Prayer for the third week of Advent

14Dec09

Note: We wait with longing as we saw in week one.  We groan while waiting as we saw in week two.  But now the dawn is coming.  Christmas approaches and our waiting is about to bear fruit of joy.  As the pre-dawn light brightens the day even before the Sun emerges from the horizon, so too we see the brightness growing as the coming of Christ approaches.  We are filled with joy…

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come
among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and
the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

- From the Book of Common Prayer

O come  thou Day-Spring* come and cheer

Our spirit’s by thine advent here.

Disperse the gloom of gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight!

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel!”

* (Dayspring:  The first light of day.)

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Prayer for the second week of Advent

09Dec09

Note: As we continue to long for the coming of our Messiah — our Savior-King — our hope, expectation and anticipation continue to grow, like the light of the candles continues increases with each week of the Advent season.  Time does not diminish our expectation – we groan with the ache of the brokenness around us. But as a pregnant mother in pain, we still hope and anticipate and wait with expectation, for we know that after the gestation of our hope and faith, we will be filled with joy.

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:
Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins,
that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our
Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

– From the Book of Common Prayer

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyrrany

From depths of hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel,

Shall come to thee, O Israel!”

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A prayer for the first week of Advent

01Dec09

Note: Advent has, for over fifteen hundred years, been the season in which followers of Christ look forward to and anticipate the coming of Christ in three distinct ways: 1) historically, recalling the anticipation of the first coming of the Messiah (the one who would save His people), fulfilled in the birth of Jesus; 2) presently, the anticipation of Jesus coming more and more fully into our present lives as daily he reveals and redeems anew; and 3) the anticipation of the day when Jesus will return again to bring an end to sin, evil, brokenness and death and bring the people of God into full reunion with God.

Each week during this Advent season, I will post a prayer for that week of Advent, from the Book of Common Prayer, used in the Anglican Church as well as a verse from an Advent hymn of anticipation.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of
darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of
this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit
us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come
again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the
dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen. — From the Book of Common Prayer

O come, O come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

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222

20Nov09

Today begins 222, InterVarsity’s eastern Virginia area conference. We’ll be hanging out with around 200 students from schools all across eastern Virginia as they engage in tracks such as Get the Word Out (on evangelism), Prayer, The Living Word (on Scripture), Justice (on God’s heart for the marginalized and oppressed), and Christianity Explored (where new or not-yet Christians hear who Christ is and what he’s done).

Please pray for this weekend! 222 has been an incredibly beneficial conference in my life and in many other friends and students I know. This year, Richmond will be taking 7 students – rather low numbers for various reasons. Nonetheless, please pray that those 7 students would have life-altering encounters with God and that we’d see him engage them in new and fresh ways, pouring out his Spirit on them to be fervent in prayer and bold in witness.

Also, please pray for me, as I give 2 talks in the Prayer track – one on using scripture in prayer and one on corporate/intercessory prayer. Pray that God would fill me with His words and that students would catch a vision for prayer through this track!

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After Apple Picking

07Oct09

A befitting poem, after My roommates and I went apple picking on Sunday.  I concur with a sense of apple-fatigue:

“After Apple Picking”, by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

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October Prayer Letter

05Oct09

University of Richmond                                             Transform. Renew. Change.

Left: 80 students (mostly new!) watched the sunrise in VA Beach with us.         Right: Helping Jenna (senior) finalize her talk at Fall Retreat.

Here Comes The Son

It’s been a wild and fun journey from August to October!  We’ve been all over the state of Virginia all for the sake of expanding and advancing a witnessing community here at University of Richmond.  We were two miles from the West Virginia border for fall retreat, where almost 50 students were challenged to experience the transforming love of God and to be compelled by that love to invite others to experience it, as Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:15, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one dieed for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.“

Where Do We Go From Here?

