Category Archives: Christianity

Praying for the Nation–And They’ll know We Are Christians Cuz We Pray

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The fires of hatred seem to be burning with an ever-increasing intensity within our nation. Mass shootings, sometimes violent protests, senseless acts of random and not-so-random violence are all part of the fabric of our experience on a daily basis. The divisions in our society feel like our nation is being split apart. Indeed, articles now freely circulate about a topic that only a few short years ago Americans would have thought unspeakable–to wit, the possibility of civil war. Where has the “united” in United States gone?

Stephen Covey, in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” listed 7 habits in which effective individuals regularly engage. His 5th was “Seek to understand, then to be understood.” Most folks are so busy shouting their viewpoint from any and every imaginable platform possible that they’re way too busy to listen to any other point of view but their own.

So I’m making a modest proposal. I’m asking every person of faith who is committed to the welfare of our nation to promise to spend at least 5 minutes a day praying for it. And if you happen to live outside the United States, great! Either pray for us (friends should pray for friends, after all) or pray for your own country. And if faith isn’t your thing (which I find a bit puzzling since you’re reading this blog), then send positive thoughts or energy or whatever it is you manifest.

These things tend to be more successful when committing to a specific time with a specific trigger. Doing this during one’s devotions, while taking a shower, or going to and from school or work may be good alternatives.

The Thing About Prayer

There are a couple things possibly worth pointing out about prayer. The first is that although we often do it, prayer at its best isn’t a telegram to God telling him how things should be run. I rather suspect he’s figured all that out long before any of us ever existed. Rather, it’s telling God how we feel, pleading for things that are dear to our heart.

The 2nd thing about prayer is that it often requires feet, specifically, ours. What steps can each of us take toward mending our nation’s fabric? We can say “o, it’s too large, what can one person do?” And the truth is not much. But when that person stands with God and others who want the same thing, and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, then the power of that is unstoppable. As the song “Pass It On” posits, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”

I also note that one of those sacrifices may well (and likely will be) exiting one’s comfort zone.

So what is it that you can and will commit to do? First pray, but with the object of determining how God would have you act to bring about the answer to your prayer and be a co-creator with Him to advance his kingdom. Because surely a nation and a world being ripped apart is not that. We are God’s children. We are not helpless.

Lastly, ask yourself how Jesus might act. Let the Scriptures inform your decisions. WWJD (what would Jesus do?) was rather trendy in the 90’s and was derived directly from Charles Sheldon’s book called “In His Steps” which was written in the late 1800’s but is a very salient guide for our actions even today.

Please comment, either on songatmidnight.com or the Facebook page. I look forward to uniting with each of you. Thank you, & God bless.

Praying for the Nation–Jesus’s Unanswered Prayer

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The title likely comes as a bit of a jolt, as most people don’t think about the fact that some of Jesus’s most fervent prayers seemed to go unanswered. If we consider it at all, most would probably think of His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-44 among others), but few would think about John 17:21 “I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.” (CEV).

We Christians seem to be splintered into so many factions it makes Humpty Dumpty look whole. From conservatives to liberals, from exuberant worship to quiet and staid, from those who love modern music to those who treasure the ancient hymns–we look at all these differences, and it’s hard to figure out how we could ever remotely be united with each other. And yet I think in a very real sense, we are.

Those who are called by Christ’s name, i.e., who bear the name of Christian, or “little Christs”, must first of all love and follow Jesus. We’re also told in numerous Scriptures we need to love each other, Luke 10:27 being just a single example.

Ephesians 4-10 says:
“Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people.
God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children.
God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.
Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means that our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because God was so kind to us. God has great wisdom and understanding,
and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways.” (CEV)

He did those things for you, for me, and for all whom he has chosen. God is our Father, which makes us a part of God’s family. Christ has already united us, but our lives have to make that a reality.

Unification will not come in putting aside our differences in worship style, music, and political beliefs. That’s not necessary, though putting away our animosity toward and quarrels with each other regarding them most certainly is. Unification will come when we begin to understand that God doesn’t play favorites with His children and that He loves each one of us equally–so much that His Son died so we could be with Him.

