Hi, I am the GCU Prayer Coordinator. I want to welcome you to this Prayer Space on the GCU Blog. Prayer helps us put the joys, accomplishments and the struggles of grad life into perspective. God sees the bigger picture and he cares about how you are doing as a whole person. His love is always available. Big welcome to new students this Fall 2022. You are welcome to join us weekly for prayer or join the Ephesians Study Group. I also do spiritual direction one on one. It is a great idea to have a prayer partner to meet with regularly as you process life.
GCU Student Prayer: I take your prayer concerns seriously. We can come to you in your office/lab or meet at various places on campus.We are excited about this opportunity to bring our lives and our petitions before God and hear from him. This Fall 2022 we are working through the Psalms on Friday am.
Currently, I am working through the Psalms this fall as a source of meditation and inspiration. They open up heaven here on earth in beautiful ways. I often go to the Proverbs when I am praying for wisdom for a student or professor who is facing challenges or a tough decision.
Many Blessings,
~Ute Carkner
Prayer Requests: 778.840.3549
Eugene Peterson, MESSAGE: Psalm 5, verse 3: “Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.”
Walter Brueggemann: “ Psalms are poetic world-making instruments. We need to re-symbolize in a context of contested symbols, contested worldviews.”
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” -Isaiah 41:10,13
Current Note: Pray for an end to the war in Ukraine and wisdom for world leaders to keep the peace. Pray for God to raise up new leaders for this generation (18-45).
Why I am a Christian by Jayant Nain
“I’ve always had questions. “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “What is the purpose of my life?” Growing up a Sikh in a country different from the one I was born in these questions seemed all the more pertinent. But like a fleeting shadow the answers always seemed to escape me. Eventually, I gave up. One can only ask why so many times. The search felt futile.
Then one day, in a particularly difficult season of my life, I was invited to a Bible study. As someone who wasn’t a Christian, I was welcomed, not as an outsider, but as one of their own. During the study I was challenged by the thought of a loving Father guiding my destiny rather than my own will.
Intrigued and amazed, I wanted to learn more about this God. So I started attending this Bible study every week and spent more time with the Christians who had now become my friends. Slowly but surely I discovered a God who not only answered all of my heart’s deepest questions but also became my closest friend. I decided to follow Jesus because while life often feels overwhelming for me, having Him as my closest friend makes it worth living.”
A Graduate Student Prayer Dear God, you know my situation, my stressors and anxieties, self-doubt, my obsessions, the academic expectations that seem so impossible. You know that I complain too much and show appreciation and gratitude too infrequently. But your love and wisdom are much greater than all this angst that surrounds me, greater than the intense competition from my peers, or my fears about publication and future employment. Thank-you so much for the incredible opportunity to sharpen my skills, to pursue truth and beauty, to experience growth of character. Forgive me when I get too full up with my own concerns and forget to care about those around me, when I miss that special opportunity of grace. You know me more deeply than I know myself; you call me to live in joy and wonder under your sovereign care. Keep my heart alive with expectancy of that encounter, that burst of insight, that friend who needs my support. You are Life, a communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Fill my life and my research with your Holy Spirit so that I might this day be led into paths of fruitful service and dialogue. Lord, you get me: Psalm 139.
Ute was mentored in spiritual direction at Regent College in the 90s by James Houston, Paul Stevens and Eugene Peterson. She is excited to pass on the wisdom I have received from good people and also from eight years of teaching elementary school and thirteen years of parenting two girls.
A Prayer for the Ephesians (and for us)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious richeshe may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge— that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
I love studying the Bible and believe in transforming, life-changing prayer. There are deeper levels in prayer if you have the courage to go there. I love to listen to student stories and help people find themselves in God’s bigger narrative. Recently I have really enjoyed Invitations from God: accepting God’s offer to rest, weep, forgive,wait, remember and more by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
This is great opportunity to choose life and sort out the past. Prayer makes a huge difference in our week; it opens up our creativity and challenges our spiritual complacency, makes us expectant of grace and joy. We can expect change and growth and spiritual adventure.
GCU is meeting to study II Corinthians under the theme of Incarnation and Covenant Life every Thursday at 7 pm at our home.
Check out Worship Connect on this blog for some excellent worship experience.
~Ute Carkner
GCU Mentor and Friend
Prayer and Spiritual Direction, Outreach Canada
Reading from Psalm 139
Everything is New in 2022 in Light of the Incarnation
He Comes, God is Coming, Can’t You Feel It?
Audio Reading of Everything is New in 2020 by Dr. Gordon Carkner
God’s word of love becomes flesh in us, is embodied in us, is enacted through us and in doing so, trust is forged between word spoken and the reality of which it speaks, between the words we speak and transcendent realities to which we point. The Word became flesh … a human life … a work of art … shaping a new humanism … a new community … a new social imaginary. Integrity is his name. God with us is the hope of a new creation, a new covenant, new purpose, abundant new life.
Rubens Adoration of the Magi (1609-1629) Photo: Wikimedia Commons
At just the right time, it was kairos time, richer, deeper, more meaningful than any chronological time. He comes to dwell among us in incarnate human flesh: pulsating corpuscles, arms and legs running to greet us, face filled with compassion, hands breaking bread to feed the masses, words that give life and vision, fuel the imagination about justice, righteousness and passion. Here lies the great invitation to counter nihilism, violence, lies, will to power.
The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before…. What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon. (Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas)
It is high time to slow down and search the deeper things of life, reach higher than ever before for a transcendent I-Thou encounter with divine Otherness. It is time to ponder the big questions of meaning, purpose and identity as the profound light from heaven dispels darkness and confronts evil. Indeed, there is more here than meets the eye. Where are our best philosophers, historians and scholars, poets and scientists? What say they about the dramatic Christ event? There are clues to a great turn in history: both fulfilment and promise. What kind of thunderous inbreaking is this? What’s the meaning of this virgin birth, this epiphany of grace, these angelic visitations? Advent is a sign of good things to come for Mary, for the Jewish people, for the whole world.
We have touched him with our hands, rubbed shoulders, felt his robust embrace, dined and broken bread together, heard wisdom from his lips that set our minds and hearts on fire. We have been embraced by his care and inclusion, we have captured a mission that drove us to reach the world. It was a compelling message of dikaiosune justice, caritas grace and agape love. Deep calls to deep. We saw him die and rise again, ascend through the heavens. He has inaugurated an economy of grace and goodness, humility and compassion. The pregnant Mary sings her Magnificat, praising an awe-filled, enthusiasticYes to God’s work in and through her: Things hidden for centuries have become so crystal clear, so completely riveting. Insight and justice have set up a new epistemology, a new way of knowing and being that includes love at its core. We have entered a new world, one where agape love is the main game in town, the infinite game, where peace-making, reconciliation and blessing (shalom) shape our relationships, our posture towards the world.
It is a new playing field, a paradigm shift has taken place, a new human narrative has emerged with fresh interpretations of our raison d’être, our place in the bigger scheme of things. We must carve out new language to capture the wonder of what is happening. Infinite meets finite, like a comet burning through the atmosphere. Divine goodness ushers in hope of healing. A new future is born. Our people have waited and longed for this for centuries, often only in their wildest dreams, feeding on divine promise to covenant-keeping Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David. Once upon a time, we could only hope for such wondrous things. Now they are here, tangible, palpable, life-altering.
You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, want us to wait. For the right time in which to discover who we are, where we are to go, who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you … for the waiting time. (John Bell, quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers, compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart)
Christian believers make claim to Jesus of Nazareth as God’s Word (his divinelogos) made flesh, embedded among us. God’s speech is embodied, full-blooded, not flat and lifeless, not reductionistic or atomistic, no mere words. It is a sign, a communicative action, much more than the mere letters. It is poetic-prophetic-pedagogical, a profound speech act, full of spiritual vitality and truth. The language of incarnation leverages the whole world and transforms individuals along with society. It is strategically, intensively integrated with the human story, not a fantasy or figment of the imagination. There is much to grapple with as we see in scholar Jens Zimmermann’s comment.
Christ the creative wisdom of God, and God’s active Word in creation, is enfleshed in the temporal-historical dimension of our world as the concrete Jewish Messiah, Jesus the Christ…. This is the Word through whom all things were made, and the Word hid in the eternal bosom of God, the Word who spoke through the prophets, the Word whose mighty acts defined the history of Israel. In Jesus the Christ this Word has become flesh, and the eternal has become temporal, but without ceasing to be eternal…. In Christ temporality and eternity are conjoined…. In the incarnation, creation, the world, time and history have been taken up into the God-man, who is the center of reality…. Faith and reason are inseparable because their unity is in Christ. (J. Zimmermann, Incarnational Humanism)
Divine speech act starts with creation: God spoke and the heavens, the stars, the seas, the plants and trees, all living creatures, man and woman came into existence, in abundance. They continue to do so through his grace: creatio continua. God’s word was enacted in particular places and times in history. It makes space for new drama, new dynamics today, for tragic optimism. God has carved out space and time for his presence. When humans are addressed by God, they are drawn up into divine dialogue (Come, follow me). Something profound occurs when they take such a great opportunity to reason and commune with their Creator, to grapple with this profound reality, to take on Jesus’ yoke. They are identified, loved and valued by their divine mentor and source of self, wisdom and identity.
But God is present in reality no matter what unreality our practice and our ponderings imply. He is forever trying to establish communication; forever aware of the wrong directions we are taking and wishing to warn us; forever offering solutions for the problems that baffle us; forever standing at the door of our loneliness, eager to bring us such comradeship as the most intelligent living mortal cannot supply; forever clinging to our indifference in hope that someday our needs, or at least our tragedies will waken us to respond to his advances. The Real Presence is just that, real and life-transforming. Nor are the conditions for the manifestation of his splendours out of the reach of any of us! Here they are: otherness, openness, obedience, obsession. (The Captivating Presence by Albert Edward Day)
A perlocutionary act is a robust speech act that produces an effect, an existential impact, on those addressed through the speaker’s very utterance. God’s Word has indeed impacted all human culture spheres: Science, the Arts, Ethics and Religion. Brilliant Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar sees the Word of God revealed in three rich and powerful ways: through Creation, Scripture, and most profoundly the Incarnation. These are three different types of language, each powerful, complementary, integral to the divine voice. They open new spaces for human meaning and identity, for new fields of articulacy. They use both traditions of semantic logic, exploring the full range of human linguistic capacity: designative and constitutive. Jesus, the one who became flesh, brought the fullness of heaven to earth and by so doing showed that the Unity of God need not be destroyed when expressed in the multiplicity of the world, including statements, images, concepts, personhood and judgments. He is the ‘Superword’ (Überwort) above all words, the very speech of God (Balthasar). Everything hinges on whether God has spoken; or if the Absolute or Being remains silent beyond all words, as in Zen or contemporary Western Gnosticism.
To have found God, to have experienced him in the intimacy of our being, to have lived even for one hour in the fire of his Trinity and the bliss of his Unity clearly makes us say: Now I understand. You are enough for me. (Carlo Carretto, a desert monk, from The God Who Comes)
In late modernity, the incarnation is God’s megaphone to awaken us spiritually, morally, emotionally, psychologically, to call us to fullness of being as the Imago Dei–this amidst all its challenges, conundrums, contradictions and existential struggles. Make room for the God who comes, the God who speaks, the loving God who calls you into his most noble conversation this Advent Season. This changes everything.
~Dr. Gordon E. Carkner, Graduate & Faculty Ministry, UBC
Advent is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent… If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time. (Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac)
Eucharisteo: Giving Thanks is Ann Voskamp’s take on the ‘Spirituality of Everyday Life’. Ann, a farmer’s wife and mother of six from Western Ontario, is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, published by Zondervan. In it, she beckons you to leave the parched ground of pride, fear, and white knuckle control. Instead, she suggests you abandon yourself to a generous God of many gifts, a good God. Ann invites you into her own moments of grace, while she gently teaches you how to lament loss, and turn pain into poetry. She wants you to intentionally embrace a lifestyle of radical gratitude, to slow down and catch God in the moment, to practice his presence. Here’s a sample of her profound and deeply moving reflections on counting our blessings: “Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control, let go of my own way, let go of my own fears. Let God blow His wind, His trials, oxygen for joy’s fire. Leave the hand open and be. Be at peace. Bend the knee and be small and let God give what God chooses to give because He only gives love and whisper a surprised thanks. This is the fuel for joy’s flame. Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will. And I can empty. I can empty because counting His graces has awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I can empty because I am full of His love. I can trust.”
Upcoming Events: In early March, my husband and I attended an excellent Apologetics Canada Conference 2019 on the topic “Freedom of Religion”. The end of March took me to the Women on the Front Lines gathering in Edmonton with a similar theme. The national spotlights features were: religious freedom, educational rights, the right to life, loss of parental rights, pornography, sex trafficking, the issue of federal debt. The following text from Jeremiah kept coming to mind.
