May 12, 2013
Ascension Sunday – Mother’s Day
As young adults, Candy’s parents both caused their mothers such
anxiety. But their mothers, Candy’s grandmothers, prayed for them fervently and
faithfully. Candy’s mother had been baptized as a girl in a Baptist church and
Candy’s father had been baptized as in infant in a Lutheran church. That Jesus had
claimed them fueled their mothers’ prayers when they were headed in a different
direction. Candy’s parents told how God brought them together and drew them
back to Jesus by the power of their mothers’ prayers, and Candy’s father was re-baptized
in a Baptist church the same day that Candy was baptized as a girl. While all
of our prayers are powerful, recognizing the importance of mothers’ prayers is
appropriate on Mothers’ Day.
Perhaps you overheard your mother or someone else praying for you when
they didn’t know you were listening. That can be humbling and exalting all at
the same time. John 17:20-26 lets us listen in on Jesus praying for us. This is
clearly not Jesus’ prayer in the Garden that the cup might pass from him, which
John does not record, though it is in all three other Gospels. It seems to be
the conclusion of his discourse with his disciples at the Last Supper that started
in chapter 13, but it is so intensely intimate that Jesus seems completely
unaware of the disciples or us listening in.
“I ask not only on behalf of
these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, [That’s us!] 21that
they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22The
glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we
are one, 23I in them and you in me, that
they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent
me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24Father,
I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to
see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the
foundation of the world. 25“Righteous
Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you
have sent me. 26I made your name known
to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved
me may be in them, and I in them.”
I’m going to tell you another pastors’ secret that as an interim pastor
I can tell you but most settled pastors can’t. Hebrews 13:17 is clear that we
pastors will give account for keeping watch over your souls. You benefit when
those who keep watch over your souls do so with joy and not with sighing. So I
claim Jesus’ prayer for myself and pray it for you.
Jesus asked that we who believe in him through the word of his
disciples, come to us through Scripture, would be as one with him and with one
another as he is one with his Heavenly Father. Jesus did not instruct us to be
one. He asked God to give us a oneness we could never achieve.
That oneness comes from receiving the love and glory Jesus had received
from God. We cannot generate that love and glory no matter how hard we try. We
receive the love and glory of God as gifts. Our part is to welcome them in
wonder.
The result of our oneness with each other and with Jesus is that the
world will know that God sent Jesus. The human improbability, the utter
surprise of our oneness has the power to convince them to believe! Our oneness
in Jesus’ love and glory is not just about church harmony; but evangelistic magnetism
drawing people to Jesus.
That surprising magnetism radiated from Paul and Silas as they prayed
and sang hymns to God in the Philippian prison. They were not pioneering prison
ministry; they were coping with a difficult situation by drawing on their
oneness with Jesus. They weren’t preaching and singing to the prisoners. The
prisoners listened to them praying and singing to God. The prisoners didn’t
just hear Paul and Silas but listened to them. I’m sure some of them became one
with Jesus that night, not just the jailer and his family.
Unlike Cornelius who we talked about at the end of April, the Philippian
Jailer is not identified as a “God fearer.” He was a pagan who lived as a prisoner
of fate. For him, being “saved” was to be released from that captivity by the love
and glory of Jesus in Paul and Silas. The oneness Jesus prayed for was evident
as this rough corrections officer and his family joined the church meeting in
the home of Lydia, the elegant business woman.
If I had been Paul, I think I would have interpreted the earthquake as
God’s way of releasing me from prison, much as Peter was released in Acts 12.
Somehow the Holy Spirit prompted him to recognize an opportunity for the Gospel
rather than escape. Curiously, Timothy and Luke who were with Paul and Silas
were not jailed, though the use of “we” clearly indicates they were there when
Paul cast the demon out of the girl. Probably because they were not identified
as Jews. Anti-Semitism and economic loss motivated the charges against them.
Though released from prison, Paul was run out of town. Yet, his Philippian
letter indicates it was one of the strongest of the New Testament. But oneness
was not automatic. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:2 for Euodia and Syntyche to be
of the same mind in the Lord. Some have speculated that these may have been the
names of Lydia and the jailer’s wife whose different backgrounds made oneness
challenging. Still, Paul’s letter overflows with the joy this congregation was
for him. The power of Paul’s letter to the Philippians indicates how they
benefited from the joy with which he watched over their souls.
From Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and us at the end of the Last
Supper to Paul and Silas praying in the Philippian prison, I believe prayer is the
path to supportive, constructive relationships with those who keep watch over our
souls. We benefit when those who keep watch over our souls do so with joy and
not with sighing.
Rather than including the Lord’s Prayer with the Sermon on the Mount as
in Matthew, in Luke 11:1 the disciples had observed Jesus praying and asked, “Lord,
teach us to pray.” This is our most basic, fundamental prayer primer. Try
praying it phrase by phrase for your relationship with Mike Snell, or any other
pastor of spiritual leader.
Are you ready for a challenge that will stretch your prayers? Want to
pray that Mike Snell will have joy keeping watch over your soul? Try extending
the prayers for the churches in the Pauline Epistles to this church. Since we’ve
looked at the church in Philippi the last two Sundays, start with Philippians 1:3-11.
Ephesians includes two remarkably powerful prayers. You can find a list of
these prayers at the QR code or web page in the bulletin.
Do you have things you don’t know how to say to God? There’s a Psalm
for that. Think of the Psalms at the prayer app store. It’s comprehensive! The
Psalms will prompt you to pray about things you never thought you could say to
God. I have prayed through the Psalms once a month for well over 40 years, and
I’ve not exhausted them. They keep stretching me. The Psalms offer plenty of
fuel for praying for pastors and presidents, friends and antagonists. As we
pray them, God changes us.
Appendix
Prayers for the Churches in the Pauline Epistles
Romans 1:8-10
1 Corinthians 1:4-9
Ephesians 1:15-23
Ephesians 3:14-21
Philippians 1:3-11
Colossians 1:3-14
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
How to Pray Through the Psalms in a Month
·
Start with today’s date. Read the Psalm with
that number. Is there a phrase or image in the Psalm that connects with
something you’d like to discuss with God. Express your thoughts and take a
moment of silence to listen for God to respond out of the Psalm.
·
Add 30 to today’s date and repeat the step
above.
·
Repeat three more times until you have prayed
through five Psalms.
·
When you come to Psalm 119 on the 29th
of the month, skip it. Use Psalm 119 by itself (it’s long) on the 31st
in January, March, May, July, August, October and December.
·
You don’t need to have a conversation with God
about every line or even every Psalm every day. Let the Holy Spirit use the
Psalms to prompt you to pray about what is going on for you at that moment. If
you keep up this rhythm, you will find that ideas you skip over one month will
be exactly right in another month.
·
You will find that many of the Psalms seem harsh
(two thirds of them are laments or complaints) and want to avoid them. Yet,
these Psalms express real emotions we all have at times, and they give us a way
to talk with God about negative things.
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