the Spirit’s instruction through experience

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Acts 10:44-48; NRSVue

Circumcision is indeed a perpetual, “everlasting” command and requirement for Israel (Genesis 17). Jesus himself, a Jew through and through was circumcised on the eighth day, as the law required (Luke 2:21-40). Paul likewise (Philippians 3:1b-11).

Circumcision of the heart was what God wanted, the Old Testament along with Paul making that point (Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Romans 2:25-29). But nowhere does Scripture say that circumcision of the flesh will no longer be required, in fact quite the contrary.

But enter the Spirit. The Spirit shocks the circumcised believers. How? Not through helping them see the truth through the Biblical text, but through experience. The Spirit is poured out on uncircumcised gentiles who hear the message of God’s good news in Jesus, evident in the manifestation of their speaking in tongues and praising God.

Fastforward to today. We see the same thing happening now with the LGBTQ community, not to say it wasn’t happening before, among or in such. Those who believe, who seek to follow, plainly evidence the Spirit in their lives through the fruit of the Spirit being manifest (Galatians 5:22-23), love for Jesus (1 Corinthians 16:22), and special interest in Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15).

And yet Scripture itself seems and according to Luke Timothy Johnson, does prohibit same sex activity. That’s this biblical scholar’s position (not universal among scholars who hold to LGBTQ inclusion in the church). And yet Johnson says that by experience we can know these people are fully accepted by God through the gift of the Spirit in their lives. To be clear, he doesn’t mean just those who are celibate.

Although Luke Timothy Johnson is widely regarded as certainly one of the foremost Bible scholars (Roman Catholic himself), there are other interpretations of the so-called clobber Scripture passages concerning LGBTQ+ people, which make sense too, challenging traditional interpretations.

But suffice it to say for this post, experience plays an important role in discerning God’s activity and blessing. To love God, love one another, love our neighbor, love even enemies, to believe in Jesus or God’s way which ultimately resides in Jesus seems to be what is required (1 John 3:23-24), the stamp of God’s people, the “amen” and proof of the pudding coming through the Spirit and known by experience.

accepting difficult news and finding God’s help and provision

And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for

“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:5b-11; NRSVue

And everyone, clothe yourselves with humility toward each other. God stands against the proud, but he gives favor to the humble.

Therefore, humble yourselves under God’s power so that he may raise you up in the last day. Throw all your anxiety onto him, because he cares about you. Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. Do so in the knowledge that your fellow believers are enduring the same suffering throughout the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, the one who called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore, empower, strengthen, and establish you. To him be power forever and always. Amen.

1 Peter 5:5b-11; CEB

And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering. And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him belongs the power forever. Amen.

1 Peter 5:5b-11; NET

Life. There’s no escape from disappointment and not good news. It happens. What are we to do with it?

Easy things to do: Panic. Spend hours and hours on the internet trying to find something that will bring some relief. Brood. Imagine a better report. Fret. Blame God. Ask, “Why me?” Fill in the blanks. My list here comes out of my experience.

They say psychologically that it takes time to come around to accept something, that one has to go through a series of reactions. There’s probably much truth in that, but for the believer, there’s also the help that comes from God.

Peter helps us see that out of humility within community, we can find God’s help when bad news comes. We’re to cast our difficulty onto God, who cares for and about us. God wants to help us.

The kinds of difficulties Peter was describing seemed to come out of suffering, in the context of that letter, persecution for their faith in Jesus as Lord. Where I live what “persecution” we face for being faithful is nothing of the sort referred to here. We think of anything that makes us uncomfortable or worse. It does seem generic enough to me in this passage, that we can do that. But suffering in the New Testament is largely in the context of enduring resistance in following Christ. That said, casting all of one’s anxieties on God, means all of them, so that excludes nothing that weighs us down.

Peter says we’ll be exalted in due time if we cast our cares on God, maybe referring to the resurrection (CEB), but could refer to the here and now as this is probably interpreted most of the time. And the encouraging promise at the end that after we’ve gone through suffering “for a little while” God will help us be established and stand because of God’s help. I take that to mean internally. We receive help to cope and live well with life as it is.

Another important part of God’s promise and help to us in Jesus.

no city or country here

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith, with Sarah’s involvement, he received power of procreation, even though he was too old, because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better homeland, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-16; 12:18-24; 13:12-16; NRSVue

I never ceased to be amazed at the Christian devotion present for national causes. If we would humbly be just as much concerned about international causes, it would be better. But it seems like we’re not as well versed in what Scripture says, in good theology as we might think. I remember as a nine-year-old boy, mistakenly walking between two people conversing who were obviously foreigners, and being so embarrassed, wanting to return and apologize, but somehow didn’t. We have better instincts at times than the nationalistic, sectarian air we often breathe and imbibe.

