From C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 29-31

“We have two bits of evidence about the Somebody.  One is the universe He has made….The other bit of evidence is that Moral Law which He has put into our minds.  And this is a better bit of evidence than the other, because it is inside information. You find out more about God from the Moral Law than from the universe in general just as you find out more about a man by listening to his conversation than by looking at a house he has built.

Now, from this second bit of evidence we conclude that the Being behind the universe is intensely interested in right conduct–in fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, honesty and truthfulness. In that sense we should agree with the account given by Christianity and some other religions, that God is ‘good’. But do not let us go too fast here. The Moral Law does not give us any grounds for thinking that God is ‘good’ in the sense of being indulgent, or soft, or sympathetic. There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do. If God is like the Moral Law, then He is not soft….you know at bottom that unless the power behind the world really and unalterably detests [human greed and trickery and exploitation], then He cannot be good. On the other hand, we know that if there does exist and absolute goodness it must hate most of what we do….God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from.”

“Augustine uses three analogies to describe sin: an inherited disease passed down from generation to generation, a power to which we are enslaved and a judgment pronounced for breaking a law.  You and I are bent toward making bad choices that damage ourselves, our earth and our relationships with one another.  Sin  is the thoughts, words and actions that break things.  We break ourselves, our loved ones, complete strangers and the earth with regularity.  But the ultimate consequence of our tendency toward wrong according to the bible, is the shattering of our union with God” (p. 50, The New Friars, Bessenecker).

Sin.  As the breaking of things.  Of people, of communities, of the earth.

Brokenness.  This definition of sin cited and explained by Bessenecker brings together conservatives and liberals.  The purpose of God’s law (and sometimes man’s as well) is wholeness – prevention of brokenness.  This is why the law is fulfilled in love, because love seeks to prevent and heal brokenness.  Healing brokenness both follows the law (whether the New Testament law of love or the spirit of the Old Testament Law), satisfying religious conservatives, and in time results in a better social condition, answering the cries of religious liberals.

This world is broken.  And we are the ones who are breaking it.  What will we do about it?

A post I wrote several months ago but never published.  Apparently I needed this reminder too – my prayer life is abysmal.

The power of the praying Church.  And the reality that at least part of the “Church” does not pray as if the fate of our world depends on us.

It does.

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.”  2 Chronicles 7:13-16

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”  1 Corinthians 3:16-17

“And when you pray…But when you pray…And when you pray…”  Matthew 6:5-7

The Spirit is moving.  In the past ten years, perhaps more, prayer movements have sprung up around the world.  Young and old Christians alike are rediscovering the discipline of prayer.

New Delhi House of Prayer

24-7 Prayer International

International House of Prayer – Kansas City (and in other parts of the world!)

Ihope Detroit

The Burn

Operation World

These are but the tip of the iceberg, I am sure of it.

In this age of abundant resources, information at the speed of light, more entertainment and leisure activities than we will ever need, will you STOP…and encounter God in the quiet?

Will you connect your heart to God’s?

Will you follow St. Paul’s urging to pray without ceasing?

Questions…Is prayer truly whatever you want it to be, however you best connect to God?  Some people say that they play drums as prayer.  Not that they necessarily pray while they pray, but that they play, and the passion with which they play is a prayer, an offering to God.  And why not, I suppose?  When has God ever said no to a heart passionate for Him to move, no matter how that heart expresses itself?  Perhaps intercession does not have to take place with words.  ”In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

So, what began as a blog post has expanded into something much more – an impromptu, informal, personal research project.  Here are its beginnings, and my beginning thoughts.  I will post more formalized and coherent thoughts as I write them.

A friend of mine forwarded a video report from 2004 (2004! Seven years have gone by…) on the sex trade and industry in Calcutta, Bombay, and other eastern cities.  I was shocked at the perspective of the brothel owners and clients.  No shame, no sign at all that what they are participating in and perpetuating is at all wrong.

“This [prostitution] is the need of the society, the need of the male person.  If this need is not fulfilled, I think they will commit some rapes of some good girl…of the good ladies in the society.  This the good thing for the society also.” says the local chief of police in Bombay during the above video report.