Christ washed His disciples’ feet–even the one who would ultimately betray him and instructed us to do likewise (John 13:14). To that end, Bob Goff, in his book entitled “Love Does”, points out that love is not a feeling, it’s actions. (check out Bob’s site here . In this footwashing scene, Jesus was saying the same.

This week I join in Jesus’s prayer that we would be united, so the world would know that God sent Christ to be with us. Or, perhaps, to put a little different spin on it, I pray that we Christians would be united so that this nation would know God Sent Jesus to be our brother and example.

You’re Acting Like An Idiot

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To many, the old Testament seems frought with images of blood and guts and war, and a wrathful God who takes vengance on helpless humans at any chance He gets. A lot of folks would therefore be surprised at this single verse penned by an obscure profit in a little-known book of the Bible called Zephaniah. It’s found in chapter 3, v. 17:
“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Any of you who have ever held children in your arms and sang over them as you rocked them, rejoicing, know precisely what this verse means. Have you ever thought about the fact that God loves you just exactly like that? Yeah–I know–it’s hard to fathom, but He does.

The Other side of that coin is that he loves others like that as well. And he loves us even when our behavior doesn’t warrant it, because He knows we are separate from our behavior. We might be acting like an idiot, but we ourselves aren’t one. We can change our behavior, but God created us in His image, and that will never change.

Again, that applies to others as well. I’m trying very hard during these extremely stressful times to understand that even when people act like idiots, God nonetheless sings over them just as He sings over me. They’re created in His image just as I am. And just because they (or I) act like idiots doesn’t mean we are one.

I pray we’ll all extend grace and prayers to one another during these extraordinarily frought times.

Welcome!

Song at Midnight Posted on by

My name is Jackie McBride, & this is my personal blog. It will contain reflections on my faith journey as well as any other items I might wish to include. Though I do not proselytize or disparage any faith traditions, & my views are often distinctly not those primarily associated with right-wing American Christianity, the reader should understand clearly that this is nonetheless an overtly Christian blog. If that’s not your cup, then I really would encourage you to find something you’d enjoy reading more & send you on your way with wishes for many blessings. If, however, for whatever reason my reflections interest you, then please accept my warmest welcome. I’d love to hear your comments, but please only leave those if they’re civil & relevant to the topic at hand. I do not accept advertisements of any sort here, and any attempt to try to sell products of any kind will result in the comment being marked as spam & the commenter banned. Racist, sexist, vulgarity, or hate language will also not be tolerated & the results will be identical to those in the previous sentence. Those things really should go without saying, but in today’s climate, unfortunately, it seems they can’t.

 

The blog’s name is derived from the account in Acts 16:25-36.

“22  The crowd joined in attacking them, (Paul and Silas) and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

23  After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

24  Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

26  Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

27  When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

28  But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

29  The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

30  Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31  They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

32  They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

33  At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

34  He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
35 ¶  When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.”

36  And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, “The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.”

 

The theme of being able to praise God despite adversity is clear. Midnight is also a reference to my blindness. I’ve been contemplating doing this for years now, as husband Karl will attest, and I’ve finally gotten off square 1.

 

I’ll also be recommending other bloggers whom I particularly like, so if you have a blog you think might interest me, please let me know that.

I’ve been engaged in a series regarding praying for the nation(s). Some will undoubtedly notice that many of the scriptures I put forward to meditate & pray on have to do with conduct. That’s because I believe a nation is only as good as the people that live there. I feel if we can find things to unite for and agree on, even if we don’t necessarily agree how to implement them, it becomes a common ground for consensus building.

If you’d like to sign up to the blog, please do so using the ‘Registration’ menu item. Screen reader users, please use your arrow keys to navigate the form. To log in, please go to the site, then use the appropriate menu item. I’ve been forced to make these changes because of a large amount of spam traffic absolutely hammering the site.

I wish you abundant blessings, and I hope that perhaps something I write here might prove helpful or inspiring.