I may or may not have posted on my intentions to put on a club night at the Vineyard Warehouse, but it’s happening. It’s called “Playground” and it’s happening June 5th 2010. Go join the Facebook Page (more fans the better, means I can change the URL to something more manageable after a while).
Heads-up!
Just a quick heads-up that, regardless of my feelings on Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church has a really awesome podcast of worship music. Click here to get it on iTunes, make sure to check out in particular In the Shadow of the Glorious Cross by Rocket Minor,Tomorrow by Ashbourne, How Great Thou Art by Sackcloth & Ashes, You Have Opened My Mouth and Praise to the Lord by Ghost Ship, Nothing but the Blood and As Long as I Live by E-Pop, Man of Sorrows by Ex-Nihilo and Advent Song by Northern Conspiracy.
The cleft in the rock
So you may have noticed by the thin-ness on the ground of my blogposts that I have been internet-less for the past while. My not-so-trusty Acer laptop decided to pack it in, and although I have now acquired a Macbook Pro (!), it’s having a few teething problems connecting to the dodgy internet connection at my house. I’m currently using the WiFi at McDonalds (what a friggin capitalist), and while I may not be able to crank out anything of any particular substance at the moment, I can at least put up a quick photo blog. I paid a visit on Monday morning (with the wonderful Lyndall and Vicki) to the building that Canterbury 24-7 Prayer Community has acquired to use as a boiler room, and it’s lovely. And yes, we are above an estate agents where we have to go through their offices to access it. Those guys are gonna have an interesting year…
We’ve been thinking of the place a little like the cleft in the rock that God hides Moses in in Exodus 33, as we are in a slightly obscure part of the city but God’s glory can pass alongside us and go into the city. Every day at 5.15pm we align ourselves with the evensong at the Cathedral and pray the prayer Moses prays in that chapter (adapted slightly to refer to us), so here it is if you ever feel like joining in:
“Father you have said that you know me by name and that I have found favour with you. if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways, so that I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that we are your people. If your presence is not with us, then don’t send us from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with us unless you go with us? Lord show us your glory.”
Short film geekitude part 8
More shameless self-promotion. This is a little docu-vignette I did for an organisation called CHANGE – a Christian youth group in Canterbury. I was asked to make a series of little documentaries showcasing young people’s faith stories and this is the first one. Emma is 15 years old and already much more spiritually mature than I (coincidentally I also spent Christmas with her family, who are from Northern Ireland). The other girl is Anna who will be the subject of the next one.
Something’s in the air.
This afternoon me and my small group (who are interested starting a boiler room Canterbury) met the lovely Phil Togwell from 24-7 Prayer, who came down from Romford to discuss what a prayer-based community would look like in our city. We have all been very much energised by his visit and input, and I’m still processing the stuff we talked about.
This weekend we take our first little foray into 24-7 prayer – inspired by Phil’s community’s 24-1 prayer event, and too wimpy and resource-less to pray for a full week or month, we decided to try praying for 24 hours as a community from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. We have gotten our hands on just about the coolest prayer space available – a caravan called ‘Grace’ – courtesy of the mum of one of the newer Vineyarders, Joe. Vicki suggested this afternoon that we rename Grace ‘The Prayeravan’; we looked at her with a mixture of disgust and amusement. Still, maybe it would bode well for the event? I am sure Sunday will bring lots to write about, plus photos and possibly a short film if I can book me a HD camera from uni…
If this weekend goes well we will surely do more of this in the future, especially once Vineyard actually moves into its brand new warehouse. If you are the praying sort, please keep this event in your prayers this weekend.
(Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!)
He LOVES us
I have so many meandering thoughts dashing through my brain that I can barely cohere them (a little like when I started to write that psychoanalytic film theory essay on Mulholland Drive, whatta mindf*ck), but I just wanted to share with you a delightful conversation I had yesterday evening when my delightful friend Grace came round for dinner. Background information you should know is that (1) Grace is ridiculously into worship, (2) you can tell she worships God a lot, she just glows, and (3) this has inspired me to try and devote more time to praising God in my prayer life, rather than just ask for stuff. Also, this is paraphrased.
Me: I need to start worshipping God more. All my prayer life is is just treating God like my sugar daddy, asking for stuff all the time. And, I mean, I’m asking for stuff that he’d like me to ask for, like ‘God will you protect so-and-so’ or ‘God would you send workers into the harvest’, it’s not like I’m asking him like ‘God, would you build me a fairy castle’ -
Grace (interrupting): But Aideen, he would build you a fairy castle, because he loves you so much!
It’s a pity I can’t convey Grace’s joyful exuberance, her smile or her tone of voice on the internet, but that outburst was one of a woman who had genuinely encountered the love of God. I hope one day to experience the same thing.
