Prayers in Action

At a recent meeting of the Commission on the Status and Role of Women that I attended, the preacher, Dr. Joan Wolf related a story about prayer time at her church in a inner city church whose constituents included people in poverty as well as people of means. On one particular Sunday morning when people were asked to give voice to their prayer concerns, one man stood up and said he wanted a job so he could buy his own clothes with his own money and take those clothes to the dry cleaner and pay to have them cleaned with his own money. He went on at great length about wanting a job. The failing economy of the city took away the job that he had and life was difficult. Dr. Wolf thanked him for his prayer request and told the congregation to pray for him. In a moment of “holy disruption” the man jumped back up on his feet and said “I don’t want your %$#@ prayers, I want a job!” Seated around him in this congregation were people who could provide a job for him. A shocked congregation had a lot to think about that day. Dr. Wolf reminded us that we have in our possession many times the ability to answer peoples’ prayers and yet we often withhold those things from those in need.

Be it apathy, selfishness, thoughtlessness or prejudice, we regularly neglect people who need our help. The Old Testament reminds us not to withhold the wages of the worker when it is in our power to pay them. The same is true about the goods and services that we possess that God has given to us for the express purpose of answering someone’s prayers. These things are not only our left-overs but our means. There is always something we can give.

I read a story about an old woman who regularly sent a check to a missionary in China. It was not much but it was regular. The checks began to increase and she wrote to the missionary and explained how. She said she cut off her cable service and the money she saved she gave to the mission. The next month she cut off her phone and the month after that she cut off her hot water heater. The missionary was not a little bit encouraged by this fragrant offering of sacrifice.

What do you have in your hand right now that you can give away that would bless someone? Jesus said that we would be rewarded for even a cup of cold water that was given to someone in his name. Be the water of life for this world that suffers from so much want.

Mincha

Jewish people have traditionally prayed three times a day. The Shacharit prayer is the longer morning prayer and the Maariv is the evening prayer. Mincha is the afternoon prayer and it is the shortest time of prayer and sometimes overlooked in the busy-ness of the day. Mincha is a short time to stop and give thanks. Psalm 145 is to be read during Mincha: “I will praise you, my God and King and always honor your name. I will praise you each day. You are wonderful, Lord, and you deserve all praise.” This psalm speaks of the wonders of God’s world and how God graciously provides for the needs of the world. “You satisfy the desires of all your worshipers and you come to save them when they ask for help.”

Sometimes in the middle of the day I don’t feel like singing. Work piles up and I begin to think it is me that is running my life. That is when I need Mincha the most. It is a time to stop and recalibrate my soul and put God once again in the center of everything and to give thanks for God’s gracious providing.

Try it yourself. Giving thanks to God lifts the soul to a higher place and assures us once again of the presence of power of our loving God.

http://www.minchamoment.com/videos/video-3-our-treasures/

Please Help Save Starving People in the Horn of Africa

The United Methodist committee on Relief (UMCOR) is planning a regional response to the growing hunger crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti due to a severe drought. In Somalia, where relief efforts have been hampered by ongoing violence and war, has seen thousands of its citizens fleeing to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. It has been estimated that there are 400,000 people in refugee camps there. There are an estimated 3.7 million people in crisis.

Please take a special offering this summer for this urgent need, and earmark your gift to the “Horn of Africa Crisis,” Advance Special #982450.

Read more about the crisis on UMCOR's website: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/newsroom/releases/archives2011/hornofafrica/

Christian Education: What’s not Working

Jesus said “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Soon and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a) Christian Education is fundamental to the Great Commission and yet it appears that we are doing less and less of it with our children as Sunday Schools are dwindling.

What is not working:

1) Sunday School on Sunday – often that is a time for soccer practice, a weekend visit to the non-custodial parent’s home, or the time of the Sunday School is earlier than many people want to get up on a weekend morning. Many churches are finding that an alternative day of the week is working better. An after-school program can include Christian education as part of its program.

2) Vacation Bible School as the one effort all year. Many churches that don’t have much of a children’s ministry will still offer a Vacation Bible School with some success. For many parents this is something for kids to do and some will actually shop around and go every VBS in town just to keep the children busy during the long summer months. Follow-up is what doesn’t always happen. Invite those “one time VBS students to other events throughout the year. I know of a church that has a VBS type program during the month of December on a Saturday so that parents can drop off their kids and go shopping. Holidays such as Halloween and Easter also have tremendous outreach potential. The lives of the saints and light and hope can be taught at a Halloween social and an Easter Egg hunt can be combined with a Lent Fair that teaches about the Jesus and the resurrection.

