Back on my desk in my study I have 38 Bibles (yes, I counted them). Here on the edge of the lake sitting on a rock watching fish swim by I have one small Bible. This is a plain Bible without footnotes and study guides. The ones on the desk in my study – study Bibles, Bibles with outlines, footnotes, researched cultural information, almost every version currently on the market… Here I have the Bible I carry when travelling. Just the Word of God. No study notes, foot notes, or outlines. Just the Word of God in a plain and simple format.

The Bible is an interesting book. We read it with our minds and physical eyes but hear it with the heart and spiritual ears. God speaks through His written Word to our hearts. God speaks – not some author, scholar, Bible publisher. The Word of God is inspired and our only authority – not the footnotes, verse numbers, chapter breaks… Just the Word of God, the basic Bible.

One of the interesting things about having quiet days beside a large lake in the mountains with no phones and emails, one radio station not worth listening to, and no proper television reception is that you have many hours to read God’s Word without interruptions. After a very early morning dip in the lake to shower (there is no shower or hot water in our rustic and old cabin) there is, by choice and circumstance, nothing to do and nowhere to rush off to. Just quiet and serenity and an opportunity to grab a hot cup of coffee (yes, we have power) and sit by the lake and enjoy God’s Word in large chunks. To read a whole Gospel at one sitting gives you a different vantage point, impression, understanding, grasp of Jesus and His life and ministry.

It is here on the backside of this mountain that I once again come to realize that you can’t be an authentic Christian on a diet of constant activity – even if that activity is good and godly. Here I come to know once again that strength comes out of solitude. Here I am made aware that power comes out of stillness. Good lessons to relearn. Good time and place to relearn them.

When reading in my study back home I hear the trains shunting in the railyard half a block from my home. Here I hear the loones calling to one another as they swim and feed no more than 20 feet from where I am. Ah! “Be still and know that I am God.”

Monday in the Green Mountain State. I am in the east following a family wedding and taking the opportunity to have a few days in one of the most beautiful places in the world – the mountains of Vermont. Some time to spend many hours a day with the Lord and in His Word. More time than a normal day allows me back in my home office when ministering. It is quiet here as it is off season and so many of the country homes are empty and some even shut up for the season. However, many people now live on the lake front year round and so there is still some life in the evenings when people return from work. But, generally quiet and very serene.

This has always been a place where I could really sense God’s presence – a special place for me. And, this week is no different. Like Moses on the mountain top this is a mountain side (I am no where near the top of any of the peaks in the area) where God’s presence is very real for me and a place where, when I am still, I can hear God more clearly than most other places. This is not a place where a person can pray on automatic pilot. You know, praying the same way every day and using “stock phrases” that neither express your life to God nor release God’s love and life in you. The Psalmist states: “Pour out your hearts to Him…” (Psalm 62:8). This is a place where you cannot do anything but.

As I have been walking down the back roads and along the many streams that come down the mountainside and intersect with the roads I have been thinking of Jesus and how seriously He took prayer. In the early mornings (and I do mean early) overlooking the calm, serene lake that is 25 feet from the place I sleep I think of the early mornings He use to get up and get away from the busyness of ministry and mentoring just to be alone with His Father. There is no ministry here for me to do – I no longer know anyone and no one knows me. This is good. I am ignoring emails and phone calls in spite of my technological advances that allow me to receive both no matter where on the planet I happen to be. I wanted these few days to be a time when I could read and reread the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and simply watch Jesus in His daily “unforced rhythms of grace.” (see yesterday’s blog).