In transitional times, we increasingly take confidence in our promise-keeping Saviour. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann articulates: “Promises stand, in situation after situation, generation after generation according to that which God intends to come to fruition.” It’s an honour to be standing shoulder to shoulder with each other as God calls intercessors from across Canada. He is preparing us as a team. By his grace, we will gather at the National House Of Prayer in Ottawa from June 16-21. All applicants will be confirmed by April 30. I am grateful for many of you who have, and others who will commit to taking more seriously our responsibility to pray for all of our parliamentarians during the coming election season. May his presence and wisdom be felt in the current political arena, for his glory. “The historical process is subject to the powerful resolve of God to work newness, to intrude into old power arrangements and firmly establish patterns of reality, to rearrange, reshape and make new.”
I am convinced that to keep pace with future developments, we must seek God fervently. This is a year in which I have felt an urgency in my spirit. If we fear our Lord, he discloses the needed word for our current situation. Please pray for the team travelling to Ottawa.
Agape Love is The Thing: Dr. Peter Kreeft, Boston College
Our Reflection Base This Term is Exploring the power of agape love for all its worth
Can such a love show us the path to the heart and depth of meaning, an exit from our despair, an entrance to a whole new stance towards self and the world, through a strongtranscendence?
Could this be the light at the end of a tunnel that we humans have been seeking for a thousand years, the troika of faith, hope and love?
Can such love wrestle our fears, anxieties and insecurities to the mat?
Is this the space in which we can discover the truth, overcome our alienation from the truth, address the root of our incessant restlessness, and discover a resolution to our current crisis of identity?
Is agape perhaps the hub of all the virtues and values, the preeminent virtue in our hierarchy of values?
Loyola Philosophy Professor Paul Moser is a profound thinker and writer on this topic. He notes: “God’s agape love directed at the human conscience is a deep invitational call to an existential depth.” We think he is right on target.
Quote from Political Scientist Glenn Tinder
Agape is a prophetic love. It refuses to equate anyone with his immediate observable being. A human being is not deeply and essentially the same as the one who is visible to the employer, neighbour, salesman, policeman, judge, friend or spouse. A human being is destined to live in eternity and is fully known only to God. Agape is about the spiritual destiny of the individual; destiny is a spiritual drama. My destiny is my own selfhood given by God, but given not as an established reality, like a rock or a hill, but as a task lying under divine imperative…. Agape is simply the affirmation of this paradox and of this destiny underlying it. Agape looks beyond all marks of fallenness, all traits by which people are judged and ranked, and acknowledges the glory each person—as envisioned in Christian faith—gains from the creative mercy of God. It sets aside the most astute worldly judgment in behalf of destiny. (Glenn Tinder, The Political Meaning of Christianity, 25, 28)
Grace, Peace, Gratitude and Joy,
Gord & Ute
Prayer for Purification
Help us to put away all evil things.
Silence the evil word;
Forbid the evil deed;
Break the evil habit;
Banish the evil thought;
Take away the evil desire and the evil ambition;
and make our lives to shine like lights
in a dark world.
Help us to live in purity
Make our words so pure
that you may hear them;
Make all our deeds so pure
that you may see them;
Make all our thoughts and desires so pure
that they may bear your scrutiny.
And so grant that we being pure in heart
may see you.
Help us to live in the truth.
Grant
That we may never speak or act a lie;
That we may never be misled by false or mistaken beliefs;
That we may never evade the truth,
even when we do not want to see it.
Grant to us at all times
To seek and to find;
To know and to love;
To obey and to live the truth.
~From Prayers for the Christian Year by William Barclay
May 2018 Big News:My husband, Gordon Carkner, has just published a new book on spiritual formation called Mapping the Future: arenas of discipleship and spiritual formation. It is available on Amazon for under five dollars for the Kindle ebook.
“No one doubts that we exist in challenging times. Mapping the Future is a robust, pro-active vision, a legacy document of what we might become, and how we might build out from where we are. It involves the energy of youthful entrepreneurs and creatives, as well as the deep wisdom of elder statespersons, and the voices of ancient saints. On display is a wealth and breadth of material available in contemplation, spiritual formation and personal transformation, enough to profoundly inspire and encourage any Christian leader or genuine seeker. Drawing on a variety of traditions, this document charts a progressive spiritual adventure, articulating broader horizons for exploration, leading to undiscovered spiritual paths. Reif Larson writes: “A map does not just chart, it unlocks and formulates meaning; it forms bridges between here and there, between disparate ideas that we did not know were previously connected.” The reader will enjoy how this fresh discussion puts fire in the belly and offers practical resources.”
You Make Me Brave ~ Amanda Cook
I stand before You now The greatness of your renown I have heard the majesty and wonder of you King of Heaven, in humility, I bow
As Your love, in wave after wave Crashes over me, crashes over me For You are for us You are not against us Champion of Heaven You made a way for all to enter in
I have heard You calling my name I have heard the song of love that You sing So I will let You draw me out beyond the shore Into Your grace Into Your grace
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves No fear can hinder now the promises You make
You make me brave You make me brave You call me out beyond the shore into the waves No fear can hinder now the promises You make
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves No fear can hinder now the promises You make
As Your love, in wave after wave Crashes over me, crashes over me For You are for us You are not against us Champion of Heaven You made a way for all to enter in
As Your love, in wave after wave Crashes over me, crashes over me For You are for us You are not against us Champion of Heaven You made a way Champion of Heaven You made a way for all to enter in
Ephesians 3: 14-21 Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesian Young Believers
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen
Spoken Word Poem by Isaac Wimberly
“If there are words for Him then I don’t have them.
See my brain has not yet reached the point where it could form a thought that could adequately describe the greatness of my God.
And my lungs have not yet developed the ability to release a breath with enough agility to breathe out the greatness of His Love.
And my voice, see my voice is so inhibited, restrained by human limits that it’s hard to even sing the praise up, you see, if there are words for Him, then I don’t have them.
My God, His Grace is remarkable, mercies are innumerable, strength is impenetrable, He is honorable, accountable, favorable.
He’s unsearchable yet knowable, indefinable, yet approachable, indescribable, yet personal
He is beyond comprehension, further than imagination, constant through generations, King of every nation, but if there are words for Him, then I don’t have them
You see my words are few to try and capture the ONE TRUE GOD, using my vocabulary will never do, but I use words as an expression, an expression of worship to a Savior, a Savior who is both worthy and deserving of my praise, so I use words.
My heart extols the Lord, blesses His Name forever. He has won my heart, captured my mind, and has bound them both together. He has defeated me in my rebellion, conquered me in my sin, He has welcomed me into His presence, completely invited me in. He has made Himself the object of my sight, flooding me with mercies in the morning, drowning me with Grace in the night, but if there are words for Him, then I don’t have them.
But what I do have is GOOD NEWS, for my God knew that manmade words would never do, for words are just tools that we use to point to the truth.
So He sent His Son Jesus Christ as THE WORD, LIVING PROOF, He is THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, THE FIRST BORN OF ALL CREATION, FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, GIVING NOTHINGNESS, FORMATION.
AND BY HIS WORD HE SUSTAINS IN THE POWER OF HIS NAME. FOR HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS AND ABOVE ALL THINGS HE REIGNS. HOLY IS HIS NAME!
SO PRAISE HIM FOR HIS LIFE! THE WAY HE PERSERVERED IN STRIFE. THE HUMBLE SON OF GOD BECOMING THE PERFECT SACRIFICE.
PRAISE HIM FOR HIS DEATH! THAT HE WILLINGLY STOOD IN OUR PLACE THAT HE LOVINGLY ENDURED THE GRAVE THAT HE BATTLED OUR ENEMY, AND ON THE THIRD DAY ROSE IN VICTORY.
HE IS EVEYTHING THAT WAS PROMISED.
PRAISE HIM AS THE RISEN KING.
LIFT YOUR VOICE AND SING, FOR ONE DAY HE WILL RETURN FOR US, AND WE WILL FINALLY BE UNITED WITH OUR SAVIOR FOR ENTERNITY! ETERNITY!
SO IT IS NOT JUST WORDS THAT I PROCLAIM, FOR MY WORDS POINT TO THE WORD, AND THE WORD HAS A NAME, HOPE HAS A NAME, JOY HAS A NAME, PEACE HAS A NAME, LOVE HAS A NAME, AND THAT NAME IS JESUS CHRIST!
PRAISE HIS NAME FOREVER!!!!!!!!”
This term we delving deep in the biblical understanding of the Agape Love and its implications for life and study. Join us on Tuesday evenings.
Jesus knew the Psalms. Paul knew the Psalms. In fact, the entire early Christian community was steeped in the same Psalms that have served as the central prayer and hymnbook for the church since its beginning until now. Reading, studying, and praying the Psalms is God’s means for teaching us what it means to be human: how to express our emotions and yearnings, how to reconcile our anger and our compassion, how to see our story in light of God’s sweeping narrative of salvation. Our intent this Spring Term is to help provide the tools for understanding and incorporating these crucial verses into our own lives by exploring the books of the Psalms.
Identity in Christ: How do we get beyond a joyless, powerless, anxious life? How do we recover a deep identity, one which is in touch with the fullness of God, with maturity in Christ, rooted in God’s relentless love?
Think about it. We are adopted, forgiven sinners, called, chosen, a royal priesthood, objects of God’s love, a saint, a reconciliation agent, a witness, healed, a peacemaker, secure in Christ, generous, at rest, rooted in grace, a gift, a light in the darkness, a blessing to others. Our problems don’t define us. God defines us. Our problems are neither the first nor the last word about us. God is. We are called to a re-understnding, a remapping, of our whole lives and our world in terms of God’s amazing revelation.
We need discernment, wisdom to parse life, to apply what we know to the nuances of our everyday existence.
Discernment (paraclesis) is conversation directed to the insights and decisions, the behaviours and practices, that emerge from hearing the preached good news and learning the truth of the Scriptures as they then get prayed and embodied in my life where I am just now. These insights are not always obvious given my emotions, history, parents, baggage from old sins, and misunderstandings accumulated from secular culture. The gospel message that seemed so simple and straightforward in the sanctuary on Sunday develops severe complications when I enter into my workplace on Monday. Our families muddy the waters that seemed so clear, outlined, and in order on a chalkboard while we were sitting in a classroom…. Paraclesis is language used with men and women who already have received the word of preached salvation and have been instructed the teaching of the law, but who are in need of comfort or encouragement or discernment in the muddled details of dailiness. It is otherwise called ‘cure of souls’ or spiritual direction. (E. Peterson, Practice Resurrection, 172-3)
[Many think that] only by denying the world can we live in it, that only by surrounding yourself with a self-induced quietude can you have a spiritual life. A real spiritual life does exactly the opposite: it makes us so alert and aware of the world around us, that all that is and happens becomes part of our contemplation and meditation and invites us to a free and fearless response. ~Henry J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out
Thomas Merton writes in New Seeds of Contemplation:
Faith is not just conformity, it is life. It embraces all realms of life, penetrating into the most mysterious and inaccessible depths not only of our unknown spiritual being but even of God’s own hidden essence and love. Faith, then, is the only way of opening up the true depths of reality, even of our own reality. Until we yield ourselves to God in the consent of total belief, we must inevitably remain a stranger to ourself, because we are excluded from the most meaningful depths of our own being.
Compassionate God and Father of all, we are horrified at violence in so many parts of the world. It seems that none are safe, and some are terrified.
Hold back the hands that kill and maim; turn around the hearts that hate. Grant instead your strong Spirit of Peace – peace that passes our understanding but changes lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
A prayer for peace in our communities
Gracious God, We pray for peace in our communities this day. We commit to you all who work for peace and an end to tensions, And those who work to uphold law and justice. We pray for an end to fear, For comfort and support to those who suffer. For calm in our streets and cities, That people may go about their lives in safety and peace. In your mercy, hear our prayers, now and always. Amen
Nothing worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr
This paperback is the twentieth anniversary edition of Methodist minister Ted Loder’s lively, poetic, creative, and soul-stretching collection of prayers. Here you will find devotional material organized around these themes: quietness and listening, thanks and praise, unburdening and confession, comfort and reassurance, restoration and renewal, commitment and change. seasons and holidays.
Taking a cue from the prophets and from Jesus, Loder wants us to engage in the guerrilla battle “to reclaim some territory, or some part of life, for a higher purpose, a truer cause.” To do this, our prayers must be grounded in grace and imaginatively open to both the winds and the whims of the Spirit. We appreciate the varied ways in which Loder addresses God and explores the many emotions that animate us. This minister is not afraid of the imagination: he uses words and images that point to the infinite richness of human life and experience.
Loder links these prayers to prophecy, playfulness, and the power of social renewal. He opens new doors to spiritual practices such as silence, listening, and forgiveness. Here are two wonderful prayers on living in the present moment:
Guide Me Into An Unclinched Moment
Gentle me, Holy One, into an unclinched moment, a deep breath, a letting go of heavy expectancies, of shriveling anxieties, of dead certainties, that, softened by the silence, surrounded by the light, and open to the mystery, I may be found by wholeness, upheld by the unfathomable, entranced by the simple, and filled with the joy that is you.
