I prayed the invocation for a Memorial Day Ceremony hosted by the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Lansing, Kansas this morning. Later in the ceremony we recognized the service of two men who had died within the past year to the United States military and to our community. My prayer reflected that we have had much rainfall during the past two weeks and aspects of the service of one of the men, whom I knew better. A recent sermon that I heard about lament had drawn my attention to Psalm 77. As I thought about what to pray this morning, themes from the second half of that psalm struck me as especially appropriate. In verses 12 and 13, the psalmist prays,
“I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds. Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God?”
My friend Dave was a follower of Jesus Christ. He and I had discussed how the holiness of God should shape the lives of his people. As I prayed, I gave thanks for Dave’s precise, sometimes pointed perspectives and for his humility, a behavior and an attitude that might have seemed at odds, but flowed in harmony from his understanding of a holy God and what he expects from his people. When we pray, our prayer reflects our feelings, our prejudices, and our beliefs. Our prayer also reveals the God to whom we pray. The prayer of the psalmist reveals faith in a God who is involved in the world, who acts, and who in his nature is holy.
The psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 77 also testifies to how seas and storms testify to God’s direction and his power. As I prayed, I noted that even with our technological prowess, severe storms stir fear within us. The verses that influenced my prayer were these:
“The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, your way through mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen” (Psalm 77:17-19 NIV).
During our recent storms, thunder roared, and lightning flashed. Dangerous hail fell in nearby areas. Houses were damaged or destroyed, rivers flooded, and a few people died. Seconds after I took the picture that accompanies this post, a lightning bolt flashed from a cloud in the middle of the scene. During one of the two days when the storms were most intense, our house shook after one peal of thunder. My wife and I realized during such a storm that we were not in control. The power behind the storm exceeded ours. Such awareness lay behind the psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 77. God the Creator was the power behind the storm.
In Psalm 77, the Psalmist cries out to God in despair. He laments that God seems to reject his prayer. He wonders if God has forgotten to be merciful (verse 8). The psalmist finds hope as he meditates on the holiness of God and considers the power of storms. He is in the midst of a metaphorical storm in his life as he prays. All appears lost. Yet even amidst the earthquakes upsetting his life and the seas in which drowning seems imminent, God is present; his path leads through the sea, even though his “footprints were not seen.” God’s love has not vanished. His promises remain true. Heroes have shown the possibility of remaining faithful during the storm. As we pray, dismayed by pain, loss, and grief, let us remember the holiness and power of God, who can provide a way through the storm and the sea, even when we cannot see his footprints.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
Celebration of God’s nature and his provision for our needs mingles in our prayers with our advocating for the needs of others and ourselves. Another biblical feature of prayer, lament, emerges frequently in the Psalms and later in New Testament prayers of Paul and of deceased Christians in the book of Revelation. In Psalm 119:145-152, the Psalmist employs these three features of prayer while also alluding to a fourth, listening for indications of God’s will and guidance. As he appeals for the Lord’s attention and for assistance against their mutual enemies, as he affirms both the power and the nearness of God, he states also what he has learned when he listened to the revelation of God’s will in His promises, commands, and laws. He begins with an emotional appeal:
I call with all my heart; answer me, LORD, and I will obey your decrees. I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes” (Psalm 119:145-146).
While there’s a hint of bargaining, a sense of urgency also emerges in the first two verses. He calls “with all [his] heart.” When the next verse is included, three times the psalmist repeats, “I cry.” He advocates for himself and perhaps also for other faithful followers of God as he urges God to take action in response to his call. He continues to advocate for his cause as he prays in the next three verses,
“I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, LORD, according to your laws” (Psalm 119:147-149).
Intense devotion to the Lord and his word, coupled with hope for salvation, drives the psalmist to pray. Even during the darkest hours of the night, he continues to plead for the Lord to hear him and to meditate on what God has promised. His meditation reveals his willingness to listen humbly to God. While earlier verses revealed that he has specific objectives as he prays, he knows that he himself must remember how the Lord’s promises and commands may shape the divine response. Notice that he appeals to God’s love. “The God of the Old Testament” is not only a deity of wrath and commands. The Lord acts on the basis of enduring love for his people. The psalmist prays, as we should, with awareness of his own responsibilities in his relationship with God. He listens, he ponders, he obeys. He remembers that the Lord is a God of love but also a just God. The Lord has made promises to his covenant people but he also has given instruction on how to walk faithfully with him. The psalmist’s prayer notes a factor in prayer that is quite important for both him and us, a hope and faith that God listens when we pray.
