Who Goofed?

Sermon at North Hill, October 23, 2010

Life is pretty simple. How do you get cavities? Drink soda. How do you get lung cancer? Smoke cigarettes. How do you get a heart attack? Super-size yourself at McDonalds.

It's all straightforward, cause and effect.

Do stupid stuff. Get miserable consequences.

On the other hand, how do you protect your dental health? Floss and brush daily. How do you build strong muscles? Lift weights. How do you develop a strong heart? Run or swim or walk.

Again, it's simple cause and effect. Do smart stuff. Get happy consequences.

Adventists have emphasized this idea so strongly it permeates our entire church culture. And it has paid off. Adventists who follow the rules live ten years longer than the general population.

With all this emphasis on Follow the rules and enjoy happy consequences. Break the rules and endure miserable consequences, it's a small step to the idea: If you get sick, you must have broken the rules.

Whenever a certain person at our house gets a cold, I have to listen to an intense quest for an explanation. Usually this “quest for understanding” takes the form of self-incriminating statements: “I shouldn't have stayed up reading that book.” “It's probably because I ate desert on Monday night.” “I should've come in from the barn when I started getting cold instead of finishing mucking out the stalls even though my jeans were damp.”

When I protest that maybe she's sick because she interacts with the public and sometimes viruses catch up with you no matter what you do, she will have none of it. If Karin is sick, there has to be a logical, rational explanation. Usually, the explanation is attached to someone's choice, usually hers. Someone goofed. Someone is to blame. It never just happens.

But it does.

In early August of this year, Grace Makato Tam, 11, took an easy two-mile hike with her parents and brother to the ice caves at the base of Big Four Mountain. While they were checking out the caves, a chunk of ice the size of a car broke off the mountain above her and rolled down and struck her.

She died at the scene about two hours later. It was a terrible tragedy.

Who goofed? No one.

The place where this happened was the Big Four Mountain ice caves. There are signs warning people not to go into the caves. This girl and her parents obeyed the signs. They did not go into the caves. They were standing in a place that has always been safe in the past. And will probably be safe for the next hundred years. But for one second on August 2, that spot was in the path of a deadly ice chunk falling down the mountain and Grace was struck. And she died.

Who goofed? If you demand an answer to the question, who goofed, the only possible answer is God.

Turn's out the question, who goofed? Is simply the wrong question. There is no possible right answer to the question.

This is sometimes true when people get sick. We know smoking causes lung cancer. However, a few years ago, I met a couple who were here in this area seeking treatment for their twenty-year old son who had lung cancer. He had never smoked. He was a life-long vegetarian. He died a few months after I met them.

Who goofed?


This question, Who goofed? shows up in the Gospel of John. Jesus and his disciples were walking along and they saw a man who had been born blind. The disciples immediately demanded an explanation. “Who sinned?” They asked. “Whose mistake, whose goof, caused this pitiful situation?”

Who sinned?

“No one.” Jesus answered. “Nobody's sin caused this tragic disability.” Jesus went further, “You guys are asking whose sin, whose mistake, whose wrong-doing caused this. What you should be asking is what good purpose does God have in mind in this situation?” (John9:3).

NO ONE GOOFED! Can you believe that?

Here is a man who was born blind in a society without speech recognition software, without Braille. Someone whose only possible career was begging. And Jesus says about his situation: no one goofed. His mother didn't drink during pregnancy. She didn't clean the cat box. She didn't inhale too much cook fire smoke. The father didn't punch mom in the stomach. He wasn't a wicked man under a curse. Neither the blind man's sins nor his parents' sins had anything to do with his situation.

This man was born blind so that the glory of God could be displayed in his life. In this story, if someone goofed, it was God. God goofed. Or no one goofed.

In recent years, members of North Hill have faced some terrible realities. Children have died in automobile accidents. In both cases, our kids did nothing wrong. They did absolutely nothing unsafe. Still the unspeakable happened.

People have faced cancer, kidney failure, heart trouble, diabetes, malfunction in their knees and shoulders, chronic fatigue, depression.

In all of these situations, it's natural to ask, who goofed? Or how did you goof? What did you do wrong? We get in line with the disciples to ask Jesus, “Whose sin caused this problem?” Sometimes there is a rational answer to this question. Sometimes our difficulties are the natural consequence of our choices. Other times, insisting on an answer to the question, who goofed? or how did the sick person goof? leads us straight into the role of Satan—the accuser.

One of my friends believes that everyone creates their own reality. If you are healthy, you created that reality by your good thoughts and healthy habits. If you are sick, you created that reality by your negative thoughts and unhealthy habits. Of course our thoughts and habits do have some effect on our health. However, I wonder if my friend is still going to insist that we create our own reality when he's 97 years old pushing his walker around. If he makes it to 97.

