Get me out of here!

Have you heard about this new game show, it’s called “I’m a Christian Get Me Out of Here!”

What they do is take a group of ‘good’ Christians, you know the ones that go to church each Sunday and nod along politely to the sermon. They take these Christians and put them in a variety of situations designed to really test them. Places they are not familiar with, places that don’t smell good, that look quite grubby; with people who they don’t understand, situations that are a bit scary, that might ask them to step outside of their comfort zones. You know, the places where God calls us to minister. They put these Christians in to these situations and then we see how long they last.

But it’s not a game is it. Its the reality we face today. We as Christians are called to minister to God’s beautiful people, and this means we have to go to places that make us uncomfortable and will make us want to shout “Oh my god get me out of here!”

We will have the option to get out of there, to go back to our warm beds and cosy homes. But the people we are called to minister, they do not have that option. That is their life and until we find the strength to persevere and see it through, they will remain stuck there and we will keep watching from the outside like the tragic reality show that it is.

Let us go to God in prayer,

Holy God, this Lent we come to you with hope and expectation that through this period of time we will connect with you in different ways, that we will experience you in new ways. We pray that we encounter you fully, that our senses are opened to you. We pray that by the time Easter Sunday arrives we will be full of the Holy Spirit, enriched by your word, emboldened by the life of Jesus.

Holy God we know that you are open and available to us at all times, you make your presence freely available. You want our lives to be enriched by encountering you, you call us to meet with you each day. You are fully present in each of your wonderful creations.

I am made in your image. We are made in your image. Every person who breathes right now is made in your image and we can encounter you when we encounter them.

Merciful Redeemer, we are scared, reticent and uncertain at the sound of your call to ministry. We want to be more than good Christians who pray and sing and put memes on Facebook. We want to be Christians who minister to others, who go to those places where we are needed. Give us the strength and courage to seek those places out, to go there and to linger there. Give us the grace that we need to spend time in difficult places and talk to people who challenge us. God fill us with a desire to listen and take note, and do what is asked of us, to bring healing and love to those places that currently seem stuck in the shadows.

When the going gets tough the tough get going? No, not us Lord, by your power, by your mercy, by your love we relish in the opportunities you lay out before us to be conduits of your grace, your healing touch and your transformative touch.

Heavenly Parent we pray now for that one person in need of your love through human engagement. We pray for that one person currently feeling that call to go out and engage. We pray for that one who feels like they try but its never quite right, never enough. We pray for that one who feels defeated or drawn away from the work you have set out before them.

We hold them up before you now. Be a transforming light in their lives, in our lives.

Amen!