The above passages from the book of Hebrews make it clear that our primary citizenship is not here, but in the new “heavenly Jerusalem.” Not in the present Jerusalem, Washington D.C., or any other city here on earth. It’s not like we’re to neglect to do good, to share what we have for the benefit of others. It’s not like we’re not to pray and hope for the good of the nation in which we live. It’s not like we’re to retreat and not advocate for a just peace, for justice in an all too often unjust, greedy world in which power all too often resides at the end of the barrel of a gun, in military might.

Our allegiance as followers of Christ is to one Lord, with one hope in a world which when it’s all said and done has another goal altogether. It might be dressed up in religious, even Christian terms. But the means for the supposedly good end are always a betrayal as to just what that end is. If you use violence and force of whatever kind to achieve the goal, then everyone can be assured that the goal is not of Christ, even if it is Christian in an historical (not biblical) sense.

This world is wonderful, and we can find good most anywhere, although there are political, national and organizational entities which are not at all good in themselves. Even when we think there’s much good in whatever entity we’re considering, we must remember that we’re looking for something better, much better. We challenge all the present entities not to mention even ourselves, our churches, remembering that we are not imagining that we’re the new Jerusalem ourselves, that we’ve arrived. We want to be challenged and to challenge others in the light of God’s good will. Showing that in our humble penitence, lives lived, good works, as well as advocacy for a better world now. But in faith we do so as those who don’t imagine that this old world could ever be the end all.

from terror to peace

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O LORD—how long?

Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my supplication;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back and in a moment be put to shame.

Psalm 6; NRSVue

There’s not a one of us who doesn’t like to feel well, and not a one of us who likes to feel bad. That however does not line up with the human predicament in this life. Yes, we have those feel-good experiences, but more often than not, they are too few and too far in between. Well, I’m sure I don’t speak for everyone, but I’m guessing I speak for the majority of us, and certainly for myself. We do cherish those time of refreshing rest and as our faith grows, probably the experience of such grows along with it. Yet when it comes right down to it, I often find that I’m needing to manage my emotions, keep them under my hat, to myself, shared many times with my wife, but in the discipline more and more towards the goal of keeping them more between myself and God, asking for prayer along the way when need be.

The psalmist is experiencing almost as it were, violent attacks inside if not out. Shaken with terror, languishing, bed no place of rest. Internal suffering due to external threatening circumstances. It seems they had flesh and blood enemies. That translates directly in our day for the many who suffer at the hand of authoritarian regimes which are a law to themselves. And even where I live in the United States, too many languish in places of little or no hope, victims themselves of an unjust system.  For a person like me who lives in privilege compared to most on the planet, the enemies cited here would be spiritual. Yes, I believe in a power of evil that would undo creation, in fact, as it were, make something quite the opposite of such, all in rebellion against God. One sees evidence of such in different reigns of terror, as well as devasting war and violence, right up to the present time. But if we have eyes to see, we’ll see this evil at work in far more subtle ways. One can go back to Jesus as portrayed in the four gospels, stay in that for a good length of time, and that will help one discern this power at work in supposedly good ways in the world at the expense of what is really good. Jesus as God coming to be and restore our full humanity, helps us simply discern this as humans and then act, something akin to “the good Samaritan.” Note too in the psalm that the terror the psalmist experiences is ultimately turned back on their enemies.

I’m glad for God’s faithfulness in helping us, just as the psalmist notes. There is hope or assurance that God has all things in hand, that God sees, that God understands, that God will act, in fact is acting. All a matter of faith, yes, but in a reality that not only includes all the hard stuff, but the great answer even now in this present existence, with the promise of what’s yet to come.

what is hanging in the balance now?

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust their lives to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

1 Peter 4:12-19; NRSVue

Wherever you are as an American on the political spectrum here, you’ll have grave concerns about the past, present and future. We have lived in a privileged existence, and it looks like that is under great stress at this time. One thing most Americans agree on is that democracy itself is at stake here. There is even a so-called Christian disdain against democracy, aligned to some extent with the Christendom of the past, focused on implementing a “Christian” order. That is another subject in itself.

Another matter is just where our priorities should lie as followers of Christ, Christians in that sense. We now live in a different setting in America compared to those who lived at the time of Peter’s writing. Rome was then in charge with no ands, ifs or buts about it. In the rule of Caesar, there was no representation of the people. Now we have that, and as Christians we do well to advocate for what we consider to be good. We still have that freedom at the moment, but the problem now is that everything seems more than less partisan in the limited two-party system here.

