There is in God strength sufficient for my needs, whatever they may be. Either God is the creator of life, or He is not the creator of life. If He is the creator of life, then there is inherent in life all that is necessary to sustain it in accordance with the demands of any particular life span. This means that there must be laws of growth, re-creation, and maintenance that operate as long as they are not blocked. I start, then, with that simple fact.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by our own human frailty and the large amount of pain and injustice that exist in the world. One of the marvelous things about God’s grace is that as we can release all our cares, in praise and thanksgiving – admitting that we have no power over anything – we become powerful! With this power comes the ability to know joy and to laugh despite circumstances. As the act of releasing becomes a worshipful, spiritual experience, we can confess any complicity on our part and begin the process of being open to God.
The problem is not how to revitalize prayer; the problem is how to revitalize ourselves. Let us begin to cultivate these thoughts and virtues without which our worship becomes, of necessity, a prayer for the dead – for ideas which are dead to our hearts.
We find a glowing picture of the spiritual intimacy of the New Testament church in the second chapter of the book of Acts. Living on the edge of the crucifixion and the resurrection, they were now living in concert with the instructions from the risen Christ. The command was to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. There was no turning back for them, instead, they were moving into a new future they could hardly imagine. For the Holy Spirit was coming upon them.
It was the designated time for a historic harvest celebration. It was the day of Pentecost. It is a religious festival deeply rooted in the history of God’s dealing with the people of the covenant for their spiritual enhancement. This enhancement was different from anything that had happened before in the biblical history of God’s work of salvation. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
What a marvelous unity was displayed in this gracious act of God! They were all together in one place. This served as a miraculous act. It became a place of unity, a time of reminiscing, and a season of hoping for a renewed faith walk in a divine adventure that would change the world. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” The early church community changed, each disciple who received the Holy Spirit changed, and we can give witness that the world has changed due to this empowering exhibition of the power of God’s Spirit. May the Spirit of God move upon us today.
My intention is not to offer blueprints, to prescribe new rules – except one: Prayer must have life. It must not be a drudgery, something done in a rut, something to get over with. It must not be fiction, it must not be flattened to a ceremony, to an act of mere respect for tradition.
Deliver me from evil – in the thoughts that linger in my mind. Evil thoughts come into my mind, sometimes on invitation, sometimes dressed in garments of innocence. My temptation is to deny that they are there or, worse, to think I have gotten rid of them by pushing them down out of sight in some hidden corner of my mind. Once there, they settle down to reproduce their kind. Deliver me from evil, by strengthening me in honesty, that I may give no quarter to the negative thoughts and their residue in my mind.
One of the beautiful experiences of petitioning God through prayer is that, as the psalmists knew, we can trust that we have been heard. Here is one time when we know that the longing of our hearts is known by a Lover of deep commitment and fierce intensity. Some things we long for are frivolous, some even deleterious to our health. But the longing for God and the desire to connect with others in love are the seeds of a grounded, spiritual life that has great depth and inspiration.
As we enter Holy Week and gather in spaces and places to remember, as we turn our hearts toward Jerusalem, to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, may we dedicate ourselves anew to thy ways and will.
We praise you, O God,
for your redemptive love of the world
through Jesus Christ.
Who entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph and was proclaimed Messiah and King by those who spread garments and branches along the way. May we do likewise in our worship and praise and the way we live our lives.
Everlasting God,
May we follow Christ in the way of the cross, that dying and rising with him, we may enter into your kingdom,
through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
The crowd that gathered in Jerusalem for the religious celebrations, was poised and waiting for the arrival of a true king. In anticipation of the arrival of Jesus Christ as rumored, “they took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!”
From Psalm 118:25-26, this act of adoration constituted premature praise for the Messiah and Son of God the world could not truly perceive. For his identity was yet to be fully comprehended. Prophesy was fulfilled with the acquisition of a young donkey upon which he sat to make his humble entrance. It took time and deep experiences walking in faith for the disciples to utterly understand the meaning of these happenings.
The large crowd swelled due to the news of the latest miracle performed by Jesus, that of raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. “Many people because they had heard that he had performed this sign went out to meet him.”
The religious power brokers of the day, the Pharisees, who had consistently attempted to derail the ministry and popularity of Christ, had to admit their carnal strategies failed to prevent the entry of the Savior into Jerusalem, the citadel of faith, and into the hearts of spiritually hungry people. “So, the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him.”
Thank God no human effort can prevent the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into the lives of those who seek him.
“Waiting Together”