Pray Always & All Ways

Pray Always & All Ways

Back to School Sunday

August 10, 2025

Matthew 6:5-8, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Psalm 139

When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard.  Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.

Matthew 6:7

Rejoice always.  Pray continually.  Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

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This week we are focusing on prayer, but not just the typical prayers we pray to ask for God’s help to get through the day. We’re digging deeper into what it means to pray continually, to pray without words, and to cultivate a lifestyle of prayer that will keep us in tune with God’s presence in every moment.

The recorded message above offers some brief reflections on the ways our perspectives and experience of prayer changes through life. These reflections are shorter than usual because we had table conversations about prayer for a portion of our service.

I invite you to listen and then take a look at some of the prayers below that you may want to try on your own.

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The Welcoming Prayer

The Welcoming Prayer is the kind of prayer that is especially helpful when you are feeling triggered throughout the day. Most of our challenges and tempations come from a feeling that our security, our approval, or our control are being threatened. This simple prayer is a way of welcoming whatever emotions / reactions are stirring in us and releasing our need for security, approval and control to God, trusting that God’s grace is sufficient in whatever it is we are facing in that moment.

The Welcoming Prayer

First, Gently become aware of your body and your interior state.
Then pray the following:

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment

because I know it is for my healing.

I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations and conditions.

I let go of my desire for security.

I let go of my desire for approval.

I let go of my desire for control.

I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person, or myself.

I open to the love and presence of God and the healing action and grace within.

__________

written by: Mary Mrozowski (925-1993)
The creator and spiritual mother of the welcoming prayer practice

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Breath Prayer

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Just as breathing goes on naturally in the body, prayer can go on naturally in our being. Thus we can understand the origin of the name more completely when we recall that in Hebrew the word RUACH has three meanings: “wind,” “breath,” and “Spirit.” Practicing the breath prayer re-grooves/rewires/renews our mind, slowly shaping it into the “mind of Christ” (Phil. 2:5)

Gifts of Breath Prayer

The breath prayer helps us re-groove our brains to be more Christ-like. Practice helps us let go of bad tapes and commentaries thus dismantling what is false within us and awaken what is true and good. Clarity develops. Understanding of scripture deepens. Daily chores go faster while engaged in active prayer. Interior detachment develops. Peace of mind emerges. A deeper awareness of the presence of God is experienced. A deeper bonding to Christ and the human family occurs.

Examples of Classic Breath Prayers

• Lord, come quickly to my rescue. God, make haste to help me.

• Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

• God, grant me peace.

• Open my heart to your love, Jesus.

• Father God, Thy will be done.

• Lord, hear my prayer.

• Lord Jesus Christ, enter Light. Do not let my darkness speak to me.

• Jesus, abide in me.

• Jesus, keep me simple.

• Holy One, help me.

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Pray All Ways

~ compiled by Dr. Reginal Johnson, author of Your Personality & The Spiritual Life

Although you may occasionally engage in almost all of the practices listed below, I invite you to note which ones most represent your regular pattern. You should also note a few that you may like to try and begin experimenting with them in your regular prayer life.

A Small Sampling of Prayer Practices for Every Personality Type

• read prayers from a book, or from the Psalms, or recite prayers you have memorized

• write your prayers

• follow an outline or pattern in your prayer time

• talk to God, spontaneously, in your own words

• express your feelings to God

• intercede by entering empathetically into the feelings of others and bearing these feelings to God in prayer

• intercede by talking to God about other’s needs.

• intercede silently by visualizing the other person in Christ’s presence.

• intercede for others while looking at their photographs

• intercede for others with the use of a “prayer list”

• spend time just “feeling” the presence of God

• spend time quietly thinking about God

• listen in silence for what God wants to say

• pray a phrase or verse from scripture in order to focus your attention and rest in God’s presence.

• imagine Christ present with you, or visualize yourself as present with Him in some gospel scene, and let that lead into conversational prayer with Christ

• read a passage of scripture and try to allow God to show you how it relates to or applies to your life.