That’s the question that has been tugging at my heart since I took on the responsibility of the InterVarsity chapter at University of Richmond.  It’s particularly striking me now, as New Student Welcome is drawing to a close.  There are about 20-25 new, first-year students who are getting involved with InterVarsity.  How will they shape the chapter?  What do we want to be about over the next four years?  This I know: God is calling us to be his voice to the campus and invite others to be transformed by him.  That is what matters.  If we lose that, we’ve lost the very thing for which we’re here.  We’re growing in that direction, but it’s not yet part of the very fabric of who we are nor is it the epicenter of everything we do.  Pray that God would guide me and the chapter as I, by his grace and in his power, try to shape the culture of InterVarsity at UR to be centered on the mission to which he’s called us.

Financial Update

By God’s grace, I’m at 72% of my total budget for this year.  That leaves just over $14,000 more for me to raise this coming year.  I have a goal to  try and raise $9,000 of that by the end of October.  Would you continue to be praying that God would provide this, praising Him for his past, present and future provision, and discerning if He would have you be the answer to that prayer?

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for a re-centering of our culture on missionally reaching out to the campus.
• Pray for continued provision of the $14,000 in funding needed to accomplish this.
• Pray for dedication, focus and discernment for students, who are easily consumed by dozens of activities and opportunities competing for their time and energy.

To donate online, click here.

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Thank You Note to a Child Laborer

30Sep09

Saw this over at Urbana.org (register for Urbana09!!!) and thought I’d share it.  Admittedly, it’s over the top, picking on easy targets in mass consumerism/materialism.  But I wonder how the little decisions we make affect a real human being on the other side of the world (or in our own community, for that matter)…

Dear Bopha:

These are tough financial times, and working for $2 per day to help provide for your family is also really helping us here in the west. I thought I should write a quick note of thanks.

First some good news: Gas prices are lower. For a while it was getting scary. I was afraid I would have to sell my SUV! That would have been hard on us (it would have taken days to clean all the stuff out the back). Now that oil prices have gone down, your mom should be able to buy the ½ cup of cooking oil you’ve been doing without for so long. This means she will be able to cook a meal every once in a while for your family. Cheap oil is a great blessing to us all, isn’t it? You can cook, and I can continue driving at 15 miles per gallon.

I know the amount you’ve been getting paid has been dropping like a stone lately. This stupid credit crunch is freezing everyone up from buying things right now. I guess part of the problem is debt. I should know. I have four credit cards maxed to the limit. Plasma TVs are really expensive here – it’s unbelievable how much they want for a 50” screen! Since I didn’t want to put more on my credit cards, I was forced to take out a second mortgage on my home so I could buy the boat. This was unavoidable. Although we can only use it only a few months out of the year here in Wisconsin it was something my family felt we really could not do without. As you look at the attached photo I think you will see why. Isn’t it beautiful?

So anywho, all this borrowing seems to have played a role in freezing money up in a serious way. Therefore, it is all the more important that you keep working twelve hour days for so little. We are all doing what we can. I realize the cost of rice has risen above your ability to pay. But let me tell you, my family and I are standing in solidarity with you. You will be glad to know that I have started buying the cheaper coffee to cut down on our grocery bill. This is sort of funny in a way because I’ve had to stop buying fairly traded stuff. The bright side is that this should help your friends, as I know their employers do not believe in fair trade.

The really scary part is that the money I had invested in emerging markets like Darfur is now only worth half of what it was last year at this time. Believe you me … you are fortunate your family has no savings.

So, I thought I’d write this little note encouraging you to keep working so I can get some good stuff for Christmas this year.

Gratefully,
Your Friend in America

P.S. Sorry to hear about your sister being sold into the brothel, but it’s wonderful that your mom can now get the medicine she needs. Once she starts working again and your dad stops drinking, your situation could really start looking up.

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“Original Sin Explains the Need for Christ’s Death”

29Sep09

Found this over at Kingdom People, a blog I like to follow.  To see the whole, very thorough post, click here.

“The problem with excising original sin from this picture is that it neutralizes the power of the cross. It makes the cross a call to new life, but not something that actually accomplishes anything. It’s a call to new life, rather than a gift of new life. The cross says, “Be better.”

For those who deny original sin, the cross is about making (kinda) good people better. In the traditional understanding, the cross is about making dead people live.

I need God to swoop in and change me and save me himself. I can’t save myself. I am so wicked. I know my heart. I know my thoughts. The last thing I need is a call. I need to be revived first and then set about to new tasks.

