Author: Mark Forstrom (Page 11 of 13)

Yesterday was the “National Day of Prayer.” It’s become a tradition for Christians in the Cedar Rapids area to gather at noon across from City Hall on Mays Island for a time of corporate worship and prayer. This year something amazing happened.

As a reaction against the NDOP, atheists recently instituted what they call the “National Day of Reason.” We heard a group of them were coming to Mays Island and there was more than a bit of concern about what might transpire between the groups. I didn’t know if the atheists were coming to protest or ridicule or cause a disruption, but my real concern wasn’t about them at all–personally I was more concerned that the Christians would overreact and go into “attack mode.” I talked to Charles Daugherty, the leader of our rally, and volunteered to go on “atheist duty” (to basically protect them from us!)

When I arrived at the park, the atheists were already there, about 8 of them. They had established themselves on the lawn near the sound table, about 3/4 of the way back from the stage. I noticed they had several cardboard signs, a rubbermaid tub full of unknown items, and a few personal belongings. The signs said things like “Day of Reason,” “Act Now,” “Please Donate to Help Veterans,” and “They Served You, Let’s Serve Them Back.”

They were very respectful and non-obtrusive so fortunately, there was no need for me to diffuse any over-zealous over-reactions from Christians. So instead, Pastor Tye Male and I simultaneously decided to use this opportunity to show them the love of Jesus.

It was easy to talk with them. There were several Kirkwood and U of Iowa students there, most holding signs, one videotaping. Their leader was Dr. Lydia H, professor of Humanities and Philosophy from Kirkwood — a delightful person. I asked her about the causes they were supporting (veterans relief and Waypoint), which led to some great discussion of what community needs we can meet by taking action. I was glad to share that our church has done service projects at Waypoint as well as serving breakfast to homeless veterans at the HD Youth Center. She seemed happy when I talked about the new emphasis I see in the church community to do a better job of addressing issues of injustice and poverty in the world.

I also talked to Jordan, a college student, who had the words “Invisible Children” on his shirt. We had a great discussion on the movie he had seen which depicts the horrid conditions in Sudan. It made me want to find out more about what can be done to help there.

Meanwhile, Tye connected with the group using his involvement in the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble as a bridge to friendly dialoge. His life stories and winsome personality endeared them to him. I think they were surprised when we finally told them we were pastors!

During all this time, the prayer rally was going on around us. Almost a dozen prayer leaders took turns at the stage, each focusing on a different topic. The atheists were occasionally paying attention (when Tye and I weren’t talking)! When we got to the “Pray for our Military” section, I noticed that one of the college students picked up the “Please Donate to Support Our Veterans” sign and held it up as he done earlier. At that moment, I felt compelled to do something unsual. I walked up to the guy and said, “Why don’t you let me hold that sign for you–a lot of people here know me and it might help bring in more funds.” So for the remaining 20 minutes of the rally, I stood there holding that sign over my head. Me and the atheists standing together to make a difference in the world. What a sight! By the time the rally dispersed, $71 had been donated, which pleased and even overwhelmed Dr. Lydia.

Two more things happened that I saw as amazing. One college girl who was carrying a sign reading: “Act Now–Day of Reason” did something shocking about half-way through the rally. I watched her find a sharpie marker and add two words at the top of her sign. “Pray then…” What a significant change of disposition for an atheist to encourage Christians to pray before acting!

After the rally ended we were tearing down the stage and sound system and loading them into a trailer. That’s when the other amazing thing happened: the atheist college students came over to help us load! I was blown away! And to think we were expecting a rumble!

I was actually sad to say goodbye to my new atheist friends. Before we left we all thanked each other for being there, reaffirmed a commitment to work together in our areas of common interest, and expressed the hope that we’ll see each other at the next Day of Prayer/Day of Reason–if not before!

Many of you are wondering how we ended up responding to the Day of Silence (mentioned in my post below). In youth group this past Wednesday, we talked about how we might respond. One idea was to give participants a card like the one above (I had made 300 copies and they were almost all taken). At least one student plans to hand out cookies to the participants as a way to show love. And another student was thinking about actually participating in the silence.

I’ll post a comment with reports on how it goes tomorrow.

Years ago, the Lord gave me an idea for an illustration that I finally shared with the youth group. It turned out to be one of my most memorable lessons ever. It still impacts my own thinking.

It was two days before our Poland trip and I had just cashed out all our trip spending money, so I had a huge stack of cash in my possession — not a common occurrence!

During my talk that Wednesday night, I chose a volunteer from the audience (it happened to be Rachel Kearney) and I gave her a $100 bill. She–and the rest of the group–was astounded. Then I asked if I could give her another $100. And another, and another. People were flabbergasted and in total awe — some even stood up to get a better view. This went on for several minutes.  By the time I was finished, I had handed her sixty $100 bills for a total of $6,000. Most people in the room had never even seen that much cash in one place. The stack was huge.  That would pay for a decent car or two years at Kirkwood!

