A 50 Year Prayer Journey

If you have kept up with my thoughts by way of blogs, books or the occasional guest speaker moments, you most likely know that my life has been quite a spiritual "check the box" journey.

Raised in church by 3rd generation Pentecostal parents, mostly in churches under 200 attendees, but experiencing the full spectrum from brush arbors, store fronts to a stint as executive pastor in a near mega with adherents near five thousand adherents, easy 3000, across three services at its peak.

I must confess an intermittent street experience as a child, and then full-bore exploration of "worldly stuff" from age 16-25.

Once I came to my senses, thanks to a praying Dad, I aligned myself with church goers, first by invitation from my principal (myself a 3rd year science teacher, which also now comes into play as I write). It was to a Methodist Prayer Breakfast that soon became interdenominational.

Out of that, an introduction to a charismatic Presbyterian, then a 30-year stint in the Assemblies of God, though now worshipping in an Evangelical Presbyterian Church with a charismatic pastor whom my once Missouri synod wife dearly loves.

Comes to mind as I write that my exposure to denominations has almost trumped my diverse exposure to "worldly stuff"!

Somewhere after the Second Great Awakening of the 19th Century and the Pentecostal outpourings in the early 1900's, those movements often birthed in homes and storefronts, we traded up for more elaborate sanctuaries, as we shed the gifts of the Spirit that often got the attention of the powerful and in exchange, my "holy roller" ancestors bought into the system, becoming a more respectable, if not elitist denomination.

Now after 50 years, I see many congregations back tracking, removing the denominational moniker, substituting more contemporary language in the names posted over the doors hoping to attract new congregants. Sadly, the numbers across the spectrum are still in decline, especially among younger generations. If a new plant does have a surge, older churches suffer loss as members, if not closing their doors.

Sounding like I am "standing outside, throwing rocks at the stained-glass windows," but truth is I am grieving the loss that has occurred on our watch as Boomers.

My churched journey with God has included the gifts of the Spirit and many miracles, yet now, I need seriously examine my beliefs based on results. In so doing, even my prayer life has changed to more conversation with God than "beseeching" on behalf of others. Keep in mind that this is a guy who spent two years on a 24th floor corner glass office praying over his city.

Also, as I continue my disciplined read of scripture, my takeaways now seem quite different. 

I am not alone: WARNING, the following is meant for spiritually mature audiences only!!

BIBLICAL DUMPSTER DIVING

By Jim Rigby

"If you take up the bible, never forget it is a two-thousand-year-old dumpster filled with dung as well as diamonds. Read with love scripture can be a priceless gift- but, read mindlessly and without love, the bible can be the most evil book ever written.

We instantly turn the bible into an idol by reading it literally. Read heartlessly and mindlessly, scripture has been used against medicine, art and human rights. It is impossible to think of a cruelty or absurdity that has not been defended by somebody using the bible.

When some Christians finally stopped claiming the sun rotates around the earth, it wasn't because they found bible verses convincing them otherwise- they stopped because they finally faced the fact that the bible is a lousy guide to astronomy. Nonliteral bible users continued to gain symbolic insights about their relationship to the cosmos, but their insights were no longer confused with scientific claims.

When some Christians finally quit defending slavery and stopped killing witches, it wasn't because they found new biblical passages refuting those vicious practices- they stopped biblically abusing their neighbors because they finally realized the bible is a lousy substitute for universal human rights.

When some Christians finally stopped restricting love to first century cultural models, it wasn’t because they discovered new paradigms hidden in the text- it was because they finally realized the bible is a sorry substitute for a human heart.

There is much that can be gained by studying scripture, but if you cannot get to the great themes of truth, justice and universal love it would be better for everyone if you threw your bible in the ocean."

WOW!!

Another gentleman that I follow for the purpose of challenging my beliefs is Richard Rohr.  My takeaway from him is that the Christ was first manifest in Creation, then in Jesus and thirdly in the Body of Christ, the Ecclesia. In my mind, intended as quite different than the Institutional Church and perhaps, American Christianity!

As a former science teacher, I love all creatures big and small. Yet as I read the Old Testament, in light of the love of Christ, surely Creation was meant for more than some human food chain and surely more than for the early practice of religious slaughter. My guess is that our free-will soon took human beings toward idolatry, envisioning a "Sky God," as Jim Palmer often states (this disillusioned former clergy will for sure rock your theology).

Humans envisioned a wrathful being that even required child sacrifice, up until Abraham. According to Moses, this God of Abram (as he was first known) asked for his only son, Isaac, which per his ancestral theology was reasonable.

My guess is when Abram raised his knife to slay Isaac, God not only provided a ram, but in that act laid the foundation toward a day when God would become flesh, in the person of Jesus the Son, the Lamb of God, offering himself as a sacrifice. Not to appease God's wrath but to remove any inkling of an idea that we were less than loved by our Creator, who was the Word, "Love" become flesh.

Sadly, we have diminished the Word to an ancient text that we quote, as we attempt to mimic Jesus, rather than continuing to hear from the One who is Love, ourselves becoming the Now Testament (thanks, Bob Ingle/Chris McCann) by way of unpacking the gifts of God held resident in each of us individually, a PIECE of God that passes our understanding!

Surely if we did, the Kingdom would be better modeled among us than the struggles we now feel daily in this country.

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!