A time to bury, a time to unearth
I’m always one for a prophetic action… be it burying verses under ‘in-progress’ buildings, pouring ribena into rivers or otherwise, I like the sense of something visible and tangible, an action matching a thought or intention.
One of the things we did, just before launching the Wandsworth Boiler Room, was to bury something of ourselves into a large earthen pot. At the time, I buried an item of jewellery, something that was precious to me. I wanted it to count, I wanted to make a statement that I would sow my most favourite thing into what we were doing there. It was just a symbol, but at the time it meant a lot.
Almost four years later, I sensed that the seasons were shifting somewhat, and that my calling wasn’t just to that one place any more but to something wider. So I dug up my bracelet. (In doing this, I encountered some buried beard hair belonging to a friend, which was a less than wondrous moment I can tell you!!). I quickly noticed that the bracelet didn’t look the same as when it went into the pot – it was tarnished, dulled, dusty, but still precious. Four years on the initial novelty had worn off and I think we all felt a bit ‘bashed up’, but our core commitments were still there. And so I wore the bracelet for a bit, thus carrying around what was really precious to me, moving around in my commitment to Boiler Room rather than leaving it rooted in one location.
Time passed, and I didn’t really think very much more about this, until this week, when I was reminded of it.
I was thinking about how, when I left Wandsworth, I had written a letter which expressed how I felt about the whole thing. I wrote about what had been important to me, what I had learned. I wrote about the mixed feelings I had about leaving. I wrote about the joys and the happy times, and the difficult ones too. I wanted to mark the significance of that place and that season, and of the people and community that had shaped those five years. And then, in true Vicki-stylee, I read it out and then buried it in the park, near where we used to have our church picnics (and yes, I did get some very strange looks in the process!)
This week, as I thought about reconnecting with all that Wandsworth had been and still is, my mind went back to my little letter. The chances of finding it, if I went back to the park, are pretty slim, but I wanted to metaphorically ‘unearth’ it. I wanted to go there and say out loud that those years were not buried, not hidden in the mud and forgotten, not put away and packed up and diminished. So thats what I did… hurrah for spontaneity.
Who knows what difference it made, after all, as a friend reminded me, the most significant days of our lives often feel like the most mundane and dull. But I do feel a bit more connected, like the two seasons are less fragmented in my head, and that has to be a good thing. 
2009: Summing Up
Hmmm, so the post I’ve spent most of the week trying to avoid writing, mentally beginning, scribbling out, tossing the metaphorical paper into a handy waste-paper basket and giving up.
But the past year is worth reflecting on. For all it’s ups and downs it’s been the end of a decade, the rounding up of ten years of change and growth. I am not ending it where I expected to, ten years or even ten months ago, but even after all, I feel this is a positive ledge to be perched on, swinging my feet over the edge and thinking back to the climb that brought me to this place.
Ten years ago, I sat up at midnight-ish and wrote a prayer. My life was about to change in ways I couldn’t have perceived and I wouldn’t have desired. But there was a 16 year old me who wanted to make my life count for something, and I knew that God had something to do with that. And then, at the same time, I was so sure he was mad with me… I was so worried that he would give up and walk away. I wish I could go back and reassure that younger me that everything was gonna be ok, that he had good plans, that there was going to be a life of such freedom and so many blessings ahead. I wish I could reassure her that he wasn’t angry at all… hmmm.
The past twelve months have had some real highlights. Work-wise I think of the Setting the Captives Free conference we held in Durham, and the Fullness Retreat. And who could forget my summer travels, over 200o miles as part of the ALOVE UK Road Trip. Those are some precious memories, times and events when I really felt connected in to something bigger than myself, times when I had the blessing of catching a glimpse of what God is up to. I loved those events, the people I met there, and the journeys. The season has changed now and I’m much more based in one place, but I remain so so thankful for five years when I did get to travel extensively, to see new things and meet new people.
And then there’s uni… I guess I’ll always be able to look back on ’09 as the year when I finally stopped procrastinating and actually took the plunge. I was worried that I’d do three weeks and realise that I hated it, that I’d made a huge mistake etc… but that really hasn’t happened. I love uni, I love the intellectual stimulation. I’d forgotten quite how much I love learning. I love lying in till ten and living on caffiene and working out the intricacies of the wonderful new ‘Learning Centre’… it really is all good. I even love essay writing, and got a ‘first’ for my first essay, which I’m really proud about.
