Mission in the Community

Today my bones ache! Yesterday a team of volunteers went into the local area to St Georges to work to litter pick, prune back bushes, collect and dispose of discarded furniture and appliances and plant bulbs. In the morning we spent time in the terraced streets near the hospital, where we cleared a garden that had been used as a dumping ground for people’s crap. We found bizarre items like full bottles of wine and mouldy milk (?), a gold bowl, a broken hoover full of coal and countless car mats. The smell emanating from the litter as we moved broken bottles and cans was horrendous and not just a few times did we have to stand back to avoid retching! It wasn’t pleasant. The garden was cleared out and raked, with the overgrown branches of the privet hedge cut back – it was transformed. Despite being heckled by a group of lads who wondered if we were ‘from the telly’, one of our team, Dave P, managed to engage them in conversation and chat about who we were and why we were doing this.

In the afternoon we went over to the Rosebank Millenium Green and started to clear up there. In one spot, somebody had left streamers of old video tape across the path and bits of soggy cardboard were strewn. I picked up a dirty old plastic bag weighted by water and as I tipped out the stagnant rainwater, I felt the sunshine on my back – it was as if as we cleared up the mess, God’s light was able to shine a little brighter. God really did bless us yesterday – the weather forecast was torrential rain yet apart from a five minute shower mid morning, the skies were blue-bright and sunny all day. It didn’t properly pour until 7pm long after we’d finished. As we were winding up, I met a guy, a graffitti artist, with his 2 kids checking out what we were up to who told me he was pretty impressed with what we were doing.

Being out onto the streets and making a visible difference to our surroundings was really rewarding. I’m really encouraged that across the Uk, churches and christian organisations are steadily getting more and more involved in making an impact in the local community. I’ve just read in the New Wine magazine about Hope 08 which is planning a year of activity for 2008 – very exciting!

New site

Soul Food is movin’ on up – to a more extensive flexible blogging site that will allow me to categorise posts and add better photos and videos….. I hope!!

Halleluiah for the morning

Good morning! The weather outside is horrid, it is the end of a long week but this morning as I made my way into work, this song reverberated in my mind. If you go to Alli Rogers website below, you can hear the song played for yourself.

For the Morning

He knows the forest floor
and the way that it moves
like waves on the ocean
He rises with the sun
just to see the light shine
on the path before him
And sometimes he feels like he’s walking on water

It’s the miracle of day and it beckons him to stay
and he says halleluiah for the morning

When night is closing in
and he feels like a child backed into a corner
He can’t communicate
with the weight that he has
wrapped around his shoulders
And sometimes he feels like he can’t bear the darkness

But the miracle of day beckons him to stay
and he says halleluiah for the morning
halleluiah for beginning again
beginning again

It feels like life and death
until he gets it off his chest
And he screams into the dark that the night won’t take his heart
At those times he feels like he’s moving a mountain

It’s the miracle of day and it beckons him to stay
and he says halleluiah for the morning
halleluiah for the morning
halleluiah for beginning again
beginning again
And sometimes he feels like he’s walking on water

Alli Rogers – www.allirogers.com

Enjoy your Friday!

Chocolate Cloud Cake

Chocolate Cloud Cake

Here’s a recipe for something totally luxurious courtesy of Nigella Lawson – just in case you thought I was getting all holy and serious on you!

This one is made without flour, is totally decadent and probably one I won’t be making until after the wedding dress! As she suggested, perhaps a dessert for a New Years Eve party…

Enjoy!

Opening the door

I read this poem by Mary Oliver a while back. For me, it speaks of simplicity in prayer; daring to take small humble steps in the prayer-relationship with God, starting with the ordinary everyday. Are you like me? Intimidated by the apparent spirituality of other people and thinking your self unworthy to pray? Feeling as if you can’t open your mouth to speak to God for fear that what will come out is totally unsound? Or bogged down by the bombardment of life’s responsibilities and commitments – not knowing where to begin your prayers? This poem is for you – to know that God is the God of all, the small seemingly insignificant details. He desires to hear from you. It doesn’t have to be intricately worded or perfect. You are before God, not in front of a panel of judges – there are no prizes for the best prayer nor punishments for the worst. Focus and concentration are required, coupled with boldness and faith. Praise Him for anything, everything He has done. And when you have spoken or even before you start, be still. The still small voice of God longs to whisper to you.

