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10 Observations by Adam Neder: #2. American churches are becoming less politically diverse and more partisan.

06 Sep

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes this morning, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#2. American churches are becoming less politically diverse and more partisan.

Dear God, I would love to go back to the 1960s and see what the political makeup of American churches was back then. In retrospect, it seems like, from my limited perspective, that Satan used the abortion issue in the 70s to start to divide the church on political lines. When I think about the political divide now and how it has come into the church, it seems, frankly, hopeless. I don’t pray about it like I should, that’s for sure. A couple of weeks ago, I was praying through the verses about us all being part of one body and I asked you if it is possible for American Democrats and Republicans to be part of the same body. The answer is obviously yes because neither side is holier or has the monopoly on you. All political platforms are flawed and full of sin. All of us need to repent. All of us need to extend your grace to others and, even if we think we are absolutely right, allow someone else to be “wrong” as much as we expect them to allow us to be “wrong.” And when it’s important, we can discuss it and keep our minds open to see if there might be error in the way we are thinking or see an issue.

If I were a pastor, I honestly don’t know what I would do except go back to what I said for Neder’s first observation, and go back to emphasizing discipleship. I find that the deeper I get into you the less I need to be right because I realize step by step that I’m wrong so often. And then the more I look for your grace and mercy to be wrong the more I end up giving people space to either be, what I consider to be, wrong or allow for the idea that they might be right and I am wrong. Or, in the end, maybe neither of us are wrong, but simply have different opinions.

Father, Holy Spirit, please be with your church. As Jesus said in John 17:20-21: 20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. This is my prayer for your church. Help us to repent from spending more time reading or watching news than with you. Help us to be in the world but not of the world. Use us as your vessels to love others, take your will and kingdom into the world, and be your ambassadors to a world that needs you. Speak to us. Comfort us. Counsel us. Guide us. Teach us. Motivate us.

I pray this through your son, Jesus,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 6, 2022 in Faith In Ruins: 10 Observations by Adam Neder, John, Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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10 Observations by Adam Neder: #1. The American religious landscape is changing quickly.

05 Sep

I was reading an article from the H.E.B. Foundation Magazine Echoes this morning, and I came across a description of a summer retreat led by Adam Neder. The retreat was titled “Faith in the Ruins.” A description of the retreat in the promotional material for it sums it up: “…as challenges multiply, as the church perfects the art of discrediting itself, as friends leave the faith, many Christians are feeling exhausted, disoriented, and discouraged. Some wonder how much longer they can stick with Christianity–or even if they want to.”

That’s where the 10 observations by Neder came in. I looked at them and thought I would do a series of prayer journals on the 10 observations the article mentioned Neder covered during the retreat.

#1. The American religious landscape is changing quickly.

Dear God, I know there is nothing new under the sun, and you’ve seen it all. But this shift in electronic media feels different. Number 3 is media so I don’t want to spend too much time on that thought today, but it’s the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the religious landscape changing quickly.

It’s funny. As I think of things that are changing in the “religious landscape,” I keep coming upon thoughts that are covered in the other points such as increased partisanship in the church. But what’s deeper? What is Satan doing at the foundation of the church to divide us? I think it comes down to a simple thing: discipleship and a pursued relationship with you is lacking for many, if not most self-professed Christians in America. We are simply treating religion like a philosophical position whose moral compass is rooted in our ideas of what we think you think about something instead of meditative prayer time spent repenting of our sins, seeking the wisdom of your Word (and I mean both scripture and the Holy Spirit’s still, small voice), and asking for your love to fill us and flow through us.

It in interesting that there are more self-professed Evangelicals in America (at least among White people) over the last six years, but fewer of them are in church. Their community is no longer found on Sunday morning, but at political rallies and on cable news. Pastors are either quitting or wanting to quit (or being discouraged to become pastors) at a higher rate given all of the division. Their congregations spend more time with cable news and on social media during the week than they spend in personal prayer and scripture. Again, I’m sliding into some of the other observations, but for me the foundation upon which they are all built is true discipleship.

Father, let it start with me. Help me to continue to sit here and hear your voice. Help me to share my love for you with others. Love them richly through me. Bring glory to your name through me. Help me to decrease so you can increase. Help us to know what it truly means to know you, repent before you, and extend the love we’ve received from you to others. Help us–help me–to be humble. Help me to extend grace and mercy.

