"This city is tired of praying for peace..."
It is a weary thing to pray for a place and see healing and have the work ruined by individuals who's plan is not at all peace, but we do not stop praying.
This past week we discussed reconciliation. The best idea I have heard about peace between people is this, not that there is not fighting or that there is no interaction but that literally everything is moving and turning together and made of a million different pieces and working properly. Picture the difference between a car turned off and a car flying down the highway 80mph and all you hear is the hum an engine and the road beneath you. That is peace.
What we are doing as a team is bringing peace to this nation. We are a small group of individuals, working together in peace, we all have different task but on goal. We as individuals work with God to maintain our own peace (everything working together), then as peaceful people we work with other Christians (peaceful people, working together) and then we encourage others around us to join the peace as a fully functioning part. It's how the Body of Christ works, and when everything is working together well, people are happy to join in and the body grows! That is how we, as a Church, are disciplining the nations.
God has called us to something bigger than our own salvation. While it is important it is simply a small part of the big picture...it's only the beginning. How many of us can't wait for the end so heaven can come and we'll be happy. Yeah. Me too. But it's a sad state of mind...because if your not happy here, you won't be very happy in heaven because my friends, Jesus has already brought heaven here...it's at hand. It is within reach. Every time you dream of walking down streets of gold...go for a walk around your neighborhood, because Christ is already there, he is redeeming it. When you dream of a mansion on a hill, invite someone to your small house for dinner to show him how it'll be when you have one, He is redeeimg your life.
One last thing. Some of us, including me, struggle with not being in full-time ministry because it doesn't "feel" like we're serving the Lord. There are many facets of this world though that you already serve Him and he needs you there. The Arts. Science. Education. Communication. Government. Economics. The Church. In order to disciple a nation we need to be involved in ALL of the Nation. If there were individuals willing to serve in the places God has called them, there can be great leaps in the way our world works. I feel called to Ireland, so I'll give it my best while I am here. Many people are quite content with their jobs and need to remember that God is there with them, no matter how insignificant it seems.
The plan of God is big. It is greater than anyone of us and spans colors, races denominations, seas oceans and countries; it is not above them, it includes all of them. What if God's plan did not involve destruction but redemption? What if the fire that destroys this world is his love? What if heaven is just below the surface and we need only to reach out and take it? The Church will disciple the Nations.
Cheers Friends.
Maeder
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Week Seven and Eight: Dublin and St. Patrick
Wow. It's been a good few weeks. The week before last our team was in Dublin to serve at a small YWAM missions conference where leaders from east Europe came together to discuss a vision for Europe and to find out what God is doing in other places. It was great to see so many different people and languages get together in the same room for the same purpose. There were discussions about helping the poor ( a program in York, England, I think, called Street Angels) and discussions about ministering to prostitutes in Amsterdam and Berlin. There were leaders using the Arts to reach people and it seems that there are cafes in every country that a YWAM leader helps at....The gospel and coffee always seem to go together :) What ever the task, there is a YWAM base somewhere doing something to try to heal the nations, and it's excellent to be a part of it.
While I was there it was fun to be in the Dublin. There were all kinds of things to see but they all cost money...Book of Kells, St. Patrick's Cathedral...it's a bit of a tourist trap. The cool part was being able to talk to the manager of O'Shea's Pub. I was able to tell him who I was and Why I was there and some of our vision for this beautiful Island! In the end though it was only a conversation but there was something good about a protestant having a kindly chat with a protestant...a small example of what we're working towards.
Last week we had two great opportunities. The first was a prayer walk of sorts. We started by praying for the Shankill and we walked down to City Centre praying for businesses as we went. We walked past to Docks where the titanic was built right up the other side of the city to Stormont, the local parliamentary building. We prayed for the politics here, not for one side or the other but that they would be instruments of peace, rather than conflict.
On st. Patrick's day we had a weird but great outreach. Our job was to go to a place in town where there were drunken riots last year and work with a church there. we Handed out flyers for free burgers and coffee and tea and then we walked around several blocks with a big trash can and pick ed up bottles. It was fun to talk with the folks there. They asked us what we were doing and why. The overall attitude was better and there were no riots! I haven't heard yet but I'm sure the city was appreciative...hopeful we can do it next year.
A personal note: When I had initially told you all about the YWAM trip here, I told you that at the end on the time we were going to South Africa to "Practicse" What we were learning. But for some of us in the group our plans have been changed. I am one of 11 students that will be taking the message of reconciliation to Israel and Palestine. For several weeks our team will be in the Middle east crossing the lines back and forth to work with orphanages and youth groups, meeting people and building community. It will be an exciting time.
