A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Practicum

I confess mixed results in my attempts to do the weekly "prayer practicum" connected with the summer teaching theme. Take this past week [note: Dave wrote this the end of August] as an example. The "practicum" was to pray the 23rd Psalm every day. It was included in the bulletin and Pastor Kent instructed us at the end of his Sunday message. I recall that evening thinking I would do that beginning Monday. And I did. But somehow I had made a subconscious switch from the 23rd Psalm to the Lord's Prayer! (blame it on an easily distracted mind)

So Monday morning I began, thinking I would pray and think about that prayer, taking one line or phrase for each day of the week. I had done something like that years ago and remembered it as a good thing. This went well, but on Wednesday I was rushed and decided to "combine" this prayer/meditation with my morning walk. About midway through the walk I suddenly realized that the prayer I was repeating was not the Lord's Prayer, but the 23rd Psalm. Whether it was the easily distracted mind or the open fields and pastures along the way, I don't know, but it happened. Of course I wondered, "OK, which was the right scripture for this week?". But then I began to have a sense that they were vaguely related.

One link that came to me had to do with the phrase in the Lord's Prayer, "Lead me not into temptation". That has always seemed enigmatic to me.
It sounds like a theological contradiction. I did not resolve the puzzle on my walk and I won't here. But it made me reflect on the way the shepherd leads the sheep as described in Psalm 23. "He leads me....beside still waters; in right paths.." "Even though I walk through the darkest valley ('temptation'?), I fear no evil." A shepherd--or a father--may lead through hard places, but it is comforting to be able to trust the one who is leading.

As you can tell, I did find my way back home. And I do promise to pay more attention in church next time.

Dave Shelman

Prayerdundency

I grew up in a home of memorized prayers. I’m not saying this is a bad or good thing, but it was my reality. Each night as my family sat down for dinner, a different family member would say,

Heavenly Father, we come to you in prayer to thank you for this food and ask you to bless it and make it nourishing to our bodies, we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

I first learned those words about the same time I learned to speak, and though I haven’t prayed them in years, I will probably remember them forever.

I grew up in church, so praying was never foreign to me. Even so, when I was young I remember having a certain aversion to praying out loud. Praying at meals and bedtime was one thing, but thinking up my own words was very much another. I felt lost without my prayer scripts. As I got older all of that slowly began to change, as God became more and more real to me. I prayed at church and with my family, but I also learned to pray on my own, to have my own conversations with God. I remember as a teenager loving to pray, and feeling free at the idea that I could pray however I wanted. No scripts, just me and God.

I fear I’ve lost that.

I still love to pray, but something has changed. I don’t regret the blessing of growing up in a Christian home, but just as the believer who comes to know Jesus late in life has their own particular set of battlefields, the Christian-from-birth sort of believer picks their way daily through the minefields of ruts, restlessness, and redundancy. I try to genuinely talk to God in my prayers—prayers of praise, of concession, of thankfulness, neediness, longing, and intercession—and though the situations always change the prayers all start to feel the same. It’s like I’m locked back into memorized scripts of pre-thought out words mechanically repeated in varying patterns. Sometimes when I’m talking to God I see myself as that old uncle who keeps telling the same stories over and over again. I’m only 27 and I can’t help but feel a little washed up.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to feel this way. I’m sure I’m not the only person to feel like this now. But in the midst of our Summer of Prayer it does feel painfully drawn to the surface. So what do I do about it? I suppose, I pray. And when I’m finished with that prayer, maybe start another.

-Lori Rice Council member, Worship and Arts

Prayer – A Holy Intrusion

We are a few weeks into our Summer of Prayer and I am finding that the whole thing is a bit of an intrusion on my life. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago in a message – Prayer brings us into the larger realities of God’s presence and purpose for us. Further, in prayer, a movement takes place in me whereby I relinquish control over situations and people as I bring them into the presence of God. Now that is all fine and good to preach, but a bit inconvenient to live.

Sometimes, late at night, I awake and find myself unable to fall asleep. It is in those moments that people come to mind and I begin to worry about them; wondering if they are doing well in their particular life circumstances. Those experiences are an intrusion to my sleeping! I mutter a prayer… “really Lord, I would be a much more rested servant of you if you brought up the needs of people in the daylight hours.” But in the end, since I cannot sleep, I pray unspecific words:

God, help so-and-so know that they are beloved of you.

Jesus, may that person know the grace and forgiveness that exists in you.

Father, let hope increase for the one who feels life is hopeless right now.

May your peace, O Christ, guard their hearts and minds.

Prayer is not always pleasant, in fact it can actually be work! I don’t know if this has been true for you in our Summer of Prayer? If it so, I am truly sorry if you’re experiencing a similar intrusion to your sleep. Yet, I do not think that I am liable for ay undisclosed side-effects to prayer (WARNING: Use of this activity may cause sleeplessness in some individuals).

So weigh in on the conversation – how has prayer disrupted your life?

Kent Place, Lead Pastor

The Year of Living Biblically

Have you heard of the book, The Year of Living Biblically? The subtitle pretty well explains the premise: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.

