Monday, December 31, 2012

Praying Together on Monday 12/31/82012 one last Time


Abba, Today on this the final day of 2012 I thank you for everyday and moment of it, even those I’ve questioned and wondered about. Thank you for the support of our families, for the blessings they are not only to me but to so many others, even when they may not ‘feel’ like it or know that they are.

Thank you for a calling and a purpose for my and our lives. Thank you for each of these my friends, brothers, sisters and fellow-labors in the Gospel. We didn’t seek you, you sought, came, bled and died for us, THANK YOU!!!

Thank you for the place where we serve. No matter that is less then we wish and want it to be. I am where you want me and each of us to be, at the moment. Thank you for courage, to continue to stand and serve with grace and dignity. Thank you for Your Holy anointing, which cannot be purchased or bought at any price. Thank you that I am serving under and by it and not of myself.

Thank you for struggle and the pain that accompanies it, even here you have meaning an purpose. I’m not in love with it, but as long as you are present, I know you walk with and within me, enabling me to come forth as pure gold. Help me to be an living example of the Christ who willingly when to Calvary for those like me, who are undeserved, but for whom you were willing to die.

Thank you for the country in which I live, give me courage for face and challenge the evil which portrays itself as ‘goodness, and fairness,’ when neither of these are true, but only self servicing. May I ever stand against those who pray upon the weak and defenseless in the name of ‘the greater good,’ when but a few benefit. Thank you for those who are a blessing to those who otherwise might never believe they can rise above their past and their present circumstances.

Come now Holy Spirit, rise within us, change us before we attempt to change others. Come, thank you for breaking my heart, so that you might heal the brokenness within me. Thank you seems like so little, for someone who has given me and the world so much, I give you my heart and my life, to use as You will, beginning this moment and for not only the “new year,” but the rest of my life!!!

In the strong name of Jesus I pray, AMEN!!!

T.A.B. 

"UBUNTU"

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What Good Shepherds Don't Do


When tending becomes controlling, we've overstepped our role.

Skye Jethani

In 2005, townspeople in Gevas, Turkey, watched in horror as one sheep jumped to its death, and then 1,500 others followed over the same cliff. When the villagers, whose livelihoods depended on the flock, reached the bottom of the mountain, they found a billowy white pile of death. Some 450 sheep were lost, but amazingly 1,000 survived. As the pile grew, the dead bodies cushioned the fall of other sheep.

How did this accident happen? The shepherds responsible for protecting the flock had left the sheep on the mountain to eat breakfast, and then the fleeces started to fly.

The importance of a shepherd is inversely proportional to the intelligence of the animal being shepherded. Dogs, for example, manage to survive fairly well without human oversight. Dolphins do even better. Sheep, on the other hand, don't have the good sense not to jump off a cliff. They need a shepherd to survive.

The fact that Scripture compares God's people to sheep ought to humble us. We need godly shepherds to lead, feed, and protect us from the world and from ourselves. We are irrefutably sinful (and often stupid) creatures willing to throw ourselves off cliffs of self-destruction. This truth, however, can tempt shepherds to overstep their role. Sometimes the most difficult part about pastoral ministry is knowing what is not our responsibility.

After the Resurrection, Jesus restores Peter and tells him three times to "feed" or "tend" his sheep and concludes with an allusion to his eventual martyrdom. Peter seems less than thrilled with this assignment, because he immediately asks Jesus about John's calling. The Lord rebukes him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:22).

We see Peter's temptation to overstep his role. He wants to know, and perhaps influence, John's calling. But Jesus makes it clear that determining John's calling is not Peter's responsibility. Essentially Jesus says, "You feed. You tend. You do not call. That is my prerogative. You are the servant; I am the master."

This has always been a temptation for us pastors. Knowing how helpless and stupid sheep can be, we come to believe that without our guidance, they can do nothing. So beyond feeding and tending, we assume it is also our responsibility to call—to tell Christ's sheep what they are to do.
Feeding and tending includes teaching. We instruct God's flock from the Scripture and teach them to obey all Jesus has commanded. The general commands from the Bible that apply to all disciples are sometimes known as our corporate calling.

Where we overstep as shepherds is when we assume the responsibility for a disciple's specific calling. This is what Peter questioned regarding John, and it's a tendency often encouraged by our culture's understanding of leadership. In corporate America the leader is the person with the vision. She or he then calls others to a particular task in order to accomplish it. We've accepted this view of leadership within the church, too, assuming the pastor's role is to articulate a particular vision and call all people to that singular work. Success is then measured by how many people answer our call.

We spend much of our energy calling people to our mission, to advance our church, to be evangelists, or even better—missionaries. And we do this with the best of intentions. We want to see God's work accomplished. What we forget is that Christ has called us to be shepherds who feed and tend, not masters who call. That is his job; they are, after all, his sheep. In Matthew 9 Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few," but he does not tell his disciples to find, call, and send out more laborers. Instead, he instructs them to "pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers." Jesus does not outsource his responsibility to call to us.

