I met up today with two really amazing women from my town who are helping to organize the operation of 'praynet' a group dedicated to increasing prayer in Colchester. We had a delightful time chatting about prayer and how we were going to use the resources, connection and networks that are at our finger tips with effectiveness and efficiency.

I kept wondering, "Why do we care so much if people pray?"

We talked about how prayer is this beautiful conversation that happens between us and God. It also allows us and God an outlet to work out all of what is going on in life (the good and the bad)... all in all my conversations with God have shape more of the person I am and the life I live than any other conversations I have every had.

This further got me to thinking... in this day and age... how do we promote prayer in our towns?
It has to link to awareness... but digging in deeper how do we promote prayer awareness? How do we remind people in this age that when life smacks them across the face they don't have to turn to alcohol, lonely movie theaters, dark corners of libraries, busy pubs, isolated homes, over active lives to distract them from the realness of what they are going through?

How do we remind people that prayer is real... a real connection to a real being that really cares? How can we let people know that you don't have to be hyper spiritual to pray... you just have to start talking to God... just like you do with your mate... start with the everyday stuff and as you get more comfy and familiar with God start telling him about the more personal and intimate stuff...

As I thought about this question and browsed a bit on line I found this picture that I have posted on the right linger on the side of a prayer website... the bigger the words the more times that word was tagged on this website about prayer... What do you think this tells us about what people are interested in getting involved with when it comes to adding praying into their normal everyday routines?

I don't know if any of you have become as obsessed with the new TV show "Once Upon A Time" as I have, but woah! Beside pure entertainment I find it an interesting parallel to The Kingdom of God that we read about in the Gospels (Specifically the Gospel of Matthew). See if you can see the Kingdom values that I did.

For those of you who don't know, the concept of the show is based around a character named Emma, who happens to be the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. However, the twist of this fairytale drama (or "Dram-airy" as I like to call it) is that Snow White's evil step-mother, The Queen, arrives the day Emma is born to steal away Charming and Snow's 'Happily Ever After'. The only way for Prince Charming and Snow White to save their daughter and the Kingdom is to put their daughter in a 'Magical' cupboard where she is transported to another realm where the evil Queen's magic doesn't exist.
When The Queen finds out that the baby has been hidden away she buys a curse potion from Rumpelstiltskin to banish the whole Kingdom to a place where they is no magic. This is so she can take away everyone's 'Happily Ever After'... and thus all the beloved fairytale characters that we know, are cursed to our world and live in town called Storybrooke. The only way for the fairytale character to get their 'Happy Endings' is for The Savior, or Emma (the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White) to break the curse...

Fast forward 27 years and Emma has grown up in our world; completely oblivious to who her birth parents are, the way her life was saved, the place she came from and the place she is meant to be in. Through a long and random series of events Emma find her son, whom she gave up for adoption at a young age, (the young boy was adopted by the evil Queen who lives in Storybrooke and in our 'world' is their mayor). Out of a deep desire to rekindle her long lost relationship with her son, Emma stays in Storybrooke and takes an open Sheriffs job.
Her son found a fairytale book that contains all the fairyland characters and their stories. The show explains that Emma's young son trust everything that is written in the book simply because he believes, a classic child-like trust. Emma on the other hand is not so easily convinced. She constantly is telling her son that the stories are not real. However, her son is adimit that the stories are true, that Emma is a part of the Story, that the Story is not yet finished and that she can play a very significant role in how the Story ends.

Pause

In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus is desperate to get the idea of what The Kingdom of God is across to His disciples. Jesus knew that the hope he was promising His followers was wrapped up in them believing in Him and His Kingdom. So he wanted to teach them what His Kingdom is all about. He knew he needed to describe it using terms and life situations that the people around him were experiencing. In this world we describe kingdoms, cities and fortresses simply by the physical material that has created them or their physical location... but as Jesus describes the Kingdom of God He uses stories that paint a picture, not of high walls or rich markets or  beautiful architecture... instead he explains the Kingdom of God in action, as a living and breathing form of life. Jesus took situations that the everyday normal person would have done to support their life (gardening, making bread, harvesting, treasure hunting, fishing) and explained how these were a reflection of Life in God's Kingdom...  a space for people to mature, to grow, to have good, to be accepted, to be treasured, to be protected. God's Kingdom is a magical place that will exist regardless of weather people believe or not... BUT people can only get involved in this viberent Kingdom if they first choose to believe....

