“The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe and participate in resurrection life, a life out of death, a life that trumps death, a life that is the last word, Jesus-life.” – Eugene Peterson

The moment we reside in is becoming increasingly post-Christian.

In his work Sickness unto Death, Phillip Reiff divided Western history into three phases or what he calls “worlds;” I think his summary is helpful in understanding the moment we find ourselves.

The First World is the Pre-Christian World.

This is a pagan culture with a pantheon of gods, and spiritual creatures hiding behind every bush. The culture pushes towards belief in an enchanted reality.

The Second World is the Christian World.

To be clear there has never been a Christian culture. What Rieff argues is that the cultural momentum of this Second World pushed one toward Christian institutions. In this world, it is economically, politically, and socially expedient to be “Christian”.

The Third World as Rieff imagined was Post-Christian.

This isn’t a world that has moved on from Christianity; in so much as it is reacting against Christianity.

To be post-Christian is to become increasingly unaware of those origins, and to react against Christianity.

“Let’s face it: we have become unwelcome guests in this post-Christian world. Our children ride their scooters in neighborhoods where conservative [orthodox] Christianity is dismissed or denounced as irrelevant, irrational, discriminatory, and dangerous. Many of us go to work in places where sensitivity training has become an Orwellian nightmare… Christian common sense is declared ‘hate speech’ by the new keepers of this culture. The old rules don’t apply anymore. Many Christians genuinely do not know what to say to their unbelieving neighbors. The language and the logic have changed almost overnight.” –Rosaria Butterfield

“He [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd, he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for [Jesus] was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19:1–10.

Israel is an occupied territory, under the oppression of the Roman Empire. A Roman tax collector was one that collected exorbitantly-high Roman taxes, sometimes up to 50% from his friends, family, neighbors, and fellow Jews.

“To stay in such a person’s home was tantamount to sharing in his sin.”– I. Howard Marshall

But throughout the ministry of Jesus, he is consistently criticized for who he shares meals.

“…the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable…” Luke 15:2–3 (ESV)

Throughout his Gospel, Luke presents meals as one of Jesus’ basic strategies for mission. (Luke 5:27–32; 7:36-50; 9: 13-16; 22:7-23; 24:13-33)

Three types of meals that we, as apprentices of Jesus, are invited to;

1. A meal with God.

2. A meal with family.

3. A meal with the lost.

A Meal with God:

In the pattern of the early church, and in response to Jesus’ instructions to “do this in remembrance of me” we center our community gatherings around a table and partaking in the Meal that Jesus gave us.

Christ has invited us to share a meal with Him; a meal that is now infused with His story, His power, and His hospitality–it is first and foremost the meal that Jesus gave us.

A Meal with Family:

When we confess Jesus as Lord, we join the family of the redeemed. A divine household that transcends space and time, culture, nationality, and ethnicity.

When we come together as the family of God, in microchurches, we declare that we are a new family learning to live as God’s people.

A Meal with the Lost:

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” –Luke 19:10.

Jesus’ invitation is for any who find themselves wandering and lost to be adopted by God the Father and to find a home in the Family of God.

It is a beautiful invitation that often begins with a meal.

“In a post-Christian community, words can only be as strong as your relationships. Your best weapon is an open door, a set table, a fresh pot of coffee, and a box of Kleenex.” –Rosea Butterfield

Practicing the meal(s)

1. Resist idealizing meals.

2. Hospitality is a posture, not a resource.

3. We are nourished for our mission by partaking of meals with God and family.

Practicing Resurrection:

• Our God defeated death.

• Easter changes everything.

• We practice resurrection.

“The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe and participate in resurrection life, a life out of death, a life that trumps death, a life that is the last word, Jesus-life.” -Eugene Peterson

“26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth…”28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it… 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good… 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” - Genesis 1:26-2:3

Things we learn from the creation account:

1. Work is not bad.

2. God rested.

3. We were meant for rest- it is part of our identity.

Egyptian economy of work found in Exodus 5:

v. 4 Pharaoh says, “[W]hy are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!”

v. 7-8 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy.”

v. 9 “Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.”

v. 10-11 “I will not give you straw. Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.”

v. 14 “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?”

v. 17-19 “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now, and work; for no straw will be given you but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.”

God’s economy:

“8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” -Exodus 20:8-11

“There are limits to how much and how long slaves must produce bricks! There are limits to how much food Pharaoh can store and consume and administer. The limit is set by the weekly work pause that breaks the production cycle. And those who participate in it break the anxiety cycle. They are invited to awareness that life does not consist in frantic production and consumption that reduces everyone else to threat and competitor. And as the work stoppage permits a waning of anxiety, so energy is redeployed to the neighborhood. The odd insistence of the God of Sinai is to counter anxious productivity with committed neighborliness. The latter practice does not produce so much; but it creates an environment of security and respect and dignity that redefines the human project.” - Walter Brueggemann

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” - Mark 2:27-28

“The brilliance of sabbath is not so much in sabbath keeping but in sabbath keeping us.” -Rich Villodas

“Sabbath is not primarily about us or how it benefits us. It is about God and how God forms us. It is not, in the first place, about what we do or don’t do. It’s about God completing and resting and blessing and sanctifying. These are all things that we don’t know much about. They are beyond us, but they are not beyond our recognition and participation. Sabbath does, however, mean stopping and being quiet long enough to see, open-eyed with wonder—resurrection wonder.” - Eugene Peterson

Sabbath: a 24 hour period every week to stop, delight, and worship.

“Sabbath moves us from production to presence. Sabbath is not just a rest from making things; it is rest from making something of ourselves.” - Rich VIllodas

“People who keep Sabbath live all seven days differently.” - Walter Brueggemann

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.” -Hebrews 4:9-11

“if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and…. we are of all people most to be pitied.” –1 Corinthians 15:17, 19

To be culturally disenchanted

In Taylor's work The Secular Age, Taylor suggests that in the past 200 years, we have told, and been told a disenchanted story.

Living out a disenchanted story is not just giving up on believing in the supernatural; it includes a sense that science and technology have an explanation for every question we may ever ask.

“You never understand everything. When one understands everything, one has gone crazy.” – Phillip Anderson

“You think that [humans]--can figure it all out? This to me seems so crazy! It cannot possibly be true! What they figured out is one particular response to their actions, and this response gives this universe, and the reality that is behind this is laughing! ‘Ha ha! They think they have found me out!”–Paul Feyerabend

Disenchanted stories leave us desperate for answers to all of our questions– and only leave us left with a sense of emptiness.

And is it possible that in telling this disenchanted story we’ve lost something essential?

