Why is there only a lonely 'E' between Feast and Fast? They are so close in spelling but miles apart in how I feel about them. I love feasts but really struggle with fasts and find myself in a constant battle to see this discpline as helpful to my spiritual journey.
Take last week. On Tuesday I was at a local Curry house enjoying a Balti with 8 other guys all of whom had been on Alpha or Christianity Explored recently and wanted to continue the journey of faith. Sat around a table breaking a naan bread together whilst drinking copious amounts of water because the chillis were hot, has a mysterious spiritual element to it. On Thursday I was breaking pizza with several other people who run Faith & Football Leagues in the City (Faith & Football is an activity for children run by volunteers from local churches) and swapping stories of what God was doing through the Leagues. Humbling and encouraging. Then on Saturday morning I had a full breakfast (and I mean FULL!) with 7 other men, all older than me, and we chatted about ordinary things - from tanks to birds to foxes to family - then prayed together. It was so encouraging to listen to followers of Jesus, some who were in their 80's, still passionate, still following, after all these years. It felt like God was present at each feast and that he was pleased.
There is something about feasting that is so good for the soul (as well as the body!)
This week we have asked the church to set aside Wednesday for prayer and fasting (I'm sure there's a missing 'e') as we head towards planning permission for the new building on land next door to our exisiting church. Praying that we are in the centre of God's will and that the opposition we are facing might be overcome. It's going to be a tough day for me, but I know that if I can get this right it too will be good for my soul and my body.
In Isaiah 58, God is rightly furious with the routine ritual that fasting had become. If nothing changes in me becasue I fast, then God has every right to be furious with me. Is it only a day to humble myself, is it only for bowing my head like a reed, (Isaiah 58:5) to make me feel better?
I know I need to approach fasting like a feast and feasting like a fast, that it's not either/or, it's both/and. Then my light will break forth like the dawn, then I will call and the Lord will answer (Isaiah 58:8,9).
I'm looking forward to more feast's and hoping to learn that fasting is something to look forward to as well, taking every opportunity to encounter God and to get myself re-focussed on what He wants to do in me and through me. What a difference they can make as I tune in to God's will and am ready and prepared to be used by Him.
Monday, 30 April 2012
Friday, 20 April 2012
GOING BACK HOME
Have you ever been back to the place you were born?
A few weeks ago I took Kerry back to the place where she was born. The RAF Hospital near Ely in Cambridgeshire. It was a surprise trip for her birthday, she had never been back there since being born there…… (I’m not going to give away a lady’s age!), enough said….in all her life. It was clear that the hospital had changed a lot since the year Kerry was last there, but it was still the place where her life began. It had changed its name, added new buildings, in fact it was hard to see what was left of the old building, but it was still the place.
I was born in Ickenham, Middlesex and as much as I have seen the name on signposts as I have travelled on roads near to it at times, I have never actually been back to where I was born – perhaps that will be my next surprise trip. But I am reminded of it every time I have to fill in certain forms like Passport, CRB forms and more. Yet it is only a name, I don’t remember the place, I wouldn’t recognise the house I was born in, but I know that life began for me there.
It’s like knowing the place where my spiritual birth took place. It was at The Salvation Army, George Street, Uxbridge and I can easily replay the video in my mind of the moment I got out of my chair and knelt at what in Salvation Army speak was the ‘penitent form’ or ‘mercy seat’, and there, with the help of an adult who came to pray with me, I gave my life to follow Jesus. The building was knocked down long ago, but I can recreate the moment at a moment’s notice.
And that is important to me, to be able to go back to the first call of God on my life or rather, my first response to His call. I knew a few weeks earlier that I should have got off my chair and done something about it, but even at 6 years old I knew how to resist God’s voice. And since that first time there have been many more. Times when I have ‘got off my chair’ and times when I have resisted and just sat still.
Every time I hear God’s voice it is the same and it is different. Not because God has changed or the call has changed – it’s always the same, ‘Follow me!’ – but because I have changed. The same words take on a different meaning and a fresh understanding as I get older, I have slowly realised what they really mean and what getting off my chair will cost me . Unlike an eager 6 year olds response, as adults we begin to count the cost and weigh it up and want to choose comfort and don’t like change and want to settle.
And that is the problem. I’m so concerned to count up what it will cost me that I lose sight of what it cost Jesus to invite me to follow Him. Too often I’m expecting Jesus to follow me but it isn’t meant to be like that.
Have you been back to where you were born? Is there a time and a place when you first got up and followed Jesus? Are you too busy counting the cost now and end up staying in the chair? Jesus calls you to get up and follow – 6 year olds and 86 year olds – don’t avoid it, keep taking the risk and remember where it all started. It’s worth the trip next time you want a surprise.
A few weeks ago I took Kerry back to the place where she was born. The RAF Hospital near Ely in Cambridgeshire. It was a surprise trip for her birthday, she had never been back there since being born there…… (I’m not going to give away a lady’s age!), enough said….in all her life. It was clear that the hospital had changed a lot since the year Kerry was last there, but it was still the place where her life began. It had changed its name, added new buildings, in fact it was hard to see what was left of the old building, but it was still the place.
I was born in Ickenham, Middlesex and as much as I have seen the name on signposts as I have travelled on roads near to it at times, I have never actually been back to where I was born – perhaps that will be my next surprise trip. But I am reminded of it every time I have to fill in certain forms like Passport, CRB forms and more. Yet it is only a name, I don’t remember the place, I wouldn’t recognise the house I was born in, but I know that life began for me there.
It’s like knowing the place where my spiritual birth took place. It was at The Salvation Army, George Street, Uxbridge and I can easily replay the video in my mind of the moment I got out of my chair and knelt at what in Salvation Army speak was the ‘penitent form’ or ‘mercy seat’, and there, with the help of an adult who came to pray with me, I gave my life to follow Jesus. The building was knocked down long ago, but I can recreate the moment at a moment’s notice.
And that is important to me, to be able to go back to the first call of God on my life or rather, my first response to His call. I knew a few weeks earlier that I should have got off my chair and done something about it, but even at 6 years old I knew how to resist God’s voice. And since that first time there have been many more. Times when I have ‘got off my chair’ and times when I have resisted and just sat still.
Every time I hear God’s voice it is the same and it is different. Not because God has changed or the call has changed – it’s always the same, ‘Follow me!’ – but because I have changed. The same words take on a different meaning and a fresh understanding as I get older, I have slowly realised what they really mean and what getting off my chair will cost me . Unlike an eager 6 year olds response, as adults we begin to count the cost and weigh it up and want to choose comfort and don’t like change and want to settle.
And that is the problem. I’m so concerned to count up what it will cost me that I lose sight of what it cost Jesus to invite me to follow Him. Too often I’m expecting Jesus to follow me but it isn’t meant to be like that.
Have you been back to where you were born? Is there a time and a place when you first got up and followed Jesus? Are you too busy counting the cost now and end up staying in the chair? Jesus calls you to get up and follow – 6 year olds and 86 year olds – don’t avoid it, keep taking the risk and remember where it all started. It’s worth the trip next time you want a surprise.
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