Don Carson on Prayer # 1

I've just started reading A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Prayers by Don Carson.  Well, I started it last year but November and December got in the way!  So I am starting again, this time with a view to finishing it.

Here are the opening two paragraphs from the preface.

I doubt if there is any Christian who has not sometimes found it difficult to pray.  In itself this is neither surprising nor depressing: it is not surprising, because we are still pilgrims with many lessons to learn; it is not depressing, because struggling with such matters is part of the way we learn.

What is both surprising and depressing is the sheer prayerlessness that characterises so much of the Western church.  It's suprising, because it is out of step with the Bible that portrays what Christian living should be; it is depressing, because it frequently coexists with abounding Christian activity that somehow seems hollow, frivolous, and superficial. 

Ouch!  Important to know however that Don Carson hasn't written this book to send us to the time out corner with regards to our prayer life.  He's written it to encourage his readers, to invigorate their prayer life.

More to follow.

Holiday reading

Two weeks of school holidays.  Four books from three different Australian writers.  And a whole lot of housework pending to show for it.  But it was fun getting into such a mess.

I started with The Spare Room by Helen Garner.  This is a story about Helen (it isn't autobiographical) who prepares her spare room for friend Nicola, who is coming to the city to undergo three weeks of experimental treatment she believes will cure her advanced cancer.  I've read some excellent reviews for this novel.  And it is well written.  Garner uses her words economically and creates believable characters in easy to picture settings.

Her powers of description are so good however that as it turns out, I didn't really enjoy the book.  It's a hard subject.  And the descriptions of this desperately ill woman with more emphasis on bodily fluids than I can manage (I'm the person who, when pregnant with our first child, prayed earnestly that I wouldn't give birth to a vomity baby!) and the hopelessness of the situation (it's not a Christian book - but to face death without the hope of eternal life found in Jesus is a desperately sad thing indeed) just made it all too bleak for me.  In and of itself it's fine prose...but I was glad I hadn't saved it to take as holiday reading to the beach.

I moved onto Land's Edge: A Coastal Memoir by Tim Winton.  Ahhhh...Tim Winton - prize winning West Australian author.  I love his earlier material.  My favourite big novel of his is The Riders which I read compulsively quite some years ago over three big days and nights, interrupted only by needing to go to work and needing a few hours sleep to prevent my eyes from falling out of my head. I haven't enjoyed his more recent offerings - far too much information and far too much pushing of the boundaries for me, I'm afraid.

I referred to The Riders as a "big novel" because my absolute favourite YOU MUST READ THIS work by Tim Winton is his novella Blueback.  This is the story of a mother and son who live on the coast and fight to protect their little piece of marine paradise from developers.  Winton's powers of description take you to that bit of beach and that beach shack - and it is there that a very tender and beautiful story unfolds.

Land's Edge is like Blueback, except that while Blueback is fiction, Land's Edge is Tim Winton's own experience of coastal existence.  He loves the coast.  He lives for the coast.  And he can describe it like none other.  He captures the sting of the sand on your legs on a windy day, the smell of the ocean, eyes watering from the salt and the glare, the windswept vegetation, the peace and tranquility, the danger, the colours, the feelings evoked.  It's all there. He captures it and bottles it on a page. 

Land's Edge also taught me that if you want to remain standing in rough surf, it is better to stand side on rather than front on in crashing waves.   I remembered that little piece of information after my first unceremonious dumping at the beach during the holidays...and was subsequently saved from further unplanned somersaults in the crashing foam!

Finally, feeling like possibly the last person in the world to read these books, I moved onto My Seventh Monsoon and No Ordinary View by Naomi Reed.  Two great reads as she describes life as a cross-cultural worker in Nepal with her husband, both physios, and their family .  There is much to love about these books.  Early on in the first book she wrote,

We arrived back in Khammam in June with a renewed vision and purpose.  We would use any opportunities that came our way to love and pray for people.  Beyond that, we would rejoice in God and in the place where he had put us.  
(My Seventh Monsoon, page 39)

This was the Reeds' fresh resolve after some really hard months in India, enroute to Nepal.  If they couldn't do anything else for lack of language, cultural awareness, resources or real opportunity, they could do that.  And that resolution to be content was evident throughout the remainder of My Seventh Monsoon and No Ordinary View.  These books exemplify Christian contentment - the deep joy of being a child of God that runs at the foundation of all of life, irrespective of what life throws at you.  It doesn't mean always being deliriously happy.  It means being anchored.  Their lives in Nepal were not easy, by any stretch of the imagination.  But in seeking to serve God, honour Him and be content in and dependent upon Him, they thrived and their ministry to the people of Nepal bore fruit.