• read from a devotional source which raises your thoughts to God and helps you think about His attributes and qualities and stimulate your worship

• pray over your day’s schedule, offering persons & situations to God in anticipatory prayer, and to seek God’s help in ordering your priorities

• read a selection from a devotional source which relates stories about how real people have experienced God in their circumstances, using it as a “faith lift”

• “daydream” or follow a stream of consciousness in God’s presence allowing it to take you “wherever” as you open yourself to God--all the way from confession of sins, asking for help, or receiving creative ideas

• think about something in a focused way, in God’s presence, perhaps with pen in hand

• use symbols in your place of prayer (for example, a lit candle, open Bible, picture, cross, or worship center of some sort)

• sing, play a musical instrument or listen to music during your time of prayer

• keep a spiritual journal or prayer diary

• set aside time during prayer in order to reflect deliberately over your day, in order to see how God has been (or may have wanted to be) at work

• set aside time for self-examination into your attitudes, actions or thoughts which are hindering your relationship with God

• “practice the presence of God” during the day by frequent interior conversations with God

• find that there are frequent moments through the day when your thoughts turn to God and you are conscious of God’s presence in you

• organize your schedule so that there are fixed times throughout the day when you remind yourself to lift your heart to God in prayer

• “pray with your body” by using posture (kneeling, lying prostrate, etc.),

• use actions (dancing or movement), or gestures (palms opened, arms lifted, etc.), as a means of prayerful expression to God

• sometimes use voluntary denial of an otherwise normal function (eating, watching TV, sweets, etc.) for the sake of spiritual focus and prayer

• walk / jog / play in order to place yourself in the “path” of God who lifts your spirit through the beauty of creation

• listen to audio readings of scripture selections, as you drive, work, or rest

• read / sing from the hymnal or other worship songs in order to drink in the message which comes through the poetic imagery as a means of being with God

There are as many ways to be present with God as there are to be in relationship with a friend. Once you carve out the space for prayer, you have a choice in what you and God do with your time together.

Don’t let your prayer life grow stale. Be Creative!

The hardest part is showing up and being present. Once you are present with God, the possibilities are endless. Enjoy.

¿ Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin ?

¿ Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin ?

Half-Truths - Part 5
(based on the book by Adam Hamilton)

August 3, 2025
with special guest preacher: Rev. McKenzie Sefa

Matthew 7:1-5, Matthew 9:9-13
see also: Romans 14:4-13, Acts 11:2-18

Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you deal out will be dealt out to you. Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye?

Matthew 7:1-3

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Of all the “half-truths” or statements of “Bumper Sticker Christianity” we have talked about, this one feels the most right.

God hates sin. God loves sinners. So why shouldn’t we do the same?

Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Let’s take the statement apart piece by piece.

1. Hate the Sin.

Yes, of course we must hate sin… all sin. Sin breaks God’s heart and leads to destruction. Sin causes harm to ourselves and to others. There is nothing good about sin. The problem is that we rarely use this statement as a declaration against the sin in our own lives. Paul writes that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23) and countless scriptures warn us about judging others because we cannot see clearly with the log of sin in our own eye (Matthew 7:4-5).

Generally this is a statement we use to justify our judgment of people who “sin differently than we do.” We will not say we “hate the sin” of the gluttonous person who eats four desserts at a church potluck, but we are quick to “hate the sin” of the homosexual teenager who never comes to church anymore because everybody glares at him with holier-than-thou stares, which we see as perfectly justified.

Yes, we should hate sin, but we must always begin with our own. Do we truly hate the sinful attitudes and behaviors and habits in our own lives? Do we hate the times we sleep in when we don’t feel like going to church? Do we hate the countless excuses we use for avoiding Bible study or times of prayer? Do we hate the ways we avoid difficult conversations about God with people who need to hear the Good News of the gospel? Do we hate the lustful thoughts that pop in our minds out of nowhere? Do we hate the anger and resentment that fills our heart toward that person we just can’t forgive because “they hurt us so deeply?”

Until we hate the sin in our own hearts enough to repent and change, we have no business calling out the sin in others who sin in ways that may not be a temptation for us.

2. Love the Sinner

The problem here is that it is not our place to decide who is a “sinner” and who is not. As we’ve already seen, we are all sinners. At best, this statement is simply redundant. Love the sinner = love everyone because everyone is a sinner. Why not simply say it the way Jesus said it… Love your neighbor (the fact that they are a sinner is irrelevant to the way we are called to love them). When we say “sinner”, we usually have a specific person or specific characteristic in mind. If we are all “sinners,” we have no business singling out people who struggle with specific types of sin.

Secondly, Jesus never actually called anyone a “sinner.” He called people to repent of their sins, and the sins that most angered him were the sins of the religious crowd who should have known better. But remember, it was the Pharisees and Sadducee's who condemned him for “eating with tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus simply saw them as people who God loved that happened to be caught up in sin. He offered them forgiveness and a fresh start. He loved them even before they “repented” or cleaned up their act. He loved them even when they walked away and refused to repent. Their sin did not have any impact whatsoever on his love for them.

Likewise, someone else’s sin should not be a factor in how we treat them and how we love them.

