PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 20:32–38
“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
CONSIDER THIS
Here’s my question: Why couldn’t Paul stay in Ephesus? After all, he had planted a great church there. He had recruited great elders. I mean, they were finally about to get out of the Colin Powell Elementary School and move into a more permanent location! He had earned the trust of the local leaders. People raved about his preaching.
Who on earth would leave such a situation? He could finally enjoy some of the fruits of his labor. You know—get married, have a couple of kids, get the minivan, coach kids soccer, finally get some counseling about all those abusive Jews in his past, and then live the Ephesian dream.
There was one small problem. Paul was an apostle. As good as this life might have sounded to Paul, he knew it was not his calling to settle in for the long haul and build up the Embrace Church of Ephesus.
What could be better than planting a dynamic church, seeing it take root and begin to bear fruit, and settling in for a long-term relationship with a community of growing Christians? Answer: Nothing could be better if this is your calling.
The problem: It was not Paul’s calling.
Sometimes leaving is necessary. Most of the time leaving is hard. It’s important to leave well. What’s so amazing about Paul is that he left churches he had planted all the time, yet he never protected himself from the pain that comes from saying goodbye to deep friendships. It is one of the most compelling and indelible scenes in the whole of Acts to me. Can you picture them—that band of Christians kneeling together with Paul on the shoreline, their prayers mingled with tears, embracing one another in the bonds of the holy love of God?
Leaving, much of the time, is actually a ministry. It makes room for the next thing God wants to do where you left . . . and where you are going.
And apostle or not, leaving is not easy. It’s a universal, often tear-filled experience we all share, from leaving home to leaving your family to start a new family and all the way to leaving this earth. We are always leaving home in order to find home.
Years ago I wrote a poem called “The Leaving Way Home.” I dug it out from deep in the archives just for you today.
The Pilgrim Way is marked by leaving
cloud by day and fire by night.
The essence of the walk is seeing
by the Flame eclipsing sight.
To see ahead defies all planning
to look behind disclaims regret;
the echoes of lost home are calling
like children asking “Are we there yet?”
And so we go our lives abandoned
together—clad though rent apart,
till leaving finally greets the morning
joy of every longing heart.
Here’s the chorus crafted for country radio—obviously still trying to find its way . . .
Leaving is the only way home
You’ve got to take a step of faith to get you out where you belong.
The hardest thing to do is letting go
cause leaving is the only way home.
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive the promises of your future and release my clinging to my past.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Can you recall a difficult leaving in your life—perhaps from a church community (as a leader or otherwise) or from a town? How did that go?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” (hymn 405) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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3 Responses
A few thoughts about today’s Wake-up call: The title apostle says it all; sent-one. By nature, true apostleship will require itineracy. Secondly, our personal callings require that we are willing to respond in obedience. Where God sends me, I will go, His will be done, not mine, on earth as it is in heaven. And yes, God did call me outside my comfort zone in order to engage in a form of ministry outside the box of traditional, institutional, church practice; towards a more organic form of church life. And from what I’ve been able to learn via the internet, I’m neither alone nor unique in this calling. My goal is to one day hear these words from the lips of Christ: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.” (Matthew 25:21)
Paul commits people who he has told about Jesus “to God and to the word of His grace” — to the message (story, testimony) about God’s undeserved favor. Every true Christ-follower has a word about how they encountered and were transformed by God’s grace.
Speaking about Christ-followers the Bible says that God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Jesus calls that being “born again.” If you have been born again, how did it happen to you? Was it a gradual process or did it happen suddenly? When you describe how you were born again, that’s called your testimony. (See Revelation 12:11.)
The Bible talks about a mystery that it calls “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” If Jesus Christ is living inside of you, what difference does He make in your life? What was your life like before Jesus came to live within you? When and how did Jesus begin to reside in you? What is your life like now that Christ is living in you? Testify. Tell people all about it.
If Christ is in you, telling people about how that happened is powerful. It’s the word (story) of God’s grace working in you and the Bible says that it overcomes the devil and his accusations against you. Leave your comfort zone and begin to tell your salvation testimony every chance you get.
(JD: Here’s a song that matches your “Pilgrim Way” poem. It’s called “Pioneer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db7ocvC-zUQ)
While the world is trash talking, Christ-followers need to be transformation talking and sharing their testimony about how the living Jesus became real to them and transformed their life.