Twelve Things December 30, 2008

I went for a walk today and took some photos of a very wintry Wandsworth. As I wandered, I thought back over the last twelve months, and tried to think of some words to describe them. Colourful is a good word. As is surprising. After this I chose twelve things that stuck out especially as highlights from 2008.

1. Trips

I’ve been to some new cities this year, but most noteably I remember my trips to Hong Kong and Sweden. There’s nothing quite like the Himalayas at 5am, I have discovered. And I shall forever be searching for sweetcorn soup of the same quality as we found in Visby. There were a lot of hours on planes. There are a lot of great memories.

 

2. Birthdays

I turned 25 this year, and my lovely friends organised a fab weekend involving the theatre, a trip to York and Leeds, real live Vikings, and french pastries, among other delights. Then there was the dual birthday day I organised in March. I loved parading round London in bright red T shirts, advertising our adventure.

3. Creativity

The ROOTS Prayer tent, countless collages, plus creative Christmas present preparation kept me busy for a lot of this year. I think there is glitter permanently ingrained in my carpet now. But it was worth every minute.

4. Buildings

This year we saw the new Boiler Room building spring up before our eyes. And in October we held the keys. Since then we have had the joy of unpacking, settling in, finding our feet, making it our own, and generally being very thankful for such a lovely gift.

5. Depth

The hardest journeys we take often bring the greatest depth to our spirituality. Often we wish it was less of a bumpy road, but then we wouldn’t swap the depth and freedom that comes from walking that path. That’s definitely been my experience over the past twelve months. I can’t wait to see how God builds on this stuff in the months ahead.

6. Bike Riding

In June I decided to breach the final frontier and teach myself to ride a bike. Armed with some determination and some cycling proficent friends, I attempted this. I fell off, got laughed at by a drunk, and ended up permanently scarred… but it was a laugh, and worth every minute.

7. Baking

I inherited the gene! I can do it. And what’s more I love it. At the beginning of the year I wouldn’t have known one end of a whisk from the other, but by the end of the year I am merrily baking regularly. I spent a whole Saturday before Christmas having a ‘bake day’, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Today a fuse blew while I was cooking, incapacitating the fridge/freezer (which wasn’t much of a problem to my baking) and the oven (which kinda was). I’m proud to say I fixed it!

8. Rhythms

This year I’ve intentionally taken things a little slower, and built in space and time to relax, rhythms of stillness alongside those of activity. Time when my phone isn’t on, when my computer is shut down, when I’m just doing nothing. I’ve learnt to relax in new ways, and it’s a lesson I’ve been glad to learn. 

9. Work

I think I may have the best job in the world. Highlights this year included travelling to a wondrous place called Stourbridge, where I really enjoyed hanging out with the summer school taking place there. I’ve also enjoyed some of the more international conversations we’ve been having recently. I’ve loved brainstorming events that are coming up next year. And I’ve loved writing and designing resources.

10. Reading

I was amazed by Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy at the start of the year. And I ploughed through the thirteen (yes… thirteen) Lemony Snicket ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ stories. I was less enamoured by these, but reading them all was an achievement. I’ve also loved GP Taylor’s work this year.

11. Friendships

I think I’ve spent more hours in Starbucks than ever before this year. I’ve loved musing with friends over lattes, meeting new people as well as catching up with old friends. In the summer I went out for a meal with three of my school friends I hadn’t seen for about five years. It was amazing to see them again, to see where all lives had taken us and to reminisce about old times together.

12. Christmas

I always get excited about Christmas, and this year was no exception. I loved all the run up to it, making cards and shopping and planning intriguing wrapping disguises. I loved spending Christmas with friends, listening to cheesy Chrimbo CD’s, playing ‘20 Questions’, eating the most yummy sausagemeat in the world ever, and squirreling out boxing day bargains.

Christmas photo journal December 29, 2008

These are just a selection of snaps from my festive season.

Christmas shopping in Birmingham

Lovely presents!

