For our fourth evening praying together, we switched venue from Rosi and Jon's to our community house. With candles and some incense, and some low-volume chill-out beats, we gathered in the main room and began to pray once more...
Picking up on common themes from the week-so-far, we prayed that people would experience the generous welcome of God through our pale hospitality. We prayed particularly for friends who are finding life hard for one reason or another right now... that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, would be with them, and that they would experience God's welcome in us too.
Later on, Tim asked everyone to hold out their open hands - to position ourselves to receive, to welcome God's gifts.
For some reason, this made me think of Paul's letter to the Philippians, where he describes his determination to forget what is behind him, and strain towards what is ahead, into all that Jesus Christ has taken hold of his life for. I prayed that we would throw off everything that hinders us, the fear/sin that so easily entangles us, and run the race marked out ahead of us.
Jon asked that God would restore his naivety, his expectation that 'revival is just around the corner'! We prayed for a childlike faith to be born again in us.
And then Tim walked around the room praying for each person in turn.
For the remainder of the evening we did a little exercise together. We imagined someone encountering us for the first time, and someone being able to encounter all that we are in one moment... how would this person describe who we are? We all scribbled our thoughts on scraps of paper, and then attempted to group them into themes. Here's what emerged;
+ creative, gifted, original, creativity, creative - music, baking, art, textiles, being 'out of the box', story-telling, arts
+ cafe, food, good cooks
+ a heartbeat (life)
+ real
+ multi-layered
+ justice, compassionate, seeking justice
+ Romford & London, local
+ interesting, challenging
+ safe, safe, a safe place where it's OK to have questions and express feelings
+ happy, party
+ we all have an equal part to play, individuality
+ listeners
+ prayer, a people of prayer
+ Jesus-centred
+ encouragers, encouraging
+ kind, loving, friendly, fun (for no reason), supportive, open, warm, relationships - open - not limited to structures, welcoming, welcoming, welcoming, acceptance, hospitable/welcoming - easy to join/easy to leave, welcoming
+ see/sense the presence of God
We prayed a bit to wrap up the exercise, but also agreed to continue tomorrow evening... :)
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