How's Your Heart?

I love spring! I love how the flowers start to peek out of the ground. On my walking route last spring, I noticed a residence that had flowers planted in the shape of a heart. (I trust you can see that in the photo I took above.) Spring seems to bring hope, along with sunlight and fresh air, to counteract the bleakness of the past winter.

I think most everyone will agree - this past year has been different, difficult, and perhaps downright depressing! So when this question was posed to me, "How's your heart?" it was very hard to answer honestly. My heart feels battered and perhaps betrayed by all that has transpired through the Coronavirus pandemic and upheavals associated with it, and by the unrest across the United States - whether political, racial, social, etc. Although I have not experienced the loss of a family member or close friend to Covid-19 and the accompanying complications, there are people that I personally knew who have succumbed to the disease, and my heart breaks for their families.

The writer of Psalm 73, Asaph, acknowledges that the human heart is frail, and that strength comes from God.

"My flesh (health) and my heart (spirit) may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever." [Psalm 73:26]

So when our hearts feel battered, betrayed, and broken, and our circumstances are different, difficult, and depressing, we need to give ourselves a "heart-check." A friend and I are starting to go through a devotional study that focuses on renewal, Heart Check, by Christine Caine. The title of the lesson for Day 1 is "Give Your Outlook an Upgrade."

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving

for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what

is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is

unseen is eternal." [2 Cor. 4:17-18]

Sometimes we need to let go of things - expectations of ourselves and others - and allow Jesus to fill our hearts with hope - with the expectation of living with the reality that this world is not our home. For those who desire a heart check, we need to look up and fix our eyes on God.

Pastor Vicki sent me two prayers earlier this week, asking if they could be used in a blog post; one for looking back on 2020 and the other for looking ahead to 2021. At first, I didn't think now was the time to use them as New Year's celebrations are long past. I then realized that this is a good time - today is 3/20/21. Today is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and for most of us in America, the pandemic restrictions (which started a year ago in March 2020) are looking to be lessened and lifted, so in some aspects, this IS the perfect time to usher in a new year/season! Look for the reminders for a heart check within these prayers.

A PRAYER, FOR LOOKING BACK ON 2020 God of Life, There are days when the burdens we carry Are heavy on our shoulders and weigh us down When the road seems dreary and endless, The skies gray and threatening, When our lives have no music in them, And our hearts are lonely, And our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, Turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise; Tune our hearts to brave music; Give us the sense of comradeship With heroes and saints of every age; And so quicken our spirits That we may be able to encourage The souls of all who journey with us on the road of life, To your honor and glory. Amen. -attributed to Augustine of Hippo (354-430) A PRAYER, FOR LOOKING AHEAD IN 2021 Wind of God, blow far from us All dark despair, All deep distress, All groundless fears, All sinful desires, All Satan’s snares, All false values, All selfish wishes, All wasteful worries. Blow into us Your holy presence, Your living love, Your healing touch, Your splendid courage, Your mighty strength, Your perfect peace, Your caring concern, Your divine grace, Your boundless joy. Wind of God, Blow strong, Blow fresh, Blow now. Amen. - Pamela Wilding, Kenya (from Prayers Encircling the World)

Both of the above prayers are from a collection of prayers compiled

by Meghan Feldmeyer Benson, Chaplain of Duke Divinity School

When I was re-reading Psalm 73, as mentioned above, the words to the Chris Tomlin song, I Will Rise, came to mind. It is a song filled with hope and a resolve to keep looking up!

There's a peace I've come to know Though my heart and flesh may fail There's an anchor for my soul I can say "It is well"

.....

There's a day that's drawing near When this darkness breaks to light And the shadows disappear And my faith shall be my eyes

Here's the video with lyrics:

---

What is the Purpose of Prayer?

This question might be one of the oldest and most asked question about the spiritual life throughout the ages. “What is the purpose of prayer?” It’s one question that I’ve been pondering for most of my life. Prayer can be defined most simply as “a solemn request for help or expression of thanks (in word or thought) addressed to God, or a god, or another object of worship.” I have also found that it can mean “an earnest hope or wish” and even a “slight chance,” as in “you haven’t got a prayer.”