I Need to Breathe Deeply
Eternal Friend, grant me an ease to breathe deeply of this moment, this light, this miracle of now. Beneath the din and fury of great movements and harsh news and urgent crises, make me attentive still to good news, to small occasions, and the grace of what is possible for me to be, to do, to give, to receive, that I may miss neither my neighbor’s gift nor my enemy’s need.
Prayer by Soren Kierkegaard
To Will One Thing
Father in Heaven! What are we without You! What is all that we know, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if we do not know You! What is all our striving, could it ever encompass a world, but a half-finished work if we do not know You: You the One, who is one thing and who is all!
So may You give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may You grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing.
You that gives both the beginning and the completion, may You early, at the dawn of the day, give to the young the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may You give to the old a renewed remembrance of their first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing. Alas, but this has indeed not come to pass. Something has come in between. The separation of sin lies in between. Each day, and day after day something is being placed in between: delay, blockage, interruption, delusion, corruption. So in this time of repentance may You give the courage once again to will one thing.
True, it is an interruption of our ordinary tasks; we do lay down our work as though it were a day of rest when the penitent is alone before You in self-accusation. This is indeed an interruption. But it is an interruption that searches back into its very beginnings that it might bind up anew that which sin has separated, that in its grief it might atone for lost time, that in its anxiety it might bring to completion that which lies before it.
You that gives both the beginning and the completion, give Your victory in the day of need so that what neither our burning wish nor our determined resolution may attain to, may be granted unto us in the sorrowing of repentance: to will only one thing.
Wisdom of Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man.
The divine quality of the Bible is not on display, it is not apparent to an inane, fatuous mind; just as the divine in the universe is not obvious to the debaucher. When we turn to the Bible with an empty spirit, moved by intellectual vanity, striving to show our superiority to the text; or as barren souls who go sight-seeing to the words of the prophets, we discover the shells but miss the core. It is easier to enjoy beauty than to sense the holy. To be able to encounter the spirit within the words, we must learn to crave for an affinity with the pathos of God.
To sense the presence of God in the bible, one must learn to be present to God in the Bible. Presence is not a concept, but a situation. To understand love it is not enough to read tales about it. One must be involved the prophets to understand the prophets. One must be inspired to understand inspiration. Just as we cannot test thinking without thinking, we cannot we cannot sense holiness without being holy. Presence is not disclosed to those who unattached and try to judge, to those who have nor power to go beyond the values they cherish; to those who sense the story not the pathos; the idea not the realness of God.
The Bible is the frontier of the spirit where we must move and live in order to discover and to explore. It is open to him who gives himself to it, who lives with it intimately.
Report on Grad Retreat on the Life of Peter: During last weekend’s grad student retreat, God met us in a tangible manner. Moments after arriving in a beautiful, quiet, private neighborhood for our long awaited day of respite, we discovered the neighbour of our host family beginning his chores. He started with his electric saw; then he shared his CBC radio for all to hear! As we gathered on the patio, all I could say to our group was: “Let us commit the day to our Lord.” After praying, the annoyance continued. I handed out the study materials and then said: ”Lord, it would be good to have no further disturbance.” As the word disturbance tumbled out, silence struck. We were in awe of God’s display of power. He met us in this tangible manner, then proceeded into Luke 5:1-11.
Jesus drew Peter’s attention to his soul … and gained a life commitment.
A few reflections to ponder:
1. Christ was attractive to many; yet a few were selected. His invitation was absent of coercion, yet deliberate. One voice echoed: “Christ’s appeal was from within”. Jesus took this fisherman from his world to an eternal vocation within his world.
2. Christ fully understood Peter. He saw him in his home, yet made a new home for him. Peter, on the other hand, came to a gradual understanding as to who was drawing him. The longer he was with Christ, the more he saw.
3. Christ in his full authority and transcendence instructed and directed Peter. Though they worked hard all night…their labour was in vain. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. Peter gave way to Christ’s perspective, empowerment and timing, rather than living in and with his own limitations.
4. Christ’s abundance is granted as Peter steps into obedience. This then gave way to the need of drawing in a team and sharing the abundance.
5. Christ’s holiness was evidence enough for Peter’s sight to shift from his human eye to the eyes of his spirit. “Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man.”
6. Christ gave Peter a new identity. Only as Peter grew in this new identity was he able to forsake all else and follow him.
7. What barriers yet remain? How long will I choose my limitations and neglect to forsake all for his sake? May the revelation of God come upon us all as we ponder and respond.
… so that our nets will habitually be overflowing with new believers
… so that the body of Christ will habitually be in partnership with each other
… so that we will habitually fall at Jesus’ knee recognizing our sinfulness
8. Christ forsook all. His promise: not to leave us nor forsake us. May we activate his promise by doing the same.
Living dependent on Christ’s continual appeal “from within”,
Ute
Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ~Jesus in John 14: 23
Let us love one another because love comes from God…. [in fact], God is love.Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. There is no fear in love. We love because he first loved us. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. ~ I John 1: 7, 8, 16, 18, 19, 21.
Lenten Reflections
Nola Shantz, GCU Alumnus, sings Amazing Grace in St. Thomas Kirche in Leipzig, Germany
Let us move into resurrection life as we celebrate this Easter and look at the Righteous Suffering Servant and the effect of his suffering. Knowing that everything had been finished, Jesus said I thirst. It was an excruciating suffering; this was the final drink from the bitter cup set before him. Such pain and alienation would have shattered Christ, had he not been the very Son of the Living God. He accepted his calling to suffer, enduring to the end, alienation from the Father. Adrienne von Speyr, a 20th century Swiss mystic, offers a reflection:
“The Lord knows that all is now finished. His life is finished, what will succeed it is also finished. In the course of his sojourn on earth, he has put in place everything out of which the later Church will arise in the many-sidedness of her life; he has trusted his disciples and all those who believe in him with their special task. After he has then given his Mother to his favorite disciple, nothing further remains for him but to suffer; he can devote himself exclusively to suffering, plunge once and for all into suffering. It is in Christ’s isolation from the Father, where the center point of his suffering lies. To be separated from a love from which one has lived since eternity, one which constitutes the entire substance of one’s being, that is lethal.”
Alister McGrath captures Easter’s impact: “The resurrection declares in advance of the event God’s total victory over all evil and oppressive forces—such as death, evil and sin. Their backbone has been broken, and we may begin to live now in light of that victory, knowing that the long night of their oppression will end.” ~What Was God Doing on the Cross?
Read from John 18:23-25
Jesus is at this point, like someone who collects all the sins that he comes across; he ties them into a bundle. He endures both the blow of the officer, the unbeliever, and the blow of Peter, the believer. Both of these sins in terms of their personal incapacity and lack of understanding: the one from a distance, the other from a closeness; the one evades an encounter, the other denies him whom he has long since encountered; the one has not yet experienced anything of supernatural love, the other as much as a man can experience. Thus both together embody two extremes, they form a framework into which the sins of all the others can be fitted; the officer’s not wanting to know and Peter’s knowing denial embrace all the possibilities of sinning against the Lord, against his love, his Spirit, his mission, against belonging to the Lord. Both effect him where he is most sensitive; both strike him, both bind him more strongly to suffering. The officer inflicts bodily harm upon the Lord, while Peter warms himself and, denying the Lord, pursues his own comfort. Both of them do not trouble themselves about the meaning of the bodily, which ought to be an experience of the spiritual. ~Ute
Weekly Prayer: Tuesdays at 12 noon Regent College Prayer Room (also at the GCU Study Group Thursdays at 7:00 pm in our home). Contact: ucarkner@shaw.ca
I wonder whether you could pray for the following items as we enter this coming week: March 20, 2015
Jasmine Hamilton in medical pathology is defended her Ph.D. dissertation Thursday March 5 at 9:00 am. She passed!
Stabilization of things in Europe, and a lasting truce in the Ukraine. Pray for the economy of Ukraine, which is on the edge of bankruptcy. Pray for wisdom in her leadership. Leadership is needed across Europe to face down key flash points: e.g. Greece, Russia.
Peace-making and decrease of violence in Syria, Tunisia, Iraq.
For your fellow students in their work and research: it’s not easy boring through a mountain. Good relationships with supervisors. Vision for the future.
We will have discernment to follow up Ben Perrin’s lecture with some constructive response. Remember the vulnerable people caught in human slavery and sex trafficking.
We long to be people who know God, people who are faithful against all odds and who do not shrink back from walking the high road, the eternal ways. We long to be people who operate in the light and encouragement of the presence of God. We want to lead from a position of a self that is being transformed daily by the divine. We long to be people who don’t just talk about God but whose endgame is to live the gospel of the kingdom with integrity. We are willing to ask what has to die in us in order for the will of God to be fulfilled. Our discernment is that God is good, his intentions towards us are always good, and he has the power to carry out these good intentions.
Dear God, you have created me, searched me, called me to this task of deeper study and research, chosen me to be in communion with you as your daughter/son. You are life, my bread from heaven, my eternal life, my destiny. Today I ask you to guide me with your wisdom and bless those I encounter and work with. Guide my reading and research and experiments. Give me a listening ear and eyes to see and know your presence, to sense what your Holy Spirit is doing, and faith to respond to your love and leadership. Help me to grow as your disciple and be open to the richness of your vision for my life. Thank-you for your grace and goodness which are without limits. Dear Lord look at me and cause all darkness and doubt to vanish amidst your loving and patient gaze. Lead me into fruitful service for you. In the name of Christ, Amen.
-fresh start to the year for students and especially new students to UBC this term
II Corinthians 5: 11-21
Last Thursday we enjoyed discussing the last half of II Corinthians 5 on the art/commission/ministry of reconciliation/peace-making. Think the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew Chapters 5-7). This commission is grounded in three or four key conditions (i.e. rests upon pillars of grace): a. Fear-Love-Energy of God and for God and respect for his high calling–which includes the realization that people are in a better state of being when in a positive relationship with God and one another; his love brings new life in us and shakes us loose from our cynicism and complacency; b. Awareness that we are on level ground with everyone else–broken and in need of healing (aka sinners), with no room for presumption, superiority or triumphalism; c. We have experienced the life-giving impact of the new creation, the resurrection life; we are learning to practice resurrection (Eugene Peterson) not defeatism, and see our lives and other people from God’s perspective–this changes our entire outlook, offering a fresh paradigm of awareness; d. We join God in the great task of reconciling the world to himself as his ambassadors (representatives) of the best news people could ever discover–delivering hope and meaning to the core of their identity and being. It is a message of incredible grace that leads to eternal results of character development. It is a task which shapes the future. We easily experience the limitations of our humanity, but this commission, mobilized by agape love, puts us in touch with divinity. Paul is saying that we are not to live for survival, as mere humans. This says something new about what it means to flourish as humans; we are encouraged to step up into this new identity, this communion of love. The New Testament lures us with the message of being in Christ.
II Corinthians 4: The Eternal Weight of Glory
Our discussion centred around Paul’s conclusion that the longing for eternity (Peter Kreeft, Heaven: the heart’s deepest longing) and the weight of glory put into perspective our all too human trials, frustrations, assignments, exams and sufferings. The glory far outweighs the trials, by an exponential factor. In fact, it was suggested that Paul mean to say that these trials and afflictions could move us towards this glory if we handled them in the right way, and gave them over to God for his transformation. As II Corinthians 3 concluded, it is promised that we can be transformed daily from glory to glory.
This is part of the meaning of suffering. The trials are lightweights compared with the heavyweight eternity. The perspective of a vision of eternity in the heart (like the sun on the horizon, or the harvest moon) can help build ‘spiritual muscle’: realism. It is a kind f haunting. Many of the speakers in the C.S. Lewis Summer Institute series speak of the weightiness and substance and strength of the virtues; they believe that virtues of courage, justice, mercy, duty, honour, prudence , faith, friendship, loyalty, hope and love are heavyweights for human flourishing. Our assurance of this weightiness in the New Covenant is the glory in the very face of Jesus Christ. He is that promise incarnate. We have the privilege to carry such precious jewels as the gospel of glory (presence, transcendence, transformation) in jars of clay. Even Parisian semiotic professor Julia Kristeva suggests we need to recover this perspective (The Incredible Need to Believe. 2011). The challenge is to wager on the great, well-trodden eternal path with glory as our trajectory for life; it is the way of joy that is a deep longing in every heart. This story is played out in Joseph Loconte’s brilliant little book The Searchers: the Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt.
This is contrasted with the values of people in the Spanish television series Grand Hotel (English subtitles), where the game amidst aristocratic elegance is arrogance, dark secrets, will to power, greed, condescension, murder, adultery, corruption, mutual manipulation, and coercion. Why do we find such drama so intriguing? It is perhaps because it resonates with our trying experience of some people we live, study or work with, share a lab bench with, but these relationships are not praiseworthy. They represent humanity at its worst, spiralling ever downward to greater depths. Jung would call this our dark side. The gospel claims that we have a choice as to which path we want to follow.