There is really only one part of this statement that needs to be said.

LOVE.

Period.

Nothing else matters. We are all sinners and we are all loved by God.

While we were still weak, at the right moment, Christ died for ungodly people. It isn’t often that someone will die for a righteous person, though maybe someone might dare to die for a good person. But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8

Stop worrying about whether you think somebody is a “sinner”. Just love.

¿ God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ?

¿ God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ?

Half-Truths - Part 4
(based on the book by Adam Hamilton)

July 27, 2025

Psalm 18:6, 16-17, Psalm 121:1-2, Philippians 2:12-14
see also: Daniel 9:15-19, Ephesians 2:4-10

However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!

Ephesians 2:4-5

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“God helps those who help themselves.”

Odds are you have probably said or heard this exhortation at some point in your life. Most Americans believe it is found in the Bible, though no such Scripture exists. In truth, the source is unknown, although it is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin who popularized the phrase in the 1730’s.

At first glance, it seems to express good Biblical truth even if it is not directly quoted from Scripture. Surely God doesn’t want us to just sit back and do nothing. As James writes, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Likewise, Paul writes to the Philippians to “carry out (or work out) your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12-13)

Anyone working for social justice knows that one of the most important tasks is to help people stand on their own, to break the cycles of poverty, addiction, crime, or whatever else holds them back from being productive members of society who live with a sense of purpose and dignity. We “teach people to fish” rather than simply giving them an endless stream of free handouts.

Honestly, this is all good and true. We should encourage hard work and discipline both in life and in our journey of faith. We do have to “practice what we preach”. We must live out our salvation by fulfilling our baptismal covenant through our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. When we pray, God empowers us and guides us into action. Adam Hamilton writes, “Those who fought for civil writes did not simply pray at church. They prayed and then marched, knowing they were likely to be beaten and arrested and that God would somehow see them through.”

So what’s wrong with saying “God helps those who help themselves,” even if it’s not directly quoted from the Bible?

The trouble comes at two key points… when someone cannot help themselves, or when we cannot help ourselves.

We often see others in need and respond by saying that if they work hard and “help themselves,” God will help them out of whatever pit they find themselves in. In some ways, however, this says far more about our cultural work ethic and rugged individualism than it says about God. After all, if we could truly help ourselves, what need have we for God? Why pray at all if we could simply work harder and help ourselves solve whatever dilemma presses in?

More than that, it often becomes an excuse not to help others. Scripture consistently calls us to care for the poor, the orphan, the stranger, the widow, and the needy. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us that whatever we have done for the least among us, we have done for him, and likewise whatever aid we have refused to others, we have refused for him. Rather than seeing those in need as people who should “pick themselves up by their own bootstraps”, we are called to see in them the face of Christ struggling under the weight of his own cross, and like Simon of Cyrene, perhaps God is calling us to help him carry it for awhile by bearing the burden of others (Matthew 27:32).

Challenging this well worn cliché is not a blanket affirmation of sloth or laziness. Rather it is a recognition that no matter how hard we work, there are times when we simply cannot help ourselves. Despite popular belief, not everyone was born with the same opportunities, abilities or connections. This is why God uses others to answer the cry of the needy, to help them when they don’t have a leg to stand on.

In the end, God helps those who CANNOT help themselves.

God is the God of the hopeless, the God who walks with us even in the valley of the shadow of death. This is grace, amazing grace, that saved even a blind wretch like me who could never save myself from the shackles of sin. When it comes to our salvation, not one of us can help ourselves.

Rather than condemning the helpless, perhaps it would do us well to sing that great hymn again… remembering that we were all lost and helpless, but God rescued us from the pit that we might sing His glorious and “Amazing Grace” all the more.

¿ God said it, I believe it, that settles it ?

¿ God said it, I believe it, that settles it ?

Half-Truths - Part 3
(based on the book by Adam Hamilton)

July 20, 2025
with special guest preacher: Rev. McKenzie Sefa

Deuteronomy 23:12-14, 2 Timothy 2:14-15, 2 Timothy 3:15-17
see also: John 1:14-18, John 8:2-11 (Leviticus 20:10, 21:9)

You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, Don’t commit murder, and all who commit murder will be in danger of judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment. If they say to their brother or sister, ‘You idiot,’ they will be in danger of being condemned by the governing council. And if they say, ‘You fool,’ they will be in danger of fiery hell.