The instinct to protect the sheep under our care is a good one; heaven knows they need it. But when feeding and tending becomes controlling or determining life direction, we've overstepped our role. We may think it's our job to call as many people as possible into missions or church work. But a disciple's specific calling always comes from Christ. Our task is to lead them into deeper communion with him. Christ's sheep need a shepherd. They already have a Lord.

[Copied from Leadership Journal]
Skye Jethani is senior editor of Leadership Journal, contributor to Out of Ur, and regularly teaches at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Praying Together on Monday 12/17/2012

Today Father, more than most I desire that we draw close to you. Not simply because of the tragic events in Newtown, Conn., but because how easily and quickly we forgot our need of you. Remember I pray these families and friends, a community bound together not only by a horrific tragedy, and sense of loss for those we have never met, but because we understand the loss. We too are touched by it and at this time of year when we are trying to be cheerful and joyous because of the birth of a savior, we're hit with so great a loss. 

Help us as pastors, ministers and Christian leaders, and fellow human beings, to pray earnestly for these and those like them and ourselves, for our behavior and conduct to each other. For our failings as fellow beings, and not only the families of those killed, but the family of the perpetrator as well. He too has a family, who are be suffering as well, may they find you are present with them as well. 

I pray for our county, not only in the light of this latest event, but as a society and a culture, we've largely abandoned you and your teaching, and attempted to lead our lives without you and benefit of your instruction. We have abandoned you and now in a moment of utter failure, we call upon your name and ask your help. You have every right to say no or nothing.  Thank you for being so loving and hearing our cry and prayers. 

During the next few days, the families of their children will become ours; we will watch in silence and morn with those who have lost loved ones; may they know they are cared for not only today and this week, but that we will look out for them and each other, as if they were our family, because they are. May the distance which separates us, evaporate through prayer and concern. May we learn that we need you and each other, all of us. 

Come Holy Spirit, heal our wounded hearts, calm our anger and utter frustration not only in sobs and tears, but learning to lean on you and each other. 

Bless us who are called upon to preach and teach during this Christmas season, to do so with a greater seans of the meaning of your coming, as your angel said to Mary, " . . . to save His people from their sins." Thank you for a hope far greater than then that of some some senseless killer, and death of so many little children, but for those of us who must live with the empty place at the table, the room where they have slept, the toys and dolls left without a master or someone to hug them, and heart that will always long to  hold these dear one again, but cannot,   

Thank you again, for loving us, holding dear to your heart; for weeping with us and reminding us as you did at the grave of your dear friend, Lazarus. "Jesus wept."  May we lead through tears, heartbreak and pain, may we find strength in your Word and the presence of others. Thank you for sending the greatest and most valuable gift of all time, Your only begotten Son, Jesus to allow us to your son and daughters and children of the Most High. 

In the name of Jesus I and we pray, AMEN. 

T.A.B.


"UBUNTU"

Monday, December 3, 2012

Praying Together On Monday - 12/3/2012

Abba, Thank you for Advent. With so much to do, I can forget that “You are the reason for the season.” The some that is nothing more than a trite phrase, often quoted but not really believed or understood. With so much to do and so many to do for, I get caught up in doing and forget the real reason for this glorious time of year.

Thank you for caring so much for us as your creation, that when we fell in Adam, you provided a means of salvation and restoration for an entire race. Slow me down Lord, my mind and heart race into the next thing I’ve (we’ve) off to do. Frankly, I fail to encounter you as I’m at work for you. Here in this moment in this simple prayer, come Holy Spirit, may i seek you who isn’t hard to find or that far way. Come, and give me rest in yourself so that those I meet or work with will sense your presence.

Thank you for being of service to our neighbors and community, for allowing us to be your hands and feet to those who have have need. Forgive me as I often become callous to the needs around me, because they are so often greater than I can touch or resolve. Thank you for those who work with me, they have have their own ‘issues’ as I have mine. I can see theirs but often ‘gloss-over’ my own. May we learn to work together with those who disagree with me, or refuse to submit to my authority or vision. Lord, give me your heart, I’ve allowed my own to darken sometimes.

Bless these my brothers and sisters, Yes, they too are your own, to find a place where we all fit together, even as we are divided by distance, ministry type and calling; to say nothing of those clearly obvious differences, the one’s we don’t and often won’t talk about, because they are uncomfortable or won’t fit neatly into a box I’ve (we’ve) created. Lord, you know we need each other, but “I don’t know them, and why would they care about me?” It is your Spirit that touches hearts, that calls us into places where we are uncomfortable, but needed. Forgive me for trying ‘fix’ someone else, when I am so lacking myself.


So thank you for where you have led me, and brought me, use us here, in this place in th

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Measure of a Man

Not - How did he die? - How did He live?
Not - What did he gain? But - What did he give?
These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.
Not - What was his station? But - had he a heart?
And - How did he play his God-given part?
Was he ever ready with a word of good cheer?
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?
Not - What was his church? Not - What was his creed?
But - Had he befriended those really in need?
Not - What did the sketch in the newspaper say?
But - How many were sorry when he passed away?
These are the things that measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.

From: The Adam Conference 2012
Trinity Baptist Church, Columbus, OH


Love ya, T.A.B.

"UBUNTU"