Author: John Tillman

Scripture: 2 Timothy 4.6-8
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day.

Even though Western Christians are not facing anything that could truly be called persecution, it is still possible, even in a modern, Western, Christian church to be martyred. Over the next two days we will look back at a not-so-recent story of a martyr that never really made it into the headlines and reflect on where martyrdom begins for every Christian. — John

Reflection: Where Martyrdom Begins Part 1
By John Tillman

Does martyrdom begin when a knife is held to your throat? If laying down our lives for another shows the greatest love, is it not possible to show that love unless our lives are taken in violence?

On July 26th, 2016, near the city of Rouen, in France, a Catholic priest, Father Jacques Hamel, was killed in a vicious attack. The attack occurred during mass in the church at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, where, despite being of retirement age, the 85 year old had served as auxiliary priest since 2005.

It’s easy to think that when Jesus referred to laying his life down for his friends, he was referring to his imminent death on the cross. And we are right to do so. He died for us. He gave up his life on the cross. But stopping there simplifies what Jesus did — and what he said — into one single act.

Dying on the cross was not the only way that Jesus gave up his life for his disciples. On the cross it was finished, not begun. Jesus didn’t just live for himself his whole life and then in one grand gesture, decide to sacrifice his life for all of humanity. He gave up his life for his followers in little moments and big ones, bit by bit, in every minute that he was with them.

When Jesus talked about giving up his life and commanded his followers to do as he did, he hadn’t died yet. What he had just done was wash their feet. He had lowered himself from his position as leader to serve them. And he served them in a way that was unreasonable, even degrading, in the eyes of some.

Our laying down our lives for each other as Christ did may include physical martyrdom, but it definitely includes more than that. It is harder than that. Father Hamel spent seconds—perhaps minutes—dying for his flock. He spent more than a half-century serving them.

We are commanded to take up our cross daily, not finally. It is in the so-called small, everyday sacrifices that we give our lives for each other. We do it in each hour, each moment, that we remember to not stay in lofty positions as respected teachers and friends, but to lower ourselves, perhaps humiliatingly, to serve each other.

Revised and abridged from a post on Garage For Faith.

The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Protect my life and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I have trusted in you. — Psalm 25.19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 14 (Listen – 5:06)
2 Timothy 4 (Listen – 2:48)

Read More: Where Martyrdom Begins Part 2
Physically giving up your life — being martyred — on behalf of others is loving as Christ did on one day of his life. But giving up your rights purposely, embracing humiliating servitude to help others, and doing it with a heart of love and not resentment, is how Christ loved us on every other day of his life. 

Where Martyrdom Begins Part 2

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2.24-25
The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.

Reflection: Choosing Gentleness Over Violence
By John Tillman

When we discuss differences online, the overheated rhetoric of partisan headlines becomes a part of our own speech. We share articles or videos that describe our opponents—not their arguments or political positions—as being destroyed, ripped, blasted, shredded. The more violent and dehumanizing the verb, the better.

This isn’t just verbal hyperbole. It is being borne out in actions as more and more people are physically assaulted following online opinion, that leads to opposition, that leads to violence or threats of violence. These types of actions can be extreme and political, such as the attempted assassinations of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in 2011 or of Republican Congressional members in 2017. They can also be smaller in spectacle, and fly below the news radar.

Gamergate was the name given to attacks on women critiquing the portrayal of female characters in video games. Though it started years ago, many of these attacks—threats, vandalism, hacking, and doxxing attacks—are still going on today. Women are also often attacked using these methods after reporting sexual abuse by powerful men.

We should resist the urge to shrug off these events with denial. Christians believe that God’s Word became flesh, yet somehow we are reluctant to admit the power of our own words to become physicalized into actions. What we say and how we say it matters because, as Jesus taught, the words of our mouths come from our hearts and reveal our inward sinfulness. Sticks and stones start as words and words start in our sinful hearts. This is true not only of the words we speak or type ourselves, but the words we lend our digital voices to. By posting, liking, and retweeting articles about our ideological rivals being “destroyed” we are revealing not our ideological righteousness, but our theological sinfulness.

In Paul’s exhortation to Timothy he encourages faithfulness to the Gospel, and fidelity to right teaching, but Paul specifically instructs Timothy not to be resentful or quarrelsome and to instruct opponents with gentleness. This was no low-stakes conflict that Paul was advising Timothy in. The very heart of what it meant to be a Christian and the definition of salvation through Christ was at stake. It was much, much more important than who misinterpreted whose tweet this week. Yet, still Paul’s charge was to teach gently.

We cannot continue posting and liking things that are resentful, quarrelsome, and the opposite of gentle, yet expect to represent Christ and the Gospel in the world. If we refuse to choose one or the other, we risk showing the world a resentful, quarrelsome, violent Christ.

The Request for Presence
O Lord, watch over us and save us from this generation for ever. — Psalm 12.7

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 11-12 (Listen – 7:38)
2 Timothy 2 (Listen – 3:17)

As we prepare for worship this weekend, may our hearts return to this challenging prayer from Zambia. Despite differences in liturgy, in setting, in size, in culture, in language, in privilege, and in wealth, let us be united in worship by our awe and wonder at the beauty of our Creator’s work of creation, at the horrifying toil of our Savior’s work of salvation, and at the empowering call of His Spirit for us to join Him in his work on behalf of our cities. — John

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1.8-10
So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Exodus 15:2
He is my god and I will praise Him.