The infamous Sock of Salvation sketch (which Phil saw fit to sleep through… hmmm!)

Christmas Highlights December 29, 2008

I had a wonderful Christmas this year. Full of all the best things: Great friends, great places, yummy food and lots of laughing. There were so mnay bits of it that I’d like to freeze frame, but I’ll have to suffice with writing about them instead.

My first favourite Christmas moment was on Monday evening. It had been an intriguing old day, to say the least, and my very good friends, having some awareness of this, invited me back to their house. We cooked tuna steak and fried potatoes, which are not traditional Christmas fayre, but it was just lovely to spend time together. I had been creating some complex Christmas presents this year, so they helped me with some last minute packing conundrums, and then we drunk tea and planned a post-christmas shopping trip. Perfection.

Christmas really began on Wednesday, when I hot-footed it to Canterbury. I love travelling on Christmas eve, everyone on the trains have that misty-eyed, ‘I’m making a significant journey’ look about them. Most are lugging bright bags brimming with presents. Everyone smiles and even the ticket inspectors wish you seasons greetings.

Once there, the first highlight of my Christmas had to be the community carol singing. Picture a couple of thousand people squished into a crossroad of streets, an open-topped, double decker bus with a conductor, attempting to keep everyone in time, an enthusiastic Salvation Army band, lots of carols, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The carols were an intrigue, not least the bizarre Canterbury version of jingle bells, but the whole experience was very festive. And the Archbishop’s message, if short, was fantasticly relevent to where I’m at.

Christmas day itself was great. We woke early and opened presents. I always knew that I had some lovely friends, but the haul of lovely gifts I received confirmed that again. I’ve been trying to work out what my favourite gift was. Perhaps the notebook personalised with photos of us down the side. Perhaps the vase shaped like a coal scuttle. Perhaps the bright pink bath towel, or the cuddly reindeer. I think probably the homemade toadstool hat wins the prize, but it’s a close call. The rest of the day passed quickly. We went to Church, we had a fantastic Christmas meal, we played games, we laughed a lot. Highlight of the day was probably my friend sitting down on a cuddly pheasant in the middle of the church service. This would have been fine, except said pheasant is musical, in that it makes a sound not dissimilar to a whoopee cushion when squeezed. We had some trouble composing ourselves after that.

Boxing day was marvellous. We decided to brave the sales. I realised that I enjoyed shopping in Debenhams more than shops like New Look and River Island, and wondered if this was evidence that I am getting old before my time?We had a lovely coffee and a natter in Starbucks, which is a random place to end up in on Boxing day. Then it was back home, to watch Doctor Who, which was very, very good. Then off out to some friends in a nearby village. We had some more lovely food, and there were more lovely presents, (including a test to check the dog and cat’s IQ… genuis!) and I don’t think I’ve laughed as much as I did that evening, in a very long time. Photographic evidence of the hilarity will hopefully follow.

Saturday and Sunday were quieter, it was just great to be there and to be able to take things at a slower pace. I could feel myself unwinding and relaxing and enjoying it all lots.

This week I am looking forward to New Year’s celebrations, another Canterburian trip, and the wonders that 2009 will bring

Quote of the day December 15, 2008

This made me think a lot:

“Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait. Waiting is an art which our impatient age has forgotten.

The greatest, the deepest, the most tender experiences in all the world demand patient waiting. This waiting is not in emotional turmoil, but gently growing, like the emergence of spring, like God’s laws, like the germinating of a seed.

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manger. God comes. The Lord Jesus comes. Christmas comes. Christians rejoice!”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from a sermon delivered in Barcelona on Dec. 2, 1928

Celebrating Life December 15, 2008

One of the things I love most about Christmas is how the preparation for it pervades all aspects of life.

Being busy is nothing new, but as Christmas approaches it’s like people throw caution to the wind and spontaneity pervades. “It’s Christmas… let’s have that meeting in a coffee shop rather than the office.” or, “Gareth Gates? In panto… that can’t be missed.”

