Jesus words on the cross: Forgiveness

Luke 23:34 (NLT)  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Jesus death on the cross is of course absolutely crucial to our faith, without the cross there can be no forgiveness. But let us not jump to Jesus death without recognizing seven important things Jesus said while he was on the cross. I say important because saying anything while you are crucified must have beennincredibly difficult and painful. Even to have the breath to speak would require putting pressure on the nail through your feet or pulling on the nails through the wrists or hands. Despite the agony and the complete injustice of the situation where not one human who witnessed his death fully understood the implications of what was happening Jesus speaks of God as his father and proclaims forgiveness. Jesus in a single sentence gives meaning to the crucifixion. God the father, by implication, will forgive –Jesus intercedes, mediates or prays for those who crucified him. Indeed we can understand that Jesus proclaimed forgiveness for us all as our personal sin made his death necessary. What is clear from the prayer is that even those who acted in ignorance need forgiveness. How could Jesus forgive? Only through seeing clearly what his Father wanted and allowing his love and grace to flow through him. What a glorious, marvellous and awesome act to forgive your torturers as you are tortured.

How MIssional is the New Pope?

Pope Francis has some exemplary qualities as a leader, he didn’t want the job of Pope and did everything he could to avoid getting elected the previous time –apparently making an emotional appeal to the other cardinals. He is known for his humility, prayerfulness and love of the poor. He has sought to live a simple life and refused chauffeur driven cars and bishops palaces preferring the bus and his own cooking to employing servants. He is also against going back to latin only services. For these reasons and the fact he is a Jesuit from South America he has a lot to commend him. He has a huge amount of influence on others in his new position and has been called evangelical and evangelistic. We protestants will not agree with his theology concerning Mary and no doubt some other issues but can certainly pray for God to use him for his purposes.

How Missional is your Prayer Meeting?

Many UK  churches if they still have prayer meetings at all on a regular basis get bogged down in praying for a dear sister's angina and similar needs in the fellowship.  Some have so called prayer meetings but actually spend most of the time singing songs and discussing what to pray for. Singing can be part of a valuable time of corporate worship. Sharing important fellowship news can likewise be a good use of time. But when prayer gets squeezed into listing personal needs and people's names to God as though he doesn't know everything can turn 'prayer' times into therapy sessions rather than interacting with the Holy one.  

Prayer is about discovering and responding to what is on God’s heart. Real prayer is not boring, it can be a battle and hard work at times but should not be monotonous or uneventful. So how can we lead prayer meetings effectively? We need to facilitate creativity, encouraging different kinds of prayer, the use of scripture and people's God given imagination. Most of all we need the Holy Spirit to lead us and each other. Prayer meetings can work effectively run by one person but it is great to have input from several at least. When many people have prepared and have a stake in the meeting and are engaged they are more likely to pray meaningfully.  What a joy it is when people are enthusiastic to pray, listen to each other, support each other but also have an ear to what is on God's heart.

Father teach us to pray...