A Thought on Prayer

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom. 8:12-17)

In The Word is Very Near You, Martin Smith says,

"Even quite experienced Christians who are hard-working and caring people balk at prayer as yet another demand on top of everything else. Here is another quota to fulfill, this time from a supernatural boss, or another person to satisfy, a super-parent.

What if God does not demand prayer as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us? What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting us? Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourselves to be loved, addressed and claimed by God.

It is one thing to say that prayer is a conversation with God. It is another to say that God begins the conversation. But it is yet something else to say that God is a conversation. In God love ever flows between the Father and the Son in the Spirit....Our prayer is not making conversation with God. It is joining a conversation that is already going on in God. It is being invited to participate in the relationships of intimacy between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is an eternal dance already in full swing, and we are caught up in it."

Thanks to the Center for Biblical Studies for the quote.

Fall Bible Study: American Saints Weeks Three - Six

Week Three of American Saints - Martyrs

PETER the ALEUT (1815) – Russian Orthodox
SISTER CONSTANCE AND HER COMPANIONS - "The Martyrs of Memphis" (1878) – Episcopalian
CLARA LOUISE MAASS (1876 – 1901) - Lutheran
JOSEPH and MICHAEL HOFER (1918) – Hutterian Brethern

JONATHAN MYRICK DANIELS (1939 - 1965) – Episcopalian

Week Four of American Saints – In Service to Others

HERMAN of ALASKA (1756 - 1837) – Russian Orthodox
THOMAS GALLAUDET (1822 - 1902) – Episcopalian
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1864 – 1943) - Methodist
BERNARD FRANCIS ”SOLANUS” CASEY (1870 - 1957) – Roman Catholic

Week Five - ADVOCATES FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

John Woolman (1720 - 1772) - Quaker who led fight against the slave trade among American Quakers.
Absalom Jones (1746-1818) - 1st black Episcopal priest, born as a slave, founder of St. Thomas in Phil.
John Quincy Adams (1767 - 1848) - Congregational president of the US and civil rights advocate.
Mary McCIoud Bethune (1875 - 1955) -Methodist teacher and first black woman to head a federal agency.

Week Six - ADVOCATES FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793 - 1880) - Quaker minister who led fight for women's rights and abolition.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902) - An Episcopalian who worked for women's suffrage.
Georgia Harkness (1891 - 1974) - Methodist who became first woman professor.
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) - Voting and civil rights activist; Baptist.
Barbara Andrews (1935 - 1978) - First woman ordained in the American Lutheran Church.

You are the ethicist!

This article from the ethicist is good and I agree to a point but as Christians we expect flawed people to do good things and we accept that. I think of St. Paul who was Saul before his conversion. So how would you answer this question about Lance Armstrong & Livestrong?

It was recently demonstrated by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs during the seven years when he won the Tour de France. During the same period, Armstrong started Livestrong, a cancer-support organization known for its ubiquitous yellow bracelets. Is the unethical nature of Lance’s doping offset by the fact that his Livestrong organization has touched many lives in a positive way? Is it even right to consider Livestrong in our ethical analysis of Armstrong’s doping?

Here is how the ethicist answered.
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