I have a secret to confess. It's been over 30 years, and I have to come out of the closet – or at least out from behind the couch. I was 6 years old, and one night after my mom herded me off to bed, I crept back down the stairs, and hid behind the couch in our family room. Just out of her line of site, like a moth to a flame I was pulled into one of 1966's most innovative TV programs. I watched with wide eyes as Gene Roddenberry's “Wagon train to the stars” told the story of the Enterprise and its five year mission to go where no man has gone before. Yes – I have to come clean – I am a closet Trekkie.
This is no surprise to my wife or kids. When the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager spinoffs hit the airwaves, I remember pulling my kids onto my lap, and along with a bowl of popcorn, we watched Captain Picard continue the mission that my childhood heroes Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock began. The names had changed but the story was the same. Men, women and aliens banded together to face the unknown, out-gun old enemies and out-smart new ones. For those who are wondering . . . yes . . . we even attended a Star Trek convention or two.
One of my favorite episodes in that original series featured displaced society adrift in a hollow, round spaceship. War had left their planet uninhabitable, so their society's leaders built a 'world' inside a space-going ball. The catch was that the citizens believed that they were on a planet. an artificial 'sun' rose and set, and the entire world was designed to replicate home. After three generations drifting through space, their outside-in spaceship was the only world they'd ever known.
The episode's conflict because the spaceship was off course, and drifted toward an inhabited planet where it would crash and create galactic destruction. As the story raced toward it's climax, Kirk and his cohorts faced the challenge of convincing the inhabitants that they were on a space ship, not a planet. The Federation heroes had to help the helpless, and convince the society that what they believed was wrong, and what they experienced on a daily basis isn't real. There was a larger world outside of themselves. They had to change their reference point, and accept a new reality based on truth which resided outside of their experience, or face certain doom.
A minor character from this show intrigues me yet today. An old man, an outcast that most of the characters considered crazy was written into a brief scene. As Kirk, Spock and the boys tried to convince the society of their need to shed their wrong beliefs, this old man crept out of the shadows and spoke forbidden words.
“I believe you. I know we're not on a real planet. . . For the world is hollow, and I have touched the sky.”
A prayer ministry is built from the same conviction. This world is hollow, and we can touch the sky. We can touch Heaven with our prayers and connect with a new Reality which resides outside ourselves. When we do, we discover God's perspective. When I am affected by His point of view, my world can . . . and must change, and I can no longer stay the same.
The world is hollow, and we can touch the Sky. We don't have to settle for the world as it is, and Jesus calls us to go out into the world and work to bring about change. We are to make disciples, feed and clothe the poor, heal the sick, and see God change lives one at a time. It starts with prayer, because God's power must first work in my life, before I will grow to a place where He can work through me.
If your small group would like to learn more about prayer, and making deep, life changing prayer a part of the culture, contact Tim Burns and the Outlet Prayer Ministry at Kentwood Community Church, Grand Rapids, MI (http://www.kentwoodcommunitychurch.com/opmblog) We can help you with resources and ideas on how to encourage your congregation or small group to set an intentional time to pray together for your church, neighborhood, church, and state. As a group you will grow closer together, and individually God will work in your heart and life as He draws you closer to Himself.
For the world is hollow - join me - let's touch the Sky.
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