I asked Rachel how she felt at that moment and her words were “Speechless!”

The first point was this: God has given us immeasurably more than $6,000. For free. Just because He wanted to. More than $6 million; more than $6 trillion. If we were to quantify all his undeserved earthly blessings (life, health, family, abilities, resources, education, freedom, intelligence, friends, transportation, His Word, fellowship, utilities, technologies, communication abilities, etc) and the eternal blessings acquired by Jesus substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, we would see that we are truly wealthy beyond measure. And that’s just adding up His undeserved grace. If we factor in His mercy (the bad things we deserve–such as hell–but are spared from), we will find that we have far too many blessings to even begin to count!

So what should our reaction be to God’s generosity toward us? Rachel had it right:  Speechlessness.

Application #1. When was the last time you were speechless toward God because of His generosity toward you?

Back to that Wednesday night. With the huge pile of cash in Rachel’s hand, we then speculated on what her reaction ought to be if the person sitting next to her withheld from her a measly Quarter that she was owed. We agreed it really shouldn’t make a bit of difference to her. She’s rich beyond words, so why should that pitiful quarter make any difference at all to her.

So the second point was this: We easily forget how wealthy we are in Christ and therefore we easily obsess over the “Quarter” that we think we need in order to be happy (a relationship, some material thing, an exotic experience, etc.). We ought to live in a constant state of exuberance, yet so often our thinking gets skewed and we believe we need this or that to be happy. We get depressed and anxious over such relatively insignificant things and we lose our joy. How it must break God’s heart when, having just abundantly showered us with innumerable blessings, we get mopey and gloomy over one unnecessary trinket we don’t have.  It would insult the generous giver to fixate on an insignificant debtor.

This truth hit home with me again even today. Early this morning I had lain in bed for two hours, unable to sleep, because I thought I needed to acquire a particular thing to be happy–dreaming about how wonderful it would be.  Scheming ways to possibly obtain it.  And then I remembered the “Quarter” and thought about how sad God must have been during those two hours while I blocked Him completely out of my mind’s eye because I was obsessing over the stupid “Quarter” that I didn’t have. I’m happy to say I apologized to God, repented of my sin,  and then had an awesome worship time right there in my bed. I put my delight back in God alone and I found Him amazingly satisfying. I don’t need any “Quarter” to be happy.

Application #2. What “Quarter” are you currently obsessing over? Can you let it go and trust God to be your sole source of delight? These would be good questions to ask ourselves, probably every day!

Until recently I had tons of weeds in my yard. Then one day last week I took a drastic measure that removed all of my weeds for good! And the amazing thing is that it didn’t cost a thing and the weeds are guaranteed to never come back. What I did was simply this: I started calling them Flowers!

What we label something matters. Calling those yellow things “weeds” sends a message about their value to us. Calling them “flowers” sends a totally different message.

On a similar note, I recently decided to label my office a “closet” instead of an “office”. That way I don’t have to feel guilty about the mess! What a stress reliever that’s been!

I’ve been thinking about labels lately, specifically with what labels do we choose to label ourselves?

Thomas the Tank Intern and I had a discussion recently about our Facebook profile’s “political views”. (Facebook forces you to label yourself a lot if you hadn’t noticed!) I had listed myself as “very conservative” prior to this conversation, but our conversation helped me see that my views are a mixture of very conservative (on moral issues) and moderate (on enviromental issues) and maybe even some relatively liberal (with regard to treatment of the poor, etc). One label couldn’t accurately describe the mix of them. So I changed my label to “other”!

Another way I think we attach a label to ourselves is by the Facebook groups we join. Each one represents something we associate ourselves with. We subtly endorse those groups that we join whether we realize it or not.

I had a conversation with a distraught student last weekend. This student had received a scolding from a non-Christian acquaintance because she was part of a Facebook group called “Abolish Abortion”. Now there’s a label for you! Sounds a little like “weeds”!

Now I’m as pro-life as anyone. When my unwed mom was pregnant with me, she was offered an abortion, but instead, she chose adoption for me. She’s my hero–now you can see one more reason that I’m so prolife.

Too often Christians are perceived as “haters” and are identified with what we are against. Let’s not reinforce that stereotype by choosing labels that communicate hate. “Abolish Abortion” sounds hateful and I’m not surprised that a non-believer would be offended. I discovered there’s even an “Abolish Abolish Abortion Groups” group out there. I’m tempted to join!

How about taking a stand with a positive label instead. Here are some suggestions: “Promote Adoption,” “Choose life,” “Let’s Help Women Facing an Unwanted Pregnancy,” “Great Alternatives to Abortion,” etc. These labels communicate love, rather than focusing on hate.

