Sunday - Home & Away

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE

Greetings once again.

As I continue my Extended Professional Development Leave (EPDL), one thing that I committed to doing was to not be in my own church on Sunday. Not because I don't like my church community, but because being there would mean I'd be working, more or less, and I didn't want that. So, I am going to other churches as a newcomer to see how other churches work, welcome, and worship. This past Sunday I went to a larger church here in Ottawa (no name will be given). It had a recent new addition put on the building. I arrived about 2o minutes early, and the sanctuary was actually closed off. It was just opening as I arrived. I walked into a very nice sanctuary: dimly lit with comfortable chairs and a nice stage. On the stage were all the musical instruments for a praise band. I was greeted by an usher, who politely gave me a bulletin, and then I sat down. I read the bulletin from cover to cover to get an idea of what the church was up to. Seemed like a busy, active community of faith. People slowly arrived and greeted each other. People around me pretty much stuck to themselves. The church ended up about 2/3 full. There were a lot of empty seats in front of me (I sat near the back). The service was very nice. It began with a time of greeting each other. I'm always interested in how that goes as a newcomer (not being one in our church). I shook hands with many people, but it seemed more like a simple "hello" and that was it. There was no, "Are you new here?"or "I don't seem to know you, are you visiting with us today?" Maybe this church was large enough now, that others really didn't know if people were new or not, and were afraid to ask? Interesting process for me anyway. Next, the Sunday school children came up and did a presentation on what they had learned over the past year. Very impressive. Then there was a baby dedication. Very short, though the words from the parents were very moving. I'd never actually seen a baby dedication before. There seemed to be something missing for me, but that's also because I'm used to something different. It was Mother's Day and one of the female staff delivered the message. It was good. I'm always torn about what you do in the church when it comes to Mother's and Father's Day. For some, those are not easy times. Some women would love to be Moms, and can't. Some men would love to be Dads, but can't. This church handed out carnations during the church service to all the Moms. Certainly a great thing to do, but as this was going on, a woman near me broke down in tears (I don't know the exact reason why), and her husband and another church member prayed with her. There was no mention of the pain that can occur on Mother's Day. I'm a bit more sensitive to that having two sister-in-laws who are unable to have children of their own. It's hard to know what to do. Church ended and I walked out into the foyer. It was a narrow, semi-circle area with many coat racks and side kiosks for things to sign up for etc. I walked around the foyer slowly wondering if anyone would stop and say hello. I ended up in a corner spot near a prayer room. There were no signs saying where to go, no map in the bulletin (it was a big enough church that there should have been one I think) to let me know the layout of the place. No announcement during the service pointing visitors to a person or place to seek information. I ended up walking out very shortly after that. Having been to this church, I see that there are things that I like about Calvin: 1. I like our layout. The fellowship hall design right off the sanctuary is a very nice design. 2. There are those that seek out new people when they are in Calvin. We could still do better in that area, but we are much farther ahead than the church I attended. 3. Glitz and glamour in a church service don't make up for personal interaction after the service. Without engaging in the community of faith, one simply becomes a spectator of faith, and that's not what God wants us to be. 4. I noticed that many people left that church right after it was over. Straight to their cars. I think that happens for some at Calvin too. There are probably good reasons for it, but it reminds me again that we need to be intentional about meeting and greeting people at Calvin to ensure that all have the "opportunity" to join our fellowship of faith. (Relationships, relationships, relationships) : ) 5. I was again challenged with the question, "So why do people come to this church (or our church) anyway? What brings them week after week if they don't connect? I'm reminded that membership and community mean different things to different people. I'm thankful for Calvin. We are not a perfect fellowship, but we are aware that new folks need to be given the opportunity to get to know us, and then decide if staying or not is for them. I'm glad we are at least making positive strides in the effort.

SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE

This past Sunday evening I actually ended up going to Calvin. I did this for two reasons. First, my son had to do the video for the service, and second, to support the prayer teams as they led a prayer service that evening. It was a wonderful service. Annette B shared with us her thoughts about soaking and healing prayer (see below). We have several prayer groups that are actively involved in praying for Calvin, and for each other, and Annette heads up one of those groups. We have been trying to get the different groups to do things together once in a while, so they don't feel like islands within the body of Calvin, and this is just one way for that to happen. It was great to see Annette so excited to be able to share. I remember that some years ago she didn't feel she could do this sort of thing. I'm thankful we have progressed to a point where she is able to express her feelings about prayer. We were able to experience a bit of what happens during a "house call ministry" time, and also be prayed for after communion was taken. It was a wonderful time to be in God's presence, as well as see a section of our church community praying together. If you couldn't make it for some reason, I've copied Annette's talk below. I hope this helps you understand where she is coming from and maybe you will be able to make our next prayer service time in a couple of months. Blessings to you all.

