Invocation 2

The main body of the prayer of invocation, I see as the petition "Hear us in the name of your Son". The relationship between Father and Son is the basis of the Christian approach to God...Christian worship has its logic in the doctrine of the Trinity. It is profoundly trinitarian. Our worship is part of the relationship between the persons of the Trinity. It is part of what has sometimes been called the inner trinitarian conversation. It is part of the homage of the Son to the Father. For this reason, therefore, we worship in the name of the Son. The relationship goes in both directions. Our prayer is part of the outpourng of the love of the Father to the Son. It is in Christ that we share in the fellowship of the house of the Father, that we sit at His table and are fed by His bread and share his cup. Our worship participates in the love of the Father to the Son and in the love of the Son for the Father. When we proclaim the gospel in Christ's name, baptise, and teach what He has commanded in His name, this is part of the obedience of the Son to the Father. But it is also part of the Father's glorification of the Son. In the ministry of preaching and teaching that we perform in Christ's name, Christ is glorified. Human hearts are changed and disciples are made of all nations - and thus the Father is setting all things under the feet of the Son, so that at last Christ is Lord of all. The Invocation therefore, has as one of its cardinal concerns this relationship between the Father and Son.

Old, p.16

Invocation

The God of Scripture is not the God of a thousand names. The inventing of glorious names for God is not regarded as an open field for human creativity. That Jesus should teach us to invoke God as Father was a messianic act of unique significance. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is God's prerogative to reveal His name.

Hughes Oliphant Old, Leading in Prayer, p12&13

Watts: public prayer

A man ought not to be so confined by any premeditated form as to neglect any special infusion, he should so prepare himself as if he expected no assistance, and he should so depend upon divine assistance as if he had made no preparation.

Isaac Watts, A Guide to Prayer

Providence

Understanding and applying the doctrine of divine providence will be absolutely essential for any church leaders...One reason is that an understanding of providence will help them to fight the temptation to despair, or give up, in the face of the challenges ahead.

Reeder, From Embers..., p168-9

Character

Circumstances do not dictate our character. Instead they reveal it and provide the opportunity to refine it. A good leader does not use bad circumstances as an excuse, but as an opportunity for great things to happen by God's grace.

Reeder, From Embers..., p166

Don't freak

Accept that your life is abnormal. Nothing about life as a ministry leader—from its emotional toll to relational demands and constant interruptions—is normal. Accepting that you are a freak with a freakish life will help you not to freak out.

Mark Driscoll
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2006/002/13.33.html

Fickleness

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

“‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Luke 7:31-35

Jesus warns us not to dance to the tunes of our generation. This isn't, surely, to prevent either relevancy in ministry and outreach, nor legitimate contextualisation of the gospel. But it is a warning against absorbing contemporary sensibilities too deeply.

For example, a church can survey its area and gain a lot of information; some of that information might change the way the church conducts itself when unnecessary obstructions are discovered that have been preventing effective ministry. There is hardly anything unBiblical about putting in new lighting if you discover that local people think your dingy church has the atmosphere of a mortuary (although there might be other reasons for this as well).

But to try to construct a church that fits in with cultural expectations, which removes all offense, which tries to give people the kind of church they can accept, is fatal. One reason is given here: people can be fickle, and disingenuously so. They are like children who cry out "Dance for happiness!" and when one does they shout "No! Mourn!" and so it goes on.

Or as Jesus goes on to say in vv33&34, John came along and was rejected: "he's so austere, hanging around in the desert like a fanatic, he's got a demon! Thanks, but we'll wait for someone more normal". So Jesus comes along and the response is "Look he stuffs himself, he's a drunkard, he goes to parties with weirdos! Thanks, but we'll wait for someone who's more..."

And so on. The underlying dynamic is not one of seeking a leader who matches God's criteria, but of inventing, deleting, rethinking criteria in order to make sure that no one ever fulfils it - because the deepest dynamic is: "I don't want anyone to be Boss of my life".

How many times will a person who calls in their locality to advertise their church get the response "Well, I prefer the Salvation Army, they do so many good things", implying of course that your church does not match their high criteria so they cannot possibly attend. I maintain the only time anyone says this is when there is no Salvation Army base for at least 10 miles. If there was one across the street they would say they preferred the Methodists or Elvis worship or Scientology. Because their true motivation is to avoid God.

Which brings us back to building a church in the image of society: it's pointless. Because if the underlying imperative is avoiding the Lordship of Christ then, as soon as you have made a service which matches their preference, then their preference will change.

It is best to learn to communicate, remove uneccesary obstructions and be faithful to the gospel. Because in the end that is what works (v35).

Badger

Ministers & Angells

(Lord’s day). Up, and leaving my brother John to go somewhere else, I to church, and heard Mr Mills (who is lately returned out of the country, and it seems was fetched in by many of the parishioners, with great state,) preach upon the authority of the ministers, upon these words, “We are therefore embassadors of Christ.” Wherein, among other high expressions, he said, that such a learned man used to say, that if a minister of the word and an angell should meet him together, he would salute the minister first; which methought was a little too high.

from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 9th August 1663