The Cheater's Prayer

Recently I came across something posted by a mocker commenting on Christian athletes praying before a game. He found it hilarious: Don't they know the other side is praying, too? He worked on the assumption that the only subject of a prayer before a game would be victory. He assumed that people who pray are the simplest of simpletons: don't they know that the other team is praying too? He thought he -- clever as he was -- had spotted something that those silly religious people had never considered. Had such an obvious thing never crossed their minds? 

In my experience among Christians, there are certain kinds of prayers that are considered unworthy prayers. There are prayers that are never offered, ones that are presumed to be offensive to God. Examples would be athletes praying to do better in a competition than would be merited by their performance, students praying to do better on a test than would be merited by their preparation, and other things that are in a sense the desire to cheat. At times like that, the prayer itself is generally left un-prayed in the belief that it would be an affront to God's holiness even to ask such a thing. The prayer is left unspoken not on the grounds that a competitor might ask the same thing, but on the grounds that it is unspiritual and unworthy. 

There is an etiquette to prayer not to use prayer in a cheap or self-serving way. Someone might well pray before a test: for calm and focus, for a clear mind. It's the difference between approaching a teacher before the test looking for the answer sheet (cheating), or approaching a teacher before a test looking for the time  and place of that review session (seeking better mastery of the course materials). So one way to recognize a cheater's prayer: Is it looking to gain success without earning it? 

I looked up a sample prayer before a competition, and the first sample I found was this: "Lord, let all glory today be yours and yours alone and let me score, win, lose, etc., in humility and giving all praise to you." That is another way to recognize a cheater's prayer: Is it looking to avoid loss or seek glory for the person praying, or for God? 

Full closets and empty lives

This weekend I have been reading some of C.S. Lewis' essays, and am considering thoughts on worship as praise. This quote picks up where Lewis considers whether there is such a thing as an object -- whether in art or nature -- that deserves appreciation, or where appreciation is simply the sane and healthy response: 

[A]dmiration is the correct, adequate or appropriate response to it; that, if paid, admiration will not be "thrown away," and that if we do not admire we shall be stupid, insensible, and great losers; we shall have missed something.

Lewis then approaches his point about admiring and praising God: 

He is that Object to admire which (or if you like to appreciate which) is simply to be awake, to have entered the real world; not to appreciate which is to have lost the greatest experience, and in the end to have lost all.

Our age can feel both too much (materially) and too little (spiritually) at the same time. When we do not recognize or celebrate God, we have missed something. When our culture does not recognize or celebrate God, it withers or (at times) turns to self-consuming madness. The lack of glory and honor given to God results in a spiritual desert -- few things flourish, and the environment is hostile to spiritual life. 

On this day may I set aside the parts of life that hide the emptiness, and turn to the One who can fill it. 

The 5 Stages of Grief - With a view from Christian understanding

The "stages of grief" are a popular framework for thinking about a loss -- and yet their originator Elizabeth Kubler Ross has mentioned parts of her findings are misapplied, where the "stages" do not necessarily occur in a simple straightforward timeline. Some of the "stages" are emotions that may come and go a number of times. Then pop culture includes comedies where these stages of grief are the fodder for jokes, where any part of the journey before acceptance is portrayed as silly (or unhealthy) instead of human. The early stages of grief are uncomfortable -- not just for the griever but for those around, and there are times when bystanders may want to rush someone to acceptance not to relieve the pain of the griever but to deflect the discomfort of being around those who mourn. I'm hoping here for a Christian-informed look at the stages of grief. 

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12:15)

What would be a compassionate view of incomplete grief? Here is a look at the conventional "5 stages" with a side of understanding: 

1. Shock / Denial: This early stage of grief seems to be the basic reaction, "I need a moment. This is overwhelming. I won't be able to wrap my mind around it all at once." 
2. Anger: Here the griever is taking stock of unfairness, disappointment, or frustrated plans. Some types of loss hit us in a way that we want to fight, and we feel anger. 
3. Bargaining: "There has to be a way to ..." Bargaining is ultimately about recognizing what we want, pursuing it as far as possible, identifying what is possible and what is not. In grief, it's meeting the situation with honesty and gentleness -- and with advocacy for those who are hurting. 
4. Sadness: Recognizing the loss or pain, accepting the validity of sadness, meeting it with compassion. 
5. Acceptance: Premature claims of acceptance can be an attempt to shortcut around the pain. Accepting a loss is on the other side of feeling the loss. 

Acceptance may be the end of the road -- and as such, it's not possible to start there. On the way to acceptance, being understood is a solid support. 

The character of God

So much depends on the character of God. It's not just an academic matter for the theologians. Our view of God affects everything we do, every thought we have about the world around us. So what is God like? 

Some theologians start with philosophy: unmoved mover, omnipotent and omniscient, that kind of thing. 

The Bible does not start with philosophy. If we start with the covenant at Sinai we see God as slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, faithful to his people; worship of him builds a well-ordered society with love of neighbor, justice, annual renewed cycles of penitence and celebration, and a source of blessing. If we look at the Solomon's Temple, we see God as making his home among us his people, with a sanctuary of holiness and beauty where the people gather. If we look at Jesus, we see possibly more than we can understand about God's love for the world, and how dearly he values mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation. If we look at the fruit of the Spirit, if we consider the Spirit of God as by essence sharing the nature of God, then we see God as the source of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and more. 

Our present age is often a parched desert when it comes to things of God. And so the character of God, the love of God, is at the core of the good news. 

The kingdom of heaven: as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever

In the regular lectionary, today's Scripture reading focuses on the kingdom of heaven:

As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. (Matthew 10:7-8)

The kingdom of heaven is under God's rule: he sends his workers to heal and restore. In the kingdom of heaven God works to roll back the legacy of sickness, death, and decay, to clean out any hidden source of willful evil. The kingdom of heaven is a place of health, natural beauty, and holiness -- and healing for all of us, touched by this fallen world. 

The kingdom of heaven sets things back to how they were in the beginning, when God made all things good. (Genesis 1:31).

In general, I see it as good judgment that some Christian theologians do not base any systematic theology directly on the Book of Revelation. The symbolic imagery is notoriously hard to interpret, and its inclusion in the Bible was seriously contested back in the day when the earlier church was considering which books to include. That said, the Book of Revelation does have some passages which reflect on other Scriptures in interesting ways. The Book of Revelation takes up the image of the kingdom of God, with the Lord on his throne:

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. (Revelation 21:5). 

Just previously it had proclaimed the natural effects of this kingdom of God: 

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

And so Scripture ends as it begins: with God's kingship as the source of life, and God's kingdom as a place of blessing.

On this day may I willingly take up the work of the kingdom of heaven.

Death and Taxes -- and Grace, and Justice

Short post today -- last week my mother passed away, somewhat unexpectedly unless you count her age that makes it not completely unexpected. I have since then, going through her mail, learned that the saying is very true: the other inevitable thing in life is taxes. 

Grace and justice are at the front of my mind. She has estranged relatives that she feared would crash her memorial and say unpleasant things about her. (Because that's basically what they did when my brother died, with comments aimed at her.) How much does a "good news only" memorial constitute grace for the deceased, and how much is it a gag order? Life is complicated. 

I'm not offering up insight or clarity today, just possibly a moment's understanding for anyone who has ever walked a mile in those shoes!

Out of town this weekend, no post this weekend

Best wishes to all for a blessed week, & hope to see you next time.