It seems that American Christians are all about celebration. In fact, some churches have intentionally chosen the adjective “celebratory” to describe their worship style. Everything has to be upbeat, positive, encouraging (“Positive, Encouraging K-Love…”). After all, life itself is discouraging, depressing, and difficult enough; shouldn’t church be uplifting?
The Bible does indeed encourage us to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4). However, true celebration takes into account the gravity of mourning and suffering. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that lamentation is good for us: “The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure” (Ecc. 7:4). And the Apostle Peter reminds us that suffering is crucial to proper rejoicing: “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:13). To put it another way: Redemption and Consummation ring hollow without a realistic assessment of the Fall.
We want to celebrate exuberantly on Easter Sunday. To that end, we gather first for a somber and melancholy observance of Good Friday, this Friday at 7 PM at Suckau Chapel. Our Good Friday worship gathering will indeed be worshipful… just not in a celebratory way. We’ll reflect on the gravity of sin, the seriousness of God’s wrath, and the dark reality of that beautiful, scandalous night.
The early Christians used to fast between Good Friday and Easter Sunday as a way of identifying with the hopelessness, grief, and pain of the early disciples. Perhaps you would find it worshipful to do the same. Whatever you do to mark the weekend, I hope you’ll not attempt to muster up a joyful spirit on Easter Sunday without embracing the fear, darkness, and lamentation of Good Friday. It’s the biblical path to true, joyful, gospel celebration.
To spur us toward deeper persistence in prayer, consider the following insights on cynicism from Paul Miller’s book A Praying Life. Of course my ulterior motive is to get you to buy the book and read it.
The opposite of a childlike spirit is a cynical spirit. Cynicism is, increasingly, the dominant spirit of our age. Personally, it is my greatest struggle in prayer. If I get an answer to prayer, sometimes I’ll think, ‘It would have happened anyway.’ Other times I’ll try to pray but wonder if it makes any difference.
Many Christians stand at the edge of cynicism, struggling with a defeated weariness. Their spirits have begun to deaden, but unlike the cynic, they’ve not lost hope…
When I say that cynicism is the spirit of the age, I mean it is an influence, a tone that permeates our culture, one of the master temptations of our age. By reflecting on cynicism and defeated weariness, we are meditating on the last petition of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one’ (Matthew 6:13, NIV).
…Satan’s first recorded words are cynical. He tells Adam and Eve, ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God’ (Genesis 3:5). Satan is suggesting that God’s motives are cynical. In essence, he tells them, ‘God has not been honest about the tree in the middle of the garden. The command not to eat from the tree isn’t for your protection; God wants to protect himself from rivals. He’s jealous. He’s projecting an image of caring for you, but he really has an agenda to protect himself. God has two faces.’ Satan seductively gives Adam and Eve the inside track – here is what is really going on behind closed doors. Such is the deadly intimacy that gossip offers.
Satan sees evil everywhere, even in God himself. Ironically, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Since the Fall, evil feels omnipresent, making cynicism an easy sell. Because cynicism sees what is ‘really going on,’ it feels real, authentic. That gives cynicism an elite status since authenticity is one of the last remaining public virtues in our culture.
…Cynicism begins with the wry assurance that everyone has an angle. Behind every silver lining is a cloud. The cynic is always observing, critiquing, but never engaged, loving, and hoping… To be cynical is to be distant. While offering a false intimacy of being ‘in the know,’ cynicism actually destroys intimacy. It leads to a creeping bitterness that can deaden and even destroy the spirit…
A praying life is just the opposite. It engages evil. It doesn’t take no for an answer. The psalmist was in God’s face, hoping, dreaming, asking. Prayer is feisty. Cynicism, on the other hand, merely critiques. It is passive, cocooning itself from the passions of the great cosmic battle we are engaged in. It is without hope.
- from Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2009), 77-79.