Matthew 5:21-22_______________

“You have heard it said… but I say to you…”

Such a statement from almost anyone would quickly raise a red flag today. We hear and use the arguments all the time. “What do you mean, “you say”?” “We’ve always done it this way. Are you telling us we’ve been doing it wrong all this time?” “Who are you to say my parents and great grandparents were wrong?”

I was talking to a group of church people once using a similar sentiment. I have had these kinds of conversations on a wide range of subjects. People have told me I did not preach God’s Word because I didn’t use the King James Version. Another man said I would “burn in hell if I didn’t get my wife to repent because she is a pastor,” which in his mind is clearly against God’s Word. The most extreme I have ever seen involved a church leader who actually believed that God’s commands to Joshua to drive the Canaanites out of the land also applies to white American Christians who are charged with ridding our nation of all minorities and non-believers, especially Muslims. His wife proceeded to send me a series of gruesome and inflammatory internet articles about extremist groups and they warned me that my Muslim friends would rape and mutilate my daughter, who was only 2 years old at the time.

Of course these are extreme distortions of Biblical teaching, but the truth is that Scripture has been used throughout history to oppress women, to endorse slavery, and to justify countless wars, the burning of so-called “witches”, the excommunication of scientists, and many other unjust atrocities throughout human history. This is the kind of violence and extremism that results in an “Us vs. Them” culture where God always just happens to be cheering for our team.

Yet Jesus himself said these words… “You have heard but I say,” not once but several times in His famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus consistently re-frames the people’s understanding or interpretation of the law, not to undermine it, but to get to the heart of God’s intent. Lust is just as bad as adultery and hating someone is the equivalent of murder. “An eye for an eye” becomes, “love your enemies” and the Sabbath should never prevent us from doing good and bringing healing to others.

It’s easy to affirm, at least in words, because Jesus said it. But we must remember that Jesus’ audience did not attribute to him the same divine authority Christians recognize today. When they accused him of breaking the Sabbath or condemned him for defiling himself with sinners, they could just as easily have pointed to any number of scriptures to make their case and declared… “God said it, that settles it.”

If anything, Jesus, Paul, and other New Testament writers demonstrate that it’s not quite that simple. Scripture, just like any other text, can be twisted and distorted to say just about anything. Dr. Joy Moore talks about those preachers who have a verse for everything stating, “If you’ve got a topic, I’ve got a text.” Whether the text actually applies to the topic hardly matters, so long as it came from somewhere in the Bible, or at least “sounds Biblical.” Dr. Ben Witherington III is known for saying “A text without a context is a proof-text for anything you want to say.”

If God truly says something, and if we truly understand the meaning for our context, then yes, it may be fairly black and white. But more often than not, we are not as clear or certain as we would like to think. Let’s take murder for example. The command, “Thou shalt not murder” is one of the most black and white laws in Scripture and in almost every religion and law code throughout history. But even here we argue about gray areas. What about war, euthanasia, self-defense or the death penalty? Do these controversial issues count as “murder” and if so, are they justified? Some would even take it to the extreme that we must not kill animals, but even if someone could prove that was God’s intent, I imagine few of us would become vegetarian.

There’s no one-size fits all interpretation or even a universal method of Biblical interpretation throughout Christian history. We must wrestle with issues of language, context, socio-historic realities, literary styles, authorial intent, original audience and countless other exegetical and interpretive concerns. Rarely will all Christians of all times and all places ever fully agree on what it is that God actually said.

While I believe we must continue to study and wrestle with the meaning of the text in the context of the global Christian community throughout history, we must be careful making absolute statements that we and we alone have the only “right” interpretation on any given issue. Every time we are certain we are right, we will likely find another sincere Christian scholar interpreting the same passage in a very different way.

Understanding what God actually “said” or “meant” is no small task. If we’re honest, most of the time we are not even as clear as we thought we were about what our spouse means. This complex reality should not paralyze us to Biblical interpretation and study, but it should at the very least give us pause and keep us humble in our beliefs and out judgments against the beliefs of other Christians.

Two final words of advice.

1. Remember that the Word became flesh… not text.

   When in doubt, always interpret the text through the lens of Jesus’ life for he is the only person to ever live out the fullness of God’s Word on this earth.

2. Take to heart the wisdom of Mark Twain who writes, “It is not the parts of the Bible I do not understand that worry me, it is the parts I do understand.”

   For as much as Christians argue over the interpretation of obscure and controversial scriptures, we all know far more scripture than we actually put into practice. First and foremost, let us become doers and not merely hearers of those parts of the Word of God that are crystal clear… to love God and love our neighbor (which includes everyone)… to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our Creator.

   This alone may take more than a lifetime to master, and the world will be far better for it.