Might it be that the story of Easter is an invitation to a life of wonder?

“The women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. – Luke 23:55-56

24 “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” – Luke 24:1-3

“4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” – Luke 24:4-5

To their shock, instead of the body of their King– they are greeted by two heavenly messengers with a question that will rock them to their core– “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

“6 He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” – Luke 24:6-7

“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” –Luke 24:26–27.

The Bible is a library of ancient writings, of both divine and human origin, that tell a unified story that leads to Jesus.

“all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

The Resurrection is Jesus' victory over death, sin, and the Evil one.

“The good news is that the one true God has now taken charge of the world, in and through Jesus and his death and resurrection. The ancient hopes have indeed been fulfilled, but in a way nobody imagined. God’s plan to put the world right has finally been launched. The ancient sickness that had crippled the whole world, and humans with it, has been cured at last, so that new life can rise up in its place. Life has come to life and is pouring out like a mighty river into the world, in the form of a new power, the power of love. The good news was, and is, that all this has happened in and through Jesus; that one day it will happen, completely and utterly, to all creation; and that we humans, every single one of us, whoever we are, can be caught up in that transformation here and now. This is the Christian Gospel. Do not allow yourself to be fobbed off with anything else.” – NT Wright

“And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” –Luke 24:8-12

θαυμάζω | thaumazō

1. marvel

2. be atonished

3. wonder

Luke’s strange tale of Easter has wonder right at its center.

1. The women were perplexed by the empty tomb…

2. The women were frightened by the appearance of the angels

3. Peter went home marveling, [in wonder] at what had happened…

   “The practice of resurrection is an intentional, deliberate decision to believe and participate in resurrection life, a life out of death, a life that trumps death, a life that is the last word, Jesus-life.” –Eugene Peterson

Cultivating a Sense of Wonder

1. Pay attention to Beauty.

2. Open yourself up to the gift of others.

3. Consider the Resurrected Christ.

Pastry Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer writes this, “I believe that it is possible to master a craft or a skill at home as long as you have two things: one will come from me, the other comes from you. I will give you the proper information and tools to allow you to understand how to execute a given recipe, but your contribution—the patience and persistence to work at it—is just as important. Many of you have learned to play an instrument, to knit a beautiful sweater, or to excel in a sport. You did not learn to play that Bach chorale well enough to play for an audience just by looking at the music on the page and playing it once. First you memorized the keys on the piano, then practiced scales, then played the piece and practiced it over and over and over again. When you learned to knit, you first mastered the different stitches and how to manipulate them, then you made a scarf before you tackled making a sweater. In pastry it’s the same: you must learn to make and pipe proper pâte à choux and pastry cream before you can make good éclairs.”

Elizabeth Dunn, freelance food writer, wrote this about “easy cooking” in the Atlantic, “The problem is that none of this is actually easy. Not the one-minute pie dough or the quick kale chips or the idiot-proof Massaman curry, every last ounce of which is made from scratch, from ingredients that are sourced and bought and lugged home and washed, peeled, chopped, mixed, and cooked…The decision to cook from scratch may have many virtues, but ease is not one of them.”

I forgot that French pastry is hard; it is not easy.

We have forgotten that anything worth mastering or worth having is often hard.

Life with Jesus is a journey to the cross. As we will see today, you cannot have resurrection life without death.

• Holy week begins with Palm Sunday, today, which signifies Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

• We then have Maundy Thursday, which is this Thursday, in which we reflect on Jesus’ service to the disciples as he washes their feet at the last supper.

• Good Friday occurs, as you guess it, on Friday. On this day we observe the death of Christ.

• Holy Saturday in which we observe Jesus’ time resting in the tomb.

• AND finally, Easter Sunday in which we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

Prior to the gospels, we have already read and witnessed the first three acts of the unified story of scripture

1. Creation- God creates a beautiful world and all that is in it, including us. He then designates us as his partners and collaborators in running that world.

2. Fall- Being that God built freedom into human nature and because humanity willingly made and continues to make poor choices, the world has gone horribly wrong.

3. Israel- Through the nation of Israel, God sought to save the world. However, Israel, much like all of humanity, continued to mess up. And thus through the prophets, God promises to send a Savior, a messiah, to save Israel from their self-destructive tendencies. These tendencies led Israel time and time again into enslavement. And this is where we find the Israelite people as we approach the gospels: oppressed by the Roman Empire and waiting for a king to rescue them.

We then learn of Jesus’ birth, the birth of a king that seems all wrong.

• Instead of being carried by a queen, he is carried in the womb of an unwed teenager.

• Instead of being born in a palace, he is born among animals.

• Instead of being greeted by the most esteemed of society, he is visited by shepherds.

Yes, the party will be wonderful as detailed in vv. 19-29:

• the gates of righteousness, the gate of the Lord, will open and let in the pilgrims;

• the rejected stone becomes the cornerstone;

• This is the day the Lord has made;

• blessed in the name of the Lord is the one who comes;

• give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Except, in the words of N. T. Wright, Jesus took Psalm 118 further and deeper. “His preparation for the ultimate festival meant that, having taken refuge in the Lord, he ended up crying out that God had forsaken him. He put his confidence in the Lord, but the princes strung him up anyway. He was pushed hard. and fell, and nothing happened except more beating. He was punished severely, and he was indeed given over to death.”

Dr. Joseph Nyguyen defines it as spiritual peace or wellbeing of the soul. It is freedom from having to have our lives turn out in a particular way. It is surrender. And this type of surrender says even if my life doesn't turn out the way I want it to, I will still trust. This doesn't mean we don't have desires or plans but rather we learn that our desires and plans do not run us.

1. Am I on this journey with Jesus in the hope that He will fulfill some of my hopes and desires?

2. Am I ready to sing a psalm of praise, but only as long as Jesus seems to be doing what I want?

3. Am I ready not only to spread my cloaks on the road in front of Him, to do the showy and flamboyant thing, but also now to follow Him into trouble, controversy, trial and death?

Three questions–

1. Why should we trust the Bible?

2. What is the Bible?

3. And how should we engage with the Bible?

Why should we trust the bible?

“Our trust in the Bible stems from our trust in Jesus Christ… I don’t trust in Jesus because I trust the Bible; I trust the Bible because I trust in Jesus. I love him, and I’ve decided to follow him, so if he talks and acts as if the Bible is trustworthy, authoritative, good, helpful and powerful, I will too… Even if some of my questions remain unanswered, or my answers remain unpopular.” – Andrew Wilson

We trust the bible because Jesus trusted the bible.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. – Matthew 5:17 ESV (emphasis added)

What is the Bible?