So I take great comfort in original sin. It rings true with the biblical witness and with my human experience.

We are rebellious sinners, but God loves us anyway. That’s a lot better than saying, ‘We aren’t really as bad as we think we are, and God does love us.’ God’s love for me is greater and more impressive because I know how bad I am than by my making myself seem better.” – Trevin Wax, Kingdom People

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So September Sends Summer Slowly Sauntering

27Sep09

Where has September gone?

Well, if it was hanging around us, it’s gone all over the place:

• It went to a sweet cookout we did for anyone and everyone who wanted a hamburger, hot dog or boca burger.  We served over 300 hamburgers and hot dogs and got to meet hundreds of people!
• It went to fall retreat, where just about 50 students asked the question, “What is love?”  This was a great time of diving deeper into relationships and inviting each other to experience God’s love and then let that love compel us to love the people around us.
• It woke up at 3:00AM so we could hit the road and head to Virginia Beach to watch the sunrise.  About 80 to 90 people came with us – the vast majority of whom were international students and/or students who have never set foot in another InterVarsity event,

Those are some of the highlights from September.  October is looking to be a bit more docile, as we spend the remainder of the semester living this calling we’ve received.  Pray that the depth of our community grows – not for our own sake, but so we may be strengthened to fulfill the mission God’s called us to.

For me, October means putting considerable time into fund raising.  Thankfully, it looks like I’ll be able to stay on campus 3 days a week, while spending the other 2 working on fund raising.  This is a significant improvement from what I anticipated: only being on campus 1 day each week.

I have a goal to raise $8,000 by November 1.  Right now, I have raised about $37,000 of my $51,000 budget which leaves about $14,000 total for me to raise.  Pray that God would continue to be faithful to provide and that he will help me develop a base of supporters which I can count on each year.

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Manna, Massah and Meribah

18Aug09

Let me not-apologize from the get go: this  is another post about fund-raising.  For those of you who may tire of hearing about my financial situation, realize that there are few things that have stretched me and grown me as much as uncertainty of where God’s provision will come from.   So, he’s teaching me a lot through this.  (Whether I’m learning, is a different question all together…)

I confess: I live in Massah and Meribah.

In the account of the exodus of the people of Israel, we find some astonishing things – like how near-sighted we as bent humans are.

The people of God – who God himself has heroically and miraculously rescued from Egypt – on their journey to the land God has promised to give them have to go through a desert.  Naturally, there isn’t too much to eat or drink in a desert – especially for an entire nation of at least 70,000 (if the numbers are figurative) and at most 2.5 million (if the numbers are actual and represent just fighting men).  So the Israelites complain to Moses, “Oh, that we were back in Egypt.  It would have been better if the LORD had killed us there!  At least there we had plenty to eat.  But now you have brought us into this desert to starve us to death.”

The LORD hears their complaint and in his sovereign grace and divine providence, provides Manna and quail for them to eat.  God wins.  He provides.  The people are dependent on him.

…But there’s no water.  What would be the appropriate response here?  Maybe something along the lines of, “well, God can obviously provide us water if he provided us food.”  Or maybe, “if God promised to take us to a land of our own, then he will obviously provide what is needed.”  Or at the least, “I’m so thirsty… I don’t understand.  God, where are you?”  (God-directed emotion is not a bad thing.)

But no, what we hear instead is a familiar old tune: “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Sigh… do we just not get it?

The story goes on, and God provides water miraculously and he continues to provide for a people who are constantly forgetting that he can or will.  But in this moment, Moses creates a monument to his people’s shame: he names the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling), “because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7)

And that is my address.  I live at the corner of Massah and Meribah.  God has been faithful to provide in the past.  He’s shown me where I’m going in the future.  And he’s promised to be with me now, along the way.  But all that is hard to remember when I’m $25,000 short of full provision.

God, why did you lead me here?  It would have been better for you to have let me stay in captivity to money and financial security.  At least there I had everything I needed and wanted.

That’s what you hear when my tent is pitched at the corner of Massah and Meribah.  May God be gracious to forgive my naive quarreling.  May he have mercy and provide what’s needed despite my telling him he won’t provide.  And may he change my quarreling and testing into gratitude and trust.

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