Jesus was quite explicit. The blind man in John 9, did not end up blind because of his thoughts or mistakes or habits. He did not end up blind because of his parent's thoughts, mistakes or habits. In fact, if you read Jesus' words, you see that he actually dodges the issue of the cause of the man's blindness. Instead, Jesus focuses on the effect of the man's blindness. It was going to result in the glory of God. The reason the blindness was going to bring glory to God is because Jesus was going to step into the situation.

Which points us toward much better questions than who goofed? Questions like: What now? What can I do?

How should we respond to our friends when their life is derailed by tragedy, by illness, by difficulties? The very first thing to do is to deactivate our “Who goofed?” button and just be present with our friends. Do not offer your version of “Why this happened.”

Second, unless you are a doctor, don't offer diagnosis or treatment. Shut up!!!!!! Be quiet!!!!! Don't ignore the person. Don't hide from them because you don't know what to say. Just hang with them. If there is a concrete need you can meet—for money or help with chores or food, do something. But most importantly be there without prescribing, diagnosing, explaining, condemning, directing.

Now I want to really push you.

In John 8, we see Jesus in another situation where the question who goofed? is an obvious one to ask. It is the story of the woman caught in adultery.

She messed up. She was caught. She was dragged before Jesus in a public setting. Her accusers challenged Jesus to pass judgment on her.

Curiously, Jesus did not ask her a single question. He did not ask, what did you do? Why did you do it? What were you thinking? What was he thinking? Who was he?

Jesus asked her nothing.

He silenced and expelled her accusers. Then he asked her one question: "Don't you have anyone accusing you?" She looked around and said, “I don't see anyone sir.” Jesus answered. "I don't condemn you, either. Go and sin no more."

It would have been so easy to ask about her "goof." To give at least a little attention to it, to make sure she understood the gravity of her goof. This was not a little goof. This was a big goof.

Instead Jesus appeared to be utterly uninterested in her goof. He refused to assign blame or responsibility for her past. He was focused on one thing, a bright future.

That is God's call on our lives as well.

Don't waste your time asking yourself, how did I goof? How did they goof? Who goofed?

The next time you're tempted to ask, who goofed? don't. Instead, ask, "What now? What can I do to help? How can I help?" Then listen to what the sick one, the disadvantaged one, the hurt one says and do it.

This is especially true if you are the one who goofed. Don't beat yourself up. Don't waste your energy in analyzing how on earth you got into this situation. If it isn't obvious, don't worry about it. Move forward. Live forward. Go.

Nicer Than God?

In the email she said she didn't know who else to talk to, so I was elected. She was dealing with massively discombobulating news: her son had recently told her he was gay.

His homosexuality was not a total surprise, but neither had it been obvious before he opened his heart to her. She and her husband loved him. His sexual identity was not going to change that. He was still their son. She was not writing me for help in dealing with her son. Her mother's love gave adequate wisdom for that. She didn't need help persuading her husband—her son's step dad—to be kind. His father's heart was quite up to that. What she wanted to know was what to do about the lock on heaven's door.

Her son was welcome in their home. But according to the Bible and the church, God would not allow her son into heaven. She didn't put it this way, but what I heard was this: Mom and Dad were nicer than God. At least that the way she had been taught to understand the Bible.

So what should we do when it turns out we're nicer than God? Reexamine our faith.

“Who of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:9-11

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Fatehr in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. . . . So you, be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:44-48.

When we discover that our hearts are larger than God's heart according to the teaching of the church and even of the Bible, it's time to take another look. Maybe the church is wrong. Maybe the way we've been reading the Bible is wrong. Maybe we have focused on the wrong texts.

If being god-like means loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors, then certainly being god-like means loving people whose sexual identity is different from ours, even different from “normal.”

If one way we “become sons of our Father in heaven” is by loving our enemies just as he loves his enemies, then loving our homosexual children—accepting them as they are—cannot be an affront to God. Instead, it is one more way we act like our father in heaven.

If we, though we are evil, know that it would be evil to “cast out” our homosexual children, how much more certain is it that our Father in heaven—their Father in heaven—will not only refrain from casting them out, but will welcome them joyously into the eternal dwelling?

Creationism: Loving God's World the Way He Does

(We have a guest speaker at North Hill this Sabbath, October 9: Wally Lyder. So, this manuscript is only for reading here. It will not be preached. Comments are, of course, still welcome.)

