A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Tuesday, Week 4 - Philippians 4:4-7: Write it on your heart

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

No commentary today.  Just this invitation – memorize this passage of scripture.  

Write it on an index card and carry it with you.  Write it on your heart and recite it when you are anxious.  Along with the Lord’s Prayer, the 23^rd Psalm, and/or other verses that you find meaningful – let these deep and powerful words shape you.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Monday, Week 4 - Philippians 4:1-3: Walking Together in Love

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.  I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.  Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

There are tensions among members of the Philippian Church, and Paul is calling for unity.  The key for Paul is not getting one’s own way, but paying more attention to the way of Christ and together following it.   He names two women, Euodia and Syntyche, who presumably were important leaders and whose conflict with one another has become public.   We don’t know their issue, but we do know that it was drawing focus and energy away from what was truly important – what Paul names as “The work of the Gospel.”   

The work of the Gospel includes the proclamation that in Christ, God’s favor is being extended to all humanity, not just Jews, not just Romans, (not just Americans).   In his letter to the Galatians Paul warns one community that all are welcome as they are (circumcision not required).  In Philemon he asks that a slave owner release his slave because we are all brothers and sisters now.  In 1 Corinthians he chastises the church community for favoring the rich (chapter 11) and also favoring those whose giftedness was more obvious (chapter 12).

Rich and poor, extroverted or introverted, gay or straight, privileged by the society around us or oppressed by it - in Christ all are welcome; we are given to one another as brother and sister, and our unity with one another matters greatly.   If we find ourselves out of relationship with someone, Paul calls us to pay attention to the way of Christ who though he was in the form of God, emptied himself, took on lowliness, and gave himself away for the sake of others (chapter 2).  So too, if we find others in tension, Paul calls upon us to help them reconcile. 

Then in our united community, walking together in God’s love, we might more authentically address the outside world with the Gospel word – a word that announces, among other things, that racism is injustice, that widespread poverty is not just an unfortunate side-effect of free market capitalism rather it is sin, and that using Biblical apocalypse literature to justify poor stewardship of the environment is just plain selfish.

O God, teach me the way of Christ, and a greater ability to follow that way.  Help me and others in the community of faith to maintain positive relationships with one another.  Then help the Church to more boldly proclaim and hear the gospel word that in Christ, everyone matters.  Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Friday, Week 3 - Philippians 3:17-21: Resisting Lawlessness

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

In place to place, Paul has been preaching about our freedom in Christ.  We are freed from the religious law that demands circumcision, the abstaining from certain foods, the keeping of certain holy days, and being overly focused upon our own purity.  The problem, however, is that some are interpreting Paul’s words to mean that we can now do whatever we feel like. 

When he wrote of “enemies of the cross,” Paul was addressing the same issue as when Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about “Cheap Grace.” Cheap grace says that if God in Christ forgives you anyway, then do whatever you want; even though doing whatever you want leads to emptiness and a form of death before you die.  Costly grace, however, holds in reverent gratitude the truth that God’s blessings come to us at a great cost to God and are meant to transform us, mold us into a new creation, and lead us into a new way of living.   This new way of living is defined neither by legalism nor lawlessness.  It is a middle way that has the power to deliver to us God’s gifts of faith, hope, passion and compassion, deep relationships, expectation and peace, wisdom and a measure of laughable foolishness, love, humility, contentment, and more – all of which combine to deliver to us a measure of what Jesus would call abundant life, here and now before we die.

When Paul writes that our citizenship is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, he is not talking about life after we die.   He is talking about our expectations in this life.  Who or what are we expecting will come and deliver to us rich, meaningful life?  Paul is saying that what we thirst for most deeply cannot be delivered by Netflix, a fully stocked wine cellar, another sexual partner, victories from the Patriots or Red Sox, or Amazon Prime. We will always be restless in this life, for this world will never quite be home; yet Paul urges us to live with expectation that we will meet the risen Christ on a journey though life, a journey that follows the middle way between legalism and lawlessness.  Through this middle way we eat and drink with times of feasting, yet mostly in moderation so that we can stay awake; we shop for ourselves, yet in a way that there is enough to share with others; we engage our own sexuality in boundaried fashion, careful of hypocritical calls for purity in others; we enjoy movies, sports, and the arts, yet without so much obsession that we become numb to God’s call for us to partner with God in addressing this world’s brokenness. 