Jesus had an interesting prayer life. There seems to be four basic things I see in His less than routine prayer times…

1> He prayed regularly. Regardless of His busy schedule, emergencies that He faced, expectations and demands – He took time to be with His Father. When I typed that I originally typed “the Father” and felt the check of the Holy Spirit. For Jesus it was not time with “the Father” but time with “His Father”. It was not something He had to do it was something He wanted and needed to do – not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man. He simply needed to touch God regularly as a human being. So do we. Remember Jesus said to His disciples – “WHEN you pray…” not “IF you pray…”

2> He prayed privately. Those of us in ministry have many opportunities to pray publically. But God is not impressed by public displays of piety. He simply wants time with us privately so that the conversation is intimate and personal not public and ‘professional.’ He went away by Himself and found private places to be with His Father. So must we.

3> Pray sincerely. God is not interested in formulas. He wants a real relationship and not a plastic performance. He wants to hear from our hearts and not our heads. He wants to hear what we need and must share with Him and not what we think He might want us to say.

4> Pray specifically. It seems that the Lord prayed about real life and real events and people. He still does as “He forever makes intercession on behalf of those being saved” (Hebrews 7:25). So must we or we will find the events and acitvities of life overwhelming as we attempt them in the flesh and without His help and frequent intervention.

So, if you will excuse me, time to go up the mountainside!

I am in Montreal, Quebec (central Canada) and have been for several days. I grew up here but left in 1969 to go to seminary in Toronto and then have lived in western Canada since graduating with my first Master’s degree in 1972. I use to return regularly to visit my mother but since her death three years ago last month I have not been back. I’m here for a family wedding being held today. My sister’s son.

Headlines like “Love and marriage are fading like the horse and carriage” (Canada.com) and Statistics Canada reporting that the latest statistics show a continued and steady decline in married couples (traditional marriage) in Canada with a major increase in common-law and same-sex unions. Over half of all marriages (even long-term ones) end in divorce in Canada. Statistics for Christians living common-law before being married as well as the divorce rate for Christians are keeping pace and, in some locations, even outpacing those who do not claim to adhere to the Christian faith. It appears that society is changing rapidly in their views and practice of marriage. The horse and carriage are almost non-existant.

According to Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia…

Christian views on marriage typically regard it as instituted and ordained by God for the lifelong relationship between one man as husband and one woman as wife, and is to be “held in honor among all….”[Hebrews 13:4]

Divorce or dissolution of marriage, is generally seen from a Christian perspective as less than the ideal, with specific opinions ranging from it being universally wrong to the notion that it sometimes is inevitable.

Traditionally, most have believed that the New Testament holds that sex is reserved for marriage. The New Testament is often thought to teach that sex outside of marriage is the sin of adultery (for the married person) if either sexual participant is married to another person. Voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other is traditionally-claimed to be the sin of fornication.

Now, in most cases, when a couple comes to a priest, minister or pastor today either one or both of them is divorced or one or both of them have been involved in a common law relationship (often even living together before their own marriage) or have had multiple sexual partners before hopefully settling down by choosing to be married. Most couples (in my experience 9 out of 10) do not attend a Church and are not part of the Christian community although they will state quite strongly that they are Christians. And, they are adament about wanting a Christian ceremony (whatever that may mean in their minds).

Of course we want to, like Christ, show them the love of God and yet uphold the Christian beliefs. We see this as an opportunity to declare the true Gospel and the need to respond and be born again. We hope that by accepting the people involved (yet not agreeing to the lifestyle) and being there for them that they will encounter and experience God’s love and acceptance. We see the actual ceremony as an opportunity to speak about marriage from God’s vantage point to many who never come to Church. And, for some of us who are soul winners, we see the reception, bar and dance afterwards as an opportunity to witness and evangelize one-on-one.

But, I am also realistic. After hundreds of wedding couples and ceremonies I am painfully aware that most couple are simply using the Church and the pastor and will not be seen or heard from again for many years, if ever. Doing weddings does not build the local church.

Today I am officiating at a wedding in the province of Quebec in the city of Joliette and my wife is officiating at a wedding in the province of Saskatchewan in the city of Regina. Both are couples we know, love, and have worked with. We are praying for them – and ask you to join us in doing the same.