The psalmist compares and contrasts his enemies with the Lord. His celebration of God’s nearness and assumption that God is listening tells us that he does not believe that God created and then just turned his back on his creation. God’s love and justice drive his response to our prayers. He writes,
“Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. Yet you are near, LORD, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever” (Psalm 119:150-152).
Both the opponents and the Lord are near. But while deception and evil underlie the actions of the opponents, reliability and truth characterize God. The question that the Psalmist will confront later in Psalm 119 is the same one that you and I must answer, “Are we disciples of deception or seekers of truth?” The psalmist has told God in this prayer about he intensely seeks God’s will through study of and meditation on God’s word. He also meditates on the implications of God’s love as well as of God’s desire for justice. As we pray, may we also contemplate the nature of the God to whom we pray. May we remember that he is a God of both love and truth. We engage with a multitude of messages clamoring for our allegiance and claiming to be true. It can be quite confusing. The psalmist reminds of the reliability and enduring nature of God’s will. His words are reflected in the New Testament in these words that describe Jesus whom elsewhere is described as the Word of God,
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
Pray hard, my friends. Spend time reading the Bible and meditating on how it reveals God’s redeeming message for us as we confront difficult ethical, relational, and political decisions. What seems good to you and me may prove to be false when we investigate and meditate more. Let’s pray that our decisions and our lives will identify us as followers of the Lord.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
Lord of truth and justice, we encounter conflicting claims to truth and justice in our times. As we consider your nature and ponder what it means for us that you are near, give us courage when the nearness of temptation or evil threatens to overwhelm us. When we despair about the future, help us to remember your reliability and faithfulness. Help us to love as you love. May we always remember that you listen when we pray. May we listen well to you. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to have read Black Liturgies, a collection of prayers, readings, letters, and hopeful lament. Author Cole Arthur Riley’s pain, fears, doubts and prejudices surface, but so also do her hopes, loves, faith and appreciation for those who have gone before. Two quotes especially resonated with me:
“And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” from Acts 2:8.
“Do not fall asleep in your enemy’s dream” from John Edgar Wideman
The first quote reminded me that I hear what another writes or says in the textures, sounds, and sensations of my own experiences. I must listen more carefully if I am to hear justly another perspective than my own. The message of God through Christ also speaks most profoundly when heard by you or me in our heart language, the dialect or symbols in which we dream and hope. The experiences of our families also shapes how we hear and what we feel. The second quote urges to remain focused and not allow detractors to distract and discourage by wallowing in depression because of their opposition.
In the first twenty-one chapters, Riley organizes around themes related to “Story.” Topics like Dignity, Body, Self, Artistry, Lament, Rage, and Mortality inform her letters, prayers, and selected quotes. In the final twenty-two chapters, entitled “Time,” she writes about occasions like Birth, Reunion, Homegoing (death), Ash Wednesday, Christmas, Advent, Lent, Silent Saturday, and Easter. Her appreciation for and inclusion of quotes from those who have gone before, whom she calls the “Ancestors,” adds depth throughout the book to her thinking and to the diversity of perspective within each chapter. Her use of biblical prayers and other quotations from the Bible forms an overlap within a figurative Venn diagram including her book and this blog.
Cole Arthur Riley and I differ in many ways, including gender, race, and some other ways in which we identify ourselves. However, we both are made in the image of God and seek to understand ourselves and whom we worship. I deeply appreciate how she makes very real the vulnerability of several groups of people and of our ecology. Even when I may not agree with choices that people have made, and even when I may not have had all the painful moments that they have had, I can relate to their having experienced fear, exclusion, and physical attack. Our social and physical environments both can be improved to increase safety and health. I have not come from a highly formal liturgical background. Lent, Ash Wednesday, and formalized prayers (other than biblical ones) were not part of my experience. Still, understanding what these mean to the spirituality of those who observe them can help me discern what may be lacking in my own understanding of and relationship to God. I found many of her prayers moving and prayers that I myself might have prayed with conviction without changing a word. Some passages disturbed me for the same reasons that the topic disturbed her. Other passages disturbed me because I disagreed. Those caused me to pause and ask myself why her words disturbed me so. What was the root of my discomfort? Why did I disagree? Was the possibility that I might be wrong a factor?
Black Liturgies can contribute to more thoughtful personal and corporate worship. As my title for this post indicates, reading it can help us to pause and think about why someone else prays what they pray when they pray. In addition, its contents can spark discussion and consideration of controversial topics from another’s perspective. Riley’s inclusion of discussion questions at the end of each chapter will make the book quite useful in this way. I am probably not part of the primary target audience for this book. Still, I found reading it a very positive use of my time and I recommend it to you with the warning that you, like I, should not expect to agree with everything that she writes. Pray hard, sing fervently, and read with discernment, my friends.