I loved my five years based at Wandsworth… and it’s proudly my answer when people at uni ask where I’ve come from, but its been fab to find my way around a new place, a new home. I love the church I’m part of here, and am exciting to keep exploring with a new community. I remember saying to someone in my first week here, ‘I’d love a church community that just meet in the pub, that just hang out and do life together’… I can really see how God has answered that prayer, even though it looked impossible when I said it.
Those are all (or at least some) of the glorious moments… there were also birthdays, christmases, cake-baking sessions and cliff-climbing adventures. There were walks along the Thames and trips to the cinema and first gigs. There were unwrapping mac-book moments and fitting too much stuff in a car excitements. There were some real highlights this year. It has been a year of hope and discovery and connection, and I’m so thankful for that.
I can’t help feeling sad though, when I think about this year. Even when I think about those triumphs of work and relationship and community, I know I’ll always remember 2009 also as a year of significant and painful loss. The pain won’t always be quite as raw, I know, but it has shaped this year, since the difficult days of June, when Jo got ill. Grief is a bizarre thing, and there are still moments when I think to myself that all this is just some bad and elongated dream. I’ve missed Jo this Christmas, she was always so so fun at Christmas. And I’ve missed her wisdom and encouragement as I’ve started this new chapter of life. I’ve missed our appreciation of Eddie Stobart and Wendsleydale sandwiches, and I’ve missed the inspiration of her irrepressible hope in what God can do, and her vision and passion for change. I have no neat, nice Christian answers for why she died… it still seems so so unfair. so 2009 has also been a year of clinging on to God when nothing seems to make sense, when there are no easy answers. Jo was a Herald of Hope, and it has been a year of finding out that nothing, not even death and pain, can destroy or steal that hope. My life is blessed and enriched and so much the better for knowing her.
Highlights from Holy Week (so far…)
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
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
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!
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
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
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
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
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
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
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).
Birthday Poem
Last week was my birthday, a fact which I advertised widely. On the day itself, I spent the evening at a poetry evening, organised by a guy in my church and involving an eclectic bunch of writers from across the borough.
Previously we have just read our work, but last week afforded us the opportunity to attempt writing something. We all wrote three lines each, and then passed it to the next person. At the end the poem was read aloud with aplomb, and we were all amazed at how cohesive it was, bearing in mind the only thing we knew was that our lines had to be about birthdays.
Birthday Poem 12/06/08
Gonna bust the blues
On birthday time
flies when you’re having fun
So we say come
Rejoice
The old day’s done
And God has sent His only Son.
The ultimate present
Unexpected and undeserved
Given with love to a hostile world.
For this is the hour for a rhythm that’s new
Goodbye to the repetitive drum beats of despair
Grace that’s encased in a melody of hope
And countless responding in true celebration.
A mighty occasion none would forget
Stories told through generations
Keeping the excitement, the enjoyment alive.
And now the birthday is over
But I will carry the memories forever
The joy of this day will carry me through
The times of grief and turmoil
All the year long I will remember
Until the time comes again
To celebrate the life you have given.
Revival?
I can hear that thunder in the distance
Like a train on the edge of town
I can feel the brooding of Your Spirit
“Lay your burdens down, Lay your burdens down”.
Revive us, Revive us,
Revive us with your fire!
Copyright © 1998 Daybreak Music Ltd.
Everywhere I go at the moment there seems to be whisperings about revival. “Have you heard what is happening in Florida” seems to be a common topic of conversation in some of the circles I find myself in.
At this point I should admit to a penchant for cynicism. You are reading the musings of a girl who, in her teens, utterly shunned anything emitting a vaguely charismatic aroma. So much so that me and my best friend once walked out of a meeting because, wait for it, they dared to speak in tongues. (I imagine God had a good laughing fit three years later when me and the same friend began earnestly seeking the very same gift… ooops!).