The Trinity and angelic host was too meager a community. So God created the universe. All of it. Every last bit of it. Gravity. Planck's constant. Pi. Gluons and neutrinos. Water. Redwoods. Mosquitoes. Triceratops. Nebulae. The strong force. Electromagetism. Galaxies. Goldfish. Great blue herons. Rabbits. Puma concolor. Humans. Chimps. Archeopteryx. Cotton. Barley. All of it came from God's hand. Or mouth. And God was happy. More to love.

It didn't last. God came to regret creation. God's pain and remorse evoked by human wickedness were so intense he decided to wipe it all out—not just people but animals as well—every living thing on the surface of the planet.

Apparently, God had second thoughts when he contemplated wiping out every living thing. He loved the world too much to make an absolute end. One man in particular caught his attention. So God gave Noah instructions for saving himself and his family and a selection of the animals forming the basis for a new start.

The flood was horrifically devastating. When it was over, God regretted what he had done and vowed never to do it again.

One thing that jumps out from this story is the reality and intensity of God's engagement with the world. According to the Bible, we—humans, animals, the earth's biology—are God's world. What we do and what happens to us deeply affect God. We can make him happy. We can make him change his mind. We can drive him to the negative obverses of love (regret, pain, jealousy). We affect God's being. Enormously. Given what we know now of the universe—billions of light years of expanse sprinkled with particles, waves, dark matter, galaxies and billions of years of existence—this is an astonishing assertion.

Still, it is the central meaning of creationism and points to these twin truths: 1. We matter. 2. Others matter. All the others.

Old White men who have never known what poverty means matter. Young Black men whose primary job opportunities are selling drugs or running numbers matter. People with Down's matter. Muslims matter. Homosexuals matter. Truck drivers, professors, nurses, elementary school teachers, cashiers. Skiers and artists, beggars and prostitutes.

What happens to these people profoundly affects the well-being of God.

As children of God, we are called to learn from God how to regard people—ourselves and others.

People are ineffably precious. (So is all the rest of creation.) It is natural for us to get upset when people behave in ways that are wrong, annoying, foolish, selfish, immoral, inconvenient, disappointing, mean, stupid. We may imagine that life would be better if we could just eliminate the irritant. Get rid of the people. In the case of serial killers, execute them. In the case of poor-performing employees, fire them. In the case of ungrateful children, disinherit them. In the case of illegals, deport them. In the case of the mentally ill and decrepit elderly, euthanize them. Annoying spouses—divorce them. Heterodox preachers—defrock them.

If we are contemplating drastic action to eliminate inconvenient people, we have good precedent in Genesis. God did it. Since we are made in his image, we have the right and responsibility eliminate bad people. However, Genesis portrays violence as an ineffective tool for dealing with the pain that arises from love. God loved people and they betrayed him. When the betrayal became intolerable, God annihilated people—almost all of them. Then, in the aftermath, God said, “I'll never do that again.” There was no satisfaction for God in the devastation of his enemies.

In Genesis (and in 2 Samuel 24:16) we see God practicing execution, acting with the fullness of divine knowledge and the sturdy rectitude of divine holiness. In both cases, God deeply regrets his action. Judgment does not lead to satisfaction or happiness for God.

Why would we think it will work for us?

As we move through the Bible, we find mounting testimony in support of a different divine course in response to human failure: Redemption.

In Samuel, we read about the Wise Woman of Tekoa who in a contrived case, argues successfully against the execution of her murderous son because “God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him” (2 Samuel 14:14).

In Isaiah 53, the Lord's servant saves the people by taking on their iniquities.

Ezekiel writes that the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Then we come to Matthew who says of the Messiah, “He will save his people from their sins.”

And finally to John who writes, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believed in him might not perish but have everlasting life.”

God would rather die than live without us. The “enemies” of God are also his children. Just as David cried after the justly-deserved death of Absalom, “If only I could have died in your place!” So God is inconsolably bereaved by even richly-deserved annihilation.

John closes the New Testament with a picture of God sharing his throne with people. People! The beings who so infuriated God in Genesis that he regretted making them in the first case. The kind of creatures who drove God to wreak horrific destruction and then to profound regret at the destruction.

God is so enmeshed with people, so in love with creation, that the end of the 1600 page story featuring betrayal, weakness, failure, stupidity, duplicity, infidelity, seduction pictures God sharing his throne with the very beings who tormented him. If an atheist had written the story, we would be appalled at the disrespect shown to God. Surely God could do better than endlessly pursuing those who “are not that into him.” But God has no interest in doing better.

Jesus calls us to love creation the way God loves creation: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. . . . Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

These enemies we are called to love include politicians of all stripes. People with all sorts of sexual function and dysfunction. The mentally healthy and the mentally ill. The theologically correct and the theologically incorrect. Those with money and those without. People on both sides of whatever border matters to us.

