Tim started by reading a Psalm full of instruments and songs and melody. And then Jon followed this by reading a few paragraphs from Tolkein's Silmarillion which described musicians and singers gathering to participate in the Song of creation, the Great Symphony.
It reminded me of Nate and Merisa Chud's prophetic word to David a couple of years ago, all about rhythm. David and I met in a pub a few weeks later to reflect on the word and try to figure out it's meaning. We talked about our community being a collection of wonderful 'soloists', who maybe need to learn to 'play together'... by submitting to percussion, a rhythm (of life), the soloists begin to harmonise and become an orchestra - greater than the sum of their parts.
Rosi talked about being slow, seasons being slow, and encouraged us to enjoy the process of learning to harmonise. Jon added that any band needs to learn to listen carefully to the other instruments.
David then talked about a short documentary he'd seen about a conductor who taught business-people using the metaphor of 'orchestra'. He talked about not judging, about encouraging, about 'starting with an A', and compassion... and we took this back into prayer for a few minutes...
As we prayed, a strong theme emerged - we want to be a community of welcome, where people feel warmly accepted and not judged. We want to be hospitabe with our lives, and not just with our homes and mealtables.
Tim followed this by pointing out that we need to be willing to welcome ourselves, so that we can be fully free to welcome others. Jesus said, "love your neighbour as yourself."
And then Rosi read some verses from the book of Joel (2v28); "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people (she emphasised, "all of you, all of you, all of you!"). Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions."
And then she read Joel 3v18, which talked about water and wine and fountains pouring on acacia... (which, strangely, means quite a lot to our community household. We very nearly named the house 'acacia'.) Ian commented that the second one is dependent on the first - the water/wine/fountain is poured out in and through us, by his Spirit. We are the presence of God.
We acknowledged that it is fear - of rejection, of failure, etc. - that prevents us from contributing sometimes... from 'playing our sound', from risking loving others, even from receiving God's poured-out Spirit. So... by way of response, we stood and prayed for one another, to be filled with God's Spirit without measure, :)
To close, I read a dream that Justin Blake (good friend of 24-7 prayer) had back on 1st January, which seems very relevant to this moment of our journey...
"On 1st January I dreamt that I was in Romford with the 24-7 Community visiting a new 24-7 prayer room that had recently opened in the centre of the community. The prayer room was part of the railway station and had a café.
The prayer room was used by the 24-7 Community and local people and had a steady stream of commuters and local people passing through. As I walked away from the prayer room I was left with the sense that this was a wonderfully, free and safe space where people wanted to be and where they were able to be themselves. It was a place in the heart of the community to pray but also a place where people met friends, talked with local people over a drink/food and a place where people could pop in simply to rest and unwind.
At the end of the dream I walked around the railway station and saw that much of it was undergoing major reconstruction and development.
Railways often represent our life/journey and the moving from one season to the next. My interpretations are:
The start of 2010 marks an important and significant shift for the 24-7 Community in Romford. The Holy Spirit has been at work forming, growing, nurturing and pruning this prayerful community and that time of preparation and formation has come to an end. It is a marker moment. Now is the time for them to know clearly their DNA, who they are called to be and where they are to practically engage in blessing/serving their local community. It is the end of one season and the beginning of an exciting new time together. To me the dream also speaks of planting new places of prayer into the heart of Romford. I’d encourage a few of you from Romford to pray around the railway station to see if the Holy Spirit says anything about planting a place of prayer into that location specifically. It may be more than symbolic in the dream.
The ‘Waiting Room’ of a railway speaks clearly about prayer and prayer rooms staying at the heart of our communities and at the heart of our lives. There is also encouragement in this dream to keep nurturing holisitic places of prayer that are also places of hospitality."
Amen. So be it. Help us to weigh this, Holy Spirit, and receive fully what is from you...
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