Anyway, I was brought up believing that revivals don’t happen, the gifts of the spirit aren’t for now, this is all there is.
Thankfully God arrested me in my tracks and that view has completely changed. Now I find myself marvelling at the power of the Holy Spirit and praying for more of a breakout of it in the Salvation Army. But you understand when I say that I haven’t always been that open to stuff!!
So my internal response to news of supernatural healings aplenty was firstly reticence. (I probably shouldn’t admit that), but as more and more stories leak out, and as what is happening in Florida seems to be part of a whole host of other concurrent stuff, I have been challenged to stretch my view a little.
Last night I heard a great sermon about the nature of revival, how the Acts 2:42-47 descritpion is a list of characteristics of a ‘normal’ church, and thus none of us have really experienced ‘normal’. The early church didn’t need revival because it was ‘vived’ enough. The speaker identified some things that are always present in a revival as follows:
- Passionate worship – Christians falling love with God all over again
- Demonstrations of God’s power – signs and wonders
- Salvations – people given the choice to respond to the gospel and choosing affirmatively.
He said that revival is something we can’t dredge up or put on, the Holy Spirit instigates it. But it is something that we can prepare for. We can do this by pursuing the folowing:
- Unity with other churches/Christians
- Courageous faith
- Sincere and heartfelt prayer
After all this, which was all good stuff, we had a time of response and prayer which turned into one of the most powerful outpourings of the Holy Spirit I’ve been in, in a long time. People were healed physically, people received new gifts, there was a sense of expectancy and presence in that room that left most of the congregation awed and silenced. Worship went on and on, every time they tried to stop people just stayed, silent and still in prayer. It was awesome.
What I loved about last night was that this wasn’t happening in some far away country, replayed on the fuzzy screen of my laptop, I was watching the power of God at work in front of my eyes. He was doing big things, in my here and now, in a random corner of Wandsworth. I recognised the tug of God’s challenge on my heart as my cynicism further dissipated, and I began to believe that this stuff really could happen in my surroundings, in my lifetime.
What’s really exciting also is that I have heard repeated stories like this, from churches all over the UK, where expectancy seems to be rising and God’s power is at work. If I couple that with things like the Global day of Prayer, the response to Hope 2008 accross the country, the Pentecost festival here in London, the increase in Street Pastor teams throughout the country etc, I feel like this growing spark of excitement that these are important times. Like the words in the song above, it feels like something is close, you can hear the rumble of it like a ‘train on the edge of town’, and I really don’t want to miss out on what God is up to, through cynicism or self-centredness or plain apathy.
In the meantime, I want to pursue the three points above – unity, faith and prayer. I don’t know what God is up to and I don’t know what this is all going to look like, but something in me is stirred.
Surely it’s not just me?
Global Day of Prayer 2008
The sun shone brightly down on Millwall Football stadium in South London, as thousands of Christians gathered there to mark the seventh Global Day of Prayer.
London joined over 60 other UK cities, and 210 countries across the world, praying on the theme, ‘Your Kingdom Come… on Earth as in Heaven.
The celebration began with resonating worship, led by Noel Richards, Geraldine Latty, Godfrey Birtil and Graham Kendrick. Children’s choirs, dancers and representatives from the local government of the area also led different sections of the programme.
Joining in agreement, the 20,000+ Christians prayed into a number of different areas:
- For the Street Pastors initiative, which sees Christians taking to the streets and offering a listening ear and practical assistance to those they meet.
- For projects dealing with youth crime and urban deprivation in London.
- For the Hope 2008 initiative.
- For those affected by knife and gun crime.
- For the new Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and his staff.
- For those affected by natural disaster, poverty and climate change throughout the world.
The father of Damilola Taylor, the schoolboy murdered in London in 2000, led a time of united prayer asking for forgiveness for the perpetrators of these crimes, and for peace and justice to reign in the capital. The congregation sang the words of the prayer of St Francis, ‘Make me a channel of your peace’, as a white dove appeared on the big screens signifying this peace and hope.
Representatives from different people groups living in London led Scripture readings in their native languages, including Hebrew, Tamil, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish, and the congregation joined in a responsive version of Psalm 8, declaring the Majesty and Glory of God’s name.
