United Prayer

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”    —Matthew 18:19

I took a couple days off to regroup after Easter. My wife and I traveled back home to visit old friends and reminisce over some earlier stomping grounds. Shortly after we were engaged just over 38 years ago, I took Darlene out to eat at the Wolf’s Den, a very classy restaurant near Knox, PA. This past week, we thought we might eat there on our trip down memory lane. What a disappointment. The restaurant, now located in the middle of a campground, doesn’t look like it is open for business. The cedar shingles on the roof are disheveled and the building is in need of some major tender loving attention.

It is often said, “You can never really go home again.” Well, I sure experienced that truth last week. As I toured the neighborhood of my first pastoral appointment, I noticed many houses in disrepair, yards strewn with junk cars, and many, too many, empty trailers and houses. We wondered if it was this bad when we were there in the 80s or if we just didn’t notice.

Spiritually speaking, I fear the same thing has happened in America. We see mega-churches on television and the number of larger UM Churches has grown over the past decades, but our denomination is still losing members. I believe, Christian values continue to decline in American culture. Just like the homes and businesses of my home town, many lives are in poor spiritual condition.

In these next two weeks, Americans, and especially Pennsylvanians have two great opportunities to change our world. The first is on Tuesday, April 24, when we have the right and privilege to vote in the primary elections. The second one and I believe more importantly, we have the awesome privilege of joining Christians across the country and praying on Thursday, May 3, the National Day of Prayer.

On a national level, in the often quoted scripture, 2 Chronicles 7:14, God promises, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” I agree with Ronnie Floyd that “The answer to our spiritual crisis will not be found in the ballot box but in our prayer closets” (The Power of Prayer and Fasting).

The greatest need for our city, state, and nation is that believers would join together in unity and power to pray for each other, our nation, and our world. Jesus said the world would know we are truly His disciples by our love for one another. Like any family, we may not agree on every decision or every interpretation of scripture (Yes, we even disagree on political issues), but we agree on one main thing, the only main thing, Jesus Christ is God’s Son who gave His life for us on the Cross, rose again from the dead, and is coming again some day, maybe soon.

On Thursday, May 3, I urge you to join with other Christians to pray. One special event that I will be attending is the Celebrate One National Day of Prayer and Unity Service to be held on the UPJ campus. At the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Thursday, May 3, at 7:00 PM, Christians, clergy and laypersons alike, will gather to seek God’s face and blessing for our nation. The nationally-known Christian band, Echoing Angels, will lead us in worship and provide a Christian concert, as we join together in prayer, united in Jesus’ name. Yes, I hope you voted, but I especially urge you to join with other Christians in prayer for our nation. 

The Main Thing

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”       —Matthew 28:19-20

Last week, I had the privilege of attending court hearings at the County Courthouse. It amazed me how much time and money we spent on small stuff. I sat for two hours in the courtroom where minor offenses tied up hundreds of persons who probably make quite substantial salaries with little resulting action. One victim did not show up at court and could not be found. Case dismissed. Three subpoenaed witnesses did not come to court and could not be found. Case dismissed. One person drops charges. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” Dismissed. One case that was acted upon but could not be finalized until the defense attorney was located. We waited while a guard went out to look for him.

Please don’t misunderstand me. We have great judges and highly skilled and caring people working very hard in our legal system, but for what? We seem to major on minor truths while our world continues to descend into sin, violence, greed, and destruction. In government, in court, and in our personal lives, the challenge is to keep the main thing the main thing.

Majoring on minor issues seems to be a systemic flaw in human culture. Even the Church has trouble keeping focus on the main thing. After the resurrection but before Jesus’ ascension, He commanded the disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about” (Acts 1:4). At first glance, one might think the main thing was to wait, but the real main thing was to receive the power of the Holy Spirit and go. Many believers and churches today receive the message of Acts 1:4 but never get on with the main thing that the waiting pointed to. Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The main thing for the church is not to wait but to be filled with power and go: go and be witnesses for Christ. Go and make disciples. As the church, we are good at planning, meeting, redecorating, and restructuring. But God commands us to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19). Very similar to our justice system, we are structured for ministry and have very talented persons ready to serve, but we often major on minor issues. We never quite get around to the going.

In the Great Commission passage of Matthew 28:16-20, the command of God, the main thing, is to make disciples. In order to make disciples by baptizing and teaching, we must go. We must go across our living room, across our street, across our city, and across oceans. Where have you gone lately? Whose needs beyond your own have you prayed for? Whose body besides your own have you clothed and fed lately? Whose family besides your own have you given a ride to church? Jesus said, “I have all power and I am with you to the end of the age; therefore, go!”