“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ~C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses
“I announce to you redemption. Behold I make all things new. Behold I do what cannot be done. I restore the years that the locusts and the worms have eaten. I restore the years which you have drooped away upon your crutches and in your wheelchair. I restore the symphonies and the operas which your deaf ears have never heard, and the snowy massive which you eyes have never seen, and the freedom lost to you through plunder, and the identity lost to you through calumny and the failure of justice; and I restore the good which your foolish mistakes have cheated you of. And I bring you to the Love of which all other loves speak, the Love which is joy and beauty, and which you have sought in a thousand streets, and for which you have wept and clawed your pillow.”
~Thomas Howard, Christ the Tiger. (p. 159)
“If there is a Bach, there is a God. All the hauntings seem to come from the same source and point back to it, however diverse the media through which they come. Not only faces, romantic love, pictures, stories, and music, but also the sense of almost unimaginably remote lands hinted at in the smell of certain breezes, the fascination that children have with colour (remember that?), the unforgettable power in certain lines of poetry–all these and thousands more are hauntings that seem today the same thing. There is something bigger than the world out there hiding behind everything in the world, and our chief joy is with it. The world is its mask; we must unmask it. We are outsiders, aliens, exiles; if only we could get in!”
~ Peter Kreeft, Heaven: the Heart’s Deepest Longing, (p. 111)
II Corinthians 3: Talking Points
What does it mean to be the ‘aroma of Christ’ as Paul talks about it late in Chapter 2? Someone mentioned Tim Keller’s book, The Art of Forgetfulness to help us discern an appropriate kind of humility.
As we traverse between the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, the metaphors change from stone tablets to human hearts, from letter to Spirit, from a trap to a liberation, from Moses to Paul, from a veiled to revealed status. The theme of transformation through the New is fleshed out in Romans chapter 8 as well as other places. The key verse here is 18. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The Old was good while it lasted, but now we have the New, the fuller, clearer revelation, justification and sanctification. The aroma of Christ comes through reflection and personal transformation. Bishop Lesslie Newbign says that the most important religious question is: How shall we glorify God?
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” ( II Peter 1: 3-8)
In II Corinthians 1, the Apostle Paul writes that Jesus is the Yes and the Amen to it all. What does this mean? Below are some reflections from our Study Group. Much more could be added.
Colossians 1: 15-20 speaks of Jesus as the source and “glue” of creation and the purpose or end of creation. He is more than 13.8 billion light years of time. He is above all things in creation and at the same time the ground of creation (the ground of being). All the fullness of God dwells in him (he is God with us–Emmanuel). He is God incarnate (fully God and fully man); in him, God’s eternity connects with creation’s temporality. It is through Christ that all things are reconciled to God—providing the source and basis of healing relationships divine and human, the prince (champion) of peace. He is the cornerstone or foundation of the church, through which he is present to the world.
He is the fulfillment of all the promises made to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Israel, etc.) and prophets of the Old Testament, the Jewish Messiah, fulfilling the promise of redemption, renewal, justice and reform. Jesus is prophet, priest and king. His is the final priestly sacrifice for the sins of mankind.He is also a poet, firing the imagination with his life-giving, inspiring teaching.
He is the wisdom of God and the power of God, the nexus of faith and reason. As logos (John 1), he is the divine word made flesh, the underwriter/guarantor of all human thought and all language. He is the raison d’etre of it all, the meaning of it all, the answer to the key question: Why is there something rather than nothing? We are called to take captive all thought to his Lordship, his oversight. He is the end point of every spiritual, moral and philosophical aspiration. He has renewed and healed the current broken relationship between word and world (James Davison Hunter).
Christ the creative wisdom of God, and God’s active Word in creation, is enfleshed in the temporal-historical dimension of our world as the concrete Jewish Messiah, Jesus the Christ…. This is the Word through whom all things were made, and the Word hid in the eternal bosom of God, the Word who spoke through the prophets, the Word whose mighty acts defined the history of Israel. In Jesus the Christ this Word has become flesh, and the eternal has become temporal, but without ceasing to be eternal…. In Christ temporality and eternity are conjoined…. In the incarnation, creation, the world, time and history have been taken up into the God-man, who is the center of reality…. Faith and reason are inseparable because their unity is in Christ. (J. Zimmermann, 2012a, pp. 264-5)
He is the complete human, a fullness of humanity. He is a gift to us to direct our passions to that which can fulfill them. He came to take us higher, to show us the infinite goodness and agape love of God and to transform us by it. He is the renewed, most excellent representative of God on earth, the imago dei.
Jesus is perlocutionary speech act, God’s most powerful communication to human ears. He addresses us, calls our name, calls us forward into an adventuresome life. His words (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount) are a culture driver. Through him, we have been identified and called into a new community, given a new identity as royal priests (I Peter) and the people of God. He is the hermeneutic of a new reconciled humanity, drawn from all the nations of the globe, committed to bless (shalom). He is our home, our shelter/refuge, our anchor.
He is the Suffering Servant who empathizes with our human struggles, brokenness, alienation and pain, the Wounded Healer (Henri Nouwen). He has suffered and does suffer for individuals, society and the world (I Peter); it is a redemptive, deeply meaningful suffering. He is Compassion.
In Christian theology, Jesus reveals to us not only who God is but also what it means to be truly human. This true humanity is not something we achieve on our own; it comes to us as a gift … The reception of this gift contains an ineliminable element of mystery that will always require faith. Jesus in his life, teaching, death and resurrection and ongoing presence in the church and through the Holy Spirit … orders us towards God. He directs our passions and desires towards that which can finally fulfill them and bring us happiness … [and] reveal to us what it means to be human. (D.S. Long, 2001, pp. 106-7)
Other metaphors: the Vine, Root of David, Teacher, Shield, Son of Man, Lion of Judah, the Way, Portion, Lamb of God, Refiner, the Bridegroom, Saviour, Rock of Ages, Presence of God, Alpha and Omega, Son of God
Recommended Reading: The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Seven Qualities of Godly Silence from Thomas Brooks
1. We recognize God’s presence even in affliction.
2. Once we have gained some understanding of God’s holiness, we obey the injunction to “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord” (Zeph 1: 7)
3. With further experience of God’s grace, we rest submissively and peacefully in him, never blaming him for our affliction and declaring, “I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous.” (Ps 119: 75)
4. The conviction grows that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom 8: 28). This helps us in the deepest trust to leave the outcome in his hands.
5. We are constantly reminded that it is not God’s character to afflict unnecessarily; it remains his strategic work (Is 28:21).
6. It becomes easier to listen to God’s command: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Ps 37: 7).
7. Finally such wise and trusting silence before God becomes saturated with his presence, so that willingly we surrender and resign ourselves into God’s gracious hands, murmuring, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3: 9).
Made for spirituality we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our full human role as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what is means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us. ~N.T. Wright, Simply Christian
Listen to Prophetic Sermon by Darrell Johnson, First Baptist Church Vancouver, BC May 6, 2012 Title: We Have Come to a Fork in the Road firstbc.tumblr.com
Quote from T. F. Torrance,
“If the heavens are open as the angels ascend and descend on the Son of Man who is the incarnate Word, we must surely approach and interpret the written Word of God in a similar manner, for in their own appointed way, the Holy Scriptures constitute the ladder of communication between earth and heaven on which there constantly ascend and descend the heavenly messengers sent out to help us lift up our hearts and minds to God in spiritual communion with him.”
Mapping the Arenas of Discipleship for the Twenty-first Century:
The Quest for Maturity and Holism
~Gordon E. Carkner, PhD in Philosophical Theology~
Basic Doctrine for Mere Christianity This is a foundation concern on what a Christian believes and lives (Eerdmans Handbook on Christian Belief; N.T. Wright, Simply Christian; S. Lewis, Mere Christianity; Os Guinness, The Call). Many churches do something in this arena but could do more to establish young Christians in their faith journey. Regular sermons are not enough to get an overview of what the Christian life is all about. Colleague David Collins at Outreach Canada has a motivating teaching series to mobilize tired discipleship to active passion for Christ called Digging Deeper.
Spiritual Disciplines This arena includes prayer, fasting, simplicity, meditation, gratitude, lectio divina, etc. (Excellent resources are found in Richard Foster, Spiritual Disciplines; and Streams of Living Water; Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms.; Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy). Montreal staff Barry Whatley in Outreach Canada carries a deep concern for this dimension of discipleship in leaders as well as church attendees; he has a tremendous resource kit on this topic. Regent College Bookstore has an amazing source of volumes in this area.
Biblical Knowledge, Literacy & Biblical Theology This includes the larger story or metanarrative horizon, helping Christians develop an understanding of the overall structure and content of Scripture (OT and NT). There is a serious need to learn basic biblical hermeneutics. (Gordon Fee, Reading the Bible for All its Worth; Walter C. Kaiser Jr. The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments.; Iain Provan; Bruce Waltke). Willingdon Church in Burnaby, B.C. is running such a program—several eight week courses to develop people in biblical literacy. Biblical knowledge is terribly weak in an age of technology and superficial identity, but there are now excellent resources online if one knows where to look. We need to help Christians build deeper roots in Scripture as deceased Bishop Lesslie Newbigin encouraged us to indwell the biblical story (The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society). My colleague, John B. MacDonald at Outreach Canada, has developed a robust course on the book of Matthew as a paradigm for discipleship.
Moral Vision/Quest for the Good: This involves the politics of love, poetics of community, learning to leverage agape love and grace (D. Stephen Long, The Goodness of God; Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self). Academia, church, political and the business communities realize that our culture needs recovery of, and retraining in ethics. Radical left views have taken the spotlight in the media, constantly pushing the envelope in the more liberal (freedom of individual choice) direction. Margaret Summerville at McGill is a key conservative Canadian voice on public moral issues. There are issues to reckon with inside the church as well. One of the big issues is moral motivation—why be good if you can get away with cheating and lying? (Henry Cloud, Integrity: the courage to meet the demands of reality). My PhD dissertation covered this topic in detail, especially the recovery of the good in the work of Charles Taylor.
Stewardship of Creation or Creation Care What does our carbon footprint have to do with discipleship? Why is environmental responsibility and stewardship or creation care important to faithfulness, within a circumspect virtuous lifestyle? This is a key area of integrity for the church and a key concern in reaching the younger generation—they are highly sensitive to these issues and are leaving their church when it is insensitive and doesn’t even recycle. There is a strategic mission opportunity for people with expertise in environmental science in China and Mongolia; here there is a genuine crisis. It is a life and death concern for the developing world, especially the poor whose homes and livelihood are at risk. It is a spiritual concern to love the biosphere and love our poor neighbor. (Katharine Hayhoe a top climate scientist; Jonathan R. Wilson, God’s Good World. Steven Bouma-Prediger, For the Beauty of the Earth.; A Rocha Organization). Katharine Hayhoe is a Canadian climate change scientist participating at the Regent College Pastor’s Conference in May 2015. The world may be at a tipping point in this arena. The United nations is saying that we could be facing millions of ecological migrants going forward. A Lausanne Statement includes: http://www.lausanne.org/content/statement/creation-care-call-to-actionand http://www.lausanne.org/content/ctc/ctcommitment, particularly Part I, Section 7)
Christ Consciousness—building our identity and sending our roots deep into a robust vision of Jesus, versus a reductionistic or dumbed down See my other short statement on this topic. “Jesus is the Yes and Amen to it All”. (We have super resources in Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection; N.T. Wright’s excellent work on Jesus). Learning to build our identity in Christ and practice his Lordship in life and outlook will go a long way to mature us as believers. There is a lot of other forces pulling on the Christian identity these days and a literal crisis of self in late modernity, which I examine in my dissertation on Michel Foucault. In a day of Nihilism, one has to work hard to build a plausibility structure, and lay out the plausibility conditions for belief, meaning and transcendence (Charles Taylor, Lesslie Newbigin). See on this issue my book Escape from Nihilism: rediscovering our place in late modernity. Christo-centrism is an anchor and a key credibility factor for Christian faith these days, in order to keep us from getting off on contemporary causes or superficial trendiness. Jens Zimmermann and James Davison Hunter warn us that Christians can have their identity washed out by plurality of options and by what Hunter calls dissolution.
International Awareness: This arena works on growth in identity as a global citizen of the kingdom, developing a global vision, growth in awareness of cultural and ethnic diversity within our Canadian neighbourhood. The goal is to develop in disciples a missional (Ross Hastings, Missional God, Missional Church: hope for re-evangelizing the West.) There is now a large missional church literature and conversation in North America. We are familiar with the concept of emotional intelligence in leadership discourse a key concept here is cultural intelligence. Graduate students in our universities and coming from everywhere in the world and are training for international leadership in various fields. We ought to take them more seriously in terms of the future of the kingdom and the church, as well as their future leadership calling in society and as international ambassadors. There are now 10,000 graduate students working at UBC; that’s a lot of brainpower. Outreach Canada’s Perspectives Course has been quite effective in developing this vision.
