Caim Prayer

In my last blog entry, I examined Psalm 125. In this psalm, God's encircling protection is compared to the mountains encircling Jerusalem. It's a beautiful visual reminder of God's presence and concern.

Well, that's all well and good for the people in Jerusalem, but I live in the flattest place in the entire world! What possible visual reminder of God's encircling love could there be for me?

Well, it just so happens that the Celtic saints had a prayer that they called an "encircling" prayer. Their word for it is caim. When saying a caim prayer, you draw a circle around yourself with your finger. "This symbolizes the encircling love of God....See yourself and others encircled and be aware that the living God surrounds and encloses with His love, care and protection." -- Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings of the Northumbria Community, p. 297.

An example of a caim prayer is:

Circle me, Lord.
Keep protection near and danger afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep hope within and despair without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep light near and darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep peace within and anxiety without.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep comfort near and discouragement afar.
Circle me, Lord.
Keep holiness within and sin without.
The eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
shield me on every side.
Amen.

Of course, the "me" above could be replaced with us, him, her, them, or someone's name or names as needed. (This example is again taken from the Celtic Daily Prayer book.)

Naturally, there is nothing magical about making a circle with your hand. But as physical beings, engaging our bodies in prayer and in worship can be very helpful. I have found the encircling motion to be a very powerful reminder of the reality of God's presence and power when I pray.

So if you're a flatlander like me, try the caim prayer. The Lord surrounds us all in His unfailing love.

Psalm 124 (Reflections)

I've been living with this psalm for a while now. As Eugene Peterson says in Eat This Book, I've had time to gnaw on it, like a dog lingering over a bone. I don't know that this equates to any great insight, but I've lived with the psalm for a while...had a chance to marinate in it.

I like this psalm. It's a psalm of remembrance, acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and praise.

I like how it begins, with a corporate admission of dependence.
I like how the psalmist breaks off in mid sentence to exhort the congregation.

"Hey. Come on, now. This applies to all of us. We have all been delivered from the same trouble. Let me hear you declare it!"

Let ALL Israel say...

Every Christian was in dire straits until the Lord, in His love, stepped in to deliver us. This applies to individual instances of God's intervention, too, but I'm thinking specifically of the salvation accomplished through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 124 spells out what would have happened if He were not on our side.

This is the good news--the Lord is FOR us!!!

If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

The first image is one of enemies attacking in their anger, devouring us whole.
This reminds me of the devil, prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

We've been delivered from the mouth of the lion.

Then the imagery shifts to water. Three different pictures of watery peril are repeated in rapid succession: Water rushing over someone and sweeping him away, like a flood of troubles. A river rising over one's mouth, drowning one in despair. "Raging" waters passing over the top of someone, overcoming any resistance. This is scary imagery. It's an inescapable fate, like the floodwaters that destroyed during the days of Noah or the Tolkienesque wall that washed over the Egyptians during the exodus escape.

This is what would have happened to us.
From this we were rescued.

We were not left as prey to the enemy's teeth, either. Though we were trapped in sin, trapped like a bird in a fowler's snare, the trap was broken. We are free as a bird! We are safe in the arms of Jesus! The devil has no hold on us.

Our help is in the Name of the Lord...who is for us.

For God so loved the world that He gave His Son that whosoever will believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

So, as we look on our present (& momentary) troubles, let us remember the fate from which we have been delivered. We were drowning in the quagmire of sin. There was no escape. We were caught in a trap. But then, because of His great love for us, the LORD stepped in. He is our help. He is for us. Let all Israel say...

No matter what is overwhelming you, no matter what enemy is assailing you, no matter how hopeless your situation seems, the Lord is for you. He has proven it. He whom you have never seen with your eyes, but whom you love, has delivered you from the whelming flood, freed you from the snare.

It lies broken.

He is still on your side. He loves you. He is still mighty to save.

Trust Him. Our help is in the Name of the LORD.

A Dialogue on the Problem of Evil

Well, I just realized this is my 100th post.

I felt compelled to post a blog for April, because it seemed that the blog might be "dead" if I didn't. (Shouldn't you blog at least monthly to keep your blog alive?) It was already on life support.

I was going to post another Psalm of Ascents blog, but I can't find my notes or my Hebrew translation! (I'm sure I will eventually.) So, for the second time in a row, I'm resorting to posting some old material.

This is a little imaginary scene I wrote back in 2005. It could use some editing, but I think there are some good thoughts there.

Setting—Two men are visiting gravesites in a local cemetery. One man, Arthur, notices the other, Bernard, praying as he kneels before a headstone. He is just intrigued (or perturbed) enough to approach Bernard.