I originally wrote this post in October of 2009. Since we are talking about prayer this week in our journey through Colossians, I thought it appropriate to re-post it, in the hopes that it will help you “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Col. 4:2).
Since the launch of Coram Deo, we’ve gathered every Wednesday night for an hour of communal prayer. And when I say “we,” I mean a dozen or two faithful people. The faces change from time to time, but rarely are there more than 15 people in the room.
This causes me great angst as a pastor. I want to see more people show up to pray. At the same time, I despise legalism. I refuse to bind people’s consciences. Showing up at Wednesday night prayer doesn’t merit God’s favor, nor does it necessarily indicate a healthy prayer life. People may come because they’re motivated by guilt or they want to look good to others. People may stay home and yet be deep and vibrant in prayer.
In calling people to corporate prayer, I have erred on both sides. I have given off shades of performance: “If you really love Jesus, you’ll come to prayer.” I have been apathetic and passive: “The Lord will bring whomever he wants.” Even now, I confess that I am mystified about the proper biblical approach to this subject. The parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8) and the radical promises of Jesus (John 15:7, 16) convince me that prayer matters more than we think it does. On the other hand, “performance praying” is a classic mark of a Pharisee (Matthew 6:5).
So here I am, gingerly stepping out in a blog post to address the matter. I will begin by airing some of my frustrations. I will end with personal narrative, explaining why corporate prayer is good for my soul. I’ll leave it to the Holy Spirit to do what he needs to do in your heart.
FRUSTRATIONS; OR, STUFF THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID
It is not legalism to call people to spiritual disciplines. Many Christians have a nervous twitch toward anything that smacks of fundamentalist rigor. Anytime someone uses the word “should” (as in “you should gather with other Christians to pray”), we accuse them of legalism. But this is foolish and misguided. The New Testament is full of imperatives. Telling, urging, commanding someone to do something is NOT legalism. Legalism is what happens when we forget the proper motivation (gospel grace) or when we measure God’s acceptance of us by our good performance.
You cannot have a healthy prayer life without corporate prayer. Some people assert that they pray in private instead of gathering with others to pray. I question whether these people are very mature in their practice of prayer. Corporate prayer shapes you in a number of ways that private prayer cannot. It makes you humble yourself and engage with the prayers of others. It forces you to quiet your straying mind. It forces you to confront your judgmental attitudes toward that guy across the room who prays too long or that person who just asked for something completely selfish. Corporate prayer is an essential component of spiritual formation.
Yes, prayer meetings are often lame and feel like “a waste of time.” I’m happy if we experience a unique sense of the Spirit’s presence one out of every four Wednesdays. Sometimes prayer is lame. That’s OK. It’s still shaping. And isn’t the nature of relationship about “wasting time?” We live in a very production-oriented society, where everything is measured by efficiency and productivity. Except friendship. When you are with friends, you expect to “waste time” together. To those who are “too busy” to commit an hour of the week to corporate prayer, I would simply ask: what other time-wasters do you commit an hour to? Facebook? Revising your fantasy football roster? Watching television? Talking on the phone? Arguing with friends about really life-altering issues like who should have won American Idol or which Avett Brothers album is the best?
SELF-DISCLOSURE; OR, WHY I MAKE IT A WEEKLY DISCIPLINE TO GATHER WITH OTHERS FOR CORPORATE PRAYER
My soul needs it. By Wednesday nights I am often beat down, dejected, and spiritually tired from pastoring and teaching and discipling and counseling and rebuking and problem-solving. An hour of praying with others recharges my heart, refreshes my vision, and renews me in the promises of the gospel.
It’s too easy for me not to pray. I need a regular weekly rhythm to keep me disciplined. Otherwise I could easily go months without really devoting myself to prayer, keeping alert in it (Col 4:2).
I meet with God. Regularly I experience a deep sense of God’s presence while praying corporately with others. I feel a greater sense of burden and urgency than I do praying alone.
