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I was recently at a training meeting where I was struck by the words that presenter lifted up in prayer. “Lord, we thank you that you trust us to be partners with you in proclaiming your Kingdom.”
Have you ever taken time to really consider that we are partners with God in proclaiming the Kingdom of God? We some what skirt around that fact when we say things like ‘we are the hands and feet of Jesus’ and ‘the local Church is God’s tool in the world’, but the truth is, starting back with Adam and Eve, God invited humans to participate in the Kingdom of God. Think of Adam, given the opportunity to name the animals and be a steward of the land. That was God entrusting unto Adam, and us as his descendants, something that was precious to God - creation, which had time and creativity poured into it and was pronounced to be “very good.”
Today we are also invited into partnership with God in some amazing ways. The first way we are a partner with God is through prayer. We are called to be a people who persist in prayer. Over the years I have been asked several times why we even bother praying if God already knows what we are going to say, but John and James both have something to say to us today about the power of prayer. John says if we abide in Christ then what we ask for in the power of Christ’s name will be done. James takes it a step further saying that we do not receive because we have not came to God in prayer and asked.
Prayer, however, is not just about asking God for something and expecting it to happen. Prayer is about a living, breathing relationship with God. I love how author Klau Issler describes our different attitudes and approaches to prayer in his book Wasting Time with God. Issler says that too many Christians treat prayer like going to a restaurant. They look at a menu. They order what they want. And if it doesn’t come back exactly how we expected then we send it back. There is no relationship in this particular context. We don't know the people taking our order or the people making the food. We simply go to get what we want.
However, when we make food together there is a relationship. When I was in college I studied abroad in Australia. The college I attended had most students living on campus where you were required to have a meal plan. So when we got to our new school in Australia and realized that we were living in cottages with no meal plans it was a bit of a shock. But then we thrived. Some of our favorite things to make were tomato sauce, honey glazed fish and homemade pizzas. We didn’t have any recipes, so everything made was a little different each time. There was laughter in the kitchen. Stories were shared. And then we sat down around a table together and shared in what was created. Cooking was deeply rooted in relationship.
How would you describe your prayer life with God in this example? Are you creating something in the kitchen of life with God, sharing life together, or are you ordering off a menu and then are disappointed when it doesn’t meet your expectations?
Prayer is meant to be rooted in relationship - a friendship with God. One where we not only talk, but where we also listen. When we have our eyes open and realize that sometimes the way that God chooses to answer our prayer doesn’t meet our expectations, but is actually even better.
We are also invited to pray for those things that are burning in our spirits. When we pray Church, change happens. When we pray we are partners with God, praying God’s Kingdom into existence. We are listening for the voice and leading of our Savior, and then going where he sends us.
Two beautiful examples of what can happen when we pray as partners with God. Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, the former resident bishop of the Central Pennsylvania and Susquehanna Annual Conference used to pray like this. “Lord, I have a desire in my heart, if its from you let me increase in that desire, and if it is not from you, let that desire decrease.” Bishop Middleton used discernment and if that desire was confirmed she worked to make it happen for the glory of Jesus’s Kingdom.
The Quaker time of is very different then ours. There isn’t a designated order of worship, scripture passage, or even a pastor to speak. Instead, followers of Jesus gather and sit in silence. If something is placed on the heart by the Spirit, anyone can rise and say it. After they are done, the silence continues. Sometimes people who aren’t used to this type of worship ask when the service is going to start, and the answer is when they leave to go and serve the world based off what they have heard for God.
Which leads us to the second way we partner with God, by actually going and perhaps even more importantly, knowing why we go. The story in the Gospel of Mark of Jesus and fig tree is odd. Jesus walks by a fig tree that wasn’t producing fruit and cursed it. However, the time of year when this story took place, Spring, wasn’t fig season. What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples?
The fig tree was thought to be a metaphor for teachings that weren’t bearing fruit. Teachings that were dying. To be clear, Jesus wasn’t against religious teachings or ritual, however, he didn’t want a misuse of those rituals and teachings that lead to death instead of life abundant or where we miss the point of ministry.
When we go out and proclaim the name of Jesus, it isn’t about getting people to come to worship or join this particular church. It is about folks coming to have a relationship with Jesus. At a previous church, I started a ministry whose sole focus was to bring the good news of Jesus to folks who may never come to a church, and it was difficult at times for folks to catch the vision that yes, we love our Church, but we love Jesus so much more. We want folks to come to that relationship with Jesus. If they come to us later, fantastic, if not, because there is a different church that better fits their needs, thats okay too, because we have been partners with Jesus in building up his Kingdom.
Partnering with Jesus is about being concerned with the things that Jesus is concerned about - injustice, poverty, spiritual decay, and inequality. Partnering with Jesus is about being creative in the ways that we bring the message of Christ to those who may not come to us, come to the church building, first. And above all partnering with Jesus is about his Kingdom.
When we pray and when we go, we are subjecting ourselves to God. We are asking that God lead us and guide our ways. We are humble that we were invited to be part of this task in the first place and are amazed that we have a place and role in proclaiming the Kingdom! Let us thank God for the gift of partnership and help usher in the Kingdom of God! Amen! Amen! Amen!
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