“As brothel keepers and tavern keepers, widows (and those who passed as such) might earn a better living than seamstresses, domestic servants or field laborers.”  quoted here.

The way I wrap my mind around this is to look at our human condition.  Humanity is depraved, so we lie, cheat, pay to have sex with girls and women who may have no other options, take bribes, fail to defend the powerless.  Humanity is depraved, so we create depraved social systems, such as human trafficking networks, and intentionally obscure and conceal this shameful information from the public.  This concealment perpetuates ignorance and apathy.  This is why the sex trade is lucrative, why so much of it is kept hidden away, and why it still exists after thousands of years.  The public does not know, or it does not care.

I’m sure someone much more intelligent than I has said that we humans, as a species, should be advancing morally as time rolls on.  How can this be so, if in Calcutta, India, the Durbar organization reports that all sex workers are over the age of 18, none of them face violence, and none are exploited by their pimps or brothel owners.  The UN reports that 30,000 girls are forced into sex slavery through Calcutta every year, in direct contradiction to Durbar’s statements.  Outright lies pass for truth.

In your majesty ride out victoriously
for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!

~ Psalm 45:4

Prayer.

In a language you don’t understand.

For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

To speak truth and life to the city.

Souls crying out.

For God to move in revival.

Not for you, not for me, but for Him and for them.

It’s a place of offering and sacrifice  and prayer and intercession.

That is, the church.

Go.

Action, movement, momentum, following the Lord’s command wherever it leads.

And make disciples of all nations.

Action, a giving of the self for others’ spiritual growth and good.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Action, obeying Jesus’ example and command for his followers.

Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Again, an action, instructing and mentoring others in spiritual maturation and obedience.

There is no consumer Christianity.  Follow or don’t.  Being on the fence is, by default, not following.  Sitting on the fence is sitting.  Sitting is not moving, not walking, not tripping, not falling, not moving at all.  Following Christ requires movement.  So MOVE!

“To be an ember, to burn for You, God…”

A flame flickers.

“To set others on fire! Catching the flame!”

Flame illuminates.

“I must burn as well…I must start as a log, be set aflame, and burn.”

Embers glow. The flame continues.

“I want to burn…down to an ember. Red hot, intense, setting other wood aflame to become embers…”

Do you ever write things, and when someone quotes them back to you a significant amount of time later, wonder, “did I really say that?  How could those words have come from my mouth/fingers?” I am not all that clever or eloquent in most cases, but sometimes, my words take on a beauty that is beyond me.

I take this as evidence of the Holy Spirit using my mouth (or my fingers, more likely).  It is in the little things – facebook messages to friends, journal entries, emails, even text messages occasionally, that God surprises me through the thoughts and words He gives life to.

I know the story of the prodigal son is one of the more famous parables of Jesus.  Many people have heard it, and I daresay many Christians have heard multiple sermons on it.

You can find the text of the parable here, in the Message.

A couple of observations about the younger son.  He is impatient, and impulsive, characteristics common in youth.  He wants his inheritance NOW.  He does not want to wait to receive it, to put in his time serving the family, working for his father, becoming a man worthy of what his father will leave to him when he dies.  He does not think about the long term benefits of patiently waiting for his inheritance, about the character that will be formed in him through hard work and discipline.  No.  He wants what is rightfully his NOW.

Where is there undue impatience and impulsive tendencies in your life?

Insensitive to what his departure means for anyone but himself, the younger son gets his things together and leaves his home, it seems without a backward glance.  He knew what he wanted – pleasures of the world – and he knew where and how to get them.  He now had both the knowledge and the means, so he went to seek his pleasures, never minding how this would affect his family and their reputation.

Are you seeking your own good without regard to how this affects others?

After he regains his senses, has a genuine change of heart and returns to his father, he thinks himself forever unworthy to be called his father’s son.  Yet, the father is not even listening to his son’s words, he is so overjoyed his son has returned.  He orders a grand party, and entirely reinstates his youngest to sonship.  No matter what the sin, no matter how unworthy he feels, he has not has sinned enough to overcome the father’s love for him.