What has happened in my lifetime since the 1960s and gaining momentum from the 1980s and 90s up to the present day is a culture war which initially was a reaction to the government telling a Christian institution that it could no longer bar Blacks from its spaces. That was the basis of the founding for the “Moral Majority.” After a few years abortion became the issue which they found united and gave momentum to their cause. The fallout from this race based, abortion, religious freedom platform has been great. There is little to no incentive to work with the other side on issues like abortion, and all kinds of other issues. We’re at a place now where there’s one side spurred on by Christians who want to take over entirely, be the ones in charge, with others in line according to that. So it’s a challenging time since there are a host of Jesus-followers and others who are opposed to that.

What is hanging in the balance now? I think for us as Christ-followers, it’s a time of purging, salvation for us in that sense. What does our faith tell us about the good we ought to be doing? Where do our priorities lie? Is it about our own protection and freedom? Or is it with the values which Jesus taught us: to love our neighbor, to be the neighbor when anyone is in need. To welcome the stranger, the refugee. To advocate for fairness for all. To stand against racial and gender discrimination, particularly right now against the transgender community. To stand against war and the destruction of innocents such as is happening in Gaza, both Israel and Hamas utterly failing in their use of horrific violence.

So all of that and more are important to us as Christ-followers. We won’t be uniform exactly in how we think and approach such matters. But there are certain things that forever should mark us. We don’t advocate force of any kind. We rather appeal by words, and mainly by works, by what we do. We are willing to stand with those who are considered the dredge of society, in the way, a nuisance or even danger which needs to be pushed to the side, cancelled, even eliminated. We stand for the humanity of all. We look for solutions to problems, not imagining there will be perfection in such in this life but pushing toward that ideal.

With that, what do people see in us? Democrats? Republicans? MAGA followers? Patriotic Americans? You fill in the blank. Rather, shouldn’t they be seeing people who are not known as any such, but rather as Christians in the sense of which Peter talks about above? Followers of Jesus, as Jesus taught and lived in the four gospel accounts? Yes, that. That alone is our identity from which we live. There’s no doubt that we all have our opinions on political matters of this world. But we are in allegiance to one Lord, Jesus. Our following of him means that all peoples are embraced as those whom God loves. We continue on in that way, expecting difficulty, maybe even suffering. But the only way we’re to live in this life as followers of Jesus.

sleeves rolled up with a heart to work

So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

Nehemiah 4:6; NRSVue

Nehemiah is a most interesting book, written in a different time. Walls for large cities were important for protection. And in that era unlike now, God’s people were confined to one land, one space, as a national entity. It was supposed to be a nation set apart as God’s light to the world, but whether in God’s will or not, had a fighting force from the beginning, and eventually became more or less amalgamated with the other nations so that its light as to God’s will for the nations was all but snuffed out.

Yet God’s work went on as we see in Nehemiah. We compare and contrast the book like everything else with the revelation given to us of Jesus in the four gospels. That said, we can learn a lot from this book.

And one of the main points is the importance of having a heart to work together for a common, good cause in God’s will. Nehemiah was troubled and became the leader of a movement to rebuild broken down Jerusalem. As a good leader, he oversaw the project, and was able with the help of God and others to thwart hostile opposition to the work.

We all have our humble part as part of the community of faith in God’s work in the world. And whatever we do, it should be related to that. We live in houses or have responsibilities related to providing for our families, and all of that should be connected with God’s will and work in the world. God will give us wisdom as we endeavor to have our minds set in that direction. With hearts to do our part in God’s redemptive, saving, freeing work in the world.

God is with us *in the midst of trouble*

 

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar; the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice; the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted in the earth.”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Psalm 46; NRSVue

Looking at “trouble” in the psalms from the NRSVue translation helps us see that it is mirrored there in all the complexity of life. Sometimes, maybe even oftentimes in our experience, God seems absent in the midst of trouble (Psalm 10:1). The psalms are faith filled in the real world, running through the gamut of human experience.

Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble, but that he has overcome and is victorious over the world (John 16:33). That is only in Jesus’s victory, not in the victory of Christendom or Christianity as we too often see it today, or any day. Once again, we turn to the pages of Scripture to find out what Christian is supposed to mean, beginning with the four gospel accounts. The trouble Jesus speaks of is actually more in line with persecution, or as the NET puts it, “trouble and suffering.” To really follow Jesus will never be to fall in line with empire or the dictates of the state, though we comply insofar as that does not violate our allegiance to Christ.

In trouble we often are in lament and lament is a most neglected yet powerful place and even source of faith for the faithful. There’s really no end to the help we can get from Scripture, but we have to be in it, together in community as well as in our individual daily lives. Psalm 46 pointing to God’s saving help in the midst of trouble.

