A walk in the forest

I heard a Jewish tale that went something like this.

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A rabbi was known to be close to God after a lifetime of prayer and service. His disciples ask him to teach them this way of life, so he took them each week through a forest into a clearing where he lit a fire, led them in prayer, and recalled for them the stories of God as told in the scriptures.

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One day the rabbi died, and partly in remembrance of their teacher, and partly because it meant so much to them personally, the students continued their weekly ritual. They trekked into the forest, lit a fire, prayed, and recalled what they could of the stories of God the rabbi told them.

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Over time they started to forget the stories – they never read them for themselves – so they just walked to the forest, lit the fire, and prayed.

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And then they couldn’t see why they were praying, so they’d go to the clearing and light the fire, and talk of the old days.

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Eventually even that was too much for them and they decided that making the fire was too much fuss, and this group of ‘disciples’ ended their days going for an occasional walk in the forest and talking of the good old days.

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Dialogues on Prayer

It’s good to talk.

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And it’s good to talk about prayer.

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How do you pray? I like to keep a note book for long term prayers. I like to spend time in the early morning, and some times during the day. I’m thinking of getting a cheap digital watch to remind me to pray every hour.

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Too many of my prayers are self-serving or self-seeking. Too few emerge out of thanksgiving and praise, and joy.

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Sometimes at night my wife says “You pray”. And then after a long pause while I’m trying to find a positive prayer she’ll say “Say thank you”.

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I love to talk about prayer and how to pray.

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But talking about prayer is literally like talking about talking. It’s like asking, “tell me, how do you talk?”

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In the end talking about talking either indicates a communication problem (why do you always say …?) or it’s simply a wasted opportunity to talk about meaningful things.

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And so it is with talking about prayer. Is there a problem with prayer? Let’s talk about it. Otherwise, let’s pray.

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(written in The Lodge on the Park, Starbucks, Aztec West)

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Darkness

Simple connections can be thought provoking and prayer directing.
\nIf we notice them.
\nLike this connection yesterday.

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In the morning, using everyday morning prayers, the set reading was the Song of Zechariah

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“In the tender compassion of our God
\n the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

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To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death
\n and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

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That made me think for a long time about the nature of the darkness the world is engulfed in. Surely, I thought, those that dismiss the idea of sin can’t have another satisfactory explanation for the darkness that covers so many lives, who DWELL in darkness.

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In the evening, searching for some suitable hymn for an event, I read the lyrics of the hymn “O Church Arise” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty which has the snippet:

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 O church arise …..

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… An army bold
\nWhose battle cry is love
\nReaching out to those in darkness

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(http://www.worshiptogether.com/)

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So, the tender compassion of our God breaks in upon us, and we, the church reach out.
\nThese are linked.
\nGod shines through us reaching out. Or, as we shine in the world God reaches out.

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Either way, the connection was small – one word, darkness – but enough to make me pause twice and pray.

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The first step, of course, is to notice.

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The “Big Four” of Discipleship – Part 2

If you read The Big 4 – Part 1 you’ll know that the basic premise is that there is too much talking and too little understanding of Christian Discipleship which results in too few disciples…

If you read The Big 4 – Part 1 you’ll know that the basic idea is that there is too much talking and too little understanding of Christian Discipleship which results in too few disciples  actually ‘doing’ discipleship and far too few able to teach discipleship.

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Before outlining my simple plan of discipleship there are two things to remember:

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  1. First, discipleship is inherently simple. If it were not then most of the Christian world would not be flourishing, and it is.
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  3. And second, we have to DO it. It’s really worse than useless to keep talking about the same things that are the wrong things and not do the important things that are the right things.
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So my simple plan of discipleship includes four things, what I call the Big Four of Discipleship, and they are:

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  • Prayer – which includes learning to pray and to worship,
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  • Witness – connecting us with Scripture and with God’s world
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  • Service – both inside and outside the church
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  • Life – doing life well with increasing wisdom.
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If I could do these four things well I believe I would be living as an effective disciple.

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And I also believe – without any doubt whatsoever – that a community of people who can do these things well together would be an effective church – with everyone ‘brought to maturity in Christ’ (Ephesians 4:13)

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So that’s my simple plan. And my simple aim in life is to help churches do these four things so well that they become mountain moving, culture challenging communities of love and faith.

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(… and for an effective church see G.L.A.D. – A Church Near You)

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The “Big Four” of Discipleship – Part 1

Ask yourself the question: how many disciples do you know who have the facility to teach you to be a better disciple?\r\n\r\nYou know the sort of thing:\r\n

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  • when you’re stuck in prayer they can teach you where to go next;
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  • when you are struggling to understand the Bible they can connect passages and themes for you;
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  • when you stumble over your words at work when trying describe your experience of God they can help you clarify what you really think;
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  • when you struggle with lowering debt or raising children they can sit alongside you and help you formulate plans that are practical and sensible and yet faithful to the Bible.
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\r\nI’ve been through my contact list (which is extensive). Leaving out clergy, I know only four people who are close.\r\n\r\nLeaving out licensed lay ministers, that leaves three.\r\n\r\nAnd two of them are women.\r\n\r\n(Interestingly all bar one have come through very hard times in which they have had their faith chiselled and beaten into shape).\r\n\r\nHow close are you? How close am I?\r\n\r\nWhile we’re thinking about this we need a plan … mine is here – The “Big Four” of Disipleship – Part 2

Pray always. Really?