Great Truth

“In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked.   —John 18:37-38a

As soon as my alarm goes off, I turn the TV to my wife’s favorite show, the Weather channel and the all important Local on the 8’s. Then I turn to WJAC to catch the “real” local weather. If we are running a little late, we may catch a bit of the national morning news show with its usual sensational but insignificant stories. Last Thursday’s went something like this: Mother of 14 including octuplets is here in the studio. Also coming up is the 42 page report detailing how singing great, Whitney Houston, drowned face-down in her bathtub in 10 inches of water.

We are either bombarded with controversial but insignificant details of someone’s life or overwhelmed by scandalous and painfully personal details about a celebrity. Although some may find it interesting whether octomom is on or off welfare, I couldn’t care less. I hurt for and am praying for the Houston family but really feel the personal details of her death are none of my business.

Living in the technology and information age, one would think we would be more judicious in our use of information. We know more, have instant access to more, but discern less. Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, wrote another book called A Confession in 1879 in which he tells the story of his search for meaning in life. In his time, as well as ours today, few persons were asking the first order questions of life. “Where did I come from?” “Where am I heading?” “What is life about?” Although Tolstoy rejected Christianity early in life, he eventually found that the peasant people of Russia had found the answers through their Christian faith. He came to realize that only in Jesus Christ do we find the answer.

If you want to talk about great news, listen to how people are finding the greatest truth of all in the Good News of the Gospel. James Rutz in his book, Megashift, reports on the revival of Christianity in our world. In Acts 2, 3,000 people became Christians on the Day of Pentecost. Today, that is happening around the world every 25 minutes. In one meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, 3,400,000 recorded their decisions for Christ out of the six million that came. Campus Crusade for Christ estimates we’ll see a billion new converts in the next 10 years.

As Pontius Pilate interrogated Jesus, he asked, “What is truth?” He might have asked a better question, “What does it matter?” Theologian and Catholic Cardinal, Jean Danielou, once wrote, “Truth consists in the mind giving to things the importance they have in reality.” Just knowing facts doesn’t matter as much as knowing the importance of those facts. What does the fact that Jesus is the King of the Jews and the Son of God matter to you and me? The Bible declares, “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Amid a culture of insignificant facts, let us ask ourselves important questions. What we are doing with the fact of God’s great love for us in Jesus Christ?  “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3) Jesus came to save you and me and to give us meaning and abundant life. This is the great truth of the Good News.

Looking for Hope

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter.”   —Mark 16:6-7

In spite of the lateness of the hour and the darkness of the woods in our 27-acre pasture, my dad sent me out on a search for a missing calf. I may have been irresponsible or simply a ten or twelve year old boy who didn’t remember to check on the latest new born calf like I was told. I timidly walked down the road into our pasture field with flashlight in hand.

The sumac trees overhanging my path that night looked exactly like a cemetery I saw on the latest horror movie. My brother and I frequently watched Chiller Theatre, a sci-fi and monster movie show on Channel 11 out of Pittsburgh. As I proceeded into the black woods with my dimly lit flashlight, I was scared out of my wits. A noise erupted to my right as one of our horses came crashing through the bushes. I guess he was curious about who was wondering around in the dark. This moment remains one of my most frightful ever. For the longest time, I was too unnerved to go near a cemetery at night.

If I went out on a quest looking for hope, a cemetery is probably the last place I would go. I have lost many loved ones in my lifetime, but I am not a frequent cemetery visitor. I believe I am over any childhood fears, but I find little or no solace at the graveyard.

The women went to the cemetery early on Easter morning. They intended to anoint the body of Jesus for burial, one last devotional act of love they could do for Him. They were grieving and looking for closure, trying to make sense out of everything that had happened. Grief looks back. Grief tries to remember some good part of the past. Grief tries to relive a past joy and find strength from past comfort or victory to carry on. Focusing too long in the grief of the past may hinder us from finding hope for the future.

Hope looks forward. The angel speaks the message at the empty tomb, “You seek Jesus who was crucified, He is not here.” The woman would not find the answer to their pain and brokenness here. Jesus has risen! The angel told Mary and the others, “But, go.” The message of Easter is that we can not stay in our pain, loss, and sin. We must go forward into hope and life.

I think it was shear grace on Jesus’ part to meet Mary in the cemetery as she tarried. The angel had told her she wouldn’t find Jesus here, go. But in her grief and confusion as she remained at the empty tomb, Jesus met her at her place of need and called her name.

Believer, church, we can’t stay where we are. If we are going to find hope for our lives and offer hope to our world, we must go. We won’t find Jesus in the past: not in past failures, not in past sin, and not even in past successes and revivals. Easter is a message of new life and hope. Jesus is risen and goes before us. Our hope rests in the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead and gives inspiration and direction to us today. We can’t stay where we are; we must go forward. In the power of the Risen Christ, take the Lord’s hand and make a faltering and maybe fearful step of faith. You may just step into the ray of hope you are looking for. Happy Easter!