The Paradox of Prayer

At New Millennium we enjoy reading books about faith, ethics, and and discussing them.  We're currently reading The New Being by Paul Tillich, who is viewed as one of the leading moral thinkers of the 20th Century.  The New Being is a collection of meditations about various subjects and questions related to faith and living. 

In Tillich's meditation titled "The Paradox of Prayer," we've been reminded that words are not the essence of prayer.  Prayer transcends words.  At best, we extend God our trust.  To use the words of a revered hymn, we "stretch our hands" toward God for various reasons (to express our thanks, to offer praise for God's attributes, to confess our shortcomings, anxieties, fears, and pain, to petition God for help for ourselves and others, and to commit ourselves more to God). 

Whatever the reasons may be that prompt us to "stretch our hands" to God, let's admit that our words can't bridge the gap between us and God.  We aren't good, smart, or anything else enough.  We can stretch toward God, but we need help to reach God.  And we should admit that we aren't even smart, good, or anything else enough to know ourselves well.

Somehow, prayer involves more than us stretching.  Stretching is our participation in prayer.  Catching is God's work.  Tillich reminds us (using St. Paul's moving statement in Romans 8:26-27 about the Holy Spirit interceding for us) that prayer actually involves God interceding to God on our behalf.  God bridges the gap between our stretching effort and God.  God meets us, grabs us, and moves beyond our feeble stretching efforts.  Our duty is to stretch, trust, hope, believe, and count on God.

Prayer involves us counting on God with every breath and heartbeat.  God is present to catch our feeble efforts in prayer and bridge the gap between us and God.  That's good news.  Pass it on.

Grace and Peace to you from New Millennium Church.

The Call to Fruitful Faith

©Wendell Griffen, 2011

Matthew 13:23

²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

          Jesus declared in the Parable of the Sower that God's grace and truth are extravagantly sowed in all kinds of people.  However, divine grace and truth is fruitful only when planted, properly rooted, and adequately cultivated.  Jesus also said that people in whom divine grace and truth has been planted, properly rooted, adequately cultivated, and matured are people of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope.  Today we will look at what Jesus taught about a three-year old barren fig tree and his teaching about abiding in the vine to gain more insights concerning fruitful faith. 

          The parable of the three-year-old barren fig tree found at Luke 13:6-9 exposes us to God's judgment on fruitless religion on one hand and God's grace concerning fruitless people on the other.  The owner of a barren fig tree that was planted in a vineyard complained about it.  This was no wild fig tree.  It had been planted in a vineyard.  It existed in good soil and had been attended by a gardener.  But it remained barren even after three years.  So the owner ordered, "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"

          Divine judgment is an unpleasant subject in religion, but it shouldn't be avoided for several reasons.  In the first place, God has expectations of us that we shouldn't dismiss.  Like the owner expected figs from a tree that had been planted in good soil and nurtured by attentive care, God expects love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope from people in whom divine grace and truth have been invested.  Dr. Gardner Taylor was right.  The divine agronomy has no room for fruitlessness and the divine economy has no room for uselessness. 

          At some point, God has the right to expect a divine product from people in whom grace and truth have been invested.  At some point, God deserves fruitful living.  At some point, God has a right to find love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope when people have "grown up in the church."  And it's disappointing to God when we don't produce it. 

          Jesus makes a point in the parable of the barren fig tree and in what he said about the vine and the branches that religious people must not overlook, ignore, or forget.  God judges!  In the parable of the barren fig tree the owner represents divine judgment on fruitless living by the words, "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"  At John 15:1-2, Jesus points to divine judgment in these words:  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the winegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit."  God judges.

          God has the right to expect love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, fairness, truth, and hope from people who've been planted, rooted, cultivated, and groomed in religion.  And God has every right to be disappointed.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people put more value in war-making than in peace-making.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people complain about paying taxes so poor people can survive. 

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people prefer discrimination over fairness.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people pollute God's world and make it unsafe to live.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people oppress weak, poor, disadvantaged, immigrants, elderly, and other vulnerable people.

·        God is entitled to be disappointed when religious people don't produce what God has every right to expect!

          And notice that Jesus, the best evidence we have of God's grace and truth, does not dilute the message about God's judgment on fruitless religion.  [My Father] removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  We can be in God's glorious plans and purposes and be fruitless. 

          That's the tragic object lesson the Old Testament gives us concerning the religious tradition that began with Abraham.  That tradition had Abraham, Moses, and David.  The people of that tradition had great preachers like Samuel, Elijah, Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.  They had the Psalms.  Despite all that religious nurture, the people of that tradition disappointed God.

