Tag: christianity

three postures about prayer

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It seems to me that there are three different postures one could take towards the activity of prayer.

One is an essentially negative posture. This posture rejects all prayer as useless and ineffective. This posture would fit most comfortably within a naturalistic worldview. “No being that hears prayer is either true or real. Ergo, prayer is pointless.” Interestingly, this posture also fits one particular type of theistic worldview: deism. Deism accepts a ‘first cause’ or ultimate being as true and real, but does not believe that this ‘god’ interacts with or intervenes within our world. Thus, again, prayer is wasted effort both the Naturalist and the Deist.

This negative posture has the appeal of being clean cut, tidy and simple. “I just don’t waste any time on that stuff.” But for me, naturalism and deism have always seemed closed minded, based on ultimate negative assumptions, and thus intellectually and spiritually unsatisfying. It also does not (indeed by definition it cannot) take seriously even one of countless stories of answered prayer. It is the quintessential example of a sweeping judgment. “Nope, it’s all B.S.”

Another (yes, at the other extreme) posture is essentially positive. This posture accepts basically prayer ‘works’ all the time. One might think that this posture is the ‘Christian’ or ‘religious’ one, but it really doesn’t sit comfortably at all within a worldview shaped by the Bible. This posture, unlike the Bible, cannot cope well with death, suffering, struggle, doubt, questions, and pain.

This positive posture is well-meaning, hopeful and at times inspirational, but can be harmful in setting up people for disappointment with life, with others, or themselves.

The posture that we will have if we are shaped by the Bible will be an essentially relational one. This posture sees prayer, not as a mechanism, but an act of relationship. And relationships are dynamic and living. Not easy or comfortable. The Bible contains a breathtaking spectrum of relational speech toward God. On the one hand, you have prayer that is so gushing and sappy it sounds almost romantic. On the other hand, you have prayer that sounds so hostile and critical toward God that it sounds atheistic to our ears. But to address God at all is to acknowledge the Great Reality behind, over, under, and active within our reality. In this sense, a relational posture can transcend the positive-negative distinction.

The Bible also transcends a hard natural/supernatural distinction. The same God who raises the dead is the same God who made the world regulated by natural laws and ‘holds all things together’. The God of miracles and resurrection is also the God of science and rationality. The Spirit who some times acts or speaks in powerful surprising ways is the same Spirit who most of the time acts or speaks through nature, law, conscience, reason, quantum mechanics and intuition.

Relational prayer, then, is not just about whether it ‘works’ or not. It’s simply what a person does in relationship to God. Whether frustrated shouts at God, passionate prayers of adoration to God, or humble sitting in the shame with God; we pray. Whether we say Wow, Help, Thanks (the more familiar ones) or Why or Sorry (the ones that balance the others out); we pray.

entirely devoted

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The King James version of 2 Chronicles 16:9 reads like this:

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

It’s a famous little verse, wrapped in the middle of a critique that the prophet Hanani issues to king Asa for relying on human strength instead of divine strength. Asa had a heart problem.

But what about that little word ‘perfect’? What’s going on there? Does God require ‘perfection’ in matters like this, or in general? Why would someone with a perfect heart need God to be strong for them? Aren’t they already perfect?

We could rightly point out that this is not some kind of unattainable Greek, mathematical, mechanical ‘perfection’ that is in view here. It is instead the complete, total and absolute orientation to God. Like when an Olympic athlete, skilled woodworker, tailor or electrician puts aside all distractions and focuses ‘entirely’ on the difficult task they are doing.

There are three components to the verse: The searching eyes of the Lord, the state of human hearts, and the resulting strength from God. Other translations swap out the word ‘perfect’ for ‘fully committed’, ‘blameless’, ‘fully devoted’, ‘loyal’ or ‘completely his’.

Some things in life are a spectrum like a dimmer switch, and other things are either/or, like a on/off switch. When a carpenter strikes a nail with a hammer, they either hit it or they miss (note: a miss also includes hitting it wrongly and bending the nail!). Careful, diligent focus on the nail head is required for the nail to be driven. With that kind of ‘perfect’ focus, the power of the hammer can be effective.

So then, this is less about some kind of ‘make sure you’re good so that God will love you’ kind of moralism or legalism. This is about the spiritual law that there is no transformation without our participation.

The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous touch on this principle in step 6: “(we) Were entirely ready to have God remove from us all these defects of character.” For God to do the removing of the defects (discovered through the inventory of step 4 and disclosed to God, self and another in step 5), I must be ‘entirely ready’; and my actions must show this. God moves mountains, but I must bring a shovel.

God’s power to protect or transform is never forced upon us. It is released when we position ourselves in alignment to God and his loving purposes for his world. As Augustine said, without God, we ‘cannot’. But God ‘will not’ without us.

praying to God as friend and foe (& everything in between)?

