The Phil Files

John helped lead worship this Sunday at both of our worship gatherings. In the second, he shared a communion devotional focused on the victory that is ours because of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead and that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the day of His resurrection and not on the day of His death. At the earlier gathering, he helped leading the worship songs. During one of the songs, he leaned over to me and raised his pinky finger as he led us in the words, “When the enemy presses in hard do not fear, the battle belongs to the Lord. Have courage my friend our redemption is near, the battle belongs to the Lord.”

Most folks missed the significance. It touched me deeply. You see, eight days earlier, we had done a funeral for his mom who had passed away suddenly in her early fifties. She and her husband were beloved houseparents at a nearby children’s home and part of our church family. I had helped conduct the memorial service — one of the most unique I have ever witnessed. Because John’s mom, Malinda, invested so much time in training young ladies from very difficult backgrounds, she was found of making every event, good or bad, into a “teachable moment.” So as a tribute to her, I used her death to be a “teachable moment” for those of us at her service.

I asked everyone to hold up a hand. Then asked them to touch each finger with me as we assigned a one word name for each finger.

• Pinky – Enemy
• Ring – Tears
• Long – Love
• Pointer – Legacy

I then went back over each finger and share a bit of insight from God’s word.

Pinky – Enemy: Paul reminds us that death is still our enemy (1 Corinthians 15:22-26). The enemy uses this power of death to hurt us, wound us, discourage us, but we must know that he will be crushed under Jesus’ feet.

Ring – Tears: The death of someone special hurts us and breaks our hearts. But, Jesus knows and cares about grief. The shortest verse of the Bible say, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Jesus wept knowing that He would raise His friend Lazarus from the dead because He saw how much Lazarus’ death broke his sisters hearts. It is okay for us have tears, even though we know someone we love has gone to be with the Lord. But we don’t grieve as those who have no hope, because we believe Jesus will return and we will experience reunion (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Long – Love: We believe that the love we’ve experienced for this precious person we have lost will live on despite death’s intrusion in our lives. We believe that love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6). In fact, God loves us so much, that He sent Jesus to earth to die for us and be raised so that love has the final word, not death (John 3:16-17).

Pointer – Legacy: This person has left us a legacy to uphold: a legacy of faith and character and compassion. And as long as we carry forth these values into the future, the influence and legacy of this person we love will on. We must hear the call of God to use the gift of our lives to influence others to know Jesus and share in His life (Matthew 28:18-20).

But what do we do with our thumb? Didn’t God give us five fingers and not four?

Ah, we take these four truths — Enemy, Tears, Love, and Legacy — and reach out our hand to the person next to us and us our thumbs to hold on to each other and to help each other. This must be our five value. we need community. We need each other. We need to hang on to each other.

Today was one of those remarkable Sundays when many families have left for the summer, our university students have mostly gone home, and we sent out a bunch of our high school students on a mission trip. Yet God moved in powerful ways and John’s simple gesture was a reminder of how powerful God’s grace and our faith can be in the middle of deep grief. I was moved beyond words. In fact, I couldn’t must any words for several moments.

And what does this have to do with praying the Lord’s Prayer? Look at those five again in light of the Lord’s Prayer:

• Enemy – “deliver us from evil”
• Tears – “Father” who will wipe away all tears from our eyes
• Love – “us” instead of “me” and “my”: we are a community built on relationships and love
• Legacy – “glory forever!” Think of all of the generations that have said this prayer!
• Community – “our … us” and the reminder we are to hang on to each other

So I invite you to share the prayer today in a fresh way with those around you:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.”

Thanks, John, for reminding me that the enemy doesn’t have the last word!