Something to Do This Summer

There is this scene in a movie I remember watching with my wife a few years ago where the romantically involved couple goes out to a park in San Francisco, sits under a beautiful tree as the sun is setting, and watches an old movie on a makeshift screen with hundreds of others. I remember telling my wife that watching old movies in a park at night would be a pretty great way to spend an evening.
So, you can imagine my thrill when I found out last year that this is precisely what they do in Fairhaven (the south side of Bellingham) on Saturday nights throughout the summer. And its free (all the Mennonites just sat up). You can find out about the schedule and the movies they play at this link (http://fairhaven.com/content/2009_summer_movies). And if you are going to look into doing it, let me be the first to suggest you take along your family and do a couple of things beforehand…

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Shades of Prayer

As I was traveling to work this morning, thinking about God, about him as creator, and looking around at the trees and bushes and grass, the different colors of green jumped out at me.
I found a list of possible names from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_green

Army green, Asparagus, Bright green, British racing green, Camouflage green, Celadon, Chartreuse, Yellow-green, Emerald, Fern green, Forest green, Gray-asparagus, Green, Green-yellow, Harlequin, Hunter green, Islamic green, Jade, Jungle green, Kelly green, Lime, Lime green, Midnight green, Moss green, Myrtle, Office green, Olive, Olive drab, Pear, Persian green, Pigment green, Pine green, Sea green, Shamrock green, Spring green, Spring bud, Tea green, Teal, Viridian, Variations of green.

Did you know there were so many?
While I was driving I immediately thought of prayer.
Prayer comes in many different forms. Here are a few:

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Mysteries

Do any of you enjoy a good mystery?
The theaters and bookstores would suggest we do, especially when the end leaves us hanging and we can speculate and discuss, argue even, about “who done it”. It makes us feel like we have a say or some sort of control over history.

Think about the different mysteries in life.
• How can a humming bird fly?
• Why do children from the same family turn out so differently?
• Why do flowers cheer us up when we are sad?
• Why are dandelions considered weeds to be eliminated?
• Why do women need 10 pairs of black shoes (this might be a mystery to men but every woman knows why).
• Why are dogs so loyal and cats so … well you know how cats are? (Maybe I love cats because you have to earn their affection???)
• How can one place feel like home and another not?

And then there are the more difficult mysteries.
• Why do we just know that it’s wrong to kill babies?
• How can God be good and all powerful and yet let evil abound on earth?

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Uncovering Unvoiced Expectations

I would like to suggest something to you, something I believe we do constantly. It is unconscious and unvoiced. It has the ability to put us into a state of euphoria or deep depression depending on the outcome. It is cultural and very human, yet fraught with false expectation and impotent power.

We do this from young on. Its root at the very worst is pride – I’m central, I’m deserving, I’m superior. At the least its root is fear. And we know that neither root is of God. In fact He says:

God opposes the proud but favors the humble. (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5)
The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? (Psalm 56:11; 118:6)

This thing happens when we ask God for something. We might say, “Lord, please help me find work.” What we really do is tack on the word “NOW” without even realizing it.

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My Story…His Plan

“You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well.”
Deuteronomy 4:9 (Contemporary English Version)

In our recent Missions Weekend, I was struck by one of the lines in the song we sang, which said, “Somehow my story is a part of Your plan”. Hold that thought…

My family and I were recently blessed by being able to take a trip to revisit the place where the kids were born when we lived in the UK. Along the way, we made stops in Amsterdam, Paris, York, London, and our former home, Lincoln.

All are very historic cities, and all have places of ‘monuments to faith’ – cathedrals, etc… all built in a day gone by, when Christian influence was so significant in Europe. But today, they’re only relics and curiosities for most people.

However, one of the great moments was at York Minster. Amongst the throngs of tourists, the voice on the loudspeaker interrupted everyone at 3pm to invite them to honour the place as being a house of prayer, and to silently wait or join in as the person said afternoon prayers – reminding everyone that it is still a place of worship!

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