“[Christ’s] sayings were no repeal of the former [the Old Testament], but a drawing out and filling up of them.” – Chrysostom

The Bible is a library of ancient writings, of divine and human origin, that together tell a unified story that leads us to Jesus.

A Library of Ancient Writings

It is a collection of writings, with well over 60 authors spanning thousands of years, composed in several genres.

of Divine and Human Origins.

David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared…– Mark 12:36a.

The Bible’s origin is a divine and human collaboration– a perspective some have called the incarnational model of scripture.

A unified story

The bible can broadly condensed into three genres–

1. Narrative (44%)

2. Poetry (33%)

3. Discourse (23%)

A unified story of scripture in five parts–

1. Creation

2. Fall

3. Israel

4. Jesus

5. New Creation

That leads to Jesus.

“And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:20-21 ESV

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me.”– John 5:39 ESV

How should we engage the bible?

Studying the Bible

• The Bible Project.

• Biblia.com,

• Biblical commentaries

• Study Bibles.

Being formed by the Bible.

Jesus’ imagination and thought patterns are so thoroughly saturated in the scriptures that he puts his suffering in the context of a longer story.

“When we submit our lives to what we read in scripture, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but our stories in God's. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.”― Eugene Peterson

There is no technique or strategy to shape by the Scripture, there is just a posture.

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” – Luke 12:15

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” – Luke 12:33

“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”– Matthew 19:24

American Gospel: the more we have the happier we will be, more stuff is what we need.

The French sociologist Jean Baudrillard argues that atheism hasn’t replaced Christianity, shopping has.

“When we lose our divine center- our source of security- we have an insane attachment to things.” –Soren Kierkegaard

The problem isn’t just stuff. It’s also the place that stuff occupies in our heart.

Problem 1: Inward Stuff

“No servant can serve two masters… You cannot love God and love money.” – Luke 16:13

“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort” – Luke 6:20,24

“where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21

Problem 2: Outward Stuff

“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” – Luke 12:15

“Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.” – Luke 12:33

“Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. – Matthew 6:25-33

Soren Kierkegaard reflects on how we are to pursue the kingdom of God in light of this passage saying- Should a person get a suitable job in order to exert a virtuous influence? His answer: no, we must first seek God’s kingdom. Then should we give away all our money to feed the poor? Again the answer: no, we must first seek God’s kingdom. Well, then perhaps we are to go out and preach this truth to the world that people are to seek first God’s kingdom? Once again the answer is a resounding: no, we are first to seek the kingdom of God. “Then in a certain sense it is nothing I shall do. Yes, certainly, in a certain sense it is nothing, become nothing before God, learn to keep silent; in this silence is the beginning, which is, first to seek God’s Kingdom.” – Soren Kierkegaard

One Solution: Seek FIRST the kingdom of God.

“[Christian simplicity] is an inward reality that can be seen in an outward lifestyle or choosing to leverage time, money, talents and possessions toward what matters most.”– Richard Foster & Mark Scandrette

Further Resources:

Celebration of Disciplines by Richard Foster

Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

4 Simplicity practices:

1. Think before you buy

2. Get into the habit of giving things away

3. Live by a budget

4. Cultivate a deep appreciation for the little things.

   “In everything, love simplicity.” – Saint Francis de Sales

As the Church of the West, we are far more familiar with the God of the mountaintop than the God of the wilderness. When suffering crashes into our lives we often wonder where God is, and Lent is an annual practice that teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness.

Word’s that describe silence: disruption, unsettled, agitated. Do those words come close to describing it? We don’t experience silence often.

When we leave this place, we are immediately greeted by the sounds of a large city. There are the mechanical whirling of automobiles, never ending construction, and the voices of the people going to and fro. In our cars, there is the constant beeping telling us that we really should put a seatbelt on that we drown out with our favorite sports commentator, podcast, or playlist. Or maybe you have a kid who does all the noise making you could ever need.

We can all empathize with the “white noise” of the world today whose volume knob has been turned all the way up to 11. On top of that, PEW research has shared that 22% of US adults struggle with feelings of loneliness during a typical week, which start rising exponentially with young kids, teens, and adults who regularly engage with things like social media.

Long story short, we have a world that does its best to drown out silence and medicate loneliness with noise. When we look at the world this way, it makes total sense why we would look at a period of silence with words like disruption, unsettled, and agitated. It is not something that comes naturally to us. And that is why, during the Lenten season, it is ever more important to talk about.

Confronting Comforting Loneliness:

We fear silence and we fear being alone.

The last person we want to be with is ourselves. We fear what will be uncovered. We fear the shadowy side of ourselves, the compilation of all of our worst traits that we know all too well. We fear the voice of the critic that brings forth accusations.

There is a time for silence and solitude, and a time for engaging back with the crowds.

Richard Foster, “Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.”

Christ Green, “We’ve made a world where it is easy to think that we can control what our experience is like all the time.”

That is the beauty of silence and solitude. It is where we enter into the mystery, the unknown, and realize that God is already there and has always been there. That is how we confront and sanctify loneliness.

Vision for New Horizons:

The Prophetic Imagination, a work by Walther Brueggemann describing how the prophets of the Old Testament had a two-pronged duty when trying to bring the people of God back into their roles as His covenant people when they had fallen astray. Now, when we hear the word “prophet,” you may think of several things: YouTube personalities screaming about an election or a recent event in the Middle East, crystal balls that predict future events, or even a bad movie depicting what they think the end times are going to be like. This is our culture’s view of prophecy, and though it can try to pass itself off as “Christian,” the reality of biblical prophecy is much deeper. When a messenger from God comes to His people, they have a lot more to say about God and His relationship with his church.

Prophetic Critique is the work of a prophet when they have to show people that things are not as they are supposed to be. This may include calling out things like idol worship, social and economic injustice, as well as periods of exile and wilderness.

Prophetic Energizing is when the prophet energizes the people of God for the work of ministry. If things are not as they should be, then we have work to do! We have wrongs to right. We have alternative kingdoms to live in!

This is where silence, solitude, and the prophetic imagination collide so beautifully. The New Testament tells us that we are not only a royal priesthood, but a prophetic people. When the Spirit descended at Pentecost, the same Spirit that emboldened the prophets for critique and energization entered the people of God. It is the same Spirit that we declare we believe in every Microchurch when we say the Apostle’s Creed. It is the same Spirit that is within us, guiding us as we go throughout our day to day.