If you are a prodigal, God is going to throw an eternal party for you!  The ritziest party you have ever been to!  Dancing, music, excellent food, family, and an eternally loving Father!  What a beautiful picture!

The older brother is always with the father.  Consistently and diligently working for his father.  This son seems the more conscientious of the two, not following his younger brother in demanding his inheritance, or ever asking for much from his father.

Do you ask much of God?  Or do you treat him like an imperial dinner guest, not wanting to step on His toes?

And though he is faithful to his father, the older brother feels slighted by his father’s actions towards the younger brother.  Jealousy has crept into the family relationships.  The father does not love the older son any less because he threw a party for the younger.  In fact, the older had many more chances to receive the father’s love because he faithfully served him many years.

How have you seen God’s blessing in your life as you have faithfully served Him?

The father further says that everything he has belongs to the older son, pointing not only to the fairness of the situation – what is a huge party compared to the rest of his father’s wealth? – but also to the closeness between the father and older son.

Think of the treasures you are storing up in heaven because of your faithfulness to the Father.

It seems implied that the older son never had a party, never had access to his father’s abundant resources because he never asked.  If all that the father has is the older son’s, then his resources are available for his son to use (but not squander).  You do not have because you do not ask.  Ask, and the Father will give you good gifts.

What do you need to ask your Father for?  Not selfishly, but from your heart?

Just ask, and see what God will do!

Last week Highland Park Community Outreach went bowling for its last youth group meeting.  We picked up the few who were interested and could afford the $10 cost of 2 games, pizza, and pop, and soon enough were on our way to the bowling alley in Troy.  Most of the kids did not have much experience with bowling, and needed a few pointers along the way.

The pizza was a big success (what kid doesn’t love pizza?), as were my homemade cookies, sneakily revealed, and hastily devoured, after all the real food was gone.  The second game wrapped up, we turned in our shoes, and happily piled back into the HPCO van for the trip back to the hood.

As I mentioned that I don’t live very far from the bowling alley, Gi, one of the main trouble-makers in youth group, looked at me and exclaimed, “You live up here?”

“Close by, yeah.”

“And you come all this way to see us?”

“Yep.”

Stunned, perhaps a bit baffled, he looked at me a moment, then turned his gaze back out the window.

I did not say anything more, but myself reflected on the power of this little boy’s realization.  Yes, I drive half an hour every week just to hang out, talk about the Bible, and love these kids.  Planting seeds.

Yet another seed was planted in that van, largely without words.  I pray that God gives it growth.

“All is vanity…I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 1

All is vanity…everything we do, all of our activities, are endlessly focused on ourselves.  Especially when God is not in the picture.

How can I get that promotion at work?  What do I have to do for my friend or that significant other to like me/be pleased with me?  How can I improve myself?  How can I enjoy my life?  How can I feel better about myself and my life?  I intentionally choose questions here that are self-absorbed to prove my point – how often are the motivations for our actions self-seeking?  Think about your average, middle class American.  What drives him or her?  What does he or she spend a large amount of his or her time?  (Here are my answers – working, entertainment, hobbies, relationships and volunteering hopefully)  What does this say about what he or she values?  About who is God in his or her life?

There has to be more to life than this.  As the Preacher in Ecclesiastes says, seeking wisdom is also vanity.  Pleasure is vanity, as it is only a passing indulgence.  Work is also vanity, as we work for material goods which are of no eternal use to us, and pass away as well.  Friendships and relationships are also vanity, if they do not have a spiritual dimension to them and do not result in personal spiritual growth and growth in the kingdom of heaven.

What are we doing here?  Christians are commanded to go and make disciples.  Are you doing this in your life?  How?  How are you using your natural interests and talents (gifts of God to you) to reach out to others in the name of Christ?  Do not write this off.  This is serious.  I believe God wants us to love life and live it to the fullest within His commands, but He also wants us to love Him more than our lives.  Not all are called to die as martyrs, but all are called to a living death, a daily death to self and living to Christ.

Who are you living for?  What are you doing here?  What mission has God appointed for you to accomplish?