever he went... and his act of dying on a cross for us and for the sins of the whole world was the ultimate act of healing and reconciliation... 

In thinking of this, I wrote the following blog post and posted it on my Tumblr blog:
 dear world... postcards from life...  I offer it for your consideration.

Trayvon Martin and Hermeneutics for Life

I'm guessing that you may be wondering what the word "hermeneutics" means...  in theology, it is a fancy word for how people approach the reading, study and understanding of the Bible...  are we unbelieving or suspicious of Biblical scripture even before we read it ... or do we approach scripture with a mind-set of acceptance and belief before reading it?  You can think of these as ends of the "hermeneutics spectrum" with a whole lot of ways to approach scripture in-between...

Now you are wondering, "So what?"... 

I suspect we all have a hermeneutic for how we approach other people - our family, our friends, our acquaintances, the people we don't know... that this hermeneutic is different and shifting for the various people we encounter and the times we encounter them... that there are other complicating factors we are not even aware of that influence how we approach others... factors that have been ingrained in us through family and/or societal expectations from the time we were infants...

We rarely even think of any of this, as we see another person and evaluate, judge and approach them...

Again, "So what?"

I think we need to be honest with ourselves... to recognize and pay attention to the underlying factors that guide how we approach others...  our "hermeneutics for life", as it were... and I believe that we need to push back against the ones that would have us immediately be suspicious and perhaps fearful of the people we don't know, the people who are dressed differently, or who talk differently, or who (       ) differently (you can fill in the blank)... the people who we think of as "those other people"... 

Maybe Trayvon Martin might still be alive if George Zimmerman had done just that...  

Maybe all the Trayvon's of the world might still be alive...