Sunday Shorts - Prejudice and Prayer

Mark 7:26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. (NIV)

            Years ago, just after my family had moved with me to the United States from Scotland, one of my daughters had a bad experience. A girl that she played with at school fell out with her one day and the two of them got into an argument. At one point in the heated conversation, the girl who had been my daughter’s friend suddenly shouted out, “You’re no friend of mine. You’re just a dirty little foreigner.” It hurt my daughter immensely and she cried about it for days.

It was a very cruel thing to say which is why years later all of our family constantly defends the right of immigrants coming into the United States and being treated fairly and respectfully. Whenever we hear or read of others being castigated just because they were born in a different country, we confront that inhumanity. It’s also sad to see some of our friends in the UK also condemning foreigners, especially boat people who are desperate to find safety and asylum in Britain. It makes me wonder about how we’ll be received at the gates of heaven after death because we’ll be hoping to be let in to God’s Eternal Kingdom. How we treat foreigners on Earth may be the same standard that God applies to us when we ask for eternal sanctuary!

            When I read the Gospel story in Mark 7 about the Syrophoenician woman who begs Jesus to heal her daughter, I admire her tenacity. At one point, Jesus appears to call her a foreigner who is not worthy of His consideration. Despite this setback, the distraught mother pleads with Christ to cure her child. It’s this persistence that amazes Jesus and He compassionately agrees to heal the young girl.

            Tenacity and perseverance are two qualities that faithful, prayerful people possess. I’ve admired Christians who are prayer warriors in their communities and whose words of constant intercession have changed lives through Christ’s spirit. As Lord Tennyson once wrote, “There are more things wrought by prayer than the world dreams of.”

Point to ponder: How prayerful am I? Do I believe that prayer actually changes things? Have I any prejudices that I should be concerned about?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, every day we bring to You our prayers, but sometimes we take you for granted or we casually list our concerns to You. Help us to understand the true power and potential of prayer. Enable us to use it effectively in our faithful lives. In Your Holy Name, we sincerely pray. Amen.

John Stuart is a retired Scottish pastor now living in Knoxville, Tennessee.

June 19 devotional - Unholy Vows

Acts 23:14      They went to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 

Men do stupid things, especially when religious fanaticism is involved. A lot of the unrest that we know in the world today is caused by males who swear oaths and wreak havoc all over the planet. Wicked and evil acts are justified because they are undertaken in God’s Name. Inhumanity and fanaticism are called holiness and faithfulness, whereas, in reality, they are religious excuses for creating horror and fear. Those who teach young people to grow up hating and call it ‘being faithful’ are the biggest blasphemers in the world today. Jesus would not participate in anything remotely connected to a spiteful religion. He called upon and challenged His followers to do the exact opposite. “Love your enemies,” is what He specifically taught.

I wonder what happened to those forty men, mentioned in Acts 23, who religiously vowed not to eat until they had killed Paul. When he escaped their plot, did they all die of hunger two months later? Did their anger and bitterness against Paul continue to relentlessly feed their fanaticism? Somehow I suspect that most of them slunk away in humiliation and cried into their first bowl of soup. There’s a good old-fashioned Scottish word for people like that: eejits.

            We all have one life to live on a small solitary life-filled planet. Self-righteous religion is something that the world needs to address and be rid of by the end of this century. As Christians, if we listen more to Christ and apply His ways, we might yet convince the world that His peaceable Kingdom can actually be fulfilled on Earth. Perhaps if we stopped fighting one another, we might even begin to see this in the Church first, and then in the rest of the world.

Questions for personal reflection

Where is religious fanaticism destroying people’s lives in the world today? How can we oppose this effectively and peacefully?

Prayer:            Lord Jesus, we have all failed to live by Your teachings. We are sorry for our part in making the world a bitter place. Help us to look deep inside of ourselves and see where we are feeding hostility, resentment, and discord in our lives. Teach us to be truly faithful instead of being religiously right. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to traqair@aol.com.

Today’s image is one of John’s drawings called ‘Face to Face.’ It’s made up of the skin colors of people all over the world and the faces merge into one another signifying dialogue, intimacy, and peace. It was used earlier this year as a logo for a national conference in the Philippines dealing with tolerance. If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2267/2503232332_7491c708d1_b.jpg