Resist legalism and lawlessness, Paul advises. Do not overly focus on your appetites (as both those who fast and those who indulge tend to do); rather, trusting that God will provide for you, engage this blessed and broken world around you.  Live with integrity, show mercy, advocate for fairness, surprise someone with a sign of your care, and be free from the weight of having to live with perfect purity. Then, following this middle way, expect that the risen one will meet you and grant you something that you will deep down experience as deliverance.

Oh God, deliver me from myself.  Help me to live with greater moderation, less fear, and more hope; and guide me into being of use to others in this broken and blessed world.  Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Thursday, Week 3 - Philippians 3:10-14: Resisting Regret

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Forgetting what lays behind, Paul strains forward to what lies ahead.  Some people are so tied to the past that they find it hard to live contentedly in the present and harder still to press onward with life.  For some this is because of a great tragedy or loss, for others it is due to great regret. 

Paul had regrets too.  We read in Acts chapter 8 how formerly Paul was what we now-a-days would label as a religious terrorist. He consented to the stoning death of one Christian; and then passionately focused his attention on destroying the Christian Church, going from house to house, dragging off men and women and putting them in prison (Acts 8:1-3).  But then Paul encountered the risen Christ, and in that experience he understood that he was being granted the undeserved gift of a brand new start.  From that moment onward what will motivate Paul’s passionate work, sacrifice, and suffering for the sake of a variety of church communities is his profound gratitude for that gift.

Baptism is our new start.  We are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and a great exchange occurs: he gets our brokenness and sin and we receive his righteousness, his forgiveness, and his Spirit.  Baptism is our new start, and baptism is something that we live every day; every day this great exchange with Christ takes place, every day is an opportunity to start anew.

Martin Luther advised beginning each day by making the sign of the cross and acknowledging that you will be living this day marked by that sign, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”  I begin many days by saying, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  (Psalm 118:24)  Both are ways of acknowledging that in this new day, each day, God (whose Spirit is at work in us) gives us opportunity for a new start. 

Oh, and if you’re not convinced.  If you think you have made such a mess of things in your own dysfunctional life that a new future is impossible, bear in mind that: the family of Abraham and his two wives was a mess, Jacob was a cheat, Moses was a murderer, David was an adulterer, and Jesus’ closest disciples were so enamored with themselves and so focused on who among them would be considered greatest that they ended up abandoning Jesus in the end.   It seems God does some of God’s best work with screw ups.   

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Amen.

16

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Wednesday, Week 3 - Philippians 3:10-11: Resisting Avoidance

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Death and resurrection are not just what happen at the end of this earthly life, death and resurrection is the pattern to all of life.   A child leaves the comforts of home for the first day of preschool; a way of life with one parent most always there is ending.  The child may cry, in part due to the sense of what is being lost, and in part because of the fear of this unknown new way of living.  The pattern continues with each major life change.  Some move to a new part of the country leaving important relationships behind with the hope of making new ones.  Some get married and must die to a degree of independence in order to assume a new life of interdependence.   You may take a new job, speak up for injustice, publically admit your dependency at a 12-step meeting, get divorced, become disabled, etc. and life changes irrevocably.    Death (the ending of one whole way of life) and resurrection (the receiving a new life) is the pattern.

There is good news and bad news about this pattern.  The good news is that new life is promised!  Christ is risen and he goes before us, he is there waiting for us in each new school, each new home, each new relationship, each new job, each new way of being.  Christ is risen; he goes before us and he has power!  He has the power to surprise us with people, resources, opportunities, inner strength, signs of his love, and as yet undiscovered talents – all of which we had never imagined before and that we receive as a pure gift. 

There is some bad news however, for this promise of new life comes at cost.  First it costs us a degree of comfort, for dying to an old way of life can be painful.  Then too it costs us control, for we cannot see, feel, or know what the new life will be like until we die to the old, and there is no going back.   “My job is crushing me,” someone reports, “I want to quit but don’t know how I would survive if I did.”  How much suffering would this person endure if she quit?  Would she find meaningful work?  Would God surprise her with blessed opportunities, or would the weight of the world crush her?  They only way to know what the new life would look like is to die to the old. 

Many people simply are too scared to end one way of life regardless of how unhealthy, even though they are already suffering, because they cannot yet see what the new way of life looks like.  Paul understands that death and resurrection are the pattern to new life in Christ; and the way in which we most powerfully experience Christ and the power of his resurrection is by, again and again, dying to an old way of life.    As you engage the world today at school or work, on public streets or in the confines of your home, prayerfully live with this question, “What in me needs to die today?”