On this Presidents Day in the United States, Psalm 45 captured my attention with its prayers for a king’s priorities and values. Psalm 45, unlike many other psalms, is not a prayer openly addressed to God. Frankly, it appears at first glance to be gushing praise of a national leader. When I looked more closely, however, I noticed that the psalmist inserted reminders about God’s grace and blessings that he had extended to the ruler. The king owes what he has to God. The psalmist tells the king,
“You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever” (Psalm 45:2).
In the final four verses of the Psalm, the psalmist’s prayers for the king and his reign become more apparent. He does not counsel the king to crush the oppressed or practice fraud. He does not encourage arrogance or pride. He writes,
“In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds. Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king’s enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (Psalm 45:4-7).
In this “royal Psalm,” the message for rulers (kings, Presidents, dictators, etc.) is: Remember that you owe your position to the grace and blessing of God. Act with humility. Speak and defend truth. Pursue justice. Justice in fact will be the identifying characteristic of his leadership. Justice, not revenge, will be the goal of official actions, whether economic, judicial, diplomatic, or military in nature. A footnote in my Bible says that in verse 6, “here the king is addressed as God’s representative.” Unlike other nations of the time, Israel did not worship their king as a deity. As King David discovered after his adultery, and King Ahab after his murder of a landholder, even kings were accountable to the laws of God and the nation. The king would rule with joy if he loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Cole Arthur Taylor includes the following relevant sentences in a prayer in her 2023 book Black Liturgies,
“Surround our public leaders with wise counsel and a diversity of voices, that we would not elect leaders of arrogance and unchecked narcissism. Expose the status desperate, the power hungry, as politicians attempt to influence us to support them” (Taylor, Black Liturgies, p 140).
As each of us prays for the leader of our nation, we realize that we will not always agree with their policies. We may be wary of their agenda. We still may pray, as this psalmist did, that our leader will remember the source of his power and lead humbly as one who must give an account for his actions. We may pray that he will lead with a passion for justice for all and for truth even when it does not cast him or her in the best light. We pray that our leader will love righteousness and hate wickedness. We may pray that our leader will be a man or woman of God. The apostle Paul wrote that Christians should pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:2). I wrote more several years ago about praying for Presidents in a post that you may read at https://callforfireseminar.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/praying-for-presidents/. If you’re an American, as I am, pray hard for President Biden. Pray that he might govern wisely and well. If you are a citizen of another nation, pray that your leader will lead humbly, governing and living with righteousness while upholding truth and justice. If you’re a Christian, wherever you may live, seek also to live in all godliness and holiness. Pray always, my friends.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
O God who reigns over all, we pray for the leaders of every nation, but especially our own. We pray that they might know you and seek to live righteously. We pray that they will govern humbly, with gratitude to you that they have the opportunity and privilege to lead. We pray that they will speak truth and honor the laws of our nations. We pray that they will defend those laws by seeking justice for all in their societies. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
After the Kansas City Chiefs football team won a thrilling Super Bowl Championship game on Sunday, February 11th, Chiefs fans across the Kansas City area erupted in joy. The city celebrated on Wednesday with a parade and ceremony honoring the team. Hundreds of thousands of fans thronged the streets sharing a moment of victory and community unity. Sadly, evil hates unity in community. Whatever their motives may have been (and I am not going to speculate), at least two shooters had brought weapons to the party and started firing them. A popular local radio personality, Lisa Lopez, died because of the gunfire. Several children were among those wounded by the criminals. The Governors of Missouri and Kansas both were at the event and had to be evacuated. Fortunately, neither was harmed. Quick, aggressive response by first responders, bystanders, and even Chiefs football players (at least one helped a young teen boy find safety) prevented additional bloodshed and stopped the attack.
Family, friends, and fans of an entertainer mourn a mother who also was a frequent DJ at quinceaneras and other parties in addition to hosting the show “A Taste of Tejano” on a local radio station. Other families still reel from the shock of one or more loved ones being shot on a day when they only expected to cheer and rejoice. Their trauma will resonate in their memories, dreams, and relationships for years. The irresponsible actions of a few will dampen the atmosphere and innocence of future community events.
I am livid about this, as someone who lives about thirty minutes from where the shootings occurred, about hearing about shootings in Kansas City day after day. I wasn’t at the parade, but several friends of mine attended with their families. I don’t understand fully why or how people resort to lethal weapons so easily. I have counseled prisoners. As a military chaplain, I reported to the scene of a mass shooting and also facilitated stress management sessions in response to shootings, so I have some sense of why some people think that they do such things. Those experiences also revealed the emotional and physical impact on those present during such events, whether witnesses, victims, or shooters. I hope that the public will learn what motivated the shooters at the celebration for the Chiefs. I pray that citizens will unite with local and state governments to create a safer future for our area. I pray that more people will seek peace and pursue it. The apostle Peter wrote, quoting Psalm 34:12-16,
“For, ‘whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil” (1 Peter 3:10-12).