I pray this through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection as part of the Triune God,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 5, 2022 in Faith In Ruins: 10 Observations by Adam Neder, Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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“Where You Are” by Rich Mullins

03 Sep
Rich Mullins Live at Family Broadcasting Corp.

“Where You Are” by Rich Mullins

Talkin’ Daniel in the den of the lions
Talkin’ Jonah in the belly of a whale
Talkin’ three Hebrew children
And they’re standing in a furnace, fiery furnace

But the fire didn’t burn them, and the lions didn’t bite
And the Lord reached down and you can be sure that
Everything turned out right
Oh you’ll meet the Lord in the furnace
A long time before you meet Him in the sky

And where you are ain’t where you wish that you was
Well your life ain’t easy and the road is rough
But where you are is where He promised to be
From the ends of the world to every point of need

Talkin’ Daniel in the den of the lions
Talkin’ Jonah in the belly of a whale
Talkin’ three Hebrew children
And they’re standing in a furnace, fiery furnace

But the fire didn’t burn them, and the lions didn’t bite
And the Lord reached down and you can be sure that
Everything turned out right
Oh you’ll meet the Lord in the furnace
A long time before you meet Him in the sky

Meet Him in your time of trial
Meet Him in your hour of prayer
You can reach out and I’ll bet
That you’ll find that He’s right there

Where you are, however grim it may seem
This is real life, baby
This ain’t no Hollywood dream
And where you are no matter what you may face
You’re gonna find out real soon what they mean when they say

Talkin’ Daniel in the den of the lions
Talkin’ Jonah in the belly of a whale
Talkin’ three Hebrew children
And they’re standing in a furnace, fiery furnace

But the fire didn’t burn them, and the lions didn’t bite
And the Lord reached down and you can be sure that
Everything turned out right

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: David Strasser / Richard Mullins

Dear God, I’m teaching a Sunday school class about Naomi tomorrow and I’ve been thinking a bit about her and Ruth all week. For whatever reason, this is the song that was going in my head this morning when I woke up, and I think it fits with their lives and even my life today. Of course it fits with my life today.

I haven’t heard this song in years (it’s about 30 years old), but I know the words almost by heart. As I was singing it to myself, this one line struck me:

Oh, you’ll meet the Lord in the furnace a long time before you meet him in the sky

I’m not sure it’s possible (outside of a small baby or child) to meet you in the sky before we’ve met you in the furnace. It’s the furnace that tempers our steel. It’s the furnace that removes the dross. It’s the furnace that refines. Metaphorically, Rich was referring to the three Hebrew exiles who were thrown into the furnace for worshipping you instead of the king in Daniel, but the furnace imagery actually lends itself to great effect in other areas of my life.

I was listening to Chuck Swindoll talk about the book of Ruth this morning, and he said (paraphrasing) the underlying message of Ruth is that in our worst times, [you are] present. You are present. You aren’t necessarily fixing everything the way I want it, but you’re present. You’re loving me. You’re teaching me that there are things going on that I cannot, and my never, see. You are teaching me to trust you beyond what it benefits or harms me and the life I have now.

My wife and I were talking this morning over breakfast about how you have used each other and our children to grind off some of the rough spots of who we are. You aren’t done with me yet. I still have plenty of rough spots. But that’s something that a single person or a person with no children will have to find somewhere else–a source for friction to grind down our pride and selfishness. Our arrogance and foolishness. You designed marriage and parenting to make me holy more than to make me happy (I’m looking at you, Gary Thomas).

Holy Spirit, Father God, please help me today. Help me to love my wife. Help me to love my friend who’s coming for a bike ride. Help me to love my children. Help me to love my parents. Help me to love my siblings, nieces and nephews. I include in all of those the significant others of each one as well. Help me to prepare for this Sunday school message tomorrow. Glorify your name in that room tomorrow. Offer your hope. Offer your peace.

In Jesus’s name, through his life, death and resurrection, I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 3, 2022 in Hymns and Songs, Ruth

 

Grief, Support, and Judgment

31 Aug

Dear God, I just read an essay by Lisa Marie Presley as printed by People Magazine. It touched me on a few levels. It touched me as a parent who, in many ways, feels like I failed. It touched me as a parent who has been through the loss of a child (through miscarriage). It touched me as a parent who has felt judged by others for things that, on one hand, I judge myself, but, on the other hand, feel like they were due to circumstances beyond my control. It touched me as a fellow sojourner with Ms. Presley. She’s two years older than me. Her son was one year older than my son is now when he died.

One of the tragedies in our divided nation right now is that we tend to judge each other a lot more easily than we support each other. Even within your Church, we judge each other. I prayed the other day about whether or not people in different political parties were able to all be part of your Body at the same time. We can be mean, but I wonder how much of that meanness is fueled by our own insecurities, mourning, and sin. Ms. Presley mentioned the importance of support groups. She said that they didn’t take away the grief, but at least they took away some of the loneliness. I can see that. As a parent who struggled, I could have used more support group help.

I talked with someone yesterday who was struggling with her own parenting issues, both as a parent and as a grandparent. There’s real pain there. There was also a real sense that she didn’t know what to do next or how to respond to the situation at hand. She was doing the best she could in each moment–with each decision–trying to figure out what you need from her and her husband as spouses for each other, parents, and grandparents. It’s not easy.