Pause

So what does this have to do with the T.V. series Once Upon A Time? In one episode Emma is getting closer and closer to believing the fairytale stories, but still is keeping a very healthy distance. In once episode Pinocchio (now a grown man named August living in Storybrooke) was reminded that he was supposed to help Emma believe in the Story. As long as Pinocchio helps Emma believe he could be human, but if he couldn't help her believe he would be turned back into a wooden puppet. In one desperate scene Pinocchio/August is telling Emma who she is, how she came into the world and that she has to believe in the Story. Emma refuses. Pinocchio falls over in pain as his leg begins to turn back to wood. In desperation he yells at Emma, "If you wont believe me then you have to believe this..." he then pulls up the leg of his trouser to relieve his wooden leg. Emma walks over and more confused then ever explains that she sees nothing. In shock Pinocchio realizes that Emma's denial to believe the truth prevents her from seeing the reality of what is happening. They both become more confused and desperate.


In the season finale The Evil Queen is beside herself, desperate to make sure that Emma never believes. The evil Queen (who in our world is the mayor of Storybrooke) bakes Emma a poisoned apple turnover. Emma's son, desperate to make her believe in the story, eats the poisoned turnover and instantly falls into a deadly coma. In this life or death moment Emma tries to rationalize all the events of her life only to come face to face with herself asking the question "Are all the stories about the kingdom, her parents, her purpose really true?" An in a moment she decides to believe. A pulse of change instantly sweeps over Emma and the entire town of Storybrook... Through her belief Emma remembers the Story and her part in how it unfolds.

Emma runs over to Pinocchio/August house to find him laying in bed; his arms and legs completely wood. And for the first time she sees the real world she is in. She then realize that she has a part in the Story and if she want to get her happily ever after back she is going to have to get involved...

All this to say, I wonder if Jesus was here in this time (being born in our time rather than 2,000 years ago) if his use of the culture and everyday ordinary life situations to describe the Kingdom of God would go something like this:

"The Kingdom of God is like a fairytale kingdom. A kingdom made for happily ever afters, but trapped in a curse when it was attacked by an evil Queen. The Queen banished all the fairytale characters to a world where they forget who the real King is and who they really are. Under the curse no one believes in their King or the Kingdom. Even when the story is told to them they laugh at it and say it is not true, a story for children, a fantasy, a lie. The more the story of the fairytale kingdom is told, the more angry the cursed fairytale characters get. Even when special characters sent by the King are brought into the story to help them believe and to see the kingdom right in front of them they just can't see it because they refuse to believe. But for those who can be brave enough to believe that a kingdom of happily ever afters does exist and there is a King fighting to bring them back to his Kingdom, their eyes are open to see the truth; the truth of who they are, what they were made for and the Kingdom and King before them. Seeing this truth gives them the courage to claim the happily ever after they were created for."

I think its important to ask questions about life.  I use this blog space often to tackle spiritual issues of development. This is mainly done by asking questions and providing resources for supporting and sustaining one's spiritual journey.  However, I think spiritual developers also need to remember that life is made of three equal and essensial aspects including: Mind, Body and Spirit. We need to be asking questions like the following: How are we helping to develop metal stability? What practices are we putting in place to ensure the physical world can support our physical bodies? etc!!

I ran across this video and was really challenged by this take on our energy supply. I think the line that hooked me was when they said people in the UK are addicted to energy. Addicted seemed like such a strong word, but as I watched the video I realized more he is totally right.

The physicist, David Mackay, in the video suggested a few things that people living in the UK should do to ensure that the energy crisis this generation and especially the next and the generation following that will face can be decreased or even eliminated.

His number one suggestions is GETTING A BIKE!

Followed by an increase in WIND FARMS and WAVE (TIDAL) MACHINES.

He also encourage building up nuclear plants (but that one I am not so much in favor of so I wont dwell on it!)

I think as people that are concern about life and spreading messages of hope and more meaningful lives we need to practically live that out by supporting the present life this planet is fighting for. As spiritual developers we must care about the whole person not just one part of what makes up a person.

