Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 6 Feb 2022

Heavenly Father,  By your costly grace we have been drawn into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our faith has found a resting place. We rest in you. In you we are restored and refreshed. In you we have received a new vision for life and godliness. You have the Words of life. Where else would we go?

Yet, we must not close our eyes and run away like Jonah on the boat to Tarshish. You keep inviting us to see with you, and join you in the realities of life. Though we may run from You, You can locate us. Though we close our eyes you can wake us. Though we speak with guile in our hearts you can accomplish your Word.

Oh, gladly in Christ, we surrender ourselves to your sovereignty. Your Spirit keeps pouring His love and so in the fierceness of your love and justice we would move. We set our faces with Jesus towards the cities of your calling and our cross.

Fortify our hearts with your love. Establish the work of our hands. Instruct our tongues with a word to encourage the weak. Fill our hearts with you – the Wisdom from Heaven.

We lift up to you our friends at the Athens Ministry Centre in Greece. Encourage them and create lighthouses of love across the world along their networks of friendship and family.

We lift up to you our friends in the Association of Christian Clubs at UBC. Deepen the conviction of students for the brilliance of Jesus and grant them courage for trusting you in every good work. 

We lift up to you our friends in 24-7 Prayer in Vancouver and across Canada. Thank you for those who keep watch in the night and in places overlooked in order to minister in your name.  May our homes and places and residence become centres of prayer, your life & your love.

Oh Lord we love you and ask you to give us wisdom. The days are evil; we would understand your will. Even as our buildings and halls may be empty we plead that our fellowship would not be empty of your Spirit, truth and grace. Fill us with your Spirit. Fill us with your Word. Fill us with your songs!

We need you so we pray as Jesus taught us: (Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)


Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever. 
Amen

Prayer of the People, 30 Jan 2022

Heavenly Father,

We rejoice in you. Thank you for bringing us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We rest assured that You are a refuge in the greatest storms.

Our hope is in You. Our comfort is in You. Our peace is in You.
By Your Spirit the impulse of our lives is to love. 

Yet we need Your grace for we have many malformed affections.
We need Your power to uphold us through many griefs.
We need Your promise as the living hope to which we cling.

So Lord speak to us. 

We open our ears to your Word. 
We open our hearts to your Presence.
We open our ambitions and dreams to your holiness.

You are faithful even when the struggles of the day cloud our sight. 

So we lift up to you and ask that you would meet our friends and family who are grieving.  
  (Pause)
We lift up to you those who are suffering through the frailties of their bodies and pain.
  (Pause)
We lift up to you those who are pressed down by anxieties and even depression.
  (Pause)

Come Lord Jesus and shine the light of the Father’s glory and love among us. Bring healing, hope, and the joy of your salvation. We wait on you. And so we pray as you taught us. 

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever.  Amen

Social Capitals

Babylon will burn and the corporate lament
shall not drown the cries of those
below their lines.

To be fair we might all benefit from ugly truth
‘less we are so damn sure that
our greed is just.

There is no social capital in hell; yet beyond
that fiery lake is a beach to a city
with an open gate.

So I look up and behold the God who came down.
So I look down and behold the souls bought at a price.

Now mercy brings me to this promised land but
Jesus reserved stern words for the mercied
who would not mercy.

The world watches social capitals work and
billionaires go green to make a deal
while the devil lies.

The Uyghurs cry out with Able. With Lazarus they sit
at the end of the drive waiting for golden warriors but
we are playing

games in social capitals.

***I felt enormous dismay at the interview confession with Chamath Palihapitiya in which he says, “Nobody cares about the Uyghurs.” This is a response to our common and dangerous situation: not caring.***

Three Observations On A Saturday

Without rainboots 
adults walk 
in broad streets 
when sidewalks 
turn into 
lakes.

Without a companion 
an umbrella remains 
tucked underarm 
when carrying 
two bags 
home.

Without a hood 
glasses glisten
with diamonds
when rain 
fills the 
horizon.

The Altar Between Us

Sometimes we see only what others have constructed and then in our minds, our hivemind constructs an explanation. Caution is required. Our interpretation of what they have done may not be right.

Usually co-brooding produces the most negative explanations. Goodwill evaporates across the distance and the borders.

A counsellor shared with me years ago that children are incredibly perceptive; they pick up the cues indicating something is going on relationally in the family or in the room. However, children are usually terrible interpreters of what has happened.

In these days of Covid, of distance, and the speed with which we see what others have constructed or written, we are all children. We are quick to perceive, but we are terrible at interpreting. Then, from the distance, sure of ourselves, we strap on our armour, take up our swords sure that annihilation of the other is the only answer.

This is an old problem. In Joshua 22, when the Eastern Tribes returned home after battling alongside the rest of the tribes of Israel under Joshua’s leadership, they constructed a massive and imposing altar alongside the border on the Israelite side near the Jordan river. When the rest of tribes heard of this altar they assumed the worst, idolatry and treason against the Lord, strapped on their swords and issued a call for war.

Fortunately leaders were sent to Reuben, God and the half-tribe of Manasseh ahead of the hastily formed army to launch an inquiry and seek an explanation of the altar. War was averted. An acceptable explanation was heard. The altar was built with the future generations in mind. The altar was a reminder and a prompt meant to affirm their connection to the LORD and to the other tribes.

Devastation was averted and the altar was given a name: A Witness Between Us–that the LORD is God.

Through the years I have found this story very helpful. The people I have served alongside and been in the same family with have done their own thing. I have too. Their actions seemed strange to me. On the “other side of the Jordan” we each are left wondering what the other is up to. Often we each have our good reasons. But across the space I am astonished at how quickly trust and good will evaporates. The stories we construct in our heads and with our co-brooders need to be tested.

Whether its a Tweet or an absence, an off-hand comment, or a transition in their lives, my internal narratives must be tested. I have found its good to keep assuming good-will and “the best” unless it has been sufficiently explored with “the others.” James said, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” (James 1:19).

Our digital lives seem to shrink the physical distances marked out across the globe. Yet, phones attached to our hands, social media and zoom have not improved the quality of our internal narratives. These narratives still need to be sifted. People still need to be given the benefit of doubt. This kind of move requires humility, time, kindness and gentleness. Paul put it this way, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5)

The Lord is near.