Father, I could go on an on. I feel like I could probably type nonstop about this for at least an hour. More and more thoughts just keep coming into my head. But it comes down to this. I need–we need–the Holy Spirit to guide us beyond what we can see and help us to make the decisions that must be made in what is darkness to us, but complete light to you. Please help us. Help our children. Our grandchildren. Help us as spouses. Help us to mourn. Help us to use the mourning and the scars it leaves to take your light into the world–especially to others who mourn. Let us be your comfort to them. Fill their loneliness through our lives. And fill our loneliness through the lives of others. For the pain we are experiencing, please make it count. Make it count for your glory. And I’d also like to pray for Ms. Presley. Don’t let her pain be wasted. Use it in some way, even through this essay she beautifully wrote, to help someone. And ease her pain. Give her peace. Help her to find you and your heart in the midst of this and use her life for your glory.

I pray this through the power of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 31, 2022 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Romans 12:4-5

28 Aug

4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Romans 12:4-5

Dear God, does that mean American Christians who are both Republican and Democrat are part of the same body? Do we all belong to each other? That just doesn’t seem right.

I’m being sarcastic of course. I am so tired of the animosity. I’m so tired of each side not being able to tolerate differences in opinion. Not because I don’t think there is a right opinion and a wrong opinion. I’m sure you have an opinion on everything. The problem is that both sides have opinions that are right and that are wrong. I have some opinions that are right. I’m sure I have many that are wrong. I have been taught good things, I have been taught erroneous things. I’ve developed my own thoughts on some issues. Sometimes through prayer. Sometimes just using my mind. But I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know. I’m smart enough to know I haven’t cornered the market on what it means to love you.

I have heard something from different sources over the last week that keeps resonating with me: “Never stop wanting to learn.” I can’t remember the first time I heard it this week, but it spoke to me. Then I heard it again this morning while I was listening to a sermon. I can be very cocky at work. I can feel like I know what to do, what not to do, when to do it, and when not to do it. I like to give my thoughts more than I like to ask others for their thoughts and really listen to their words. Sometimes, I probably miss you and what you might have to say to me, using their voice as your own–whether they are worshippers of you or not.

Father, Holy Spirit, please help me to be the part of the body you need me to be, appreciate the other parts of the body that I’m not, and also listen to those who have your wisdom to share with me. Give me a discerning heart that will seek you, your wisdom, and your glory. Forgive me for my selfishness, arrogance, pride, and self-indulgence. Help me to live in that repentance and turn from my foolishness.

I pray this through Jesus and the mercy He offers,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 28, 2022 in Romans

 

John 15:9-15

25 Aug

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:9-15

Dear God, I was thinking about Abraham this morning and the juxtaposition of his faith and love for you and the many bad kings that followed David in Israel. The idea was to end up after life in the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16). But they didn’t love you. They gave up on looking beyond themselves and their limited power. They clung to their pride. They didn’t want to submit and then go through the work of worship and relationship with you.

Are we any different? Am I any different? Oh, perhaps I’m a little different in that I continue, at least up to this point, to strive to worship you, pray to you, learn from you, and pursue relationship with you. But it’s all fragile. There are days when it feels easier to just sink into myself and gratify all of my own desires. It’s like marriage a little. It takes work on my part for a healthy relationship. The path of least resistance–the wide path–is to indulge my own selfishness, ignore my wife and her needs, and just…I don’t know…be a jerk. But the more difficult but fulfilling past–the narrow path–takes self-sacrifice, self-denial, and work. But at the end of the day, it’s the much more rewarding path.

How much more so is the narrow path worth it with you? I was listening to a discussion this morning on the theology around hell and the afterlife. I confess to you that I have no idea what all of that means. However, I am confident that relationship with you on earth and the fruits of the Spirit that come from loving you and obeying your commands are worth more than the fruits of the flesh described in Galatians 5. When I come to the end of my life, I’d rather look back on a life marked with love, joy, peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23) than a life full of “sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties” (Galatians 5:19-21).

Father, Holy Spirit, please be with me today. Pray for me. Pray for my friends. My wife and I spent some time this morning praying specifically for a friend with family issues. Please guide them. I know this couple does the hard work. I know they worship you. Please be their comforter and counselor now. Please honor their prayers. Please bring glory to the world through this pain. Don’t let it be wasted. And don’t let my day be wasted either. Show me what to do to bring glory to your name throughout the earth.

I pray this through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 25, 2022 in John

 

Psalm 94:17-19

23 Aug

Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

Psalm 94:17-19

Dear God, when doubts fill my mind, your comfort gives me renewed hope and cheer. Thank you.