Reflection: A Call to Worship from Zambia :: Worldwide Prayer

Almighty God, our Father,

Through your great love and mercy you have redeemed us and forgiven our sins.

Father, our worship has degenerated into empty ritualism. Every week, millions and millions of your people meet on the Lord’s day to worship you as creator and redeemer. We want this worship to declare your worth and to offer you praise. Some believers worship you formally, liturgically, some free and spontaneously but we all want to worship in “Spirit and in truth.”

Lord, fill us with wonder and with gratitude for your love and for our salvation. Help us to worship you joyfully and to give you the praise you deserve. Enable us to remain faithful to you.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

The Call the Prayer
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill; for the Lord our God is the Holy One. — Psalm 99.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 8 (Listen – 5:18)
1 Timothy 5 (Listen – 3:22)

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 9 (Listen – 6:32) 1 Timothy 6 (Listen – 3:16)
2 Kings 10 (Listen – 6:30) 2 Timothy 1 (Listen – 2:37)

Scripture: 2 Kings 7.9
Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.

Reflection: The Beautiful Feet of Lepers
by John Tillman

One of the joys of regularly studying and reading scripture (Especially when following a reading plan of the whole Bible) is finding the treasures hidden in the forgotten places, the stories in-between the Stories, and the nameless characters that never had a flannelgraph made of them. Down in one of these forgotten, skimmed over cracks are four outcast lepers.

Most stories of lepers in the Bible end with them being healed but these weren’t. In fact Jesus singled out this era of scripture as a time when not a single leper was healed except for a Syrian raider. He was a foreign fighter, a kidnapper and enslaver of children, and in many ways a man we would consider a terrorist. Yet, two chapters ago Elisha healed that man, sending him home without extracting either financial gain or even promised reform. But these lepers at the gate of Elisha’s own city went ignored.

The four are outcasts between the besieged and the besiegers. Those in the city are struggling with the economic fall-out of a siege that is severe enough to cause the desperate to resort to cannibalism. In this climate, the outcasts decide that death by the surrounding army can’t be worse than starving to death, so they walk out to surrender and discover instead that the battle is won and the spoils are strewn about waiting to be picked up.

At first they gorge and hoard the secret victory they have found. But before long they realize what they are doing is wrong. The resources they discovered, the wealth they stumbled upon, and the good news of the victory they did not have to fight for must be shared.

We are these outcast lepers—forced to the margins of a culture hostile to faith. We are these unarmed conquerors—walking boldly into the abandoned camp of the enemy. We are these unemployable lottery winners—suddenly gifted riches we could never earn. We are these gorging celebrants—filling emptiness that no other meal could quench. We are these messengers with beautiful, leprous feet—staggering awkwardly to share good news with the city that cast us out.

We may be diseased and unclean but we share the undeserved victory we have discovered. This is the gospel—that terrorists can be healed and saved and the rejects of society can bring the news of salvation and the testimony of victory unimaginable to their city.

The Request for Presence
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. — Psalm 43.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 7 (Listen – 3:55)
1 Timothy 4 (Listen – 2:05)

Scripture: 1 Timothy 2.1-2
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Prayer is not a passive, calm, quiet practice. — Tim Keller

Reflection: Thoughts and Prayers
by John Tillman

In our world, there is now pushback against even saying that we will pray over a situation. Thoughts and prayers as a hashtag has become a philosophical battlefield where people of faith and people frustrated by people of faith clash about the efficacy of prayer and the pointlessness of faith without works. (The language is, of course, not that academic.)

This pushback is based on a cultural assumption about prayer and an assumption about those who say they will pray. The first is that prayer is pointless and can’t help any situation. The second is that those who say they will pray, will not actually pray, and worse than that, will not follow through with any actions at all.

The cultural version of this type of empty prayer is engaging in the equally empty gesture of clicktivism—liking or sharing a post about an issue, but doing nothing substantive to address it. In a way, those who are decrying thoughts and prayers are praying unknowingly—they are calling out, they know not to whom, for real, tangible change and action.

The culture Paul was in prayed a lot. Prayer was everywhere. But in no religion was it so personal and direct as in Christianity. The type of prayer that Paul practiced and taught confronted both modern and ancient cultural assumptions and was attractive, not repulsive, to his culture. How?

One reason we see is that the kind of prayer that Paul engages in is fruitful in creating action—good desires and the deeds that follow. Paul’s prayers were not just words, but will and work. According to Paul deeds are prompted by faith, and faith is fueled by prayer life.

It is our actions, growing directly from the cultivated soil of prayer, that bear fruit that our world will gladly partake of.

When we follow the lead of godly, broken-hearted prayer, we will find ourselves acting in undeniably loving ways (against which there is no law), seeking out the lost, marginalized, and broken with Christ’s love, and suddenly realizing that people are no longer repelled by our thoughts and our prayers.

The Greeting
Seven times a day do I praise you, because of your righteous judgments. — Psalm 119.164

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 5 (Listen – 6:17)
1 Timothy 2 (Listen – 1:38)