Highlights from Holy Week (so far…) April 11, 2009

I feel a bit bad that most of these aren’t Holy Week related, they just happened to happen in Holy Week. Anyway….

1) Yarns

I randomly banged into a friend… I happened to be at a Mainline London station at a loose end and she happened to be in a road about 100 metres away. Since we live 70 miles apart this was a feat. I went to meet her at this amazing knit shop, where they had this amazing knitting group, and lots of amazing yarn. I loved the different textures and colours and patterns, I loved meeting random people and talking about everything from Harry Potter socks to what you could knit with Possom wool. I will definitely go back (even if just to pick up Rainbow coloured Schoppel Wolle Zauberball for said friend ).

That leads me onto point 2:

2) Giraffes

Not real ones, sadly. Myself and aforementioned friend decided to make the most of the marvellous coincedence and partake of some tea. We wandered around looking for a suitable establishment, but were a little flummoxed. Then via the marvels of iphones (which cleverly tell you where all the nearest restaurants are), we found ourselves in one called Giraffe. I had an amazing Vietnamese chicken and prawn curry and my friend had a scrummy schitzel burger. There were so many lovely things on the menu we couldn’t decide and so will be returning to try out other things. It was lovely to sit and chat and eat and watch the sun go down on the river. A splendid evening all round.

3) Aunts

For the last couple of days I have been staying with my lovely Aunt. It was nice to see her, to sample much home cooked food, to see people at church who remembered me from when I was five, to sleep in a luxurious and very pink bedroom, to go for a long walk in the sunshine (while it poured in Wandsworth. hehehe), to run screaming from huge spiders, to stroll in the grounds of the local castle, to go to various Good Friday-related services, to see my cousin again after about ten years, to put the world to rights and to plan future exploits. She also taught me to Purl… which I have yet to perfect (it makes more sense that plain stitch knitting, but it messes with my head and then makes me forget how to do plain… more practise is required I think), oh, and how to cast on… I will knit a tank top yet!

4) Watermelons

When I was in Latvia last I stocked up on some Watermelon flavoured Mentos. Like Mango, Watermelon is one of those things where I love the flavour but detest the actual fruit… so when my friends told me they’d got me a watermelon-related Easter present I was a little skeptical!! It turned out to be a quater of watermelon & apple fizzers, and a quarter of watermelon jellies. Top marks for nostalgia,  for taste, for ingenuity, and for actual-watermelon-avoidance there!

That’s enough of the excitements for now I think. Will post more post-Easter!

Boiler Room Open Week February 25, 2009

The Open Week started brightly on Monday 16th, with a flurry of people helping to set up prayer stations around the Boiler Room. We were joined at lunchtime by four girls from 24-7 Prayer’s ‘Transit’ course, who, after cups of tea and introductions, enthusiastically got stuck in and decorated our prayer room (it looked amazing!).

The Monday evening was phenomenal. We met for a prayer concert, and were joined by a band from Rayne’s Park who led worship sensitively and powerfully. We took part in some creative prayer exercises, and then Lyndall Bywater spoke. The Holy Spirit was really evident and many people were touched.

Tuesdays’ theme was creativity, and we set up lots of different expressions of this around the Boiler Room. Centre of the activity was the main hall, where we were joined by 17 Danish students, who painted, drew, sculpted and learnt about our Boiler Room journey. It was great to meet them, and have them join us as we walked across the Council Chambers, in the heart of Wandsworth Town Hall, to pray with members of the Council Christian Fellowship. It was thrilling and significant to pray in the place where decisions are made that affect the whole borough.

Wednesday was a quieter day, we held our usual XYZ lunch and club (Pensioners church), and the Transit girls helped with the running of the day.

Thursday evening was another high point in the week, where most of our congregation, plus a whole bunch of others, joined us for our first ‘community meal’. Everyone brought something to share, so we ended up with an eclectic yet yummy mix, and there was more than enough for everyone. It was great to eat together, to spend time chatting and getting to know each other better, to just be family with the people we see in church every week, and welcoming others who perhaps we don’t see as regularly. The youth group played board games, everyone else drank a lot of tea, and fun was had by all. We’re definitely going to do this again, there was an openness and vibrancy about the place, and it was a great way to build community.

