Halfway through Lent

So it turns out I did have some random thoughts about halfway through Lent. On the fourth Sunday of Lent I dutifully recorded some ideas in my little pocket journal and then promptly forgot them. The first was that we tend to pray in categories. I glean that observation from years of listening to corporate prayers being read in church, or looking at printed prayer lists, or being on phone chains for prayer (now email chains). I don't have all the categories worked out, but I have some. There is the prayers of separation...we have an addiction or a problem or a sickness or a difficult relationship and we want to be free from it, separated once and all. Or it can have a positive spin as well....we sense our separation from something and we want it to be joined back to us. And so we pray or ask for prayer that it would happen. But I wonder if we are putting too much on God and not enough on ourselves or the individuals we are praying for. The writer of Hebrews said we had not yet got to the point of shedding blood in the struggle against sin, but as I have said in the past, many times we are not even willing to break a sweat. Maybe these types of prayer are more about personal choices and facing our own demons and realities. Another type of prayer related to this is the prayer of limitation. We become acutely aware that we cannot do all things well and therefore we pray that God would remove this limitation and make it possible. Maybe we are always short of cash, or overweight, or struggling with our job performance, or unsure in our marriage relationship, you get the idea. And if God would just make that limitation go away everything would be all right. But again those types of demons don't just go out by command or prayer alone, but with much fasting....effort, facing up to shortcomings and challenges, seeking opportunities, doing all that is within our power to prevail.

The second note I jotted down is a quote from Joel 3:14 (the pastor decided to preach through Joel in Lent for some reason). Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! I know that is about end times and all, the days of judgement and such. But what decision are we setting before these multitudes to consider? To follow Jesus, to be born again, to become a church member or even more importantly a member of a committee, to contribute faithfully, to be in attendance on this or that day? I don't see any real good choices being set before us any more by the local congregations. We still seem more concerned about keeping the doors open another year and conducting our business as usual, and the ultimate questions that lead to the important decisions are never broached openly.

Half thoughts from a point halfway through Lent.