Strengthening Faith in Dysfunctional Times
Reading the Bible Well: (Pt 14) A bonus post from Mark 11:12-25.
Every Western institution is being challenged by dysfunction. The UN and NATO are struggling. Our economic systems are faltering. Our political and legal systems are wobbling between extremes. And yes, our religious institutions are in trouble as well. We are divided by the responses of fellow Westerners. Although we share a sense of dread about the future, finding a way forward together is difficult.
Mark 11 offers us a way forward. It is a very different path than that marked out by our dysfunctional institutions. This path, recommended by Jesus, will enable us to makegoodhappen in our lives, relationships, and communities even in times such as this.
The struggles of the Western institutions, including the church, can be seen in many ways including:
lower participation rates
trivial power struggles among participants
financial challenges
squandering what we have inherited from previous generations
difficulty in recruiting the best leaders
justifying or simply ignoring the obvious failures of the leaders we do have
loss of memory re: the purpose of the organization
Most institutions respond to these challenges by directing their energies toward institutional support. Religious institutions urge participants to increase their worship attendance, to invite others to attend services and special events, and to give more money, time, and effort to church work. Core practices like faith, prayer, and forgiveness are often moved to the back burner. But we have learned, in light of Mark 11, that these are the very things Jesus urges us to focus on in times of institutional decline.
This post offers a practical way forward whether inside or outside of the church.
Thankfully Jesus didn’t copyright his material. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything to share. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus provides his followers with all they need to face every situation - even those such as our own:
‘This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.” -Mt. 6:9-13
Jesus urges us to deepen our faith, not through devoting our efforts to strengthening the institution but by seeking four things:
1) for God’s name to be known and esteemed by others.
2) for God’s plansto succeed in human history.
3) for God to provide what we need for the day.
4) for God to keep us from temptation and evil.
Nestled between the prayer requests is one thing we commit ourselves to do: “… forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
Jesus’ prayer asks us to forgive others. His prayer sets up the call to forgiveness in an interesting way. We don’t commit to forgiving others when they admit their fault and ask for forgiveness. We commit to forgive others by confessing our faults, in other words, we also have sinned against others. We ask God to forgive our faults only when we forgive the faults of others.
Practicing this deeper level of forgiveness is essential to our journey with Jesus. Right after recommending this prayer, Jesus adds (v. 14-15): For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We deepen our faith and forgiveness through prayer. Praying this prayer regularly and thoughtfully encourages us to go deeper in our prayer life by adding additional prayers spurred on by this prayer.
We are living through challenging times. But practicing the Lord’s Prayer each day will help us to focus on the essentials of prayer, faith, and forgiveness so that we can makegoodhappen; no matter what happens with the institutions that surround us.