Lord Christ, we too wish to experience you alive and among us.  Give us the insight to know what we need to let go, or take on, in order to live more fully. Then give us the power to act, trusting that you will provide.  Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Tuesday, Week 3 - Philippians 3:4b-9: Resisting Pride

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 

According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus was regularly in conflict with many of the religious leaders of his day.  Here were men (all men back then) who worshiped God, prayed, read scripture, gave alms to the poor, and tithed their income.  The problem was not that they were somehow practicing the “wrong” religion (as if any great religious tradition can be defined by the categories “right” or “wrong”); after all, they were practicing the same religion as Jesus.  So what was the problem?

I could not even begin to give a full answer to that!  It’s intertwined with so much history and culture, along with the political and economic realities of the day.  What I can offer is this simple summary statement. As I understand it, religious traditions are meant to connect human beings with God, others, and all of creation in such a way that people experience a degree of liberation. (Remember the central story of Judaism is the liberation from slavery in Egypt).  We find that Jesus often ended up in conflict with religious leaders of his day because they were using their power and influence to maintain a religious system that imposed such burdens on people, particularly the poor and marginalized, that instead of liberation many were experiencing a greater degree of oppression.   Disciplined as they were, many of these leaders justified their actions in part because they had developed a strong sense of their own holiness and worthiness, what we may call spiritual pride. With a coldness of heart they looked down on the unclean commoners and viewed themselves as better. 

Spiritual pride may still be a temptation.  If you go to church on Sunday, set aside time for prayer every day, offer a proportion of your income back to God through the Church, and give charity to the poor too – might that not begin to make you feel a bit superior to others, a bit self-righteous?  Yet Paul urgently proclaims that no one is righteous on his or her own, all fall short, all end up making a mess of things at some point.   What becomes decisive for Paul is not his own righteousness, nor his own disciplines and practices.  What Paul knows and proclaims as decisive is what Christ has done on the cross, and his gift of righteousness that he gives to us now.  Paul declares that we walk around clothed in Christ's own righteousness!    

The point of a religious discipline, like daily prayer, is not to become worthy of God’s blessings (we never are).  Nor is the point to rise above common and base humanity; the point is to become more human, more connected! The words human and humus (soil, dirt) are related.  In Christ, the dirty are declared clean, and the common soil becomes the seed bed for the growth of God's kingdom.  It is on our faith journey, (with worship, prayer, and sacrifice included) that we come to experience what Mary announced in preparation of Jesus' birth, that he will, "Scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts and lift up the lowly."

O God, make me more aware of my own humanity, my connection to all the other human beings I encounter this day, and all of creation too.  Then too, make me more aware of you; more aware of your presence with me, your righteousness covering me, and your Spirit empowering me to live more freely and in such a way that helps others experience a greater measure of liberation too.  Amen. 

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Monday, Week 3 - Philippians 3: 1-4a: Resisting Legalism

Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.  Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.

Christianity always has some potentially divisive issue to deal with; one of the first was the issue of circumcision.  The earliest Christians were Jewish, as was Jesus, and in that tradition male babies are circumcised as a matter of course, receiving this physical sign that they are to be numbered among God’s chosen people.  Then, however, Christianity began spreading among non-Jewish peoples, and the issue of circumcision became hotly debated.  Some said that in order to become a “real” Christian, a male would have to be circumcised first; Paul and others insisted that what was decisive for Christianity was not something we do (like circumcision), but what God has done in the death and resurrection of Christ.  

What must one do to be considered a “real” Christian?   When I occasionally tune into a so called “Christian” TV station or “Christian” radio program this seems to be the urgent question raised by the impassioned preacher.  Are you good enough, holy enough, worthy enough to be considered a “real” Christian?  Is your purity, worship, prayer, believing, giving, serving, resisting evil, (and the list could go on), solid enough that you know you will get to heaven after you die?  

I loathe these programs, not so much because I am personally offended, but because I ache for those troubled souls - so hungry and thirsty for life, for meaning, for community, for God – who get drawn into this argument rooted in legalism, an argument that leaves some fearful about the underlying image of a terrible God who consigns to hell those who are not pure enough.  Paul writes, “Beware those who mutilate the flesh!” a reference to those insisting on circumcision.  I will add, beware those who turn the attention away from the Good News what God has done for humanity, onto one’s own personal purity.

