Wednesday, October 31, 2012

All Saints Day

Tomorrow, if God wills, I will be wishing at least one person (probably many more than that) a Happy All Saints Day.

Everyone is so hyped up for Halloween that they've forgotten why it exists in the first place; it was chosen BECAUSE it was the day before All Saints Day. They used to call October 31 "All Hallow's Eve" because November 1 was the day set out to pray (hence the word "hallows" - alluding to the frequent repetition of the Lord's model prayer, " ... hallowed be Thy name") for the saints. 

FOR the saints. Not TO them. (small bunny trail there - very small. Or is it?)

I'm sure some would say, "Why would you pray for a bunch of dead people? Statues holding up the pillars of some church building somewhere?"

That's probably one big reason why All Saints Day never caught on; it got warped because the meaning of the word "saint" got warped. 

Most people think of the halo
when they think of a saint.
Picture source Patron Saints Index
The word translated "saint" in the New Testament didn't refer to someone who was so good that he or she had achieved sainthood or was beatified by the rulers. No, "saint" in the Greek means "called-out one" - and it was how every New Testament writer spoke of the people who believed in Jesus as their only hope. In other words ... every born-again Christian is a saint. Every. Single. One. 

It doesn't matter what your theology is or isn't; it doesn't matter how good or bad you think you are. If you have trusted Jesus' once-for-all-time sacrifice as your only way to have a relationship with God, then you are a saint. Period.  Sainthood isn't for the dead. It's for the living.

And yes, that means that there are a whole passel of saints (including me) walking around out there, and it also means that a good many of us aren't acting very uh, saintly. That's okay. WELL, all right, in the strictest sense it would be preferable if we behaved ourselves - but out of love, not out of duty. The perfect image of the halo-infested person who has it all together and who dispenses wisdom and hope to the poor shmucks who can't get it right ... is somehow broken by this concept. However, saints - real saints the way the Bible talks about - know all too well that we cannot do anything on our own, and that left to our own devices, we WILL fail. It smudges the image. The beauty of the smudged saint image is that we know where to find help and hope ... and it isn't in us. It's in Jesus. Period.

And some of the people who are walking around out there who are also saints ... ARE acting "saintly" - so well, in fact, that they've got themselves convinced that they've got the market cornered, that they've "arrived" and that they're above reproach. The warning bells ring when I see this type (and especially when I begin to become this type), because they think they have the right to judge other people. These are the people everyone thinks of when they call someone "holier-than-thou:" arrogant, narrow people with nothing better to do than count the number of swear words in a movie, or make hateful placards to brandish outside an abortion clinic ... or something similar.

They've forgotten that without Jesus, none of us has a hope. Ever. Being a saint doesn't mean you've arrived. Being a saint means knowing that you can never arrive and that Jesus arrived for you; you spend the rest of your life in gratitude to Him, needing Him, depending on Him! And that is when it starts to get exciting, because that is when He can step in and allow us to participate in and cooperate with His great and miraculous dealings with the human race... which ALSO includes us.

If we realize and understand deep in our insides that we need Jesus, All Saints Day makes more sense in its original meaning - praying for all the saints. James 5:16 says, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed." (KJV) I use the King James here to make a point (not about the right version to use). The King James version only used "ye" for the second person plural. That word has fallen out of usage; we only use "you" now - and it can be confusing. The original Greek in that portion of James' letter means that if I tell you my stuff and you tell me yours, we pray for each other, and you and I can BOTH be healed. Healed of what? "Your faults." Our failings, our inner shortcomings. When was the last time that ever happened?

Put that on a more corporate level, do that for every "called-out one," and ... can't you see how revival (coming to life again - which implies that revival is not for the unbeliever but for the believer!) - how revival can't help but happen? 

So - tomorrow when I say, "Happy All Saints Day" - you'll know what I mean.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Say it. Today.

Last night our pastor preached on creating a culture of prayer based on loving each other and cooperating with the Spirit... among other things. It dovetailed perfectly with our associate pastor's message yesterday morning on approaching God in humility instead of haughtiness, meekness instead of manipulation. Then pastor gave us an opportunity to put into practice what we'd been taught - to seek out someone as God would lead us, and pray with that person. What followed can only be described as a manifestation of tenderness. 

People left their pews and sidled into others - one by one - to touch someone on the shoulder, or to sit with him or her in the pew. Some had left their seats and were praying alone at the altar; others joined them - one to one - and prayed with them. I was on the platform in music ministry, sitting on the edge of one of the platform tiers, singing. Most of the time my eyes were closed, so what I saw was mostly in short 'vignettes' - snippets of time. 

It was beautiful. 

Praying for someone else builds unity
and relationships. Image source
I felt an arm across my back and a hand on my shoulder. Someone had taken a seat next to me. This person began to pray for me - and try as I might, I could not continue singing. The microphone - still in my hand - dropped to my lap. My tears started to flow, because I could tell through tone and through the sincerity of the grip on my shoulder that this person loved me ... a lot. 

The words were nice - but they weren't the main thing. The main thing was that this individual cared. Cared about me. Cared about my life. Cared about the people I loved, the things that mattered to me. Cared enough to talk to the Almighty One on my behalf. 

I'd been feeling like my efforts - at home, at church, with friends and family - sometimes were for nothing; I was starting to lose hope that the things I was hoping and praying for would come to pass. This person's prayer (and it wasn't to me; I just got to listen in!) renewed my faith, bolstered my belief. I needed that ... so much.

