Friday, July 15, 2011

A Prayer of My Heart

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25:4-5

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

A prayer that I have prayed probably more than any other is found in Psalm 25: Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. This prayer especially flowed from my heart and lips during this past decade of my life as church planter and pastor. I leaned on this prayer as I sought direction and as I faced decisions for our church. I prayed it often, sincerely, earnestly, and expectantly but I did not realize the shallowness of my prayer.

I am, first and foremost, a believer. I believe. I read God’s Word and readily and easily accept it as true. I have placed my faith in Jesus Christ. I have bought into His claims as Son of God, Savior and King as well as His plan and purposes for me and for this world. This leads to a second characteristic that defines me. I am a follower. Because I believe, I follow. I have not always done this well but it has been my intention. I say these things, not as boasting, but to show the simplicity with which I approached this prayer. “I believe in You, Lord, and if You will simply ‘show me Your way and teach me Your path,’ I will follow.”

When I speak of the “shallowness” of my prayer, I mean that I was dealing with the surface issues, the current circumstances, the care of that day or moment. And, to be honest, I did not always receive the answer or clarity or affirmation that I felt I needed for the particular situation. But God’s ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. Although He is concerned about our everyday cares, His purposes run deeper. The way of the Lord is the way of the heart. Was I really wanting to learn God’s ways and be shown His paths or was I simply wanting Him to bless my ways and sustain my present path? Was I willing to abandon my path for His?

At the time it didn’t feel like I was facing those questions. It is in retrospect, as I sit here in Denver, that I realize that God truly answered and is still answering this prayer. He changed my course, set me on a new path, moved me to a new place, opened my eyes to the ways of His kingdom, showed me His incarnational ways, and allowed me to envision a different life and ministry.

So I challenge you to make this your prayer. Pray it often, sincerely, earnestly, and expectantly. But pray it carefully. The surface of your life may need to change drastically in order for God to do the deep work in your heart and take you to new heights for that is where His ways lie.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

2 Authors, 3 Journeys, 1 Heart

I am in the process of reading two different books by two different authors. I am enjoying both immensely and would recommend them to any of you. But what has been standing out in my mind is the differences between these authors, not in word and content, but in background, personal histories, and their unique journeys. The first book is In The Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. It is a short, 100 page paperback book but is packed with profound truth. Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest. His religious practice led him to take vows of celibacy and poverty. He taught at Yale and Harvard as a theologian before taking an obscure post at a home for the mentally disabled.

The second is by Mike Sares who planted and pastors Scum of the Earth Church in Denver. His book, Pure Scum, chronicles his life from his Greek Orthodox background to ministering in the Presbyterian denomination to beginning a street church that has no denominational ties and crosses into street subcultures that have little light. He is not a young man. He started seminary in his 40’s and began Scum when he was turning 50. He writes with humility and grace. We attended Scum two weeks ago and had the pleasure of meeting him. His ministry is raw but he is a much needed beacon to what he calls “the left-out and the right-brained.”

Then I add myself into the mix - the reader. I come from an independent Baptist background trained early in a Baptist university and seminary. I love these roots but I eventually found myself an outsider, no longer fitting into the mold that they had cast. After more than a decade in a Southern Baptist church, God moved me outside denominational walls. Now I find myself at 50 in Denver working at the airport trying to plant seeds of the Gospel and sow love into the lives of neighbors. This is a setting that had become as foreign to me as if I had moved to Ukraine, Bhutan, or any other distant field.

I write this only to say that God is greater than the walls and boundaries we have established, much more vast than the God we believe in, unlimited in His reach, unfettered by denominational and religious chains, free to move as He will in the hearts of men. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:4-6) I am long past the days when I thought that only the Baptists had things figured out. So when I read the stories of a Catholic priest or a Greek Orthodox/Presbyterian/Street preacher, the heart of this Baptist/non-denom pastor/missionary is knit with them, joins with them, rejoices, applauds, weeps with them. Paul wrote that our stories “are a letter from Christ, . . . written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” That which the Spirit of God etches on our hearts can be “known and read by everybody.” Different journeys, different backgrounds but one heart. This is one of the mysteries of the Gospel.