Check out Comments from my Bookshelves for a review of ‘Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God’ by Tim Keller.

Have you ever heard of the term ‘EVOCATION’? It is an idea introduced to me in the Tim Keller book on prayer that I keep referring to.

Just read it – he says it much better than me!!

Not original to Keller I think it is a term from days gone by to communicate the idea of gathering your thoughts and focussing them on the Lord. We talk, don’t we, of smells being evocative – we even say things like “It took me right back – I was there in my grandmother’s garden” – or whatever. Keller suggests introducing a time of evocation before digging into the passage of the day or a list of people to pray for. He suggests several verses of scripture that will be evocative for us – grabbing our mental and emotional attentions and focussing them on the Lord. Borrowing from the patterns of the reformers, Keller encourages us to spend a few minutes reflecting on what it is to fear the Lord, the nature of the one we approach, and on our own disordered loves and muddled thinking, and then finally delighting in the Lord Jesus through whom we can approach our Father boldly.

This period of evocation has been a great addition to my times with the Lord. Transition is important to me whatever the situation. I don’t tune into things quickly.  I like a time of settling into a moment, almost nesting. For example, in a cafe I like to place my bags neatly, put my coat somewhere and arrange my things on the table. Before this has happened my attention is not on the menu, or the conversation. I am there, but I haven’t fully arrived. Walking through the door of a quiet time – particularly first thing in the morning – it is as if my thoughts and emotions scatter to escape and explore the day, (or to hide from it!). So the first thing that is needed is some patience with myself, a recognition of what is happening and a prayer asking the Lord to help me round them up. Secondly they need to settle in and get focussed – hence the time of evocation. Only then are they (more) ready to get down to business with the Lord in whatever passage I am meeting him in that day. I also find that the way is then well paved for meditating on that word, praying it in and also continuing in fellowship with the Lord throughout the day.

 On a linked thought – what do we think of the time just before a church service starts? There used to be a much stronger tradition of coming in and sitting quietly in order to settle in and get ready. More recently though the trend seems to be towards chatting and catching up and welcoming and screens with notices etc. My problem is that I want an element of both! To all come in silently and sit individually seems a far cry from a family gathering and also unwelcoming and secretive to the visitor, not to mention impractical/off putting for families with young children. BUT without that time of quiet I do find that my thoughts and emotions are then playing catch up as we go through the service. This is particularly tricky in a church like ours where we use lots of liturgy (set words for the service). Our brains tend towards autopilot – or mine does anyway. If I can do something on autopilot – I do. So I often fly along without pausing to consider what I am missing out on by not actually being present in the moment. It is not that the liturgy is incorrect or unlovely, but it is rather full of exits for our concentration to escape out of!

So what do we think – chatty family gathering or quiet settling in of heart and mind?

Of course any form of parenting or leadership make both of these options quite hard to achieve. 

I think I am going to go for a convenient BOTH. Convenient in that I don’t need to make a choice, but inconvenient in that it takes time to add in a period of gathering. Perhaps we need to turn back to Mary’s example of extravagance and be more generous with the time we give to our family gatherings. Not easy when you have three back to back services to fit in – but then who said it was going to be easy!

Do you ever feel that as you sit down to do business with God your attention – both mental and emotional – starts acting like a fugitive on the run? Before we know it our hearts and minds have identified all the possible exits and are just waiting for our vigilance to waver. Which doesn’t take long!

I have alluded to this imagery before as I ‘Pilfered On Prayer’ (- see post from 16th February 2016) quoting Flannery O’Connor who wrote:

“I do not mean to deny the traditional prayers I have said all my life; but I have been saying them and not feeling them. My attention is always fugitive.”* 

 * ‘Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Tim Keller.’

It seems to me that we need to have a dual strategy in keeping our attention on the Lord and meeting with him. We need to be better captors – practically working out what habits and patterns will reduce the number of exits available AND we need to ask the Lord to captivate our hearts and minds gripping them with his beauty. As has been said by others more eloquently than me we need to travel through duty to delight.

Have you ever had to wrestle with a toddler, restraining them, dragging their attention and desires away from something else IN ORDER for them to see or taste or receive something fantastic? Once you have ‘got’ them the idea of restraint becomes almost ridiculous, insulting even given the prize they now have.

So what wrestling needs to happen with me? How can I be a better captor? I long to be because, by God’s grace, I have had glimpses of what it is to be with him – I know how stupid it is that I even need to speak in these terms, but I also know what I am like and I would rather be ridiculously restrained to see the face of Christ than a free fugitive running away from him.