So, yep, that’s what this guy, A.J. Jacobs, does. With an authenticity and steadfastness that one can’t help but admire, he starts off with the prohibition against wearing clothes of mixed fibers (Leviticus 19:19) and goes on from there. When he stops shaving (Leviticus 19:27), he starts being called Ted Kaczyniski. Or ZZ Top. Or Moses. He wears all white (Ecclesiastes 9:8). He tries to make unleavened bread for Passover by walking around with dough in a Ziploc bag on his back (just like the Israelites, sans the baggy, of course!)

Besides just being a great read (funny, informative, unique), it stopped me in my tracks a couple of times. The first is when the author speaks of creationism. First—some back story—he’s basically a secular Jew who tends toward agnosticism. During the year he wrote the book, he did a fair amount of research into Creationism. As a stalwart believer in evolution normally, he tries to believe in Creationism in its most literal sense (the world created in just six 24-hour days, the earth being just a few thousand years old, etc.). Here’s what he says:

I convince myself that the earth was formed a handful of generations ago. I can’t 100 perfect believe, but for a few minutes, I almost believe. And it is fascinating. The first thing I notice is that I feel more connected. If everyone on earth is descended from two identifiable people—Adam and Even—then the “family of man” isn’t just pabulum [Note from Mitzi: I had to look up pabulum. It basically means food]….But even more powerful is this feeling: My life is more significant.

If the earth is ten billion years old, I’m barely a drop of water in the ocean that is the universe….I believe that’s a key motivation to creationism: the need to feel less inconsequential.

Wow. Think about it-- from the very first Sunday school lesson when we’re very very young, we’re taught: You are special. You are created in the image of God. God created you to love you. God has a special plan for you.

I grew up believing this and still believe it. I don’t think any of us are cosmic accidents. My point isn’t to argue literal creationism vs. Darwinian evolution, but to think about how I would feel if I didn’t have that foundation of “specialness.” Jacobs calls this the “need to feel less consequential” and maybe that’s part of it. But if I do what Jacobs did in reverse—try to convince myself that this is no God, no intelligent design, no deity of any sort who put the world into being, but just a unfathomable amount of time and energy and somehow I (and you and all of us) sprang into being. Well I can’t imagine anything more lonely and--in the core of my being—anything more frightening. Thinking that way makes me feel like I’m peering into a giant dark abyss and I could very well fall—or jump—and no one would notice. Reading that made me realize how my faith and belief in God are so central to not only who I am, but also the filter through which I experience everything.


And it also makes me curious as to how others see the world. What are you thoughts? If you became a Christian later in life, was this idea of “God created you. You are special and unique” hard to grasp? Or maybe it was a relief to hear what you’d suspected all along? Or perhaps it's something you still struggle with?

Mitzi Sandman, Adult Ministries Council Member

Welcome to the Freak Show

This is Erik trying out this blogging thing. I thought I would start a discussion on the Talent Show we had a few weeks ago. It was our fourth one and was bigger than ever in terms of number of people performing and number of people there. I am wondering if anyone has ideas on how to take this to the next level. What could we do to improve on this event for next year?

Erik Cave - Associate Pastor / Youth Guy

Welcome!

Welcome to the First Covenant Church of Portland's blog!
We are so excited you are here. We hope you bookmark this as a "favorite" and join the conversation often!

Because that's what we want this blog to be--a conversation. And by "conversation" we mean: A response to a sermon. A question about a ministry of our church. A continuation of a discussion from a care group on a particular poignant issue that's been on your mind. An opinion on an article from a newspaper or magazine. A reflection on how we put our faith into action in today's world, in our city, in our lives.

It could be any of those, all of them or even something completely different. We want this to be a way to continue and enhance--but never replace--the community spirit we have at First Covenant. We want it to be a place to discuss ideas; a tool we can use to grow closer to God and to each other; a way to share an inspiration; a forum to exchange perspectives; a platform to highlight ways members in our body are living their lives for Christ; and of course, a way to share a laugh or two!

While we welcome diversity in thought and know that we won't always agree on everything, we will insist on respectfully disagreeing, on holding each other up as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This blog is for all of us. However, we do have some "rules"--well, perhaps "guiding principals" woud be a better way to put it.

First off, anyone is welcome to comment on any posting. You don't need to be a member of the congregation. All comments will be reviewed though, prior to posting. We will start out by allowing anonymous comments (which, like all comments, will be reviewed before posting). When you post a comment, it will ask for a profile and if you don't have one of the types listed, you can just add your name and skip the URL part.

Second--First Covenant staff and council members will all be given access to write the initial postings. If you're not staff or on the council and would like to author a post, please just contact Mitzi Sandman (Adult Ministries Council Member) at mitzi@alongcamemitzi.com, the office at office@firstcov.com or any staff person and we will create the post for you and byline you as the author. All posts will show the author.

Second--have fun! Let's use this to dig deep, challenge each other in our spiritual walks, enhance our friendships, learn about the world and most importantly, grow in our obedience and love for God

Blessings to all,

Mitzi Sandman (Adult Ministries Council Member)