Maturity through Suffering (I Peter) This arena explores the art and meaning of suffering, redeeming our suffering, building character through suffering, learning compassion through suffering. How do we handle societal or academic marginalization as Christian exiles (James Houston)? (Resources: Scott Cairns, The End of Suffering: finding the purpose of pain; Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer). Suffering and the Problem of Evil seem to coalesce as an issue in people’s minds, but this is not always helpful. There is great discipleship benefit to drilling down into the biblical concept of suffering. People need help in learning to suffer well, keep their dignity, and discover a closeness to God in the midst of their suffering. This is an arena where the Christian story can stand out in a positive way and confront a narcissistic culture of entitlement and consumeristic individualism.
Historical Heritage: This builds in a vision that today’s believer is standing on the shoulders of past saints, reformers and martyrs in our church history. It also offers correction and rebuttal to inadequate historical accounts of Christianity’s influence on Western culture (David Bentley Hart, Atheist Delusions: the Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies; Rodney Stark; many other excellent resources available). Churches should not shy away from tracing their roots and benefitting from the history of doctrine and practice. Many of the battles we are fighting today were also fought decades and centuries ago. We work before a great crowd of witnesses and benefit from the roads they have laid in history. We can also learn from their mistakes and the impact of their extremes. One could draw on Don Lewis and Bruce Hindmarsh at Regent College for inspiration on this arena.
Incarnational Humanism It is good to realize the social, institutional and cultural (human) impact of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. Learning to become a better human and how to hold out a vision for social health, civility and reform (Bonhoeffer). What does it mean that we are the Body of Christ in cultural leadership terms? Fresh research and thought comes from Trinity Western University’s Jens Zimmermann, Incarnational Humanism: a philosophy of culture for the church in the world. Christians should reclaim their heritage in the history of humanism, going all the way back to Augustine and indeed rooted in the Old Testament. First Things Journal highlights this arena from a variety of denominational perspectives as does the organization Cardus on Public Policy in Canada. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has a stake in this arena. The challenges come from the Nihilists (anti-humanists and post-humanists of Nietzschean descent); Brad Gregory and Charles Taylor exposit this concern. At the end of the day, is not the redemption of our lives in Christ to make us better humans and committed to shalom (offering a blessing or contributing to the common good of society)? James Davison Hunter uses the language of faithful presence.
Apologetics Skill and Giftedness This involves learning to give an answer to those who ask why we believe and suffer with Christ. It also helps Christians who are going through questions and doubts about their faith in a ‘postmodern’ secular culture. This involves learning the language of contemporary (late modern) culture, communication, debate, and dialogue, skill in answering the tough questions. It helps develop the breadth and depth of language to include the transcendent and the poetic. (The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: surveying the evidence for the truth of Christianity (eds. Ed Hinson & Ergun Carter 2008; Tim Keller, The Reason for God; Alister McGrath, Intellectuals Don’t Need God?; see my blog ubcgcu.org for multiple resources in Apologetics). I will do an overview seminar to introduce this vision at Missionsfest Vancouver, January 2015. Apologetics Canada in British Columbia and Dig and Delve in Ottawa hold conferences specifically to develop and equip in this vision each Spring. It is one thing to introduce someone to Christ; it is quite another to establish them and give them the tools to face their detractors and a culture of doubt and cynicism.
Knowledge of Other Religions and Worldviews (including secular ideologies such a scientific/exclusive humanism and Nihilism, plus radical post-humanism) in order to intensify our knowledge of the Christian faith, and promote inter-religious dialogue, appreciation and impact. The wise understanding of the relationship between philosophy and theology (reason and faith) is a key issue here (Charles Taylor at McGill; John Stackhouse Jr. at Regent College; David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: being, consciousness, bliss.: Eerdmans Handbook on World Religions). See item on Islam below. The agencies Apologetics Canada in B.C. (March) and Dig and Delve in Ottawa are working on these issues for 18-30 year olds through annual conferences. A basic course on world religions could be taught in the local church. It is inadequate simply to repeat that Jesus is the only way to God without working with the nuances of other religious views. How else are we to engage and love our neighbor of another faith persuasion? This is deeply relevant in Canada of the twenty-first century. Don Klaassen staff at Outreach Canada is mobilizing concern for reaching Punjabis in BC and reconciliation with Native Canadians.
Theology of Bodies (sexuality, mindfulness, healing from abuse, whole personhood): Many are learning how to cope with sexual addictions, order their sexual desires, respect boundaries in relationships, cultivate faithfulness to married partners and children. The quest for sexual health and whole relationships is a huge issue currently for both married and single people, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leadership. Under this category, James Houston reveals a current need to disciple in friendship and personhood in a technological age. Technology of sin is also an important area of teaching and discipleship: the internet poses intense new challenges to discipleship and holiness for young people. Living Waters is an agency that does much work in this arena. Law Professor Benjamin Perrin at UBC has fought a good battle on the human trafficking issue, helping to shape Canadian policy.
Science in Healthy Perspective How to understand science as it relates to Christian faith, to distinguish between legitimate science and the ideology of scientism. One needs to find a balanced understanding of science and its relation to the Christian faith amidst the extreme views. Evolution/Origins and Genesis 1-3 (along with other biblical statements on creation) is one of the key issues to discern. Here the quest is to deliver a more robust understanding of the doctrine of creation. The logos doctrine (John 1, Colossians 1) is very relevant. There are many good resources in my Blog on this topic and also my paper on Scientism examines the issues. The Colossian Forum is working on this in the USA. The Faraday Institute for Dialogue on Science and Religion at Cambridge University is very resourceful (Test of Faith video series), as is the Canadian Science and Christian Affiliation and BioLogos. Many people find Sir John Polkinghorne, John Lennox and Ian Hutchinson well-read and helpful on this issue.
Worship as Formation in a Trinitarian Personal Format (as a communion of love: T.F. Torrance, Kallistos Ware, Jens Zimmermann, Jeremy Begbie, James K.A. Smith). Worship is rarely talked about in churches and is poorly studied in general. There are some conferences on worship and liturgy for leaders. Begbie combines the Arts in theology and worship. Youth and adults would benefit much from teaching and discipleship in worship and the place of the eucharist (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts). There are tendencies in a number of traditions to focus on only one member of the Trinity in worship or to take too rationalistic approach to worship.
Recovery of the Virtues and the Virtuous Community (character formation II Peter 1: 3-8) The C.S. Lewis Summer Institute in Oxbridge July 2014 focused on this theme: Recovering the Virtues for Human Flourishing. We see a robust recovery of virtue ethics within academia and emphasis on character formation these days in business leadership. Is virtue being taught in church in any robust sense or do we just assume it is being caught by osmosis? (Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue. Stephen Bouma-Prediger, For the Beauty of the Earth; other resources on the intellectual virtues include Brad Gregory, The Unintended Reformation; Zagzebski, Virtues of the Mind). This is an urgent concern given the crisis of civility in the West at the moment. Churches have an opportunity to lead by example in this area in order to build moral capital and enhance their plausibility within society. The Catholic Church has traditionally carried the strongest flame for the virtuous community, but Protestants have regained an interest and a stake in the discussion as it is a concept that can be recovered for the good of the church. This also offers a strategic cutting edge of witness to a secular culture if played well. It can offer some proactive challenge to vices displayed as virtue (e.g. greed). I found that Brad Gregory articulated the vital importance of this issue for me in recent years. Virtue is a very positive way into the discussion about ethics today.
What is the Nature of the Church? We seem to have a bit of an identity crisis these days in late modernity of what we mean by church and there is real conflict on the nature of church (traditional versus emerging/emergent) between generations of pastoral leadership. Some pastors see themselves as more ‘postmodern’ in their outlook and love to experiment. Some use Deep Church (Jim Belcher) or Mere Christian as a talking point for this issue. Eugene Peterson has a mature statement on church identity in Practice Resurrection: a conversation of growing up in Christ. Many are leaving the traditional church out of boredom; these otherwise faithful believers do not attend any church because they are fed up with being patronized or just used as a wallet or pew warmer to keep organizational machinery going. Creativity is a needed commodity; the tension could be used to our creative advantage. Included in the issue list is whether women should be allowed top leadership positions within church hierarchy, or in several cases any official (eldership) leadership at all.
Grappling with Western Culture and the Language of Secularity Charles Taylor and Jens Zimmermann are two deep analysts on this issue. Richard Middleton and Brian Walsh are also very helpful eyes on this item. Christian leaders often struggle to understand the culture in which people in their congregations live and the language they use day to day. (see: James K.A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular: reading Charles Taylor.; Charles Taylor, A Secular Age.). One wise leader in the business community suggested that pastors have lunch with the business colleagues of their parishioners to get to know their world (finance, mergers, legal, stock markets, supply chain, economic challenges). The stereotype ideal or myth is that the rise of science has brought an end to religion in the West (Taylor’s subtraction thesis). This is one of my areas of research interest. Naturalistic materialism is being critiqued: see David Bentley Hart, The Experience of God: being, consciousness, and bliss or Alvin Plantinga, Where the Conflict Really Lies. This also includes wrestling with Nihilism and the anti-human spirit in Western thought. See my new book Escape from Nihilism: rediscovering our place in late modernity. See also Jens Zimmermann, Incarnational Humanism: a philosophy of culture for the church in the world. (IVP Academic). Al Gore’s book The Future: six drivers of global change is also a good read in this arena; it gives the big picture on current challenges.
Peace-making, International Compassion, Non-violence, Reconciliation and Justice(aka Political Discipleship) Essential to the teaching of the New Covenant is the art and ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5). Never before has there been a greater need for this skill as a Christian in a violent world of militant ideologies, dwindling resources, child soldiers, radical ideologies, cruel dictatorships, intense capitalist greed and financial irresponsibility, growing disparity of wealth between plutocratic rich and poor, sex trafficking, abuse of women and children, millions of refugees and displaced peoples from terrorism. This includes teaching Christian believers to cooperate, mobilize prayer and activism across denominations and the political right and left spectrum for the same noble kingdom causes. Ron Sider, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Miraslov Volf, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King Jr., Gene Bethke Elshtain, and Nicholas Wolterstorff are some of the key voices. The movie I Am by Tom Shadyac gives some direction of a new paradigm (rethinking of goals) where walls are broken down and love is at the center of future goals. He gives a story of someone who has rethought their paradigm of what is important to the good life. This arena includes health care and education in a big way. Christian young people should be made aware of what their options are for service. It brings into critique the spirit of individualism, racism, clannish behaviour and isolationism. Urbana and Missionsfest help on this front.
Skill in Loving Our Muslim Neighbour With major immigration from the Middle East, thousands of international students on our North American campuses, large refugee problems and globalization, we have a strategic opportunity and challenge to get to know and reach out to people from the various sects of the Muslim community within our Western lands, and internationally as we travel and work in various industries, NGOs and humanitarian organizations. This again is a serious call to maturity to go the extra mile. The need has hardly been more intense than today, with much research, thinking and wisdom required. It includes developing a working knowledge of the documents (Koran, Hadith), the common ground and Apologetics to meet Muslim challenges to the Christian faith in various parts of the world. One must discern between radical Islam (as in the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS) and faithful Muslims with family values. Gordon Nickel, Andy Bannister of RZIM, Nabeel Qureshi, and Ron Dart at University of the Fraser Valley are helpful resources. The Canadian Network of Ministry to Muslims, a partnership with Outreach Canada headed by Peter Wolfe, is a discussion and support group in this arena. A recent conference involved 320 participants. The enthusiasm for this ministry was palpable.
Discipleship of the Christian Mind or Worldview John Patrick at St. Augustine College in Ottawa is doing a serious job of preparing high school grads for university in a one year program. A high percentage of the grads of this school do not lose their faith in university. James Sire has a long track record in this arena for university students (Discipleship of the Mind; The Universe Next Door). This arena takes seriously the interface between faith and culture. This is a big part of my work with graduate students to help them engage their studies from a Christian perspective/outlook. Intervarsity Press (IVP and IVP Academic) has traditionally taken a lead here, employing Christian faculty in different fields. Regent College puts a high priority on the mind; they are launched Reframe November 2014 as a video course for churches and Christian agencies. Learner’s Exchange at St. John’s Church Vancouver has a strong program—Sunday morning seminars on intellectual topics or key books led by members of the church. This is also carried by the Pascal Lectures at University of Waterloo, Graduate & Faculty Christian Forum at UBC, Veritas Forums on campuses around the world, the faith and culture aspect of my blog ubcgcu.org
Global Intercession This arena involves the development and nurture of an awareness, aptitude, faith and passion for the big scale changes that prayer can bring about: moving the hearts of kings (Psalm 138, Daniel, Esther), heading off an evil movement, deconstructing an oppressive regime, supporting the persecuted church in other countries. It takes seriously the concept of principalities and powers (Walter Wink, Ephesians 6). It builds the awareness that God is interested in Berlin Walls, divisions between North and South Korea, Russian incursion in Ukraine, ISIS brutality and oppression. Ute Carkner staff at Outreach Canada is a champion of this concern.