Sense of Freedom:

John Mark Comer, “Anybody remember this? Waiting at a bus stop, stuck in traffic, sitting in the theater before a movie, in the back of a less-than-enthralling political science class with nothing for your mind to do but wander through the infinite realm of possibility? While it is easy to sentimentalize something as inane as boredom, none of us, honestly, wants to go back to a pre-digital world. We’re more efficient than ever. I get more done in less time than I ever dreamed possible a decade ago. But again, pros and cons. We now have access to infinity through our new cyborgesque selves, which is great, but we’ve also lost something crucial. All those little moments of boredom were potential portals to prayer. Little moments throughout our days to wake up to the reality of God all around us. To wake up to our own souls. To draw our minds’ attention (and with it, devotion) back to God; to come off the hurry drug and come home to awareness.”

There is so much freedom found when we can get off the hurry drug, or the white noise of normal, and come back to the reality of God all around us.

So, how do I practice silence and solitude?

First, let’s sanctify the small moments. Sanctify means “to make holy.” So when we say to sanctify the small moments, we mean to look for the small moments of quiet and invite God into them.

Second, make intentional time to practice silence and solitude. Find a closet, a park, or a breakroom to be a holy space where you can be alone with your Father in heaven who loves you. Find the time to cut out the white noise and look inward, to face the thoughts and impulses that we hid from everyone else and bring them before a compassionate God who knows just what it is like to do this whole human thing.

Finally, be ready for your silence and solitude to be interrupted.

John Mark Comer, “There are times when what you really need is alone time with Jesus, but, well, life happens. People happen. You set aside time to Sabbath or pray or just take a night off with no plan, but then you get a text from your boss, a minor crisis at work. Your two-year-old swallows a LEGO Kylo Ren. You Google ‘Closest emergency room.’ Your roommate had a bad day and could use a chat. Two hours later and they are still crying… Y’know, ordinary life stuff. Sound familiar? You ever feel like, try as you might, you just can’t get time to rest? You’re in good company with Jesus himself.”

As the Church of the West, we are far more familiar with the God of the mountaintop than the God of the wilderness. When suffering crashes into our lives we often wonder where God is, and Lent is an annual practice that teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness.

Eugene Peterson calls spiritual disciplines, like abstinence and fasting, “voluntary disaster”.

We live by phrases like, “the heart wants what the heart wants.”

The result is that we find ourselves in a wilderness of competing desires.

In the language of the New Testament, this is the tug-of-war between your flesh & spirit.

In Freudian thought, this is called the pleasure principle.

pleasure principle

1. is decision-making that works toward immediate gratification and avoidance of pain, in order to satisfy biological or psychological needs.

It is to do whatever feels good at the moment.

In the language of New Testament the pleasure principle, this move toward instant gratification, is called “the flesh.”

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh –Ephesians 2:1–3.

Fasting is the practice of going without food and drink(excluding water) for a period of time.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” –Genesis 3:1–6.

The fall of humanity is deeply connected to food; or more accurately, our inability to resist instant gratification.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God –Galatians 5:19–21.

The Genesis narrative demonstrates that we have the propensity to abandon God’s best, in favor of a quick fix– instant gratification

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” – Matthew 4:1–4.

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – Matthew 6:16–18 (ESV)

Jesus assumes his disciples will fast because it helps us fight the flesh and feed on the Spirit.

31b “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” –John 4:31–34.

“[Fasting] is body talk—not the body simply talking for the spirit, for the mind, or for the soul in some symbolic way, but for the person, the whole person, to express herself or himself completely. Fasting is one way you and I bring our entire selves into complete expression. The Bible, because it advocates clearly that the person—heart, soul, mind, spirit, body—is embodied as a unity, assumes that fasting as body talk is inevitable.”– Scot McKnight

“Fasting helps us to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain the Kingdom of God.” – Andrew Murray

But Jesus also assumes we will mess it up.

In the midst of Lent; we commit ourselves to fasting as we journey with Jesus toward the cross.

“Sometimes, the call is made to fasting, and sometimes to a feast.” – St. Athanasius

So, how do I practice fasting?*

1. Pick a day and try it

2. I suggest fasting (going without food and drink) twice a week for twelve or twenty-four hours.

3. I would also suggest working your way up to longer fasts.

4. This may not be drastically different than your normal busy life. The goal is to be intentional with it.

*If you’ve ever suffered from an eating disorder or live with a diagnosed medical condition, you should consult a doctor, therapist, or pastor prior to fasting. Fasting is a helpful practice given to us by Christ, but notice that fasting is not intended to harm the body. Rather, it is designed to bring the body and soul into alignment.

If you’ve suffered from an eating disorder it is our belief that you can experience healing. With time, community, and Spirit’s help– healing is possible.

How do we pray in seasons of wilderness or suffering?

First, we learn that Jesus suffered.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. –Isaiah 53:5

Second, we learn Jesus routinely responded to suffering with prayer.

Jesus prayed amidst grief

“10 [King Herod] sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter…12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.”
- Matthew 14:10-13

Jesus prayed amidst exhaustion

“But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” - John 5:15-16,

“And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” - Matthew 14:23

“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” - Mark 6:31

Jesus prayed amidst anxiety

39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” - Luke 22:39-45

“And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives.” - Luke 22:39

In Jesus’ greatest moment of suffering, he prays because he has practiced it.

Suffering can draw us away from God but it can also draw us closer to him.

Two things to practice during lent:

1. Abstinence

2. The Lord’s prayer

“In the end, darkness is not explained; it is defeated. Night is not justified or solved; it is endured until light overcomes it and it is no more. In the meantime, we do not stop asking our questions of God. He allows us to ask them when we need to because he loves us. And we bring our perplexity into the prayers and practices of the church so that they can shape and direct our own questions. Through its prayers, practices, and gathered worship, the church tells us over and over again, “This is what God is like. This is his name. This is how you know he loves you.” - Tish Harrison Ward, Prayer in the Night

As the people of God, tell time differently.

Whether we are aware or not, our calendars shape us.

As the Church, our calendars are patterned after the life of Jesus.

In each season, we are guided to reflect on a different moment in the life of Jesus. This is a guide that year over year shapes our identity, our practices, and our story.

Advent & Epiphany – God with us.

Lent – God prepares us.

Easter – God for us.

Pentecost – God in us.

Ordinary Time – God through us.

Lent is a season of preparation; dedication to repentance, abstinence, and fasting in order to prepare one’s heart for the celebration of Easter.

Lent is a season of preparation in the wilderness.

The Wilderness in Genesis

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”–Genesis 1:1-2

5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground. –Genesis 2:5–6.

cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
–Genesis 3:17-19

Genesis 3 closes with humanity leaving the Garden and returning to the wasteland of their own making.

The Wilderness in Exodus

16…‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” –Exodus 7:16.