It’s a rebellion against my flesh and my culture. We live in an entertainment-saturated, convenience-driven culture that idolizes work and busyness. Setting aside one hour of my week for corporate prayer is one way for me to live counter-culturally. It’s rest. It’s reflection. It’s dependence. It’s admitting my need. It’s worship.
It humbles me. I’d far too easily drift into thinking that Coram Deo is successful because of something I’m doing. Prayer reminds me that I can do nothing apart from him.
It shapes me. When I pray with others I have to learn to listen, not speak; to trust, not doubt; to believe the best, not assume the worst. Over the past decade God has graciously made me slower to speak and quicker to listen. Much of that spiritual formation has come through corporate prayer.
It’s the most important part of our mission. We are out to see people repent of sin and trust in Jesus. And yet that’s not something we can make anyone do. If we’re going to succeed, we’re going to succeed on our knees. Because unless God works, our work is useless.
I’m trying to set an example. Too many Christians think that spiritual leadership is about doing something to lead others. But spiritual leadership is primarily about being a certain kind of person. A worshipful, prayerful person. I’m doing my best to become that kind of leader, so that those who follow me will become those kind of people.
I like it. For all the reasons above and many more, I look forward to Wednesday evenings from 8 to 9 PM. It’s one of the highlights of my week. Even when it’s lame and awkward and laborious… I like prayer.
I’m praying that this post might spur more of you to join us on Wednesday nights. We meet at Evan’s house, near 97th and Maple. Ask around in your MC, or call the CD offices for specific directions.
This is the second installment in the Redemption Stories video series. The goal is of these videos is to tell stories of how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people so that we can celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
Nathan tells the story of how he fell into a pattern of compulsive gambling – and how the message of the gospel (and a community centered on the gospel) were crucial in getting him out.
On April 30 and May 1, Coram Deo is pleased to welcome author, speaker, and filmmaker Carolyn McCulley to Omaha for a citywide women’s conference. The conference will draw from concepts in Carolyn’s book Radical Womanhood, published by Moody Press in 2008, in order to help women understand both the cultural influence of feminism and the Bible’s teaching on femininity.
In case you’re unfamiliar with Carolyn’s work, here is a brief biographical sketch in bullet-point form, culled from her writing and speaking:
Despite being raised in a devout, churchgoing Catholic family, Carolyn did not understand the gospel and rejected the Bible’s teaching.
She studied journalism at the University of Maryland, with a minor in women’s studies. “I needed some topic to specialize in, a cause to champion. I found mine in feminism. I made it my life’s mission then to splash the cause of feminism across magazines and airwaves wherever I worked.”
She spent her 20’s in pursuit of this agenda, only to realize at 29 that she was selfish and empty. “Aggression at work and on dinner dates was the legacy of my education.”
At age 30, on a vacation to South Africa, she heard the gospel preached in a compelling and engaging way. Perhaps more important, she saw the power of the gospel on display as blacks and whites worshiped Jesus together, in the same church, despite years of apartheid. God used those experiences to convert her to faith in Jesus: “I am one of those people nobody thought would become a Christian… I was a hard and angry woman. God did a real transforming work.”
After her return to America, she began attending a church, where she again saw the gospel in action. “The model of relationships spoke to me. I saw lived out in front of me concepts that were unusual and weird to me… [things like] servant leadership… men who loved and honored their wives, who made date nights a priority, who disciplined their children… women who didn’t complain about their husbands, but were quick to honor them.”
After a few years as a freelance writer, she spent ten years working as a film producer and media specialist for Sovereign Grace Ministries.
Last year, she left Sovereign Grace to start Citygate Films, a social-issues documentary film company focused on the marriage of film and philanthropy. Citygate’s goal is “to educate individuals about issues often under-reported in mainstream media, and then call those individuals to be part of the needed response.”