Rage and disdain are ill-fitting for creationists—for people committed to loving creation the way their Father in heaven does.

Intercessory Prayer

Sermon for North Hill
October 2, 2010

Months ago I had dinner with a friend from long ago and far away. We had a fun time catching up on our kids, our spouses, our work. But I left worried. Toni (not her real name, of course) had experienced some scary financial reverses. In the months since our visit, I thought about it occasionally, but what could I could do?

Then a couple of weeks ago her name came to my mind during my morning prayer time. I prayed for her, specifically for her finances.

A week later I sent her an email, saying I had prayed for her and asking how things were going. She replied she had just been offered a dream job. In addition a fantastic business opportunity had just opened up for her. When I checked the dates, it looked like her job offer came the day after I prayed.

And I said to myself, “I should pray for my friends more often.”


Then, there's my friend Jack (not his real name, of course). He faces daunting challenges at work and at home and with his health. His name comes to me in prayer very often. I don't know why. Over the last couple of years, I have prayed for Jack more than for any other individual. When we communicate—and it's nearly always by email. I hardly ever reach him by phone.--he thanks me for my concern. Thanks me for my praying. But the craziness at work never lets up. The challenges at home get no easier. His health is not improved, as far as I can tell.

(I stopped after writing the above paragraph and prayed for him again.)

So let's talk about intercessory prayer.

Jesus did not teach specifically about intercessory prayer. But, of course, he had a lot to say about prayer in general. And his teachings certainly apply to praying for other people.

So let's look at what Jesus said in Matthew 6, in his famous “Sermon on the Mount.”

Jesus cautioned against two common errors in thinking about prayer.

First, prayer is not for show. We don't pray so that other people can see us pray. Prayer is not to be used like a flag. 'See, I'm a Christian. I pray.'

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to pray in public places to be seen by men.” Matthew 6:5.

One application of this principle is this: Don't try to impress on God how important getting your desired answer is because of the impact it will have on others. I've seen people put prayer requests on line, with the idea that if thousands of people are praying for some particular outcome, then if God grants their prayer, it will be a great witness to God's power.

As far as I can tell, God does not respond to that kind of pressure. When Jesus healed people, he asked them to keep quiet about it. God doesn't need publicity.

A second error Jesus warned against: Getting more petitions filed with heaven will affect God's decision. Not! Jesus put it this way: “When you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them.” Matthew 6:7

Circulating a prayer request on line and getting thousands of people to join in our petition may comfort our hearts and give us encouragement. It will not influence God's action. Prayer is not a political campaign. God doesn't do polls or focus groups before making his decision.

Repeatedly, Jesus summarized the heart of his teaching on prayer with assurance that God knows what we need before we ask and our needs matter to him. So, ask. Jesus invites you to ask. Ask in confidence that God is aware of the situation and is interested in you and the person you are praying for.

Jesus then offered a model prayer.

Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For yours in the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

This prayer highlights a couple of different purposes and effects of prayer.

When we pray “Our Father,” regularly we are training ourselves to trust in God's benevolence and capability. “Father” in Jesus' teachings is always a rich, warm term. By giving us this model, Jesus is teaching us to remodel our vision of God. God is good. God cares about you and the person you are praying for. God is strong. He is able to deal with whatever difficulty you bring to him.

When we pray “Our Father,” we are affirming that the person we are praying for is also part of God's family. God loves that person as much as you do.

(If “father” as a metaphor does not evoke in your mind images of competence, compassion, wisdom and security, then use other metaphors that help you relate to God in the way Jesus meant to teach when he used the word, “Father.” Other biblical metaphors for God include shepherd, mother hen, king, nursing mother, mother eagle, doctor, friend, lover, husband. Metaphors in our culture might include guard dog, fireman, mama bear, lifeguard, coach.)

Praying in the light of Jesus' words, “Our Father” shapes our hearts. It increases my compassion. It raises my awareness of beauty and goodness in the world because I see people through the eyes of a parent. Especially, if I'm praying for someone who annoys me, this kind of praying will change my vision. Instead of seeing the person only as an annoyance, I will also see them as the beloved of God.

If I pray in this way often enough, I will come to see even people I strongly disagree with, people who are truly evil, with affection and compassion instead of with disgust and hatred. My view of the world will be the opposite of all the talk show hosts who specialize in making other people look like idiots, perverts and criminals. Instead I will see people as the treasures of God.

Then our actions actions will be motivated by love instead of hate.

When we pray over and over 'Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,' we begin to see people and situations more and more through the eyes of God. We still see human brokenness, but we see broken people as children of God rather than as children of the devil. We dream of their restoration rather than their elimination.