The atmosphere in the stadium was electric as people stood worshipping in groups and kneeled in prayer on the pitch. Prayers flowed for repentance, blessing, salvation and transformation for the city of London and further afield.
The event ended with a responsive prayer which was prayed in each of the countries taking part in the Global Day of Prayer. It felt powerful and exciting to be praying words that millions of others would also be lifting to God across the world. We’re all waiting expectantly to see how God moves as a result of the faithful prayers of his people across the globe on this day.
Here are some pictures:
The gang outside the stadium
Waiting for the fun to start
Sheltering from the sun!
Crowds of merry pray-ers
Roots Prep
Very many people ask me what it’s really like prepping for ROOTS, what we actually do in the days before hand, how it all comes together etc. So I thought I’d try and describe some of it in a bit more detail, with snippets from other years, and some funny photos (hopefully).
The first thing to assert is that I have remembered that I actually do enjoy doing this stuff! It may be a bit tiring, it may destroy my fingernails and necessitate lots of crawling around on my knees, it may mean spending hours fighting with recalcitrant duct tape, but I somewhere in it all, we have a good time.
There’s something about the general cameraderie that cheers you, even when you’ve been going for hours. Then there are the creative moments, when someone has a brainwave at 11.30pm on the night before we leave, and suddenly everyone is scurrying around looking for the most random components – like copper piping, or snow spray.
There’s the joy of the pre-roots shopping trip. We start in B&Q, manage to get half the list, and then head to Homebase. Invariably we are still missing something so then it is off to Wickes. This is scary because it is full of builders and we look quite out of place. We also get quite a few odd looks when asking for metres of polythene sheeting, or black netting etc. Sometimes there are ‘eureka moments’, when we find exactly what we need, or something better than we had thought of. Then there are the desperate moments when we have exhausted all the DIY shops and therefore find ourselves improvising manicly.
Once all the materials have been collected, the fun really starts. Everyone in their corner working on one display or another, and all swapping about helping each other, providing encouragement, and plying each other with hot beverages. Yesterday one of our illustrious team was spraying dust sheets black, another was delving for missing prayer tent items, while I was turning a cardboard box into a replica of a city. Yet another was on external photocopying and printing errands.
Some of my favourite moments included the year when the only time for a planning meeting was after a Tuesday night prayer meeting, so the three of us gathered with Cocoa and plotted to 1am. We had some cool ideas that year. Then there was the time when Jo lost her voice the week before Roots. We prepped with the use of sign language and by writing a lot of notes!! It’s at moments like this I miss our old hall, because the whole place used to transform into a ROOTS preparation zone at this time of year. Sawdust was ground into the carpet, corps programmes took place in the shadow of burgeoning piles of fabric, and we enjoyed the fun of throwing cushions off the balcony on to unsuspecting people below!
The challenges of this year have been how to prep without a large space in which to spread things out, remembering in which of our many storage locations things actually were, working out how to fit prep around a stacked Wandsworth programme, and some hectic work deadlines, and trying to fit everything into a smaller van. It’s been good to have to improvise and be flexible anyway!!
I think what I love most of all is the knowledge that what started as a scribbled idea in a notebook, or a bullet point on one of our many lists, will become something physical and slot into part of the bigger picture that is the prayer tent. When it’s all in place it makes all the hard work worthwhile, and it’s a joy to see people engaging with God in that place.
I love the fact that my job mixes together prayer, people and creativity, and I guess in the preparation for ROOTS I see that all the more starkly! I am very thankful, and very excited about the conference itself!!
So, a couple of snaps from the last couple of days:
Beautiful ROOTS Prayer guides
Marking out the Labryinth
Drying spraypainted dustsheets!!
Blogging Backlogs…
So, I seem to be suffering from a similar ailment to certain friends of mine, who neglect their blog for a couple of weeks and then have a million things to fit in one entry! I have only been neglecting for 9 days, but even still lots has been going on, and so in an attempt to be organised I am going for some categorisation
Work – Work has been very cool over the last couple of weeks. We wrote a resource to help people get to grips with praying for their communities. It basically has 28 questions you work through, which then gives you a workable foundation to build a prayer strategy on afterwards. So that was much fun. I enjoyed canvassing opinions to work out the best colour scheme for it, and spent days agonising between green and purple (all the while secretly adoring shocking pink). Purple won out in the end. I spent this week despatching said resources to lovely praying people, so that’s nearly all done. Have some other writing stuff to do but having got around to that yet.