Spiritual Gifts This is a very challenging area but needs to be addressed. How do we help people discover their spiritual gifts and put them into practice in the local church and beyond? Many parishioners today are bored with the lock down on leadership by professional ministry staff, especially in larger churches; they are exiting our churches because of it. They feel underemployed so to speak by ushering, parking, counting the offering and teaching Sunday School. The gifts can be taught, but there needs to be an opportunity to explore one’s giftedness in real time with healthy feedback from a community of believers. This is an arena that requires spiritual imagination going forward. It can also issue in development of new leadership for the church long-term.
Prayer for Lent
Lord of the Dance, Host of the Feast, free us to enter and enjoy the new heart and mind that you always offer humanity. Free us from all thse thongs which make us small, smug, or superficial. Show us by going first, how to dip under the waters of grace and mercy, and to never hold you to what we think you have said, if it holds us back from what you still want to say. Amen ~Richard Rohr
Almighty ever living God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray and to give more than we desire or deserve, pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those things for which our prayers dare not ask. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)
Psalm 119 was memorized in its entirety by William Wilberforce a nineteenth century British politician who helped to end slave trade (1807) and slavery itself (1833). It is a profound statement of a heart turned towards God.
The Oscar Romero Prayer
Martyr Bishop of El Salvador
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
Prayer establishes us in the deepest possible relationship with God. By our prayer we share the life of God. The Trinity becomes a reality in us as a guest of the soul. Earth becomes heaven. Why go on searching for God beyond the stars when he is so close to us, within us. Heaven, the hidden place, is not some lofty vaulting construction, studded with stars. It is a land of intimate closeness, so near that we can speak to God, stay with him, worship him anywhere. His Holy Spirit is in us. He is the skilled craftsman who unites us with God. It is he who incorporates us in Jesus Christ, who teaches us what we must say to the Father. He creates a new spirit within us. He carries our prayer to the Most High and gives our feeble and childish yearnings value in the sight of God.
~Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Dessert
I realize that no one will believe me, but I have no hesitation about affirming that a serious beginning is made in the spiritual life the moment a man makes a genuine act of humility. So often for most men the early stages of faith, or, in the case of others its development, is blocked, poisoned, distorted, or relegated to an everlasting tomorrow by our inability to become like a little child and to cast ourselves, in the spirit of a child, into the enfolding arms of God’s mystery. We try to show God how clever we are, when no class of men is so abhorrent to the Gospel; we want to lay down conditions to the Eternal and Infinite One, but the Infinite does not respond, and the Eternal allows time to destroy us.
Ute Carkner is thoroughly rooted in Scripture: Old and New Testament, an orthodox evangelical, brought up in the Lutheran tradition, committed to directing people in the path of Jesus through discipleship. She is creedal, Trinitarian, committed to seeking God in prayer for people and for world affairs. Her approach is very sensitive and reflective, slowing people down so they can listen to God and get in touch with their own heart. She helps them send their roots down deep into Christ and his gospel. She believes that God offers rich resources to transform one’s life and produce the fruits of the Spirit. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia Teachers College in Chicago, a Bachelor of Education from York University and a Masters of Christian Studies from Regent College. She taught elementary school in Barrie, Ontario for eight years, worked with IVCF with youth for three years in Barrie, pastored at Tenth Avenue Alliance in Vancouver for six years, and Outreach Canada for two years.
The Importance of Prayer in Graduate Schoolby Jasmine Hamilton, PhD student in medical pathology
Graduate studies can easily become a frenzied, exhausting experience. This always leads to frustration. The major challenge for me was determining where my governance would come from. Would I be governed by the abundant deadlines, politics, heavy work loads and relationships that arise during this demanding period of life? Or is there a better way for me to live out my calling as graduate student? I have found prayer to be the answer.
Prayer has allowed me to situate myself (perspective and approach to work) under the kingdom of heaven. It ensures that I am governed from within and the very act of prayer welcomes God’s breath to enliven my spirit. Most importantly, it allowed me to hear and perceive the words that proceed from His mouth towards me.
Prayer has shown me that God wants to shape my graduate school experience. He wants to work through me to build something that can withstand the fire, something golden and beyond my imagination. Prayer opens my eyes to this truth, which ultimately guides my approach to my research and relationships. It also provides opportunities for God and others to speak life and encouragement into my circumstances. It provides so much needed support and has been a life giver to me. My life and graduate school experience is fuller and definitely freer.
Throughout my time at UBC, I often pondered this scripture “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.” Psalm 127:1-2.How sobering! When I read this scripture I am convinced that prayer is actually the most important thing. Welcoming God to take control of this experience and to guide me is to say yes and amen to His desire for me.
Spiritual Exercises and Neuroscience
In a book by Curt Thompson called the Anatomy of the Soul, he suggests a spiritual exercise which each of us could practice in the regular course of our day. Take one of the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) and reflect on it for a week. Examine your moods and day according to this fruit. It can give a fresh perspective, and stop bad attitudes at the door. What Scripture applies? How can you speak that fruit into the lives of others? How can that fruit change the world? Challenge your friends to join you in this. Change it the next week and see if this doesn’t bring personal transformation, and a fresh sense of God’s grace.
Further on this note: In reading a book by Psychiatrist Curt Thompson on neuroscience and spirituality (Anatomy of the Soul) this past summer, I was reminded of the importance of brain balance for our mental and spiritual health and growth overall. One of our tasks says Thompson is to promote better communication and thus more neural connections between right and let brain hemispheres. This reduces anxiety and stress and helps us feel more at home with ourselves and the world. Einstein apparently had huge cross brain fibre connection. Is genius somehow related to this strong cross-brain communication?
Each of us, because of specialization and academic passion, is developing one side of our brain more than the other; that is both good and a potential handicap. Dr. Thompson encourages us to do some exercises to balance this out. I have one suggestion for today. In the Barber Library on the second floor next to our book study room 315, they have relocated UBC’s vast selection of classical music. You can enjoy good music as you work or commute or wind down before bed and educate yourself about the classics of our cultural heritage–right brain support. This is also guaranteed to help the communication between your two brain hemispheres, thus contributing to your well-being and your overall intelligence. Building friendships with people of the opposite brain trust may take more work, but can be fruitful for our own work and wholeness.
Did you also know that spiritual exercises also contribute to neural growth and brain health? Prayer can help your studies and research. See also the GCU blog post on eating well for your brain by GCU Alumnus Andrea Goldson from Jamaica. https://ubcgcu.org/2012/08/23/brain-foods-by-andrea/
I have felt that my brain has had to grow and be rewired to support my teenage daughter in her young adolescence. My parenting intelligence for her younger years was inadequate. It is a wonderful thought that our brains are growing for our whole lives according to the latest neuroscience.
That’s my thought for the week, ~Gord Carkner
Current Concerns for Prayer:
Disaster Relief in the Philippines
Persecution of people for the faith in many countries
Especially Syria right now as they try to sort out a way forward in governance.
The Ongoing Struggles in Congo
Tensions between China and Japan
The Negotiation between Iran and the UN on nuclear proliferation.
Canadian Government Scandals and Wisdom for the Mayor of Toronto.
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Priceless Quotes from Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. (NY Time Bestseller)
~shaping the theme of our fall retreat along with Philippians 4~
Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control, let go of my own way, let go of my own fears. Let God blow His wind, His trials, oxygen for joy’s fire. Leave the hand open and be. Be at peace. Bend the knee and be small and let God give what God chooses to give because He only gives love and whisper a surprised thanks. This is the fuel for joy’s flame. Fullness of joy is discovered only in the emptying of will. And I can empty. I can empty because counting His graces has awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I can empty because I am full of His love. I can trust.
When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows. How can this not be the best thing for the world? For us? The clouds open when we mouth thanks.
Here you can enact eucharisteo; here you can become a current in a river of grace that redeems the world! Here I can become the blessing, a little life that multiplies joy, making the larger world a better place.
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A Sonnet for Trinity Sunday by Malcolm Guite, Cambridge University
In 50 years of being a pastor, my most difficult assignment continues to be the task of developing a sense among the people I serve of the soul-transforming implications of grace–a comprehensive, foundational reorientation from living anxiously by my witts and muscle to living effortlessly in the world of God’s active presence. The prevailing North American culture (not much different from Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman cultures in which our biblical ancestors lived) is to all intents and purposes, a context of persistent denial of grace.
Dallas Willard (recently deceased) in his book The Divine Conspiracy, notes that the kingdom has come; it is as close to us as the tip of our nose, if we dare be aware of it; shalom has come; infinite goodness, truth and beauty have come; shekinah glory dwells with us in Jesus, now through the Holy Spirit in the community of faith. Of course as a community on the way, we are not perfect and exhibit various kinds of brokenness. There is more to come, but it is definitely begun—inaugurated by Jesus. We must hold onto that, bind ourselves to Christ and his kingdom values. This is God’s very presence with us and among us, an impressive gift. We are to open it, and step up to it, walk out the implications in life on campus. Perhaps we don’t pray enough for a strong sense of God’s presence in our daily life; we are happy to be surviving saints. But as James Davison Hunter reminds us, God is our source to empower us, to help us cultivate the garden of our department and field of research, to bring shalom, blessing or well-being to our colleagues, to speak the language of God, of hope and promise. Post-resurrection, the redemptive path has been mapped out and set in motion. N. T. Wright articulates its energy in his book Simply Christian:
Made for spirituality we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our full human role as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.
Ignatius of Loyola & Postgrad Life: from Emerging Scholars
Praise the Lord, created thing! Let all space with praises ring! Space itself, Hosanna sing Unto God, Jehovah, King!I.Particles in smallest cracks, Known but by emulsion tracks: Let all mesons praise messiah! Songs of praise mount ever higher!Alpha, beta, gamma rays: Join the chorus of His praise! Be you ultimate or not, All created, all begot.Parity’s been overthrown― Something He had always known. Antimatter, fragments odd, Quantum jumps to praise our God.II.Now from unexplored domains Up to where the atom reigns; Forged from state once hyperdense, Praise your maker, elements!Atoms of increasing mass, Nuclei from solar gas, Orbital electrons twinning: Praise the God who set you spinning
Rare-earth metal, halogen, Amorphous glass or crystalline, Solid, liquid, vapor phase: Join in everlasting praise!
III.
Molecules from atoms made According to the plans He laid: Praise the God of Angstrom units! God of Abraham―and Kunitz!
Carbon compounds by the score, Hundreds, thousands, millions more; Helical configuration Structured into God’s creation
Proteins now and DNA, Intertwining overlay; Prototype of living cell: Praise the God of Israel!
IV.
Viruses and protozoa: Praise the faithful God of Noah! Coral on the ocean shelf: Praise the God of life itself!
Mildew, mosses, redwood trees, Birds in air and fish in seas, Crawling cockroach, roaring lion: Praise Jehovah, God of Zion!
Human beings, new dimension― Culture, science, and invention; You who can subdue the earth: Praise the God who gave you birth!
V.
Earth we live on, merely one Planet of a minor sun: Join this entire galaxy, Showing forth His majesty!
Beyond our own galactic rim, Billions more are praising Him. Ten to some gigantic power Times the height of Babel’s tower.
Past the range of telescope: God of faith and love and hope. Praise Him every tongue and race! Even those in outer space!
Selah
However far space does extend From beginning unto end, Praise the God who does transcend! Every knee before Him bend!
God of whom these words are penned: Against Thee only have we sinned. Almighty Author of creation: Visit us with Thy salvation.
A Note on Prayer & Studies
We suggest that Creation and Incarnation must be linked; also Creation and Redemption should be held in a mutual inter-locked outlook as we find stated in Colossians 1:15-23: the divine Word, which was there at creation, is now leading his new creation, enmeshed, enfleshed being, logos embodied, situated in society and history, engaged with culture.
He is the wisdom of God and the power of God, the telos or goal of everything. If we are able to say ‘Jesus is Lord’ with respect to our studies and our relationships (Romans 8), that will continue to transform them and give us fresh motivation, creativity and energy. The Christian life is all about a process of transformation as we journey through our academic pilgrimage.
Study or work should never be seen as a necessary evil that has to be endured (a low view of academia which lacks dignity). We present our work as unto the Lord, not just to our committee, or peer review journals. We are made in God’s image, which entails a mandate for stewardly creativity; God loves his creation, has lived in it and he authenticates our humanness (our being human).
God shows his deep personal and vested interest in people and their human condition as whole persons (their maleness, femaleness, embodied vulnerabilities, hopes and aspirations, giftedness, brokenness and pain). We celebrate God and his good creation; therefore, our study of it, our engagement with its problems, is a vital part of our worship; we thank him for his grace in redeeming the whole thing.
We are in his grip and headed in the direction of a communion of love, when heaven meets earth. How do we get more of heaven to engage the UBC community (Ralph Wood)? It is not only God who becomes incarnate in Christ Jesus; we are the incarnation of his kingdom in our world, bringing his radical forgiveness to light. Dr. Wood of Baylor University said, “We must get more of heaven into us.” James Davison Hunter also focused our attention on the paradigm of incarnation, in order to build towards shalom and a faithful presence.
