Christian - Open your eyes!

Us Christians, so comfortable with church, so comfortable with our lives. Do we really see?

Do you really see others or do you just see yourself?

I challenge you to see past your tradition and your cultural norms; I challenge you to see with Jesus’ eyes.

Do you see the girl who smokes and wonder how she calls herself a Christian, or do you see an opportunity to love, a chance to encourage, inspire? A chance to welcome her with open arms and remind her how powerful God is and how he can overcome anything? Maybe you’re right, being 2 stone overweight is no where near as sinful as a 10 a day smoker.

Do you see the guy in church who has his hands up and claps? Do you see the guy who is so passionate and going for it with God and think ‘he’s got is sussed he does?’ … Or can you see past that? Can you, in reality, see the guy who can’t go to bed at night without some form of sedative because self-harm and depression has just to strong a hold over him? Do you see his heart wrenched cries to God for help, or do you just see the guy who comes to church and really ‘engages in worship?’ … Maybe he only does it, because, that’s his only hope – how far would a little encouragement go?

Do you see the girl who comes to church in fear of not impressing? Can you see past her well groomed hair, new clothes and flawless makeup and see that she feels she has to look her best because she knows, that behind the scenes, when the leaders aren’t about the guys in church rate her out of 10?

What about the guy who comes to church who is gay? His effeminate voice and out there trendy clothes. Do you see a guy wounded by life and the churches judging, or can you see past that and realise that sex with another man is just as bad as sex outside of marriage, or, are you going to be like his parents and throw him out on the street too? How far would a welcoming hug and a smile of acceptance go?

What about the newest young couple in town? Do you longingly wait for an engagement ring, so excited as you reminisce of young love? Are you even aware that their putting off such an engagement because behind the scenes they’re still struggling with sexual sin, too scared, too intimidated to ask for help for fear their reputation might take a blow?

Or what about our dear old 80-year-old friend, the one woman who could pray you through anything? You may see her as an inspiration, but she’s still human. Maybe her husbands died, maybe her kids are far away, she’s too sore to walk far and really its not safe for her to drive, but bless her, she still gets to church and pops out the odd passionate prayer. She inspires you, encourages you, but is it all about you? Do you see that besides your new inspired feelings of motivation that she’s actually feeling alone? How far would a phone call go? A quick cup of tea? An invite where you know she can’t go but, hey, it’s nice to be involved?

Maybe it’s time we started to pray for eyes. Maybe its time we realised that this church we so love to go to for a catch up and a song is truly as Casting Crowns put it “A Stained Glass Masquerade”.

What’s the reality? Behind that smoker there’s a story, a reason for her rebellion, behind that guy there’s pain, his passion is just an outworking of his desperation and that other girl? Well she’s chained to image and that guy who’s gay, he can’t break free from something he’s not even aware of, and that young couple, their marriage might be doomed before it’s even started and what if our dear old 80 year-old-friend has a pleasant death and ends up in heaven, but her final few years on this place were spent … alone?

Jesus is the best, Jesus is the healer, Jesus sees, Jesus knows, Jesus truly is God in man - but maybe it’s time we prayed for his eyes. Maybe it’s time we opened our own.

Maybe it’s time where we’re the ones that need to break free.

Pray for eyes.

Be ready to see.

Insantiy

It's funny how the smallest thing can drive you to the point of madness. I normally love the airport wait ... I love the book reading, the people watching, the exciting prospect of travel thousands of feet in the air, the acceleration, the scary but secretly enjoyable turbulence and even my own personal battles not to open the emergency exit door when mid-flight - I normally love all this.

But right now I am loosing my mind, seriously, I posted my status on facebook that I felt like evil hamsters were slowly and surely eating my brain. I have had coffee, chocolate, I'm now on Strongbow, paying for internet, have talked to the locals, read a paper, written in my journal, read my bible, read a secular book, and you know what, i'm cracking up!!!!!!!!!!!

General vent.

I apologise.

The two go hand in hand

'(Asceticism) ... releases the soul from bondage to the body, permitting union with the divine.'

This week, as part of our Transit Course with 24-7 Prayer, we had assignments to do - we each had a 10 minute slot which was to be filled (in any way we wanted) by exploring something we have learned in order to teach the rest of the group.

One thing (alongisde hundreds others) that I have really been challenged about thus far is this topic of 'fasting'. Now anyone who knows me will know that I am quite a fan of food, anything from a 14oz rare steak to raw fish, I love it (exceptions naturally being mushrooms and tomato soup) so this whole concept of 'giving up food for God' really got my wee mind ticking.

In order to do my 10 minute power point presentation I had alot of reading to do, largely into asceticism and its practice, fasting and its routes, biblical examples of fasting and a couple of christian books on the topic, I further did some interviews with members within the community here who fast. I can now positively say I am well versed in this topic. Which again in itself presents a further challenge - I have not found one bad thing that comes from fasting, we can all put up with headaches and grumpiness, yet all comments and readings were positive - folks testified to how blown away they were by God, how in tune with God they were - I may love my food but am I missing out on something here???

The answer is obviously yes.

Matthew 6:16 'and WHEN you fast ...'

Luke 5:34-35 'Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not! But someday the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.'

Acts 14:23 'With prayer and fasting they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord.'

Luke 2:37 ' ... there she worshipped God with prayer and fasting.'

Clear biblical commands.

Not debatable.

Fact.

