On the very first day of class, our Theology professor told us we had an assignment. He said, “By the end of the week, I want to have a five page paper from each of you stating what you mean when you pray, ‘Thy kingdom come.’” The class sat in stunned silence. He then said, “What’s the problem? You pray for it every week. What do you mean by it?” First of all, the Lord’s Prayer had become such a habit for each of us, we weren’t sure what we meant – we just said it. Second, to write five pages on it seemed to be a monumental task. The professor countered, “Why say it if you don’t mean it? If you do say it, then what do you mean?” At this point, I was pretty sure I was in the wrong class.
As it turned out, it was a great exercise. The paper enabled me to really think about what we pray for and why we pray for it. Thy kingdom come… What do I mean by that and what am I really asking for? It took me six pages to fully answer the question for myself. When you get a chance, open up the Sunday bulletin and look at the words to the Lord’s Prayer. What does each phrase mean to you? The answer may be more than you think. This morning I went into the closet to find my brown casual dress shoes and found an empty space instead. “What happened to my shoes?” I wondered. I searched the house, all the typical locations where I kick off my shoes and then forget them. No luck. I do remember I had some walking shoes that were brown, but they were worn out. I threw those away. In my zest for getting rid of old walking shoes, did I throw out my perfectly good casual shoes? Surely not – that would be a tragedy for sure. So I began to think maybe I did throw them out. Drats.
My original thought was centered on the loss of the shoes. What was I going to do now? How could I wear certain outfits without them? Well of course the answer is obvious – buy new ones. But I liked the old ones. They were comfortable, broken in and a perfect match for me. I didn’t want to let go of them, but here I was – the shoes were no longer with me. The shoes served their purpose and for whatever reason, they were now gone. So I began to shop. I found a great pair of shoes which A) look really nice, B) are the right price and C) look better than the old ones. I can hardly wait to get them. So now I wonder, “Do you think this story could possibly relate to the church and with an Interim minister?” Nah. Too far fetched. In a job I held several years ago, all of my co-workers knew I was a regular church goer and was a church leader. One day, I was sitting in the lunch room with several other staff members having a great conversation about movies, kids and life in general. Suddenly out of the blue, one of my colleagues blurted out, “How can a nice intelligent guy like you believe in a God that allows the abuse, rape and violence against women and children?” I’ll never forget the question because it startled me so much. It took me a moment to gain my composure, but I responded, “I don’t and neither should you.” This little exchange led to a running discussion which took place off and on over the next several weeks. Another two people joined us and we all discussed the issue together during lunch. I like to think of our time together as “witnessing” to the gospel.
Each of us gets an opportunity to share our faith and many of us pass up the chance by saying, “Well I’m not qualified to talk about it.” Or we fear we’ll be labeled as a “Bible thumper” or “religious nut” or some other onerous name. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Like my situation, just talking about the faith, asking questions, answering “I don’t know” occasionally is being a faithful witness. One of the top criticisms of people who are deemed religious is that they’re judgmental. So instead of saying this is right and that is wrong, why not start a discussion? It could lead to a very powerful witness. |
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This blog consists of reflections written by the minister each week for the Sunday bulletin. We hope that you enjoy the musings! Archives
January 2020
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