And in their idolatry and stubbornness, they live as nomads in the wilderness for forty years.

The Wilderness in 1 Kings 19

“Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And [Elijah] arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.”

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper [or a thin silence]. 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”–1 Kings 19:7–13.

There Elijah confesses his distrust of God; he repents of his mischaracterization of the God of Israel. God meets him in the wilderness, but that's only after Elijah abandons his post and gives ups.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the biographers of Jesus, each tell the story of our Messiah’s experience in the wilderness of Judea.

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan [river] and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days being tempted by the devil.” – Luke 4:1-2

And that ancient serpent makes an appearance again; tempting Jesus to turn rocks into bread, to give in to ambition, and to take power for himself.

Jesus patterned His life off the story of scripture and the love of his Heavenly Father.

In response, may we pattern our lives after the one who overcomes the wilderness.

And Lent is an annual practice that stips back distractions and teaches us to find His presence in our wilderness.

The main theme of Lent is repentance.

“return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger,abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.–Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)

Fasting is the practice of going without food and drink(excluding water) for a period of time.

Abstinence is the practice of creating margin in our daily schedule for the purpose of reorienting our lives towards Christ.

Corporately we will practice this on Ash Wednesday and every Sunday with 15 minutes of preservice prayer.

“To lead us not into temptation and deliver us from the evil one”– is to request that God might rescue us from the darkness within ourselves and outside ourselves.

“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil” – Eugene Peterson

The shockingly simple observation of this prayer is that we live in a warzone– a conflict our souls testify to.

“In Rwanda, I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him and I have touched him.”–Roméo Dallaire

The Biblical Cosmology

The scriptures propose that all the evil we encounter in our world is either a direct initiative or a painful ripple of the disorder introduced by the Evil One in the garden.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” –Luke 4:1–2.

The temptation Jesus faced was subtle in nature.

“Nobody believed he was real. . . . That was his power. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”—Keyser Söze

The subtle touch of the Evil one.

For as much as we like to think of ourselves as rational and independent beings, we are all shaped by powers small as microscopic biochemicals and as large as inherited notions of gender roles and stereotypes.

Contending with the Darkness

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”– Jude 3

“Fight the good fight of the faith.” –1 Timothy 6:12.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” –1 Peter 5:8–9.

We pray and act.

Let’s abandon the false dichotomy between prayer and action. We can be a community of prayer, gospel, and justice. Prayer and action–held together.

“The Christian story dares us to believe that the work of prayer is not so far away from the gift of sewers, that hands lifted in prayer and the scientific commendation of hand-washing flow from a shared source. Our work of prayer participates in and propels our public work of restoration.” – Tish Harrison Warren

“By giving us this prayer, then, Jesus invites us to walk ahead into the darkness and discover that it, too, belongs to God. –Tom Wright

In Praying, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One” we are reminded that we are in the midst of a conflict but a conflict that has already been decided.

Learning to contend in prayer–

1. Learn to pray with your body.

2. Learn to pray with your emotions.

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”― Karl Barth

Authenticity

The true irony of our current cultural moment: we crave authenticity but lack the foundation to admit that anything we do, think, or feel is really wrong.

In this environment, where many of us are craving authenticity, and honesty in our own lives, the lives around us, and even in the church, the practice of confession can be both refreshing and uncomfortable as most truly authentic things are.

1. This prayer becomes both a prayer we recite and a guideline or pattern for our prayers. It is where we go when we wonder, Jesus how do we pray?

2. The Lord’s prayer also reveals that prayer is both communion and collaboration with God. Oftentimes we view prayer as simply communication with God. But it is so much more than that. This prayer reveals that we commune with God the father. We take time to simply remember he is a father and then we collaborate with him. And thus, as Alex explained last week, we are not merely passive stage props in a prewritten cosmic drama. We are creative partners with God in the writing, directing, design, and action that occurs on the stage of history.

3. And finally, this prayer reminds us that the essential foundation of Christian prayer is that God is love and he likes us.

On Sin

First and foremost, before we jump into confession, I want to briefly define sin as the two concepts are so connected and often misunderstood.

God’s desire for us, as his creation, has always been a life of beauty, justice, and love. It’s important to understand that what God deems as sin is not bad because it is forbidden– it is forbidden because it is bad- it sits in opposition to his foundational desires for us. Lead-based paint isn’t bad because someone passed a law; someone passed a law because lead-based paint is bad for you.

“[Sin] is an unwillingness to trust that what God wants is our deepest happiness.” – Saint Ignatius

• Psalm 51

• Daniel 9

• Mark 1

• Luke 19

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:9-14

If sin is not simply what we have done but also what we have left undone, then we are all sinners in need of forgiveness and therefore, God does not need our confession, we do.

Sin is not simply what we have done but also what we have left undone.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22: 37-40

Quite simply sin is not just what we have done- even though there is plenty of that to go around. It is also what we have left undone.

So sin is not simply what we have done but also what we have left undone.

We are all sinners in need of forgiveness.

“We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” – CS Lewis

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

God does not need our confession, we do.

1. Confession is NOT a magical incarnation that controls God or forces his mercy to flow.

   “[E]veryone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It does not say they shall be saved if they confess 5 times a day- if they discover the magic formula. But all you have to do is call on the name of the Lord.” – Acts 2:21

2. Our admission of sin does not diminish God’s grace as repeatedly outlined in the scriptures

   “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

3. Our prayers do not add to the redemption accomplished on the cross

4. Our prayers never add to God’s knowledge which is already complete.

If sin is not simply what we have done but also what we have left undone, then we are all sinners in need of forgiveness and therefore, God does not need our confession, we do.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Confession is an invitation to approach the forgiveness of ourselves and others like that of the running father. In our sin, we are all one of the brothers, but in our forgiveness we have the love and give the love of an embarrassing, dotting, unabandoned, father with open arms.

So what do we do? How do we practice confession? We begin with the pattern Jesus has outlined for us in the Lord’s prayer:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. We confess. We take several moments to reflect on the actions of that day or the previous day and ask God to bring to moments where we were unlike him. Then recite the confession prayer just as we prepare to do so now.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it.” – John 14:12-14

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” –John 15:7

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” –John 15:16

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” – John 16:23-24

Why is it that Jesus says ask for anything in my name and you will receive it but I don’t always receive it? This tension sits at the very core of why many of us do not pray for what we need.

If God disappointed me once, will he not disappoint me again?

If God didn’t answer my prayers before, why ask?

If God’s ways are higher than my ways, what is the point in praying for what I need? Does he even care?