Yes, that’s a question. Really? Always?

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I was sitting in the ‘New York New York’ cafe/bar on Allee de la Liberte Charles de Gaule in Cannes on a Sunday afternoon during the most dramatic storm I think I’d ever run away from.

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I was musing on the faith that exists in the gap between lack and promise (was that from someone else? I can’t remember). My scribbled notes say things like,

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  • the place of faith is misunderstood, so-you-too-will–be-misunderstood
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  • the place of faith is confusing, abnormal, radical, and (in no small way) stupid
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But to put this in context.

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My scribbled notes were made at a table surrounded by about seventy young, confident, French people also sheltering from the storm at other tables. Most of them smoking – yes, indoors. We were under the full length canopy in front of the full length open doors to the bar (see the photo below for a sunny view of my seat…). The front translucent walls had been lowered to keep out the rain.

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Ahh … the rain.

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It rained so hard that it was like fog – visually impenetrable, apart from the lightning. And it was falling so hard on the canopy that it was impossible to hear much else, so the young people shouted a lot. There were candles on the tables, even though it was only four in the afternoon. The candles were partly because the storm made everything so dark, and partly because the rain had fused the lights and heaters under the canopy.

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The thunder was an event all in itself. Every three or four minutes new catastrophic thunder claps rolled over us. Then every minute. Then every thirty seconds. In this almost continuous thundering and beating rain, with everyone shouting and laughing and with a lot smoking and drinking, it was hard not to think of Noah and everyone carrying on as if nothing was happening.

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So I ordered a second double espresso and jotted down some more notes.

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    • faith is the time between the answer and the asking
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Then I closed my eyes, and for a while went into that quiet internal space that allows us to pray in the middle of chaos. Quiet transcendence.

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Maybe a minute. Maybe a few minutes.

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But eventually the noise seeped back in. I realised I was sitting with my eyes closed while God and Noah’s neighbours were playing chicken with the weather. I looked around and laughed out loud at the sheer energy around me.

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I stood up, took my coffee and sauntered  through the tables into a quiet space in the back of the cafe and watched Toulouse beat Leicester Tigers in the first round of the Heineken Cup.

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new york new york

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Prayer – after meeting friends for the evening

Father, when you watched us tonight\nAs we laughed and larked around\nWere you happy with us?\n\nAnd as you listened to us pontificate\nTalking about other people we know and those we don’t\nWere you disappointed at any of our conversations?\n\nWhen we insisted on confidentiality\nWere we deceiving ourselves\nInto saying words that should never have been heard in company?\n\nWhen we laid out our plans for the future\nWith such confidence\nDid we please you?\nOr did our arrogance and self promotion make you turn away?\n\nOn behalf of my friends, and myself,\nI ask that you forgive our naivety,\nEncourage us in our unity,\nAnd bless each one of us with easy sleep and a clear conscience throughout this night.\n\nAmen.

Leave no stone unturned … in prayer

It may have been a typical experience, but troubling none the less, when my prayers drifted off into nothingness this morning as I prayed. The particular prayers I have in mind concerned two people both in need of an intervention by God if their lives are to be whole and complete.\n\nIn my mind were the words that described Jesus when he ‘prayed earnestly’ and I started well and in earnest. And also those words quoted often here, that ‘It is possible to move men by God through prayer alone’.\n\nWithin seconds I imagine, for really I cannot remember, my mind was blank. It wasn’t drifting onto other things. It wasn’t distracted. It wasn’t reflecting on the weekend sport or the day’s activities ahead. It was just … blank.\n\nStartled, I started again. I named the people involved and prayed out loud as I imagine earnest prayer should sound, and again, within seconds, my mind was blank. Coming back to prayer was harder this time because I was unsure of my ability to actually pray.\n\nSo with more focus and determination I started to actually think of specific areas and items for prayer for these two people. I prayed small prayers at first, about their memories of the weekend recently past, for their conversations, for their work, their aspirations for the day ahead. For their financial well being, and their friendships, and their homes and … so on. Then I tried to put myself into their situation. I prayed for their ability to reflect well on their circumstances and so to grow in wisdom.\n\nIn these prayers I prodded and pried into my mind to uncover new areas to pray about.\n\nIt was like turning over stones on the beach to look at them from different angles and so determine which one should go into the bucket as a treasure.\n\nThat was the picture. Turning stones. Leaving no stone unturned.\n\nHow long should it take?\n\nHow big is the beach?

Two Women Praying

At the end of an evening with colleagues I fell into conversation with a friend. Our discussion moved surprisingly quickly into deep areas with high level of personal reflection.\n\nAs we were about to go our different ways the other person stopped me and said, ‘let’s pray’. And she prayed for me.\n\nThe following week I spent an afternoon with a group of colleagues working on a particular project. At the end of the afternoon I  fell into conversation with a friend. Our discussion moved surprisingly quickly into areas with high levels of personal reflection.\n\nAs we were about to go our different ways the other person stopped me and said, ‘let’s pray’. And she prayed for me.\n\nThat made me think.\n\nTwo women who pray spontaneously.\n\nWhy don’t I pray at the drop of a hat like that?