Jesus invites us to pray, 'Give us today our daily bread,' teaching us that it is appropriate to pray about down-to-earth, nitty gritty stuff. And not just for ourselves.

God, my friend needs money, needs a new job, needs help with their health. We pray about these things because our hearts cry out for help. And we pray because Jesus invited us to.

Note, when we pray like this we are unabashedly asking for God to intervene in our lives. We want God to take action on our behalf. To help us. To bless us. To send good things our way. We are not thinking about changes that need to be made in our lives. We are thinking about changes we hope God will make in the way the world works.

Let's be clear: Jesus invites us to make these requests.

We ask God to do something, to take action, to change on our behalf. To help us with things like paying bills, finding healing for our pain and illness and dealing with the outrageous temptations and provocations of life.

To come back to my two stories.

When I spend time in prayer every morning, I am conditioning myself to see the world as a good place. Instead of overflowing with rage at politicians, Muslims, the French, the crazy people who cut me off on my way to work, the boss, I am suffused with gratitude for the good things in my life. I don't live in south Sudan or Somalia or Darfur. I have friends. I can see beauty. I can hear music. I can taste curried zucchini.

I feel compassion for Toni and Jack. And all the members and friends of North Hill. And the people of Windworks and Gig Harbor Adventist Fellowship. I cultivate appreciation for the holy zeal that motivates clergy whose specific opinions I disagree with.

I do not know what effect my prayer for Jack is having on his world. Would his world be worse than it is if I were not praying? I don't know. I do know that when his name comes to mind during my prayer time, he becomes important to me. My heart is drawn to him and his family.

Truth be told, I don't really know that my prayer had any impact on the life of my friend Toni. I'm sure the people who offered her the job were working on filling the position long before the Thursday morning when I prayed. But the coming of good things into her life at the time I was praying increases my gratitude to God for his compassion.

So, what to do?

Pray. Do it. Take a few minutes every morning. Or if you're a night person, do it at night. Make some time, not necessarily a lot of time, for deliberate, focused prayer for your children, your co-workers, your friends, your spouse. When you're driving and someone cuts you off, pray for that person. Pray for the stress in their life that makes them drive that way. Pray for the immediate crisis they are facing that day that made me have to drive aggressively.

Who knows, it may lead to a change in the world for yourself and for others. Good things. Money. Health. Happier relationships. Less stress at work.

We do know that it will lead to change in you. If you will make time daily to devote some time to prayer as Jesus taught it, you will become more compassionate, less angry, less worried, more confident.

Paul wrote this about prayer: Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thess. 5:16ff.

If you want to be less angry, more hopeful. Pray for people.

If you know people who could use some divine help. Pray for them.

Do it in the morning. Or at night. While you're driving, while you're waiting for the bus or the train.

Just do it. It will lead to joy.

Happy MIsfits

I'm still working on my sermon for this Sabbath describing the mission of North Hill—and by extension my mission, my raison d'etre at North Hill.

I've written a manuscript but I'm not happy with it.

My sense is that North Hill is a community that matters to a number of people. Its distinctiveness is its holding together the affirmation of devotion, piety and confident faith with a palpable openness to skeptics, agnostics and questioners.

My instinctive stance is that of protector, not director. I aim to make sure everyone plays nicely together. I don't have strong ideas about what everyone should be doing. I want them to be happy. I want others to come and find sanctuary here. My style is much more permissive than directive. I count on the Holy Spirit to direct individuals.

My model is the ministry of Jesus:

The party at Matthew's house.

The expulsion of the money changers

The rebuke of the Pharisees

The above two show Jesus in "Stern Mode" only when confronting authority figures.

The inclusion of the Syro-phonecian woman.

The inclusion of Children

The Inclusion of Zaccheaus.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

His healing and “exposure” of the bleeding woman

His words about the woman bent over double. Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who has been kept bound by Satan for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her? Luke 13


All this inclusion against the exclusive tendencies of the fundamentalists. Against the words Ted Wilson and Dan Jackson (as reported in Adventist World, Sept. 2010, p. 28-29).

Prayer: Making Requests

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship, September 11. 2010


Years ago in New York, I met a pastor named Jack McFarland who had special ministry of intercessory prayer. He spent an hour or two a day praying for people. He had a written list that was pages and pages long. He would systematically pray through his list. By the time I left New York his list was far too long for him to pray through in a single day. Thousands of people counted on him to pray for them. So he spent his designated time praying in order through the list. When his time was up, he'd mark his place and pick up the next day and keep praying.

Jack and his wife both exuded a magical warmth and gentleness that naturally drew you to him. Having him pray for you felt really special. He influenced my own prayer life, though I never became a heroic intercessor like him.