And suddenly the kitchen space we have squirreled away in the corner of our office boasts liquorice allsorts and Christmas biscuits instead of just a teetering pile of coffee sachets.

And even my ‘my bedroom must be tidy at all costs’ rule is suspended, as I make full advantage of the season and go on a Christmas present creating spree. I think the glitter maybe permanently ground in to the carpet now, but it was jolly worth it.

And the biggest surprise of all – the people in my life who adhere to the ‘Starbucks is evil and should be avoided at all costs’ belief system, give into the festive cheer provided by comfy seats and Frank Sinatra singing Christmas tunes, and plan trips there.

It feels like the preperations for Christmas have helped me stop and see what is good about my life, what amazing friends I have, and how blessed I am to be able to discover, share and celebrate life with them in many different ways.

My festive preparations can be summed up with a number of useful (and semi-alliterative) headings:

Creatively - I have been in a flurry since the beginning of November with a number of different creative projects. I will be really sad when they’re all done to be honest. My housemate asked me if I was starring in a real life version of Blue Peter, which made me laugh, but I have found there is nothing like coming home after a busy day and getting stuck in (literally) to cutting and glueing and turning a heap of junk into something beautiful. I will post pictures in January, when all surprises are out in the open!!

I’ve been reminded how much I love to be able to make things for people, even buying stuff I know my friends will love is good fun, but there is something very cool knowing that a thing exists that wouldn’t have existed if my imagination and effort (and frantic blagging with sticky dots) hadn’t come into play. I found a new haven for homemade paper too, and had to resist the urge to buy a sheet in every colour. I definitely need to dig into the creative stuff more next year, make intentional space for it etc. I feel like a little kid who is working on a really special picture that I’ll take home and stick on the fridge. And the lines maybe a bit wonky and to everyone else it might look like scribble, but I know exactly what it is meant to be.

I am aware of at least two creative presents coming my way too. One of my dear friends is knitting me a toadstool hat and sad sack doll:

 

(How excited am I!!!)

Corporately -  I have been involved in a number of thrilling capers, most noteably the mad dash to find boxes to wrap up to appear like fake presents to hold up the ailing Wandsworth SA tree. (If anyone steals them they will find the ‘presents’ are actually assam tea bags, but they look good).

Another great escapade occured on Saturday, when a good friend and I battled torrential rain and travelled to Romford for another friend’s Christmas party. The party was lovely, the food was amazing, and I loved hanging out and playing games involving balloons and small children. Plus it smelled of Christmas… you know , when it’s damp outside but inside smells of mulled wine and spice and stuff. Bliss.

Individually - (How I wish that word began with C…) I’ve managed to carve out quite a bit of space over the past week or so just to think about Christmas and what it really means to me amidst all the bustle and chaos. And that probably warrants a blog post all of its own; but for now it will suffice to say that I have been thinking a lot about Jesus as a baby, thinking what the point of that was, why God chose to do it that way… why would he choose to come in the form of something so little and vulnerable and helpless etc…?

Ten days from now I will probably be delving into turkey and mince pies aplenty; I am so looking forward to the day itself, to the culmination of all the planning and preparation etc. I am looking forward to church on Christmas morning, and cups of tea and the look on people’s faces as they open presents (a look which confirms my staunch belief that there are not enough words in the english language… ‘joy’ doesn’t cut it, ‘bemusement’ is useful sometimes… Why isn’t there a word that says ‘this gift really communicates that I am loved and that someone in the world knows me well enough to know that this will thrill me/make me laugh uproariously/cause me to spend much of 2009 working out how to do it’?).

But this year I have enjoyed, and learned lessons from the preparation as much as the day. As we have looked to celebrate Jesus’ life, I realise that there is much to celebrate about my own

24-7 Network Day December 4, 2008

On Monday, we had the joy of travelling to Stanford-Le-Hope in Essex to hang out with our fellow dreamers, activists and friends from 24-7 prayer in the UK. (Well, the hanging out was a joy, the two hour journey there and the three hour journey home were less celebratory I can tell you!..how did it take us so long to drive 32 miles?)