Confidently, I feel its possible to say, that as Jesus interested folk, we should be fasting.

Fasting as Jesus talked about it.

Fasting on behalf of others.

Fasting to get to know God more.

Fasting to worship him.

Commitment.

Sacrifice.

Empty words can't feature here.

Action.

It's pretty simple really, pray and fast, the two go hand in hand, the troubling bit is us, are we really willing?

Run the race

No reserve.

No retreat.

No regret.

You're not blue cuz you haven't got a clue!!

I'm blue, I'm blue ... why aren't you?

You're not blue cuz you haven't got a clue!!!

This was our chant that echoed through the streets of London as our team of 6 marched from the train station to the subway - let me tell you, some funny looks we got to the point where Andy was commonly stopped by strangers for a 30 second photo shoot.

Pondering the day has lead to much reflective conviction. Climate change is really quite a big issue when you come to think of it, and it's my generation that's going to be effected, so really I should be concerned about such issues - this has heightened my awareness of it all - I'm now actually alot more concerned ...

The main motivation for the protest (I think this is right) was to encourage our government to back supporting other countires who can't afford to pay for protective modifications such like water barriers - hence the protest/demo being called 'The Wave.'

So as you all know I'm part of this on going wave also known as 24-7 prayer, and part of their core values is this theme of justice, which if I'm honest has always seemed, to me, a bit vague and my understanding of it was limited - but events like today have helped me realise that as Jesus followers we have a responsability concerning justice, it is our requirement almost, to stand up for causes and ongoing political and worldly issues, today we acted as advocates for the poorer, on behalf of tearfund we stood to encourage support for the poorer and raise awareness, to me, this is what Jesus would do, this is what he would advocate - therefore to ignorantly overlook these things, in my opinion, is foolish and arguably counter-christianity.

God's widening my perspective and my maturity. I'm growing up.

I like it.

How true that chant that started off as a flippant joke rings true ... you're not blue cuz you haven't got a clue ... I didn't have a clue, I don't have a clue, but I'm getting there, that's the challenge, that's the fun in living.

Letting go

My current challenge ...

How do you let go of the things of the past, in order that you may live, yet, how do you let go of the things that shaped you into who you are?

Seedy bread, wine and love hearts

Transit head off to Reading for the weekend, having finished schools work on the friday we jet off in the Robb and Sally automobile machine with the assistance of the SatNav (no comment needed other than ridiculous). We're going to stay with Charl, one of the Transits of last year, to see how she's doing post transit, to question her about transit, basically grab some mutual support and see the world of Reading where 24/7 kicked off nearly 10 years ago now. We got there a bit later than expected (thanks SatNav) but arrived to a prayer meeting, about 15 people from about 18 to 40 in age, passionate about God, another beautiful scene, some worship time, some prayer time, some communion time, but not with just any bread may I add, some fancy white/brown bread with seeds in, chewy and everything, I think it did the same job though even if it had lots of bits in it. Bread ... Wine ... Vision ... Passion ... Jesus. I can't describe anything more beautiful than relationship with Jesus in these places, to see people in love, to see people truly alive. To be part of such a prayer meeting was a blessing in itself. Following the meeting, we finished off the communion wine in a respectful manner complimented only by a multitude of Greys Anatomy season 4 and simply enjoyed being together. Saturday was lovely, a nice lie in and a cooked breakfast with a latte, (James Butler you rock my world!) then a quick trek into Reading to see the sites and Hotel Chocolate. We bought some red paper in preperation for the evenings adventure, inspired by the lovely Charl who has such a heart and vision for an estate in her local community.

Picture this scene.

A council estate. Pretty bleak, intimidating, especially at night, the atmosphere, soaked in its painful memories of things gone down, of the rough stuff, the 'unspoken' stuff. Its busy, its populated. Happy people ... Sad people ... Busy people ... Bored people. But people all the same. How easy it is to walk into somewhere thats that bit out of your comfort zone and out comes the judgement. But we've boxed that away, left that at the entrance, we're here in Jesus name, he doesn't come to condemn, he loves, we're in this estate to give some love.

We all gather in the local community christian cafe, wrapped up warm with hats, gloves, scarves and caffeine and we pray. We pray God will bless this community, we pray we could be salt and light, we pray that God will follow our steps, that we'll be a presence here tonight, a softer presence, a gentle presence, a Jesus presence. Humbly we pray over some pound shop paper cut out hearts, a small token - but with potentially immeasurable effects. We pray they'll touch hearts, they'll be a spot of hope in the darkness, a spot of Holy Spirit conviction, a touch of divine warmth for this estate. Utterings of Jesus continue, and it's time to mobilize.

We're all obviously a bit apprehensive, internally each one reminding themselves they are here in Jesus name and they are safe, we set off. It's dark, it's quiet and we pray walk. The double sided sticky tape is at the ready (troublesome as it is) and we stick these simple hearts all over this estate, on wheelie bins, on walls, on children's slides, on fences, on salt bins ... anything we feel lead to.

I don't know the effect it had. I don't know if anyone even saw a love heart. I do know that God can use anything though, I know he desires to lavish his love on people, I do know he won't waste an opportunity ... and I do know, they were still there the next day. The hearts weren't in your face. They weren't hidden. They're just there. Like us, not in your face, not hidden, just there. That's all that matters eh? Ready and available.

Seedy bread, wine and love hearts. A weekend to remember.