          We should not ignore the lessons about divine judgment from their experience.  God will not forever tolerate fruitlessness.  God will not always withhold judgment on it.  God will not accept religious gyrations as a substitute for the righteousness that only comes from love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope. 

God knows the difference between what we produce and what God deserves.

          Why don't we produce what God deserves?  Jesus explained it clearly in the lesson from John 15.  "Abide in me as I abide in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" [verses 4-5].  Whenever we substitute anything else for righteousness, we separate ourselves from the force that makes for fruitfulness.

·        When we put more stock on human tradition than divine truth, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we put more value in possession than people, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we exalt patriotism, nationalism, racism, sexism, ethnocentricism, chauvinism, homophobia, xenophobia, and our other pet ills over divine love, truth, and justice, we can't bear divine fruit.

·        When we confuse wealth with wellness, we won't bear divine fruit.

·        Whenever we live by anything other than God's love and truth, we won't bear fruit.

          The judgment for barren fig tree and fruitless branch religion is unmistakable.  God has no use for fruitless religion.  "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"  "[My Father] removes every branch in me that bears no fruit."  Fruitless religion is dead religion.  Fruitless religion is also doomed religion.

          But there's good news.  The barren fig tree has a Savior.  The gardener's reply is good news for barren fig tree people and religion.  "Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down."  [Luke 13:8-9]  Divine judgment on fruitless faith is joined by divine hopefulness that we will respond favorably to God's cultivating influences of grace. 

          At Calvary Jesus personified the gardener's plea for people of fruitless faith in a prayer.  Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.  [Luke 23:34]   His prayer is our proof of divine grace for fruitless faith.  His prayer is the reason people who are like barren fig trees and fruitless branches can hope.  There's hope for the barren fig tree. There's hope for the fruitless branch.

          But let's not fool ourselves.  God's grace is no excuse for the fig tree to brag about being fruitless.  Grace is no excuse for the fruitless branch to brag about being on the vine. 

·        Grace means God is giving us time to change.

·        Grace means God is allowing the Holy Spirit time to dig around us and fertilize us. 

·        Grace means God is keeping us in the garden for the time being, hoping, expecting, and waiting on us to present fruitful lives of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope. 

          Grace means God is giving us time and resources to become fruitful.  It doesn't mean we have bragging rights about being fruitless.  Let us be wise stewards of God's grace so we can become fruitful for God's glory. 

          God of grace and truth, we often seem to be like barren fig trees and fruitless branches.  We have been nurtured in your love.  We have been planted and rooted in your truth.  We know your way of love and peace is right. 

          But we've often substituted our notions of religion for your demands for love, justice, and truth.  We often preach, sing, and pray about grace, while continuing in barren and unfruitful faith.  Our fruitlessness is our condemnation. 

          So work on us, Holy Spirit.  We desire to become fruitful for God.  Work on us!  Break us free from everything that makes us unfruitful.  Teach us to become people of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, truth, fairness, and hope.  Help us live in obedience to the life and example of Jesus Christ so that we will be agents of grace and truth in a barren world.  Amen. 

Extravagant love and prophetic justice

Grace and Peace to You! 

Here's the meditation from New Millennium for today.  We hope it is helpful.

GOD'S HARVEST IN OUR LIVES

©Wendell Griffen, 2011

Matthew 13:23

²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

          Here's something you might want to try.  Ask people this question:  What are you best known for producing?  Don't do it in church or around a church function.  Pose the question over a soft drink, coffee, or in some other comfortable non-church and non-religious setting. 

          You may get some odd looks at first.  People may ask why you want to know.  Tell them you've been pondering that question about your own life and wondered what people you know and respect think about it.  What are you best known for producing?  How do you respond to that question for yourself?  How do others respond to it when you pose it to them?

          After a few minutes ask this question:  What kind of world does God want?  Pay close attention to the responses.  Remember them. 

          Now comes the fun part if you share my subversive perspective about living.  Now it's time for the big questions.  These are the ones that you've been setting up by the first two ("what are you best known for producing" and" what kind of world does God want").  Here they are: 

·         What am I producing that God wants? 

·         What are you producing that God wants? 

·         What are we producing that God wants (in this family, this workplace, school, social relationship, society, nation, world, etc.)? 

·         When are we producing it? 

·         How are we producing it? 

·         How much are we producing? 

·         How can we produce more?

·         Why don't we?

          These questions go to the heart of the Jesus teaching known as the Parable of the Sower at Matthew 23:13.  Jesus had already made some remarkable insights before that verse.  Let's review them.

·        God has extravagantly planted evidence of divine grace and truth in all kinds of people and situations.

·        Divine grace and truth, although planted, never take root in some people.  They never rise above pedestrian (entry level) morality.  An eye for an eye.  A tooth for a tooth.  I'll help you if I think you can help me.  You get the picture.

·        Divine grace and truth take root in some people, but not deeply enough.  They eagerly respond to God's grace and truth until they encounter the hardships associated with it.  Loving enemies is hard.  Forgiving wrongs suffered is hard.  Seeking the good of people who have mistreated us is hard.  Shallow faith doesn't sustain a person through the hardships that come with living according to divine grace and truth.  So shallow faith doesn't become mature faith.

·        Divine grace and truth take root in some people deeply enough to get them through hardships.  But desire for material comfort, affluence, and privilege acts like weeds to choke and strangle divine grace and truth in people even when their faith is deeply rooted.  So seminaries, cathedrals, churches, temples, mosques, and the pious people associated with them may not produce more love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, truth, justice, and hope because God's grace and truth is choked and strangled by greed, thirst for power, privilege, and pleasure.  There's been time enough for divine grace and truth to become mature but there's no fruitfulness.

          But Jesus teaches something else.  When (and only when) God's grace and truth is planted deep enough in us to become well-rooted and we cultivate it by exercising moral and spiritual discipline to control the constant temptations posed by materiality, pride, self-privilege, and will to dominate others, we become fruitful for God. 

          This is how Jesus concluded the Parable of the Sower at Matthew 13:23:  'But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

          Let's be clear about what God expects.  God expects love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, truth, justice, and hope from our living and in the world.  Imagine a world of loving, joyful, peace-making, generous, compassionate, forgiving, honest, fair, and hopeful people.  That's the kind of world God wants.  That's the kind of people God wants.  That's the kind of living God wants.  That's the kind of religion God wants. 

          And that's the kind of world, people, living, and religion God deserves.  That’s the fruit, produce, harvest, crop, profit, result, outcome, consequence, and output God deserves from people in whom divine grace and truth have been extravagantly planted, deeply rooted, protected from the choking influences of temptation, and grown to maturity.   Jesus flatly declares that this is what God will harvest from our living when divine grace is planted, deeply rooted, conscientiously cultivated, and matures in us.

          How much of that harvest God gets will vary according to the person and the situation of their living.  Some people will produce more love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, patience, truth, justice, and hope than others.  But there is an amazing paradox about the fruit of God's grace and truth.  Even a little fruit carries a lot of power. 

·        In a pitch dark room, even a flickering candle matters. 

·        In a dog-eat-dog world, unconditional love matters.

·        In a place where strangers are oppressed, extravagant hospitality matters.

·        In people who are burdened by shame and guilt, forgiveness and acceptance matter.

·        In a place where violence is rampant, peace-making and non-violent conflict resolution matter.

·        In a world where personal dignity and value is falsely associated with wealth, generosity that affirms the equal dignity and value of people who are poor matters.

·        In a confused and perplexed world, truth matters.

·        In a desperate world, hope matters.

·        In a downcast world, joy matters.

          Jesus says this is the harvest God deserves and expects from us, individually and in our various relationships.  God deserves this harvest in every aspect of our living.  The workplace should manufacture, distribute, and market it.  Religion should inspire and intensify it.  Government should protect and enforce it.  Families should nurture people in it.  Education should equip people with the skills to communicate, quantify, and regulate it.  Culture should celebrate and chronicle it.   

          Life's big questions don't involve how much money people make, how much stuff we own, and where we stuck it.  They aren't about our perks and pet indulgences.  No, God didn't create the world for that.

          God created a world for love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, truth, justice, and hope.  That's what God deserves from the world, from religion, from government and from us. 

          So …

·         What am I producing that God wants? 

·         What are you producing that God wants? 

·         What are we producing that God wants (in this family, this workplace, school, congregation, other relationship, society, nation, world, etc.)? 

·         When are we producing it? 

·         How are we producing it? 

·         How much are we producing? 

·         How can we produce more?

·         Why don't we?

·         When will we?

          Creator, Strength, Deliverer, you have made your grace and truth extravagantly available to us.  It has taken root.  Teach us to cultivate our lives so your grace and truth isn't choked by our desires for pleasure, possessions, and power.  Guide us to be agents of your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, truth, justice, and hope.  Then your world will be more loving, more joyful, and more peaceful.  Then your world will be more patient, kind, and gentle.  Then your truth will be shine where there is darkness.  Then your justice will protect and provide where there is deprivation and oppression.  Then your hope will reign where there is despair. 

          Then will come to pass what Jesus taught us to pray:  Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is heaven.  For the kingdom, and the power, and the glory belong to you, forever.  Amen. 

Grace and Peace to You!