I enjoy network days. Basically people from across the UK rock up in one place, we do some worshipping, share some stories, pray for/with one another, connect with strangers who become friends over a scrummy lunch, then do some more thinking and dreaming and sharing. It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones, to learn from people who share a similar heart and passion to us, and to be refrshed and inspired for the new stuff that God is doing in the messy, creative expression of prayer that we find ourselves part of.

It was lovely to be able to share with the wider 24-7 community some of our journey as a Boiler Room over the last few months or so, and it was a blessing to be prayed for and to receive some encouraging and exciting words for the coming months. One especially has been buzzing round and round in my mind the last few days… some verses from John chapter 15:

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:7-17, NIV)

Sometimes it can feel a bit like we’re slogging away, and the serving stuff comes easier, and we’re just doing the daily stuff. And then God reminds us that he calls us friends, and that’s a wholly different relationship, and it changes our focus, and we act from a place of intimacy rather than duty, engagement rather than habit; everything is infused with his breath and buzzes with his touch of life. And from that place, we learn it’s not even about how we ‘act’, what we do etc, but just who we are – that is enough and it is a delight to God.

There were lots of other words about fruitfulness and authority and stuff like that… definitely some stuff to take back and share with the team and the Boiler Room people.

After a scrummy lunch, we regrouped and spent some time thinking and listening and praying about 24-7 prayer on university campuses, new training programmes, and fresh ways of communicating the vision to people.

We rounded off the day thinking about the area of social justice, and the part 24-7 prayer has to play in this. And this, for me, was the bit of the day that was the most exciting/disturbing/poignant/profound/shaking. We watched a prophecy that was recently given to the movement which talked about this, about a mantle of social justice, about the poor, about ’souls’. Somehow I’d managed to miss seeing the video of this before, and I sat there in my seat shaken and moved to tears by it. I’ve spent the last few days trying to work out why it stirred me so deeply and how on earth I’m being called to respond to it.

- Firstly, I guess one of the things that strikes me increasingly, as we keep journeying as a boiler room in Wandsworth, is that it’s nigh on impossible to separate prayer and social justice. It’s like prayer gives breath to our campaigning, and the fight for social justice gives feet to our prayers. I may pray and pray for my friend to break free from the drug addiction that has so harmed the last fifteen years of her life, but if I am not prepared to fight alongside her, to sit on a kerb with her holding her hand as she weeps, to celebrate a week when things feel more victorious, surely my prayers limited to nice words and well meaning intentions.

- I think it’s a Salvation Army thing too. I love the energy that exists in the friendship we have, as a denomination, with 24-7 Prayer. And so to hear them being given this same clarion call, this same mantle that we carry, the same urging from God to reach out to those who are forgotten and voiceless and overlooked, that seems to further cement that connection. And I remember that when I got into this Boiler Room stuff I thought it might be glamorous, I thought it might be the ‘cool Christian thing to do’, but God quickly reminded me that this was so far off the mark, and it’s not about glamour or being cool at all, but getting your hands dirty and scuffing your knees along the way.

William Booth encouraged his colleagues to reach out to ‘the last, the lost and the least’; and there is a line from the 24-7 Prayer ‘The Vision’ poem that reads, ‘Herald the weirdo’s! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.’ Same heart… different wording? Different generation… same focus?

I need to muse some more on all this stuff, because it feels a bit like when you know that God is saying something but it takes a while to gather all the pieces.

We got lost on the way home from the Network Day. I don’t know how it happened but signs for Stratford just kept dematerialising, and we nearly ended up in Chelmsford. But our detour (somehow) took us to the Mile End Road, in East London, where the Salvation Army story begun all those years ago. We found ourselves stuck in traffic that wasn’t moving, and the moment wasn’t lost on us, and we wondered whether it was such a coincidence after all. We found ourselves praying that God would re-awaken that calling in us, that mantle that was given to Booth all those years ago, that responsibility that we still carry. We said sorry for the ways we have laid it down and chosen compromise, we asked God to have mercy on us, and we prayed that we would consistently refocus on this during the days and months ahead.

