Friday, April 01, 2016

DE Ponderings

The state of affairs in many sectors of life right now is somewhat bleak. Transition, both expected and unexpected, in our denomination leaves us pondering about the direction that needs to be taken. The political climate in our country is anything but polite nowadays. Polarization on a variety of issues seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Fear and terror lurk around every corner of the world. Climate change opens the door to concern for the planet and all life on it.

The aforementioned is enough to either discourage us deeply or move us to prayer seeking the power of God to transform what seems imminently hopeless. My hope is that the latter is the place toward with we gravitate. But do we believe that prayer will make a difference? And, if so, do we have any part to play in the difference-making other than uttering the prayer?

Eberhard Arnold, founder of the Bruderhof, the international movement of Christian communities, endured horrific difficulties in Nazi Germany between World War I and World War II. Prayer was quite important for Arnold as he navigated tumultuous states of affairs. He believed that prayer was seeking for the impossible to happen, for change that only God could bring into being.

Yet, Arnold asks in one of his writings these questions concerning prayer: “Do we have the faith that through our prayer the status quo can be shattered? Can we believe that at our call Christ will come among us to judge and save? When we ask for the Holy Spirit, are we ready for God to strike us like a burst of flaming lightning, so that at last we experience Pentecost? Do we really believe that God’s kingdom is imminent? Are we capable of believing that through our pleading this kingdom will break in? Are we able to believe that as a result of our prayer the entire history of the world will be turned topsy-turvy?”

Arnold believed that with faith through prayer nothing was impossible. But, such prayer is also dangerous because it not only lifts us from the place of difficulty but it hurls us down from our place. We are rescued but also not given a place of superiority over the oppressor or persecutor. Prayer is not us making the change, but God acting on our behalf for the good of all—us and them.

However, according to Arnold, prayer is not passive. It is not enough simply to utter prayer and expect God to act without our involvement. He quotes James: Faith without works is dead. He also lifts up the Lord’s Prayer in that if we expect the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, we have an active role to play to ensure that it happens. We take action by forgiving others just as God has forgiven and forgives our sins. We pray for the injustices of the world to be restored and then watch restoration become reality as we do our part to act justly, to show mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Eberhard Arnold’s philosophy is a lesson for us. We have much work to do in prayer, with faith that God will hear us and bring about change in the state of affairs which tend to discourage us. But at the same time, we cannot sit idly by expecting God’s will to be done without our involvement.

So, to effect change in the state of affairs mentioned in the first paragraph, praying with faith that God will transform things, and us, is certainly key. And getting involved is also imperative. So let’s pray...and let’s work...for as hymnwriter H. Ernest Nichol noted, “For the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright, and Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth, the kingdom of love and light.” (We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations, H. Ernest Nichol, 1862-1928, The Brethren Hymnal, 1951)