Arthur: Whom are you here visiting?

Bernard: My daughter. She died three years ago today. What about you?

Arthur: I came to remember my son. He was killed just over a year ago…He was driving home from college when some lady fell asleep at the wheel, crossed over into his lane, and hit him head on. I’ll never get over it.

Bernard: I’m very sorry to hear that.

Arthur: Yeah, I’m sorry, too. What about your daughter?

Bernard: She died of leukemia after a long, hard battle with the disease.

Arthur: So, would you mind telling me how it is that you can pray? I don’t understand how anyone can believe in a God that would let something like that happen. I mean, God’s supposed to be so good, right? And He’s supposed to have unlimited power, right? So how could He just stand by with all that goodness and power and let our babies die? I can’t fathom a god like that, yet you’re here praying to Him.

Bernard: Well, I believe that in spite of the suffering and the tragedy that goes on in this world, God is still good and powerful, and He is worthy of our worship.

Arthur: Sounds like they’ve got you brainwashed. Why would your God let this happen if He could stop it? Why does He allow any evil at all?

Bernard: It’s pretty complicated, but I’d be happy to explain it as best I can. It sounds like you’re asking two separate questions. I’ll try to answer the second one first if that’s OK. God is completely good and so cannot create anything evil. However, because He created us for the purpose of having a loving relationship with us, He endowed us with free will. The fact that we have freedom to make bad choices or good ones has serious consequences. We may choose to obey God or to rebel against Him. When we rebel against Him and freely choose evil, people suffer. Both the person who committed the evil and the person or entity against whom the evil is committed will suffer. The man who commits the evil will suffer as his relationship to God deteriorates. The victim will suffer because of the other man’s transgression.

Arthur: Exactly. That’s just not fair! Why would a good God give us such power to hurt one another?

Bernard: We are given freedom to choose because true love can only be chosen freely. If I am coerced to love, I do not truly love. God wants us to freely choose Him and to freely choose to do good. In fact, He calls obeying Him (or doing what is good) the same thing as loving Him! Because we were created to love God and love each other, God had to give us genuine freedom to love. That means we had to be able not to love Him as well—not to obey, not to do good.

Arthur: So God allows all this suffering just because He wants to be loved? That sounds really selfish and egotistical.

Bernard: Yeah, I admit that it does. But you’ve got to remember that God is the one who created us all. He knows exactly how we work. He knows what’s best for us. He knows what life is all about. And from our perspective it may seem cruel or meaningless, but God has His reasons. Evidently, love is so important that He was willing to risk all of this evil to let us choose to love. It must be that love is intricately tied in to the meaning of life! Without love, there is no life.

Arthur: I loved my son. And now he’s gone. What was the point? My son wasn’t killed by someone who made an evil choice—just a senseless one. Where’s the meaning in that? And what about your daughter? Who’s to blame for her suffering?

Bernard: Earlier you asked why God would allow any evil at all if He had the power to stop it. When He gave us freedom, He also created a world with natural laws…physics, chemistry, etc. Our actions have consequences, and God doesn’t suspend those consequences every time we make a mistake. If He did, we would never develop any sense of moral responsibility. We could do just anything we pleased, knowing that God would bail us out. Like a spoiled child running through a china shop, we could take the attitude of “No big deal. Daddy will clean up and pay for this mess.” Because we were created to have fellowship with Him, we must become like Him. That means we have to forsake sin. And the natural law helps us to realize that our actions have consequences. Real change has to happen in our character.

Arthur: But I’m not talking about character, dang it! I’m talking about the death of our innocent children! Why did they have to die? How can you believe in a God who values character formation more than the life of an incredible young man like my son?

Bernard: I know your pain. I was devastated when Hannah died. I miss her terribly. She was the most beautiful girl in the world, and nothing can replace her. But I have hope, you see? The story is not over. I’m going to see her again. God didn’t cause her death. He allowed her to die, just as all of us will die. But I’ll spend eternity with her. There is no more pain where she is. No more chemotherapy. No more weakness or tears. And God has given me that hope. Where would I be without it?

Arthur: But why would He allow sickness in this world?