I read these two books while away at the beach.  We stayed in Youth Hostel accommodation which is good but basic - definitely not what you would call fancy.  Had I not been reading these books at the time, the fact that the drains in the bathroom (toilet and shower) that we were to use at the end of our verandah were blocked, smelly and out of action could have had me feeling very sorry for myself.  But really this was nothing compared with the conditions in Nepal.  I had access to another bathroom where there was running water - hot and cold - and good drainage!  And we had electricity, refrigeration, good food and no threat of civil war. 

Naomi Reed's amazing godliness and contentment in the face of all sorts of hardships and her capacity to see not an ordinary view but treasure around every corner is inspiring.  It works because she has written with integrity.  This isn't someone putting on a happy face or looking back with rose coloured glasses.  It's real, authentic and growing faith in action.  And these aren't the sort of books that might make you feel inadequate.  There is genuine encouragement, in the true sense of that word, to press on  to "use any opportunities that [come] our way to love and pray for people" and to "rejoice in God and in the place where He [has] put us."

And take a peek here for a great set of emails from 2009 between Naomi Reed, now back in Australia, and Rachel Connor, serving with her husband and family in Vanuatu.

That's it for holiday reading.  I am slowly retrieving the chaos of the house and returning to term time routines.  And I have made a start on A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Letters by Don Carson.  I don't think the title of this book, at least the first bit, is especially helpful.  But the book itself is great.

The thing about holidays and kitchen benches

It was back to school today after two weeks of holidays.  During the break we spent five days away enjoying a beach holiday.  We were treated to glorious weather - sunny days hovering about the 25°C mark - even though it ought to be cooling down by now.  Lots of swimming, reading on the beach, walking, good food and time together.

I like the uncluttered feeling of holidays.  There is no housework to do, no phone to answer, nothing pressing that needs attending to.  And I am most keenly aware of the lack of clutter as I survey the holiday kitchen bench.  Holiday kitchen benches are always bare.

And it's usually as I prepare meals on holidays that I resolve to return to normal life and simplify.  On holidays we have less props (toys, computers, books) and yet we have a great time.  On holidays we eat much more simply ("No, I didn't bring the soy sauce for your rice!") and yet we eat well.  And on holidays I seem to enjoy food preparation so much more than I generally do at home (despite the crazy assortment of utensils, odd saucepans and blunt knives that seem to haunt holiday kitchens) and I am sure that the clear, clean benches have something to do with that.

So I come home and clear the bench.  After about twelve minutes the first thing is dumped on my newly cleared surface and I groan inwardly (or outwardly!)  And then I remember.  I say I like food preparation on holidays so much more but the thing is, I have done most of the preparing at home and it is just a matter of cooking up some rice/pasta/potatoes and heating up the curry/bolognese sauce/stew and throwing a salad together.  I'm not actually cooking.

And the thing about the kitchen bench at home is, well, if it was left bare, where would you put all the mail, library books due back tomorrow, newsletters (of the school and church varieties), those little bits of broken toys that you promised you'd superglue back together, the keys, the various items of stationery that get used every day, bills to pay...? 

Sometimes I despair of my kitchen bench.  But mostly it's OK because the kitchen bench is the nerve centre of the house.  Holiday kitchen benches are uncluttered.  And holidays are uncluttered.  And that is great.  Normal life is full and busy.  The kitchen bench at my house is also full and busy.  And that is great.

And it's great to enjoy the contrast between the two.

My thoughts on Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

I read Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, an anthology of readings about Easter edited by Nancy Guthrie, during the run up to Easter. And it was just as good as Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus was for the season of Advent.
  

As Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus did for Christmas, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross drilled down into the Easter story quickly, profoundly and powerfully. It opened up lots of the small detail that can be missed when reading over such familiar stories, bringing a freshness to the Easter story.

Interestingly, when I read Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus I started it two days before Advent.  I'd been waiting a long time to read that book and couldn't hold out for those last two days.  Twenty two readings - one a day with a few missed days here and there because December is such a busy month - should have seen me finish the book pretty much on Christmas Day.  As it turned out it was all done and dusted by 10th December.  I was like the child who just can't wait to open the presents under the tree.  Two or three (or five!) readings a day.  I virtually swallowed the book whole and it was pure joy.

I started  Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross at the beginning of Lent.  Now if my Lent maths is correct, that should have given me 46 days to get through the 25 readings.  And as it turned out, I needed every inch of Lent to get through it.  I loved this book like the Advent one.  And yet it sat untouched on my desk for days at a time and when I did pick it up I could only take in one reading at a time.  I finished it just in time for Easter.

Which seems about right.  Because Easter is much harder to take in than Christmas.  Christmas is all about the greatest Gift ever - the gift of Immanuel.  And we get to share in the celebrations and rejoice.  But at Easter we become aware of why God needed to send this gift of Jesus.  The spotlight is shared between Jesus - the crucified and risen Jesus - and our wretched sinfulness that nailed Him to the cross. 