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I just read Job 19 for my morning devotions.

It’s a profound combination of doubt and faith. In the same chapter, Job accuses God and expresses profound hope in his Redeemer. It’s astounding.

Check out the stark protests against the Almighty…

8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor
    and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone;
    he uproots my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
    he counts me among his enemies.
12 His troops advance in force;
    they build a siege ramp against me
    and encamp around my tent.

And contrast this with the profound hope – dare I say Resurrection hope! – later in the chapter…

25 I know that my redeemer lives,
    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I will see God;

This is a breathtaking combination. Even putting to one side the questions of how specific terms from v25-26 are to be translated… however they should be translated they speak of seeing God after the flesh, skin or body has been destroyed. Seeing God “with my own eyes—I, and not another.” (v.27)

I wish I had a faith as resilient and honest as Job’s. I feel very disrespectful accusing God. But maybe this language is there in Scripture for us all to express all of life, toxic, tragic, triumphant and technical, to our Father.

Maybe we are given resources in Scripture to pray to God, no matter how we may feel he is relating to us. With the tender intimacy of ‘Abba’ Father, or the relentless punishing violence of a cold-hearted enemy. Or any of the options in between these extremes. He may feel like a mother or a mercenary. Defense attorney or prosecuting attorney. The judge or indeed… the one taking the punishment of the guilty.

the explanation for everything, but not every thing

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One of the common misconceptions of God is that belief in God is in some way contrary to science.

The logic seems to go like:
if a) I believe God is the explanation for X,
then b) there is no real motivation for ‘doing science’ to explain X.

This however collapses explanation into one level.

Aristotle, for example, talked about four causes for things. For example, for a coffee cup there would be:

  • a material cause – the materials that explain or cause this cup would be clay.
  • an efficient cause – the process that caused this cup to be was what we call pottery.
  • a formal cause – the identity or form of the object that resulted from materials and the process is a coffee cup.
  • a final cause – the purpose or goal of having a coffee cup is drinking coffee.

So there are many different ways to look at any particular thing (e.g. a computer), and different ways to look at the collection of things that we call ‘everything’ (e.g. Nature).

The belief that God is the explanation for ‘everything’ (e.g. existence itself) is not logically connected in any way to a belief that God is the efficient cause (so to speak) for every single thing that happens (e.g. every bank robbery, every tsunami, etc.). You can, in other words, be a theist and a criminologist; or a theist and a meteorologist. You can believe that Italian designers wanted to drink coffee from really nice cups, and still have plenty of reason to research what their coffee cups are made of, the processes involved, and why they chose the particular form or design.

Science is not in conflict with belief in God, just as a material or efficient cause cannot be in conflict with a formal or final cause. The problem comes when a material or efficient cause is mis-framed as a final cause; e.g. when ‘science’ is absolutely and dogmatically elevated ‘ to ultimate levels; in other words, to believe that everything can be explained by science (i.e. ‘Scientism‘).

So then, even if Scientism may have a problem with God, God has no problem with Science.
Indeed, God would be understood to be the final cause for all Nature – all creation; and the formal cause for the lawful and ‘scientific’ nature of Nature.

– – –

after-thought:
Note: in Pantheism (e.g. God is all; and all is God), which I do not hold, God is also the material and efficient cause for all things. Which gets very tricky making God materially and mechanically responsible for evil and suffering. God can only be ‘good’ within a worldview that makes a distinction between the eternally Free Creator and the purposefully free creation.

many times each day

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Praying regularly is the best way to perfect and improve one’s spiritual life.
We learn to pray properly by praying less than properly.

The timing and frequency of our prayers will vary from person to person.
There is no ‘perfect rhythm’ of prayer.

Popular Christian piety suggests a daily prayer, also called a ‘quiet time’.
Some Christian traditions practice twice-daily prayers: ‘matins’ and ‘vespers’ (or morning and evening prayer); and many Buddhists do morning and evening chants.
Islam requires adherents to pray five times a day.
Cistercian monks pray seven times a day; outdone by Benedictine monks with eight prayer hours.

Praying once, twice, five, seven or eight times a day is great…

But I just don’t think that is enough, at least for me…
(A good Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or Monk will agree.)

I have to keep praying ‘unceasing’ prayers, processing life with God as it happens.

Recovering alcoholics who are working a programme from the guidance of the AA Big Book will heed the following advice for spiritually navigating a day:

“As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbling saying to ourselves [in truth, it is a prayer that is said to God!] many times each day ‘Thy will be done.’ ” (AA Big Book, 87-88)

This practice, conceived by people famous for their struggles, best echoes the admonition of St Paul, who wrote that the will of God for us is to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16).

