Summer Teaching Series Topic Announced: The Lord’s Prayer

The classic picture of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Right now, the summer and winter at Central is a break-time for our Community Groups.  In that break, the Summer and Winter Teaching Series are held to give an opportunity for Biblical learning and discussion.  I will be teaching the series this Summer on Wednesday nights, starting July 27 and ending August 24 (5 weeks).  Details have been posted on the church site, but I wanted to explain why I chose the topic of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):

• God told me.  This might sound cliche, but it seriously has been a topic on my mind that I felt the Lord was impressing me to lead our congregation through teaching on.
• Prayer is lacking.  Though it is essential for the life of the believer and the Bible is full of instruction and command for it, I talk to many people who desire a deeper prayer life.  I talk to people who say they desire more powerful movements of God.  And so, I’ve found that many want prayer more fully in their lives, but it simply is lacking.  If it’s lacking in individuals’ lives, then it is most likely lacking in our church.
• Our church wants to move forward.  If we are going to advance the gospel of Jesus and build up the Kingdom of God, then we need to be more dependent on the Lord than ourselves.  Prayer is how we can ensure that our plans are of the Lord and that we have His blessing to move forward as a church in specific ways.  We need to be a church who prays.
• Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray.  If we’re asking the same question, then we should listen to the same answer  (Luke’s account, chapter 11, records the disciples telling Jesus to teach them how to pray), which was what we call the Lord’s Prayer.
• The Lord’s Prayer is often repeated but not fully understood.  My high school team would circle up before games on our knees and pray the Lord’s prayer.  This was amazing to me because most of the guys didn’t even care about Jesus!  What was more amazing is that many of the guys could recite this prayer!  Many Christians probably recite this prayer but don’t fully understand it.  I hope this teaching time is a practical explanation of this model of prayer.

In Constant Prayer: A Challenge For Your Life of Prayer

I do not come from a liturgical church background.  I do not serve in a church that would be considered to be liturgical.  And maybe I would be categorized by these words of Robert Benson in his book In Constant Prayer:

One of the obstacles of embracing this way of prayer is our ignorance of and our fear of the ancient, our fear of anything that is too close to the Catholic Church.  We are afraid that such prayer will lead us astray somehow, and that such liturgical prayer is dead and lifeless and rote (p.71).

But I had the chance to review this book and it resulted in challenging my thoughts and practices of prayer.  Benson’s book is an argument for the practice of the daily office, a historical way of liturgical prayer.  I have never heard of this type of prayer before now.  So in the least, Benson educated me in some Christian tradition and history.  More than that, Benson challenged me to be more of a person of prayer.

The daily office is rooted in scripture–Psalm 119:164–which says: Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.  Benson claims that ancient Christians applied that literally in their lives, praying seven times a day.  He claims that this sustained them as a community of faith.  But in the post-Reformation world of Europe, some parts of the Church ended up with “professionals” who were responsible for the daily office.  Eventually, it seemed that the common person forgot the responsibility of prayer.

Benson outlined the 9 parts that make up these prayers, and he discusses the different books of prayer that anyone could get as a guide.

What I appreciate about Benson’s book:

Pastors: Follow Paul’s Example to Pray For Your Church

Paul prayed 3 prayers for the people of the Thessalonian church in his 1st letter, and this scripture has challenged me lately to follow this example in praying for my church:

1. Thanking God for them, remembering their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope (1:2-3).  Do I take time to be thankful for what the people in my church are doing, or do I just complain to the Lord about the problems come up?
2. To be with them again; for an increase in their love for each other and others; that they be established in holiness (3:11-13). Do I look forward to the next gathering of the church?  Do I pray for their love to increase and result in holiness?
3. Their sanctification (5:23-24). Do I pray for my people to grow in their faith and become more like Christ?

I’m anticipating great things in praying this for my church!

National Day of Prayer & Some Controversy

This year’s National Day of Prayer is Thursday, May 6.  In Marion, there is a gathering taking place at noon on the 6th at the courthouse gazebo downtown.

According to the National Day of Prayer Task Force website: The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.

What’s the controversy?

People always get in a frenzy when anything considered “Christian” is discussed on a national scene, but today (April 15, 2010), a US District Court judge declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.  This decision was made on a lawsuit originally filed in 2008.  Right now, social media sites are in a frenzy, sharing erroneous information even.  This is the immediate response to the news, and is typically what happens before people have learned enough about an issue.  While it’s true that President Obama has decided to not hold a service of any kind at the White House, it is not true that he has banned the National Day of Prayer altogether.  Christians especially must be careful to verify what they say because we don’t need any help in attracting hateful attention–our belief in Christ already takes care of that.  Why?  “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”  -Jesus in John 15:18.

What does this mean?

It’s hard to say at this point, because it appears that this court decision will go to the Supreme Court, and they might overrule it.  I agree with Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, who said this in the article I linked above:  ”It is unfortunate that this court failed to understand that a day set aside for prayer for the country represents a time-honored tradition that embraces the First Amendment, not violates it..”

This ruling and our President’s decision to not recognize the National Day of Prayer in the White House are sad examples of how our society is getting farther away from Christ, our only Creator and Savior, and in fact, fighting against Christ.

But the truth is that no law or no President’s actions can stop the prayers of Christians from being heard by God; and no law or action can stop God from accomplishing His purposes.

If you’re in Marion, Ohio, on May 6th, please be at the courthouse gazebo at noon to pray and show our government that Christians care enough about our country to pray for it.

Pastor's Prayer Retreat Monday thru Wednesday

I leave tomorrow morning to join 8 other pastors for a prayer retreat.  The problem is that I don’t know where we’re going exactly or what I’m supposed to take!

Jim Mayes, our associational missionary for the Buckeye Central Erie Baptist Association, is a man of prayer.  His accomplishments in ministry could largely be attributed to his prayer life.  Prayer should be the foundation of any pastor.  But there are some guys who just seem to be so in tune with the Lord that they are a joy to just be around.  Jim is one of those guys.  This is an annual event for our association, and when Jim invited me I quickly said yes.  Even though I don’t know details!

How Non-youth Pastors Can Support See You at the Pole

See You at the Pole is scheduled to be held tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 23) across the country.  It’s an event held in many high schools where students gather around their flag poles to pray for their school, friends, family, country, or whatever.  It’s supposed to be a student-led event, so the school’s Christian club will usually lead out in this event.

I remember my years of showing up as a student and taking a stand in front of other students to pray.  We were made fun of and some just thought we were strange, but they knew where we stood in our faith.  And now, youth pastors across the country are encouraging their students to participate in this event, and even participating alongside of them.

But what about pastors who don’t work solely with youth?  Can we play a part in this event?  Absolutely!  And here are some of my thoughts on how:

1- Encourage the teenagers in your church to participate. Even if there’s a youth pastor in the church, other pastors influence teenagers too.

2- Tell the church about this event so the church can pray and help encourage students also.

3- Show up. Why not?  Who said senior pastors or other pastors can’t show up and pray with students.  Meet some friends of your church’s students.

4- Meet before the event with some students for breakfast, donuts, or coffee. Pastors visit and meet with all kinds of people, so why can’t we meet with teenagers?  I’m looking forward to meeting some students at Tim Horton’s tomorrow morning before going to the school with them.

5- Encourage long-term involvement in student ministry groups. Take the momentum of this large event and keep it going!  Encourage students to be apart of the campus group or church group, to share their testimony or teach a lesson, and be active in efforts to share the gospel of Jesus with other students.

Any other ideas?