A Brief Detour - National Day of Prayer 2010
Wanted to take a minute and hit something else before going back to the missional spiritual formation discussion…On Thursday, May 6th we’ll be gathering at Parkview’s Orland Park Campus for the National Day of Prayer 2010. The event will be held in the Underground at 7pm and I hope everyone will notch this on their calendars to be there. It will be an incredible time of seeking God together to help our neck of the world get their act together in light of God’s will.
However, the big challenge of this event is one that we sometimes miss and I want to state it pretty plainly. I’ve been a pastor now for about 14 years, and I want you to know that I say this out of love:
Our relationship with God can’t be based on how much our government supports that relationship. As a matter of fact, the more the government supports that relationship the less powerful it seems to be as a change-agent in our world.
Case in point: Christianity in China. Being a Christian means going to prison or even death, and yet the church (the church as a verb, see my last post) is mobilized and moving in every direction possible with the Gospel.
I’ve been following the hubbub about the National Day of Prayer being called unconstitutional and Christians creating a huge furor over it, but I have a pretty simple response.
Who cares. I really don’t care. And here's why.
If we’re waiting for the Constitution and our government to support Christianity I hope we brought a few magazines. It’s never going to happen.
So, when we gather on May 6th here’s what we’re going to do.
We’re going to pray – with the words of the Scriptures and with the words that come erupting out of our hearts for the world around us – and we’re going to seek God regardless of what political positioning has been taken. We're going to cry out as people who have seen enough murder, abuse, addiction, poverty, dishonesty, and hatred to last a lifetime and we're going to bring those things to God so that we can not only trust them to Him, but to find out how He's going to use us to be change agents on His Kingdom's behalf and as His ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:17-20)
We’re going to pray for everyone – including our enemies whoever they may be – and we’re going to celebrate the fact that our loyalty and hope is in Christ, the world’s true King and that the only stable system of politics and civic action is the Kingdom of God.
Can’t wait for next Thursday – I think God is about to cut something loose here and I hope if you can make it to Parkview Orland Park you will join us. If not, pray where you are and your heart and voice will join with those around this country who will be praying “Your Kingdom come, your will be done.”