Because of the simultaneous fragility and dominance of my ego, I have to pray.
All the time.

the profound prayer of Jesus

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Jesus was actually quite a wise student of human nature. When his disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he gave the best answer. His prayer includes everything we need. It’s theologically, practically, psychologically and poetically brilliant.

  • Worship: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
    • This reminds me that all prayer and living must be done in the glad worshipful awareness that God is our Father, and that God is the ultimate reality over all creation.
  • Submission: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
    • This reminds me that ultimately I have to submit to God’s plan and desire. God is the ground of all ethical/moral imagination. All notions of health, well-being and flourishing are only able to be conceived or pursued because of the sovereign permission and power of God.
  • Gratitude: Give us this day our daily bread…
    • This reminds me that God provides everything: a universe, a fertile planet with liquid water and friendly for complex life, grain and humans who know how to make flour, and ultimately the nourishment and simplicity of bread. It reminds me of the need to share bread with the needy. It reminds me that there is enough to go around. It reminds me that I can be secure in the provision of God.
  • Reconciliation: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
    • This reminds me that my own experience of God’s forgiveness is linked with my own willingness to be forgiving. If I stay angry, resentful and self-pitiful toward others, I will hinder my capacity to engage fruitfully with the mercy of God that is continually offered to me and the people I may be angry with.
  • Righteousness: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.
    • This reminds me that I am always progressing either towards sin or righteousness. I’m either going with the flow of the Evil One, or seeking the power and presence of the Holy One. If that sounds binary, it’s because it is. Some things are just that simple.
  • Mission: For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever – Amen.
    • This reminds me to carry this prayerful unceasing awareness into each day. My life is offered to God’s mission. Every situation I may face is an opportunity to practice Worship, Submission, Gratitude, Reconciliation and Righteousness. Everywhere. Always. Till kingdom come.

The final observation is that each line instills a principle that enables the next.

Worshipful awareness of God’s ultimacy compels me to submit to his reign over all…
This enables me to see and appreciate his provision…
This security in God’s love is the foundation for giving up my anger and working at reconciliation…
And if I’m secure in God and being reconciled with others, I’m less likely to have a mind that feels angry, victimised, wronged, sore and therefore less tempted to engage in a range of soothing, self-justifying sins like gossip, vengeance, lust, greed, substance abuse, self-harm or other-harm.

Lord, you are the king of the universe. It’s all about you.
I worship you in all of my scientific ignorance and all my poetic babbling.
Your way is what we need. It’s what I need.
If we did what you want, we would know peace.
Literally everything is a gift from you…
From singularity to solar systems to sourdough…
From creation to redemption.
I am safe in your loving provision and forgiveness.
Unclench my angry fists towards others who I feel wronged by…
And hush the frustrated self-talk that blocks the flow of your mercy to me, and through me to others.
Help me help myself to be a person of reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding.
Help me help myself to say no to the luxurious comforts of indulgent greed, lust and power.
Unlock the chains I bind myself in.
Train me to be of service to others in your mission of love for all people and all creation.
It is always all about You.
Amen.

fashionable help

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In my arrogance…
I don’t want help that looks to simply like help…
I don’t want help that makes me look too desperate…
I wouldn’t want anyone to think I really needed help…
I’d rather be seen as someone who is a smug curator of the most desirable help.

In my arrogance…
I want fashionable help.

In my arrogance…
“I lift my eyes up.
Up to the mountains.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from…”
Things that sound cool…
Things I can wear like fashion accessories…
Things like “12 step spirituality”
or “neuroscience”
or the scintillating book quotes I might drop…

What about people whose help is… God?
What about people who find it helpful to listen to Christian top-40 worship music?
What about people whose help is saying the serenity prayer?

Instead of arrogance…
intelligent help for intelligent people…
trendy help for trendy people…

What about simple help for simple people…

Lord make me humble.
Make me a servant.

the sneaky allure of selfishness

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I’m a prayer guy, and I’m a fan of 12-step spirituality.

So one of the resources I use for prayer is the guidance offered in the AA Big Book for step 11.

It suggests some patterns of meditation and prayer “upon awakening”. Here’s the first bit of advice…

“On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”

AA Big Book, page 86

I am in awe of how practical this advice is. If I’m not directed by God, I will eventually (or immediately!) drift into spiritually unhelpful ways of thinking about my day. It mentions three huge categories of bad day-planning: “self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”

In my insecurity, I can lapse into the self-pity of imagining how certain situations may not go my way, or dreading the experience today of the effects of having been wronged yesterday.

In my self-protecting fear, I can drift into dishonesty, looking at the day ahead with a distorted lens that lies to myself by exaggerating the good that I think I might do, or minimising the mistakes I may make.

In my grandiosity (itself a product of insecurity), I can wade into the waters of imagining how impressively I might perform in this or that situation.

Later on in these couple of pages of advice, the AA big book has a strong suggestion around making our prayers that are oriented to being useful to others.

