St John’s is pleased to announce the second Live at the Java Lounge evening.  With great music, great coffee and some great people (also – it’s free so that helps)

Wednesday 8th September.  Doors open at 7.30pm.

Java Lounge, Hillsborough Corner.

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One of the things he often does on his site is what he calls ‘Worship tricks’. He gives little ideas for services, worship, prayer… that kind of thing. He is also involved in a service that is called ‘grace’. He shared a blessing that was used as part of grace a bit ago and I liked it so thought I would share it here. It’s worship trick 87 for those that want to find it on his site.

Here’s the blessing:

May the extravagant love of God the Father
Fill your hearts and minds and his embrace hold you
When you feel unworthy to be called his son or daughter

May the friendship of Jesus Christ, your brother
Rid you of any notion that you are only a slave
And you find your home in and with him in his kingdom

May the Spirit of God release you
From a world of duty
So that a new joy and freedom wells up in your life

Go and reconfigure the world as on order of embrace
In your friendships
In your work place
In your families
In your street
And in your churches

And the blessing of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always

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As part of the course we are given group mentors – imagine X-Factor mentors and you’re somewhere close to what these guys are for. At the end of every day together we spend a short time reflecting on what we’ve discussed and praying. Normally this is in the format of listening to a piece of music and then hearing a blessing, prayer or thought from our mentor.

This month I found the blessing that Mick read really helpful. I thought it might be worth sharing:

May you listen to your longing to be free
May the frames of your belonging be large enough for the dreams of your soul
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing whispering in your heart that something good is going to happen to you
May you find a harmony between your soul and your life
May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place
May you know the eternal longing that is at the heart of time
May there be a kindness in your gaze when you look within
May you never place walls between the light and yourself
May your angel free you from the prisons of guilt, fear, disappointment and despair
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to gather you, mind you and embrace you in belonging
So may the God of grace, our creator, redeemer and sanctifier, bless you.
Amen.

John O’Donnahue – Annam Cara

We ate together. It wasn’t a meal after the service. It was the service. Inspired by Deuteronomy 14 where the Israelites are called to tithe their food and things and eat together in the presence of the Lord.

Mealtimes are so important to family life – to community life – you can learn so much about people at mealtimes. Things that can stay hidden behind a well rehearsed act can so easily be broken down by eating together. It’s a bit like the episode of Friends when we found out that Joey doesn’t share food…

Joey is the nicest guy but when it comes to sharing food he draws the line. At mealtimes we find out things about people. Stories can be shared, troubles can be halved, concerns voiced and hurts can be healed by spending time together round the dinner table.

Most cultures in the world recognise this importance but it is something that seems to be slipping away in Western culture. Meal time has become something to rush through, to get over so that we can get back online or back to work or back to whatever it is that is more important than taking time to just stop.

Mealtime is also an amazingly biblical thing to do – so many times in the gospel we hear of Jesus being somewhere eating, or inviting himself round to someone’s house to eat. Example – at a mealtime we see Christ’s attitude to forgiveness. In Luke 7 we read the story of when Jesus is at Simon’s house – Christ’s feet are anointed by a ‘sinful woman’ and we read about forgiveness. Example – in Luke 6 we see Christ declaring his rule over the Sabbath by eating with his disciples and talking about David’s eating of the consecrated bread. Example – in the last supper we see Christ sharing bread with those who are nearest to him. Example – in Luke 19 we read the story of Zacchaeus. Christ calls him to account but goes to his house and shares a meal with him. This simple act speaks of Christ’s love for the ‘least’ and the ‘lost’.

By eating together we grow as community. By sharing our lives, and our food, we become more like Christ.

On Sunday at St John’s we took a step towards that. We worshipped and we shared together. As we search to go deeper with God this year I think it will follow that we also go deeper with each other. As we strive to be more like Christ we will start to see where Christ is among our community.

The challenge, I think, is to look around and see who is missing from our table. And then to show them that there is a place prepared for them.

But if we stop and think about Christmas we see it’s not about the same old stuff over and over again. We see it’s about a baby who grew into a man and said “Love your neighbour”.

If I regret anything from 2009 it’s that I wasn’t more like Christ.

If I hope for anything in 2010 it’s that I will be more like Christ.

Worrying is something we are generally pretty good at;  it’s easy to do, it can take up large portions of our day and can easily consume us.  But we are reminded again and again with scripture that there is no need for it and that we shouldn’t do it.  This week I spoke a little about the instruction found in Matthew 6 that says “Do not worry about tomorrow” and I spoke about my personal need to trust God to provide – it is an amazing place to get to when each day you are trusting God. Every time I see God move, or act, or provide I am blown away by how great God is – how this God who created the universe cares enough about me to make sure I’m ok.

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Many thanks.
Andy