Bernard: I used to believe that the sins of men affected the very fabric of the world and caused everything to be “out of whack.” I thought that was why we have natural disasters, suffering, sickness, and so on. Beyond all of that, I knew that there were spiritual forces of evil—angels who had rebelled against God and seek to harm creation in any way they are able, driving a wedge between us and God. I still think these things to be true, but I have realized that regardless of the explanation behind all of this suffering, God allows it. Even if He doesn’t cause it directly, He lets it happen. He must have a reason for this. I don’t pretend to know the mind of God or to understand His purposes. I can’t even tell you how a microwave works, much less the universe! But I believe that God has a plan. Our suffering is very real in this life, but compared with the backdrop of eternity it is very temporary. And through the pain we learn to trust, to endure, to hope, to have empathy and compassion, to give, to be a faithful friend, and to forgive. All of these traits make us more like Jesus. And that’s the goal—to learn to love like God so that we can spend eternity with Him and in fellowship with others that have responded to His love. Heather will be resurrected. So will your son. Doesn’t that give you some hope for the future?

Arthur: It’s all “Pie in the Sky” B.S. How does that help me now? I have to live the rest of my life without Danny. Nothing can change that.

Bernard: You’re right. We will never again be able to hold our children in this lifetime. If this life is all there is, there is no consolation. But your outrage itself is a clue that something is amiss. Just as physical pain tells us that something is wrong and that we need to take action to prevent further harm, so spiritual anguish alerts us to seek a remedy. If our hand is burning, the pain tells us to move it away from the flame. If we have a fever, our immune system goes into action. Sometimes we need to take medicine. Other times we may need surgery. When we suffer in our souls, we need to seek a spiritual remedy. I’m talking about more than counseling to help us deal with emotional issues. I’m talking about finding a way to make sense of the pain. For me, the only way it makes sense is if God can redeem it. Only if God is all good and all-powerful can He make it right someday. If He doesn’t exist, then what hope do we have?

Arthur: So you’re telling me that the best thing I can do is to embrace the God that let this happen to my son? What kind of guarantee do I have that I’m not just playing the fool, letting myself be anesthetized by the “opium of the masses?”

Bernard: The best guarantee you have is Jesus. God loved us so much that He sent His own Son to lead us to life. In Him we may receive forgiveness, the gift of His Spirit, and the hope of eternal life. God is not a disinterested observer who sits idly by and watches us suffer. He knows what it is like to lose a Son. He knows what it is like to suffer pain and suffer loss. He too was innocent, yet He entered into our suffering. He tasted death. Have you seen the movie The Passion? Do you recall the scene that showed a view of the cross from the sky above? Looking down onto the dead body of Jesus, we see a single teardrop fall. God knows your pain. He cares. But that was not the end of the story. Jesus rose again! He is alive and will never die again. The best guarantee you have is the empty grave! Your story and your son’s story are not over either. God is still good. He is still powerful despite the way things look now. When Jesus died, no one had hope, either. Everyone close to Him was crushed. They despaired. But everything changed on the other side of resurrection. It will change for us as well if we allow God to have His way in us. And in coming to know God, there is a love and a peace His Spirit gives that cannot be explained. Please don’t write God off because of your hurt. Let Him bring healing and hope as you come to know Him. The story is not over. God loves you. He can still write a beautiful ending for you and your family if you will let Him.

Advent (2)

This Sunday begins the second week of Advent. The candle we lit at our table this evening represents love.

Isn't that what the incarnation of God is all about? Isn't that what motivated Jesus to become one of us? Christmas is all about the amazing love of God.

We erred. We were lost. And He came...what love!

The most unlikely, amazing Rescuer ever. An embryo in the womb of a teenage girl was entrusted with saving the world.

"I light this candle on the second Sunday in Advent to remind us that Jesus came to earth to 'show and tell' us of God's love" (Celebrating the Christian Year, Zimmerman--see last week's post).

Thank You, Lord, for Your Gift of Love. May we love one another as we revel in it.

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5, NAS)

And may the Lord make your love to grow and overflow to each another and to everyone else, just as our love does toward you. (1 Thessalonians 3:12, TLB)

Have a great week. Make room for the Love of Christ to come anew in your hearts and homes. Continue to wait with hope and expectancy.

Spread the love!

He loves us! It's what Christmas is all about.

All Saints' (24) Karl Barth

"In the beginning it was the choice of the Father Himself to establish this covenant with man by giving up His Son for him, that He Himself might become man in the fulfillment of His grace.
In the beginning it was the choice of the Son to be obedient to grace, and therefore to offer up Himself and to become man in order that this covenant might be made a reality.
In the beginning it was the resolve of the Holy Spirit that the unity of God, of Father and Son should not be disturbed or rent by this covenant with man, but that it should be made the more glorious, the deity of God, the divinity of His love and freedom, being confirmed and demonstrated by this offering of the Father and this self-offering of the Son.
This choice was in the beginning."

(from The Doctrine of God; Church Dogmatics, vol. II, Part 2, trans. G. W. Bromiley et al.
Emphasis added.)