Cymbala’s Story
Jim Cymbala is the Senior Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle which he described as being a challenge in his early years. In fact, the Tabernacle was on its last broken leg when Cymbala arrived in 1972. He described his first visit to the Tabernacle saying that he could sense that the church had big problems the moment he walked through the doors. He described the current pastor as being discouraged; the worship bordered on “chaotic”; and folks were convinced that an usher was helping himself to the weekly offering. But, at the encouragement of his father-in-law, Cymbala did not throw in the proverbial towel despite the stress and difficulties that this burned out church was facing. He said that early on, he was depressed by what he saw and he felt depressed in his spirit to the point that he couldn’t preach. He said to his small congregation, “I’m sorry…I…I can’t preach in this atmosphere…Something is terribly wrong….I don’t know what to say – I can’t go on…Would the rest of you come to this altar? If we don’t see God help us, I don’t know…” Following the tears and the cries to God, he experienced what he called a spiritual breakthrough. God simply showed up in response to those prayers and cries. He said that he “discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness” (19). His new discovery led him to believe that he truly did not know how to lead a congregation as a pastor. Cymbala realized that he truly had to depend upon the Father for his provision and direction in all of life. This realization led him to the conviction that fundamentally, the DNA of the Christian life is prayer. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire is an invitation for all of us to “face the fact that for our churches and ministries to be all God wants them to be, the must be saturated with prayer” (183).
Cymbala points out that God’s first people were not called “Jews” or “Hebrews” or “the children of Israel.” “In the very beginning,” he says, “their original name was ‘those who call on the name of the LORD’” (cf. Gen. 4:26). Cymbala points out that our English word for “call” is – in the Hebrew language – more attuned to “cry out” or “implore.” “This,” he says, “is the essence of true prayer that touches God” (55). Whether or not you agree that karah-ing is the essence of true prayer, Cymbala makes a good point – this is something we need to be doing on a regular, consistent basis and is consistent with the biblical witness (cf. Jer. 33:3; Ps. 3:4; Ps. 50:15; Ps. 91:15; Isa. 55:6; Jer. 29:12).
Cymbala gives his readers a plethora of examples of where “God showed up” in his life, in the prayer meetings, and on Sunday mornings. He tells of how God transformed the lives of drug addicts, cross-dressers, and even the life of his own daughter who ran away from home. All of the examples in this book give attention to the power of testimony. In our class, we’ve already talked about how the enemy has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11), and Cymbala indirectly affirms God’s power through human weakness. There is tremendous power in our sharing our stories with one another. People in the pews need to hear how “God showed up” in others’ lives.
We just finished a new member’s class at our church and the pastor and I agreed that we’d like to have all of our new members share a time in recent months where “God showed up” up in front of the congregation. They were less than thrilled, but agreeable in the end. One gentleman in the class said something about his poor communication skills especially in front of a large group, and while we appreciated his concern, we [the pastor and I] were given an opportunity to encourage our new members by saying that “God’s power is made perfect in our weakness” and that God will speak in to the hearts of those listening. I am reminded of the times when I have preached, and someone would say to me, “I really appreciated it when you said….” But after I thought about it – I didn’t say what they thought they heard! That is the power of the Spirit to speak in to peoples’ lives. So, I’m encouraged that our new members are a little nervous about giving testimony to God’s power in their lives. These are the kinds of people that God really uses effectively to demonstrate His love and advance His kingdom.
A Little Tension
I encountered something unexpected while reading Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. Cymbala described a situation where he encountered a demon-possessed woman during a Sunday service and after the demon was successfully sent away, the woman praised God. Yet, despite his encounters with the demon-possessed, he is openly skeptical of what is referred to “territorial” demons. He says, “What is the name of the demon over Brooklyn? Where does the New Testament portray this strategy? Did Peter bind the spirit over Joppa or Caesarea?” (106). He goes on to say that he couldn’t find evidence where this kind of “strategy” was being implemented at the local church level. Despite his skepticism of territorial demons, he warns North American Christians to beware of the novelties – beware of the novelties which can lure us away from doing the work that God has called us to do.
Reflection
Cymbala’s book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire is a great book. It is, for lack of better words, a breath of “fresh” air. What I appreciate the most about this book is the author’s candor and his humility. His humility comes through when he recognized his limitations as a pastor, and leaned in to God for provision. And his candor is appreciated because he makes some honest critiques of North American churches today. In my opinion, he has an important message concerning the centrality of prayer in our churches today that we need to hear. His opinion isn’t popular and Cymbala recognizes that a shift in culture is necessary if we are to be the “church” today. Reformed, Wesleyan, and all other churches need to hear Cymbala’s critique of the church when he says, for example, that the sermon has replaced prayer in churches today. “Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, ‘My house shall be called a house of preaching’?” (71). Of course not, says Cymbala. Preaching, music, Scripture reading are all important practices of the church, however, says Cymbala, “The honest truth is that I have seen God do more in people’s live during ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons” (71). This is a pretty audacious claim, especially for those of us who appreciate good preaching, but Cymbala’s critique is a valid one. North American churches have under-emphasized the commitment to and the power of prayer. In my experience, our congregants spend minutes – not hours in prayer week-in and week-out. And yet we continually scratch our heads and wonder “Why isn’t revival happening in America today?” Revival is a word I hear in my faith community and it seems clearer to me now that “revival” is not happening on a larger scale because [in part] we are not “praying continually.” I sense that there is a general attitude that North American Christians agree that prayer is important, but very few actually pray more than just a few minutes a day. This is a very sad situation in which we live because there is tremendous power [as we have learned inside and outside this class] in prayer and Methodist preacher, Walter Wink echoes this sentiment,
“When we pray we are not sending a letter to a celestial White House, where it is sorted among piles of others. We are engaged, rather, in an act of co-creation, in which one little sector of the universe rises up and becomes translucent, incandescent, a vibratory centre of power that radiates the power of the universe. History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being. If this is so, then intercession, far from being an escape from action, is a means of focusing for action and of creating action. By means of our intercessions we veritably cast fire upon the earth and trumpet the future into being.”
