Keep the Faith

I hope you have had a chance to see Bishop Michael’s video from his hospital in Richmond by now.  I love its ending the best.  “God bless you.  Keep the faith.”  It is something my friend Michael so often says.  “Keep the faith.” 

This week’s lesson from Philippians has some very timely but difficult to keep advice for me.  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:4-7)  The “do not worry about anything” part trips me up every time, probably because I have my doubts about the “Lord is near” part. 

I have now worked for two Presiding Bishops.  I have accepted their invitations to be the Chief Operating Officer because I knew I had something to learn.  I now realize it was about this very passage.  Rejoice in the Lord always.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything. 

Bishop Katharine had something to teach me about the do not worry part.  I have never seen anyone as cool and calm under any circumstances.  Bishop Michael has something to teach me about the Lord is near part.  I know that when he says it, he believes it and he means it. 

So somehow, at the end of this, what I hope is that I’ve learned enough to get the rejoice in the Lord always part.  And if I do, I think I might also get the peace that surpasses all understanding that will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus part.

So, for now, I’m going to concentrate on the other part of this passage, the one about prayer.  By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  I commend the same to you.

Keep the faith.

Peace,

Praying for Parking Places

I once attended a conference on prayer.  I was invited by a very devout person, whom I have no doubt prayed a lot.  Mostly I think she prayed for me to fall off the Earth.  I often have that effect on the devout.  Still, it was an expectation of the job so I went.  I couldn’t have the bishop not appearing to be interested in prayer, and in fact, I actually am. 

I was surprised, though, to hear praying for parking places being extolled as an example of faithfulness.  I had never thought of praying for a parking place, although I have come to see the utility of it since moving to New York.  It seemed too trivial for God in the moment.

Now this part is wrong and it goes to something I learned as I reflected on that conference on prayer.  I think my spiritual director had to point out my error.  Nothing, of course,  is too trivial for God.  If God has counted the hairs of our heads (Mt. 10:30), nothing is beyond God’s caring.  But that doesn’t mean nothing is beyond God’s acting.

The problem with praying for parking places is not that it is beneath God’s dignity or not worth God’s time, even if it isn’t.  The problem is that it is selfish.  After all, the reason parking places are scarce is that there are a lot of people who need them.  Whereas I might want a convenient place at the grocery store, someone else might need a space close to the Urgent Care to take a sick child.  The person I’m praying against (that says it all, doesn’t it?) might need the space closer to the grocery story because she just had hip surgery.  Or someone else might need the space closer to the grocery story because he’s just had some devastating news and needs to get home to deal with it.  My prayer is trivial in the extreme by comparison, but the real problem is that it is selfish, that my wants are more important that someone’s else needs or even someone else’s wants. 

The Epistle of James speaks of the prayer of faith and the prayer of the righteous.  What distinguishes that sort of prayer from praying for parking places?

I think there are two things.  One is that the faithful prayer of the righteous is more often than not for others rather than for oneself.  “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).  The prayer of the righteous is prayer for the well-being of others.

Not all faithful prayer is for others, though.  Faithful prayer can be for oneself.  James mentions both those who suffer and those who are joyous.  The faithful prayer of those who suffer is about a need.  The faithful prayer for the cheerful is a song of praise.  (James 5:13)  That is also a need of a different kind.   Faithful prayer, at a minimum, is about what one needs and not what one wants. 

The difference between wants and needs is something many of us have a hard time getting, to be sure.  A lot of my time as a parent has been about trying to teach my children the difference between wants and needs.  I’m sure the same was true with my parents with respect to me.  I am quite inclined to get them mixed up to this day.  When it comes to prayer, though, praying for parking places is almost always about want.  There just isn’t much faith in it.  And if I happen to get the parking place of my dreams, I’m pretty sure that’s a matter of luck and not the sort of prayer James calls powerful and effective.

Peace,

The Motive of Faith

The seminal story of faith in the Bible is that of Abraham.  It was the lens through which the early church came to understand Jesus.  Paul put it this way:  “For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’  To one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.”  (Rom. 4:3, 5)  It’s pretty important stuff.

The Old Testament lesson this week is the very beginning of Abraham’s story, from a time when he was still known as Abram and not yet as Abraham. 

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. (Gen. 12:1-2)

There are three points to note.

First, God told Abram to go.  He was to leave home, all that was familiar, and journey to a place as yet unknown to him.  Abram believed God, although there was no evidence to say he should, and risked everything.  God said go.  Abram went.  Faith requires action.

Second, Abram took the risk of acting out of self-interest.  God promised that if Abram did as instructed, he would become a great nation.  That’s what was in it for Abram.  Abram’s motives and intentions were not selfless at all.

Third, God did not need Abram’s motives or intentions.  I don’t think God much cares about intentions.  God does care about behavior.  What matters is that we act and not much why we act.  God cared that Abram acted on God’s call.  That was enough.  God took that, whatever the motives that might have been behind it, and made Abram’s action a blessing. 

The movement is always outward.  Go.  And the movement is always for blessing.  Perhaps motives or intentions are just irrelevant.

Peace,