Seeking peace includes lament, crying out in anger and despair to God. It includes reaching out to those affected directly by the shootings. It also requires positive, thoughtful actions to correct injustice and harm that has been forced onto a community and their children. It does not include defending or excusing the shooters’ possession of their weapons. We know little at this point, which is all the more reason to hesitate before assigning blame to others than the shooters or rushing to defend political positions.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
God who both avenges and forgives, A city cried out in pain after evil interrupted joy with violence. May scars, wounds, and memories caused by trauma from this event heal. May the perpetrators of harm encounter justice. May they realize the horror of what they have achieved and quake in repentant fear. We pray for grandparents, parents, children, fans, politicians, athletes, and others who suffered unexpected fear or physical harm. We pray also for those who reeling silently from learning that loved ones were involved in the shooting. We thank you for courageous heroes who risked harm themselves to protect others. We pray for a nation, for a world, where violence too often is seen as valid first action or response. Open our minds to strategies and actions that mend divisions, foster mature decisions, and reward reconciliation. Thank you for moments of joy and unity. May there be many more occasions that unite in peace rather than divide by violence. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
Who is this God to whom we pray? When we eat, many of us give thanks. When traumatized, we clamor for relief from our terror. When friends or family fall ill, we plead for their healing. In election years, we pray for the politicians we prefer. People on both sides of international conflicts pray for the safety of their soldiers and for the success of their nation’s cause. Job applicants pray that they will be hired. Employers pray for applicants worthy of being hired. Fans of sports teams pray for success for their favorite team and athletes. People pray when they are happy, when they are sad, when they are angry, when they are relieved, and when they have no hope. People pray when they are overwhelmed by the significance of life’s apparent meaning. Others pray when they can discern no meaning in life. Why do we pray? And to whom do we pray?
Isaiah chapter forty, one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible, describes the relationship between God and his worshipers. The passage constructs a picture of a loving, compassionate deity who seeks to rescue and redeem. In previous posts about Isaiah 40, I reflected on how God seeks to comfort as he rescues us from our anger and lust for revenge. I wrote of how people age and die, but the message of God endures. He calls his people to proclaim the good news of salvation. Isaiah continues to expound on the qualities of the God who rescues and redeems in the rest of the chapter.
The Lord is Creator. He is the architect who designed and made the universe. He is the answer to questions that the prophet poses,
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isaiah 40:12)
He is the source of wisdom. While in the book of Proverbs, Wisdom accompanies God as he creates, in Isaiah 40, God embodies wisdom. The prophet writes,
“Who can fathom the Spirit of the LORD, or instruct the LORD as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way/ Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13,14)
Hypothetical questions reveal that God created ethics, wisdom, and understanding. We pray to God because we believe that only he can guide us out of the labyrinth of confusion and self-destruction that we have constructed as we tried to save ourselves.
His power dwarfs that of the nations. While demagogues portray themselves as the only leaders who can lead their nations to dominance, they pale in comparison to the God within whose plans they play insignificant roles, perhaps only awakening citizens to the need for equity and justice. Isaiah concludes that
“Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing” (Isaiah 40:17).
Images portraying God fail to capture his complexity and vision (Isaiah 40:18-20). Isaiah describes the futile efforts of metalworkers and carpenters to construct portable deities, “gods” that people can manipulate to achieve their own goals. ln contrast, the living God reigns over a universe that he controls (Isaiah 40:21-22) He controls the power of leaders:
“He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff”(Isaiah 40:23-24).
He is the force that binds the universe together. The stars and planets move at his direction. No entity compares to him. Isaiah writes,
“To whom will you compare me? or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens; who created all these? eh who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing” (Isaiah 40:25-28).
God is Creator. He brought ethics, wisdom, and understanding into our awareness. He uses the vain quests for power of human leaders to move along his plan for humanity and the universe he has created. This is the being to whom we direct our prayers. Isaiah’s poetic prophecy portrays how difficult it is for humans to comprehend a being with such creative achievement, power, and ability to sway what transpires in the universe. Isaiah’s questions and assertions about God bring into focus just how incredible it is that God can hear our fears, our desires, our complaints, and our hopes. Isaiah’s vision of the majesty of God reminds us that we should compose our prayers with humility and careful consideration of what commitments we may be making with our requests. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes summarized the implications of prayer well:
“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven an you are on earth, so let your words be few…When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:2, 4a).