Introduction

Good evening. I am very excited to be sharing with you tonight. This is the second time this year that we as leaders of the prayer groups here at Calvin are leading in a prayer meeting. This is the beginning of a prayer initiative. The history of which has two parts.

One is, at the last council retreat there was a collective recognition for the need of pursuing a deeper spirituality.The second part is that there were some in our prayer teams who recognized a greater need for working together to increase unity among the prayer groups. January 29^th we gathered in the fellowship hall for a prayer concert and spent some time practicing prayer together.

Tonight it is my great privilege to talk with you about spending time in His presence and in looking to Him for healing. At soaking prayer on alternate Wednesday's it is our desire to make room for God's presence. We come together and soak in His presence.

What is meant by soaking? An old understanding of the same thing would be "wait on the Lord" or "tarry", with an emphasis on rest, I was curious about the word presence. So I looked it up in the Webster's dictionary. Presence: something (as a spirit) felt or believed to be present.

At soaking prayer we feel and believe that the Holy Spirit is present. And then we rest in that.

Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."

When I first heard John Arnott speak of soaking prayer 5 years ago at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, something stirred inside of me. Spiritually I felt dry and hungry. I was looking for something. Actually I was pursuing a deeper spirituality. I needed more connection between the God I believed in and the God that I experienced. I wanted to work on my relationship with God.

What John Arnott was talking about caught my attention. "If you want to get closer to Jesus" he said," start soaking." That was the challenge.

As we have gathered for these 5 years I realize I've just scratched the surface. Spending 2 hours on alternate Wednesday nights has gotten me to the point of hoping for… more. That is could it really be that the more time I spend with Him in His presence the more I yield to Him the more I just hang out with Him could it really be that I will be energized, encouraged, strengthened, readied?

Will I really be more influenced by Him? What would it look like if I were more influenced by Him?

Like I said I believe we have just scratched the surface in our itsy bit of soaking time on Wednesday nights.

John Arnott also said, "The most efficient use of your time is, soaking." Now there's a challenge. Do I really believe that? Each step I take toward believing that I find I need to take a step away from some other things I have believed. These second beliefs often start with if only.

If only I lost 10 more pounds I'd feel really good about myself.

If only I finally put pictures on my walls and decorated my house a bit it would feel like a home.

If only I had more time I would get more done.

Perhaps you have your own if only's.

If only I had more money I wouldn't be so tired out from working so hard,

If only I was married I would be happy.

If only I didn't have this arthritis to deal with I'd be happy.

There are lots of If only's.

What would it look like if I were more influenced by Him? By scratching the surface on Wednesday nights I recognize the invitation of Jesus. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Soaking prayer is just one way of standing under the influence of God's presence. I know that you are all under His influence. You are here. He is here. We've invited Him and asked Him to come. And so He is here. And so we are all gathered together under His influence.

His presence is felt wherever He is welcomed. I know many of us have good habits in place allowing for His influence. We come regularly to fellowship with Him and other believers. We read our bibles and pray in our homes. We are constantly doing acts of mercy and kindness for each other and others in our community.

I could get distracted for a long time dwelling on this. his church has been for me a thriving warm and bustling hub reflecting the Mercy of Christ in the last 14 years. His influence is present.

I would also like to talk to you tonight about Healing Prayer

One of the first things that comes to mind when introducing healing prayer are the hard questions.

What do we do when healing doesn't happen?

Sickness is hard.

Sickness in its pain attracts other qualities.

Discouragement. Disappointment. Despair. Fear.

The hard part is when we pray for healing

and we don't see the healing manifest.

Pain stays or increases.

Loved ones die.

In the act of healing prayer we are led to hope. And when healing does not happen disappointment is crouching at the door. Discouragement can come in.

Sometimes despair.

Sometimes fear.

My concern with disappointment is this.

We can learn to live with it.