I suppose each of us haas a different threshold for what we perceive as suffering. For someone who has had not experienced very little suffering at the hands of others or through life circumstances, I think I still have a pretty high threshold. For example, I have a friend whose son is a movie director and he just made a documentary about a worship leader who flew in the face of the government during the first few months of Covid and insisted that the church could not be “persecuted” by being told we temporarily could not meet corporately for worship. The friend directly asked me to attend a special screening of the movie and I was trying to passively get out of it, but after he pressed on I had to be more frank and tell him that I don’t like the viewpoint that the government was persecuting the church in that moment. They were applying a standard across the board to everyone. It was awkward, but I just don’t see it that way.

That being said, there have certainly been times when I called on you because I felt I was falling. Employment struggles. Struggles in my marriage. Struggles with my children. Concerns for my community or for friends.

Father, Holy Spirit, thank you for being my God, my comforter, my counselor, my provider, and my hope beyond the seen world. Help me to continue to walk with you and worship you. Help me to bring your hope and comfort to others.

I pray this through the power of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 23, 2022 in Psalms

 

2 Corinthians 10:17-18

17 Aug

As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the .” When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.

2 Corinthians 10:17-18

Dear God, this is a great trap for me. First, I tend to get way too much credit for the work others do. I lead an organization that does “good” work in the community. It’s a nonprofit that helps others. But the truth is that it’s the staff that really makes a difference on the front lines. Second, there’s a part of me that really loves it when people praise me and are impressed with me. I have to be very conscious of this.

Then there are the things that go well that are my responsibility. I really want to thump my chest and take credit for those things, but I always try to quickly remember that I haven’t really done anything that special and it just seems to be your blessing that propels us forward. Whether it’s fundraising where I am, or even the projects I do outside of work, there are times when good things just happen and I have to remember to not only give you the glory internally, but also give you the glory to others as well.

Of course, there are also the areas of my life that appear to be abject failures. I don’t understand what is going on in those areas, but I am praying to you about them and counting on you to either redeem them or use them to mold me and the others involved into the people you need us to be.

Father, to you be the glory. I give you my utmost for your highest. Holy Spirit, please give me the strength I need to give my utmost today.

Jesus, thank you for enabling me to bring all of this to the Father,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 17, 2022 in 2 Corinthians

 

Romans 14:5-9

15 Aug

In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.

Romans 14:5-9

Dear God, I’ve been spending so much time going through the prophets of the Old Testament with the Bible in a Year podcast that I can get lost between how you related to us pre-Jesus and how you relate to us through the new covenant established after Jesus. How much leeway do I have now? How much does my individual sin still grieve you?

Paul’s description here gives me a lot of agency on how I choose to honor and worship you, seemingly as long as my heart is in the right place. This concept can be very confusing and overwhelming. I’m sure my heart is in the right place. How much will bad theology on my part frustrate you?

Father, Holy Spirit, walk with me today. Guide my steps. Show your will for me to me. As I return to my daily life from vacation—as I leave the mountain and return to the valley—please help me to not miss where you are leading me to go. Do it all for your glory, your will to be done on earth through my life, and to make me the man you need me to be.

In Jesus’s name and through his life, death, and resurrection I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 15, 2022 in Romans

 

14 Aug

Message to Laodicea“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

Revelation 3:14-19

Dear God, I’m about to give a three-minute talk to three church services this morning, and I had one set of things ready to say, but I cannot help but wonder if there isn’t something more you’d like me to accomplish in the three minutes What do they need to hear? Let me start with this passage and see if anything bubbles to the surface by the Holy Spirit.

I’ve been listening to the Bible in a year podcast and when I get into the prophets there is just so much failure on the parts of the Israelites. So much repeated failure. And usually they have no idea they are failing. They are just failing. That’s what I see in this prophecy for Laodicea and the warning you are giving them. They don’t understand they are failing. They think they are doing enough. They have the resources they need. They feel satisfied. Is that enough?

I’ve struggled with a though along those lines the last couple of weeks. I have been in a pretty opulent setting on the vacation from which I just returned. First-class hotels and meals. Being served by the staff running the trip. Spending money we had set aside, but treating it like it was no object. But do I consider that wealth? Do I consider that rich? Do I consider that to be the goal of life?

Father, Holy Spirit, speak to me and speak through me this morning. Help me to see where you are calling me to repent and then help me see what you would have me say to others. Help me to take your discipline and grow closer to you through it. I was just listening to the song “Inside Out” by David Meece. Here’s the chorus: “Search me Holy Spirit. Help me look inside. Show me what you’re seeing. What I’m trying to hide. Search me Holy Spirit. Send you healing power. Search me Holy Spirit. Help me change from the inside out.” That is my prayer this morning.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2022 in Revelation

 
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