Paul begins this segment inviting us to rejoice, to once again rejoice.  You are God’s beloved, right now.   Are you good enough, holy enough, worthy enough?  It’s the wrong question.  God is good enough, God is holy enough, God is worthy enough – and through our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ we are clothed in God’s righteousness and defined by God’s belovedness.

In our prayer, we return again to that place of belovedness.  Breathe in God’s belovedness, breathe out your own failings, anxieties, and fears. Take a moment of quiet to rejoice in the truth that you belong to God; and may that moment be a little slice of heaven on earth. 

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Friday, Week 2 - Philippians 2: 19-24: Seeking Christ’s Way

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But Timothy’s worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me; and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.

In the midst of this report of how he is sending his co-worker Timothy as his emissary, Paul makes this appeal for his readers to, “seek not their own interests, but those of Jesus Christ.”  This is another spiritual discipline, to seek the interests of Christ.  How does one do this?  What are Christ’s interests?

I think it best not to attempt to answer that question; for this is a question not to be answered by the writer, but lived by the reader.  The poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) once wrote,

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

What does God want for your life?  Of the many and varied interests of Christ, which of them are you being called to attend to this day?   These are questions to be lived by you, not answered by me or someone else.  In your work today, in your relationships, in your care of your own self and the lives of others, in your allocation of time, in your moments of connected-joy or isolated-sorrow bring the question of Christ’s interests to mind and live the question. 

Also know that “the question” itself may be phrased in various ways: What is Christ up to and where am I being called to join in?  Is this a time for boldness or meekness?  Should I speak up or remain quiet?  Do I make a decision for the sake of tomorrow or for today? Does this fall under Christ’s gentle invitation to “Do not worry nor be anxious,” or his more urgent call to “Be salt and let your light shine!”    The point is to live the question; over time it will shape and re-shape us.

O God, lighten our path.  Reveal to us the way in which you would have us live, and then give us the courage and the strength to live into what you have revealed.  Amen.

PS: If you are a person who would like more concrete data to draw from in your own seeking to understand “Christ’s interests,” here are some references drawn from just one of the four Gospels:  Luke 4:16-19; 6:26-42, 9:23-27, 10:25-27, 11:1-4, 12:22-34, 14:25-33, 16:19-31, 18:1-8, 21:1-4, 22:14-19, 24:36-49 .

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Thursday, Week 2 - Philippians 2: 14-18: Expecting Reversals

Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.  It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you - and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

“Do all things without murmuring or arguing,” Paul writes.  Why is it that we might be tempted to murmur and argue?  Often because others are exerting power and getting their way.  Behind the tensions in the Philippian Church, and often behind the tensions in our families and workplaces, is an issue of power.  Who gets to say how the holidays are going to be celebrated in your family?  Who gets to define the expectations for your work environment?  Who gets to say how the Church in Philippi is going to move forward now that Paul is absent?  These are all issues of power.

What then is Paul driving at?   Is this a call to meekly give-in whenever there is a conflict?  (“Yes dear, whatever you say.”)  I think not, for Paul never seems to give in as evidenced in his passionate, articulate letters; and Jesus didn’t meekly walk away from conflict either.  Jesus confronted his opponents, over turned tables, and upset the economy of the day.  Yet Jesus did so with a degree of humility, without insisting on his own way, without crushing the weakest members of the community around him.

When Paul writes, “Do all things without murmuring or arguing,” I wonder what spiritual discipline he is driving us toward.  I’m reminded that this is still all commentary on the great Christ hymn (quoted in Tuesday’s reading).  Verse 1 of this hymn notes that Christ had all the power, “being in the form of God,” yet he emptied himself of that power, so as not to exploit, and so as to serve.  At the end of verse 1, Christ is empty and weak.  Verse 2 then declares that in a great reversal God raised him up and highly exalted him. 

One spiritual practice is to embrace a measure of weakness and expect reversals. The place of weakness may in fact be the place where renewal begins.  Likewise, what looks so mighty is more fragile than you know.  Success, more influence, bigger numbers may motivate our arguments; However Paul is reminding the community at Philippi that striving for unity in their relationships, letting go of some power and focusing on serving will allow God’s light to shine through – and that is the ultimately the source of true power.  Don’t be scared by the kind of disciplined self-emptying that the world regards as weakness; it often makes space for God to enter with surprising blessings and reversals.

