Weekly Update// Pastor Chris

Dear Asbury Family,

For the past month, our congregation has been walking through a series of sermons called “Help My Unbelief." Our aim in these messages has been to grapple with tough questions of faith. The message a few weeks back focused on prayer, why would an all-powerful God require prayer? We established that the reason God gave us prayer is to relate to us. Everything God does is driven by God’s desire to be in relationship with human beings, and prayer is the channel that facilitates our relationship with God.

I wanted to follow up by speaking a bit about “offensive prayers.” Do you know what those are? Those are the prayers in which we honestly communicate our raw emotion to God about a given situation – even being so bold as to raise our fists at God out of anguish and distress. We might consider such prayers “blasphemous.” However, there’s plenty of precedence for this in the Bible (Moses, the Psalms, etc.) As I did some reading on this topic, I came across a story that really spoke to me, so I wanted to share it.

Roy Lawrence writes how he was privileged to be associated with a group in England called St. Colombia’s Fellowship. Its members consist of hospice staff, nurses and sisters who work among those who are dying. At times, Roy and his wife are invited to speak at the fellowship’s conference.

At one of these conferences, they heard a hospice chaplain speak about a patient who wanted to see him because he was in great emotional distress. He was in the final stages of cancer and was feeling very guilty because he had spent the previous night ranting, raving, and swearing at God. The following morning the man felt terrible. He imagined that his chance of eternal life had now been lost forever, and that God would never forgive him for his words.

The chaplain asked the patient, “What do you think is the opposite of love?”

The man replied, “Hate.”

The chaplain wisely responded, “No, the opposite of love is indifference. You have not been indifferent to God, or you would never have spent the night talking to him, honestly telling him what was in your heart and mind. Do you know the Christian word that describes what you are doing? The word is ‘prayer.’ You have spent the night praying.”

(Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, page 100).

Isn’t it remarkable that God is so filled with love for us that he receives ALL our prayers, including the “offensive” ones? If prayer is about relationship, it’s important that we bring our whole selves to God in this relationship. Indeed, it’s in such prayers that God promises to meet and engage us. Thanks be to God.

Blessings,

Chris