On Friday, the Social Action team led our Friday food parcels ministry. In the old building we used to just give these out at the door, but we wanted to make the afternoon more welcoming and inclusive. This way, people aren’t just getting a bag of food at the door, but have the opportunity to come in, to spend some time in the warm, to have a shower and a cup of tea, as well as spending time chatting and building relationships. This is a relatively new venture, but, on this day, 34 people came in.

Friday was rounded off with a half night of prayer, where we spent some time worshipping, praying for London and interceding about world situations.

Saturday was the brightest and warmest day of the year so far, an excellent time to embark on our first Boiler Room mini-pilgrimage. We had the pleasure of hosting some visitors from Springboard (24-7 Prayer’s leadership training track), and spent some time telling the Wandsworth story and sharing prayer requests for each other before setting off.

In times past, pilgrims may have used chariots, or walked miles on foot, but in 21st century Wandsworth, there was a certain novelty about using a bus to get us to Richmond Park, our location for the day.

Once there, we walked and walked, enjoying the sunshine and the space to share lives, share stories. We spent time chatting with the Springboarders about their future plans, and were excited to hear about all the far-flung places they will be heading to post-springboard.

We spotted some deer, and then walked a bit further until we found a grassy spot under some trees, where we shared lunch together. Again, it was lovely to chat, to take things at a slower place, and to enjoy each others’ company. Our Boiler Room literature talks about pilgrimage helping us to see things differently, to gain new perspectives, and Saturday’s journey definitely felt useful for this.

The open week, and our first week of 24-7 prayer in the new building wrapped up on the Sunday, with everyone commenting that the experience had been a positive one. People said that it made them really feel part of the Boiler Room, and that there was a buzz about the place that they hadn’t felt before. People walked into the prayer room and said they could feel the presence of God there.

When you’re just getting on with life in a Boiler Room, it’s sometimes easy to forget why we do what we do, and the privilege and excitement in what God has called us to be. It can just become very normal. The open week really helped refocus us, remind us of our calling, and reinvigorate our experience and understanding of the six elements of Boiler Room.

It shook us up a bit too. Relationships often noticeably deepen in the times when people are thrown together, undertaking tasks that break their routine and nudge them out of their comfort zones.
Sometimes the best and most honest conversations happen when we are tired and don’t have the energy to maintain a front. In a community, this sort of honesty and vulnerability helps us all move forward. Throughout the week, we worked through the challenges of fitting different programme events around our existing work, thinking about visitors and accommodation practicalities, and being flexible with our plans and expectations. I think we have come out the other end of the Open Week with a greater commitment to each other, and to what God is doing through Wandsworth Boiler Room.

It was great, through the week, to get stuck into focussed prayer for so many different people, events and situations. The prayer request sheets filled up fast, and it was great to know prayer was being raised up every hour of every day. There have already been some great answers to prayer: non- Christians coming to church for the first time, and new people signing up to be Street Pastors in the borough. Intriguingly, we heard at the weekend that the roof of the council chamber where we’d prayed later fell in… but we are claiming no responsibility for this. Hehe!

Moving forward, we’re definitely hoping to hold another Open Week, potentially in the Autumn. We’re also looking to integrate some of the one-off events of the week, like the community meal, into our main Boiler Room programme, because they were so enjoyable and beneficial. Like so many things, we can’t see all the effects of the week, some of them will be things that work out in the long term, others will be held and pondered in the hearts of those who were impacted, but all in all we are thankful to God for being with us, for helping everything to run smoothly, and for the journey that we know stretches ahead of us in the weeks and months to come.

Crazy Snow February 8, 2009

This time last week, myself and my motley crew of housemates dozed off to the serenade of a few struggling snowflakes.

And we woke, well we woke to this:

Wandsworth under five inches of snow was weird. It’s the only word I can think of to describe it. There were no moving cars, hardly any noise, and everyone was out on the street larking around in the snow or chatting about the inadvertent standstill the city had drawn to.

