Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/94

Contributor - Jeff Kingswood

Title - Editorial

Topic - Editorial

January 1994. A milestone for the Synod of Canada. We are official. As the crowd in Times Square Counted down toward 1994 we also counted down to a new beginning. There has been much labour to this end. Much planning and much prayer. And that brings me to my point.

At one time or another you may have made a New Year's resolution to pray more. Many of us have done so because we know prayer is important. The emphasis which it receives in scripture indicates this. But our zeal is not often matched by knowledge and soon our resolution goes by the way side. How then may we learn how to pray?

If you know your Catechism you know that after dealing with the Ten Commandments the Catechism begins a treatment of the subject of prayer and as a model for our prayer it uses the prayer which our Lord Jesus taught his disciples when they asked to be instructed in the art of prayer.

I use the words 'art of prayer' advisedly. There are many books available in any Christian book store that treat prayer like a chemistry experiment. Two parts this, one part that, some heat and bingo! Predictable results every time. Enough faith, the right words, enough fervour and presto; God will give you your heart's desire. Such books do us no good service for they take several scriptural texts, combine them in ways which stretch the exegetical imagination, and, come up with their formula for self satisfaction through prayer.

I would say to you, based on scripture and the Catechism's interpretation of scripture, that prayer, rather than a means of deriving from God what we desire is instead a means of giving to God what God desires.

Question and answer 1 16 tell us that "prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us." We begin by realizing that we can never repay God for what He has done for us in sending Jesus Christ to become our Saviour. The perfect Lamb of God become a man to be slain in our place and raised again to defeat death because we have sinned and deserve to die and cannot save ourselves from the wrath of God. God's mercy to us shown in such a wonderful and merciful manner can never be repaid by our efforts.

We can never give to God anything which He has not first given to us. We can never be so morally good of our own account that it should please God. So how do we give thanks to God? By loving Him in return for the love which He has shown us and communicating that love and praise in prayer. Asking God to show us over and anew the great and gracious blessings which are ours in Jesus Christ and blessing and praising His name for them. That is the chief part of thanksgiving unto God.

Question and answer 117 go on to express for us the attitude of prayer that scripture tells us God loves. Such an attitude of prayer involves three things: 1) A heartfelt love for the one true God as He has revealed Himself to us; 2) an attitude of humility that recognizes our need and dependence on God; and 3) a realization that though we deserve nothing, God will give us everything for the sake of the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

As we stand on the threshold of the new life of our Canadian Synod, we have a tremendous challenge before us. We need to pray that the same God who has redeemed us would sanctify us individually, as a church and as a nation. We need to pray that God would keep our hearts thankful and loving. That we would never grow in pride to the point where we presume God and His Grace are a side issue rather than the primary focus of our existence. We need to pray in thanksgiving to God for the great things He has done among us and ask that we shine with His gifts. We need to pray that we would remain faithful to God's Word in all things. And we need to pray for our leaders that they would have a Biblical vision for the Church of Jesus Christ. We need to pray that our Reformed Church in Canada would not be just another religious organization but that we would strive to be faithful members of the body of Jesus Christ.

This issue of the Pioneer marks a new beginning. For years we have declared ourselves to be the official magazine of the Reformed Church in Canada. Now we are the official magazine of the official Reformed Church in Canada. Our mandate is to be a voice of unity for our geographically diverse Synod. We pray that our magazine would challenge you to think about your faith in a way that moves you to live it out in our unique national and cultural situation. We hope to challenge your thinking about the land in which we live and our church's place in it. We hope to see the Pioneer remain more than a newsletter and be the vehicle for thoughtful interchange and provocative stimulation that it has been in the past.

None of this is possible of course without the grace of God. Pray for us we ask you. Pray that God would give the means, spiritual and material, for the continuance of this ministry. Pray that we would be faithful to God's Word. And finally pray with us that our Lord would be glorified through the work that is done in the-se pages.

Thank you. JK

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.