I was alarmed to read this CNN newstory, “Amid Growing Pressure, Churches in China, ‘are at a critical moment’ pastor says“.  Here’s  a quick snippet or two from the article if you are rushed for time and can’t check it:

The choir was sitting up front ready to sing on cue. A cross hung behind the pastor. The service looked like a Christian service you would see pretty much anywhere else in the world. But this is Beijing, and the recent Sunday service was illegal.

I couldn’t stop glancing at the door and wonder – are the authorities on their way?

This must be the feeling the people in informal churches here have lived with for decades, I thought.

And one more from a Pastor there:

However, Pastor Ezra Jin, the leader of Zion Church, said these churches are now under tremendous pressure – in the midst of China’s crackdown on dissent here in the wake of the Arab Spring.

“We are at a critical moment,” he said. “What we need is communication.”

House churches, he said, cannot afford to stay silent – one of the reasons he granted CNN rare access to film in his banned church.

Jin is concerned that China’s underground churches could become targets of jittery authorities like one of Beijing’s biggest house churches, Shouwang. Over the past several months, Shouwang’s members have been routinely detained and its leaders put under house arrest.

The government defended its actions, saying the congregants were repeatedly gathering illegally in the streets.

And this headline from The Christian Examiner, “Chinese Authorities Arrest 19 More Christians in the 13-Week Standoff“

More than 160 people were arrested at the first outdoor meeting of Shouwang Church. The following shows the approximate arrests from the subsequent weeks: Week 2 (50 arrests), Week 3 (40), Week 4 (30), Week 5 (13), Week 6 (20), Week 7 (25), Week 8 (20), Week 9 (20), Week 10 (14), Week 11 (14) and Week 12 (15).

The reason they were meeting outside?  The church was evicted, you can read about that in the article in The Baptist Press.

I think now is a great time for us to pray for these believers.  They are simply worshipping God and being thrown in jail and worse for it.   The Chinese Government on the other hand is reaping 10′s of billions of dollars in investment from U.S. firms.   Sounds to me like someone Ed Chan from U.S. giant Wal-Mart or Joseph R. Hinrichs, chairman and chief executive of Ford China, should step up their business ethics beside their expansion plans and say something.

And please pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in China.   Especially this guy, Shi Enhao.   He refused to join the communist party “official” church and then he disappeared.  Another man, Zhang Rongliang, whom I wrote about in 2006 (article, “You’re Stuff is Cheap, but many aren’t free in China“), disappeared as well, and I found out he was sentenced to seven years in prison for his beliefs.

Having a favorite Bible verse of the week can be a great way to also jump-start your prayer life (which I blogged about back in May 2010) and be a real help throughout the week. There’s a few reasons why it can help (alot)

(1) Throughout the week it can be a real source of encouragement. You just refer back to it and, in many cases, it can resonate with you like no other Bible verse of that week can.

(2) Many times a favorite Bible verse can focus your prayers, such as mine this week, Psalm 118:5-6, ” In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (New Living Translation). Talk about a great prayer.

(3) You often remember it when you need it, or, when you ask God for some wisdom through your week. Asking for Wisdom is a big deal by God; you effectively asking for His input in your situation, vs say, saving you (which is not a bad thing also of course).

So how did I find my Bible verse this week. Well there’s a whole bunch of ways I find them. Sometimes I just pray, and, the first passage that pops into my head I read. If it makes sense to my “heart” (my “gut feel” if you will) I just go with it. If it doesn’t make sense, like don’t pull your ox out of a ditch on Sunday kind of thing (I don’t currently own an ox), then I just disregard it. 9 out of 10 times, this method usually has God showing me something He wants to remind me of. The other thing I do is search for bible verses on a topic that is on my mind in a given week. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible is a great tool for that as is The Bible Gateway. A final tool I use is, Our Daily Bread. You can get that online, or, in a handy monthly little booklet which has a daily reading and bible study.

So, find your Bible verse this week and be encouraged!

“Pray to God, fine; but keep rowing to shore” – Russian Proverb

Starting a regular time of prayer can be challenge.  First, you feel guilty you’re sitting, kneeling or laying down.  Shouldn’t you be rowing that boat instead of laying about?  Then when you do, you’re not sure what to pray.

• Should it be formal,  “Our Father who art in heaven….”
• Should it be desperate?  “Help me out God, I need a little sumthin’ here”!
• Should it be conversational?  “Hey Lord, hows it going?  I thought I’d, ah, stop by and see if we could rap about a few items”

Heck, should you be praying at all for anything for yourself?  Why not just pray for world peace or your neighbor’s ill dog?

The fact is, that God loves hearing from us.  He loves hearing from everyone, including transgender men and women, the abused and the safe, the out of work and the employed, the bankrupt and the rich.  From the story of the Prodigal Son, to Abraham negotiating with God about saving his nephew Lot, to God telling Jesus the cup he had to drink from was not going to be removed, God accepts us, welcomes us and hears us.  And he knows what you need before  you even ask, what a great deal!   But, what if you don’t know how to pray?  What if your really afraid he might answer?  What then?

Well, first, you actually need to pray.  On the whole topic of “what if he answers”, well hold that thought for a minute.  Let’s talk prayer mechanics first!