Noone went to work, (two of my housemates tried, but trudged back defeated minutes later). The only thing left to do was embark on a boys vs girls snowball fight, and then build snowmen.

Later I braved the baltic conditions and trekked to church. It was quite fun actually. On the way we noticed that most of the shops in the centre were closed, only the coffee shops were bustling. It seemed everyone was enjoying the day off.

The next day wasn’t so much fun. Snow plus freezing conditions turned the whole place into an ice rink. I rued praying for snow for the last four years, and vowed to pray for hot sun instead.

On Wednesday the snow was a little less vehement, a fact that I was thankful for as I hotfooted it to St Pancras to journey northwards for a conference. It was nice to see the countryside under varying blankets of the white stuff as we zoomed by.

Thursday was another snowy day, we had another three inches in Swanwick overnight, and then more through the day. It was very beautiful:

I had much fun in the snow, including slipping and sliding down a slope horizontally, which wasn’t one of my most glamorous moments ever. And how we laughed when Hugo, (the smartest guide dog in the world) fell through some thin ice, into a freezing lake (we laughed after rescuing him from mortal peril).

I’m glad the snow has all melted now (except for a few strange frozen lumps dotted around the park), but I’m sure I’ll see more this week, on myapproaching Eastern European escapades!!

Surprise! October 27, 2008

One of the things we do well at the Boiler Room in Wandsworth is party. We don’t need much of an excuse, and everyone will happily bring along some breadsticks or some flapjack and join in the celebrations.

One of the things that marks our community is that, for a lot of people, it exists as their family. I think that makes the celebrations we do have, more special in a way. There is always a real sense of love and a subconscious knowledge that when we gather to mark a wedding, or a birthday, it is really important.

This weekend we held a surprise party for the lovely Dee. Here is a photo, just after she arrived:

She had a small inkling that we were plotting something. (Another thing it is hard to do when you’re in close community with people is to keep secrets!), and she had been expecting something similar since organising a surprise party for our ministers a couple of years ago, but the evening went well.

I love a good party. We played pass the parcel, pictionary, and we ate party food and macaroni cheese. Plus there was the awesome scrabble cake… how cool is this:

(ps… we know surprise is spelt wrong… we had some space issues!)

Everyone milled around, enjoying each others’ company and making sure Dee knew how fab we think she is. We all wrote birthday messages in a book for her, so that was doing the rounds too.

After days laminating scrabble letters, making banners and trying to make Dee think she was going out for a meal without lying too heinously, I was thrilled with the final result. One of my favourite things to do is to think up imaginative ways to do presents or parties, and executing surprises is the most fun in the world… After all of this though, I was pleased to be able to sit down and enjoy the celebrations with a good strong cuppa!

CSI Wandsworth October 18, 2008

Today I had an unusual but very exciting privilege. It was one of those occasions when I wondered how I got into the situation I found myself in. But (unless I decide to pursue a pretty drastic career change) I’m thinking it’s something I won’t have the chance to do again in a hurry!

For the last few months we have been setting up and launching a street pastors scheme in Wandsworth borough. My role in this has been to head up the team of keen ‘prayer pastors’, the cheery intercessors who stay at home and pray while the street pastors are treading the pavements.

Anyway, so today we had a street & prayer pastors get together, and tagged on to the front of this, the lovely people at the police decided they wanted to give the street pastors some training on forensics! I always think its good to get a full a picture as possible if you want to pray accurately about something, and I was intrigued about the training, so I tagged along.

Walking up the marble steps into our austere art-deco police station this morning I wondered what I had let myself in for, but it was great. We learned about the history of forensic research, how they assess and treat a crime scene, and best of all how that spray that finds where blood has been splattered works. We also heard about some real life cases, and we learnt what to do if people handed over guns, knives or drugs to us! After a tea break, we got to try some of this out first hand (not using them, I must clarify, but how to safely bag them up for evidence).

We donned pretty purple gloves, rifled (ha!) through a box of weapons, put our chosen one in a weapons tube or a box, signiture sealed them in, filled in information about their origin and nature, and then handed them over. How cool!

Then we went back and heard about a real life crime scene, how they found and processed the evidence and found the perpetrator. I hid behind my hands a bit for some of the pictures, but it was amazing to hear about it all.