Having now finished Tim Keller’s excellent book on Prayer (see reference above) I have lots of plans and lists (I want to say cunning plans and clever tricks!) – but only because I have lots of longing to be more and more captivated and transfixed by my beautiful Lord.

Dear Father God, please may I find the world a troublesome distraction from gazing at you, rather than having to tear myself away from it to grudgingly give you a few minutes. In Jesus name, Amen.

To be continued…

I have been struck this Easter by the choices of a woman who is twice charged with extravagance by others and yet on both occasions lavishly praised by Jesus.

Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is lifted up by Jesus as a great example of godly extravagance.

Perhaps the most obvious occasion of Mary’s excessive behaviour towards Jesus is when she broke the jar of costly perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her extravagant love has rightly been spoken of by Christians all over the world – as Jesus said it would be.

Presumably this is what Max Lucado was referring to in the quote I lifted off of brainyquote.com.

There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes – seize it, don’t miss it. Max Lucado

But what of the other occasion?

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” …

While Martha may have tolerated Mary spending a moment with Jesus, this was going too far. It was excessive! Time and energy were limited and Mary was not spending them on what Martha needed her to. This was extravagant time use and then some.

Or was it?

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Did Mary love so extravagantly because she first listened so extravagantly? Would loving extravagantly come more naturally and be less of a dilemma if I was more excessive in the time I spent sitting at Jesus feet? If I sat at his feet to soak up his words to me, reading scripture, fixing it in my heart and mind and praying would I not delight to soak the feet of others with the best that I had to offer?

Dear Father, teach me to listen to you extravagantly. Not just in the amount of seconds and minutes I clock up, but in the portions of my affections, passion, energy, and concentration that I allocate to hearing you speak. Forgive me that I am so quick to criticise myself for spending time quietly with you that ‘should’ be sent on more pressing matters. May I gaze  more at your fathomless love that I may rest in who I am in you, in all I have in you and from that place of peace to reflect the extravagance of your love in my life. Please show me where restraint is caused not by wisdom, but by fear and greed. Mary did what she could Lord when she poured out that perfume. You call us to good as we have opportunity (Galatians 6:10). Please help me to have a keen sight for the opportunities you give me to do good and to extravagantly do what I can in those opportunities. Thank you for the loud message of your grace that you speak to me, and for your Holy Spirit who has given me ears to hear it. Thank you that your extravagance covers all my miserly, ugly, mean-hearted rebellion. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Is it wrong to use the word extravagant of God?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
Ephesians 1:7, 8

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20, 21

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
1 Peter 1:3

And that’s just off the top of my head!

Is not our rescue an extravagant one? Is there not a lack of restraint in God’s generosity to us in Jesus? Is there not a sense in which God purchased us for himself, though he did not need to? Of course the price paid was no higher than needed – “if it is possible take this cup from me” – but it was certainly an expenditure on us that was immeasurably more than we deserved.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8

Oh the perfect economy of God! There is no waste and no debt. No impulse buys. Nothing is purchased or done that does not perfectly bring him the glory that all creation exists to bring him and that all who love him delight in. And yet there is spree like element in his teeming creation, detailed creativity expended on deep sea creatures only recently seem by any, but him. He is neither a miser nor a spendthrift. He gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms and perfectly portions out our daily bread.

God’s extravagance is not an indulgent vice in an otherwise carefully budgeted lifestyle – but rather a perfect part of his perfect nature.

God is neither a miser who grows rich by seeming poor; nor an extravagant man who grows poor by seeming rich. (See quotes from the end of the previous post)

And what of the people who bear his name?

How would the world describe the church – misers or extravagant fools? Which charge would we rather they levied at our door? What does God see when he looks on his church?

Are we misers growing wealthy in this world by seeming poor? Keeping our heads down, cautious and quiet with what we have and stingy with our love and time? Do we baulk at anything striking of excess, wary of giving today, what we may need tomorrow?

Surely we must not appear to the world to be poor as the miser would do. We are spiritually rich and the storehouses of heaven are full. Let us live as those who are rich! Throwing off idolatrous anxiety masquerading so cunningly as caution. Let us not fear that godly extravagance will impoverish us. Our heavenly treasure are safe and our daily bread deliveries in the capable, wise hands of our good God.

But…. but… what is godly extravagance? Surely we need to be wise stewards, to plan well and act responsibly? While our love is not finite,  our time, money and energy (emotional and physical) is (at least humanly speaking). It is easy to be stirred up, but in the day to day it is just so hard to follow through. Part of us just doesn’t want to, and the other part is unsure how to and to what extent.

