The restless heart

The young preacher offered a beautiful sermon from the New Testament Book of Revelation. She had spent the summer preaching requests from the congregation. People love Revelation.

It was her pastoral prayer that stuck with me. She prayed “for peace and a restless heart.”

I thought of Saint Augustine who says, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” Augustine was right. Much of the discontent and dissatisfaction of our culture plays itself out in our thirst for power and hunger for money. We seek things that will not satisfy.

It’s like putting the wrong gasoline in your car or boat. Internal combustion engines will not run efficiently, if at all, on contaminated fuel. They need the good stuff.

How often do we settle for what is “just okay?”

A “just okay” faith is simply not big enough for the life we live today. Just okay puts us in a place called average or lukewarm. That may be alright for your car or your boat or a meal that is just so-so.

God wants more than that from us. No more arms around the American flag. No more of our failure to hear the call of Jesus to love our enemy and care for those whom God loves.

A lot in our country has been corrupted and coerced. We have forgotten who we are and certain people are happy about that. They can manipulate and fool a people who have forgotten who they are. They lead us around like dogs on a leash.

Aren’t you tired of the same ole rhetoric coming out of our supposed leaders who are not leading us to green pastures and flowing water. They are leading us off the cliff.

Prayer is personal. It does not pontificate. Rather it is humble, in our closets, on our knees.

The question is asked, “with what do I come before the Lord?” I can’t help but think what we offer is often paltry and self-serving. One of the lessons of prayer we teach our children is: God is not Santa Claus.

When Jesus says, “Ask and it shall be given,” we sometimes offer a grocery list. “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” prayers.

We are to pray in a Cruciform way – from our connection with God, for the world, for our neighbors, and all creation. We pray strength and health for ourselves and others. We pray that God’s will be done in our lives.

That is the hard part. What is God’s will for our lives? Leslie Weatherhead, a theologian writing sermons for soldiers in WWI wrote a helpful little book called, The Will of God. I have used it in my teaching for decades.

Soldiers were dying cruel deaths on the battlefield and in the trenches. How could that possibly be God’s will? God’s intention for humans and all creation was that we would live in a garden filled with all we needed to have a full and perfect life. God would supply our every need. There was only one tree from which we could not partake.

What happened? We blame it on the woman, but both Adam and Eve ate from the tree of good and evil. God was not pleased and sent them away to face an uncertain future.

We know a lot about God’s circumstantial will for we live in a broken world. Natural laws like gravity and inertia, bring consequences that can be good or bad. We cannot jump off a ten-story building and expect God, as Superman, to sweep down and save us from certain death. Free will comes into play as we make decisions that bring harm or good to our lives. 

God’s ultimate will is our saving grace. Whatever happens to us on earth is redeemed in our death, for in death we are with God. This is Resurrection faith. “Death where is your victory? Death where is your sting?”

A mature faith shapes us in understanding that God really is on our side in this world. God wants good for a creation called good.

Rainer Maria Rilke was a late 19^th century poet in Germany, whose letters and poetry have been translated to English. Wilke says we are called “to live the questions into the answers.”

Living the questions now is living the mystery that is God. Answers are static; questions are dynamic.

Restlessness keeps us as seekers; always on a journey.

Arrival at destination means the journey is finished. The restless heart invites us to journey into a day yet unrevealed. Pretty exciting!

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist, and host of the blogsite Avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com.