(Be warned this is a long one) We got to meet with Sharunas who is the priest/chaplain for Kaunas Tech the other night. He was at an alpha course meeting which is a video series used all over the world to teach people who are interested in understanding the basics of the Christian faith. Anyway, he is a cool cat. No really, he is the hippest priest I've ever met, Rayban reading glasses salt and pepper hair and all (kinda reminds me of Tim for all you CDF folks). All this was an answer to prayer and as many of you know we were praying to meet and partner with a priest here in K-town. He is excited about what we are doing and would love to work together in the future. Sweet.
All this coupled with what our team has been reading for our Bible study in the Old Testament has helped us better understand what our role here in LT is. Basically to pray. Let me tell you how we got to this ingenious conclusion. You see in Exodus 19 God tells all Israel to come up on Mount Sinai and into His presence to be a kingdom of priests. God wanted Israel to be priests to the world around them that didn't know God. Israel however rejected that invitation and instead wanted a mediator between them and God, i.e Moses. Leviticus then goes on to show the role of priests and how they come to God on others behalf.
1 Peter 2:9 tells us that we Christians are a royal priesthood. We are to be what Israel rejected back at Sinai. We have been invited and given access into God's presence. We are also to come to God on others behalf. Thus one of our main roles here in Kaunas is to pray for those around us who do not know God. I must tell you that it breaks my heart that there are many students and people who we come in contact with have probably never had anyone pray for them by name or face. So, some are called to be a priest as a full time vocation, like my new friend Sharunas, but we are all called to come before God on behalf of those around us.
4 comments:
That's great. Thanks for sharing what you're learning. I'm encouraged to do the same here in F-town (that's Fairview, for all of you reading this comment who don't get it)!
Good to hear from you....we have been praying for this your first event...we are so excited about your new priest friend. Today we went to the airport and sent off Jason and Tiana...SWEET!!
Prayer is the main thing. I felt the same way about prayer when I was a student at Portland State University. I remember being on the fifth floor of the library, looking out the window at the hundreds of students passing by between classes. It was sad to think that many of them had no one to pray for them. Prayer is the best thing - what a privilege to bring someone in prayer to the loving heart of God. May the Lord continue to bless your walk with Him.
Radical realization in the presence of prayer! Awesome.
Jesus constantly reminds that, 'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.' Yet so often the push for moving forward thwarts the whisper of the Holy Spirit as He gently reminds us to wait...to wait...to wait...
I pray that you continue to pray so to see the bush set afire with God...
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware
More and more, from the first similitude.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning ‘Aurora Leigh’ (1857) bk. 7, l. 821
Post a Comment