Deus Misereatur

Memorials are good things! Everything from regularly repeated national holidays every year to historical markers on the sides of dusty back highways. They place before our eyes and minds that there is something worth remembering, and thus something to be gained from remembering. The opposite of memorials and remembering is forgetfulness. It’s when we forget that we often stray off and lose our way. In Scripture, to forget is placed on the same level as despising God’s gifts, refusing to heed His words and outright unbelief. A quick perusal through Psalm 106, for example, makes this connection clear. The writer describes how YHVH delivered His people from Pharaoh and Egypt through the plagues and the Red Sea, and how the people of God responded to this great deliverance, “Then they believed His words; They sang His praise” (v.12). But then, with an almost breathless speed: “ They soon forgot His works ; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,...

James wrote: “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (1.26-27). If we have true religion, then our religion is not just ritual, but it is also real, regulating, respectful and resourceful (Watch how James’s point works out in 2.1-9, reinforcing this little mediation). Ritual : The very things we do in our worship gatherings week after week, in word, sacraments, and prayer, punctuated with singing Psalms, hymns & spiritual songs, follow order and decorum so that we don’t blunder into God’s presence slipshod and superficial. Real : Our ritual splashes out from Sunday into Monday and beyond. No part-time, once-a-week religion but a full-time faith and an around the clock faithfulness. Regulating : Our ritualized, real religio...

Recently I was reading a Catholic author on prayer, Romano Guardini, “The Art of Praying”. As he was laying out the importance of having a routine for prayer, especially the “time for prayer”, he brought out what follows: “Six days of the week are dedicated to work, one to rest. On working days man is bound by duty, on the seventh day he is free. ( . . . ) Sunday, therefore, is the day of God and, for this very reason the day of man. Its meaning has been largely forgotten. In our modern age it has become a day of vaguely festive character and ultimately merely an occasion for recreation and pleasure” (25). I appreciated his observation and recognition. The Lord’s Day has fallen into the utilitarian trap of “what works for me” and so it has lost most of its vitality and meaning. It is only a matter of time before it is discarded all together. But if the Lord’s Day is primarily the Lord’s day, that changes things. Then it truly becomes the day of man, because “The Sabbath was made ...

There’s just something about losing your voice! It’s in the frustration and isolation that is often imposed by seasonal vocal limitations that you begin to get a sense of the value and soul-deep joy of being able to express your desires in an audible, coherent way. Truly, there are times when having our sentiments and hearts wrapped in silence is good. But there are just some prayers, some praises, some crying out, some emotions, some conditions that holler for audible expression, an audible expression that goes beyond the squeaks and gibberish of squirrels, mice or laryngitis. Much of our worship is audible for very good reason. If we are truly made in the image of God, then verbal communication seems to be part of that image. “God said, “Let there be…” (Genesis 1), or “Indeed, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice” (Psalm 68.33b). In fact, all of Scripture presupposes that God is a communicative God, declaring, warning, affirming, directing. Therefore man is a communicative being...

Paul directed young pastor Timothy with these words: “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands , without wrath & doubting.” A quick rummaging through all of Scripture will show that there are abundant references to the body having a role in prayer. Solomon dedicated the temple and he prayed with hands uplifted, while standing up on his knees (1 Kings 8.22, 54). David prayed for his dying child, prostrate on the floor (2 Samuel 12.16). Jesus threw himself to the ground in grief when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 15.35). On top of this there is standing in God's holy place (Psalm 24.3); and also taking bread and eating, taking the cup and drinking (Matthew 26.26-27); and the list could be expanded. As we gather in God’s assembly Sunday by Sunday, our bodies are very much a part of our worship. We are to reign in our bodies and should throw them into our praying and worship of God Almighty. Therefore, it is very fitting and proper that w...

[Note: Today, at the National Day of Prayer, we met at True Lite Christian Fellowship. I was one of the pastors who led in prayer. There were several others from across the city of Midland who led as well. This was the prayer I used. There is a mixture of resources from Amos 5 & the Book of Common Prayer woven throughout. Feel free to use this for your NDOP event-MWP .] ------ LORD God of Hosts, God of our forbearers, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, who keeps faith with Your people, whose trustworthiness is the foundation of truth, whose mercy & justice go hand-in-glove; we come before You, not trusting in our own supposed righteousness, but trusting in Your Son Jesus Christ. O Lord, have mercy & hear our prayer! You have said “Seek Me and live; But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, & Bethel shall come to nothing.” Turn our hearts & affections away from trusting in falsehoods - both religiou...

As the temperature begins to rise, and civility becomes a forgotten value in American political discourse, Christians have a serious obligation to re-assess their own approach to politics, elections, social issues, and the Church. It's in this regard that I recommend a new book, written by Charles D. Drew and published by New Growth Press, rightly and helpfully titled: " Body Broken: Can Republicans and Democrats Sit in the Same Pew? " Drew has done a super job helping the reader to see the traps we get snared by, and how to avoid them, especially in light of the fact that Christians "have a sociopolitical identity that transcends whatever national or political alignment we have taken on" (43). His approach is clear, charitable, and thoughtful as he displays the principles by which we, Christians and churches, ought to think and act with regard to politics and important social-moral agendas. This subject has long been in my mind as I have taught and preached t...