So why do we pray or what is the purpose of prayer? At a very basic level, it is because we have found that we cannot do this life alone; we need to ask for God’s assistance, guidance, and leading in order to survive. Whether we pray every day or only when the circumstances are grave or even when we have something to rejoice about, I would surmise that most everyone has uttered a prayer at some point in their life.

In my study of prayer over the last couple of years, I’ve found that one purpose of prayer is that it is a way that God allows us to join with Him in the work that He is doing in our world. It is an aligning of our will with God’s will, and is not - what many people think about prayer - a way to change God’s mind or to get Him to do what we want Him to do. Yes, He wants to know what’s on our hearts, what burdens us, and He welcomes us to bring our requests to Him, as well as our thanks and praises. But God is not a genie in a bottle. He wants to develop a relationship with us, which goes way beyond just bringing Him our grocery list of wants and needs.

I collect quotes and Scripture references about prayer and I recently found this one which comes from author, Lysa TerKeust. She says, “When we pray, we invite the divine presence of the almighty God to do life with us that day. Then we need to watch for Him — go on a God-hunt and make connections between the things we pray for and the things that happen throughout the day. This is the direct evidence of His hand at work — in us, around us, and in spite of us.” I especially like the thought of inviting God to do life with us.

There is a line in a contemporary Christian song that says this about prayer and how God speaks to us; “It changes us, it changes what we see and what we seek.” We don’t pray to change God, but that He changes us. We are to fix our focus on Him, and not on our circumstances. So to adapt a popular credit card commercial, “What’s in your prayer?”

---

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

This article was originally written for the Ashland Times-Gazette clergy column in

August of 2018.

Are you “faith-less” or “faith-full?”

Ah…Fall! I love the fall season – the sights, smells and sounds of autumn. I enjoy most everything, except…when we get closer to Halloween… the inundation of horror movies on TV, whether on cable, Netflix or Hulu! While my husband likes to watch a scary movie or two, I usually vacate the room. However, he was recently watching one that caught my interest, so I sat in the room with him, while reading a magazine. (I couldn’t appear to be “too” interested in it!)

It was a teen comedy horror flick from the 80’s, called “Fright Night." The hero, Charley, is a teenage boy who is trying to prove that the new neighbor is a vampire and that he and his undead day guardian are responsible for a string of recent murders. The only one who can help him hunt them down is a washed-up actor, Peter Vincent (played by Roddy McDowall), who hosts Charley's favorite TV show, Fright Night. Vincent doesn't really believe that vampires exist, but does it for the money. Charley, however, believes that Vincent is an expert when it comes to vampires.

When Vincent eventually confronts the neighbor in his vampire form, he whips out a cross – fully expecting the creature to back down. But after “laughing maniacally” (per the closed captioning), the vampire/demon retorts, “In order for that to work, you have to have faith.” He then wraps his fingers around the cross and destroys it.

Meanwhile, Charley pulls out his own cross and approaches the vampire, who starts groaning and flees. Vincent is watching this is in disbelief.

Fast forward a few scenes and Vincent again encounters the vampire, pulls out a new cross and holds it toward him. The vampire says again, “You have to have faith for that to work.” At first, Vincent starts to back down, then looks back at Charley, his brave young friend. One can immediately sense Vincent’s floundering faith is bolstered, and he turns toward the vampire with a new-found confidence.

So what can “Fright Night” say about the Christ follower and faith? That if we don’t have faith, our belief in God’s power is floundering? “Oh, ye of little faith…” (Mt. 8:26) How about having “faith the size of a mustard seed?” (Mt. 17:20) But what if a little faith can indeed move mountains or when we doubt whether our faith has any power, we can see others who do have faith and then our faith is strengthened by their faith?

Now I’m not saying that a little faith is ineffective, but maybe we’ve been too influenced by the “faith-less” by not having faith in God’s power to work in the world today. Let’s look around us and draw upon the strength of the “faith-full,” to be encouraged to plant the mustard seed of faith and watch it grow into full confidence in God.

(This post originally was written for the Ashland Brethren in Christ website.)