Prayer | The Journey

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Tweaking or Transforming

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Dr. Steve Martin

Steve & Shirley

“Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.” (emphasis added) – Colossians 3:3

When we’re looking for words to describe the life of faith a favorite is “growth.” We speak often of “growing in faith” or “growing in Christ,” “growing in understanding,” or “growing in giving,” etc. “Growth” is good, right?

A case could be made that the truest images and metaphors of change in Scripture aren’t about growth. They are about something wilder, more dramatic, wondrous and hard.

They are about death, death and life. As in this verse from Colossians, where Paul just so starkly lays it out, “you have died.”

Is he nuts? What does that mean? And is this something we’re supposed to want? Gimme growth any day – gradual, continual, steady, slow, “day by day, in every way,” a project I can do.

Or not? Maybe there’s a place for the drastic? For transformation not tweaking? A place and a time for, “you have died.” For hearing that the life you knew, the you that you have been, that world you so fitfully inhabited – that’s done now. You have died to that. You are a new creation. In Christ.

Growth makes sense. Everyone is for it. Death and new life make no sense. No one wants it. No one but everyone. This we want most of all. “You have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.”

Help me, dear God, not to settle for tweaking when transformation is the business you’re in. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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Jesus, The Wine That Never Ends

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Dr. Steve Martin

Steve & Shirley

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with His disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” John 2:1-3

When I think of all the weddings in which I have officiated, I am reminded of all the festivities that took place there. I’m sure it is the same for you. That’s because people go to a wedding to celebrate and have a good time. Most of the time the good time happens after I leave.

Of course, in Jesus’ day, when someone went to a wedding, they went to a wedding. The festivities lasted an entire week. Imagine, a full week of feasting and celebrating. John tells us in our Scripture text that Jesus, His mother, and His disciples were in attendance at such a wedding in the town of Cana.

Unfortunately, the festivities at this wedding were going to run down because “the wine ran out.” Things were looking desperate when Mary went to Jesus. At His time the Lord Jesus provided some first-class wine. Embarrassment was avoided, and the party went on.

Have you ever noticed that there are times when the wine runs out in our own lives, when there is no pleasure in anything, when we wish to avoid others and if we can’t avoid them, we pick fights with them? We’ve all seen how…

* when the wine of love runs out of a marriage, a couple no longer sees the point of continuing;

* when the wine of peace runs out of our lives, we find ourselves in constant conflict;

* when the wine of excitement runs out of our jobs or chosen careers, we quit;

* when the wine of fellowship runs out in a church, people break away.

Many different things can happen when the wine runs out. And our reaction is often like the writer of Ecclesiastes who commented, “All is vanity” (see Ecclesiastes 1:2).

The question is what do Christians do when the wine runs out?

At the wedding, Mary went to Jesus. In the book of Psalms, when the wine ran out, David turned to God (see Psalm 42:11). Then, having seen what God was doing David wrote, “My cup runneth over” (see Psalm 23).

Perhaps as we read this, the wine is running out in some area of our life. Let me urge us to do as Mary and David did, turn to the Lord. Jesus assures us we will find refreshment when we turn to Him (see Matthew 11:28).

With Him we find the wine of forgiveness; we find the wine of life; we find the wine of salvation; we find the wine if inner strength.

Dear Lord, you have always lead me beside still waters; you make me to lie down in green pastures; you restore my soul, even when I don’t know I need all these wonderful gifts of grace. Thank you for giving us your finest wine… a wine that never runs out, in and through Jesus. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Steve

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Come, Holy Spirit Prayer

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Dr. Steve Martin

Just in case you were unable to download the music

for the prayer last night I wanted to share the words

with you tonight. WOW, what a wonderful prayer for

us all as we face each day.

Come, Holy Spirit

Bryan Duncan

Come as a wisdom to children

Come as new sight to the blind

Come, Lord, as strength to my weakness

Take me soul, body and mind

Come as a rest to the weary

Come as a balm to the sore

Come as a dew to my dryness

Fill me with joy evermore

Come Holy Spirit, I need you now

Come, Sweet Spirit, I pray

Come in your strength and your power

Come in your own gentle way

Come like a spring in the desert

Come to the withered of soul

O, let your sweet healing power

Touch me and make me whole

Come Holy Spirit, I need you now

Come, Sweet Spirit, I pray

Come in your strength and your power

Come in your own gentle way

Grace and Peace

Steve

Filed under: Children, Church, Devotions, Faith, Families, Fathers, Friends, Prayer, Worship | 1 Comment »

Come, Holy Spirit

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Dr. Steve Martin

Steve & Shirley

“He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in dry places like a river.” – Psalm 105:41 (KJV)

Like many other countries in the throes of financial crises, Britain is struggling to revive a faltering economy. A recent survey by Abbey Banking reveals that 64% of British citizens are running out of money before payday each month. And, with corporate tax collections well below estimates and government spending well above estimates, Britain seems poised for yet another painful round of social spending cuts, exacerbating the financial worries of many.