Prayer, the way Jack did it, was a systematic, structured discipline. It was like running or weight lifting or practicing the piano or guitar. It seemed to me that Jack's prayer life was part of filled him with such a magnetic warmth and connection with people. Prayer had changed Jack.

It also seemed to me then and seems to me still today, to be the most exalted form of prayer as request. Petitioning heaven on behalf of others.


Then there is Henry's kind of prayer. (This story is taken from Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom.)

He had gone to Brooklyn where some of his old friends were. He barged in with an unloaded gun, waved it around demanding money and drugs. They handed over the stuff and he headed back to his place in the Bronx. At some point that night he realized what he had done. He had just robbed people who knew him. People who knew where he lived. People who had ready access to guns and friends with guns. He spent the night hiding behind the garbage cans in front of their apartment with a gun in his hand waiting for the attack.

He prayed. “God, get me out of this and I'll shape up and follow you.”

The attack did not come.

The next day he flushed his heroin down the toilet. Began going to church and eventually ended up Detroit, in the bleakest, most hopeless part of that hopeless city, pastoring a church in a falling down building with a huge hole in the roof.

There he served other druggies, ex-cons, and losers. And on rare occasions experienced the blessing of seeing someone else find the same kind of deliverance he had tasted back in New York.

So which kind of prayer is better? Which kind of prayer is more likely to get God's attention? Jack's daily, quiet focused prayer or Henry's desperate, spur-of-the-moment, bargaining plea for back up while he held his shotgun? Which is more likely to get results?



We can find parallels to both approaches to prayer in the Bible.

Two men are specifically described as practicing intercession, prayer for others. Job and Daniel. Job prayed regularly for his children. He even offered sacrifices on their behalf. Daniel prayed for his nation, the Jewish people who were living in exile in Babylon.

Both men experienced catastrophe in connection with their praying. In Job's story we read that God bragged on Job because of his goodness. In response the devil attacked everything Job possessed, then managed to get his kids all killed in a disastrous house collapse.

Daniel gets thrown into a lion's den as a result of his daily prayer practice.

Now in both cases it wasn't really their praying that got the men into trouble. They were targeted for the gestalt of their lives, for the whole package of integrity and personal and professional goodness. Still the Bible presents their prayer practice as an important part of their spiritual life.

And their spiritual life offered no protection against earthly disaster.

Then there is the story of Samson. From the very first time we meet him, he is willful and reckless. He rejects his father's counsel. He flirts with prostitutes. He becomes the leader of Israel at a time when there is a serious leadership vacuum. For twenty years he serves as something of shield for the Israelites from the dominating tyranny of the Philistines. Along the way he kills a lot of Philistines. They finally capture him. They put out his eyes and put him to work in prison as a mule grinding grain by pushing the long arm of a mill round and round.

Some time later, at a major national feast, the Philistine leaders brought Samson out to show him off and celebrate their victory over Israel's hero. There in that feast Samson prayed. “Lord, give me strength just once more so I can get revenge on these Philistines for putting out my eyes.”

Samson had the boy who was leading him take him over to the central pillars of the massive temple. (Apparently, Samson had been there before and knew the design of the place.) God answered Samson's prayer and gave him his usual supernatural power. Samson pushed the pillars over and collapsed the temple. The writer reports that Samson killed more Philistines in that single event than in all the rest of his life.

This story raises all kinds of interesting questions. But notice this: God answered Samson's prayer! Instead of spending decades as a prisoner, humiliated and tormented, he died as a hero in the eyes of his people. In his own eyes!

Two very different approaches to prayer: Daniel's daily, steady habit. Samson's desperate 911 call. Jack McFarlands practice of daily intercession. Henry's spontaneous cry for divine protection from impending retaliation from the drug dealers he has just ripped off.

What can we learn for ourselves from these stories?

FIRST
God is not predictable. At least not in terms of how he will respond to our specific requests. Sometimes God responds in dramatic and welcome ways. Like he did with Samson in the temple. Other times God makes us wait and wait and wait and only responds when we are desperate beyond words. Like he did with the woman Hannah who spent years begging for a child with no apparent effect (1 Samuel). Sometimes God does not respond at all. As happened with King Saul near the end of his life. (“Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 1 Samuel 28:6)

There is no known prayer technique that obliges God to act. The previous sentence should perhaps be put in 24 point type, underlined, colored red and put in BOLD. I repeat: There is no known prayer technique that obliges God to act.

God is free. We cannot compel him to act, not by “claiming promises,” not by using formulas that invoke the words “bind,” “declare,” or “blood.” If you find various formulas helpful to you in your prayer life, great use them. But remember they no more compel God to act than Jack McFarland's prayer list compels God to act. Jack's paper list and you “magic words” are no more than tools to help you pray. They cannot be turned into levers by which you can manipulate or force God.