ROOTS – (I’m cheating because the work paragraph was getting too long!!) ROOTS is the SA’s annual renewal conference, held in Southport. To cut a long story short, we get a huge tent, pack it with prayer stations and a glorious prayer team, and then 4000 people descend (There are loads of other top quality venues too). It’s the first bank holiday weekend in May, so a week today we will be there (argh!). So this week has passed in a flurry of packing boxes, losing gazebos, purchasing silk flames, compiling endless lists, misplacing vital components, driving round South London and squeezing stuff into mini-buses. I can’t wait for ROOTS this year, it feels like God has some exciting things up his sleeve!!
Wandsworth – Wandsworth is great and wondrous. Good things are happening here. Last Saturday we held a Civic Service, with the Mayor, Head of the Council, Police and MP’s etc. We also lauched the Wandswoth Street Pastors team, which was very exciting. 170 people came and we chatted, prayed, networked and generally had a fab time. There was a cool gospel choir too! The next few weeks look exciting too, as we have a couple of specific days set aside for prayer and prophetic intercession for the borough. So I am really looking forward to those. I’m heading up a lovely team of ‘Prayer Pastors’, which is great experience. Oh, and the corps hall is nearly built. It’s looking very swish and it’s all feeling a bit more real! We should be in the new building by September. Apart from that, life at the Boiler Room is exciting. Oh, I’m speaking this weekend there and haven’t written my sermon yet – this is not so good!!
Life – Life has been an intriguing old thing the last few days. Along with a host of other joys, I was ill last week, so was looking forward to a nice week before the madness that next week will be. But my life has resembled an Eastenders script over the last few days, with one late night drunken admirer turning up at the door, and then a couple of nights later the police!! It’s ok, I do not have a secret criminal past… they just wanted me to help them with some stuff. (I’d have been wholly more appreciative had it not been 12.15am!!! )Think it’s all sorted now though. Although I think my housemates probably think I’m mad!! Hasn’t been much space for much else, what with ROOTS prep. Oh, I went to Costa on Monday and debated the issue of grace… that was a highlight!
Misc – I can’t think of much else but I love the word miscellaneous. So must think of something interesting to say!! Oh, that’ll do. I’m looking forward to May 12th, because me and an esteemed Wandsworthian colleague are off to Sweden to teach on prayer for a week… So that will be fab.
Also, I want to recommend that you all read ‘A Certain Rumour’, by Russell Rook. It’s all about Cleopas and the journey along the Emmaus road, but it’s about so much more than that. It’s about the Kingdom of God, hope, lots of exciting things like that… a top read.
Philip Pullman is another of my favourite authors, and he’e just published a book called ‘Once Upon A Time In The North’. I am very very excited about Monday, when I will be able to buy and read this.
Now, I need a new book to read after that. (I am behind on my target of 100 this year)… anyone have any suggestions?
Dave
On the way home from church yesterday, we exuberantly piled onto a bus heading towards Tooting. It was busy with tired shoppers, fractious infants and us, a group of 6 Salvationists plus one pushchair-bound (and also semi-fractious) infant.
In all the noise and chaos, a fair amount of seat swapping took place. We juggled preferring others, mobility needs and proximity to said pushchair. At some point in the proceedings the guy sitting on the double chair next to my single seat shifted his backpack, to make room for the burgeoning crowds. His name, I found out, was Dave.
Unfortunately no-one sat down. I was a little embarrassed that certain members of our group seemingly preferred to stand than to take up his offered seat. So I smiled, acted apologetic, and generally tried to cover over our wholesale rejection of it. I expected that to be the end of the interaction, I expected to retreat back into my thoughts, but it was not to be.
”Where’s the Citadel round here then?” Dave ventured, a nod to the fact that we were all, (infant excepted), decked out in the familiar Salvation Army gear. Surprised at his use of lingo I explained briefly where it had been, and that we were borrowing another church due to the rebuilding of the hall.