While I was there it was fun to be in the Dublin. There were all kinds of things to see but they all cost money...Book of Kells, St. Patrick's Cathedral...it's a bit of a tourist trap. The cool part was being able to talk to the manager of O'Shea's Pub. I was able to tell him who I was and Why I was there and some of our vision for this beautiful Island! In the end though it was only a conversation but there was something good about a protestant having a kindly chat with a protestant...a small example of what we're working towards.
Last week we had two great opportunities. The first was a prayer walk of sorts. We started by praying for the Shankill and we walked down to City Centre praying for businesses as we went. We walked past to Docks where the titanic was built right up the other side of the city to Stormont, the local parliamentary building. We prayed for the politics here, not for one side or the other but that they would be instruments of peace, rather than conflict.
On st. Patrick's day we had a weird but great outreach. Our job was to go to a place in town where there were drunken riots last year and work with a church there. we Handed out flyers for free burgers and coffee and tea and then we walked around several blocks with a big trash can and pick ed up bottles. It was fun to talk with the folks there. They asked us what we were doing and why. The overall attitude was better and there were no riots! I haven't heard yet but I'm sure the city was appreciative...hopeful we can do it next year.
A personal note: When I had initially told you all about the YWAM trip here, I told you that at the end on the time we were going to South Africa to "Practicse" What we were learning. But for some of us in the group our plans have been changed. I am one of 11 students that will be taking the message of reconciliation to Israel and Palestine. For several weeks our team will be in the Middle east crossing the lines back and forth to work with orphanages and youth groups, meeting people and building community. It will be an exciting time.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Week Five: God of this City and Risky Business
It's amazing, actually, seeing God work. I've been in several different places and have heard the same prayer, that God would change this city. No one is praying for a particular denomination, no one is trying to convert people to Catholic or Protestant, what they care about is the well being of the people, that they would find God without "religion" (the problem) by seeking Jesus. And some are stepping out and risking much, in hopes that a few might be saved.
I told you that there is a business man here who is Christian and opened a cafe on Shankill (Protestant Belfast) in hope of building community in a safe way. After running the cafe for a while he began walking up and down Falls Road (Catholic Belfast) selling pastries (his other job) and wondering if it might be God's will to start another Cafe of the same name on the Falls road. He believed it is. So this past week I was in the new cafe painting and getting it ready to open this week. It's a great story of a person who believes in the Larger community of God with out boundaries or titles. but it's the irony that makes the story awesome.
First of all, he is Protestant English and by all means should be hated on the Falls Road, but he's been talking to owners all up and down the road letting them know what he is about. Secondly, because he's trying to do something so different he has to use his own money for the start up (Many thousands of Pounds) and is literally risking everything, including his life, to build bridges between the two communities. The funny part is this, This protestant is opening a shop on the corner of Falls Road and RPG Avenue (Yes, Rocket Propelled Grenade Avenue!) and on the side of his cafe is a 2 storey mural of an armed Irishman from the Easter Rising in Dublin...You can't make this stuff up. Our God has an amazing sense of humor.
That's all for now. I'll be away next week in Dublin for a conference of missionaries from western Europe. I'll catch up with you all later. Thanks for your prayers!
I told you that there is a business man here who is Christian and opened a cafe on Shankill (Protestant Belfast) in hope of building community in a safe way. After running the cafe for a while he began walking up and down Falls Road (Catholic Belfast) selling pastries (his other job) and wondering if it might be God's will to start another Cafe of the same name on the Falls road. He believed it is. So this past week I was in the new cafe painting and getting it ready to open this week. It's a great story of a person who believes in the Larger community of God with out boundaries or titles. but it's the irony that makes the story awesome.
First of all, he is Protestant English and by all means should be hated on the Falls Road, but he's been talking to owners all up and down the road letting them know what he is about. Secondly, because he's trying to do something so different he has to use his own money for the start up (Many thousands of Pounds) and is literally risking everything, including his life, to build bridges between the two communities. The funny part is this, This protestant is opening a shop on the corner of Falls Road and RPG Avenue (Yes, Rocket Propelled Grenade Avenue!) and on the side of his cafe is a 2 storey mural of an armed Irishman from the Easter Rising in Dublin...You can't make this stuff up. Our God has an amazing sense of humor.
That's all for now. I'll be away next week in Dublin for a conference of missionaries from western Europe. I'll catch up with you all later. Thanks for your prayers!
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