Category: Prayer & Soul Care

A School Lockdown and the Peace of Christ

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The phone call was full of static and the voice was almost inaudible. Of the few phrases that could be understood, one pierced my soul and rattled me, “We’re on lockdown! The whole school is on lockdown!” Flashes of past Colorado school trauma ran through my mind. It is hard to pinpoint the emotions felt: anxious, nervous, angry, scared . . . there were probably more.

The police arrested a person who was sitting in the school parking lot. In his truck there was at least one high-powered rifle as well as an assortment of other things. Was he going to go into the school? Was he just getting ready to go hunting? With all Colorado has faced why sit in a school parking lot with that kind of paraphernalia? What was his agenda?

Colossians 3:15 exhorts the reader to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts”. When emotions scream louder than the verse on the page it is difficult to let peace reign in one’s heart; unless the peace of Christ is more than just an emotion. The Greek word for peace (εἰρήνη) occurs more than ninety times in the New Testament. It can mean peace of mind. It carries with it the sense of wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together (Bible Hub, Strong’s 1515). I forget that because I am in union with Christ, I am not only positionally at peace with God but I can also experience his peace in my life because I am poised to walk in the kind of life in which he enables me to walk. Part of the origin of the Greek word peace means “to join” . . . because we are joined with God through Jesus Christ we can experience His peace in unique ways and under any kind of duress.

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God’s peace does have emotional impact, but it goes further than that. God’s peace is present no matter the circumstance because my whole person is in union with Him, including my emotions. I can experience anxiety, anger, fear, etc. but these emotions do not have to rule my life. I am able to turn to God in that moment of anxiety due to trauma or impending tragedy and receive from Him the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). The only way for me to be whole is to be in union with God through Jesus Christ.

My wife and my children are safe. They are back outside enjoying the spring day. And I am grateful. Grateful for their protection, grateful for God’s peace, and I am grateful for all the teachers who work so hard to protect our families.

Life Questions

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Theologian Marc Cortez once made a great point: the questions Jesus asked focused almost entirely on living faithfully, right now, in response to the gospel.

Here are some questions Jesus asked:

Do you really think it’s that impressive if you’re nice to people who are just like you?

Why are you anxious about little things like clothing?

Why do you spend so much time considering the flaws of other people and ignoring your own?

Why are you afraid?

Why do you think about evil things all the time?

Do you believe that I can do this?

Who is truly a part of my family?

Why did you doubt?

Who do people say that I am?

What could you possibly give in exchange for your life?

Can you endure what I will have to endure?

What do you want me to do for you?

Is it true, I wonder, if religious-minded folks can get so focused on the future (after-this-life) that they miss out on the present?

The gospel, as much as it is for life beyond now, is very much for life right now.

We must live in the present (there really is no other reality in which to live). Soak in healthy relationships. Slow down enough to notice what is going on around us. Find activities we enjoy doing and friends with whom we enjoy doing those activities.

Take the questions Jesus asked others, and turn the questioning mirror a bit to our own lives. Which questions seem to resonate with you right now? Journal how you would answer some of those questions. I wonder what gifts are in store as we contemplate the answers.

Praying the Psalms

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The spiritual practice of praying the Psalms has a long line of history to it in the Church. The Book of Psalms has long been thought of as the Church’s prayer book. It provides rich, deep material for our souls to linger and savor as we approach the throne of God in prayer. Read the passages slowly, linger silently in your spirit as you form your own prayers around the words of the Psalm you pray through.

 

Psalm 43 is a good place to start. Try praying with your Bible in front of you and your journal close by to capture any prayers you want to return to, to record any thoughts about God you feel are strong in your spirit, or to just allow you to slow down as you write out the Psalm as you’re praying.

 

 

 

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
  against an ungodly people,
 from the deceitful and unjust man
  deliver me!
 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
  why have you rejected me?
 Why do I go about mourning
  because of the oppression of the enemy?
 