 

avoiding burnout (in for the long haul)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2; NRSVue

I’m a morning person and ordinarily get tired by evening, frayed at the edges, ready to turn in. They say in my own way of expressing it, that the brain wears down by the end of the day, and with proper rest is rejuvenated at the start of a new day. That lines up with my own experience, how I feel, though I enjoy evenings when I feel quite well. Ironically, I can wake up after the night’s sleep after that, and not feel well. Exceptions to the rule.

There’s no doubt that the wear and tear of a day and of a lifetime can make a difference we don’t want. And we read about burnout in all kinds of vocations. The demands, difficulties, disappointments, discouragement and more pile up and we can feel pressed down under it all.

There’s no greater or we can say more challenging call than that of following Jesus. If we think it’s just an individual call to us, then that makes it not only all the more challenging, but next to impossible. There might be exceptions dues to extreme situations, but we were never meant to live this life alone. With the good, that has been one of the not good, even great curses of the Enlightenment modernistic heritage we have inherited as westerners and Americans, the overemphasis on individualistic autonomy and freedom. No, we’re not meant to pull up our bootstraps and make it on our own. We need others, we need each other along the way, a community. And this is no less true “in Christ” in which we live as Christ’s body in the world, each part having their function and calling, but not independent of the whole.

The writer to the Hebrews expresses our life together in terms of a marathon race. It’s not a sprint, although there may be those instances when we need to run hard. But it’s more like a well-paced, wise, thoughtful run in which we take the long view. We’re in this life of faith for the long haul, so we have to “run” accordingly. That means we’re going to have to look to Jesus, eyes fixed on him, get rid of what weighs us down and the sin which is never far from us, and keep on keeping on. Day after day, hour after hour, even minute after minute.

We want to do those things which are helpful to us in this. I listen a lot to classical music, which is just something I’m used to after doing so for many years. My wife and I go on daily walks (when the weather permits). We enjoy nature and special places (not enough, the latter). I enjoy coffee in the morning. And just to be in Scripture in all simplicity, for some time now returning again and again to the book of James. And in most simple prayer.

My own goal is to get better at this. I think I am doing better than in the past, though most of that is in the awareness that yes, I need to slow down, do this in community in Jesus, and keep on doing the very basics required to run this marathon well. Still learning and grateful to be doing so. With a good wife fully committed to this, also.

don’t let up (no matter what)

My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding,
if you indeed cry out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of his faithful ones.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path,
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
prudence will watch over you,
and understanding will guard you.
It will save you from the way of evil,
from those who speak perversely,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
those whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.

Proverbs 2:1-15; NRSVue

In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:30-31; NRSVue

I grew up a pretty big Cincinnati Reds fan back in the days of the Big Red Machine with Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, my own favorite- Tony Perez, and company. It was a fun time for those fans. No one who remembers that time can ever forget the all-out effort of “Charlie Hustle,” Pete Rose, who used to run to first base after walks (ball four), I think was the one who brought back sliding headfirst into bases with all out abandon and gave himself completely to the game on the field. One time after we watched Don Gullett beat the Braves 2-1, we stayed afterwards and watched Pete Rose take 45 minutes of batting practice. I don’t think anyone believes that as talented as Rose was, that he was the greatest talent. He still holds the record for the most hits of any player in a Major League career: 4,256.

From that natural analogy, I think of Paul and others who followed Jesus in total abandon. And for whatever else the characters of Scripture got wrong, insofar as they were right in heart and soul, it was about following hard after God, after God’s ways, after God’s will, and with others, no matter what. That is the heart we have to have in it, the rest of us following, because if we don’t, we’ll never make it, or it will hardly meet the threshold of faith. Faith is not simply mouthing or going along halfheartedly with something, then going full steam ahead in what one is really interested in. God helps us in our weak faith, and we all struggle at times with that. But the intent for us is to be fully in it: followers, learners, those impassioned to know and imitate Jesus, not just ourselves, but with others of like faith.

don’t let up on prayer

pray without ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:17; NRSVue

Prayer is an act of faith. Faith is not only a disposition, but an act (Hebrews 11) which goes on in the face of opposition and in spite of so many things. Prayer like faith is realistic. It doesn’t pretend that serious, even threatening problems don’t exist. But it brings those problems to God and acts, regardless.

If there’s one thing we will know living in this world, there are always huge issues that need addressed. Beginning in our personal lives; the lives of our loved ones and families; in our communities in general and in Christ; in local, state, national and international politics; everywhere.

Paul’s call for the church to pray without ceasing is a call for communities of faith as well as each of us individually to make prayer a priority of practice in faith. Believing that God is present, even if the answer neither seems forthcoming, or is all but lost to us. In a way, the first step and action of faith, which will lead to God’s help, if we don’t give up.