Take the time to watch the above video and consider how you can change your engergy consumption....

also for those of you who must drive or have a deep love for your car check out this movement in Colchester called "Love UR Car Colchester" and take advantage of the hard work, informative tips and USEFUL INFORMATION about reducing your fuel consumption! http://www.loveurcarcolchester.co.uk/

So going a bit off the "olympic" theme ... here in Colchester they (the town) are holding a competition for local schools to build a time capsule in honor of the olympics. The idea is that you have to put 10 items into a box that describes the "essence" of Colchester.

What things tell the story of Colchester? What items do Colchester-vites always have with them? What places are most frequently visited? What types of things can the people of Colchester not live without?

I know this is a kids thing, but every sense I heard about it I couldn't stop thinking... What if i made a time capsule of my time here in Colchester... What 10 objects would tell the story of my life here in Colchester? So here are the 10 things I would put in my time capsule to describe my life here in colchester: (in no particular order)



1. empty brie cheese wrapper
2. carrot seeds
3. library card
4. wine glass
5. copy of my wedding vows
6. union jack tea mug
7. bike chain
8. umbrella
9. prayer fairy lights
10. I heart my Mac car bumper sticker

Well, if you didn't know, I am here to tell you... THE OLYMPIC TORCH IS COMING TO COLCHESTER! I had to say it big and all excited because in the real world it is coming through our town at the butt-crack of dawn (ok 7:28am, but still early in my book!)

However, sense sooo many people keep looking me long and deeply in the eyes as they say "this is a ONCE in a lifetime opportunity" I feel compelled to be excited about it as well (and no lies I am a bit goose bumpy about it!)

I spent last week volunteering with the CYO team that host Sanctum (sacred prayer spaces in schools). This last week they were in a secondary school here in Colchester. I went just M W F, but we had so much fun. There were 12 different prayer activities for the kids to get involved in. They set the activities up, each in its own space. Some had to do with writing down a question you had for God, or something you were thankful for or sorry about. Another had the kids walk through this maze with mirror to help them with their identity or this other one that had sand so they could put their hands in it to learn about impressions. One of my favorite was this "calm" zone where they could chill and listen to music and think about God!

I made a little video about it... check it out and feel free to spend some time praying as you listen and watch! The music and glitter might help! :D

Dear All,

This is an open invitation to the people of the world (or readers of my blog) to offer an invitation to interested individuals to join our prayer community here at the Colchester Boiler Room Community (Colchester, Essex).

We recently have had one of our young professionals let us know that she would be interested in moving nearer to our estate to specifically live in a community house with other Christians, be intentional about prayer and supporting the mission and vision of our Colchester Boiler Room Community.

The time scale for this invitation is a short one:
We are looking for a minimum of 2 more people to move into this house (either move from another part of Colchester or move completely to Colchester). If we get a group interested, we would start looking for a house by the 1st of June 2012 for a move in date of no later than the 1st of July 2012.

We would be most interested to have single young professionals age 20 to 30, but are eager for people who simply have a heart for loving Jesus, prayer and community. Members of the house would need to have a means of funding themselves: meaning rent for the house, their lifestyle and bills (we would assume most would need a part-time to full-time job). They would also need to be able to commit to being a part of a community and getting involved at Colchester Boiler Room for a minimum of 1 year.

Colchester Boiler Room Community would classify itself as a missional, prayer, organic and nontraditional form of church.

The vision and mission of Colchester Boiler Room is Jesus. Our commitment is to God and each other and is expressed most simply in our community prayer "Lord, Jesus help me to be true to you, kind to people and take the Gospel to the nations".

Being a part of Colchester Boiler Room Community offers its members a chance to be in a Christ centered community, do focused community work on a 200+ house estate and get involved in creative prayer. Below are some of the activities are community chooses to express and meet Jesus in:

• Maintaining an allotment
• Hosting a Toddler Group
• Organizing Messy Church for Families on our estate
• Facilitating a girls club for 8-12 year olds
• Communal teaching and learning of God Story
• Extended time of Prayers for community, the Nations and children
• Volunteering with a local charity for homeless youth
• Youth Football Club
• Starting Prayer in Clubs
• Organizing two/threes for mentoring and deeper bible learning
• Arranging House Concerts for Young Adults (20-30s)