Odds & Ends #4

Once again, I have several different thoughts bouncing around in my skull that occasionally hit some gray matter and take hold; as in Jesus’ parable about the soils, some of these thoughts take root and grow to produce fruit, while others wither away or are snatched away before they can do any good. So here are some of those thoughts; I’ll let you be the judge as to which are useful crops and which are just weeds . . .

Brain Surgery Post-Op: My recent post about “cultural appropriation” (titled, “It’s Not Brain Surgery“) was timely, because no sooner had I posted it than I read about the flap that was occurring over a high school girl’s choice of prom dress. The girl found a very pretty used Chinese dress, and posted pictures of her wearing it to her prom. To which some people responded in social media that the girl had no business wearing that dress because she was white, not Chinese, and therefore it was “cultural appropriation.” The point of my post was that not only is the adopting or “appropriating” of someone’s cultural trait a compliment to that culture, the practice is inevitable and actually necessary; we cannot have common practices or even communication without sharing useful cultural tools such as language. Well, as it turns out, the vast majority of actual Chinese responses to the furor were positive; one Chinese official said that the girl was not showing “cultural appropriation” but rather, “cultural appreciation.” I couldn’t have said it better (but wish I had used that phrase in my post!). By the way, that dress style was itself appropriated by the Han Chinese from the Manchurian people, and only became popular in the 1920’s and 30’s after Western influence grew in China.

One of the things I wrote about was Y-Indian Guides and its positive impact on my life and my relationship with my dad. Since writing that, a couple men have told me about their own Indian Guide experiences, and what the program meant to them. Thanks for the feedback! Again, I told about Indian Guides as an example of “cultural appropriation” that did a lot of good and was intended to be complimentary to aspects of Native American cultures. I also pointed out that at times the Indian theme was misused, or “misappropriated,” when some participants were disrespectful toward the very people they claimed to imitate. I also told how Native American representatives had confronted the national Y-Indian Guides with their concerns.

What I forgot to mention was that a similar event took place at the Promise Keepers national pastors conference, held in Atlanta in 1996. Among the 40,000 pastors who attended from all over the country and many different denominations were some Native American pastors. During one very moving moment, some of the Indian pastors got up before the crowd. Their leader reminded the crowd that the White man had come and taken their land, driven them away, killed many of them and destroyed much of their culture. The crowd hushed. Then, the speaker said, “But we forgive you, because if you hadn’t come, we never would have learned about Jesus Christ.” Wow. The ultimate “cultural appropriation” was the acceptance by many Native Americans of the faith which was brought to them by the believing European Christians who had invaded their land; and for that they were eternally grateful! What they said echoed the words of Paul in Philippians 3:8, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Nothing to do but pray! One of the common phrases that Christians often hear and are annoyed by, is a statement such as, “There’s nothing left to do but pray!” The meaning is that someone has done all he could in a situation but without success, and now can only hope and pray that things turn out well. The implication is that everything is really up to us, and we must rely on our own strengths first; only when something is beyond our control do we turn to God for help. Worse yet, I suspect that many people who say that are not really intending to actually pray; they’re just expressing their hope that things turn out the way they want.

I was reminded of this phrase once again thanks to a new commercial for an online job site, which shall remain nameless here. The announcer touts their service as being much more effective at finding qualified job candidates than other job sites, or than “posting your job and just praying” for the right candidate to come along. I know the commercial is using “praying” and a synonym for “wishing,” and not making a theological statement, but that actually makes it worse. The announcer is really saying that praying equals no more than wishing, and that praying does no good. The implication is that even if there is a God, praying to him won’t help you. You may be thinking, “Okay, Rich, lighten up. It’s no big deal. He’s not really talking about praying; it’s just a commercial!” You’re right in that it’s just a commercial, but the subtle effect on us each time we hear prayer is not effective or even desirable can accumulate and bias us against something that should be a central part of our life. Hear it enough and we begin thinking that way, and eventually may start saying it ourselves.

In the Church, and in our personal lives as Christians, prayer is essential. Essential, as in being the essence or necessary part of life. Not just to accomplish something, as in praying for a favorable outcome, but to actually be a child of God. Prayer is about our relationship with God, before and beyond anything he does for us. Thus, not only did Christ pray to the Father when he did his miracles (e.g., John 11:41-44), he was in constant communication and could say that he and the Father were One (John 10:30), and that everything he did and said came from the Father (John 5:19, 8:28).

To illustrate the difference between a job site that recommends you not just “post and pray” when seeking an employee, and the Church, consider how big a part prayer plays when we seek to hire someone. At every stage of the process, we pray, because we recognize that we are not just seeking the most qualified candidate nor even the best candidate, but the right candidate, the person “of God’s own choosing” (from A Mighty Fortress by Martin Luther). Therefore we form the search/call committee by prayerfully selecting the committee members, gathering them for prayer for the process, praying for candidates, praying for and over each candidate, praying for the decision, and then asking the candidate to pray over his or her acceptance of the offer. In the case of a pastoral call, we can add prayers by our national church leaders and the assembled congregation. For the Church, it’s not “just post and pray”: it’s “pray, post, pray and pray again.”

The key to prayer is to recognize that we are calling on, depending on, and submitting to an actual, all-powerful personal being, the God of the universe who created us and invites us to come to him with all our wants and needs (Matthew 7:7-11). In other words, the God of the Bible. While prayer does change us, it is not our power that makes things happen. What changes in us is a humbling of self as we recognize our utter dependence on God, and our willing submission to his will for us. When he answers our prayers, we praise him and recognize that all good comes form him and from nothing else; Luther said this recognition is part of keeping the First Commandment, that is, to have no other gods before the true God. This does not mean that we never strive for good outcomes or use our (God-given) strengths and abilities for good purposes; it does mean that we acknowledge God’s will and power in all things.

One example of God’s power at work in response to prayer is the deliverance of Europe from the Mongol hordes in the 1200’s. In 1242 the Mongol army, 130,000 soldiers under their leader Batu, swept across Russia, defeating the Rus, the Poles, and the Hungarians. All Christian Europe lay defenseless before them, their armies having been annihilated. The people of Europe put aside their quarreling differences, gathered in their churches, and prayed for deliverance from certain destruction. The invasion stopped. The great Khan back in Mongolia had suddenly died, and in order for him to be proclaimed the new Khan, Batu had to return to the homeland. So he stopped the attacks, and returned to the East. When the Mongols resumed their attacks toward the end of the century, the Christian kingdoms had rearmed and were able to mount an effective defense, eventually pushing the Mongols out of Eastern Europe. You could say that the 13th Century Christians of Europe had “nothing left to do but pray. . .”

Update on my sister: Just a closing note to thank all of you who have been praying for my sister during her recent medical crisis. She did suffer the amputation of her remaining leg, and had several weeks of difficult recovery due to the effects of the anesthesia and other medical conditions. Thanks to answered prayer, she is now back in her home with her beloved doggies, thinking clearly, and in much better spirits. Thank you for your prayers, and to our Lord for his gracious provision!

That’s all for now. As you celebrate Pentecost tomorrow, may the Holy Spirit give you peace in knowing God’s love and forgiveness, and strength to meet your challenges – both daily and special.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount)