One of the main reasons to go to church is to pray together. This does not mean that we should not pray apart, but it is akin to worship. We can worship alone, and we should. But we should worship together.

And here lies a challenge. For as summer gets to the USA, where it is memorial weekend — it is Winter and Murph Monday here. It is wet, cold and miserable. The 11 am service, post coffee and breakfast, becomes more attractive.

But we need to meet together. Despite the churchians who want to take over. For we need to pray, and worship, and encourage each other in good works.

So what should we pray for?

An ability to repent? Yes, though it causes us distress, and requires that we are honest in a time when dishonesty is acceptable and honesty is microaggression.

Revival in the church and restoration of our nations? Yes. Though many will fear when they realize that there is a God in Israel, and the great works of God always bring opposition and conflict.

That our enemies find salvation? Yes, indeed, for none should perish. We should pray for the churchians. We should pray for the social justice wimps. We should pray for the Muslims. That they reform, and meet Christ, and be saved.

Though we may have to then pass the ammunition.

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

(Luke 11:1-13 ESV)

God wants us to have good, and goodness implies truth, and beauty, and honour, righteousness, steadfastness and the keeping of our word when that hurts. Even though we are frail. Even though we are broken. Even though we are beset by errors: within ourselves, within the church, and within those who tell us (as enemies, from the outside) what it is to be “Christian”.

Rachel Held Evans is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Faith Unraveled (2010), A Year of Biblical Womanhood (2012), and Searching for Sunday (2015). Hailing from Dayton, Tennessee—home of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925— she writes about faith, doubt and life in the Bible Belt.

Rachel has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Christianity Today, Slate, The Huffington Post, The CNN Belief Blog, and on NPR, The BBC, The Today Show, and The View. She keeps a busy schedule speaking at churches, conferences, and colleges and universities around the country.

A lifelong Alabama Crimson Tide fan, Rachel is married to Dan. Her preferred writing fuel is animal crackers and red wine.

Rachel Evans is a secular author, mining the country mores for the entertainment of the elite.

I don’t argue about secular authors writing things. However, there is a reason that:

• Women should be silent in church
• Elders should not be new believers, be firm in the faith, know their scripture, be tested, including being husbands of wives who believe and fathers of children who are faithful. Women should not apply.
• Therefore, women should not preach. They can and should guide other women in showing them how to love their husbands and children

A quick perusal of Twitter reveals RHE to be a “progressive” “Christian”, who believes in “social justice” and liberal politics. Meh.

When, OH WHEN, are people going to wake up and finally realize that the first adjective in that quote completely invalidates the second? She might as well be calling herself an “Atheist Christian,” a “Marxist Christian,” or a “Pagan Christian.”

We are talking about churchians. Those who think being a Christian is about being nice, and saying the nice things, and social standing. But it is not. It is about brokenness. The reason we pray is not to boast, but because without God we cannot praise him, or pray that his kingdom come, or do his will, or have our daily bread. We are small: he is great.

And this infestation has always been in the church. It is human, and thus always fallen. So, let us together meet. Let us ensure that our leadership is not virtue signaling, but seeking righteousness.

And here there is a test. If you confront the churchian leadership on virtue signaling, such as bringing in Muslim immigrants while leaving our christian brethren to be murdered by Muslims in the same country, they will shun you, correct you and cast you out. The same applies with global warming, or demanding that we care for the homeless but not for our own.

Those who seek righteousness will listen, consider, and search the scriptures. Those in love with power will not. And do not be the latter.

UPDATE

It was communion at Grace Bible this morning, with a sermon on I John. Well worth it.

And after communion, we sung this. Let us all worship truly.