3) Expecting parents to bring their children to church. I remember years ago having a judgmental attitude about parents who just “dropped off their kids” and did not go to church or Sunday School themselves. Now people often don’t do even that. The response of the church should be one simple word: “Go”. We should go out and bring in the children. If you have room in your car you can pick up kids and bring them to church. Transportation is often the thing that keeps it from happening, especially in these hard economic times.

4) The same Sunday School teacher who has taught for 50 years continuing to teach that little class. We need to teach in teams. Our “Safe Sanctuary” policy requires that there are always two teachers in every class. The dear elderly woman in the church who has always taught the children needs to have a second helper. This is protection for everyone as well as a great way to mentor a young person for the future. Remember that every classroom needs to have doors with windows so that everything can be seen from the outside looking in.

5) Taking care of the children of our church members only. That has never been a good way of operating because it insulates the church as an institution that only “takes care of its own.” The church should intentionally target the children that are not from the church family and those who live on the margins of life. We need to invite children of all ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, languages and abilities. Families with children with disabilities need the unique ministry of the church. Autism is a high incidence disability in our society and parents often find it difficult to have a meaningful faith community experience because of the behavior issues that often accompany this condition. A church that would reach out with an educationally appropriate class would speak volumes of love to that family.

Let Freedom Ring

I was at Duke Divinity School on a training for UM Bishops and was having a conversation with Bishop Elaine Stanovsky, who told me this wonderful true story of empowerment that came from the heart of the United Methodist family. Long ago a man by the name of Wesley “Branch” Rickey was the first baseball owner who broke the “color line” and enlisted Jackie Robinson as the first African American player in the major leagues (April 1947). Both Rickey and Robinson were Methodists: Rickey from a devout Methodist family from Stockdale, Ohio and Robinson attended a Methodist Church in Pasadena, CA as a young adult. Later Jackie Robinson teamed up with Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier to help to fund the African American Student Foundation which supported college educations for promising young African people. One of those young people was Barack Obama, Sr., who later became the father of the 44th president of the United States.

The legacy of social justice and freedom for all people is a part of the United Methodist story and on this weekend of celebrating Independence Day in our nation we need to pause to think personally about our legacy of freedom. Who are we empowering to be free, to be all they can be, who can be lifted up to become a future leader in this world? You may never know what your influence will do far down into the future but one thing is certain that God will multiply your good works and use them to bless many people.

Why Pray When You Can Worry?

We need to ask ourselves, “Why pray when you can worry,” because that is how we often live. It is truly a flaw in our human nature that finds us worrying instead of praying as our “default setting” in life. Isaiah 44:2 says “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you in the womb and will help you: DO NOT FEAR, O Jacob my servant!” But we worry anyway. We worry because our faith is weak and we live with the erroneous notion that everything depends on us. God made us and promises to help us. We are not alone, even when God’s timing is slower than we would like it to be, or the provision is less than we wanted. It takes faith to believe that the timing and the provision is exactly what God had in mind and that kind of faith moves mountains.

Last fall I received a phone call from a Congolese student at Salisbury University. She was the daughter of a UM pastor in the Congo. She was beginning her senior year and had high hopes for a bright future working in the Congo as a teacher when suddenly her tuition money disappeared. Family members who had promised to pay were unable to help and the university had no choice but to deport her. That is when the United Methodist Church stepped in and between the Women’s Division and the Board of Higher Education and Ministry her tuition was paid. She just graduated last month and she sent me an email to thank me for the efforts that were made on her behalf. Looking back she could see God’s hand at work, even in the last-minute way it all came together.

Prayer is the greatest power on earth. It can change things, heal people, find money, and convert the world. Try praying instead of worry.

Memorial Day

Jesus said “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13 – NRSV) These words come to mind as I think about Memorial Day. Many who served in the armed forces literally laid down their life for their country in harm’s way. Many others suffered injuries (physical and psychological) that affected the quality of their remaining life. Still others, who did not suffer harm also made the sacrifice of putting themselves in the position of possibly dying or being injured. Love is the motivating factor in all of this. People do not willingly sacrifice unless there is great love and a great purpose that is worth dying for. This sacrificial spirit is very powerful. When something is worth dying for it speaks to the heart of all humans.

I thank God for the veterans who sacrificed and served and suffered for love of family, country and cause. May you spend some time this weekend pondering what is worth dying for in your life. Thank God for sending Jesus who loved us so much that he was willing to die for our sins.