Over the coming weeks I hope to post a few ideas about praying with the Bible. Today's focus is on the topic of form and creativity.
Are you creative? Chances are, if you are made in the image of a creative God the answer is "yes". Perhaps you might not think of yourself as creative because you think it means "arty", but there are many forms of creativity. What form our creativity takes reflects who we are as individuals and our personalities. Some are better with words, others with pictures, others with music, still others with food, carpentry, flower-arranging, finding novel solutions to problems, etc. Prayer is an intrinsic part of the Christian life and it can be enriched by finding creative ways of praying.
The Psalms provide us with a wide variety of forms. They have long been recognised as prayers that may be said or sung. This suggests that we might bring music into play in our prayers - turning them into songs, perhaps, or using music as a backcloth to set a mood, for example. Even if melody or harmony is not used, we might still find rhythm helpful - whether it is a rhythm behind the words, like a poetic "meter", or the rhythmic repetition of something akin to Psalm 136 ("...His love endures forever" at the end of each line).
The variations of poetic forms in the Psalms might provide creative inspiration for new forms of written or spoken prayers. Some use an "acrostic" pattern - starting each new line with the next letter of the alphabet. Others take us through a transformation from dark to light moods. There are no set rules about how a Psalm must always be written - the authors have exercised their creativity. By imitating them in this regard, we can find new ways of praying familiar themes. This can help relieve boredom in prayer and bring a freshness to our thinking.
It doesn't have to be poems, though. Creative form can vary greatly. Paul's letters often include sections that are prayers of some sort, e.g. Romans 16:25-27. We might even wonder if the stories of Jesus collected into John's Gospel are perhaps a kind of prayer - "these things are written that you may believe (and go on believing)..." (John 20:31). Is John offering his narrative/"biography" as a "prayer"?
Sometimes we just want to speak to God quickly and naturally; we don't always have time to try something else or aren't always feeling in a creative mood. Yet, occasionally, it might be worth spending some time crafting our words carefully, focussing on bringing out what we really want to express. This can be a gift of worship to God - a bit like a letter or poem to a loved one. It can enable us to express emotions and ideas more deeply and personally. It might also be something that could help others with their prayers - our creativity is not just something between us and God. Others can benefit from our prayers, perhaps by being inspired to be creative themselves or by connecting with the experience and emotion of our words/pictures/music.
Have you ever tried to write a prayer down before? If not, why not have a go? Try writing it like a letter or a poem, for example. You could take a particular passage such as a Psalm and have a go at doing your own version. Especially if you are finding prayer a bit hard or dull at the moment, I would encourage you to use something of whatever creative skill God has planted in you to enable you to connect in a new way.
A few prayers based on Scripture can be found on the Going Deeper With God website. The prayer based on Psalm 145 is particularly relevant to this post. These prayers are not offered as models showing "the right way" to do things, but as examples of one person's attempts to connect creatively in prayer. I hope they may encourage you.
http://www.goingdeeperwithgod.com/Prayers.php
© Joe Lenton, July 2012
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
"Tolerate one another as I have tolerated you"
"Dear friends," writes John, "let us tolerate one another", thereby echoing the great words of Jesus - "tolerate one another as I have tolerated you". Similarly, "by this all men will know you are my disciples - if you try to tolerate one another". No? Isn't that what it says?
So often as Christians we can end up not even tolerating one another, never mind loving one another. Jesus shows us that love is a costly thing. Love means self-giving, putting the other first, making sacrifices so that the relationship can continue. Amazingly, despite all their errors of doctrine, dubious practises and downright disobedience, God did not stop loving His people. Again and again He called them back to Himself and offered forgiveness - and He still does today.
Jesus said ,"greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13, NIV). As Paul writes in Romans 5, God demonstrates His love by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Love does not come only after perfection is reached. Love comes to the unlovely and comes at great cost. Love is willing to work with messiness - seeing the potential for something beautiful.
How fundamental is love to the gospel? How fundamental is love to our theology, to our God? "God is love", writes John. God exists in loving relationship and seeks to draw others to Himself in love. It is interesting then that we might sometimes choose to make certain matters so fundamental to our Christian identities and denominations that we use them to override the command to imitate our God and love one another.
It is doubtful whether we can even claim to tolerate one another sometimes. Tolerance requires that we acknowledge that we disagree, but will still respect the other person's view. (Note that contemporary society misses the meaning of tolerance, too - it means learning to live together despite disagreeing). This is not to say that there aren't ideas and theological concepts worth standing up for. But, we do need to recognise and respect differing ideas on aspects of the faith and its practise - we cannot and should not make all Christians think and act the way we do.