If I can summarize what Wink is saying here, I would say that prayer is an act of co-creation and history is made by those who intercede and believe the future in to being. In other words, the future is created [in part] through fervent intercessory prayer. God is sovereign, yet strangely, God invites us through prayer in to the very act of co-creation.
I’m reminded of a sermon I preached just a few weeks ago on Jonah 2. In that text, the climax comes at the end of Jonah’s prayer which says, “Salvation belongs to the LORD.” After I had finished preaching we were going to move in to a time of extended prayer where those who desired to receive Christ as Lord of their life would have the opportunity to do so. Immediately following this time of prayer, the congregation was dismissed, and those would like to receive individual prayer and anointing had the opportunity to stay and our “prayer team” would receive them and pray with those who came forward. Now, you must understand that this was not something that was typical for our congregation. This was an experiment of sorts. We were blessed to receive three people who came forward for prayer and I thank God for those who shared their burdens and received prayer. Later, when I was receiving feedback on how that service went, I was bothered by one critique which basically went like this, “I think that the reason not many people came forward after the service for prayer was because we had an extended time of prayer last Sunday.” So, if I understand my friend’s criticism [and read between the lines a little bit], they said to me that one of the reasons not many came forward to receive prayer was because they prayed so much the previous week; therefore, that might be just too much prayer time because last week was a special time of prayer. I hear this same kind of criticism when it comes to not celebrating the Lord’s Supper on a weekly basis because then “it wouldn’t be special.” I resist the belief with all of my being that – whether it pertains to celebrating Communion or participating in times of extended prayer – by doing these kinds of things on a weekly basis would make them “less special.” I think what Cymbala brings in to this conversation is that we, as pastors, need to continually cry out to God not only to transform people’s lives and attitudes but to cultivate a church culture that continually seeks Him in prayer.
Up to this point I’ve already talked about two essential practices that our churches [my church] ought to revisit – extended prayer in Sunday worship and outside of worship as well as the power of personal testimony. There is one final practice I’d like talk about which Cymbala is critical of in his book – how we do worship. Cymbala critiques North American worship by saying,
We have a lot of markngs that look like Christianity these days, but we have drastically revised the parameters. People have lowered the standards in a vain attempt to make churches look more successful than they really are. The sermons have to be uniformly positive, and the services can’t go longer than 60 minutes [his services are 2-2.5 hours in length]. Even then, church is inconvenient for some, especially during football season. Showing up at church is such a burden that soon people will be faxing in their worship! (132).
Cymbala rightly points out that the issue is not length, but appetite! We are hungrier for the NFL, NBA, the internet, and full-length feature movies than we are for the Spirit of God to move and touch us. Further, I agree with Cymbala that Sunday worship is simply too rigid. We’re too focused on time that we can stifle the Spirit’s work simply because we don’t want to be late for something afterward. Cymbala makes a critique that is tough for Refomed and Wesleyan ears to hear, “During times of worship in many churches, the schedule of songs and hymns is so rigid that nothing, not even God’s Spirit, can interrupt” (134). His point is well-taken, but if God’s Spirit wants to interrupt, I believe God’s Spirit can interrupt, but we do need hear is that maybe we ought to leave some flexibility in our weekly liturgy for practices like testimonies and extemporaneous prayer or singing. This openness requires a great deal of paying attention to the Spirit during worship. If the congregation and pastor are sensing the Spirit’s movement then they can join the Spirit in worship.
Application to Life and Ministry
I have been increasingly convicted and more painfully aware that I need and my faith community needs to engage more fervently in prayer - more than just 4 minutes on a Sunday morning.... more than just 5 minutes each and every morning [and maybe every evening if we're lucky].... more than just at meal times. I have been known to say that everything that I do is an "act of prayer." While I believe this to be true - not only for myself but many others I know - I also believe this is just a way for me to avoid getting on my knees and approaching the throne room of God with humility and call upon the Lord for anything and everything. This conviction and intuitive sense is leading me down a path to pursue starting a prayer ministry at my church - or should I say a more "intentional" prayer ministry. I don't know exactly what that looks like at this point, but I was pretty inspired by Cymbala's book in which he basically describes a Wednesday night prayer meeting with worship and testimonies. I might call the ministry “Hymn, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs” where anyone can come to worship, share, and pray. No sermons just crying out to God through different avenues of prayer. This might even be a place where people can receive healing a well. This vision is definitely something I can bring to my pastor and share with him. I may even talk to others to gain a sense of confirmation through the Holy Spirit as well. If this vision is not of God, then perhaps some day I will have the opportunity to implement this at a church I pastor.