Lord God, give us the inner strength to resist murmuring and arguing, and the boldness to act with conviction.  Give us courage to risk trusting that you often act in and through what the world deems as weak, and continue to surprise us with your grace.  Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Wednesday, Week 2 - Philippians 2: 12-13: Living with Intentionality

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Paul was a strong leader who was highly respected.  It appears that when Paul was present, the people tended to respond with devotion to God and faithful service to others.  It’s sort of like when the CEO visits your office, or the school principal or dean sits in on your class, everyone is on their best behavior. Sometimes the appearance of the authority figure may even induce a measure of fear and trembling.

Paul is aware that when he was present the people acted one way; but now that he is absent, tensions and conflicts have crept in.   The remedy for this problem cannot be Paul’s physical return; he is in prison after all.  Moreover, the remedy for this problem should not be Paul’s physical return, for this movement called Christianity is not about Paul, it’s about Christ!   “I am absent,” Paul writes, “but God is not!”  God (in Christ) is present, at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 

What about that “fear and trembling?”   Ultimately this is rooted in the belief that what God wants for us is wholeness; (the Greek word we translate as salvation can also be translated as wholeness).  To turn toward God and “obey,” (to use Paul’s word) is the path to life.  To turn away from God, perhaps out of economic fear or trembling over your status in life leads from wholeness to isolation, desolation, brokenness.

One way to seek to turn toward God and to respond to the movement of God’s Spirit within you, is to seek to live with intentionality.  This is no formula for this, and living with intentionality does not prescribe what you must do.  However, in the plethora of choices in life, many of which are distractions or temptations, seeking to live with intentionality can be a helpful guide toward what we seek most deeply.

Prayer in the morning traditionally has been focused on the day ahead, “help me Lord to live with intentionality.”  Prayer at the end of the day traditionally has included a review of the day that has been passed.  As you prepare for sleep at night, think back on the day that is past.  Practice giving thanks for those times when in your work, conversations, daily duties, rest and recreation, you sensed that you were living with intentionality.  Then confess and ask for forgiveness for the times when you were not.

Thank you Lord for being present with us in everything.  Inspire us to live our lives with even more intentionality so that we might come to experience a greater sense of wholeness, purpose, and life.  Amen. 

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Tuesday, Week 2 - Philippians 2:5-11: Ceding Control

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 
 who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited, 
 but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, 
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross. 

 Therefore God also highly exalted him
   and gave him the name
   that is above every name, 
 so that at the name of Jesus
   every knee should bend,
   in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
 and every tongue should confess
   that Jesus Christ is Lord,
   to the glory of God the Father. 

This is perhaps the oldest piece of Christian liturgy that we know of.  It is believed to be a hymn to Christ that early Christians sang.  Paul didn’t write it; instead he inserts it in his letter as a way of encouraging his readers to change their minds about how they are viewing things.  There is some sort of conflict in the Philippian Church, and Paul is writing to encourage them all to change.  Notice that he does not side with one faction, as if the problem is about who is right.  Rather, he calls upon everyone to begin thinking and acting like Jesus (not thinking about Jesus, but thinking like Jesus).

Thinking and acting like Jesus, will be addressed today and in remaining days of this week.  It includes: giving up the need to be in control (today), living with intentionality (tomorrow), expecting reversals (Thursday), and working for the common good (Friday).

Paul’s instruction to “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” includes the call to give up the need to be in control.  Jesus, after all, was out of control. He did what he believed he was called to do, without having the ability to control the reaction of others.  It got him reviled, beaten, arrested, and ultimately executed.  The disciples wished he would seize more control, calling down an army of angels, but he did not.  Instead he engaged his daily life boldly, trusting that God would provide.  The second stanza of the hymn above proclaims the resurrection and the exaltation of Christ; it is witness to the truth that God does come through for those who trust in him.

We live our daily lives attending to various responsibilities, making certain plans and following through with them.   This may give us the illusion that we are in control. In fact we are not; we are one accident, medical crises, fiasco away from God knows what.  So too, the emptiness we experience at times, is beyond our control to fill.  Thus, we may practice the spiritual discipline of letting go of a measure of control in some aspect of our life.  It could be in our parenting, our relationship with a difficult other, a conflict at work, the incessant need to be happy, or something else.  “Don’t be so wrapped up in the need for control,” God says, “Trust me to provide."   