If you don't have a strong sense of God's love for you, of the sacrifice He made in sending His one and only Son to die on the cross, of the enormity of Jesus' work and the pain He bore on the cross or of the magnitude of your own sinfulness then this is a must read.  It isn't an easy book- although there are some glorious bits - but it is truly worthwhile. 

And it need not be confined to the lead up to Easter because we need to understand all of these things all year round.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life. 

John 3:16

See What a Morning Gloriously Bright

See what a morning gloriously bright

With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem.

Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light

As the angels announce Christ is risen.

See God's salvation plan,

Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice.

Fullfilled in Christ the Man,

For He lives Christ is risen from the dead.

See Mary weeping "Where is He laid?"

As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb.

Hears a voice speaking, calling her name.

It's the Master the Lord raised to life again.

The voice that spans the years,

Speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us.

Will sound till He appears

For He lives. Christ is risen from the dead.

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,

Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.

Honour and blessing ,glory and praise

To the King crowned with power and authority.

And we are raised with Him.

Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered.

And we shall reign with Him

For He lives. Christ is risen from the dead.

Keith Getty; Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music/MCPS

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

Oh, what we miss out on when we rush past the cross of Christ.  Oh, the richness and reward when we stop to linger before it, when we take the time to "consider him who endured the from sinners such hostility against himself" (Heb. 12:3).  In a culture where crosses have become commonplace as architecture and jewelry, how we need to truly gaze upon the cross of Christ in all of its ugliness and beauty, in its death and in its healing, in the painful price paid there, and in its free gift of grace. Jesus, keep us near the cross.

...How we need to have our hearts broken again by our sin that put Jesus on the cross.  How we need to have our confidence grounded by what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  And how we need to have our hope anchored in the promise of resurrection.

From the preface, written by Nancy Guthrie, of Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.

Others' thoughts on Easter # 3

I have heard many sermons about the physical pain of death by crucifixion.  I've heard graphic descriptions of the nails and the thorns. Surely the physical agony of crucifixion was a ghastly thing. But there were thousands who died on crosses and may have had more painful deaths than that of Christ.   But only one person has ever received the full measure of the curse of God while on a cross.  I doubt that Jesus was even aware of the nails and the spear - he was so overwhelmed by the outer darkness.  On the cross Jesus was in the reality of hell.  He was totally bereft of the grace and the presence of God, utterly separated from all blessedness of the Father.  He became a curse for us so that we someday will be able to see the face of God.  So that the light of his countenance might fall upon us, God turned his back on his Son.  No wonder Christ screamed.  He screamed from the depth of his soul.  How long did he have to endure it?  We don't know, but a second of it would have been of infinite value.

Finally, Jesus cried, "It is finished." (John 19:30)  It was over.  What was over?  His life? No.  It was the forsakenness that ended.  The curse was finished.

From "Cursed" by R.C. Sproul (page 95) in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie.

Others' thoughts on Easter # 2

Crises have a way of revealing our character.  In the midst of a trial, we sometimes learn things about ourselves that we would rather not know.  At other times we see friends really rise to the occasion in the midst of trial. 

Jesus' character shines through in this moment of crisis.  Don Carson says, "In all of the various trials and mockery that Jesus underwent, His character stood out more and more clearly against the backdrop of moral corruption and failed loyalty and cheap cruelty around it."  We cannot help but admire the dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ as he goes through this indignity.  He does it with magnanimity and with the sense that he is not forsaken.  He is not out of control.  God's providence is ruling over all.  So the character and calmness of Jesus remind us and provide an example for us in the midst of our own trials.
From "Betrayed, Denied, Deserted" by J. Ligon Duncan III (page 38) in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie.

Be of good courage, all of you

Image from here

After being SO VERY ORGANISED this year and getting all those readings and lots of plastic eggsready for our run up to Easter...

 the days and the weeks just w...a...n...d...E...r...E...d by...

and we started doing the readings with our kids three days ago. 

AND we have already missed a day!

There is no way we are going to make it up to the Easter accounts by the Easter weekend.  And we aren't going to try.  We'll just keep chipping away at it.  The kids will get to hear the Easter story at church over Easter.  I know that because I am their Sunday School teacher!  And then they'll hear it again with us after dinner a week or two later, at which time we will fill in the gaps left by that Sunday School teacher!!

Two readings in and the boys are really enjoying it.  We've been reading from the Good News version - and in fact the older of our two boys has been doing the reading for us.  After the story we've asked a couple of questions - basic comprehension for the younger, something a bit trickier for the older.  We put a couple of jelly beans for them in the first egg.  Tonight's egg contained an extra piece of paper that said, "There won't be a treat every day but for today, if you listen very carefully we will give you a clue to help you find a surprise," and then sent them off after the story and questions to find chocolate hidden elsewhere in the house.