SECOND

God's response is not based on our character.

Sometimes God answers the prayers of scoundrels and sometimes not. Like Samson. Like King Saul. Like Henry the Detroit minister. Sometimes God rejects the requests of good people. Like with Jeremiah and John the Baptist (by inference).

THIRD: Two contrasting perspectives on prayer

Prayer as the key to heaven's treasures.

When we pray our requests, the focus of our attention is our desire for God to act. When we think of prayer this way—as the human quest for God's intervention—our focus is on what God does. Any kind of prayer will do in this situation. The power is in God not in the prayer or in the person praying. God does not need us to master some particular technique or discipline before he is able to act in this world.

We make our requests and God decides. We can make our request using the formulas of TV preachers. We can use the words Jesus taught us in the Lord's prayer. We can claim the promises of the Bible and speak politely to God. Or we can pray in desperate, raw street language. Either way, polite or raw, our prayer is heard by God. And God acts or not out his great wisdom and love. It is not the “power” of our prayer that matters, it is the power of God.

Prayer as spiritual practice.

We can also think of prayer as spiritual exercise. Just as people exercise to get strong, practice to become skillful on the piano or drums or guitar and do homework in preparation for taking exams, so we can engage in regular prayer as a spiritual exercise.

When people pray regularly, it has an affect on them. When we think of prayer as a human spiritual discipline, then the form or format of prayer matters. Regularity and practice matters. Location matters. Because in this case, the goal of prayer is to change the person praying.

Jack fuels his compassion by his focused time of intercessory prayer. I think if Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh spent an hour a day in intercessory prayer it would alter their speech. It would change their attitudes. If we spend time in prayer daily, it will change us.

Regular, daily prayer helps align us with God's kingdom. It helps us become effective agents of heaven.


So what is the bottom line? This:

If you are in an emergency, pray. Of course, I don't have to tell you this. It is natural to the human soul. In dire straights, our eyes naturally lift toward heaven. Our minds and often our voices naturally cry out, “Help!” The good news from the Bible? God hears. And he doesn't first run your request through a committee to see if you qualify for a response from heaven.

Second, if you are wanting a deeper, more authentic spiritual life, structure regular times of prayer into your days. Pray for people. (The fancy way of putting it is practice intercession.) Or find other forms of prayer to engage in regularly. Practice gratitude. Practice quiet listening prayer. Practice affirmational prayer. Whatever, just do it. God will take notice. Your heart will be blessed.

Offering Hospitality to God

North Hill, September 4, 2010
With thanks to Scott Arany for the title and central idea of this sermon.


About 4000 years ago, if you had been sitting with Abraham in the shade outside the door of his tent, you could have seen out there, out beyond the shade of the oak grove, shimmering heat waves dancing above the dry grass.

Out there, out under the hard-blazing sun, Abraham's herders tended goats and sheep and camels. Their work increases your appreciation for the shade.

Suddenly Abraham gets up, staring into the distance. You turn and follow his eyes. You can barely make out figures on the road in the distance. Their shapes distorted and wiggling in the heat waves. Three travelers, you finally make out, headed this direction.

When they got close, Abraham steps out into the sun and walks to greet them. He bows. “If I have found favor in your eyes, gentlemen, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought so you can wash your feet and rest in the shade. Let me get you something to eat so you can be refreshed and then be on your way. I'm so delighted you have come to me.”

The men agreed. A servant brought water and they washed their feet. Then they sat back in the shade while Abraham gave directions for dinner. When dinner was finally ready an hour or two later, Abraham himself served them, making sure their plates stayed full.

At one point in the dinner, the leader of the three visitors asked Abraham, “Where's your wife Sarah?”

“In the tent.” Abraham said.

Then Abraham's visitor informed him, “About this time next year your wife will have a son.”

Sarah, listening in the tent, laughed into her sleeve. The very idea, she thought. Now? When both of us are over the hill and I'm thirty years past menopause? Me have a baby? I don't think so.

The visitor asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? It will happen next year just as I said.”

Sarah stuck her head out of the tent and protested. “I didn't laugh,” she pouted.

I imagine at that, the visitor himself laughed. “Oh yes you did. Don't try denying it.”

At some point in this conversation Abraham must have have realized his visitors were not ordinary men. Maybe he thought the leader was a prophet or priest. Maybe he guessed they were angels.

Wouldn't that be cool, to serve dinner to three visitors and then realize you had just served dinner to angels or a prophet or a priest with high spiritual power?

Abraham's story gets better.

The visitors got up to leave. Abraham got up to walk with them a bit and see them on their way. They hadn't gone far when the leader sent his two companions on down the road and turned to talk with Abraham. In this conversation, Abraham discovers the full identity of his guest.