I think many of us have simply stopped petitioning for our daily bread as Jesus instructs in the Lord’s prayer. But as we will see today, petitioning is still a worthwhile task.

This prayer becomes both a prayer we recite and a guideline or pattern for our prayers. It is where we go when we wonder, Jesus how do we pray?

The Lord’s prayer also reveals that prayer is both communion and collaboration with God. Oftentimes we view prayer as simply communication with God. But it is so much more than that. This prayer reveals that we commune with God the father. We take time to simply remember he is a father and then we collaborate with him. And thus, as Alex explained last week, we are not merely passive stage props in a prewritten cosmic drama. We are creative partners with God in the writing, directing, design, and action that occurs on the stage of history.

And finally, this prayer reminds us that the essential foundation of Christian prayer is that God is love and he likes us.

PETITIONING FOR THE KINGDOM
This prayer is not the only place in which we see bread or food as a central component of Jesus’ life.

“His parties weren’t simply a matter of cracking open another bottle for the sake of it; the prayer to the Father for daily bread was part of his wider and deeper agenda.” – N.T. Wright

At the very heart of this demonstration-turned-teaching sits a foundational biblical symbol of the kingdom that can be traced all the way back to the Old Testament, to the Israelite people.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, my cup overflows.” – Psalm 23:5

“On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines.

And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud over all people; he will swallow up death forever.

He will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth.” – Isaiah 25:6-8

“Give us each day our daily bread” reminds us of a kingdom in which every day we will have daily bread and plenty of it.

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

Part of our petition for personal needs is Jesus to come and make this world right. May the party, may the feast continue.

PETITIONING FOR OURSELVES
However, the verse “give us each day our daily bread” is not just about petitions for God’s soon and coming kingdom, it is also about the right now.

How wonderful it is that God does not look down on our needs, that he doesn’t sit up in the clouds on a throne and sneer at our pathetic, needy bodies. He cares.

Issue 1: We are too proud and independent.
Issue 2: We worry in God’s direction.
Issue 3: We neglect to turn outward.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
And yet, I still think there is hope for us. Jesus obviously thought there was and gave us a tool to help. So when we struggle with a petition, first let’s start with Jesus’ pattern:

Let’s begin with contemplative prayer.

Then begin interceding for those around you.

Petition for your daily bread.

In his Gospel, Luke gives special attention is to Jesus’ prayer habits– here are a few examples.

“great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” –Luke 5:16

“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles” –Luke 6:12–13.

“28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.” –Luke 9:28–29.

When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
or we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
– Luke 11:2–4.

“Your Kingdom come” is a practice known as intercessory prayer.

Intercession is to pray for someone else.

"If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer: Intercession is a way of loving others. Intercessory prayer is a selfless prayer, even self-giving prayer. In the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God, nothing is more important than intercessory prayer” – Richard Foster

In praying “your kingdom come” we pray not just for ourselves, but for our whole world.

God’s original intention was that we would be his collaborators, free and intelligent beings, partnered with Him in ruling the world.

“… God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”–Genesis 1:26(ESV).

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” – Genesis 2:15–17 (NIV)

From the beginning, we’ve been intercessors, the in-betweeners, the mediators between heaven and earth. Given the freedom and authority to care for creation on God’s behalf.

Where freedom exists, evil is always a decision away.

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” –Genesis 3:6 (ESV)

But despite it all, God never gave up on his vision of free collaborators; and so in the most surprising of decisions He comes to Earth in the form of a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus.

In Jesus, that identity that was corrupted in our rebellion is restored.

We are not pawns in a cosmic story, destined to play a part, we are invited to help God direct the world.

“We are not merely passive set pieces in a prearranged cosmic drama but we are active participants with God in the writing, directing, design, and action that unfolds. Prayer therefore is much more than asking God for this or that outcome. It is drawing into communion with him and there taking up our privileged role as his people. In prayer, we are invited to join him in directing the course of the world.” – Skye Jethani

Prayer is not a charade, where God does what he is planning, and pretends we were of some help.

“God’s response to our prayers is not a charade. He does not pretend that he is answering our prayer when he is only doing what he was going to do anyway. Our requests really do make a difference in what God does or does not do. The idea that everything would happen exactly as it does regardless of whether we pray or not is a specter that haunts the minds of many who sincerely profess belief in God. It makes prayer psychologically impossible, replacing it with dead ritual at best…of course this is not the biblical idea of prayer, nor is it the idea of people for whom prayer is a vital part of life.” – Dallas Willard

When we pray things that were not going to happen, happen.

“When we pray we are not sending a letter to a celestial White House, where it is sorted among piles of others. We are engaged, rather, in an act of co-creation, in which one little sector of the universe rises up and becomes translucent, incandescent, a vibratory centre of power that radiates the power of the universe. History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” – Walter Wink

We have been given a profound invitation to help set the world to rights through our prayerful intercession.

“To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”― Karl Barth

“The only way to learn how to pray is to pray.” – Teresa of Avila

A study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization in 2021, found that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, prayer Google searches “rose on all continents, at all levels of income, inequality, and insecurity, and for all types of religion, except Buddhism.”

The researchers concluded that the global rise in religiosity or spirituality happened because “people pray to cope with adversity.”

“Our culture is increasingly abandoning anything that resembles orthodox Christianity in favor of a generic or sentimental kind of spirituality. This has caused many, including those within the church, to embrace a distorted vision of prayer. They seem to think that prayer is little more than a form of self-therapy but with a spiritual facade. In some places it’s seen as a self-improvement practice that any health-obsessed person should do, like working out or eating quinoa.” – Skye Jethani

Christian prayer should be concerned with relationship not results. To whom we pray is more important than how we pray.

LUKE 11

This prayer for Jesus followers has become both a pattern and a script for those in the Christian tradition. It is a guideline for prayer AND simultaneously, a prayer we regularly recite. It is the place in scripture we go to when we ourselves wonder, “Jesus, how do we pray?”

This is why for the next several weeks leading up to lent, we will be unpacking each line of the Lord’s prayer in a teaching series entitled “Teach Us to Pray.” Each week we will focus on a different aspect of prayer as reflected in the Lord’s prayer.

Week 1: Communion

Week 2: Contending

Week 3: Petition

Week 4: Confession

Week 5: Mission

GOD AS FATHER

Jesus begins the Lord’s prayer reminding us that our communion with God as father is the foundation for all of prayer- it is the starting place- it’s everything. The who of prayer is God our Father.

The opening line of this prayer, “Our Father in heaven” would have been shocking even scandalous to the ears of Jesus’ 1st-century audience for a few reasons:

As aforementioned, God was never referred to in an intimate way but always in a formal and reverent one.