Spending a day in a training session is not an unusual thing for me, but being trained about this sort of stuff was definitely a first! I left having been reminded about quite how random my life is, but how exciting all these different things I end up doing are.

The Marvels of Mandy September 22, 2008

I’ll start this post with a confession – I’m not very good at being ill. And definitely not very good at the ‘not being able to get out of bed to crawl to the door’ type of ill. My usual style is to pop a few ibuprofen and get on with it. But this weekend I couldn’t. I’m also not very good at asking for help. But this weekend was a marvellous example of how fantastic my friends are, and how they so often display love and compassion to me.  

At this point, let me introduce you to Mandy. Mandy is great – her place of residence is the beautiful town of Halesowen, she works as a social worker, and she has been a willing accomplice in many SA prayer adventures over the past three or four years. As a friend Mandy has joined me in many an escapade – our fantastic birthday trips this year being a noteworthy example.

This weekend, Mandy excelled herself. She jumped in her car, spontaneously driving from Birmingham to London at a moments notice, stopping only to go via Tescos to pick up much-needed supplies. She turned up at mine with a cheery smile and copious carrier bags.

Even in my slightly woozy and disorientated state, opening the bags I was a bit like a kid at Christmas. I won’t bore you with the whole list of goodies, but there was copious amounts of soup (yum… vegetables), chocolate mousse, latte, yoghurt, pureed fruit, and chocolate. I couldn’t think clearly enough to fix a meal, but Mandy dealt with all of that, and I quickly felt restored.

Sometimes, when you’re feeling poorly, a good natter makes a world of difference. And natter we did, about some of the bumps and intrigues of the past four weeks, about home and work and church, about our hopes and dreams and questions.

Yesterday we took it easy. Mandy took me to Sainsburys and filled my cupboards with more restorative delights. I now have plentiful supplies of lucozade, and tonic… (which is like this liquid stuff with loads of vitamins in, and it tastes amazing), plus more soup. Mandy even chose the flavours, as I just stood staring, overwhelmed and mute at the multiplicty of options. Then we went to starbucks, where Mandy returned with two cups of hot chocolate, piled high with more cream than I have ever ever seen.

One of the things I love about Mandy is her willingness to get ’stuck in’ to whatever is happening at the time. And last night was a supreme example of that. Church in Wandsworth is never dull, and last night was no exception. Mandy helped, cheered me along, and was generally marvellous until normality was restored. I was blessed that she would help like that, in a church she didn’t know and with people she’d never met before.

Mandy deserves much credit for ignoring my stubborn attempts to be independent and giving and serving selflessly. She didn’t complain at sleeping on slightly manky sofa cushions on my floor, and she genuinely turned what would have been a very difficult weekend, into one that was enjoyable and funny.

September September 4, 2008

My life is often a feat of trying to fit a lot of diary engagements into not enough diary days. Especially in the excitement that is September, when prayer events aplenty seem to spring up all across our fair isle. I love the busyness, the feeling of being kept on my toes, the drive to keep going to God for inspiration because my own supplies have long since dwindled.

September comes with a sense that the year is drawing to a close. My ipod strayed to a Christmas song the other day and I didn’t forward skip it in disgust. Pretty soon the shops will be full of associated garb. I begin to feel the familiar sense of satisfaction that another twelve months are almost over and done with, and with that comes the urge to start looking at the statistics of my year. How many towns have I visited? What was the top moment? Where have I flown to? (and what was my carbon footprint like?) What has surprised me (there are some top contenders for that prize this year, let me tell you), What have I learned?

Also, meetings about next year have started to creep into my week. Both this week and last I found myself enmeshed in buzzing conversations, dreaming big for 2009, sharing concepts and visions and working out partnerships. I was excited about the potential of this year, and have not been dissapointed, and next year seems to be following suit. 

But there is more fun to be had before it’s time for that. Highlights of the next few weeks include trips to Bedford and Huddersfield and Banbury to hang out with lovely Salvation Army praying people. After that there’s a training day we’re pulling together that I’m really excited for. Exciting social occasions coming up include multiplicitous dramatic performances from my gifted friends, plus a cool engagement party, and an evening making Fair Trade goodie bags for a coffee evening we’re having with church.