~Gord Carkner
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Overall, Ephesians is a revelation of church as God’s gift that provides us with conditions for growing up to maturity in Christ, who is the head of the church. The message opens with prayer that bursts off the page like an artesian spring (1:1-23). Then the prayer goes underground, prayers like a subterranean river deep within the church keeping the aquifers filled. Midway, the water again comes briefly to the surface (3: 14-21). But all through the letter we are aware that all the nouns and verbs, all the syntax and all parts of speech, have been watered by the artesian springs of prayer. This message that guides us in growing up in Christ in the company of church develops in a community of prayer. “All that the epistle has to say about faith and life is wrapped up in the form of prayer. It actually is said to God and to the Ephesians at the same time as a solemn, dignified, devoted prayer.” (Markus Barth). As we grow into maturity, prayer is the language that increasingly underlies and suffuses all of our language.
~Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection p. 266
There are many events on and off campus which require prayer and we welcome your participation either at the prayer meetings or to pray as you see the needs while you are in the lab, library or traveling across campus. It’s not just that prayer changes the world; it also changes us and teaches us how to care for others, to get God’s view on our world. We believe in students making space for God in their busy schedules, gathering with other believers for worship, taking a sabbath rest, journalling, intercession.
Many of the great saints of history have been mentored in a school of prayer; would that we had more of these today. We are not alone and so we should access this amazing grace that animates our existence as we grow in relationship to God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. There are so many possible spiritual practices for us to explore together or on our own. More later on this.
Devotional Insights: The Book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom for daily living and we recommend that you work through it every so often, to sample its special spiritual and practical fruits. Sometimes I wander to the Book if the sermon is rather mundane and it keeps me going, thinking and feeling. Applications: relationships, choices, help in understanding difficult people, staying out of trouble.
Oh God, by whom we are guided in judgment,
And who raises up light out of darkness:
Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties,
The grace to ask what you would have us do;
That your spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices,
And in your straight path we may not stumble;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. ~Book of Common Prayer
Dag Hammarskjold: “But when they taste God, be it he in himself or in his works, they recognize at the same time there is an infinite distance between the creature and the Creator, time and eternity … Enlighten my soul that she might find he life and joy in Thee, until, transposed out of herself by the excess of her happiness, she bonds herself to Thee with all her powers and in all her motions. Thou takest the pen–and the lines dance. Thou takest the flute–and the notes shimmer. Thou takest the brush–and the colours sing. So all things have meaning and beauty in that space beyond time where Thou art. How then can I hold back anything from Thee?”
Colossians 1: 15-20 (the Core of Life’s Meaning)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.
Formal Activities & Skills (also see GCU Events Fall Retreat Oct. 19-20)
1. I meet with individual students to listen to their stories and their hurts, their spiritual struggles, for spiritual direction. I love to listen to how God is at work in your life and help move you forward. It is no fun when you are stuck spiritually. We want to help you at retreats and one one one to access all the graces that God has to offer to you. We want you to grow spiritually just as much as you grow academically. It is so good to know that God has a major interest or stake in your spiritual health (Psalm 139).
2. I network with prayer groups and pastors in local churches to encourage them, and introduce them to strategies to mobilize prayer within their congregation. I have a vision to pray for local, provincial, federal governments and global issues such as Syria and the European debt crisis. I stay on top of Angela Merkel and her leadership; she is a believer. My passion is for Christians to work together towards unity in the Body of Christ across this city. In light of this conviction, I am hosting Michael Cassidy at an evening in October: Famous African Enterprise Leader Michael Cassidy speaks: part of a world tour Thursday, October 11 @ 7:00 p.m. West Point Grey Baptist Church (Sasamat @ 11th Ave.) He speaks on his recent publication which is rooted in John 17: The Church Jesus Prayed For. He believes in mentoring young leaders, so I hope you can join us on this special evening where people will gather from various churches. It is sure to be very encouraging, moving and eye opening.
Report on Michael Cassidy, Founder of African Enterprise, Honorary Chairman Lausanne Committee on World Evangelism
It was great to hear Christian statesman Michael Cassidy and his dramatic stories of fifty years of ministry on the great African continent. It is shot through with courage and conviction, supported by the abundance of God’s grace. Metaphorically, his work represents the Politics of Love and Reconciliation. He has brought many an oppressor together with the oppressed, people of various races and social statuses and taught them brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. The comments below include some insights and stories from his addresses across our Lower Mainland area within the past week. There is so much more to tell.
His vision began as a young seminary student at Fuller, and as he walked into his opportunities, God opened one door after another, even to the highest levels of leadership in African countries, and beyond Africa. He is responsible for several major gatherings of leaders with a view to sensing their common humanity and working towards peace across lines of division. For instance, in 1992 at a crucial time in the recent history of South Africa he brought 96 leaders from factional groups together over six sessions (15 on a retreat at one time) to hear each other’s story, present a vision for SA and how to get there. These were dramatic events of change and finding common cause. On another occasion in 1985, he presented the Kairos Document to then President Botha, who rejected it outright and threatened Michael’s life. Cassidy stood up to him. In 2003, Cassidy went back to Botha’s home to reconcile after the heat had died down.
The KAIROS document is a Christian, biblical and theological comment on the political crisis in South Africa today. It is an attempt by concerned Christians in South Africa to reflect on the situation of death in our country. It is a critique of the current theological models that determine the type of activities the Church engages in to try to resolve the problems of the country. It is an attempt to develop, out of this perplexing situation, an alternative biblical and theological model that will in turn lead to forms of activity that will make a real difference to the future of our country.
Some things happened outside his plans as he was being faithful to his calling. For instance, after a talk he gave in Sydney, Australia on the plight of South Africa, the tape found its way to Dr. Don Page at External Affairs in Ottawa. Don brought the concerns before the Prime Minister and the Minister of External Affairs. They in turn shared it with Commonwealth national leaders meeting in Ottawa at that time. This brought change in sanctions against SA such that they were less brutal and much more effective in bringing an end to Apartheid.
Michael also spoke fondly of the two years of unrelenting mass prayer with thousands of partners around the world for the changes in SA. This effort is taken to be powerfully effective towards reconciliation, and avoidance of a major bloodbath in the early 90s. This brought about the “South African Miracle” and the first democratic election in decades. 1994 was the big historic event of finally getting an agreement between blacks and whites of various tribes before the election. 25,000 people were praying during the final negotiations, literally to prevent an imminent disaster.
This took monumental courage and perseverance by all involved. Later on Michael shared this news and the effects of this mass prayer with parliamentarians in Dublin, Ireland. This moved them deeply and gave them hope of ending the violence and factions there.
Through the strong efforts at truth, forgiveness and reconciliation with Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, Michael and his team were able to convert a military officer (450,000 troops) who was bent on assassinating Mandela in the early years of his rule.
Michael is clearly a man of great skill in team building among church and non-church leaders in cities and nations, and a great person of prayer, a man with a big heart. His most recent book The Church that Jesus Prayed For to be released soon speaks from experience of those ten elements that make healthy disciples and a healthy church as articulated by Jesus in John 17: Truth, Holiness, Joy, Protection from Evil, Commitment to Mission, Prayerfulness, Unity, Love, Fullness of the Spirit, and Glory. He called it a concerto of values in the kingdom. It seems that it will be very encouraging for pastors and the whole Christian community.
He left us Canadians with a challenge: What kind of country do you want Canada to become? If you want a good country, go to your enemies and work it out. Work for righteousness and justice in the land; you believers have the cards to play. Build Christian solidarity and communication across your country.
Continue to pray for South Africa, with its ongoing race, poverty and justice issues! ~Gord & Ute
3. I run a Wednesday morning prayer meeting for mentoring women in intercession at our home. Young women are welcome. My good friend Louise Holert is offering an excellent day called Praying with the Arts on Saturday, October 27 at Fairview Baptist on 16th Ave near Burrard. Click on URL Praying with the Arts_Oct-2012Van20 . I look forward to meeting you at one of the GCU events. Contact me anytime. Seek him while he can be found.
4. I offer different spiritual exercises for you to practice as per below:
O God,
Let something essential and joyful happen in me right now,
searching like the blooming of hope and faith,
like a grateful heart, like a surge of awareness
of how precious each moment is,
that now not next time,
now is the occasion
to take off my shoes,
to see every bush afire,
to lead and whirl with neighbour,
to gulp the air as sweet wine
until I’ve drunk enough
to dare to speak the tender word:
“Thank you”,
“I love you”,
“You’re beautiful”,
“Let’s live forever beginning now”;
and “I’m a fool for Christ’s sake”.
~Ted Loder, Guerillas of Grace
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Cover via Amazon
Prayer of Examen
a. Thank God for the gift of another day.
b. Invite the Holy Spirit to bring to mind: what was life-giving in your attitudes, words and actions, and secondly what was not life-giving in these.
c. Give thanks for what was life-giving.
d. Be attentive to God’s invitation to confess what was not life-giving (I John 1:9).
e. Be intentional about “turning from” what you have confessed, open to God’s grace to change and possibly to take a step of reconciliation with someone.
Blessings,
Ute (ucarkner@shaw.ca)
Ute Carkner, BA, B.Ed., Masters in Christian Studies Regent College
Contemplative Music: Taize, Finding The Still Point, Angus Dei, Sanctus, Home, Anonymous Four, Michael W. Smith
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Requests for Prayer: Where Does My Help Come From?
Expansion of the Faculty & Grad Students Ministry to the eastern parts of the Lower Mainland and other parts of Canada
Stephen & Eri & Taise Pan in China over next year to do research on AIDS
Matt Wiens continues his research in Uganda
Peace in the Middle East
The American, Euro & Japanese Debt Issues + current American Fiscal Cliff
Angela Merkel’s leadership in Europe
Faculty as encouraging teachers and mentors to students.
Pray for South Africa and growing tensions and complications in the Middle East
Building exciting conversations about robust Christian faith at UBC
Civil dialogue between people of different faith perspectives.
Grad student creative witness in their academic arena.
Rigorous Christian thought in all disciplines
GCU and GFCF as a prophetic witness at UBC, and a voice for healthy dialogue.
Providing key results of scholarship for local church ministry.
Support to the spiritual seekers on campus.
Providing good apologetic tools and skills.
Urgent: Please pray for a resolution to the terrible suffering in Syria and the disruptions across North Africa and the Middle East!
Please pray for wisdom and courage in the European, American & Japanese debt crisis.
Andrea is a graduate of this group and UBC; she asks us to pray for her chronic illness which has kept her from her passion of teaching Mathematics in high school.
For Prayer Support & Dialogue: Ute Carkner, ucarkner@shaw.ca
Reflections on Romans 8 after the Fall Retreat at A Rocha
The Apostle Paul in chapters 1-7 lays out the big story of creation, fall and redemption (law, grace, calling, new opportunity and rescue), the debates about the place of the Torah or Law in redemption history. It is sobering while hopeful.
In chapter 8, the debate is over; it is time to stake our claim, time for a commitment, an existential move on our part, finding a platform to proceed with. There is no need to be trapped and stifled by the old bogus and dysfunctional paradigm of individual self-salvation (flesh), no need to prolong the pain, to be bored, entangled, depressed and self-defeating. It is high time to awaken and discover our new selves, under Christ’s Lordship, in the Paradigm of the Spirit: a new country, a new language, new kin, everything new, fresh and creative, full of life, full of surprises. Arrogance and greed, conflict, fear and worry gone, bullying and exploitation all gone. They are passé. Cancel the alliance with sin.
In this new country it is the new Law of Love (Jesus) that reigns supreme; this is the new code, the new trust,the new opportunity. No one, nothing can ever come between you and Love Incarnate. God is working through all circumstances and experiences for your good and growth. The Holy Spirit is cheering for you. Imagine the possibilities; this is your kairos moment. Go for it! The whole of creation is longing to see what you do with your new gift, waiting for you to take up your new identity and show leadership. Sign for your inheritance. Welcome to your new home, life in the Spirit; it is new every day!
O Lord, have mercy. This week we pray that you will show us more of this Paradigm of the Spirit. Show us how it can transform our relationship in the lab, with colleagues and professors, with family and church. In our classes, papers and research give us wisdom, efficiency and insight. Help us to acknowledge and practice your presence. May your Creator hand be upon us as we think and deliberate and decide direction in our work. Show us the way to Shalom, wholeness of life in your kingdom. May your kingdom come and your will be done at UBC this week. Be with us in our witness of your truth; help us to incarnate that truth. Amen.
~Gord Carkner
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O God of such truths as sweeps away all lies,
of such grace as shrivels all excuses,
come now to find us
for we have lost ourselves
in a shuffle of disguises
and the rattle of empty words.
Let the Spirit move mercifully
to recreate us from the chaos of our lives.
We have been careless of our days, our loves, our gifts, our chances…
Out prayer is to change, O God,
not out of despair of self but for love of you,
and for the selves we long to become
before we simply waste away.
Let you mercy move in and through us now…
Amen
~Ted Loder, My Heart in My Mouth
Prayer of Rest
I thank you Lord, that because of your great mercy, you are the giver of good gifts.
I thank you Lord that your Holy Spirit dispels chaos and fear everywhere he goes.