1. 10 Minutes to Intimacy with God:  Sounds crazy I know.  But trust me, even without coffee, find a stop watch, and sit, kneel or lie prostate and just give your self 10 uninterrupted minutes.  That’s step one.
2. Open your Bible to the Psalms:   Now you may not have a physical copy of a bible or you may not be a Christian, no worries. If your a Christian without a Bible, or exploring Christianity, either go buy a bible, (The Biblegateway is a good place to start, or Amazon), or checkout The Bible Gateway for an online version.
3. Say Hello to God: God doesn’t take vacations with the Archangels, take sabbaticals or otherwise tune out.   He’s always here for us.  Start with a prayerful Psalm.  Now why do that?  Because many of the Psalms were in fact prayers that real people penned.  Some are from a heart of pain, others from joy, but they aren’t fiction.   But which ones?  Well any Psalm will work that feels right to you, but here’s a few you can try to get you going (thank you to The Prayer Guide & Awaken to Prayerfor these ideas):
   1. When you really need some help?  Psalm 108
   2. Feeling like you won’t make your goals when others are?  Psalm 10
   3. Is someone falsely accusing you? Psalm 7
   4. Do you face trouble of some kind?  (whether your the source of your trouble or not) Psalm 33
   5. Are you being drawn to do things that are potentially harmful to yourself or others?  Psalm 55
   6. Wanna thank and praise God? Psalm 100 and 150
   7. When you want God’s protection, Psalm 27 and 91
   8. Need a little divine guidance?  Psalm 32 and 27

Now, the bible isn’t like a book of charms and God isn’t a divine vending machine.  If he were, Jesus’ prayer to not have to go to the cross to die for the sins of the whole world would have been answered.  God would have found another way. And this brings up the point, “what if he answers”?  What then??

From studying how other people prayed in the bible, and from more modern experience, I found God has three main general ways to answer:  Yes, No, Wait.   Having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is exactly that, a relationship.  So there are no formulas here on “if I do x, God will do y”.   But from my experience (and yes your mileage will vary)

• “Yes” – He may say yes and you may get what you need but God may provide it in a way you did not expect.  And it might involve your rowing that boat in a way that’s more risky than your used to.  You might even have to step out of your boat altogether!
• “No” – The big cosmic rejection at the buzzer.  Accepting a no might really be tough to swallow, but, wouldn’t you be glad he said no to get that new job if it turned out to be horrible scam that would have ruined you as it had the employees already at the zombie company you were eyeing?
• “Wait” – This is the longer part of “yes”.  This is the one where you pray, pray, pray hoping for an answer.  And God asks you to “hang in there” and wait for the right time.  For us as the prayee this requires patience, faith and trust on our part.  He might be waiting for you to see you already have your “no “or your “yes” – you just need to row your boat.

When you are facing challenges in life, such as being a transgender man or woman, or when you really need to celebrate the goodness in life on a deeper level, prayer is your answer.   So sit, kneel, or stand but definitely spend 10 minutes with God, you’ll be so glad you did.

Now this is something I never expected to see, “New studies demonstrate welcoming congregations are more active on social justice and LGBT advocacy“.    First some background about my experience.

My experience in Evangelical Church circles had been a mixed blessing on social justice.   On one hand there was a tremendous life of the church on Sunday. Vibrant and moving worship.  Excellent preaching and teaching.   Strong support for most members. Miraculous answer to prayer at times.  And effective children’s ministry.  But the lack of actual practice of Micah 6:8, the social justice piece of the gospel, was troubling:

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful, and to live obediently before your God (NET Bible)

It’s such a big part of the Gospel I often wondered, “shouldn’t we have more attention on that piece?”

So the headline “New studies demonstrate welcoming congregations are more active on social justice and LGBT advocacy” really caught my eye, and the results even more so.  Check these out:

• More than half of clergy in welcoming congregations reported that the welcoming process helped their congregation to witness and act on other social justice issues. In describing this effect, one welcoming pastor said the church is more active in “the plight of the oppressed and marginalized” because of the church’s welcoming process.
• “One of the most exciting findings from this study is the direct connection between being a welcoming congregation and involvement in other social justice issues,” says the Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, Institute for Welcoming Resources and faith work director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “Our surveys demonstrate that the welcoming process makes a meaningful difference. Welcoming congregations are on the front lines in economic justice, homelessness, racial justice, immigration and other important areas of religious witness.”

Now granted, the survey does focus on churches who are welcoming and affirming of the LGBT community already so perhaps there is some bias.  I wonder what the effects would be on a broader range of churches.  Still, I found the connection between a church being welcoming and affirming and being more open to helping the oppressed and down trodden unexpected.  Perhaps opening our hearts to one group makes cold hearts thaw towards others.

You can read the press release on the study at The Task Force’s website here.
If you’ve got enough coffee left, you can read the whole study at the Institute for Welcoming Resources website here.

Oh and if  you are in Massachusetts, a great welcoming church for Christians is First Presbyterian of Waltham.   There are others too, if you do a search on you favorite search engine under “Open and Affirming” you should see a list.  Keshet is a good choice to find resources if you are Jewish.

(Graphic image courtesy of Bemky and used under Creative Commons License)