The guest was not a prophet or a priest or an angel. It was God. God had stopped by Abraham's tent in the oak grove of Mamre. It was God, Abraham had welcomed with his hospitality. Abraham had just spent a couple of hours visiting . . . WITH GOD!!!!!!


A favorite Adventist definition of prayer comes from Ellen White: “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.”

Can I paraphrase this? Prayer is like sitting down to dinner with God. Prayer is like Abraham walking out to God and urging him, “Won't you please come in and stop awhile? Can I get you some water for your feet and some food for your belly? And we'll talk. Okay?”

This is not all there is to prayer, of course. Over the next few weeks we'll consider several different metaphors and pictures the Bible uses to help us understand prayer. Today, imagine prayer as inviting God to step in out of the sun, to join you in the shade for a leisurely dinner.

Prayer is offering hospitality to God.

The same can be said for our time together here on Sabbath morning. What is worship? One way to think of worship is it is offering hospitality to God. Through our music and scripture reading, through our care for this comfortable place, through our Bible study our fellowship with each other, we are offering hospitality to God. We are saying, “Welcome. Won't you come and spend some time with us? Won't you sit with us? Keep us company for awhile?”

And God says yes.

Here at North Hill we cap off our hospitality by sharing food together after the service. On the first Sabbath of most months, a full dinner, shared potluck style. On most other Sabbaths, snacks and beverage. In these meals we are offering hospitality to the visitors and to one another. Of course. We are also offering hospitality to God. We are reminded of the words in Hebrews 13:1-2. “Keep on loving the brothers and sisters in the church. And do not neglect to entertain strangers because by so doing some people have entertained angels.”

We might editorialize: And some people have even entertained God!

Worship as entertaining God. Is that a helpful picture for you?

Here at church we seek to provide truthful information about God and spiritual life. But if information was all you needed, you could probably find it on the internet.

We try to create a friendly environment where people can fellowship with each other. That's an important part of church life. We feel the importance, and the New Testament explicitly talks about how crucial this connection with other people of faith is. But if connecting with people socially was all we needed, we could do that at work, at school, in the neighborhood. We could join clubs or organizations.

The irreplaceable reason for coming to worship is to meet God. We want to rub the shoulders with God, to hang with God. We offer hospitality to God. Those who plan the service aim to create an environment where God is welcome and we are welcome to visit with each other and God.

Abraham's dinner with God has echoes in other places in the Bible. In Exodus 24, not long after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he invited Moses and Aaron and his sons and seventy of the elders of Israel to come up on Mt Sinai to visit with God. Their visit ends with a feast on the mountain. The Elders and God sharing table fellowship!

Jesus ended his three years of ministry and fellowship with his 12 disciples by sharing a meal with them. A meal that we now remember by celebrating the Lord's supper.

Then in Revelation 3, Jesus says, “I am knocking at the door. If anyone will open the door, I will come in and we will share dinner.”

What do you do when you go out to dinner? You just take time together. The conversation doesn't have to “go” anywhere. There's no agenda. The purpose of sharing the meal is ot share time together, to share life.

This is the first purpose of prayer and worship.

Neither praying nor coming to public worship will automatically make all the aches and pains in our lives go away. But when we spend good time with God the very real challenges and difficulties shrink. Their significance in our lives begins to diminish.

Entertaining God, connecting with God in prayer and worship may not solve our marriage difficulties or fix our unemployment. Still spending time with God in prayer and worship gives us strength and wisdom for living.

We come to church, we spend time in prayer with high expectations that God will show up and keep company with us in a special way.

Jesus promised, “Where two or three are gathered, there I will be in the middle.” Matthew 18:20.

Notice that Jesus is eager to show up. He is knocking on the door. He promises, if you show up in my name, I will be there. We are not begging and pleading, hoping Jesus might stoop to join us for a couple of minutes. Instead we are planning our hospitality, knowing Jesus is eager for time with us.

So I want to encourage you to take some time, regularly, to offer hospitality to Jesus, to God. If you eat breakfast by yourself, don't turn on the TV. Don't read a newspaper or book. Instead share your meal with Jesus. Savor each bite and in your mind hold converse with God.

Invite God to keep you company while you eat. This is part of what saying “the blessing” at meal time is about. As you practice attending to God over the next few weeks, you will find that you are more aware of his presence. Invite God to keep you company through your days.

Learn to “Practice the Presence of God.” It will heighten your sense of gratitude and thus your joy. Hopefully, it will make you more responsive to the leading of God's Spirit. This is the bedrock of mature prayer. It is the heart of what we are about when we come together for worship.