The conversation flourished, he talked about work, how he was on the way home from a nightshift, travelling from Victoria to Carshalton (an unenviable distance if relying on buses). We then got onto issues of faith – I was amazed and touched by his honesty, and the fact he was so willing to talk.
Dave talked about his life, his dog, recipes involving haddock and mashed potato. He shared his health concerns and his thoughts about religion and action etc.
He commented that it was sad that we no longer talk to each other. That we are all carrying stories and so often we skim over an opportunity to share those with each other and allow them to briefly correlate.
I could see the rest of the group watching this quizzically, watching for signs that I needed rescue, wondering what we were so engrossed in discussing.
I was listening to Dave, feeling quite disturbed, thinking that it would have so easy to have ignored him, to have missed the moment, for him to have spent another two hours on a bus interacting with nobody. I was also feeling privileged, that of all the people in the world who could be hearing his story, it was, at that moment, myself.
He had a lot of respect for the SA, a lot of people do, but he said he missed seeing us out on the streets now. He missed knowing where we were and seeing us talking to people. I think what he missed most of all was talking to people. It was like loneliness emanated from him. I felt a pang of sadness that I was going back to an evening of music videos and pancakes, while he was on his own.
We left him at the corner, he stayed watching cars go by. He’d given me £2 to put in our collection, I left wishing there was more I could have given him, hoping that out conversations about faith would have encouraged him a little.
It reminded me of the responsibility of faith. The responsibility I have not to keep my head down and keep myself to myself. There are people and sitautions that are calling out for our interaction, our comment, our conversation.
I’m praying that Dave does have, or that he finds some people he can love and be in community with. I know that I value it beyond all the physical possessions and passing surroundings I have here. I’m also praying that I will be more vigilant for these occasions, so I won’t miss them when they arise.
Before and Nearly
Today was one of those days which felt like a long pause before something happens. This morning, like most other mornings this month, I woke up and clambered disorientatedly over the pile of presents. Like most other Sundays, I went to Church (the local Anglican church today – it was fab).
Like almost half of 2007′s Sundays, I prepared for our church meeting at 3pm, and took the bus later to and from our cell group, but today didn’t really feel like any other day.
Firstly, we sang ‘O Come O Come Immanuel’ in the service this morning. The lyrics are evocative and speak of redemption and release. With an organ backing, the words seemed to reverberate around the church and the sentiment seemed exagerated. It was as if we were singing the verses about Wandsworth, as if the verses themselves became an act of intercession.
Our church meeting this afternoon was different too. There were over 40 of us, everyone turned out to celebrate, hand out presents, share coffee and worship together. There was the same intensity about our gathering, as if we really meant the things we were saying and praying. It was such a joy to dish out the pile of presents, knowing I won’t have to purposely avoid tripping over them tomorrow morning, although I wish I could be there to see people opening them. I love giving gifts.
The very atmosphere of Wandsworth today seemed to be imbued with a sense that we’re approaching something. Traffic jams lined the main road outside of our meeting place, and we marvelled that Jesus is perhaps the only person born 2000 years ago who still has the ability to bring the city roads to a standstill.
By the time we had finished, a thick fog had fallen, and the greasy streets seemed muffled and silenced. The last few days have been manic here, but tonight it felt like everyone had bought shopping enough, emptied Sainsburys enough, wrestled with wrapping paper enough, squeezed onto buses enough and there was a momentary lull. (I’m sure tomorrow will be pretty hemmed again, but it was nice that it all stopped for at least a few hours).
In cell we watched the Greatest Christmas countdown, ate cold turkey and marvelled that this was the last cell of 2007 for us. Again we recognised that we are anticipating something, that the celebration approaches, as do the endings, seperations and goodbyes of the end of the year.
Some of my housemates have already started the journey home for Christmas, my house feels half-inhabited, even here I can feel the strange ‘nearly-Christmas’ feeling. As I jump on the train tomorrow I know that instead of summising that people are off on a night out, or commuting home from work etc, we’ll all be engaging in similar trips to connect with and spend time with friends and family. I like the sense of antipation that brings, and the friendly understanding between fellow passengers clambering aboard carrying brightly coloured bags of presents.