Church is the other excitement in life at the moment. For the past twelve months we’ve been out of our building, while the dear old place was razed to the ground and replaced with an altogether shinier (and less death-trap-laced) new one. It’s pretty much done now, and it’s been really great to watch the finishing touches being applied. This leaves us with the fun process of shopping. So I have been measuring the height of filing cabinets, musing over the practicality of teal sofas and observing discussions about the correct type of potato masher to buy. I’ve learned things about decking out a church that I never would have even considered before.

All in all, these are exciting times. I find my head merrily full of projects that I am really able to get my teeth into. I find myself anticipating the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, amazed at what I have seen and experienced over the past nine months, and thrilled about what is to come.

Answered Prayer August 13, 2008

Last night I marvelled as a prayer was answered in front of my eyes. It sounds like a small thing, but I was amazed to watch it unfold.

For about eight weeks, we’ve been looking for accommodation for someone who is coming to join us at Wandsworth for a year. It’s been a bit of a mission, finding places for people to stay often is, and we were all a little nonplussed, so we just prayed and prayed and hoped something would come up. Last night, we were sat in a prayer meeting, and the following conversation ensued:

Prayer Meeting Leader: We need to pray for accommodation for Person A too, because it’s proving tricky.

Prayer Meeting Attendee 1: Oh… I have a spare single room, will that help?

Prayer Meeting Leader: Oh… Yes… Wow, well that would be cool.

Everyone Else: Huurah!

I love it when stuff like that happens

Water Snake Days July 25, 2008

This week has been festooned with intercessory delights. I figured between my allegorical musings I would write about some of the different prayer events I have been to this week, just because I’ve enjoyed them all lots and it reminded me why I love prayer so much.

Can’t remember if I’ve explained the water snake thing before, but Lyndall explains it beautifully in her post here: http://lifeoflyndall.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/mustnt-grumble/

Anyway, so the water-snakery began on Monday, when I was faced with the task at work of sending out our monthly prayer diaries. In the past I may have been heard to grumble, because stuffing 850 envelopes can sometimes feel a little repetitive, and cannot be called the most exciting part of my job! Anyhow, I surprised myself this time by being quite excited by the task. As I handled the envelopes I found myself praying for those who would receive them, imagining how God could move through each of those people, praying that they would be challenged and inspired in their prayer lives. It didn’t feel like mindlessly stuffing envelopes, it felt like putting ammunition into people’s hands.

The next water snake moment was on Tuesday. We have a community meal and then a prayer meeting every Tuesday. It’s one of the highlights of a Wandsworth week. For a number of reasons it’s felt like I’ve missed a lot of those over the last few weeks, so it was wonderful to join in with that again. We had a beautiful meal, followed by waffles. Then we prayed. There were only three of us left, by that point, but it was one of those prayer meetings that just seemed to take a life of it’s own and flow without us directing it. We each got to pray for some of the things God’s been putting on our hearts, so it was a good space.

Wednesday’s Water-snakery was in the guise of department prayers. On my floor at work, each unit takes turns to head this up each week. This week was the turn of the Mission Development Unit. We all gathered, not altogether sure what to expect. I was unprepared for the direct challenge that came accross through this time. We looked at the passage in 1 Corinthians which talks about God using the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the things that are not to nullify the things that are, etc. We then had to think of the times that God had surprised us over the past week or so, and then write them on small cards and thank God for them. Then we were challenged to pray for more opportunities for him to do that. It made me think a lot.

Thursday was a busy day. We have whole-office prayers each Thursday at 9am, so we all trooped downstairs for that. We started by singing, ‘Praise my soul the King of Heaven’, which is always a good, rousing beginning to any reputable prayer gathering. Then we spent some time looking at Psalm 147, considering the faithfulness of God, and praying for the strength to trust in that. I love this passage because it contains one of my favourite verses: “The Lord heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.’ We then sang a song called, ‘If your presence’, which is taken from Joshua and Exodus, which asks how can we do anything, how can we move from this place, how can we minister love without God’s presence. I felt it was a really pertinent challenge for us all, and went back upstairs to my seat with that uncomfortable feeling that accompanies God’s conviction.

