“To a farmer about to prepare a seedbed, the prerequisite for his undertaking is not the accidental need of a crop. His need of food does not endow him with skill in cultivating the earth; it merely affords the stimulus and purpose for his undertaking. It is his knowledge, his possession of the idea of tillage, which enables him to raise crops. The same principle applies to prayer. The natural loyalty of living, fertilized by faith saved through a lifetime, is the soil on which prayer can grow. Laden with secret fertility and patient discreetness concerning things to be and things forever unknown, the soil of the soul nourishes and holds the roots of prayer. But the soil by itself does not produce crops. There must also be the idea of prayer to make the soul yield its amazing fruit. The idea of prayer is based upon the assumption of man’s ability to accost God, to lay our hopes, sorrows, and wishes before Him.” (“Man’s Quest for God”, Abraham Heschel)

“And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” Matthew 13:3-9

What is it that leads someone to become a farmer? Most likely it is someone who grew up on a farm, or who has learned to appreciate the intricacy and the beauty of producing crops. I believe that following the desire to be a farmer is a calling similar to following the desire to become a pastor. The farmer does not believe they have some magical power to grow crops — they just have the faith that hard work and faithful service will serve them well while they wrestle with the weather and the seasons.

As such, the pastor does not necessarily believe that they possess some “magic” or “magical power” to be able to speak to or for G-d; we just believe that the Holy Spirit is our guide and our comforter. The pastor will wrestle with questions about the mystery of G-d and the injustice of society as much as any lay person.

In all things of this life, we look to our vocations, our worship, and our prayer lives as moments where we can speak to G-d; witnessing the wonder of prayer, the wonder of worship and the wonder of our individual vocation that connects us to each other, and to G-d.

Contact and connection with G-d is not OUR achievement — it is a gift — where G-d comes down to us through Jesus Christ.  Before the words of prayer come to the our lips, we have already trusted in G-d’s willingness to draw near to us, and in our ability to clear a path for G-d to speak to us.

Pastor Dave

“Life is tough. It takes up much of your time, all your weekends, and what do you get in the end of it? I think that the life cycle is all backward. You should die first, get that out of the way. Then you live twenty years in an old-age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young. You get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement.”  (From a sermon by Rabbi Edward Paul Cohn)

“After a close call when one of our lamps fell over, we made it to the top of the bed and began bouncing, when suddenly, we became aware of a law of physics. We noticed that if one of us timed his jump so that he landed from his leap at the split second the other person was pushing off the bed, he would go much higher on his jump, and consequently, upon landing would propel his partner to even greater heights.” (Mike Yaconelli, “Dangerous Wonder”)

“Jesus Christ knew how to play as well as pray; how to laugh as well as cry; how to be serious about life but not take Himself too seriously. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin and to save us from becoming severe, unyielding, harsh, and terminally serious.” (Mike Yaconelli, “Dangerous Wonder”)

Mike Yaconelli does spend a lot of time in his book speaking of childhood activities, and childhood play — after all his subtitle for the book is “The Adventure of Childlike Faith”. As such, he uses a lot of examples from his childhood to make statements about our faith lives.

It sounds like Mike Yaconelli’s childhood was one filled with wonder, excitement, adventure, and well, he has a lot to remember that was good. Too many people do not have such childhood experiences to help them recapture their “child-like” faith—because they were denied such experiences. Too many people spend a lot of time trying to forget their childhoods that they have nothing to reclaim that might give them some memories that match that of the author. And though I do have a lot of happy childhood memories, I for sure would not want to return to my elementary years, or my high school years—even with the wisdom I have today because of my life experiences. I made too many mistakes in relationships, said too many harsh comments that hurt people, and had too many mistaken priorities.

And yet, we can see how Yaconelli has a point about the playful nature that often does not accompany our faith journeys as we get older. I shared a snippet of Yaconelli’s book describing a time he and his friend were bouncing on his bed. After his father yelled at him for bouncing on his bed instead of going to sleep, Yaconelli says: “If you can’t bounce on your bed at nine years old, when can you? Before you know it, you not only stop bouncing on your bed, you stop skipping, you stop playing hide-and-seek, you stop playing!”

Is it possible to approach our faith playfully? Should we live with a faith that has more play and less rule following? Even if our younger years were not as playful as we would have hoped, we still can approach our faith with a youthfulness that puts a spring in our faith journey. Perhaps it is time to spend less time following the rules of our faith, and instead just “follow Jesus”.

Pastor Dave