As Paul has quoted and old hymn so shall I,

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Refrain:
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

(anonymous)

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Monday, Week 2 - Philippians 2:1-4: A prayerful life with others

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul, writing from prison, has learned that there are some tensions in the church community he founded in Philippi.  There are always some tensions in a church community; in any community filled with a variety of human beings.  Paul has received some form of communication from the Church in Philippi expressing how much they love Paul, are concerned about his imprisonment, and want to help him.  Paul is responding by saying, in essence, if you really care about me and want to give me a gift then give me the gift of joy that will well up in me when I hear about how you are working together, acting with humility, and striving for a common purpose that is beyond your own self interest.  (This is still the best gift a leader can receive.)

In his plea for unity and humility, Paul uses this curious phrase, “In humility regard others as better than yourselves.”  What does that mean?  Is this a call for self-deprecation, for an abandoning of any sort of self confidence: “Woe is me, I am nothing, a lowly worm, with little to offer; everyone else is better, woe, woe, woe”?  No, it is not!

I can remember, as younger man, struggling to understand this phrase.  Then I heard someone explain it this way.  We all are given gifts: insights, experiences, truth, wisdom, knowledge, etc. These are gifts from God meant to be shared.  Everyone has gifts to share!  Yet no one gets all the gifts, therefore we are all, each of us, limited; we are limited witnesses.   When I enter into conversation with others, if I become so captivated by my own set of gifts, what I have seen, and what I have to say, then I will be unable to hear, experience, and receive different gifts which others bring or embody.  The call for humility is not the call to devalue or hide ones own gifts, rather it is a call to grow by listening for the wisdom and truth in others. 

Part of our prayer life happens in private.  Then too, part of our prayer life is intended to be lived out in public.  When Paul writes elsewhere, “Pray without ceasing,” he is meaning that our engagement with the world is to be prayerful.  One way to engage others prayerfully is to consider each person in your work place, school, church, family, etc. as being a gifted person, a limited-witness, whom you could learn something from.  

Gracious God, thank you for the wisdom, the knowledge, the insight, and the experiences with which you have blessed me.  Know, Lord, that I seek to grow and deepen still; and so make me more curious about the insights and experiences of others.  Help me to be a better listener; and when it is time for me to speak, may I do so with boldness and humility, knowing that I have gifts to share, but not all the gifts. Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Friday, Week 1 - Philippians 1:27-30: Praying for others

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well— since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

This letter is filled with encouragement.  Paul is in prison, probably in Rome.  He has lots of time for prayer and finds himself thinking about people whom he has come to care for deeply in Philippi, people who are struggling.  So he moves from quiet prayer to writing this letter of encouragement.   (Have you ever noticed that when you pray, others you care for tend to appear in your mind?)

Here’s a little more background.  Philippi was a Roman colony and those in the small church there were Roman citizens. However, because of their involvement in this counter-cultural movement called the Church, they were greatly upsetting others.  There is a story in Acts 16:16-24 that recounts how Paul, who insisted that Jesus was Lord and not Caesar, spoke up against a particular injustice, upset the economy of the day, and ended up beaten with rods, flogged, and put in prison.  It seems that his friends in Philippi are in some ways speaking up for injustice too and are facing painful consequences for it.  Paul notes, he is aware they are suffering as he had.

Paul writes, “Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  A translation more true to the original Greek might be, “Only live as citizens of the Gospel of Christ.”  That is to say, do not give up on your trust and insistence that Jesus is Lord; and therefore the risen Jesus Christ is active in this world’s injustice and suffering; he cares deeply for all people and has the power to bring healing and change.

Part of what we do in prayer is pray for others. We bring to mind people who are struggling. We may write certain names on a little card so that we don’t forget them. Then in prayer we ask the Lord Jesus to bring healing and change in the lives of those we name.  Then too, sometimes we, like Paul, write notes of encouragement (a form of prayer); and sometimes we say to someone, “I am praying for you,” an encouraging statement rooted in our in our trust that the Lord still power to bring healing and change.

When you pray: breathe in belovedness, speak a word of gratitude, confess your limitations, pray for strength for yourself to face the challenges of the day. Then pray for others.  Pray for the Lord’s healing and change in those whom you are led to name.

O God, thank you for being present in all of our lives. Forgive me for being so complacent in so many things, including prayer.  Help me to trust throughout this day that you are with me and for me; and bring healing to those who in this moment I name before you… Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Thursday, Week 1 - Philippians 1:18b-26: Rejoicing

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will result in my deliverance. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Paul is in prison awaiting trial, and he is thinking about what might happen to him. Ultimately he expects an acquittal and release “resulting in his deliverance,” as he says.  That’s good news.  However, he knows full well that this will be an ordeal.  He will be under repeated attack as he continues to speak about his allegiance to Christ (his “fruitful labor”); and there will be threats, perhaps of torture or death, unless he in someway denies Christ (which would “put him to shame”). 