When we pray, we should pray humbly with awareness of the immense power of the being to whom we pray and weigh carefully the reason for our prayer. At the same time, we should recall that Isaiah reminds us too that God loves his creation and seeks to redeem it. He cares about us, as I will discuss when I write about the conclusion to Isaiah chapter forty’s commentary on the nature of God’s relationship with humanity.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version
God of infinite power and creativity, we humble ourselves before you. Help us to understand your nature and our relationship to you accWe ask you to forgive our arrogance and cruelty to one another. May our compassion and capacity for forgiveness mirror yours. Give us wisdom and clear vision so that we may discern when we are installing our own creations or our human heroes as idols that we worship in competition with you. Thank you for hearing our prayers. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
The Super Bowl and prayer may not seem like a likely combination on the one hand. Violent physical contact and brash, confident star athletes will dominate attention, when cameras aren’t panning to wives, girlfriends or parents of key players or celebrities who are in attendance. When I was growing up, I remember great angst among adults about the very idea of rescheduling the time of evening church services to accommodate watching of the Superbowl. When athletes have dropped to a knee in apparent prayer after scoring a touchdown, fans and pundits have erupted in praise or outrage or bewilderment.
This year’s Super Bowl will have several religiously themed commercials. A couple of them assure viewers that Jesus “gets” them, that he understands and can help. One combats antisemitism. Others will encourage participation in prayer during Lent via a Catholic prayer, meditation, and sleep app called Hallow (https://religionnews.com/2024/02/09/super-bowl-viewers-will-get-a-chance-to-meet-jesus-boost-their-prayer-life-and-confront-anti-semitism/). While some may criticize them for one reason or another, I am all for encouraging people to consider the message of Jesus, especially his call to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. As the apostle Paul expressed it,
“But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice” (Philippians 1:18).
Athletes who pray remind fans that they are more than entertainers. They too are people who yearn for God’s presence when all is lost but also when they celebrate achievement using the gifts that God has given them. While we might think to critique their praying in the end zone as being like “standing on the street corners to be seen by others” (Matthew 6:5), I have been criticized sharply at least twice for daring to blog about prayer in a public forum. If their intent is wrong, they will have to answer to the Lord for that. If mine is, I will. Meanwhile, others are reminded by the athletes that prayer is legitimate response to real life circumstances. I write my blog to remind that prayers in the Bible anticipate our own moments when we need God’s presence desperately, but struggle whether our words or our motives are appropriate for voicing before the throne of God.
Love is always a theme at Super Bowls. After all, football fans love football games like the Super Bowl. A 2010 Google commercial expertly told a romantic tale in 52 seconds (https://ew.com/tv/best-super-bowl-commercials-of-all-time/). This year’s Super Bowl will feature two romantic sagas around one player, Travis Kelce. His romance with Taylor Swift has garnered gasps both of applause and dismay, as the singer’s fans have watched football games at which their favorite entertainer might be shown cheering her boyfriend or football purists have bemoaned the distraction from the game. The other story is a continuing feature from last year’s Super Bowl, a mother’s love for her football playing sons. Travis’s brother will not be playing for the other team this year, so their mother will be able to cheer wholeheartedly for Travis’s Kansas City Chiefs. Living as I do near Kansas City, I have had easy access to televised progress reports on the Travis and Taylor romance. Each one has impressed me with their support of the other’s career. Taylor has looked very much the fully involved, passionate fan of her football player, cheering and singing with other fans and talking animatedly with wives or girlfriends of other players. Travis has traveled to concerts of hers. They appear genuinely happy around each other. Their story reminds also that life is not just about winning or work, about pride or performance. Life is about love for God, for family, and for others whom God has made in His image.
Competition is at the heart of the Super Bowl. After all, there can be only one winning team. Many will rejoice and many will grieve after the game. Harsh words may be spoken and relationships strained. Some of us may need to remember these words,
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for build others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us” (Ephesians 4:29-32).
And in the end, prayer and Super Bowls have always gone together. Fearful fans have prayed for miraculous plays to win unwinnable games; winning fans have prayed with celebration, thankful for their team’s victory. Pray, cheer, and live with love, my friends. And pray that whatever you or I choose, it will glorify God and bring love into the lives of others. Pray hard, my friends. And for myself, “Go Chiefs!”
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
The writers of the Bible persistently remind their readers that they worship a God who calls his worshipers to mirror him and to live according to the values that he exemplifies in his actions and commands. We do not worship a capricious God, but one who acts consistently based on values that he has articulated and that in some cases may be inferred from how his creations work. The Psalmist writes,
“You are righteous, LORD, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are full trustworthy.
