The fellowship of the unashamed...

At church on Easter Sunday, Jason was reflecting on the liberating power of Jesus for our past, present and future.  Jason read out the prayer below, which has become known as the Martyr's prayer [NB: for clarity this is its poular title and Jase did not imply it was written by a Marty] and for me it was a crack in my ordinary facade of life, that beneath it their lies something so much bigger and more untamably wild that I am committed too. 

As Jason reminded us God's presence and him being present are two different things, I may not feel much of his presence but that does not mean he is not present. 

This prayer then is for me a lifting of the fog of my life to remind of what I have committed myself too, a knowledge that my past is being recyled into life, my present is being renewed and my future is one of life and restored humanity.

"I'm a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His and I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I'm done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear.

I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed.  I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He'll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!"

Amen

What do you think/feel/experience as you read this prayer?

Comments

[Helen]

Um, well, you asked...

I think "how tragically ironic" and I'll explain why.

Myths circulate about who wrote this, hence the title "Martyr's prayer". It wasn't in fact written by a martyr. It was written by Dr Bob Moorehead, an American pastor. He was the founder and first pastor of Overlake Church in the Seattle area (where our 2006 Off The Map conference was held, in fact). He was removed from his position when it came to light that he had been engaging in sexual misconduct with church members for years.

I'm not sure what Jason said about the prayer but I'm guessing he doesn't know these things.

Here's a link saying who wrote it but not why he resigned as pastor: http://www.oakseed.org/Blog_FellowshipoftheUnashamed

If you look up Overlake Christian Church on wikipedia it says why.

Imo, this raises interesting questions, like: does it matter how the author of it lived? Should we even care? Should we just say "So what - it's a great prayer?" And, since the Christian sites who quote it and correctly attribute it to the 'former pastor of Overlake' don't say why he left - why is that? Are they being appropriately tactful, or inappropriately covering up what happened; or do they simply not know?

[Paul]

Thanks Helen, much appreiciated, always good to give proper credit where credit is due.

And such awesome questions too.

My first thought is how so many characters of the bible wrote stuff that is inspiring even if they had uninspired moments in their life - i think of David and the psalms for instance and does that make it any less impactful or maybe more so knowing that he wrote them as a flawed human whose faith was more in God than his own failing heart and flesh.

As for people who correctly attribute the prayer I would not want to speculate why they do not give the biography of the author - maybe they don't know or do not wish to judge?

A friend of mine says he was taught to preach his aspirations rather than his limitations and i think the prayer is great at raising those, at the same time we who seek to live it out do have limitations - we will fall down. I pretty much do often every day.

one thing i have learnt from running though is that it is good to lift my head up, to have a goal to run at and something that has committed me to run, for me the prayer is a bit like that. I can pray if from where i am and live in hope that one day i will live it out fully and in between, well it's about grazed knees and helping hands up...

[jamie]

I agree with Paul. We still read David's words and find them inspirational. As I read this, I wondered where I could hang it in my house, so I could see it all the time. The fact that this man fell, doesn't give it less credence in my mind...

[Helen]

Thanks Paul - I guess I wish the author of it had done better at running at the goal he wrote...over two decades of sexual misconduct while pastoring a large church is way beyond an 'uninspired moment'.

But I appreciate you advocating grace.

[David]

Wow, I love that poem. I have it on my desk, and I used it in a message once.

I didn't know the true story of it. It kind of took me back - and my first thought was... "Oh, Darn"
But I agree, it's a great piece, and we are all fallen creatures. In my humble opinion, this is the heart cry of a pastor who desired to live this life.

And don't we all fall short of it in some way or another? It's just that his 'sin' was bad one and he got caught...

[Paul]

Thanks Jamie, I'm glad it inspires you too :)

[Paul]

I understand Helen, it's especially gonna be hard for people i think who have never had aspirations qualified by limitations and/or been hurt by this kind of behaviour.

Then again i'm not sure what the author's life looked likes in its entirety so hard to say whether he'll be reinspired by his words to plunge back in?

[Paul]

Thanks David. I thought darn too. I think it would be sad to judge this guy by his aspirations - let's face it none of us can run at that pace and clarity but i think some of us would like too and one day we will.

In the meantime we have to deal with our limitations and the crap that drags us down and holds us back - then again maybe that's why we need this sort of hope?

Is their a wider Q which is do we apply standards of perfection to our leaders which even God doesn't which causes cover up rather than confession?

[Jason Clark]

Hi Paul, and Helen!

I did not introduce the prayer as being by a martyr, I called it by its common title, 'The Martyr's Prayer'. I am aware of the contested roots to the prayer and spend some time researching it, and found it attributed to Malcom Muggerdige. In any event I doubt it came from the pastor in Seattle, and that any of us will find out who really wrote it.

And if it was by a pastor who later 'fell from grace' it doesn't diminish the impact of the prayer for me, just as most of the bible is full of people declaring things for God who then fall into ghastly mistakes...I hope the prayer gave strength to the pastor in Seattle not condemnation.

Cheers, Jason

[Paul]

Thanks Jase, for the clarification :). I agree with you, as i put in my comment above even if it was written by a guy who sinned [and lets face it everything is written by someone who has] than it is still inspiring - we need aspirations rather than always focussing on our limitations, afterall i think the psalms are powerful and inspiring even though they were written by a dude who fell a few times too. Or maybe that's why they are so powerful, hope and humanity as is side by side.