Special thanks to my wife, Rev. McKenzie Sefa, who preached this challenging topic today in our first of two pulpit swaps during this “Half-Truths” series. You can listen to her full sermon at the link above.

¿ God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle ?

¿ God Won't Give You More Than You Can Handle ?

Half-Truths - Part 2
(based on the book by Adam Hamilton)

July 13, 2025

1 Corinthians 10:12-13, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
see also: James 1:13-17, Psalm 46:1-3, 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13

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“Don’t worry, God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

Before we dig into what God does and doesn’t give us, let’s first consider the source of this unhelpful cliché. It is an adaptation of the passage above from 1 Corinthians 10:13

The actual statement from 1 Corinthians 10 reads: “God won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities.”

James elaborates on this point when he writes:

No one who is tested should say, “God is tempting me!” This is because God is not tempted by any form of evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Everyone is tempted by their own cravings; they are lured away and enticed by them. Once those cravings conceive, they give birth to sin; and when sin grows up, it gives birth to death.

James 1:13-15

The ability to overcome temptation and the ability to handle any circumstance that comes our way are two entirely different things. God does not tempt us to sin, but he promises that he will give us the strength to resist temptation. The lure of sin does not have power over us if we are walking in the Spirit because we have died to our sinful nature and been raised to walk in the light of Christ. The good news of the gospel, in fact, is not simply the forgiveness of sin so that we can go to heaven, but the power over sin granted to us by the same grace which saved us in the first place.

Clearly the statement, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” is a misquoted version of this favorite memory verse from 1 Corinthians. But what do we do with the broader idea? It has become so vital to our faith to believe that no matter how bad things get, we will not get overwhelmed because God won’t give us more than we can handle.

This favorite half-truth often follows right behind “Everything happens for a reason” as a second pillar of our “Bumper Sticker Christianity.” In fact, it utterly depends on the idea that everything happens according to God’s plan and that God causes every bad thing to happen. “God won’t give you more than you can handle” implies first and foremost that everything you have to handle, no matter how tragic, must be from God for some greater divine purpose.

If you missed last week’s message, now may be a good time to go back and check out “Everything Happens for a Reason”.

Two key points to keep in mind:

1. Not every circumstance you have to handle is from God.

   It is just as likely that the struggle you face is the result of the natural ebb and flow of life, or perhaps even the result of sinful and destructive choices, whether yours or the harmful choices of others that may have had nothing to do with you at all. Nevertheless, the consequences are very real and painful.

2. Though we may very well be overwhelmed by circumstances beyond our control, God will see us through any circumstance we face.

   This is where we draw hope from the Apostle Paul.

I was given a thorn in my body because of the outstanding revelations I’ve received so that I wouldn’t be conceited. It’s a messenger from Satan sent to torment me so that I wouldn’t be conceited.

I pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me alone. He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“God will help you handle all that you’ve been given” (Adam Hamilton).

As he tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient because my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Take some time to sit with all of the circumstances in your life that overwhelm you. Imagine them circling around you like a storm as you stand with Peter on the water in the middle of the sea. Look up to Jesus and reach out your hand. Invite him to grant you peace, and even if he doesn’t calm the storm, pray that the Holy Spirit might calm the storm in you.

Listen to this week’s sermon above for more on the half truth: “God won’t give you more than you can handle”. For now, let us us pray together with the Psalmist:

God is our refuge and strength,

a help always near in times of great trouble.

That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart…

Psalm 46:1-2a (CEB)

¿ Everything Happens for a Reason ?

¿ Everything Happens for a Reason ?

Half-Truths - Part 1
(based on the book by Adam Hamilton)

July 6, 2025
Romans 8:22-28, Deuteronomy 30:15-20

We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

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Long before Twitter or “X” limited our communication to 140 or even 280 characters, Christians have attempted to distill the great mysteries of God and the universe into short catchy and memorable clichés and sound-bites. The result is what I like to call “Bumper-sticker Christianity” or “Street Theology.”

Adam Hamilton calls them “Half-truths” because these clichés often contain just enough truth to sound quite Biblical, but when taken to their logical conclusions they can be misleading and sometimes even hurtful or harmful to the faith of others. We will look at five of these so-called “Biblical” statements over the next few weeks beginning with one of the most common: “Everything happens for a reason.” Other variations on this theme include, “It was God’s will or God’s plan,” or “It was just God’s time.”

At best these sentiments sound like the bad advice of Job’s friends who try to explain away his suffering. At worst they make God out to be not only the author of tragedy, but perhaps even of sin.