The apostle Paul affirms the righteousness of God in the New Testament. He states that God’s attributes may be seen in his creation and the message of Christ, the good news or gospel, reveals his righteousness. He says,
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:17).
Paul cites visible evidence in creation as clues to the nature of God. Idolatry (substitution of animals, stars, moon, son, humans, human constructions, etc. for God) and immorality are rebellion against God, his values, and his commands. Paul also affirms a few paragraphs earlier that humans may communicate gratitude and requests to God through prayer when he tells Roman Christians of his prayers to God on their behalf. Paul’s prayers and beliefs about God align with the prayers and beliefs of the Psalmist who prays in Psalm 119:137-144.
The Psalmist unveils his characteristics as a faithful worshiper of a righteous God. He identifies himself as a servant of God who combats “opponents” of God. The combat is intense. He contends for God zealously, exhausting himself in the process. The opponents disregard God’s commands and despise those like the Psalmist who obey them. Nevertheless, he persists, because God’s commands, like the Lord himself, are righteous and because the commands give him joy. God’s way works. The worshiper can rely on their trustworthiness. The Psalmist prays,
“My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words. Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts. Your righteousness is everlasting and your law is true. Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight. Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live” (Psalm 119:139-144).
The zeal of the Psalmist challenges apathy to or tolerance of evil. How can we identify as followers of God if we do not defend his values or incarnate them in ourselves? God emerges in the prayer as a God of justice and ethics. God is trustworthy; he speaks truth. His instructions for life not a legalistic burden. They are consistent with reality. Life works better when aligned to them. In our time, we experience confusion and frustration when it seems that our choices are between immorality and injustice, both salted with falsehood. I think that our prayer needs to echo the Psalmist’s final cry,
“Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live” (Psalm 119:144).
God does not call us to defend political ideologies or economic models. He calls us to be like him and to listen to Jesus (Luke 9:35). The path will not always be easy, and like the Psalmist, we may experience trouble and distress, but we also will discover joy in our lives when we align ourselves with the will of our Creator.
Quotations are from the New International Version of the Bible.
Righteous God, you call us to be like you. Voices call out to us from our societies, challenging us to ignore your commands, or to choose to defend some vigorously while denying others. May we listen for your guidance from your Word. Give us wisdom that we may discern the path to follow and the traps that we must avoid. You have shown us love and joy in your Creation that surrounds us. May that love and joy fill us as we echo your own love in our actions towards those whom we meet. Some of us have suffered abuse and pain. Others have been tempted to compromise. Give us strength of resolve and ignite our zeal once more that we may be the servants that you desire. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
I read fifty-seven books last year. Twelve of them made such an impact on me that I had to include them on this summary of books that changed my life and deepened my faith in 2023. They come from a variety of disciplines and genres, but all include, even if only briefly, insights into how to live as a person of faith during challenging experiences or times. Several reflect on the impact on faith and values of living through a pandemic. They include:
The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs by Madeleine Albright. An immigrant to the United States from Europe as a child who became the U. S. Secretary of State under President Clinton, Albright draws from her own experiences as a believer in God and as a diplomat to make pointed observations and proposals about how religion can become a force for good and why national leaders ignore its influence at peril to their nations’ security. Her idea of an office within the State Department that focused on religion’s influence in global affairs became a reality in 2013 under Secretary of State John Kerry. A book that discusses what that office accomplished during its four years of existence is also on this list (Chasing the Devil in Foggy Bottom).
Our Eyes Are On You – Nathan Ward, D. Min., is a Biblical Studies faculty member at Florida College. He also is Content Editor at DeWard Press, the publisher of his recently released book Our Eyes Are On You. In my judgment, Ward has produced an excellent study of selected biblical prayers. If you are interested growing spiritually, in careful study of the Bible, or in prayer specifically, you will want to read Our Eyes Are On You. In the book, whose title comes from Jehoshaphat’s closing words of a prayer in 2 Chronicles 20, Ward discusses thirty-five biblical prayers. He clearly states the boundaries of the work in the introduction. For example, Ward does not include any of the many prayers from the Psalms. He follows a consistent structural approach that helps the reader to understand more easily. He notes several themes that characterize prayers in the Bible, among them attention to what God has promised. Dr. Ward concludes the book with three appendices. In them he discusses praying to Jesus, appropriate use of the Lord’s Prayer, and biblical passages that teach about prayer but are not prayers. The appendix on praying to Jesus was the best discussion of this subject that I have read. I wrote a fuller review of this book as a post on this blog. You can read it by clicking here.
Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop – “Lament is the bridge between dark clouds and deep mercy,” concludes the author after digging into the Psalms and the book of Lamentations. In my search of libraries, I could only find this volume in an audio format (not my favorite) on Hoopla but Vroegop still refreshed my soul with his observations. He advises to bring your complaints, ask boldly, realize that hope springs from truth, identify your idols, and follow what he calls the “roadmap to grace” by incorporating lament into your prayers.
The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman – This thoroughly researched historical fiction novel may seem at times as though the author is plagiarizing descriptions of the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic, but the book was written before 2020. It is set in Philadelphia during the Spanish Flu Pandemic one hundred years earlier. The main character, a young girl, has to solve a horrible mystery: Her infant twin brothers were kidnapped while she was out trying to find food after the death of their mother from the flu while their soldier father was deployed. The social restrictions enforced during the pandemic, feelings toward those policies and recent immigrants (the girl and her family), ambivalence about masking, controversy about vaccines, and the marketing of orphans all appear as this young girl searches for her brothers while being forced into new (sometimes troubling or even dangerous) responsibilities and relationships. Fear, faith, prayer, cynicism, hypocrisy, evil, and heroism blend in this story of searching for hope in the midst of social disaster.
Who We Are Now by Michelle Fishburne – A moving and thought-provoking array of people from across the United States describe in 1-3 page vignettes their experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Michelle Fishburne travelled across the country in her RV interviewing and listening to people from across the social and political spectrums tell how their lives changed. This book is definitely worth the time you will spend reading it.
The Character Edge by Robert L. Caslen. When I was an Army battalion chaplain at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, I learned the reputation of Robert L. Caslen, then a Lieutenant Colonel and a Battalion Commander in another brigade, as an Army officer and leader who lived his faith with integrity. Now a retired Lieutenant General, Caslen has written an inspiring volume spelling out how and why to lead and live with integrity even when serving in powerful and public roles in the government and the military. This is an important book for an election year where character is a key issue in politics, in schools, and in churches.
Preaching as Poetry – Paul Scott Wilson imagined a paradigmatic shift in preaching to reflect cultural changes caused by postmodernism. His book is not about use of poetry in preaching, but about imagining preaching in a way that communicates beauty, goodness and truth without argumentation or reliance on destruction of straw man opponents. He built his book around Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. For preaching as poetry, the incarnation and resurrection of Christ plus the presence and work of the spirit are key. His section on civil discourse in the context of worship was perhaps the least satisfactory to me; I thought that he segued into “cafeteria religion” and did not fully explain how to preach about polarizing topics while encouraging civil discourse within the church and community. Nevertheless, I thoroughly recommend reading and carefully considering Wilson’s insights on how preachers may more effectively communicate in a postmodern context.
Reading Romans as Lament – Channing Crisler, Associate Professor of Greek and Director of the Master of Divinity Program at Clamp Divinity School searched successfully for echoes of Old Testament lament in Paul’s letter to the Romans. He surveyed Paul’s theology of suffering and supplies sources like Psalm 43 and Habakkuk that open insights into Paul’s writings and prayers. His survey of prior research will be quite helpful to me in my writing about learning to pray from the prayers in the Bible.
Thin Blue Smoke by Doug Worgul – Love, faith, hope, baseball, baptism, and barbecue. That’s my summary of this heart-warming and -chilling story set in Kansas City, near where I live. What more could we desire?
Chasing the Devil in Foggy Bottom by Shaun Casey – I read this book before attending a conference on preaching and politics at which Casey, a former preacher, spoke about his experience leading the Office of Religion and Global Affairs in the State Department from 2013 through 2017 and the importance of addressing religious issues in international diplomacy. If you read this book, you may also want to read God’s Diplomats by Victor Gaetan. The two books both describe a diplomatic conference between U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the Secretary of State for Vatican City, Casey’s book from the American perspective, God’s Diplomats, a study of Vatican diplomacy, from the Roman Catholic Church’s perspective.
Notes on Grief by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie. Millions died around the world in 2020 as the Coronavirus Pandemic raged. Among them was Adichie’s father, a Nigerian college professor and survivor of the Biafran War. In this short but compelling meditation on her grief and her love for her father, she writes about the process of grieving during times when travel and assemblies like funerals (even hospital visitation) were restricted or difficult, especially when some in the family live in the United States as she does and others live in Africa. Ultimately, hers is a message of hope and healing as she remembers her father’s legacy. This is an excellent book about working through grief.