The prayer over, my benefactor squeezed my shoulder again and left to follow God's leading somewhere else. After a minute or so, I was able to mop up my face and resume singing.

After another few minutes, another person approached me with words of encouragement and affection expressed for both my husband and me. It was so very touching, and it met an inner need I didn't even know I had; I felt (and feel) so blessed, so grateful.

In that whole sanctuary, there was no gossip, no condemnation, no animosity or frustration with each other. The whole place was transformed.

The love in that room was tangible. Everyone felt it; I could tell by the looks of awe and peace that I saw on their faces as we gathered in a final circle to pray together as a group. 

This - this is community. This is a glimpse of the Church at her finest, realizing the grace of God and passing that grace along, building each other up, coming alongside each other, supporting and loving each other. 

I issue a challenge to you as a member of the community of faith. Ask God to bring someone to your mind who needs some encouragement, who is struggling and needs prayer. It might even be someone you think has it all together; trust God's leading on who it is. Pray for that person, pray in as many specifics as you know how - and then contact and encourage him or her. 

SAY it. Don't just think it. TODAY, not tomorrow, not next week. You never know when someone might need to hear something from your heart. 

You just never know.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Call Me Ishi

When I read the Bible, I like to treat it like a bit of a treasure hunt. I know that there is something in the pages that I read that will speak to me about who God is, how much He loves and what He really wants, among other things. I ask Him to show me what He wants me to see. 

Today I prayed, sat and waited for direction on where to go. "Hosea," came the answer. 

So I went to Hosea. One of my favorite passages is Hosea 2:19, 20 - and I was looking forward to reading it. But first, I read chapter one, where God tells the prophet to go and marry a prostitute and have children with her. He says some stuff about how His people say that they're His and then go chasing after other things without even giving Him a thought. There are some pretty strong words in there. "Name your first child 'No-Compassion,' for I will not have compassion on My people. Name your second, 'Not-My-People' for I will disown them." Whew! But in chapter two, He reveals His desire to have compassion on His people, and to bring them back to Him and bless them. 

And He gives them a promise - one that is (to Him) the ultimate in what He wants deep in His heart for [each of] His people: "You will call Me Ishi, and you will no longer call me Baali." (2:16)

'Baali' means 'my Master.' 

But 'Ishi' means 'my Husband.' 

It's a totally different relationship that God wants. He doesn't want a master-servant relationship where we do what He wants and we get paid (rewarded) for it. That is religion; He hates religion. Religion is doing stuff to make God notice you or - at the very least - keep Him from squashing you like a bug. 

Hosea puts his finger right on the crux of the matter. Religion is (in the symbolism of his book) spiritual prostitution: doing whatever the master - or in today's terminology, the john - wants ... so as to get rewarded. Rules are clear. A plus B equals C. It's contractual; you serve, you expect to be rewarded. 

In religion, you pray plus you do everything that is required (and in some cases that can be the rest of the alphabet!) in order to get the desired result: answer to that prayer. Do this and this and this and this, otherwise you won't be good enough for God to bless. Not getting what you want? Well then, you must not be believing hard enough. Or not doing enough good works. Or not sending enough money to Africa. 

Can you not see the fallacy here? Since when did anything in the Christian life depend on how good WE are?

Face-to-face, like husband
and wife... found this photo HERE
No, God desperately wants a husband-wife bond. In other words, tenderness, love, and loyalty as the foundation for an intimate, face-to-face relationship. Up close and as personal as it gets: that is what God longs to have with us. It's a marriage to Him - whether we think of it like that or not. That's the whole point of the book of Hosea. It was a physical representation of a spiritual truth. God reached down onto the street-corner and redeemed us from a life of slavery to what other people want ... and put a ring on our finger. He wants us to listen to His wooing and turn to Him because we want to, and for no other reason than loving Him in return. That's it. No contracts, no need to measure up. Just let Him love us.

But on many days and in many ways, the tendency many of us have is to settle for the business transaction rather than the extra time and vulnerability of pillow talk. To succumb to fear - the fear of losing the blessing - rather than take the extra time and effort to embrace our Husband ... out of gratitude for His loving care and a burning passion to please Him.

Those in full-time or even heavy part-time ministry are familiar with this penchant for slipping into the idea that they "work for Him" so the relationship becomes more like punching a time clock than wrapping their arms around their Beloved. (You want to read about God's desire for intimacy with us? try Song of Solomon!) 

I don't often recommend books or videos on my blog here - perhaps I should more often, I don't know - but I stumbled across a book a few months ago that captured my attention in this area. It's Francis Chan's book, called Crazy Love. I'm including a link to his book page that has summary videos of each chapter here. I find Chan's writing engaging: meaty, yet easy to follow. He writes like he speaks, and that's a big plus because he speaks on the things about which he is passionate - and he's supremely passionate about intimacy with Jesus. There are also links on that page to his other works - notably Forgotten God (about the Holy Spirit) and Erasing Hell - the title of which is totally self-explanatory. 

Crazy Love is all about going from Baali to Ishi.  It concentrates on developing that all-too-rare relationship with Jesus that is passionate and intimate; its goal is to promote being first and not primarily doing (which will take care of itself out of sheer overflow of being.) I highly recommend the book; if you can't afford it, at least watch the videos online. 

I can't guarantee that his message will change your life. But I can say that if you're tired of going through the motions, you need to consider clicking that link.