My Christmas tour will take in Canterbury, Dunstable, Northampton and then Canterbury again. I am so looking forward to seeing different people, celebrating together, drinking vast quantities of Schloer and generally reflecting on the good bits of 2007.
Back in a week or so!!
Sunday Happenings
Yesterday morning I had a very strange experience. It was ‘good strange’, but all the same very bizarre!
As I mentioned previously we have been doing a bit of ‘church-hopping’ on Sunday mornings while our corps hall is being rebuilt. Yesterday my church leader went to speak at a church in Tooting, so a couple of us tagged along.
It was an awesome service, we sang for an hour, it was rocking and the atmosphere was electric!
Then came the weird bit. We were asked to come up to the front of the meeting so people could bless us and encourage us for the work we are doing for the community in Tooting (There were three of us from the SA, and then one police officer). We stood there for ages while they prayed, prophesied, kissed us, and were genuinely lovely.
I was bemused as I had only tagged along for the ride, I wasnt expecting any of the above, and I felt a bit of a fraud, because I don’t really do a lot for the community in Tooting!!
It so blessed me though, and reminded me that God knows what we need, and although it felt a bit strange, it was very lovely to have all these people being so positive and affirming. It challenged me to try and be as encouraging as I can to others, who may be in a similar place to me yesterday morning – really in need of that touch and reminder of God’s love.
In the afternoon we gathered as a boiler room for our regular meeting, there were a few people away, which was a shame as it was a really powerful and impacting service. One of the best bits was that Dot, the oldest member of our congregation, who is, at best, a little wobby, became an unwitting evangelist! She was waiting outside in the cold for us to come and open up (we were still trying to extricate ourselves from the Tooting Encouragers!) A lady saw and stopped and invited Dot to sit in her car. When we turned up 20 mins later, Dot had invited the lady into church, and she stayed for the whole service – how cool is that!!
Protests and Prayer
So, they plan to open a ‘adult entertainment’ venue in the middle of Wandsworth. We found out about three weeks ago, and so the past three weeks have passed in a flurry of letter writing, prayerwalks around the proposed venue, networking and dropping the proposal into every possible conversation.
On Sunday we had a bank of laptops set up so people could write letters opposing the plans and we could send them en masse to the council.
Last week the SA’s reseach and development unit sent us loads of facts and figures showing that clubs of this nature can increase crime, disorder and human trafficking. Not things we want to see increasing in Wandsworth!!
We also had an MP and a councillor join us as we prayerwalked outside. It was great to partner with the authorities in fighting this thing.
Today I was riding on a bus and I saw some billboards for the local paper. In big capital letters I saw, “SALVATION ARMY PRAYS FOR LAPDANCERS.” It struck me as a funny headline, but it did make me think that all the letter writing and protesting is good, but if the club does open I feel we have to take a different tack. It is not enough to simply say “We don’t want this place”, we need to act. And I don’t mean in a standing outside shouting at those who enter, I mean going inside, meeting the people who use the club and providing chapliancy to the girls etc.
Social Justice is one of the fundamental elements that make up the Boiler Room, and I am uncertain how much justice will go on in a place like this. But I know it is not enough just to pray and protest… it is vital to act too.
You can read the newspaper article here: http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/search/display.var.1863830.0.salvation_army_prays_to_stop_lap_dancing_club.php
The Best & Worst
There is a quote from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens that sums up life Wandsworthwards today. It simply says, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
There is so much about these times which is good. So many things I could write about:
Work this week was brilliant – prayerwalking in Walthamstow, exciting meetings planning prayer ideas for 2008, a lot of things seeming to take off and start to really happen.
Yesterday I spent an inspiring day in Birmingham with a group of prayer leaders from around the UK. Then I zoomed back to Bromley for ‘Encounter’. I’ll probably post seperatly about yesterday.
This morning we led church at Balham Sally Army. We used the Psalms to help us. It went really well and we enjoyed the challenge!