Honorable Mention: The Humiliation Tour by Jeffrey Recker – Tendencies, traits, and choices often resonate and repeat across decades in families. This is a tale of related marathon runners from two distant generations and their stories of running, family, love, humiliation, and a shared yearning for redemption. As someone who has trained for and finished running a 26.2 miles marathon, I have experienced how life-defining stories evolve from training for and running long races. If you live to run, read this book. Be aware that there is strong language and that main characters make some unsavory choices. The sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic story still inspires and communicates important messages about resilience and working to achieve goals despite extreme obstacles.
The subject matters of these books include sports, religion, and politics, but they all include commentary about the importance of faith, prayer, ethics, and religion in life. Each of them helped me grow as a person and encouraged me to think more carefully. I recommend them to you.
Sometimes We Americans travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to visit historical sites or attend athletic events, yet fail to go see places of interest near our homes. Although I have lived in Lansing, Kansas, on the outskirts of Kansas City, for over eight years, I have never toured the Lansing Historical Museum. I have never been to a Kansas City Chiefs game although I have cheered loudly for baseball’s Royals at Kauffman Stadium, just across the parking lot from the Chiefs’ home at Arrowhead Stadium. I have not visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum or the Jazz Museum or the Kansas City Zoo. I’ve not even been to Legoland, despite having loved building with those toy blocks for over fifty years. I love history but have never been to the Truman Presidential Library in nearby Independence, Missouri.
One of my favorite cities that I have visited is Tiberias, Israel, a very old city on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias was founded as a Roman city around 20 A.D., when Jesus was a young man in his twenties living in a village less than 20 miles away. During the following years, Jesus frequently visited towns like Capernaum and Bethsaida that also were near the Sea of Galilee and sailed with his disciples on the lake. According to Matthew 4:13, after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus moved to Capernaum. However, there is no record or rumor of his ever having visited Tiberias.
While Jesus lived in Capernaum, he began to select disciples to learn from him. He taught groups of people and healed the sick there. But Jesus warned that his teaching and healing there did not confer special status on the village,
“And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:23-24)
Given the negative comments that gather around the memory of Sodom in the Bible, the indictment of Jesus against Capernaum resonates ominously. This indictment is followed by a prayer that reminds those who think they have special status before the Lord because of ethnicity, or geography or academic achievement, or genealogy or wealth or position, to pause and assess their relationship more closely and humbly. Jesus prayed,
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do” (Matthew 11:25-26).
Jesus celebrates the wisdom and strategy of the Lord in his prayer. The prayer reminds us that “God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform,” to borrow the words of a nineteenth century poem and hymn by William Cowper. While Matthew had been a tax collector and collaborator with the occupying Roman Empire, Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish ruling council, a number of priests were among early converts to the way of Jesus (Acts 6:7), and Paul before his conversion had been tutored by the leading rabbi of the first century, most of those who received the message of Jesus eagerly were poor and had less education. They included slaves and other people outside circles of power and privilege.
I live in a nation that is among the richest and most powerful in the world and which many consider to be a special recipient of God’s blessing. I have received a generous amount of formal education. The prayer of Jesus warns me, along with his prior rebuke to Capernaum, that I need to approach God in prayer and in worship thankfully and cautiously aware that I have no more privilege before him than any other person on earth except through his grace and mercy. As the writer of the book of Hebrews counselled,
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire'” (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Capernaum did not earn special status because Jesus lived there. Today the town lies in ruins. Tiberius was newly constructed by the powerful Romans, but Jesus may have bypassed it in his traveling around the region. Their example warns us that our standards of achievement or greatness may not be the same as God’s. Wealth, advanced education, talent, and charisma may earn positions of influence and power in our culture and nations, but so same traits may cause us to trust more in our own wisdom and power than in God. They may blind us to weaknesses that cripple our spiritual strength. Our pride may cause us to fall. Let us pray that we may see ourselves as God sees us. Let us pray that we and that all the people of every nation may be faithful and humbly obedient to the God who created the world and loves us. Let us pray that the places that we choose to visit will reinforce within us a sense of God’s mercy and love.
Quotations from the Bible are from the New International Version.
O God, we celebrate your power and your wisdom, but especially your love and your ability to transform. We thank you for the wonders and the history of this universe that you created and this world where we live. You give us great gifts. May we remember that we are not the creators of these gifts. We pray, in a world whose people are torn by pride, anger, and quest for power, that we and our fellow inhabitants of your creation may be united by receiving humbly your love demonstrated through Jesus Christ. Break down the walls that divide and help us to see the ties that bind us together in you. While there may be many places that we do not visit in our lives, I pray that we will be with you in the end. I pray in the name of Jesus, amen.
Call for Fire Seminar 