Bryan Richardson – Page 16 – The Everyday Prayer

Question

Re:Verse passage – Luke 6:46-49 (day three)

“The torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

How does one become a good person? That question has a long pedigree. The Greeks, who knew nothing of Moses, asked it before Christ walked the earth. The addressing of that question, as those same Greeks knew and Jesus repeatedly asserted, requires nothing less than a devotion to the re-ordering of one’s whole life. But that is hard (see Jesus’s words on the narrow way), and the temptation is strong to condense that transformative quest into a multiple-choice exam to which one must give the right answer in order to obtain eternal life. A right answer is what the Pharisees sought, and still their house fell. Right living, on the other hand, is possible only by apprenticing oneself to the Lord Jesus, the sure foundation.

Fitting

Re:Verse passage – Luke 5:33-39 (day three)

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins.”

Much has (rightly) been made of this parable – or more correctly, collection of parables. Is the gospel “new wine?” Is Jesus’s way of practicing faith a “new wineskin?” Is the old wineskin the establishment Pharisees? Maybe. Varying interpretations abound. So what’s one more? Here it is: What if Jesus is simply saying that life with him is a life of learning to pay attention to what fits the moment you’ve been given? Jesus says in essence, “Just as everybody has learned that new wine requires new wineskins, so my disciples are learning what is required by the circumstances in which they find themselves.” Feeling overwhelmed by the moment is a point of great pain for you. Jesus can teach you to understand what is most needed in that moment. What a joy.

Potential

Re:Verse passage – James 5:19-20 (day three)

“He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Policing or shepherding – this is the choice facing all disciples of Jesus Christ regarding life together. Does Christ mean for the church to consist of good citizens, or people of promise? If it is the former, then we have no choice but to police one another in attitude, in behavior, and finally, in thought. If it is the latter, then we must submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, because the brother or sister in whose presence we stand will one day reign in glory. Jesus looked at Simon and saw the end from the beginning: You are Peter, a rock. Every interaction with him from that point took its cue from what Simon could become.

Fellowship

Re:Verse passage – James 5:12-18 (day three)

“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”

Where in James’s vision of humanity could one find people in all their many circumstances welcoming not just everybody, but every part of everybody – their brokenheartedness, their joys, their pain, their hope, their despair, their griefs, their glories, their sicknesses, their strengths, their weaknesses? That would be the church, James says. When one lives with others in the fellowship of Christ, there’s room for those who feel bad and for those who have just discovered good, for those who need someone to weep with them and those who need someone to laugh with them. James knew the church’s word to the world is not to be “We’ll be nicer to you than the world is,” but rather “We’ll never forsake you because Jesus didn’t forsake us.”

Wait

Re:Verse passage – James 5:7-11 (day three)

“You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

Few attributes seem as devoid of life as the characteristic of patience. Perhaps thinking of past attempts at patience brings to mind memories of stifled emotion, forced calm, mind-numbing hours, anger-inducing delays, or the like. It seems exhausting, oppressive, infuriating, useless, wasteful of everybody’s time. Shall we just smash all the clocks and burn all the calendars? Such so-called patience is actually impatience. True patience, on the other hand, will only become possible as one contemplates reality instead of pretense. When you fancy that a new job will make possible all your treasured ambitions, that’s mostly fantasy. When you become increasingly familiar with the qualities of the kingdom of God, you will treasure patience as that space that will allow you to grow into the joy of it.

Ask

Re:Verse passage – James 4:1-12 (day three)

“You do not have because you do not ask.”

The Lord told Moses to speak to the rock, not strike it. That is, Moses was to request, not coerce, and water would flow. Jesus said to knock – not force your way in – and the door would be opened. The way of the Lord in heaven and earth is the ask. To ask is to humble yourself before the one to whom you are making a request – or in Moses’s case, even before the thing to which you are making a request. James points out that the kind of exchange that often passes for “asking” is actually a type of manipulative sleight of hand which seeks only to benefit your own desires without thought for the welfare of another. When you ask, you make possible a fellowship of joy born of giving and receiving.

Connection

Re:Verse passage – James 3:13-18 (day three)

“This wisdom is not that which comes down from above…”

As always, James remains practical. Theology is present, of course, but what is out front here is actual speaking, responding, planning, noticing, allowing, supporting, and allying. These actions are what we talk about when we talk about everyday life. The ideas in your head are not everyday life. You might desire that your Christian ideas give shape to the way you live, but that’s not always the case. It’s possible to ally yourself with those who do evil even as you verbalize your own intent to do good, for instance. In that case, the “wisdom from above” does not inform your alliances. James will not let you get away with choosing right ideas at the expense of right living. Such an arrangement is at the heart of what James calls “earthly wisdom.”

Reticent

Re:Verse passage – James 3:1-12 (day three)

“No one can tame the tongue.”

Do you really think you would straighten out your most vexing problem if only you could make your case a little better? There’s a good chance you do in fact believe that. And maybe you could. Who’s to say? But speech is often the first act, and when it is, words get deployed without benefit of reflection or listening or stillness. Their power is then unfocused and imprecise, because they have to cover so many categories and answer so many perceived threats. But when, like our Lord before Pilate, you remain silent, that quiet hour will turn your attention to the real need at hand. Our previously taciturn Savior’s eventual words shed mercy abroad as he asked God to forgive the very people who crucified him. Out of silence came words of grace.

Life

Re:Verse passage – James 2:14-26 (day three)

“Faith without works is dead.”

Certain domains attempt to acknowledge the way the universe presents itself so that a person might live according to reality. Mathematics readies one to act in accord with patterns that appear in nature so that building and banking and baking are possible, for instance. If such behaviors were not the aim, mathematics would have no reason to exist. Likewise — and even more essentially — faith attempts to acknowledge the spiritual realm so that a person might live according to reality. Faith readies one to understand that life is sustainable only by living — doing “works” — in a particular way. Without one person’s forgiving another, for instance, life would cease. If such actions were not the aim, faith would have no reason to exist. In this sense, not only is faith without works dead, so are human beings without works.

Revolution

Re:Verse passage – James 2:1-13 (day three)

“Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?”

James’s statement about “the rich” tends to elicit defensive responses claiming that there are some good rich people, too, just as there are some bad poor people. Okay. But that’s not James’s point. Rather, James declares that it’s not the poor who are calling the shots in this world. Behind every war, piece of legislation, rezoning plan, tax policy, banking rule, or economic strategy, there are wealthy decision makers who hold power and who shape the world we find ourselves in – much like wealthy leaders of prosperous nations carving up the Middle East in the 1920’s after the Great War. James doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, per se. The question he puts to the church is, “What system of living with people are you propping up?”