Dear Father, whose love is beyond extravagant, please show me the ways in which I can be extravagant today. Teach me a habit of godly excess in the measures I use with others and godly restraint in what I measure out for myself, trusting that it is you who fills my cup to overflowing. In the name of my precious, precious saviour, Amen.

There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes – seize it, don’t miss it. Max Lucado*

I don’t take fancy vacations. I buy all my jewelry at Claire’s. I can’t remember the last time I went out to a fancy dinner. My family lives in a modest two-bedroom apartment, and my kids share a bedroom. But I do have one extravagant vice: shoes. Nancy Lublin*

* Quotes taken from http://www.brainyquote.com

I have finally put some details up on the Resources page for one of our oldest homemade resources – The Prayer Game.

I found myself toiling up Mount Doom with Sam and Frodo today as I listened to the Lord of the Rings on CD during a rather half hearted exercise session. The weight of Frodo’s burden overwhelming him, Sam heroically carrying him up the mountainside.

Rather fitting for Holy Week!

What must these ‘Holy Week’ days have been like for Jesus? Certainly by Thursday, in the garden of Gethsemane we see him struggling under the anticipated weight  of the burden he was to carry.

And rather fitting for today.

For you see today is indeed a heavy day for the NTV and I. 10 years ago today we learned that The Gift had died. My alarm at his stillness when I woke up that morning confirmed at lunch time – his absent heartbeat causing the sonographer to pale.

10 years ago yesterday we were anticipating the birth of our second child, our first son. 2 weeks to go – an elective C-Section booked. 10 years ago today we found it hard to put together a concept of tomorrow.

And so today is a heavy day and largely just to be got through. It is not that we grieve without hope. The tears I wept this morning as we listened to the Last Battle and Aslan welcoming his people in through the stable door were not just tears of pain, but tears of joy too. How can that be?

Because in the heaviness of Gethsemane Jesus said to his Father – “Not my will, but yours be done”! Because Jesus endured the heaviest day in the history of the world and, as we will remember on The Gift’s birthday this year, rose triumphant on the third day.

And yet – it hurts, it hurts so very badly.

Thank you my Good Shepherd, for laying down your life for your wayward sheep. Thank you that even though we walk in the deep shadows today we do not walk alone. Thank you that the shadows cannot consume us, because you have triumphed over them! Thank you that The Gift was born at this time of year – what a blessing it is to have this annual reminder of life everlasting with you. Thank you for The Gift – I delight in your will for us and for him. And  I pray this in the name of the one who suffered and died so that my baby could be with you in paradise. Amen.

With my post about paying attention still fresh in my mind it just so happened (!) that The One and Only Daughter and I were in John 3:22-30 this evening.

John the Baptist certainly wants people to pay attention to Jesus!

“He must become greater; I must become less”

This is not said with a sigh of resignation, but with the joy of the friend at the bridegroom’s arrival.

Our notes challenged us to think about when we are tempted to put ourselves centre stage – to make ourselves centre of attention – and I couldn’t help but feed this into my earlier thoughts on paying attention to Jesus – see post from 16/3/2016: Wake up and pay attention.

It struck me that it isn’t just lists and life that grab our attention away from Jesus – it is the amount of time and energy and passion we spend  on attending to ourselves. It is our commitment to ensuring that we are getting the attention we so crave. With our affections and thinking so tied up with the business of attending to our personal agenda (no matter how smart and respectable that agenda looks) no wonder we find it hard to pay attention to Jesus.

I read somewhere recently the following statement that has really helped me:

“You matter, but you are not the point. Jesus is the point”.

In just a few words the writer* prevented me both from holding an unbiblically low view of myself AND from making it all about me!

Genius!

*It may have been Scotty Smith in Heavenward via PrayerMate??

In the film Sister Act 2, Whoopi Goldberg gets her wayward, unmotivated class to say and (because it is a musical!) subsequently to sing the following:

“If you want to be somebody and you want to go somewhere you’ve got to wake up and pay attention.”

While I’m not sure that I want to take that too fully on board as my motto for life, she has a point. A point made by the writer to the Hebrews at the beginning of chapter 2.

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Obviously the idea starts in chapter 1 where we have just been shown how vastly superior God’s final word to us in Jesus is to all that went before.

Pay attention to Jesus! This was the heading that the speaker I heard recently on these chapters gave us and that is what set me off on Sister Act 2!

How good are you at paying attention? We are quite good, aren’t we, at spotting when other people aren’t paying attention to us? I know I am at any rate.