I'm wondering whether I should have included the account of Jesus clearing the temple in the line up.  It's a story that usually gets pulled out to illustrate that Jesus got angry.  But there is so much more to it than that.  It really sets the scene - what life in the temple had become and how in need people were of a saviour - and stands in stark contrast to Jesus triumphal entry amidst shouts of "Hosanna!"  And it demonstrates Jesus' authority.  No one seemed to stop him from overturning the tables and the chief priests and teachers of law started looking for a way to kill Jesus because they feared him. (Mark 11:18)

So that may need to go in the revised edition for next year.  If you are working through these readings please let me know if you think anything else needs to be added in or taken out.  That would be great.

Others' thoughts on Easter # 1

The Lord deliberately chose Gethsemane.  John's specific mention of it as a "garden" in John 18:1 suggests that the apostle has in mind a deliberate comparison with the orginal garden of Eden.  The symbolism is this:

• The first Adam began life in a garden.  Christ, the second Adam, came at the end of his life to a garden.
• In Eden Adam sinned.  In Gethsemane the Saviour overcame sin.
• In Eden Adam fell.  In Gethsemane Jesus conquered.
• In Eden Adam hid himself.  In Gethsemane our Lord boldly presented himself.
• In Eden the sword was drawn.  In Gethsemane it was sheathed.

From "Gethsemene" by R. Kent Hughes (page31) in Jesus, Keep Me Near The Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie.

I wonder whether Kent Hughes is a little bold in his assertion regarding the comparison between the two gardens.  None the less, it does illustrate the big picture of the Bible wonderfully and provides some practical insight into Romans 5:12-21.

A prayer for Sunday morning

Here is another prayer from the section "A Week's Shared Prayers" from The Valley of Vision. This one is for Sunday morning and makes for a beautiful start to this day.

O Lord,

We commune with thee every day,
     but week days are worldly days,
     and secular concerns reduce heavenly impressions.
We bless thee therefore for the day sacred to our souls
     when we can wait upon thee and be refreshed;
We thank thee for the institutions of religion
     by use of which we draw near to thee and thou to us;
We rejoice in another Lord's Day
     when we call off our minds from the cares of the world
     and attend upon thee without distraction;

Let our retirement be devout,

     our conversations edifying,
     our reading pious,
     our hearing profitable,
    that our souls may be quickened and elevated.

We are going to the house of prayer,
     pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication;
We are going to the house of praise,
     awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion;
We are going to the house of instruction,
     give testimony to the Word preached,

     and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;

          may it enlighten the ignorant,
          awaken the careless,
          reclaim the wandering,

          establish the weak,

          comfort the feeble-minded,

          make ready a people for their Lord.

Be a sanctuary to all who cannot come,

Forget not those who never come,

And do thou bestow upon us

     benevolence towards our dependants,

     forgiveness towards our enemies,

     peaceableness towards our neighbours,

     openness towards our fellow-Christians.

Amen

Three months down the track

I was speaking to someone last week on the subject of grief after a crisis.  For some, grief hits immediately.  For others, the grief strikes later, after the adrenalin has run out.  For some it's severe and sudden.  For others it's more slow release.  And it takes its many forms - sadness, despair, denial, anger, depression.

Last week, during the course of this conversation, I learned that no matter how the initial grief is experienced, there can often be a new wave of grief about three months after the event.  This is true for personal bereavement and also for large scale crises of the ilk we have seen this year. 

And this grief at the three month mark is a very difficult and confusing time.  The immediate crisis is over.  Maybe recovery and restoration (physical and personal) is underway.  And suddenly in it whooshes.  It can be hard to understand what's going on.  Hard sometimes to even connect this grief with the events that took place three months ago.  You wonder whether you might just be going crazy.

It has been a difficult three months.  We have seen floods, cyclones, bushfires, earthquakes, a tsunami and the disabling of a nuclear reactor.  Each new crisis has taken the attention away from its predecessor.  But while out attention is diverted, the ones who lost family, friends, homes, maybe their livelihood to the earlier disasters continue to live with the effects of their crisis.

Our attentions and prayers have rightly been upon those caught up in the horrors unfolding in Japan.  But it is important to pause and count back.  The January floods happened about three months ago.  If you know someone who was affected by those floods, why don't you check in on them.  They may be fine.  Grief is not text book.  It may be though that they are feeling a bit wobbly just now and just don't know why and don't what to do with it.  Let them know that this OK.  Give them another hug.  And pray for them all over again. 

Stuart Townend - Salvation's Song

We sang this at church this evening. Glorious.