Then last night a couple of us headed to the house of a friend for more intercessory capers. I didn’t really know many of the others in the group, but it didn’t matter, and it was nice to meet new people. We prayed hard for Wandsworth, each taking an area or aspect of community. I had to pray about business, which was an intrigue as it isn’t something I find myself praying about a lot, but it was good discipline. At the end of the meeting we chatted some more about some of the stuff God is doing here, and generally just hung out with each other a bit.

However tiring it sometimes is, bouncing from prayer gathering to prayer gathering, I realise that I wouldn’t swap it for the world. I remembered how much I love just getting my teeth into some praying, just showing up where there are a bunch of people with a common goal, listening to words and pictures that people have had when praying and then using them to guide how we pray. I do love the water snake lifestyle!

Junic Round-up June 30, 2008

I’ve been trying think of a coherent way to string all the things I want to blog about this last bit of June together, but I have so far been unable to, in fact coherence in general has been somewhat lacking today. I figure the best thing to do is to just splurge about a number of things and not worry about it making sense. Yes, that’s a plan.

Last week I travelled down to Sussex for a couple of days retreat. I loved the rolling green hills and the quietness, waking up to the baaing of sheep was a novel experience, and I enjoyed a wondrous conversation with a local taxi driver, who wondered if I, having come from London, had never seen a tractor before. (He then went on to direct me to beachy head… a fact which fleetingly concerned me.) 

We stayed in a big old house, I shared a room with three other girls. There was that initial awkward moment, where we didn’t know quite what to say to each other, but after a few minutes we were nattering away. By the end of the retreat had a number of hilarious moments to share. We renamed the place we were staying Jurassic Park, for reasons I shall not divulge. We laughed and cried together, and we took long morning walks and considered swimming in the lake. It was great to meet them and they helped make it an great experience for me.

I’m not very good at retreating, I learned! On the first day I could be found wandering around the gardens, with a notebook (as ever), asking God to speak about my church, my job, world peace etc… The heavens were resoundingly silent and I was somewhat frustrated with the good Lord. He did then point out that it wasn’t the best plan for me to try and agenda our every conversation, and that it would do me good just to be still for a bit, without ‘achieving’ anything in terms of hearing from him. So it felt like I spent a lot of time over the 48 hours lying on my back in the grass, just chilling and being with him. With hindsight I know that was powerful in itself (although I did inadvertently bring a lot of said grass home as a result).

The programme was good, intense but helpful. I’ve spent the time since coming back feeling a bit disorientated but with a real sense that good was done there, good that God will build on in the weeks and months ahead. So that’s exciting.

I came straight back into what looked like a manic weekend, so it was good discipline not to get all caught up in the busyness and lose the sense of peace I had from being away. I emptied the diary a bit and dispelled some of the madness, so actually managed to have a quiet couple of days.

On Sunday I led the meeting and preached etc… It was an amusing occasion for so many reasons. I bribed the congregation with gingerbread men to take part… no, they were all very responsive and mostly well behaved, with only one notable exception!

Today has been quite busy, but I have been having a reflective evening, being the end of June and all that (I can hardly believe it’s July, well nearly July, already!). These last thirty days have taught me some important things:

• When God starts something he will finish it, however tempting it is to wish he would/try to convince him to abandon the mission half way through.
• God’s timing is perfect, no really it is.
• However intriguing parts of this journey are, God is residing over all of them.
• Just when you think you have God worked out, he does something that you don’t expect (and likely wouldn’t have asked for!!), but it works out ok in the end!
• I have some amazing and faithful friends, and I am so grateful for their love and the privilege of journeying with them.
• Being 25 is great. York is a beautiful city. Surprises are lovely things. I love trains more than I thought.
• There are many more exciting times ahead, so there is plenty of reason to celebrate.
• Learning to ride a bike will take more than one attempt.
• Sleeping with rags in my hair to make ringlets is painful (though the resulting ringlets are beautiful).