God is sovereign, but God also created human beings with free will to make choices for both good and evil. To say that everything that happens is God’s will or God’s plan eliminates the possibility of human choice or responsibility. Consider the following examples as we move beyond this limited and un-scriptural explanation for human suffering.

Scenario 1: Natural Disasters

Two Christian families and next door neighbors pray for safety during a tornado warning. One house is demolished leaving the family with nothing while the house next door remains untouched.

Did God answer the prayers of one family and not the other? Did one family have less faith than the other? Did one family deserve this tragedy more than the other? When the family whose home survived says they were “Blessed by God”, does that mean that the other family is not blessed? Where was God’s grace and protection for them?

Natural disasters are called “natural” for a reason. God does not orchestrate such tragedy for some larger purpose beyond our understanding. Storms come. Sickness and disease ravages the human body and death will catch up with every one of us eventually. This is the nature of life in a fallen world. This is why we place our hope in eternity, but it does not mean that every bad thing that happens is part of God’s perfect will or plan. The truth is, some things “just happen.” The question is “how we will respond?”

Scenario 2: Shootings

School shootings have become all too common in our nation. If it is true, however, that everything happens for a reason, then what role does God play in these tragedies?

When an individual dies, we often say, “It was just their time.” Is that true for all of those children? Was it “just their time” all on the same day? Did God lead the gunmen to sin in order to fulfill that purpose? Did God allow these children to be sacrificed so others might “pray to be saved” when the gospel is preached at their funerals?

Clearly such implications are appalling. No matter how much we say that God’s ways are beyond our comprehension, there is no way that God’s goodness could be so radically different than ours to justify such horrors. Our sense of goodness, righteousness, and justice may be shadows of God’s wisdom and it is true that God’s ways are not our ways, but surely our good is not the opposite of God’s good. If we are made in the image of God, we at least have some sense of what is truly good and what is evil.

Evil is the natural result of sinful human choices. Attributing pain, suffering, and even evil to some inexplicable Divine plan implies that God led the perpetrators of such evil to sin and it removes our personal responsibility as we are called to bear faithful witness to the presence of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. What other sins can we commit and simply respond by saying “The devil made me do it” or “It was God’s will anyway”?

Volumes of similar scenarios could be written to demonstrate the danger in chalking everything up to God’s perfect will or plan but we do not have the time or space here for such exhaustive reflections.

One final thought.

What do we do with the “good things” that do come as the result of horrible circumstances? When the nation came together in love and charity after 9/11 or when family members reconcile their long-held grudges in the face of a loved one dying from cancer, how do we respond? Did God cause these tragedies in order to bring about such good outcomes?

Not necessarily.

Romans 8:28 says that “all things work together for good,” but that does not imply that all things are caused or necessary in order to bring about that good. We cling to inexplicable reasons for every tragedy because we need our suffering to have meaning, but what if we have it backwards? What if the meaning and value of our suffering and tragedy comes not from its cause or reason, but from how we respond?

How is God strengthening us and leading us to grow in love and faith as a result of whatever happened? Do we harden ourselves in anger or do we grow even more urgent in our desire to pour out the love and mercy and grace of God to a hurting loved one and a broken world?

God works with us to bear good, meaningful fruit out of every circumstance, natural or sinful, but just like us, God grieves over the tragedy itself. God weeps with us in our loss and screams with us in our anger against evil and injustice.

The rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous alike. This is the nature of things. Perhaps the real question is not the reason or cause, but what meaning and goodness will grow in the softened and fertile fields of our hurting hearts and souls.

Not everything happens for a reason, but God can make meaning out of everything that happens.

In her book, “Everything happens for a reason and other lies I’ve loved”, Kate Bowler wrestles with the “easy answers” we so often give in the midst of tragedy and suffering. Her raw and honest experience of God’s truth in the midst of her own tragic circumstances calls us to consider how we might leave our easy answers and cliché explanations behind and instead be willing to sit with others in the midst of their grief and pain as a reminder of God’s healing presence through it all.

Check out her story in this video from TED Talks below.

You can find her book on Amazon here.

Firm Foundation

Firm Foundation

It’s Complicated: Family as a Means of Grace - Part 7
June 15, 2025
Matthew 7:24-27

Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.

 Matthew 7:24-27

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A couple of years ago, our daughter was building a sand castle at the beach — correction - a sand kingdom… or as she called it: Sand-topia.

It was evening and the tide was coming in.  Eventually she stopped adding to her kingdom and focused instead on building sand walls and moats to hold back the water.  Needless to say, her defenses didn’t stand a chance.  The tide came.  The walls crumbled.  The moats overflowed.  Sand-topia was lost.