We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. You can easily see why.

AA Big Book, page 87

I don’t think it is theologically wrong to pray for ourselves, of course. But it is not hard to see the wisdom of this advice. Our thinking about the day, and our ways of going about the day itself, are quickly distorted by self-focused motives. Heck, I can find myself drifting into worry, fear or self-protecting resentment even during a time of prayer itself!

The advice here is to always remember our priority of being useful to others. That is damned good advice.

surprising God speech

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This morning I am up to 2 Chronicles 35 in my daily readings.

I was excited to read more about Josiah, who is becoming a bit of a favourite of mine. No king like him before or after him, says 2 Kings 23:25. The account of Josiah in 2 Kings is very brief in its narration of Josiah’s death. It simply says that Josiah went out to fight against the Egyptian king Necho, who “faced him and killed him.” It’s given as a very short footnote in the life of the great reformer.

The account in 2 Chronicles has a fair bit more to say about Josiah’s death. Despite all of Josiah’s inspiring life: the years of learning as a young king, his seeking after God, the purging Judah of idols and images, the repairing of temple, and the celebrating of a Passover like no other, we are given a blunt account of his stubborn end.

Necho came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates. Josiah is determined to stop this, and moves into position. Pharaoh is off-put and sends a message to Josiah, effectively saying: “Hey, what are you doing? My fight is not with you, but with them.” And then we have a fascinating record of communication from this Pharaoh. This Egyptian brings God into it, saying, “God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you.”

That’s quite a statement. “I’m acting under the command of God. God is with me. If you resist me, you’re resisting God, and you’ll be destroyed.”

Immediately some of our intuitive sensibilities leap in here in confusion. “Oh sure, the Egyptian king may be claiming that God has sent him, but we know that God only speaks to and through the good people of Israel, like prophets, priests and kings. God doesn’t speak through Pharaohs…”

But then, the narrative continues and shatters those sensibilities: we are told that Josiah, unwilling to turn away, disguised himself and went to fight, and in so doing “did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God.”

What? This is not just Necho being used as a mouthpiece for God, but God’s mouth being used as a channel for… Necho’s words!?.

Here again we have an expectation-shattering narrative. God gets involved in the world in ways we don’t like, don’t approve of, and don’t expect. God not only gets involved with passionate prayerful reformers like Josiah, but also with warring Egyptian kings who are being resisted by the ‘good guys’.

As we learn much later in the biblical metanarrative, God is not only the God of the Jews, but of Gentiles also (Romans 3:29). God can speak through stars, donkeys and silence as well as prophets, preachers and holy writ. When it comes to God, we do have a definitive narrative to help us know when something is or isn’t from God, but we also do well not to overly absolutize or restrict our expectations.

Maybe today God is speaking through people and groups we don’t like, as well as ‘The Christians’.

God speaks in surprising ways. May I listen, hear and obey.

the idolatry of seeking bad help

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In 2 Chronicles 28, amidst the familiar but irregular back-and-forth rhythm of ‘good king, bad king’ in this part of the Bible, we are introduced to King Ahaz. He did not do what is right.

Bad king.

One of the familiar refrains of this part of biblical history has to do with burning incense to, building altars to, or not removing the high places to foreign gods. The original readers or hearers of these stories would have known the practical detail of the idolatry that is summarised by such words. But we modern readers don’t.

Early in the chapter (28:2-4) we get a list of his idolatrous practices (the Baal images, the child sacrifice, the incence at the high places, hilltops and trees), but later (28:22-23) we are given a window into his idolatrous mindset. Here’s how the text puts it.

In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”

Here is the implicit idolatrous ideology we are invited to consider: if you want help in a particular area, you sacrifice particular things to particular gods. If you have food insecurity or drought, you sacrifice grain to get more from the gods. If childbirth and reproduction isn’t going so well, you might sacrifice your child to get help with having more children.

By contrast, the faithful leaders and prophets understood that the Lord doesn’t require dead children, or even rams or bulls, to bless his people. They knew how inhumane and anti-life such practices and ideology were.

In our modern world, we don’t literally make these same kinds of sacrifices, but we still can fall into idolatrous thinking that leads to idolatrous living. We see other people who seem to be enjoying certain things, so we sacrifice to get in on the action. We might think: “Their holiday photos looked amazing. I’m going to work extra and save so we can go.” or “That newest smartphone model has amazing features, instead of using my money for other purposes, I’ll shell out for one.”

Those are just some easy examples. Idolatry can be much more subtle. Even church leaders can be tempted: “Their church services look amazing, let’s invest in all of their tech so we can have that too.”

Then and now, the contrast is grateful obedience to the Lord and not enslaving ourselves to a false god, even if the offer looks enticing. The things we really need, oxygen, grace, meaning, purpose, are free of charge and not in short supply.