Prayers in the 1st century for both Jews and non-Jews were generally formulaic in approach using words to compel a reluctant God to act.

Our Father in heaven, these four words changed the way we relate to God and thus the entire nature of prayer. In defining the who, Jesus changes the why, when, where, what, and how of prayer.

BREAD FOR A NEIGHBOR

“And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Luke 11:5-8

“Ancient Israel was an honor-based culture and highly communal. A person’s reputation was of paramount importance, and their reputation was inexorably linked to their extended family and community. Failing to provide bread to an unexpected visitor, which is the core problem in Jesus’ story, would not only bring shame upon an individual but also upon the entire village.” – Skye Jethani

The point is remarkable simply: God does not answer prayers because of our reputation but because of his.

In one simple story, Jesus takes the focus of prayer off of our own righteousness or even our dedication to God. And he places the focus of prayer on God’s desire to retain his reputation as a good loving father who gives his sons and daughters what they ask regardless of the quality of the asker.

God answers prayers not because of our reputation but because of his reputation. And he is known as a good father.To whom we pray is more important than how we pray.

GIVER OF GOOD GIFTS

“What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”’ –Luke 11:11-13

As mentioned beforehand, the betrayal of God as a good and loving father was a scandalous idea for Jesus’ first-century context. God was rarely referred to in an intimate way. He was almost always referred to formally and reverently.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” –Genesis 3:1

Interestingly enough, in Genesis 2, God is referred to over and over again as Yahweh Elohim or Lord God. But when the serpent comes onto the scene in Genesis 3:1, twisting God’s words and creating half-truths, he refers to God by only using the word Elohim. Scholars call this keeping the abstract but dropping the personal. It would be like calling someone by their title and not their name.

RESTORATION OF FATHER
According to theologian N.T. Wright, there are nearly half a million words in the Hebrew Bible yet God is only portrayed as father 15 times.

But then we turn to the New Testament. Gone are the days of reserve or distance. There is a new tone, a new familiarity, a new narrative. Jesus calls God father 65 times by the time you finish the gospel of Luke and over 170 times by the time you reach the end of John.

It is only in proximity to the Father God of love that we “grasp how wide and long and high and deep” God’s love is for us

We must stop thinking of prayer as simply communicating with God and start communing with God.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
We do this through a practice commonly known as contemplative prayer.

Contemplative prayer, as defined in the Handbook of Spiritual Disciplines, is a way of being with God without wordiness relying on God to initiate communion and communication.

“Let your heart rate decrease. Know that you’re already bathed in the Father’s love, and ask simply for what you need, in the assurance that the One to whom you’re speaking is already cupping His ear in your direction.”– Wesley Hill

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” – Matthew 6:7-8

1. Troubled about status and position

   “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” – John 1:11.

2. Seeking

   “For by gold the power of a king is signified, by frankincense the honor of God, by myrrh the burial of the body; and accordingly they offer Him gold as King, frankincense as God, myrrh as Man.” – John Chrysostom

3. Another Way

   “Frodo: 'It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill Gollum when he had the chance.'

   Gandalf: 'Pity? It's a pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play in it, for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.' Frodo: 'I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.'

   Gandalf: 'So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”

   Spiritual Practice

   1. It's ok to be troubled/ask questions. Let those moments change you toward a better relationship with Jesus and others

   2. Seek community and seek Jesus. Ask someone to hang out this coming week. Start a book club with this community. Start engaging with people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus and invite them into the community.

   3. Maybe it's time to go another way. You've been in sin, you have been putting yourself before others. Turn and ask Jesus to help you on this hard journey toward the one who saves.

Advent

1. Advent consists of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day in which the Church anticipates the future arrival of Christ by remembering His first arrival.

2. Although it may seem counter to the festivities of Christmas, it is important to practice waiting.

3. And in our waiting we focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love along with the rest of the global church

In First John, the Author summarizes his time with Jesus, his long career as an apostle, and a lifetime of reading the scriptures with three words.

“God is love.” – 1 John 4:8, 16

“The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” –Exodus 34:6.

“I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” –Psalm 108:3–4.

“...God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. –1 John 4:8-9.

We miss that this is a season that shows off the love of God, in part because we often confuse love with sentimentality.

But sentimentality is not love – it is a counterfeit.

Sentimentality is to experience the internal emotions of love– but to do nothing with it.

The four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, each tell of God’s Christmas love from a different angle.

Emphasizing the Love of God, not with sanitized cliches or impersonal definitions; but through dysfunctional family trees, gritty action, strange stories, and dirty glory.

The Gospel of Matthew and the God of love in a dysfunctional family tree.
The first book of the new testament, written by Matthew for Jewish people, starts by thoroughly arguing that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.

He argues that the Creator has entered the family tree.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers…” – Matthew 1:1–2.

Like a house built brick by brick, the story of God’s love is told name by name through Jesus’ family tree.

And the family Jesus came from tells us everything about the Family he came for.

The love of God shows up in dysfunctional family trees intent on redemption and writing a new story.

The Gospel of Mark; The God of Love in gritty action.
Mark’s nativity jumps straight into the action with Jesus being baptized, being tempted in the wilderness, and kicking off his ministry with an announcement;

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”–Mark 1:14

God’s love for humanity is broadcast through Jesus’ every movement as he touches the sick, hurting, and vulnerable. It is Jesus’ willingness to reach out and touch that God’s love is made palpable.

Mark does not begin with our king in a crib, but he tells of our God’s loving action– moving towards our deepest brokenness and his healing touch.

The Gospel of Luke: The God of Love in unlikely places.
A young engaged-to-be-married woman pregnant. She bears the weight of assumptions, disapproving looks, whispers, and small-town gossip.

A working-class family, a feeding trough for a crib, minimum-wage shepherds, foreign seekers, and political refugees.

In the most unlikely of places begins a complete reversal, an inverting of everything, the dawning of an upside-down kingdom.

The God of Love displays his affection through the strangest stories with the most unlikely characters.

“And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly.… God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Gospel of John: The God of Love in dirty glory.

“14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” –John 1:14

“The Word Became Flesh”; this is the hinge by which all of John’s Gospel turns.

John speaks of Jesus as “the Word [that] was with God, and the Word [that] was God” (John 1:1). In Jesus, “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” says the Apostle Paul (Col 1:19).

What does it mean that the God of Heaven became flesh? That he took up residence amongst us? That he dared to be seen, touched, carried, held, struck, hated?

The love of God is not pristine white garments pressed for Christmas day, it is in a dirt-caked robe of a middle eastern carpenter.