On the same note, instead of joining “Hilary Haters,” why not start a group “Jesus loves Hilary.” Or instead of “Ban Gay Marriage” how about “God loves those struggling with same-sex attractions.”

But I think the best label of all is a life lived that models the character of Christ to a lost world. I think it’s called “loving our neighbors as ourselves.”

Have you ever fallen asleep while praying? Ever felt guilty about it and scolded yourself over it? I sure have. Plenty of times. Until something recently made me look at it differently.

One evening not too long ago, after the kids had gone to the their rooms, I came into the living room to find my wife Cindy reclining on the sofa after a long day. Beautiful. I couldn’t resist the moment, so I nestled my way in behind her, wrapping my arms around her to keep her from falling off. Before long she was far away in dreamland.

I layed there for a long while soaking in the moment before I too fell asleep. I was entranced by our mutually shared warmth, security, comfort, peace and joy. Pure contentment.

Was I offended and upset that she had fallen asleep on me? Not a chance. In fact her peaceful sleep in my arms brought me tremendous satisfaction. What better place for her to fall asleep? What higher honor could she bestow on me than to rest in my arms?

This experience made me think about prayer and all the times I’ve fallen asleep during it. Perhaps God isn’t up there offended and angry about it. Perhaps he’s thrilled that my last waking moments were spent with him and that I fell asleep peacefully in his arms.

Today I just finished a biography of Amy Carmichael and she seems to agree with this. In her later, invalid years she came up with seven instructions on prayer. Number six is this: “Don’t worry if you fall to sleep. ‘He giveth unto His beloved in sleep.'”

Perhaps the religion/relationship distinction comes into play here. If it’s true that God wants a relationship with us, then falling asleep while snuggling with Him isn’t such a bad thing at all. Conversely, if our faith merely consists of performing religious duties, (i.e. saying our prayers) than falling asleep is an offensive crime.

I think it’s so easy to accidentally slip back into the religion mentality, forgetting that it really is all about relationship. This encounter with my wife jolted me back to a better way of looking at my spiritual life.

Certainly the entirety of our prayer life can’t consist solely of snuggling and sleeping in the arms of God. Any relationship needs honest, heartfelt communication–both ways. But I, for one, am done kicking myself for the times when I fall asleep while praying.

Last week marked the death anniversaries of the two youth group members who have died since I’ve been at New Covenant. Ryan W. died 10 years ago and Michelle Pinkston died 1 year ago. I’ve been reflecting on what was similar and different about their lives and deaths.

SIMILARITIES

Both grew up in our church.
Both from strong Christian families.
Both were active in youth group, doing drama, music, the Mexico trip.
Both were really fun, life-of-the-party types. Popular and well-liked.
Both died suddenly as a total shock to everyone.
Both deaths made me cry for very different reasons.

DIFFERENCES

Despite his good start, Ryan strayed from the Lord his junior year, quit coming to church, made a series of poor choices which ultimately resulted in his death.

Michelle kept the faith, focused on loving others, used her talents to glorify God, served God in many ways, completed college with numerous awards and achievements, and was killed in a car accident on her way home.

Ryan started well and finished poorly.
Ryan’s funeral was a somber occasion, filled with regret, guilt, and tears of despair.

Michelle started well and finished well.
Michelle’s funeral was a worshipful occasion, filled with praise to God for a life well lived. There were tears from the grief of separation, but they were also tears of joy knowing she heard the words “Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home!”
Today, the mention of Michelle’s name brings to mind “finishing well.”

CONCLUSION

How you finish matters.  It is a lot of what will be remembered about you. We don’t know when our life will be over, it could happen suddenly, without warning like it did for these two.

Choose to finish well by always living well. Michelle did that by making good choices. Please be like her.

For 1,700 years it has been a Christian tradition to celebrate Lent. That means that ever since the 3rd Century, this has been done each spring. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, and others likely took part in this historic observance.

Because we’re not liturgical like Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists Episcopalians and others, churches like ours have tended to throw out all the ancient traditions.  If they’re meaningless, empty traditions, they ought to be thrown out.  But I think Lent is one tradition we should retain.

Jesus gave up everything for us, so the custom of denying ourselves some comfort for the 40 days prior to Easter is an appropriate way to commemorate his death. It can be a way to draw close to Jesus as we in some small way “share in his sufferings.” An especially good practice for any of you fellow ascetics!

And it’s also a great time to focus on self-control rather than our usual mode of indulgence.  An especially good practice for any of you like me who need to practice restraint!  When else are we especially encouraged to exercise restraint in our indulgent society?

It begins this Wednesday “Ash Wednesday” when ashes are typically “painted” on the forehead in the sign of the cross to symbolize humility and repentence: a modern day version of “sackcloth and ashes”.

With or without the ashes, I challenge you to think of what you’ll seek to cut out of your life during this Lenten season. Not as an empty ritual, but rather as a way to love and connect with Jesus.