As Paul sits in his little cell, and prepares for the ordeal ahead of him that may or may not lead to his death, he finds himself wonderfully blessed and strengthened through knowing that there is this whole community of people in Philippi who love him and who are praying for him, and he finds himself rejoicing.  Again and again in this heartfelt letter, he will talk about his own rejoicing and encourage those who read his letter to rejoice too. 

Here’s a technique for prayer.  Create a space, a little cell of sorts, where you can go to pray.  (I’m reminded that we not only refer to prison rooms as cells, but also the living quarters of monks and nuns whose primary vocation is prayer.)  Create a little cell, a small space, with a chair or cushion for sitting.  Place one or more symbols there: a cross, picture of Jesus, candle, photo of a place in nature where you have felt so very alive, or something else that will draw your attention beyond the symbol to God.  Note this need not be extravagant.  Your cell might be a corner of the living room, or your car, or a bathroom (for some the one place in the house where they can sit for a few minutes unbothered).  

Then, there in your little cell, pray.  Breathe in belovedness, speak a word of gratitude, and confess your limitations.  Then consider the challenges of your life; if this is in the morning consider the challenges in the day ahead.  Ask for God’s help in meeting those challenges, then trust that you shall have that.  God’s help will come, at times through God’s Spirit within you, at times through others in your daily life, and at times through those in your faith community who care for you (or would if you would give them more opportunity to do.)

Thank you God for calling us to pray, and for your promise to listen.  I am frail and my life is complex.  Be with me, strengthen me to act rightly; and from all of the challenges of my daily life, and the dangers of my sin, deliver me.  I rejoice to know that ultimately you will!  Amen.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Wednesday, Week 1 - Philippians 1:12-18a: Naming the Prisons

I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.

Some proclaim Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. These proclaim Christ out of love, knowing that I have been put here for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase my suffering in my imprisonment.  What does it matter? Just this, that Christ is proclaimed in every way, whether out of false motives or true; and in that I rejoice.

Paul is writing this joy-filled letter from prison.  He names his imprisonment and he acknowledges that there is a measure suffering in that.  Prison is a place of confinement, of depravation, and of being limited in where you can go and what you can do.  

Think of your own limitations and constraints; name three.  They might include an oppressive atmosphere at work, hefty responsibilities, or illness within your own body. Admit it; life would be so much freer if it were otherwise; (though given our own human sin, perhaps not).  

Now consider the prisons of your own making; like limitations that have come because of bad habits or choices, or the unwillingness or inability to let something go that you know you should, and then there’s the voice of the inner judge.  The inner judge is the one who consistently denies that you are God’s beloved unless you approach perfection or make your mark.  The inner judge may tempt you to strive for personal glory (even within a very small circle) while at the same time stoking your own inner feelings of inferiority.

We begin our prayer acknowledging our belovedness; breathe in belovedness, breathe out the toxic words of the inner judge.  We continue with gratitude, giving thanks for the gift of life itself, and for the gift of Christ who frees us to be connected with God and whose words have the power to counter the voice of the inner judge.  Then we may admit or confess our limits trusting that God always works in and through limited people like us.

I have these burdens O God, help me carry them.  I have all of these constraints, and I confess that some are of my own construction; nevertheless, be at work in my life and make my life meaningful in spite of them.  Amen.

Note: for those who want to go deeper – read the post below.

This post is an addendum to the one above for those who have read the above post and wish to go a bit deeper.

Paul is in prison because of his allegiance to Christ whom he has experienced as risen and alive. Note that Paul is not passionate because he believes in a religious doctrine about Christ, he is passionate because he has experienced something that has changed his life. It is his allegiance that makes him different.  He is imprisoned not for violence, but for being perceived as a threat to society because he is different and passionately vocal about it.  This is unjust; at the same time, Paul notes that this confinement is being used by God in order that Paul’s life and work may have even greater effectiveness.

We live in a society where those who are different and are passionate about it are also oppressed and at times arrested.  This is at the root of recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and our national response to that.  Blackness is one kind of difference, so is sexual orientation and disability (or being differently abled).  Also, it is still true today that to say - out there in the world - that you are taking on some form of deprivation for Christ’s sake (standing up for justice, or giving up something significant for or through a church) is perceived by many as either weird, naïve, or rooted in some judgmental Christian fundamentalism.  Do this and it will limit in someway what is presented by our culture as ‘the good life.’

