24 hours of prayer... (-1)

(extract from Toggie Tales...)



24 hours of prayer... (-1)
OK, so we cheated a little bit. The first '24-1prayer' in our community house was actually only 23 hours, because the clocks (in)conveniently leapt forwards one hour half-way through the night.

Amazingly, only 2 people missed their slots

It felt a bit like we were 'commissioning' the prayer room (just to the right as you come in the front door - plenty of you have visited, so you'll know where i mean [grin]). Although we've had the room labelled 'prayer room' since we moved in a few months ago, it's been a bit of a multi-purpose room until now.

As we set it up on Friday evening, Ian joked that Jesus would probably turn over the tables and rant something about "this room will be a Room of Prayer!" It felt good to be preparing the room for it's promised purpose. We're determined to keep it a place of prayer...

And it felt very good to welcome friends from around Romford (and beyond) over the next few hours, as they came to pray for their hour or more of the rota. Angela train-ed all the way across from West London to take the first hour. Ruth and Jamie dropped in, pausing a moment from their preparation to take a bunch of young people away on an Alpha week. Clare and David brought their boys later in the afternoon - the sounds of their enthusiastic Douggie Dug Dug (?) worship resounded throughout the house! Rosi and Jon bravely took two of the midnight shifts. And our girls signed themselves up for one in the afternoon.

Emma and I joined them for half of it, and we soon found ourselves in a circle praying for 'the one in the middle' (standard prayer practice - hehe). We prayed for Angel first - she'd had a bad dream the night before and had drawn a picture of the witch she'd seen in it. We prayed that the nightmare wouldn't come back, and then asked her what she wanted to do with the picture. "Screw it up!" she shouted. We cheered her on as she screwed it up, then stamped on it, then ripped it up and stuffed it in the bin. "Gone!" she announced. "Amen," we replied.

I love the simplicity of a prayer room. I love the fact that our children experience it as their space as much as we (adults) do. I love the creativity... I get inspired by Jon's art-work and Oscar's simple prayers. I love it that the prayer is as welcoming for those who are stumbling through valleys and darkness, as it is those who are dancing across mountain tops (and God is utterly present with both, of course). And I love it that this prayer room, like every other I've been involved in, inspires a stronger passion for prayer (we want to get back in there... but pray for longer this time!), and compassion for the lost (we've got to get out there... and be yeast in the dough of life).



~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We ended our twenty-three hours at midday on Sunday with a community meal... to eat and drink and celebrate together. It was a beautiful day. Nearly 30 of us huddled in the little prayer room, including Anna, who'd whizzed round the M25 from St Albans, and our long-time friends Ian and Gwen (now based in South Africa). We listened to one another's stories and reflections, and agreed that we "must do this again". And then we prayed together, and commissioned one another (because commissioning has nothing to do with rooms, of course, and everything to do with people... people on a mission) with these words;

"Let me tell you why you are here...

You're here to be the salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

Here's another way to put it: you're here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world.

God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this. As public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light-stand. Now that I've put you there on a hill-top, on a light-stand... shine!

Keep open house.

Be generous with your lives.

By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in Heaven."
(Matthew 5, The Message)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesus, let your kingdom come in Romford...