I ask you Lord to forgive me for the times in my life that I have purposefully chosen chaos and anxiety rather than asking you to deal with my worries and fears.
I repent for the times when I have not accepted your rest, but instead have invited stress, disorganization and confusion.
I thank you Lord because you carry my problems and teach me to depend on you. Teach me about the peace and joy of your Sabbath rest.
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We are all addicted to something that keeps us from fully desiring what we most deeply want, namely God. If we allow God to lead us our deepest desires will gradually emerge. These desires will also change in the course of our developing relationship with him.
What is important is that prayer should reach down to the core of our being, the point of unity of our identity. This is something deeper than and underlying all our intellectual and emotional activity. It is from here, if anywhere, that our thoughts and feelings can be ‘taken captive’ in Christ (II Cor. 10:5)…. It is when this deep centre is filled with the peace of Christ that our lives are ‘kept’ in and by him.
~Simon Tugwell Prayer in Practice
Paul has a strong foundation for understanding and entering into the comprehensive ways in which God is God: the ways in which God reveals himself as Father (the glories of creation and covenant); the ways in which God makes himself known as Son (the salvation accomplished in Jesus and the salvation community which is the church); the ways in which God is present with us as Spirit (the very life of God has given to us as a profusion of gifts empowering us to live the life of God)…. All the ways that God is God are implicit in all that God is and speaks and does…. The life of God and human life are not separate subjects. The primary way in which we participate in who God is in all the particularities of our actual living, deeply, personally, and inextricably in relationship, in the way of the Holy Spirit. It is because of God’s way with us as Spirit that we know that everything in and about God is livable—God bringing us into participation with God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not merely truths to be learned and believed. They are to be lived. The church is not primarily a place for education. It is a place, a playing field if you will, to practice God, to practice resurrection. (p. 204)
~Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection
It is your desire for God and your capacity to reach for more of God than you have right now that is the deepest essence of who you are. There is a place within each one of us that is spiritual in nature, the place where God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit about our truest identity. Here God’s Spirit dwells with our spirit, and here our truest desires make themselves known. From this place we cry to God for deeper union with him and with others.
~Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms.
Why Read Eugene Peterson’s book Practice Resurrection; a conversation on growing up in Christ?
This book stands out as a dialogue with the Apostle Paul on his profound support to the Ephesian believers. It represents Peterson at his articulate and poetic/prophetic best. He calls us with Paul up into full, robust maturity in Christ, rejecting mediocrity in Christian discipleship. In the process, the book is also a critique of modernity and its discontents; he challenges our superficial responses to culture, and asks us to drill down into the wonderful resources of grace and wisdom which are found in Christ, the Christian tradition and the fellowship of the Trinity. The book offers a fresh understanding of church and spiritual formation in today’s world; Christian leaders and lay persons will find it inspiring, challenging and ultimately life-giving. Here are a couple quotes to capture your imagination.
Paul lays out the conditions in which we grow up, namely, in a profusion of gifts: “When he ascended on high … he gave gifts to his people.” The ascended Jesus, Christ the King, launched his rule by giving gifts, gifts that turn out to be ways in which we participate in his kingly, gospel rule. This kingdom life is a life of entering more and more into a world of gifts, and then, as we are able, using them in a working relationship with our Lord … We begin as gift …. If we are to become mature, we must gradually but surely realize ourselves as gift from first to last. Otherwise we will misconceive our creation as self-creation.(pp.46-7)
Everything involved in the practice of resurrection requires vigilance lest we wander off on our own…. Left to ourselves, most of what we imagine God to be and do is wrong. Nearly all of what our culture tells us that God is and does is wrong. Not dead wrong, mind you—there is an astonishing amount of truth and goodness and beauty mixed into it—but enough wrong that if we swallow it whole we risk a “sickness unto death” (Kierkegaard’s diagnosis). Revelation is a radical reorientation of reality—God reality, church reality, soul reality, resurrection reality. We require a continuously repeated immersion in the revelation of God in the Scriptures and Jesus as protection against the lies of the devil. They are such affable lies: lies that smilingly seduce and distract us from the cross of Christ, lies that genially offer to show us how to depersonalize the living God into an idol customized to our use and control. (p.205)
There are no maps to the mature life, and certainly not to the mature life in Christ. Growing up involves the assimilation of nothing less than everything, the “all” to the “one”. The “all” of parents, biology, schooling, neighbourhood, worship, Scripture, friends, prayers, disappointments, accidents, injuries, songs, depression, politics, money, sin, forgiveness, occupations, play, novels, children, poems, marriage, suicides—and the “one” of God, also referred to four times in Ephesians as “the fullness” (pleroma): Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (p. 180)…. The gospel alternative to [the] cultural welter of one-answer advice and crafty deceit, seduction and empty promises to a better life, is church. Church just as it is, revealed to us in Paul’s One and All: the One circulating all the particular blood cells through the body of Christ. (p. 181)
Paul has a strong foundation for understanding and entering into the comprehensive ways in which God is God: the ways in which God reveals himself as Father (the glories of creation and covenant); the ways in which God makes himself known as Son (the salvation accomplished in Jesus and the salvation community which is the church); the ways in which God is present with us as Spirit (the very life of God has given to us as a profusion of gifts empowering us to live the life of God)…. All the ways that God is God are implicit in all that God is and speaks and does…. The life of God and human life are not separate subjects. The primary way in which we participate in who God is in all the particularities of our actual living, deeply, personally, and inextricably in relationship, in the way of the Holy Spirit. It is because of God’s way with us as Spirit that we know that everything in and about God is livable—God bringing us into participation with God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not merely truths to be learned and believed. They are to be lived. The church is not primarily a place for education. It is a place, a playing field if you will, to practice God, to practice resurrection. (p. 204)
Overall, Ephesians is a revelation of church as God’s gift that provides us with conditions for growing up to maturity in Christ, who is the head of the church. The message opens with prayer that bursts off the page like an artesian spring (1:1-23). Then the prayer goes underground, prayers like a subterranean river deep within the church keeping the aquifers filled. Midway, the water again comes briefly to the surface (3: 14-21). But all through the letter we are aware that all the nouns and verbs, all the syntax and all parts of speech, have been watered by the artesian springs of prayer. This message that guides us in growing up in Christ in the company of church develops in a community of prayer. “All that the epistle has to say about faith and life is wrapped up in the form of prayer. It actually is said to God and to the Ephesians at the same time as a solemn, dignified, devoted prayer.” (Markus Barth). As we grow into maturity, prayer is the language that increasingly underlies and suffuses all of our language. (p. 266)
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God Welcomes the Prayers of All Sceptics
Dear God, Buddha, Allah, Confucius, Plato, Krishna, Beings from other planets, Jesus, the Universe, Etc. Is anyone out there? Do you care?
OK, right, this is awkward. I don’t really believe in you anymore. I’m kind of still angry with my father who dragged me to church and force religion on our family. It’s just not cool with my friends you know to think or talk about spiritual things. They are big on science and extreme sports as the way to go. One of my profs is kicked up about Nietzsche, will to power, self-assertion therapy. I’m concerned about my career big time–medicine. At university, there is a litany of complaints about religion. [Perhaps you should send an envoy to address some of them?] Science & religion seem like oil and water or worse. Faith seems like wishful thinking or pure emotion, something for weaklings, an escape from reality.
But just in the outside chance that you, whoever you are, wherever you are, are real and that my fellow agnostics, sceptics and atheists are a bit overconfident, I have some questions that I’ve wanted to ask.
Why are you so hidden if you run the universe? You have a very low profile. A spot on CNN maybe to update humanity? At least a Facebook account, I suggest.
What’s the deal with the terrible violence, human suffering and injustice? This is very disturbing. Can’t something be done to stop it? Yuck.
What is love anyway? I don’t get it. Frustrating, illusive stuff. How do I sort out reality from fantasy here? Is it more than sex or an emotional high? My last boyfriend hurt me so much. It knocked me down for months.
I sense the need for more substantial meaning but I am afraid of looking the fool, hoping for too much and being disappointed. Partying is not doing it for me anymore. I’m so damn lonely. I wonder if there is really anyone I can trust?
Things are so complex. Is there a formula for happiness I’m not getting? Sometimes I think life expects too much of me. It’s not fair!
So many worldviews on offer; so many games in town. How do I choose? How do I know what’s true and bogus, aside from all the shouting, the rituals, images and outfits?
It is an awesome universe and nature is fantastic; hiking, biking and skiing gets me high and feeling good. I am cut by the beauty of these mountains and the vastness of the ocean, the size of the cosmos, the mystery of the early morning fog. That’s something that speaks to me.
I’m trying to be honest with myself, but it is really hard. Is it all just a game we play until we die? How do I get above my basic desires and fears? Are we humans any different than other animals? University seems so full of paradoxes and irony.
Morality confuses me, but I sense there is something to it, living for some good cause or some ideal, save the world, feed the poor, cure a disease.
I sense I need something to believe in, a source of inspiration beyond work, survival, paying bills, a mortgage. Is there an article or book I can read to sort this out? A class maybe? A brilliant person to talk to?
Please respond….Sarah <@sar_ah>
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Union with God can only be secured by love. And subjection to him can only be grounded in humility. And humility can only be the result of genuinely knowing and believing the truth—that is, the truth of God and of myself. I must continually discover how vital it is to lay hold of God and to hold him fast, for it is from him that I derive my being and without whom I am nothing.
~Bernard de Clairvaux, The Love of God
The resurrection of Jesus is like a cultural earthquake, its epicenter located in Jerusalem in the early 30s, whose aftershocks are still being felt in the cultural practices of people all over the world, many who have never heard of, and many more who have never believed in, its origins…. The resurrection is the hinge of history—still after two thousand years as far-reaching in its effects as anything that has come since…. The second Adam’s influence on culture comes through the greatest act of dependence, the fulfillment of Israel’s calling to demonstrate faith in the face of the great powers that threatened its existence comes in the willing submission of Jesus to a Roman cross, broken by, but breaking forever its power…. Indeed one of the most dramatic cultural effects of the resurrection is the transformation of that heinous cultural artifact known as a cross. An instrument of domination and condemnation becomes a symbol of the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed: an alternative culture where grace and forgiveness are the last word…. He faces the worst that human powers can do and rises, not just with some merely “spiritual” triumph over those powers, but with a cultural triumph—an answer, right in the midst of human history, to all the fears of Israel in the face of its enemies…. Even the cross, the worst that culture can do, is transformed into a sign of the kingdom of God–the realm of forgiveness, mercy, love and indestructible life.
If the Church really see itself as the people of God, it is obvious that it can never be a static and supra-historical phenomenon, which exists undisturbed by earthly space and historical time. The church is always and everywhere a living people, gathered together from the people of this world and journeying through the midst of time. The Church is essentially en route, on a journey, a pilgrimage. A Church which pitches its tents without looking out constantly for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling. The historical nature of the church is revealed by the fact that it remains the pilgrim people of God. It renews and continues the history of the ancient people of the covenant and fulfils it in the new covenant. At the same time it journeys through history, through a time of complex imperfection, towards the final perfection, the eschatological kingdom of God, led by God himself. It is essentially an interim Church, a Church in transition, and therefore not a church of fear but of expectation and hope: a Church which is directed towards the consummation of the world by God.
~The Church by Hans Kung
Made for spirituality we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world. It is time, in the power of the Spirit, to take up our proper role, our full human role as agents, heralds, and stewards of the new day that is dawning. That, quite simply, is what is means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God’s new world, which he has thrown open before us.
~N.T. Wright, Simply Christian
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Student Prayer
Dear God, you know my situation, my stressors and anxieties, self-doubt, my obsessions, the academic expectations that seem so impossible. You know that I complain too much and show appreciation and gratitude too infrequently. But your love and wisdom are much greater than all this angst that surrounds me, greater than the intense competition from my peers, or my fears about publication and future employment. Thank-you so much for the incredible opportunity to sharpen my skills, to pursue truth and beauty, to experience growth of character. Forgive me when I get too full up with my own concerns and forget to care about those around me, when I miss that special opportunity of grace. You know me more deeply than I know myself; you call me to live in joy and wonder under your sovereign care. Keep my heart alive with expectancy of that encounter, that burst of insight, that friend who needs my support. You are Life, a communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Fill my life and my research with your Holy Spirit so that I might this day be led into paths of fruitful service and dialogue.
The enjoyment of God should be the supreme end of prayer; and it is that enjoyment of God that we feel not only saved but safe; we are conscious of truly belonging to God.
We all have experiences of desiring, experiences which are also accompanied by a feeling of great well-being. These experiences are experiences of being touched by the creative desire of God who desires us into being and continues us in being.
The desire I experience is that of God creating me now in all the particulars of my present existence. It is the deepest desire within me and is in tune God’s one intention in creating the universe. That desire can become the ruling passion of my life, if I let it.
Insofar as this desire reigns in our heart, we also desire to live out our lives in harmony with this desire, to live in harmony with God’s creative purpose for us, to choose what will be more in tune with our desire for union with God.
~Finding God in All Things: a Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius by William Barry
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