Next Sunday is the Boiler Room’s 3rd birthday, so this week involves lots of last minute planning and organising, as we prepare to thank God for three years trying to work out what it means to be a place of prayer, community, mission, social justice, creativity and pilgrimage in Wandsworth. It will be a time to look back, to celebrate the journey so far, and to ‘vision-cast’ for the future.
I know that it is often in the times when some things seem to be steaming ahead and really growing, that other things seem to stutter, fall apart or erupt. There has been a fair bit of that this weekend!
People suddenly becoming ill. Situations of trouble and conflict. Losses that you feel right in the pit of your stomach.
I am comforted by the words of Psalm 84:5-8
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah. “
I have set my heart on this pilgrimage. Through summer or storm, and in the moments when the icey winds seem to cut me to the bone, still I will stand. When my heart thrills at new birth I will remain, I will be steadfast when foundations crumble around me. My God has proved himself before, and in the valleys of weeping I will find him again.
In these days of utter joy and breathtaking sorrow I will trust in his provision.
I stand with my Father, and he goes before and behind me. I am secure.
Yard of Hell
I’ve been mulling over a quote by CT Studd recently, whilst writing some prayer resources, and I can’t get it out of my mind:
“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”
One of the features I find hardest about Wandsworth, is the affluence that is so apparent in the borough. When we were out collecting this year, for the SA’s annual appeal, I felt a bit like little orphan Annie, wandering up these sweeping driveways and gingerly pressing intrecom buttons. The houses were lovely, more than just big, they were gargantuan. I felt this odd internal conflict as I looked past the (often somewhat frustrated) door-openers and into their hallways. I saw beautiful creme carpets, winding waxed wood stairs, marble fireplaces. One man came and answered the door, fresh from playing squash with his son in their purpose-built games room!
Now, I know I’m generalising, but I’m pretty sure that these neighbourhoods are not the ‘yard of hell’ God is calling me to.
I’m sure in the future this sense of calling I feel to the worst areas – the most run-down or dilapidated parts of town will work out in a physical place.
For now, I’m becoming increasingly aware that the ‘hell’ some people live in is not just a physical place. There is the hell of loneliness or grief or betrayal. Abuse, addiction and rejection. These things I do encounter often, sometimes in the people who come to the Salvation Army seeking help, sometimes in the newspapers, sometimes in the lives and stories of my friends.
Sometimes I find myself longing for the simplicity of the ‘nicer parts of town’, in many different relationships. Sometimes it is hard, sitting down for a cup of tea and hearing about the landscape of each particular hell. Sometimes I want to fix everything, or never hear another story again.
Every so often, in fact with increasing regularity, I am humbled and awed by the way God moves in these situations. He seems perfectly comfortable with living life within a yard of hell. His speciality is rescue. Every time I am tempted to seek an easier route I try and remember this.
Easy Sunday
So I’m recording another chapter in the ‘Great Church Trek’ that is my Sundays at the moment. (Maybe I will gain a reputation like the ship of fools ‘mystery worshipper’?!)
Yesterday we started off at an Anglican Church in Putney. It was a newish building, which didn’t look like a church. I thought this made it welcoming and less threatening to newcomers. We entered to the smell of sausages cooking and fresh bread – yum! Every first sunday of the month, the church run something called ‘Easy Sunday’, where everyone sits around tables, eats breakfast together and chills out with a paper. After this there are a couple of songs, a prayer activity and a short talk.
The atmosphere was good and we felt very welcome. It was good to catch up with a few people we knew and also to meet others. It’s also great to see how other people do church and to be inspired from their creativity.
In the afternoon, we had the first of our church gatherings in the new building we’ll (hopefully) be using till ours is built. It is very different from the building we had been using, and that changed the atmosphere a lot I think. It felt friendly, like a real sense of community, it was great. Plus, there were 8 ‘twenty-somethings’ there. I took this as a real answer to prayer. When I rocked up and Wandsworth 3 years ago, I was the only one in this age bracket, and I really felt that! I was so greatful that God has brought along others and increased our church family in this way.
The theme of church yesterday was from John 15, about abiding and remaining in God’s love etc. It was one of those odd cohesive moments, because this was the same passage we studied in Seville. I’m sure God has lots of say to us as a Boiler Room through it.
