Third Sunday after Pentecost (BCP, p. 229)

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by Your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Well, I missed last Sunday because it was just craaaazy last Sunday. The school year is over, and we’ve survived a week of End of Year parties, awards ceremonies, visits with friends and big, huge campus cleanup! I didn’t even get to enjoy my weekly dose of the Cubs via mlb.com – proof positive I was not my usual, mellow Lord’s Day – lovin’ self.

Nevertheless, I’m back, and as I read, pray through and ponder this week’s prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, and as I pray this along with Christians around the world, two words leap off the page:

think and do…

This is a prayer of total dependence on God, on Christ’s mercy, and especially on the moving of the Holy Spirit. It is a prayer that totally resonates with me, one that I find I will be echoing far beyond this week! Too often, do I find that my mind is spiraling out of control, and non-God-honoring trains of thought (obsession, fear, worry, covetousness, self-pity, paranoia) have their way with me.

And I do see why the writer of this prayer connected thought to action. Even when I don’t do what my mind tells me to do, my actions are, for good or ill, affected by my thoughts.  If my thoughts are not right, I don’t as easily pray, I don’t always spend my time wisely.  Work on the song I need to finish?  Play another game of Risk on my computer?  Ah, I’ll just play another game…

When my thoughts are laid into Christ’s capable hands, when I let Him invade and direct the direction of my mind’s wanderings, His Spirit then gives me the strength to do the best thing for the moment (which may, indeed, be another game of Risk!).  I’m a guy – I reckon we all are at some time – who really needs my mind moved in the right direction, to give me the direction to put my next step down in the right path.

Just the other day, I felt this prayer (one I hadn’t yet prayed in so many words) answered, as I was wrestling with a particularly troublesome thought pattern, God’s peace just … invaded … the turmoil, and I suddenly knew how to rethink, how to move beyond it.

Christ is Lord, and if He’s Lord, He gets to redesign, as the old allegory goes, the whole house once He moves in. Sometimes analogies are overused because they are so apropos. This one fits the bill, for me.  My mind is still being renovated.

Just a postscript: This year’s lectionary is so convenient! The collects for Pentecost say, “The Sunday closest to [date]” and this year that date every is the actual Sunday! So, it says “The Sunday closest to June 8″. Well, says I, as I, looking at the date on my watch: today is June 8! What d’ ya know?

Thank you for tolerating the tangential thoughts of a total geek.

Third Sunday after Pentecost:

Grant, O Lord, that the course of this world may be peaceably governed by Your providence; and that Your Church may joyfully serve You in confidence and serenity; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

This prayer has some of the greatest modifiers the Church could ever hope to pray for.  Imagine: us, Christ’s Body and Bride, His beloved people, … peaceably governed… joyfully serv[ing]… in confidence and serenity… Picture that Church!

That’s what the season of Pentecost is about.  A season to remind us Who is Boss, and for us to rest in that knowledge; for us to put down our swords and pick up our plowshares, and to, side by side, hand in hand, “joyfully serve”.

I have nothing to add to this; I just want to draw your attention to that picture, that unity, that… rightness.

Our pastor here in La Paz, the guy who, along with his wife has been kind enough to do an English-Speaking service for a few Americans, a couple of New Zealanders and a British missionary all these months, had a story to share about God’s peaceable governing and the strange way it sometimes looks.

Upon returning to Bolivia from the States about 13 years ago, their first child, a son, was stillborn.  In the aftermath, they waited for comfort and encouragement, but it didn’t seem like it was gonna come.  Many well-meaning people said the usual stupid things.

Then, one day, shortly before the funeral, the pastor sensed a tiny voice telling him, “Your son has fulfilled his ministry”.  This was, he thought, an outlandish thought; he hadn’t even had a chance to live, let alone minister!

But then, at the funeral, a man, a Baptist missionary, sat down beside him, put his arm around him…

… My friend the pastor thought another failed word of comfort was coming…

… And he said, “Your son has fulfilled his ministry.”  He got up, and rejoined the others at the funeral.

Then my pastor’s eyes were opened; he looked around and realized what this had meant: pastors from the community, who for years had fought over doctrinal non-essentials, and who never spoke or fellowshipped, were hugging, praying, weeping together.

The death of this precious child had brought them together.

I don’t know that God took the child, but I know He used the tragedy to create something new.  What happened was rather remarkable; this tragedy woke these clergy up to the realization that our petty squabbles, our doctrinal cold wars, our liberal or conservative fundamentalism, are blinding us to the things that really matter: bearing one another’s burdens, standing side by side, building up the Body of Christ.

Peaceably.  Joyfully.  In confidence and serenity.

Amen.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards You, that we, loving You in all things and above all things, may obtain Your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

This one kind of sneaks up on me. At first, I see a prayer to ask God for trust that He will provide.

But then, it hits me: “Pour into our hearts such love towards You, that we, loving You in all things and above all things…” Whoa. This is a prayer asking that we would love God so much that whatever He gives us will pale in comparison to the fact that He gives us Himself! Again, whoa. Boy, do I need that kind of love, that kind peace and satisfaction in God alone.

The cultic Word of Faith (or Prosperity) movement, a group that has run full-speed away from Christianity, wants you and me to reject this. They want you to be utterly unsatisfied with God alone. But “godliness with contentment is great gain…” (Check out 1 Tim. 6:6-8). Having God and being at peace with Him and what He provides is the key.

I think we’ve all had those brief moments in which the peace of Christ really did surpass all our understand, and in which the circumstances we faced were no biggie, because we knew our position in Christ and Christ’s stance with us. The prayer for today asks God to make that our lifestyle.

I pray we will all be so filled with the love and peace of Christ this week!