But into this dismal national story, there gushed a flood of joy. Prince William and Lady Catherine gave birth to an 8 pound, 6 ounce baby boy on Monday, July 22, and with the announcement of that birth, the spirit of a beleaguered nation was refreshed. People all across England, as well as the 53 member states of the Commonwealth, celebrated with flowers, cards and champagne, as they joined together on one accord to wish the royal family well and to confirm the vitality of their national solidarity.

God never fails to send rivers of hope through deserts of desolation.

Through the dry places of a Catholic Church, riveted by allegations of child abuse, a river of renewed compassion for “the least of these” still flows, with the coronation of a new Pope.

Through the arid sectors of The United Methodist Church, seeking to expand its work in a world of depleting denominational resources, a river of high hope still flows – both for the restructuring of the denomination and for the re-commitment to its mission of Radical Hospitality and risk-taking Mission and Service in the world.

Through every death valley, a river of new life, new hope and new possibility still flows.

Our destinies are not so much determined by our anguish in the desert as they are by the renewal we experience down by the riverside. So, as the old spiritual says: “Let All Come to the Waters.”

Tonight as a prayer I want to ask you to spend .99 on Itunes to purchase a beautiful and powerful prayer – a song by Bryan Duncan entitled “Come, Holy Spirit.” You will fall in love with it and it will touch your spirit. Amen. (Let me know what you think).

Grace and Peace

Steve

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Go Answer the Door!

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Dr. Steve Martin

Steve & Shirley

When we were serving the church in Pleasant Garden, Shirley and Joy had a yard sale. As you know, I do not do yard sales. Nearing the end of this yard sale, a lady was browsing around the leftovers and asks this question; “Do you have anything left, perhaps inside the house?” My daughter-in-law quickly responds: “We have the lump inside.” Speaking in “womanise” this lady replied: “Oh no, I’ve got one of those. I don’t need another one.” I guess you know they were talking about me lying on the couch. And somehow without even mentioning that they were talking about a man lying on the couch on a Saturday afternoon, both of them knew exactly what they were talking about.

Today at lunch, after church, we ate at Red Lobster. Our waitress – I kid you not – was named “Krazia”. I could not believe it, but I think both parents need to be slapped. I know everyone must have nicknamed her or called her crazy.

As most of you know, the lectionary text for today was Luke teaching the disciples how to pray. Dr. Howell approached this from a very creative and meaningful way. In this text it not only talks about how to pray, but also about a neighbor coming to your door at midnight and knocking on the door asking for help. He flips this text around and places you and me, the church, on the inside of the door, and the world and its needs on the outside knocking… asking for help.

He tells the story about him and his associate walking into the sanctuary one weekday afternoon, and noticed a lady kneeling at the altar rail. She was praying, not silently but out loud. And the more she prayed the louder she got. Until she got to the end of her prayer, in which she is holding her fist up in the air, shouting at God: “God, I need some help down here”! James says we could have just knelt down and prayed with her and sent her on her way, but instead we listen to her story, we found her a place to stay, we helped her find a job, we put some friends in contact with her. In other words we answered her prayer.

Sometimes people ask if prayer works, really works. James Howell says: “It depends on if the church is listening”. He goes on to state what I have stated many, many times – that there is no reason whatsoever that there should be anyone hungry in the city of Charlotte, in the city of Winston, in the city of Greensboro, in any city in the United States of America. Because we know that the church has enough resources and enough power that hunger is a solvable problem. The problem is that the hungry, the needy, the lonely, the disenfranchised, the people who need the church are on the outside knocking, and we are on the inside sleeping – like that lump on a Saturday afternoon. We don’t hear them knocking. We don’t go to the door.

Isn’t it time we act a little Krazia and answer the door – and becom part of answering the prayers of the people of God!

Dear Lord, we thought we were the ones that were knocking and asking, but we are the church – we are on the inside. Help us to know that we are the church, and to become more like the church, get off our couch and answer the door, in and through Jesus. Amen.

Grace and Peace

Steve

Go to iTunes and sign up for the podcast of Myers Park United Methodist Church. Usually by Tuesday afternoon you will be able to listen to Dr. Howell’s sermon.