Believe God’s eyes are upon us always and His ears are attentive to our prayers.

The Heavenly here on Earth

Can you remember moments when you have heard about God’s intervention in people’s lives in a tangible way? Do you get tingles down your spine, goosebumps down your arms and a welling in your throat?

I read ‘The Heavenly Man’ about Brother Yun’s miraculous experiences a while ago and recently an article on 24/7 Prayer’s site containing this extract that made me feel that same tingle of awe and wonder – the heavenly here on earth:

“Actually, I have quite the story from the prayer room with the underground church – the pastor of this church wanted me and another girl to help some of his students set up the prayer room. We did so, and he invited me to return to spend the night in the apartment with the women who were going to cover the night shift. I took my good friend along, and what happened through the night gave us an experience akin to that of many Chinese underground church leaders – as the two of us white foreigners ran from the apartment at 4:30am by order of the Chinese believers, we ran face to face into some uniformed Chinese policemen. [It’s illegal for foreigners to be with the Chinese in any religious meeting that’s not registered with the government, and a 24-7 prayer meeting breaks all the boundaries.] It was a Heavenly Man sort of experience, though, where the police looked right past us and we left down the elevator, and they only questioned the Chinese believers briefly and then left. I was seriously scared – legs-shaking kind of scared! No ramifications came of that encounter to the Chinese church, though, praise Jesus.”

When I read testimonies such as this, I sometimes wonder if in the ordinary pattern of my life, I will ever sense God reaching out to shield me or to speak to me…. but then I am reminded of the many things God has already worked in me and that I am a forgetful being – in the Bible, Israel was a forgetful nation:

Deuteronomy 4 verses 7- 13
“What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.”

Look at what miracles they experienced and yet how they quickly let everyday life overtake their regard for a holy God!

I think I am longing to see more of the glory of God in our city (Leeds) and to sense more of the tingles down my spine as I hear stories of lives restored, attitudes changed.

God, use me to do your will;

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Slimming down…

For all of you who, like me, struggle with feeling fat and fluctuating weight – this is for you!

With the forthcoming wedding looming, over the past few weeks I have been trying to lose a bit of weight so wearing my dress on the day I won’t feel too self conscious.

*Speaking of weddings – a huge congratulations to Jo and Al who just got engaged this weekend! *

Anyway, I’ve mentioned before that I go to a Rosemary Conley class with my mum (Fat Club) that does work if you stick to it – low fat/GI diet, weigh in and aerobic exercise – but sometimes the low fat diet Rosemary proposes doesn’t do it for me. There are too many lovely foods that I don’t really want to miss out on ….creamy pasta dishes, homemade bread spread with real butter, a ripe oozing camenbert cheese on crackers, rich chocolate pudding….. (yum) which is probably why I have always struggled to keep my weight down.

I love food, as you probably have gathered, and there is a danger for me to be gluttonous – huge portion sizes, rich dishes. Yet, recently I read a book: French Women Don’t Get Fat and have found for myself that there is a way to enjoy good food and stay slimmer. All you need is a little self control, self discipline and some encouragement.

The book recommends a diet of fresh nutritious food, balanced portions and eating for pleasure. The author Mireille Guiliano teaches us to enjoy our food, to savour every morsel and to eat slowly as French women do. It is an antidote to the contemporary fast food, microwave meal culture. I’ve discovered that eating that way, not snacking between meals unless I really have to and doing some regular exercises including 20 sit-ups before bed have helped me to slim down a bit.

It is a mindset that often needs changing. From obsessing about what I’m going to eat for my next meal, I’ve learnt to think less about it and make more sensible choices when shopping for food. It also helps to have a goal – the wedding has focussed my mind somewhat, knowing there will be all those eyes staring at me. A friend also sent me this article which was if you pardon the pun, food for thought….

