You have a boundless supply of love and yet we only dip our toes into its wide expanse. How wide, high, long and deep is the Love of God in Christ for us! You desire to immerse us into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Come Lord Jesus Come. You have brought us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we say Thank you. Thank you for this grace; you are changing our lives.
Come Holy Spirit and pour the love of God into our hearts. Let your Presence flow from the life of Jesus into our whole fellowship. May we persevere in this faith, hope and love.
In view of your great mercy our tight grip on the stuff of earth, our lack of contentment, and our refusal to meet the eyes of the suffering, reveals how small are hearts are and how idolatry still clouds our vision.
Forgive us Lord. Free us us to live in the promise of your abundant life so we can join you in what you are doing in our neighbourhoods.
Loosen our tongues to share your Words of life. Settle our angry hearts so we can welcome the hurting. Open our hands to impart the ministering power of your Spirit.
We lift up to you our brothers and sisters in Hong Kong. As your Body grant them courage and wisdom to be your healing Presence in the city and in every neighbourhood even under duress.
We lift up to you university and college ministry leadership teams seeking to love students well this Fall. Grant them a deep appreciation of your Gospel and activate your spiritual gifts for this season of outreach and ministry.
We lift up to you communities in Canada in need of clean water, sufficient housing, and more houses of hope so that youth grow in their capacity to fulfilling the dreams you have put in them. Raise up men and women who have spent time on their knees with you to spend time and their lives with youth in every community.
We need you Lord, So we pray as Jesus taught us. (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.
For me being American is about a people, a place, and the promises and dreams that were nurtured there. This combination has the potential of nurturing hope.
My favourite places were lived in without much thought in my younger years of their promises. I was just living, enjoying, and experiencing the life I lived as normal. In fact if questioned at the time of this picture (see above) I would have probably thought everyone’s life was like this. But upon reflection I think my sister and I knew even then that the regular weekend and summer trips to camp on land that my mother’s parents had farmed was not everyone’s norm. But once there, we were having a grand time anyway!
Nor was it normal in my neighbourhood at the time to have an immigrant father who solemnly put the flag of the United States in its holder as a reminder of the journey he had taken and the promises he had made and the promises a country had made to him. Even when he was disappointed that these promises would not be fulfilled in the highest court of the land to the degree to which law and merit would have warranted, he continued to be thankful for the freedoms we enjoyed in this place and with these people. I believe my dad treated his movement of appreciation, flying the flag, what some would call patriotism, as a civic act of thankfulness and of hope.
For even when personal advancement and success did not meet all his dreams, my Northern Ireland, Irish Catholic father was grateful for the freedoms he enjoyed with us. These freedoms were measured out in society in such a way that we could pick up the newspaper and read the news and the opinion sections without fear. Where we could attend religious services and assemble with any people and in any church, on any given day as we desired. Where we could access the legal system and seek justice as needed. Where we could vote and generally expect that the elections would be fair. Where we could walk down the street without worrying that our neighbours or the police would track us with guns drawn and fingers on the trigger.
It does not escape me that what I have described above is now being tested and has been tested all along.
But are these aspects of liberty what made me an “American?”
Yes, but not by themselves.
Being American for me has in large part been about a society infused with hope. It’s strange to me but hope seems dangerous. Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, knew his hopes were dangerous to others. But, when the full ideals of our hopes cannot be fully met in this place, people, and it’s promises, I know, even as Roger Williams knew, that we must look elsewhere. Disappointment of hope can be crushing. That’s why I look ultimately look to Jesus and His Kingdom for my hope. “Hope we have as an anchor to the soul.” (Hebrews 6:18-19) I have now lived half my life outside of the United States of America because of the promises and dreams fuelled by Jesus. No matter where one lives or started life the allegiance to Jesus supersedes all others and some allegiances of the soul must be renounced in order to be free in Christ. (If you don’t know Roger Williams, b. 1603 — d. 1683, please get to know him!)
Yet every follower of Jesus has a body and lives in a land so I do carry some tension in my body. Participation in the life of the land can be limited to “our neighbour” but most followers of Jesus I know at least still choose to vote locally and federally as participants in our common governance. Some even choose to participate in politics with the ambition of serving others and not just themselves. I have been thankful for the immense liberty I have enjoyed as an American and now as a Canadian where we celebrated “Canada Day” on July 1st. Both countries share a “freedom construct” that seeks to share liberties broadly. And so I am thankful that I enjoy civilly many of the liberties only once afforded to kings and queens.
Yet, not all people in our lands are getting to participate fully in or enjoy the fruits of our most noble ideals. The blindness and the inequities created by self-interest work against some people and their places. When dreams fuelled by promises remain unrealized hope decays and the accompanying despair can be a crushing burden. It will be replaced by raw self-interest so people are enslaved to false loyalties and governed by fear. That’s what racism and classism does. Every meme and cheap news story becomes a physiological reinforcement for finding identity in what we are against or what we fear rather than in the higher ideals of what we could be for.
I hope for my friends and family in the States that we would insist on creating favourable conditions in which the most noble ideals are extended and even re-formed in all neighbourhoods across America (and Canada) socially and economically. That’s what hope inside our liberty seems to demand.
