Lent

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which marks the start of Lent for many Western Christians. Our church is starting Lent with a fasting and prayer day tomorrow culminating in a prayer service at night. I look forward to this season of repentance and identification with Christ. I also pray that the Spirit will bring our church together and mobilize us to do God’s work in our city. Below is the explanation of Lent I gave to my people at Christian Fellowship/

What is Lent?

From the earliest times in the history of the Christian Church, Lent was a time for new converts to be instructed in the faith in preparation for baptism and for mature believers to seek a deeper relationship with the Lord. Modeled after Jesus’ 40 day retreat in the desert, Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday. All three major strands of Christianity observe Lent.

At Christian Fellowship, Lent is a time of both individual and communal reflection and growth. Individual believers are encouraged to withdraw into the wilderness with Jesus by taking on a temporary limitation and adding spiritual practices to foster a deeper communion with God. For the individual, Lent is an opportunity to take stock of his or her spiritual condition and reflect deeply on the Gospel. It is a way of preparation for the commemoration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The church as a whole unites around specific themes and activities. Lent at CF is a time of instruction for new members and those preparing for baptism at Easter.

What can I do during Lent?

We should keep in mind that the goal of Lent is not to observe rituals but to identify with Jesus and pursue a deeper relationship with him. The main question is, What will help me get closer to the Lord? This could be achieved in three different ways.

Limit – Just as Jesus limited himself on our behalf, we also give something up for him. While Lent is an excellent time to repent of particular sins, we should also give up good things. Such fasting sharpens our spiritual attention and draws us to the Lord. Here are some ideas: TV or other entertainment, coffee, pop or other stimulants, meat, sweets, alcohol, sex, sleep, money, etc.

Add – Some suggestions include: prayer, such as prayer walks; Bible reading, for example the whole New Testament over Lent; acts of mercy, such as volunteering at a shelter; daily devotional reading; focus on a particular area of growth, such as humility; prayer or Bible study time with the family, etc.

Participate – Get involved in church activities: fast and pray on Ash Wednesday, study Jonah in a home group, contribute to the food drive, become a member, etc.

 

The Comfort and Strength of the Holy Spirit

Here is an insightful quote from John Owen on the wonderful presence of the Holy Spirit in the various circumstances of the believer’s life.

The Holy Spirit enables believers to obey cheerfully, willingly and patiently to the end.
In a word, in all that concerns us in this life and in all our expectation of another life, we will always stand in need of the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, we will either despise afflictions or collapse under them and God’s purpose in sending them to us will be defeated.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, sin will either harden us so that we treat it with contempt, or else cast us into despair and so we neglect the gracious means that God has graciously provided us with to defeat it.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, duties will either puff us up with pride or leave us without that joy which will encourage us to further obedience.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, prosperity will make us worldly and sensual in finding contentment in these things and so weaken us for the day of trial.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, the comforts of our loved ones will separate us from God and the loss of them will turn our hearts to stone.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, the poverty of the church will overwhelm us and the prosperity of the church will not concern us.
Without the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit, we shall not have wisdom in our work, nor peace in any condition, nor strength for any duty, nor success in trial. Nor will we have joy and comfort in life, nor light in death.
How sad, then, is the condition of those who know nothing of the Spirit as Comforter.

 

Sanctity of Life Prayer

This coming Sunday is widely designated as the Sanctity of Life Sunday. From the Christian perspective, the worth of human life is rooted in the Trinity. Every person has been created in God’s image, priced at the value of Christ’s life and is a potential dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thus no human being is worthless, however perceived by others and marred by sin. Here is a prayer we will use in our service on Sunday.

Our Father,
In your love you made us and adorned us with your image and likeness.
Jesus,
In your grace you shared in our humanity and gave up your life to return us to our Creator.
Holy Spirit,
In your kindness you agreed to give us life and thought us a suitable dwelling for yourself.
Our God,
Enable us to recognize your image where it has been disguised by hunger and thirst, poverty and disease, abandonment and despair.
Prompt us to care for the unborn, the neglected and the forgotten.
For the sake of Jesus who came into our world as a helpless baby and died forsaken by all.
Amen.

 

A Very Good Book

I recently finished reading a very good book. It is Communion with God by John Owen. This is a wonderful, Scripture-saturated, clearly structured and defined, practical guide to communion with God. What other Protestant theologian wrote a book on communing with each Person of the Trinity? It is no wonder that Owen is widely regarded as the best theologian among the English Puritans. Such classics cannot be reviewed, only quoted. Here are three choice quotes:

On the fellowship with the Father, Owen writes:

But as for that free, eternal love, there is no need for me to pray for that, because above all things the Father loves you. Be fully assured in your hearts that the Father loves you. Have fellowship with the Father in his love. Have no fears or doubts about his love for you. The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.