We are honored and excited to welcome Carolyn to Omaha. Read more about her by visiting her blog or the Citygate Films website. For conference information and registration, head over to the Radical Womanhood conference website.
From the beginning, Coram Deo has sought to catalyze a movement of gospel-centered renewal and church planting throughout Omaha and the surrounding region. The kingdom of God is always advancing, never static. The gospel is “always bearing fruit and increasing” (Col. 1:6). Our goal has never been to plant just one church, but by God’s grace, to spur a movement of church planting.
A friend recently sent me the following five characteristics of missionary movements, taken from the book Movements That Change the World by Steve Addison. What thoughts do you have as you read this list?
White-hot faith. “Missionary movements begin with men and women who encounter the living God and surrender in loving obedience to His call.”
Commitment to a cause. A commitment to the cause of Christ and His gospel leads people to become “fearless and uncompromising agents of transformation in this world.”
Contagious relationships. A missionary movement will be “at home in the existing culture and yet radically distinct from it.” Movements spread quickly “through preexisting networks of relationships.” In other words, an isolationist form of Christianity will never advance a movement of God.
Rapid mobilization. Missionary movements that spread rapidly are not “centrally planned, funded, or controlled.” This is why young people have been so instrumental in the spread of gospel movements. They do not need tremendous structure; they need a cause and a direction and then to be released.
Adaptive methods: From Patrick of Ireland to today, methods change even though the gospel never changes. “The forms changed to fit the context and to serve the needs of an expanding movement while the unchanging gospel remained at the center.”
For the past two years we’ve been gathering together every church planter we know in Omaha for a quarterly lunch. At these quarterly events we pray together, talk about the city, and serve each other through teaching and training. We’re pleased to announce that Hugh Halter will be the featured speaker for the next Omaha Church Planters’ Quarterly on March 30.
Hugh is a missional-church pioneer who describes himself as “a mentor to church planters and somewhat jaded pastor of the Adullam church network in Denver.” He is best known for his recent book The Tangible Kingdom, which has become a must-read among church planting strategists and missional leaders everywhere. Hugh has been a featured speaker at dozens of church planting conferences including Exponential and Verge.
Hugh has been a longtime friend to Core and Coram Deo. What we love most about him is that he is both passionate and pastoral. He isn’t afraid to challenge your thinking, but he’s humble and charitable and disarming in his posture. And he isn’t a one-size-fits-all kind of guy. In his own words, “We’re about all forms of churches: Mega/Micro/Traditional/Contemporary/Mainline. We need them all, but all need to be led by Missionary thinkers and move beyond simply ‘doing church.’ God’s church must get back on the move and find the beautiful balance between gathering and scattering.”
Our goal in bringing Hugh in is to help church leaders think about how to create missional structures. How can you help people live out the gospel in everyday life? What must churches do to shape missionaries, not just Sunday-morning Christians? How can leaders create missional opportunities that fit their context? The theme of this quarterly will be “Your Church on Mission.”
The invitation has already gone out to the church planters we know, but we wanted to post it here on the blog to reach missional leaders we might otherwise miss. If you’d like to attend this lunch, please email kendal@cdomaha.com. We are accepting RSVP’s on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to pastors, church planters, and small group leaders. The event will take place from 11 AM to 2 PM on TUESDAY, MARCH 30, at City Church in Benson.
This is the first in a new series of videos called Redemption Stories that we’ll be showing at Coram Deo’s Sunday gathering. The goal is to tell stories of how the gospel is at work in the lives of actual people. God’s grace is transforming people throughout our church, but too often the stories of what He’s doing only get told within missional communities or smaller sub-sets of our church family. These videos exist to help us celebrate together, church-wide, the ways God is moving around us.
Special thanks to Jon Kayser, who is serving the mission of God by lending his considerable production skills to this project. (Also to Ben Lueders, who is the official “key grip” of the Redemption Stories video team.) And most of all, to Barb and the others who will follow: thanks for being willing to share your story on camera.