Weekend Capers December 3, 2008

I wanted to blog about the really marvellous and quite unusual weekend I just had. Friday was payday, which is always a glorious occasion, so I leapt out of bed early and hotfooted it to Wimbledon, which shall hereby be known as a place of Christmas shopping wonderment (Very few people, lovely government reducing VAT, hot fudge on sale making the whole place smell amazing etc).

Of course I can’t say what I bought, because that may give vital clues to certain readers who will be among the lucky recipients, but suffice to say most of the components were gathered, and some extra inspirations were found that I had not previously planned for. I also had the joy of meeting my lovely friend Racquel for lunch. Raq and I worked in a marvellous company that I shall refrain from naming, but who are perhaps not the most affirming to their departing staff members, (and I should probably leave it there). I worked there two and a half years ago now (time flies when you’re having fun and you now have one of the best jobs in the world), so we had plenty to catch up on. After these joys I trundled back to Wandsworth and wiled away some time with another friend in Starbucks, which was also a splendid affair.

Saturday dawned crisp and bright and thankfully unrainy. The early morning was worth it because I was going to Euston to meet one of my favourite people, Gail. The weekend clearly had an ‘old work colleague’ theme, as Gail and I used to work together in Boots, on the aforementioned cookshop dept, and then we both got transferred to the photographic department (which was much more fun!).

This is a shocking and awful picture, but here we are on some heady day in September 2002, whilst on holiday in Gran Canaria:

(I know… 2002 was clearly a Vicki-bad-hair year!)

Anyway, so now Gail lives in Northampton and is a very clever and talented graphic designer. And I live in London and am a prayer network administrator, but we still keep in touch, and we still get on really well. So it was great to see her on Saturday.

After some amazing and wonderful spicy apple tea, courtesy of Ritazza on Euston station, we tubed it round to Hyde Park Corner, to check out the Winter Wonderland attraction there. Hmm, now what to say about the Winter Wonderland? Well, If you like ice skating and German Sausage and have kids you want to dispatch in the direction of rickety fairground rides while you imbide copious quantities of mulled wine, I’m sure it’s the place to be. Not so good for teetotal vegetarians with no children though. And there was no snow. (Although I am prepared to place the blame for that soley with God as opposed to the event organisers).

We decided to retreat to warmer climes, and so headed to the Science Museum (which looked a whole lot different than it did when I was 14). We played on machines that were meant to show us what we would look like as 60 year olds, and then ones which showed us how we would appear if we had a sex change op. Either the machines were malfunctioning or everyone will end up looking horrifically disfigured eventually it seems. So that was a good laugh. And all in all it was another lovely day.

On Sunday, at the Boiler Room, we celebrated four years since the sunday we stated our intentions and nailed our colours to the mast and Wandsworth Boiler Room was born. We all said how we couldn’t believe it had been four years – in some senses it feels like four weeks, and in other senses four lifetimes. We had a natty and ingenious four year birthday cake that also served as an advent wreath (Although this will cause problems next Sunday probably because we chopped it up and ate it at the end of the service… mwa ha ha!). we refreshed the six elements with everyone and talked about some new ways we’re going to be expressing them in the new year. Exciting times.

The weekend was rounded off by a cherry-chocolate cake baking experiment at my house. Assisted by my housemate (well, she licked the bowl), I made what had to be the scrummiest cake I’ve ever created. We also made some dinosaur cookies (because I had no round cookie cutters ). So the house was full of that glorious home-baking aroma, and though we used every utensil in the house and got icing sugar everywhere, it was a definite success.

I went to bed that evening feeling like it had been a marvellous weekend in general, and that I was very pleased with all its eclectic people, events, journeys and creations. Weekends like this really energise me.