On the fellowship with the Son, he writes:

To see Christ, the wisdom and the power of God, always beloved of the Father, fear and tremble, bow and sweat, pray and die; to see him lifted up on the cross, the earth trembling beneath him as if unable to bear his weight; to see the heavens darkened over him as if shut against his cry and himself hanging between both as if refused by each; and to see that all this is because of our sins is to see clearly the holy justice and wrath of God against sin. Supremely in Christ do we learn this great truth that God hates sin and judges it with a dreadful and fearful judgment.

On the fellowship with the Holy Spirit, Owen writes:

…the Holy Spirit so persuades us that God loves us that our souls are filled with joy and comfort. This is his work and he does it effectively. To persuade a poor, sinful soul that God in Jeus Christ loves him, delights in him, is well pleased with him and only has thoughts of kindness towards him is an inexplicable mercy.

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! God did not leave us in our loneliness and helplessness but came to be with us. The Word became human. They called him Jesus because he came to save his people from their sins. This is the hymn sung by Eastern Christians:

O only begotten Son and Word of God,
Who, being immortal,
deigned for our salvation
to become incarnate
of the holy Theotokos and virgin Mary,
and became man without change;
You were also crucified,
O Christ our God,
and by death have trampled Death,
being One of the Holy Trinity,
glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit—
Save us!

Merry Christmas!

 

A Metaphor Updated

I was going to use this in my sermon this morning but the Holy Spirit thought it was unnecessary. So, I will post it here. This is my paraphrase of a familiar passage from Paul. Here is the ESV rendition of 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Here is my updated metaphor.

While people are saying, “There is nothing but sunshine hanging over us,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as federal agents in the morning, and they will not escape.

Ah, Illinois…

 

Weird Wonderful Sunday

Today we kicked off the Advent season at our church.  It was a weird wonderful first Sunday of Advent.  Things just did not work well.  Our sound was messed up.  Sermon slides on the Powerpoint were missing and Jerry and Zach had to look for them during my message.  PPT remote ran out of batteries and I ran to my office upstairs to replace them as the church was singing Angels We Have Heard on High.   Renate felt really sick and Carl, one of our elders, took her home.  Carl was supposed to light the Advent candle.  I asked Katherine and she did wonderfully.  Amy and Wayne did not realize that they were supposed to teach Sunday School before the service and instead ended up teaching Children’s Church during the sermon.  So, it was one of those strange mornings when we had to improvise and disregard oddities. 

However, there was something wonderful about this morning, too.  There was a sense of anticipation of God — very appropriate for the first Sunday of Advent.  People seemed close and connected.  Our people lingered and talked.  I preached on the Fall of Adam and Eve and the loss of glory in the garden.  I think God spoke to many of us.  Holy Spirit made the gospel real in the sermon and in Communion.  God’s grace seemed sweet to the redeemed.  And later in the day I got a call from Katherine who told me that minutes earlier her new friend Tan welcomed Jesus into her life. 

Weird wonderful grace of God…

 

Walking at the Field Museum

We took the kids to the Field Museum today.  I thought Saturday would be a lot busier at the museum but there were not that many people there.  It was nice — we went to a couple exhibits, said hello to Sue, had lunch at the Corner Bakery and hung out downstairs which is a a large interactive play area with a music room, an arts and crafts studio, a book nook and other neat rooms.  Polly loved the music area.  It was really a collection of drums and other rhythm instruments in a sound-proof room.  Actually, today was the first time that Polly was really engaged in a museum.  She had been to Shedd Aquarium and Field before (we get a membership to a museum every year) but today she actually enjoyed it.  Given her newly acquired skill of walking and cruising she was able to go from one interactive display to another, push buttons, listen to the sounds of the oceans and touch fossils.  All in all, a good few hours out of the house on a Saturday.  One person missing was Evie whom we are in the process of adopting.  It is amazing how fast we got attached to a kid we have never seen and did not know she existed until just a few months ago.

 

A Prayer

Great God who made us,

Great King who chose us,

We worship and bow down.

Today we hear you,

Your rest we enter,

We harden not our hearts.

Unlike Meribah

Or desert Massah,

Here we will sing with joy.

 

from Psalm 95

 

A Graceful Moment

I am sitting at Sweet Thang (a new coffee/pastry shop on Roscoe St.) and working on the sermon for Sunday.  It is raining outside.  I took a table right next to the window with a little lamp on it.  I have a cup of coffee and it is not made out of post-comsumer paper — it is a real cup with a saucer.  I have some Puritan-like thoughts to word and type.  A little bit of retro, a little bit of home, some of that neighborhood feeling and a lot of grace.  Just a beautiful undeserved moment.  I don’t have a camera, so I am blogging about it.