Yet God is a work, always within the limitations.  In the birth of Jesus, God chose to re-create the world through the limits of human flesh.  In the life of Paul, God uses the confinement of his imprisnment to further Christ’s missions which he describes as ushering in the Kingdom of God – a state of justice where all are connected, all are valued, and all have enough.  Part of the surprise of life is that we actually can be more effective with limits than with unbounded time and choices.   As Paul will say later, it is when I was most aware of my limits, my weakness, and my constraints that I most clearly perceived the power of God at work in and through me.  So we may thank God for the limits, and get to work as partners in Christ’s work of blessing this broken world where everyone is in some way constrained.

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Tuesday, Week 1 - Philippians 1:3-11: Gratitude

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.  For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.  And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Following the opening greeting, Paul moves right to gratitude.  Though he is writing from prison, he is filled with thanks.  As he reflects upon all the connections he has made with those in the community of faith, connections that have come about through the compassion of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, he is filled with joy.

For what are you grateful?  Take a moment and think of five things.  Notice that for most of us, the first things that come to mind are things that everyone can be grateful for: family, friends, food, all the things in our lives, etc.  It is good to be grateful for them. 

Now consider other blessings have come to you solely because of God’s grace, Christ’s compassion, and the movement of God’s Spirit.  If that sounds to high and churchy consider gifts of: faith, hope, and love (in you and/or in others); favorite hymns or scripture passages; a church community where you can go whenever you feel like it and where you are welcomed and are offered relationship with God and others, moments when something or someone has surprisingly shown up at just the right time, etc.  

Yesterday, I invited you to begin your prayer with a sense of your own belovedness, breathing in and breathing out.  Today I invite you to continue with gratitude.  Perhaps keep an Advent list of things you are grateful for.  Perhaps begin each meal by naming something you are grateful for. 

Note, last Sunday I described to the children how this was a season of waiting and watching.  They noted that what they were waiting for mostly was opening presents on Christmas.  I affirmed that, and also asked that they ‘watch’ for gifts that they are receiving every day leading up to Christmas.  At our dinner table we are asking, “What gifts did you receive today?”

Thank you O God for all the gifts you give us, for the ones we get through being part of your created world, and for the ones we receive through the love and compassion of Christ.  Inspire in us a deeper sense of gratitude.  Amen. 

A Life Shaped and Re-shaped by Prayer

Monday, Week 1 - Philippians 1:1-2: Identity

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The letter begins with a standard form of greeting that identifies who it is from and who it is being addressed to, along with words of blessing.  Note that everyone is identified in relationship to Christ.  Paul and his aid Timothy are named as servants (or slaves) of Christ Jesus.  The members of the church community are called saints (literally ‘holy ones’), a term that Paul uses for all who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and who therefore have been claimed, washed, forgiven, reborn into a new life, and identified as God’s beloved children.

Think for a moment of the labels and titles that identify you.  These may be shaped by your work (lawyer, musician, student, retired, etc.), by your family relationships (son, mother, wife, single-adult, etc.), and by other interests and relationships (runner, cook, friend, etc.).  Perhaps write a list.  Which of these identifiers will most give shape to your day, today?  Along with all those other identifiers, remember that you are also God’s beloved. This identifier is not something you have earned, it has been given to you as a gift from God.
  

One way of attending to prayer, is to set aside time each day, to pay attention to that grounding identity. Here’s an exercise you might try.  For a set period of time, perhaps 60 seconds to begin with, sit quietly, breathe deeply, and focus on your breath.  The word for breath in many languages is related to the word for Spirit; for example, in English spirit is at the root of ‘respiration’ and ‘inspire’.  Imagine as you breathe in, that you are breathing in God’s Spirit of belovedness; perhaps think the word ‘Beloved’ with each inhale.  Then with each exhale, imagine that you are exhaling not only CO2, but other toxins in your system like anxiety, fear, and hatred.  Breathe in belovedness,  breath out anxiety; breathe in belovedness, breathe out fear.  Try it at home, in the car, at work; and let this part of your identity give shape to your engagement with the world.

Thank you, O God, for breathing your Spirit into us, and for naming us your beloved.  Inspire us to live our lives ever more grounded in this blessed part of our identity. Amen.