Autumn

I feel that I have been so busy recently I can barely focus on getting anything done – even coming to write this has seemed a mammoth effort. Its cyclical – I have a hard day at work, am occupied in the evening by something to do with church or the wedding and end up going to bed late. I get up early and begin the cycle again, more tired than the day before. By the weekend I feel like melting in a heap and not moving. I speak often of being too busy but never seem to resolve the issue. Sometimes it feels as if I’m coming away at the seams.

AutumnThe leaves are falling, falling as if from far up,
as if orchards were dying high in space.
Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.”

And tonight the heavy earth is falling
away from all other stars in the loneliness.

We’re all falling. This hand here is falling.
And look at the other one. It’s in them all.

And yet there is Someone, whose hands
infinitely calm, holding up all this falling.

Rainer Maria Rilke

We went to see the History Boys by Alan Bennett at the Alhambra on Saturday and one of the lines of the play stuck in my head ‘Literature is consolation’. After reading this post on The Sacred Art of Living about Lectio Divina, I sat down and read through ‘Autumn’ and the poet’s words not only consoled me but God spoke to me through them. I know I do not suffer as many do on this earth but God understands and cares for me even amongst my anxiety with the trivial frippery of wedding arrangements. He sees the frail leaves of my life falling; stress at work with difficult characters, the delicate balancing act of family expectations, someone close who is in prison (whom I ache and grieve for because they are going through hard times), the general fatigue of being too busy, the lack of time spent with Dave. He sees these fall but all the while He holds me up. He is constant when everything else is unsure.

Psalm 18 v. 2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Finding God in the ordinary

A theme that is dear to my heart – check out this article from Third Way – Reading the everyday .

Christ in my every day – be my everything.

Simple things

2 fantastic simple things from last week- prayer and bread.

1.Prayer

Last week, a Lifestyle cluster meeting was held at St Georges focussing on the UP element of our core values. James, Chris, Beth and Dave spent time setting up the church with different stations with prompts for prayer. We watched a short Nooma film on ‘Silence’ and then the lights were dimmed and we were invited to spend an hour or so exploring the stations and learning to pray in different ways.

At one station, using a series of passages in Luke’s gospel and an icon (a beautiful deep gold, rust and amber illuminated picture of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus), I was able to understand something of God’s desire for me, a revelation as more often I realise my need for Him. To see Jesus as a child, vulnerable, clinging to his mother spoke volumes to me. Becoming aware of how much God wants us to turn to him and learning to love him as we would love our children or our spouse is a stepping stone in developing a reciprocal relationship with God – no longer just us leaning on Him but us caring for him by being committed to Him. Such a simple concept but one I overlook, particularly when I feel unworthy and unloveable.

“We have almost forgotten that God is a person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.” A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

2.Bread

I never realised how straightforward breadmaking is! Dave and I baked 2 loaves on Saturday night, lovely fresh bread; satisfying and cosy.

500g Wholemeal bread flour
a 6g sachet of fast acting yeast
1 1/2 tsp of salt
350ml tepid water

2 small bread tins, lightly greased

Put the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl, then add the tepid water. Using a round bladed knife mix the ingredients in and as they bind to become dough, use your hands to finish off the mixing. This is the messy part! If the dough is too wet, add extra flour. When you have a ball of dough, take out of the bowl, put on a flour dusted board or work surface and knead with the heels of your palms for 10 minutes until the dough is pliant and elasticated. Place in a clean bowl, cover with cling film or a clean tea towel and leave for an hour to rise.

After 1 hour, take the dough out of the bowl and punch to let the air out. Shape into 2 ovals and place in the greased bread tins, cover and leave for another hour.

Towards the end of the last hour, heat the oven to Gas Mark 8/ 230 degrees celsius. Place bread in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven after cooked, slip out of the tin and to check if cooked through, tap the base of the bread which should sound hollow. If it doesn’t, place the bread back in the oven on the shelf to cook through. Leave on a cooling rack until ready to serve or store away.