Our God became flesh and dwelt with us, in dirty glory.

Advent

1. Advent consists of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day in which the Church anticipates the future arrival of Christ by remembering His first arrival.

2. Although it may seem counter to the festivities of Christmas, it is important to practice waiting.

3. And in our waiting we focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love along with the rest of the global church

Tension is a part of our lives and is often present whether we recognize it or not. And tension is a key part of the season we now find ourselves in: Advent. For while we are celebrating, we are also waiting. We are waiting for Christ to come again.

And tension is not absent from the world that we are a part of. Right now, there is a large tension after the midterm elections, as if politics was tension-filled enough. Every week, especially during the holidays, we are bombarded with advertisements drawing us to consume, to obtain more. There is a tension of asking ourselves what to buy, how ethical it is, do I really need this?

“When Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit and conceived the Son of God, her body became the inner court of the Holy of Holies (the place where God’s presence dwelled in the Temple). Never before had a woman entered this sacred space, but in the incarnation, the Holy of Holies came into her space.” – Cheryl Bridges Johns

Mary’s joy in her song is found in three things: her Reflection of the Past, the Work of God in the Present, and the Promises of the Future.

Reflection of the Past:

God’s people, the Israelites, have endured through a tried and troubled history. In the midst of this, God has never left them or forsaken them. Joy is found through God’s unyielding faithfulness.

Our joy can be found through remembering the past. Paul tells us that through our faith we have been grafted into the family tree of God that the Israelites were a part of. In a beautiful way, God gives us a family history, a history that extends back to the beginning of the world. The tension filled, faithfulness-filled, and joy-filled history of Israel is also our history. We can look to our relatives in the faith and their examples and find joy even in the midst of our tension-filled world.

God’s Work in the Present:

“Joseph: I made you this pie.
Mary: Did you steal it?
Joseph: Nope! Made it from scratch.
Mary: We don't have an oven!
Joseph: God helped!
Mary: Silence….
Joseph: You see how weird that sounds right?”
–Dr. Kevin Young

When joy is hard to come by in our current predicament, we, like Mary, can find joy through the lives of others and be sustained by it. For Mary, it was God’s work in the life of her cousin Elizabeth. She was going to have a son in her old age!

When we enter this sanctuary without joy, the lives of others can often sustain us until we are ready and able to find our own.

Promises of the Future:

For Mary’s future, Christ would be the things that Israel had hoped him to be. He would be the perfect king, the perfect priest, and the perfect prophet.

As we wait, we wait for Christ’s return. And we know with his track record that we can find joy and hope in His promises and his plan.

It is a future we may not fully understand at this moment. I doubt that Mary knew God’s full plan the moment she sang this song or gave birth to Christ. However, in the midst of the mystery, in the midst of not knowing, she expressed joy for the future; a future that we can look forward to, just as Mary did.

Practice

This is why Mary can be such a model for us, the Church, that her Son established. This is why her song can be something that we look to for a reminder of joy in the midst of tension-filled times.

Let’s end with this. As we look at the OT, we find the book of Psalms. Did you know that 71 percent of those are laments? But we also find a solitary line that the author writes to remind the reader that this state will not last.

That the faithful God of Israel, of Adbraham, of Mary, and of us, the Body of Christ, will continue to be faithful and will not abandon us in our downtrodden state. The Psalm is David’s way of finding joy in the past. Present, and future, even in the midst of tension. Let’s all join him in this practice as we listen to his words.

“You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”

–Psalm 56:8-13

Advent

1. Advent consists of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day in which the Church anticipates the future arrival of Christ by remembering His first arrival.

2. Although it may seem counter to the festivities of Christmas, it is important to practice waiting.

3. And in our waiting we focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love along with the rest of the global church

10 ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the angel said to them. ‘Look: I’ve got good news for you, news which will make everybody very happy. 11 Today a savior has been born for you—the Messiah, the Lord!—in David’s town. 12 This will be the sign for you: you’ll find the baby wrapped up, and lying in a feeding-trough.’

13 Suddenly, with the angel, there was a crowd of the heavenly armies. They were praising God, saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace upon earth among those in his favor.’ –Luke 2:10-14

“If you try to point out something to a dog, the dog will often look at your finger instead of at the object you’re trying to point to. This is frustrating, but it illustrates a natural mistake we all make from time to time. It’s the mistake many people make when reading the Christmas story.” -N.T. Wright

Our familiarity with the word peace or the idea of peace on earth, has kept us from understanding the real message of Advent.

God’s peace comes from costly obedience.

God’s peace is disruptive.

“When we feel peace in this world, it is probably because we are drifting with the cultural moment.” - Pastor Jon Tyson

“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” -C.S. Lewis

God’s peace is antifragile.

“Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.” -Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“Sooner or later if we follow Christ we have to risk everything in order to gain everything. We have to gamble on the invisible and risk all that we see and taste and feel. But we know the risk is worth it because there is nothing more insecure than this transient world.” -Thomas Merton

God’s peace is miraculously ordinary.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33

The question remains, do we want this real peace? And if so, are we willing to open ourselves up to it, up to Jesus?

Advent

1. Advent consists of the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day in which the Church anticipates the future arrival of Christ by remembering His first arrival.

2. Although it may seem counter to the festivities of Christmas, it is important to practice waiting.

3. And in our waiting we focus on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love along with the rest of the global church

Patience sets a good example for others, aids in decision-making, increases success, and even helps you see waiting as a positive thing - Sarah Landrum, Forbes

Poems must be approached slowly, paying attention to detail and imagery to capture the author’s full intent.

“Hope commits us to actions that connect with God’s promises. What we call hoping is often only wishing. We want things we think are impossible, but we have better sense than to spend any money or commit our lives to them. Biblical hope, though, is an act—like buying a field in Anathoth. Hope acts on the conviction that God will complete the work that he has begun even when the appearances, especially when the appearances, oppose it.” ― Eugene H. Peterson

Hope is holding the tension of doubt, trust, and faith all together.

Hope is not the outcome but the waiting.

“Christian hope is a BOLD choice to wait for God to bring about a future that is as surprising as a crucified man rising from the dead” - Bible Project

Hope is found not just at the end of the positive outcomes or even in the outcomes I envision.

Hope is in the Jesus I find in the valley waiting with me, and in the curious unexpected outcomes.

Hope is in the Jesus I have holding my weary soul in the waiting and on the other side, win or lose, no matter my perception of the outcome.

Advent is a time when we get to remember what we are waiting on. We remember why we have hope and who our hope is in.

What has increased/decreased my hope in Jesus today?

What promises am I waiting on Jesus to answer right now?