05.01.08

Prayers for the Day

Posted in Prayer at 3:59 pm by Anthony

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  This morning several folks from Albany met on the courthouse lawn to pray for our nation and community.  I was asked to lead two prayers.  This is your invitation to join me in praying for the the poor, oppressed, the sick and the hurting of the world, as well as for the schools in Albany (feel free to adapt to where you are).

Reading:  Luke 4:16-21

Dear Father,

We praise you because Jesus is Good News to the poor. We confess to you that we are often so consumed with self-interest that we become calloused and insensitive toward those in deep need.

Help us all to comprehend the depths of our own poverty and, at the same time, to be faithful stewards of all of our blessings, for we are blessed. Though we are a blessed people, living in a blessed nation, there are still many poor among us, and many more throughout the world. Give them, this day, their daily bread, and break down the structures, the traditions, the attitudes, and the powers that keep them in poverty.

Bring comfort this day, Lord, to those who are hurting, both in body and in spirit. Comfort those who are grieving, heal those who are sick, bring light to those who are in the darkness of despair. Bless our seniors; help us to learn from them, and to honor them. Bless the unborn and defend their lives.

We pray for people throughout the world who are living in poverty and under tyranny. May you make them rich in every way and bring them into the freedom that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is in his name we pray, Amen.

Reading:  Mark 10:13-16 

Holy God in heaven,

Look down in your grace and mercy on all of the children and young adults who you have placed in our care as families and as a community. We ask you to bless them and lead us as we seek to point them toward you.

We lift up before you those who are charged with their formal education. We pray for Superintendent Shane Fields for Principals Doyleen and Tommy Terrell, for Assistant Principle Andy Wilson, for each teacher, aid, nurse, cafeteria worker, custodian, for all of us who are parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles – all those who have a role in training our children.

Thank you for our excellent schools here in Albany – schools where children, are taught, nurtured, and disciplined. Schools where faith is encouraged and not ridiculed.

All of us – parents, teachers, and administrators – are human and we make mistakes. Please forgive us and help us to learn from and correct those mistakes, and keep us from doing anything tha would harm our children.

We pray for the older ones – those in junior high and high school – those who are making difficult choices about their future careers, their education, their faith, their relationships, and their behavior, all at a time when they may be confused about their own identities and worth. Lead them in paths of wisdom, dear Lord.

May we embrace the kingdom heaven with the simple faith of a child, and may we never put a stumbling block in the path of any of the least of these. Lord Jesus, may they each feel the warm comfort and strength of your hand upon them. It is in your name that we pray, Amen.

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02.27.08

William’s Psalm

Posted in Mission, Prayer, News, Theology at 10:42 am by Anthony

This past Monday night, as wild fires were raging across West Texas, another West Texas family also lost their home in a fire.  Only this family wasn’t living in West Texas at the time.  Yancy and Sherry Fariss are translating the Bible in Guinea, West Africa. 

As their house burned, Sherry heard their seven  year old son, William, saying some powerful words that resembled a psalm.  In the chaos of the moment, she was not able to write down the words at the time.  But a couple of days later, he was still saying them, so Sherry wrote the words down as William dictated them to her.  Here is William’s psalm:

Through wind and rain
Through fire and lava
The Lord will never leave you.
Through earthquakes and floods
Through changing sea levels and burning ash
The Lord will never leave you.
If you love Him, He will bless you
and He will give you many things.
Who can change the Lord’s words?
Who can stop the Leviathan?
The Lord, of course.
Who made everything?
Who made the animals?
Who made the dinosaurs?
The Lord, our God.
Who can stop the Lord?
Who can chase a cheetah across the plains of Africa?
The Lord, He can.
Who can stand on Mount Everest?
Who can face a rhinoceros?
The Lord.
The Lord can give you sheep and goats and cows and ducks and chickens and dogs and cats.
The Lord can give you anything He wants to.
Just like David fought Goliath or Daniel lived throughout the lions’ den.
Just like Moses on the mountain, just like the Israelites fought the Jebusites.
The Lord will never stop His power.
Who can face a tyranosaurus rex?
Who knows what kind of animals lived thousands of years ago?
The Lord! He knows.
Stop all the evil, and be kind to one another.
Who can stop the Lord?
Who can face an elephant?
Who is brave enough to face a lion?
The Lord.
Who’s as fast as a horse?
Who can catch a blue whale?
Who is brave enough to face a giant squid?
The Lord.
Just as Jesus died on the cross, so the Lord had done so.
The Lord will never leave His people. The Bible is His word.
The Lord is a good leader.
Just as Moses and Aaron led the Israelites into the desert, so the Lord had done so.
Who can see the dinosaurs? Who can face the behemoth?
The Lord who loves you.
And He will not forsake His people. The end.

To learn how you can help the Farisses, go to the Pioneer Bible Translators web site.

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03.26.07

Ask, Seek, Knock

Posted in Preaching, Prayer at 10:23 am by Anthony

In yesterday’s sermon we applied Matthew 7:1-12 to the idea of accountability in Christian community.  How do we hold one another accountable without being judgmental?  As we mentioned, many of the teachings in this context also have a much wider application.

 Among the more difficult, is Jesus’ teaching in verses 7-8, where he says,

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.”

If we only look at the sweeping claim of Jesus’ teaching here, we find that it often does not match up with real life experience.  Who of us has been granted everything we asked for in prayer?

In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, however, there are several assumptions made about this kind of effective prayer.  (Some of these I borrowed from Michael Green’s Matthew for Today.)

• It assumes that I am seeking the kingdom first (6:33).  What I ask for will be in alignment with God’s greater kingdom purposes to the extent that I understand them.
• It assumes that I am a disciple.
• It assumes that I pray, seriously and persistently (The present imperative of “ask, seek, knock” could well be translated “keepin on asking, keeping on seeking, keep on knocking.”)
• It is assumed that God may answer in a way I did not want or expect: He is soveriegn and he knows what is best.
• It is assumed that I ask in child-like faith and expectancy.

Green says, “There is no suggestion that if only we ask hard enough and believe passionately enough it will turn out as we ask. What we are promised is that it will turn out for our ultimate good.”

I know this probably won’t answer all of your questions about prayer. Prayer is much more about bringing our will into alignment with God’s will, than it is trying to get God to do our will.

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