As we learn to live with it as we make room for it in our lives at some point we need to explain what it's doing there. And in the context of not seeing healing after we've prayed we find ourselves defending the disappointment and explaining why God did not heal us.

As we defend disappointment in our lives we begin to harbor it. We make room for it. When we make room for it there is less room for hope.

In her book The healing Light Agnes Sanford gives a delightful illustration of this problem. She compares our praying to God to our turning on a light by flicking the light switch. When we turn on the switch and the light doesn't go on the first thing we say is not (Unless of course an odd spring storm hits your way) we don't say, "Oh I There's something wrong with the power it's not working." Instead we check the light bulb to see if it's burnt out or we check to see if there is a short in the wire. (And if it's Ontario hydro during a spring storm…then we face a different power again.)

The point is that we don't question the power source first of all. We examine the connection to the power or the interference with the power. Perhaps when we pray and don't get the result we are hoping for instead of defending why God isn't giving the hoped for outcome we need to examine the connection or the interference.

Satan is a thief and is out to steal, kill and destroy. You can bet he will be interfering with our healing.

Our connection? What kind of connection is God calling us into? What kind of relationship do we need to be connected to God the source of all power and love? In looking at Healing Prayer I would like to direct our attention to at just one area in which Jesus models for us.

On the Wednesday when we are not gathering for Soaking prayer a number of us are involved in House Call Ministries. I can't talk about the one without referring to the other because of how they are linked. House Call Ministries was born out of Soaking prayer. There's a good reason for this.

Healing prayer happens out of a context of intimacy. We're going to look at how Jesus modeled this for us.

But first I'd like to ask an obvious question.

When I go to pray with someone and they experience healing, have I healed them?

Of course not!

All our healing comes from God the Father. He is, love personified.

If it is not me healing the person I'm praying for then why do I have to pray at all?

God the Father wants to involve us.

Of course He could just heal without our involvement.

But God is a God of relationship.

He is always calling us back into greater relationship with Him.

He wants to be intimate with us.

He is not the God who created us and left us to fend for ourselves.

How does this discussion tie into my praying for someone else's healing? I believe that the more that I soak in His presence the more I will be influenced by Him. will begin to see more of life from His point of view. I believe that He wants to influence us with His good purposes.

Healing has good purpose.

When we pray for healing we have a perfect model in Jesus. But now I have a surprise for you. What I am going to say will surprise you. Like me Jesus did not heal one person. Unlike me through Jesus' Father many were healed as Jesus walked the earth. In Steve Longs book 30 things Jesus knew about healing people he shows us how this is true for the centurion in Matthew 8.

Steve Long says, "This wonderful nameless centurion was the first person to figure it out. It took a man who was used to authority to see what was really happening and due to his military training, the centurion got it. Despite Jesus trying over and over to tell his Twelve and the multitudes that He was only doing the will of His Father, everyone kept thinking that Jesus was the healer.

Here is what the centurion saw. He saw that Jesus was under authority! He knew how orders worked. A commander tells a lower ranking officer what his or her desire is and then they pass on the orders to those underneath them. Eventually a task is accomplished by a lower ranking person doing what someone of greater rank said to do.

This centurion in his request begins by speaking this shocking statement,' But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority" What he was telling Jesus was this; "You are just like me, not giving the orders but rather carrying them out on behalf of someone else."

Steve Long goes on to give examples and scriptures of other instances where Jesus only did what he heard and what he saw from the Father.

John 5:30 "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me."

John 5:19 "Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing. Because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

In conclusion Long writes: "The point I'm trying to make is that Jesus did not heal people in and of Himself. He was absolutely dependent on God for authority and power as well as for the revelation of whom to minister to."

Jesus is the perfect model of living under the influence of the Father. In John 17:20 Jesus prays for us as believers and for whomever we share our treasure with. "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you."

Here we have a summary of our role model in Jesus in His relationship to His Father and a mandate of how to adapt that into our lives and be a role model for the world around us. On Easter morning just before the service started someone came over to me and gave me news of the death of one of the mom's from school who had been fighting cancer. I had visited her several times in the hospice. I looked up from where I was sitting. On the screen were the words for the beginning of the service.

Death is conquered. The grave is empty. O death where is your sting.

How does that fit? I can't explain it.

Pain and sickness are not pretty.

But come let us join together as the body of Christ and rest under His influence encouraging and loving one another.

We then went into a time of prayer, communion, and more prayer.