The All or Nothing is not good at paying attention. You are trying to give him a set of instructions, or to explain something or talk to him about his behaviour and it is as though he is literally unable to stand still. He is leaning, lying down, sticking limbs in the air, fiddling with his clothes or his toy, his eyes are all over the place – anywhere other than on us – and the more you ask him to be still the less capable he seems! Some people seem to be able to fiddle and still listen – it can even help them – but not the All or Nothing. You ask him to repeat what you have said and he draws a complete blank – normally prompting him to throw out random key words that come up a lot: listening, obeying, grace, mercy, Jesus, the Holy Spirit he lists in ever increasing desperation! When actually you were hoping for: you want me to go and wash hands! This drives me mad! I notice when someone isn’t paying attention to me!

But do I notice my own inattentiveness to Jesus? When I thought about it I realised that often when it comes to giving my attention to the Lord Jesus I have the capacity of a 6 year old boy with the wiggles. So just like the All or Nothing will keep his eyes on me while leaning away and reaching for a pencil I can have all the appearance of praying and yet be leaning towards the to do list or the supper plans. Instead of delighting in gazing at the face of God I am looking over his shoulder to see who else I can see. I am mentally fiddling away rather than paying close attention.

I realise that there is a wider context here, a more complicated argument. The issue for the Hebrews was clearly more fundamental than a case of mental drift. They needed to see what they heard from Jesus and about Jesus as more important than, superior to, the message of the Old Testament.  They were in danger of taking their eyes off of him, content to coast along with what they already knew. But, when we put it that way – isn’t that a danger we see in ourselves?  If we tend to drift towards what we are looking at – we must pay attention to Jesus!

Perhaps for the Hebrews the old kept grabbing their attention.

[ Although the line that the speaker I recently listened to took was that it seems to be more of a case of weary, sluggish drifting, preferring milk to meat than a relentless march back to Judaism]

For us I think we are more likely to be grabbed by the new. (I’m thinking dogs and squirrels from Up!) Something moves in our peripheral vision and our attention is lost. We’re not good at paying attention to what we feel we already know. But the more we know of Jesus the more we should want to pay much closer attention!  Read Hebrews 1 and then try and give yourself a good reason NOT to pay much closer attention to Jesus. Immerse yourself (as I was recently challenged) in the greatness of Christ.

What is taking your careful attention? Can we look back on what we have attended to today and say that Jesus has had our careful attention?

Speaking to the All of Nothing’s teachers yesterday at Parents Evening they informed me that his attention in class was good. Phew! So the All or Nothing has (subconsciously I am sure) a basic understanding that at school you pay attention to the teacher. It is the correct thing to do, it is how school works, it is where your attention is meant to be. Not paying attention therefore has bad consequences.

I guess that is like me when I’m at a church gathering, or at a seminar on a conference. I pay close attention (- particularly if I take notes!). I’m there for that purpose and I’m going to take part as expected.

At home, when the All or Nothing wants to and expects to be able to pay careful attention to his game or his mood it is much harder to capture his attention. The choice he has to make then about paying close attention to us is not the same choice that he makes at school.

Similarly, it is in my so called ‘free time’ when my attention wants to roam free that I need to be intentional in paying much closer attention to Jesus. Of course, that’s not to say I can’t pay attention to anything else! For one thing it would be very dangerous (!) and for another God has given us all amazing minds and interests and things that spark us, responsibilities to carry out, and skills to learn. He give us great pleasures to enjoy and delight in and also terrible sadnesses that threaten to take all the attention we have…

….But what if all these things were part of us paying closer attention to Jesus? What would that look like?

Well it would never look like neglect. The writer to the Hebrews warns us against neglecting such a great salvation (2:3). This makes me think of a guest that perhaps we welcomed well at first, but have basically left sitting in the corner while we mingle with the important people or get on with the important tasks. Again, while I am aware that the argument here is so much more than the simple picture language I am grabbing from the text – but I don’t think it is less than it. Have I left Jesus in the corner of my life today and pointed him in the direction of the kettle as I rush out the room, or is he the King to whom I am to attend in everything I do and think and say?

Dear Father, I praise you for the great salvation I have in Jesus. May I not neglect it, but pay ever closer attention to Jesus every minute of my day. I praise you that Jesus is greater than the angels, than every power we know of and every power we are unaware of, greater than death, than the universe, than all things, than our sin, than time… I praise you that Jesus is worthy of every ounce of attention I have and for your grace in allowing me to wake up and pay attention to him. In his precious name, Amen.