So thankfully our calendar arrives again with me still living on the 4th of July. To celebrate I had grits for breakfast! Butter, salt, and pepper. Want some? I had coffee with almond milk, no sugar, in an “Ole Miss Civil Engineering” mug given to me by a dear person who prays for me. But does any of that make me an American? Today I’ve been asking myself, “how do I know I’m an American?” What do I carry in my body, beside grits, that tells me I’m an American?
Here’s what I’ve discovered: I carry in my body more than memories, I carry hope.
Pictures: 1. Me and my sister enjoying “the camp.” 2. The Seal of Rhode Island created by Roger Williams.
I have a friend who found life in Vancouver and particularly life in the UBC campus community disturbing. Her move from a country in Eastern Africa did not prepare her for just how economically segmented life can be here. It is possible to go about life in Metro Vancouver unaware of economic disparity and the impact of poverty. It’s possible to not the know the stories of people and families bearing up under the weight of scarcity. One could live in the campus setting of UBC without getting to know the poor and sharing life with them.
While one might speculate that my friend’s participation in the apparent uniformity of university life only cloaked the poor, that would belie the reality: it is possible to believe that one has no relationship with the poor or to live as if the poor do not exist or matter in any neighbourhood. But she is right, for many of us in Vancouver we live very segmented lives. Our homes and hospitality are not graced with the poor. We are not doing life “with” each other.
Yet, Jesus believes we have a relationship with the poor. He said as much in the story of Lazarus and the man with no name. Apparently the quality of our relationship with the poor reflects whether or not we have a name in Kingdom of God. Do you have a name? (Read Luke 16:19-31)
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
My friend — she does have a name, but in respect to her I am not calling her here — found it strange that her daily life did not obviously intersect with the poor. She was disconcerted with the fact that daily life was not shared communally across economic lines. Her disturbance has stayed with me all these years. Why aren’t more of us disconcerted too? How can we read the Bible and feast on the teachings of Jesus without being disconcerted by a no name life? How can we know Jesus the Risen Saviour and have no real passionate movement toward the poor?
This week I had two encounters with a poor man called Alex. In my heart as I pray for him, he is Alex the Great; he could be my son. The ravages of drug addiction are apparent and hunger stalks him. In our first encounter after a conversation about how he was doing, where he was staying, and how he felt about the day, I asked his name and told him mine. We chatted a bit more and then I made to leave. I was a few steps away, and praying for him, when he called out to me, “Hey what’s your name?”
Ah, that question stirred up life in me and my soul rejoiced as I answered, “My name is Craig.”
You have had compassion towards us when we were so weak. You came to us; lifted us up. cleaned us up; and You have made us beautiful. The back stories of our souls are not readily apparent. But we know the grace you have given us. We can say with the Apostle Paul, we were the worst of sinners, but you have shown us grace!
Thank you for this grace. It has brought us from death to life and into the Kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ. We delight in your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Perhaps our love for You has grown cold and we are not doing the things we did at first. Oh Lord we repent of the desires that trample love for you in our lives.
We repent of the impulse to dominate others. We repent of our incessant people-pleasing pursuit of praise. We repent of our puffed up self-righteousness built on knowing something. All of this makes us busy and we stop listening to the Shepherd of our Souls.
Oh how we need the wisdom of Jesus. Oh how we need you: the crucified God, Saviour of the World to forgive us and fill us with Your Spirit. Come Lord Jesus.
Our neighbours need you Lord. We lift up to you those who are being crushed under the weight of addiction — bring freedom and healing Lord.
We lift up those who live in the fearful shadow of violence and abuse — fortify them with your love and provide them with a way to safety.
We lift up those who wonder about their next meal and we pray that you would open up the storehouses of heaven locked up in the hearts of those with plenty.
We lift up neighbours who do not have a song in their heart and the joy of your salvation — please grant them new life and the hope of the Gospel. Come Lord Jesus.
We know we need you and we know you love us. 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.
In your mercy you looked on those you created. Though we rejected you and your Word, you moved towards us in love. Your compassion exceeds our imagination. Thank you for not leaving it to our imagination. We see the Cross. You moved first and have loved us. You sent your Son in the image of sinful humanity, took up a cross, and died for us.
Thank you for this grace. You have ushered us into your communion. We have believed your Word and your Resurrection. We have crossed over from death into life and now we enjoy the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Resurrection of your Son has set in us a lasting hope.
Yet, why do the nations rage against you? Why does the evil one still kill, steal and destroy?
We would drop these weapons and words of war, turn them into plows and set our hands to the fallow ground of our hearts and our communities. Surely there is good to be shared!
Oh Father, may your Spirit blow across our land as a refreshing breeze for the nations. Forgive us for we have resisted your call to be still and know that you are God. We lift up indigenous brothers and sisters who are weary from grief as yet another life has been taken in a violent encounter with police. Oh Lord there must be another way!
Lord we lift up to you the people of Yemin, and plead with you for peace. Oh Lord may your shalom emerge in the most chaotic corners of this nation. May your healing for the nations be made known through the revelation of Jesus Christ. May your provisions be released to provide for a people weekend by famine. Oh Lord come and hear their cry.
Lord we thank you for the Graduates from the University of British Columbia and from Langara College here in Vancouver this week. Bless them. Provide for them. Turn your face toward them and be their delight. Establish the work of their hands so that your goodness will be shared with many neighbours.
Oh Lord, we need you and 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.