I have never seen anyone work harder to save a sand castle.  She spent more time trying to protect her kingdom than she did building it. 

The next morning, we walked past the former site of Sand-topia, and something struck me.  The waves didn’t “destroy” Sand-topia in the way a flood might destroy buildings and roads in real life.  There was no rubble, there were no mold ridden building frames to muck out, there was no crumbled asphalt.  There was nothing. 

In fact, there was absolutely no evidence that anything had ever been built there.  The sand was pristine, smooth, natural, as it had always been.

What if the tide is a sign of grace?

I don’t want to diminish the real destruction floods can cause.  I’ve lived through Florida hurricanes.  But sometimes, when natural forces move through uninhabited places, they can leave beauty in their wake.  Fire can bring new life to a forest.  Sinkholes in the Florida panhandle have been turned into a state park with breathtaking landscapes and even a waterfall where a river drops into one of those seemingly bottomless pits.  The same sinkhole or fire or flood that would be tragic in a neighborhood can be transformative in another place.

Sometimes it feels like life is collapsing under a flood.  Sometimes it actually is.  

But what if, at times, the flood is actually God’s grace? What if, like the tide, God is simply trying to restore our souls the way the waves restore the beach to it’s original, pristine condition? 

Spiritual growth, or sanctification, isn’t about building something new, or adding more to our lives.  It’s a stripping away of everything in us that’s not of God.  The Spirit’s work in us is not to sculpt a masterpiece out of a human shaped pile of garbage and sin.  Instead, the Spirt gently restores us to the image of God that we were always made to reflect.

The firm foundation isn’t something we build.  At best, our efforts create temporary barriers to protect our fragile lives and hearts.  What if, without realizing it, we are resisting grace?  What if the Spirit is simply trying to uncover the firm foundation God has already laid for us?

What might God be gently washing away in your life — not to destroy, but to restore?

One in the Spirit

One in the Spirit

It’s Complicated: Family as a Means of Grace - Part 6
June 8, 2025
Joel 2:28, Acts 2:38-47

After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone;
     your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
     your old men will dream dreams,
     and your young men will see visions.

Joel 2:28

Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away — as many as the Lord our God invites.”

Acts 2:38-39

_______________

“I will pour out my Spirit upon everyone… This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away — as many as the Lord invites.”

It has been said that the greatest scandal of Christianity is not who it excludes, but who it includes.  If God is at the center of the circle, there are no boundaries.  If Christ is at the head of the table, there is always an extra seat.  If the Holy Spirit is poured out upon everyone, then who are we to say who is in or out, who belongs or doesn’t, who is welcome or who is not?

As the Spirit moves through Acts, we discover that everyone includes than even the prophets or disciples imagined: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free, young and old, rich and poor.  The Spirit pours out on Saul, a persecutor of the church.  The Spirit reaches out across the nations and welcomes Roman centurions, wealthy businesswomen, slave girls, prison guards, merchants, tentmakers, and the list goes on. 

Empires thrive on conformity, loyalty, and fear.  As the Wizard says in Wicked, “nothing brings people together like a good enemy.”  Tragically, Christian history has often embraced this philosophy — us vs. them — with devastating results.  From the Crusades the Holocaust to  present-day attacks by Christian leaders against people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, people with mental health struggles, other religions, and even certain branches of the church that they don’t consider Christian — the list of those we try to exclude is long.

These are people God so loved, whom Christ came to save and not condemn.  Even when they are in our churches and communities, seeking to live with love and integrity, we are quick to judge, to marginalize, or to ignore them entirely as if they are not really present.

Some claim that history is being “re-written” because it doesn’t match what they learned in school.  In truth, what’s new is  the inclusion of the countless voices long silenced by power.  These people have always been present, in the world and in the church, but they have not always been seen or heard.

That is why we confess the ways we have rejected God’s promise for ALL people.  We ask for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit, to open our eyes and hearts to those we have not seen and to help us hear God’s voice in the voices we have silenced.

Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.

Hear the good news! We are one in the Spirit of God, who is poured out on all people, without exception, and who binds us together not by sameness, but by grace.

Generation to Generation

Generation to Generation

It’s Complicated: Family as a Means of Grace - Part 5
June 1, 2025
Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

_______________

At first glance, I’d say I didn’t inherit much from my family when it comes to faith.  We went to church, but never talked about it at home.  Yet, looking back, I realize that without my grandmother’s quiet and steady faith, I probably would not be a Christian at all. 