Love crosses boundaries. It goes beyond mere tolerance to seek the well-being of the other. Can we be happy for other churches or denominations when they flourish? Can we send one of our own church members to another church because we know they would fit better there or do we try to hold on to them come what may?
Paul's ideas about justification by faith don't just tell us that we can't earn salvation. They also show us that Jewish or Gentile ways of being Christian aren't "better" or "worse". Paul refused to allow the early Christians to impose on one another their ways of following Christ. Gentile Christians did not need to become Jewish Christians. Can we do something similar today? Or, are we too busy trying to make more Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, etc.?
Fortunately, many are already engaged in trying to cross denominational boundaries and respect their fellow-Christians. Seeing that others have put their faith in Christ gives them confidence to view them as a brother/sister. Ultimately, of course, we cannot know for sure how another person stands before God, so this should help us adopt a more humble attitude instead of judging who is "in" or "out".
Working to love across boundaries should equally never become a reason for Christians to think they are better than others. Being more ecumenical doesn't make you a great Christian or better than your peers. We are all falling short and we can all learn to grow. Perhaps it will be easier if we allow each other to come to the table and share the treasures we all have to offer one another. Love can only be learned in relationship.
For the sake of the gospel and our sake as the body of Christ which should resemble its Saviour, may we learn not just to tolerate but to "love one another deeply, from the heart" (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).
© Joe Lenton, June 2012
So often as Christians we can end up not even tolerating one another, never mind loving one another. Jesus shows us that love is a costly thing. Love means self-giving, putting the other first, making sacrifices so that the relationship can continue. Amazingly, despite all their errors of doctrine, dubious practises and downright disobedience, God did not stop loving His people. Again and again He called them back to Himself and offered forgiveness - and He still does today.
Jesus said ,"greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13, NIV). As Paul writes in Romans 5, God demonstrates His love by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Love does not come only after perfection is reached. Love comes to the unlovely and comes at great cost. Love is willing to work with messiness - seeing the potential for something beautiful.
How fundamental is love to the gospel? How fundamental is love to our theology, to our God? "God is love", writes John. God exists in loving relationship and seeks to draw others to Himself in love. It is interesting then that we might sometimes choose to make certain matters so fundamental to our Christian identities and denominations that we use them to override the command to imitate our God and love one another.
It is doubtful whether we can even claim to tolerate one another sometimes. Tolerance requires that we acknowledge that we disagree, but will still respect the other person's view. (Note that contemporary society misses the meaning of tolerance, too - it means learning to live together despite disagreeing). This is not to say that there aren't ideas and theological concepts worth standing up for. But, we do need to recognise and respect differing ideas on aspects of the faith and its practise - we cannot and should not make all Christians think and act the way we do.
Love crosses boundaries. It goes beyond mere tolerance to seek the well-being of the other. Can we be happy for other churches or denominations when they flourish? Can we send one of our own church members to another church because we know they would fit better there or do we try to hold on to them come what may?
Paul's ideas about justification by faith don't just tell us that we can't earn salvation. They also show us that Jewish or Gentile ways of being Christian aren't "better" or "worse". Paul refused to allow the early Christians to impose on one another their ways of following Christ. Gentile Christians did not need to become Jewish Christians. Can we do something similar today? Or, are we too busy trying to make more Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, etc.?
Fortunately, many are already engaged in trying to cross denominational boundaries and respect their fellow-Christians. Seeing that others have put their faith in Christ gives them confidence to view them as a brother/sister. Ultimately, of course, we cannot know for sure how another person stands before God, so this should help us adopt a more humble attitude instead of judging who is "in" or "out".
Working to love across boundaries should equally never become a reason for Christians to think they are better than others. Being more ecumenical doesn't make you a great Christian or better than your peers. We are all falling short and we can all learn to grow. Perhaps it will be easier if we allow each other to come to the table and share the treasures we all have to offer one another. Love can only be learned in relationship.
For the sake of the gospel and our sake as the body of Christ which should resemble its Saviour, may we learn not just to tolerate but to "love one another deeply, from the heart" (1 Peter 1:22, NIV).
© Joe Lenton, June 2012
Friday, 15 June 2012
The Year of Jubilee
The year of Jubilee
Let the trumpets sound
Let the guns salute
Freedom for the slave, debts released
Whilst nobility sits imprisoned by a
crown of jewels
Land returned, laid to rest
Lady enthroned bearing the weight of
expectation
For the year of Jubilee has come
Wish her long life as she strives on
A time to look back on service
rendered
A time to reclaim honour and respect
Does anyone really know the toll it
has taken?
Consecrate the year, let us celebrate
A family rejoices, grateful it wasn’t
their burden
A nation looks on with pride
Do the will of God, let his decrees
be obeyed
Call a
feast, raise a cup - it’s the year of Jubilee
©Joe Lenton, April 2012
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