 Send out your light and your truth;
  let them lead me;
 let them bring me to your holy hill
  and to your dwelling!
 Then I will go to the altar of God,
  to God my exceeding joy,
 and I will praise you with the lyre,
  O God, my God.
 
 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
  and why are you in turmoil within me?
 Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
  my salvation and my God.

(Psalm 43 ESV)
 
 
 

Journey Into Rest

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I have begun taking a sabbath. I should have been doing this for a long time; perhaps I thought that a few hours at a church service qualified for a day of rest. No. What I mean by taking a sabbath is to take a whole day off from work that drains, the attempt at accomplishing, draining activities that do not replenish.

As I spend my Sundays resting, renewing my spirit, playing, feasting, etc., I am going to read through Marva Dawn’s book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. The first chapter is titled “Ceasing Work.” I was moved and motivated to trust God with my work; to put it aside for one day and trust the LORD for wisdom and guidance in my papers, reading and classes. It also moved me to work more efficiently the other six days.

I want to share something from her book that inspired me; perhaps it will inspire you as well to look into taking a day to set aside to refresh and refuel your relationship with yourself and God.

“This book is dedicated to all the people who need the Sabbath:

the busiest, who need to work from a cohesive, unfragmented self;

social activists, who need a cycle of worship and action;

those who chase after fulfillment and need to understand their deepest yearnings and to hear the silence;

those who have lost their ability to play because of the materialism and technologization of our society, who need beauty and gaiety and delight;

those who have lost their passion and need to get in touch with feelings;

those who are alone and need emotional nourishment;

those who live in community and need solitude;

those who cannot find their life’s priorities and need a new perspective;

those who think the future is dictated by the present, who need hope and visions of the future to change the present order;

those who long for a deeper family life and want to nurture certain values;

the poor and the oppressed, who need to mourn and to dance in the prison camp;

the rich and the oppressors, who need to learn nonviolence, stewardship, and God’s purposes in the world;

those who suffer, who need to learn how suffering can be redemptive;

professional theologians, who need to bring the heart back into theology;

those who don’t know how religion fits into the modern world, who need a relationship with God;

those who are disgusted with dry, empty, formalistic worship and want to love and adore God;

those who want to be God’s instruments, enabled and empowered by the Spirit to be world changers and Sabbath healers.

Are you enticed? Curious maybe? I am excited to see what God has in store for me.

Season of Lent

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It is not in my nature to be liturgical in my spiritual life. I was neither raised in a high church tradition nor have I participated with any seriousness in liturgy during my lifetime. So it is with some baggage-free excitement that I lead my family through Lent this year. I am excited to learn more about myself; but I am most excited to learn more about God as I see what is in me that needs to be confessed and discarded.

We have decided to do two things. First, we’ve radically changed our diet, it is a fast really. We are purging all but the simple foods of vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. For me this is a big deal because the biggest area of weakness is in my diet. I am the least disciplined eater I know. The second area we are focusing on for Lent is our spiritual lives. With this area I am doing two things as well. I am simplifying my Scripture intake to focus on Romans exclusively. The second area of focus during this season is my prayer life; I am doing fixed hours of prayer to help me focus and prioritize this more important discipline of the Christian life.

As I spend these few years in seminary preparing for the next season of ministry I see the importance of focusing on the inner life of my soul. One of the things I began to notice (and I noticed this first in myself and then began observing this in my ministerial colleagues) was the sense of needing to focus first on ministry administration and less on ministering to the Father and to ourselves through the Word and prayer. It seemed we were very tempted, and succumbed more than we should have, to being fruit inspectors instead of root cultivators. The fruit of our lives and the lives of those we were called to lead was what became the most important thing of our ministries. Fruit such as attendance, weekly and monthly giving, etc. God is not wanting His Spiritual leaders to focus their time and energies into being fruit inspectors. The fruit is His business.

I look forward to all the Father has for me during this season.