Like my parents, she rarely spoke about faith out loud.  But she was a devout Catholic, raising five children in the church even though her husband never attended.  She prayed faithfully every day — perhaps more than anyone I’ve ever known.  I didn’t learn about her prayer corner until after our daughter was born.  She sat there daily, praying for every member of her family by name, all the way down to the great grandchildren whose names I don’t even know. 

I’m sad to admit that early in my overzealous Baptist years, I was convinced by the church that Catholics couldn’t be “saved,” and I worried about Gram’s salvation.  She always dreamed of one of her grandsons becoming a priest, and I was her last hope.  I shattered that when, in 6th grade, I convinced my parents to join the Baptist church.

Years later, after I became a pastor and she met my wife, she was deeply grateful.  Not only was her lifelong prayer answered by having a minister in the family, but she also cherished gaining a new granddaughter-in-law and great-granddaughter.  She saw God’s faithfulness in my life even if it didn’t look the way she expected.

Faith doesn’t always get passed down through perfect teaching or clear conversations. Sometimes it comes through presence — through someone showing up, holding space, or quietly living a life centered on God. That kind of faith may not look impressive, but it plants deep roots.

As Moses shaped a new people out of those freed from Egypt, God gave them a commandment that Jeus would later call the greatest: to love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  He said, “Talk about these things when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up.”

My family didn’t exactly do that, at least not out loud.  But in her own way, my grandmother did.  She spoke about it through her prayers, long before I even understood or appreciated what she was doing.  She modeled it every time she took me to the church to light a candle for someone who was sick and every time she went to the nursing home to take communion to someone. 

And most of all, she spoke about it through her unconditional love.  She was deeply hurt when I left the Catholic church.  Yet even when I foolishly tried to convert her to a faith she already understood more deeply than I did, she never stopped loving me.

It’s not always obvious, but God’s love does reach down to us from generation to generation. 

Where can you see it in your family line?

The Gift of Submission

Submit to One Another

It’s Complicated: Family as a Means of Grace - Part 4
May 25, 2025
Ephesians 5:20-6:4

Always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and submit to each other out of respect for Christ. 

Ephesians 5:20-21

_______________

Paul’s instructions for Christian households can be a hornet’s nest for bad interpretation and abuse.

In the evangelical church where I spent my teenage years, I often heard Ephesians 5:22 and 6:1 quoted — “Wives submit to your husbands” and “Children, obey your parents.” What’s ironic is how rarely we heard verses like 5:25 or 6:4 — “Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church” and “Parents, don’t provoke your children to anger.” And even less proclaimed were the verses that introduce the entire section: “Submit to each other out of respect for Christ.”

That mutual submission sets the tone for everything that follows. Yet historically, many faith communities have twisted these verses to uphold hierarchies of control — where men dominate, women disappear into the background, and children are to be seen but not heard.

In Jesus and John Wayne, historian Kristin Kobes DuMez describes the cultural fascination with domineering, militant masculinity.  Like John Wayne, they are men who “sit tall in the saddle, who are not afraid to resort to violence to bring order, and who won’t let political correctness get in the way of saying what has to be said or the norms of democratic society keep them from doing what needs to be done.” 

Such “alpha-males” don’t show weakness, they “protect” with power, and they rarely make room for those who don’t fit the mold. One man with a physical disability said he felt there was no place for him in  evangelicalism because he wasn’t a “sports or hunting fanatic.” I’ve felt that too. At one church I served, the men told me they couldn’t respect me because I didn’t own a gun. Apparently, not owning one meant I wasn’t a “biblical man” because in their words, I “was refusing to protect my family.”

The sad irony is that many churches preach these roles as biblical while ignoring the harm they can cause. I've seen men praised for “leading” while acting more like bullies. I've watched women, outwardly submissive, quietly manipulate and control everything behind the scenes in a dynamic that only pretends to honor Scripture. And far too often, these façades have hidden emotional manipulation, spiritual neglect, and even abuse.

Children grow up believing they are either invisible or inherently flawed, because their needs and voices are rarely valued.  When I was a youth pastor, I had two 6th grade girls ask me, “If you had kids, would you talk to them?”  Their pain was deeply felt as most of the adults in their lives completely ignored their existence.

When our family systems are built on control instead of Christlike love, everyone loses.

So what if we stopped asking who’s in charge and started asking who needs to be seen, heard, and loved?

To follow Christ is to dismantle power plays and choose the harder way: honoring one another as beloved members of God’s family. This is the kind of household is bound together by grace, where mutual love and surrendering our will and desires to the needs of one another builds something truly holy.