What Or Who Will You Turn To?
I don’t know about you, but each week I promise myself I’ll do better next week. Better meal planning and prep, better at venturing out of the house with my little one, do more during my little one’s nap time than just watch TV; read a book, blog, work, work out, read the Bible, pray or simply be. And at the end of each week I’m disappointed. I’ve eaten more take out than I should have, hardly moved my body, watched too much TV and spent way too much time on Instagram…. Read More
Wait, what are spiritual disciplines again?
In this blog series we’re tracking through the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. Personally I’ve found this book transformative and Comer makes simple and practical our desire as a church family to ‘create space for Jesus in our daily lives through simple habits’. So far we’ve explored and recognized in ourselves the challenge of hurry sickness, we’ve seen how changes in society make it almost impossible to avoid being caught up in this whirlwind life that damages our souls, and we’ve been introduced to the idea that… Read More
Decision Time. Do I really want this?
There’s a story about Jesus. He’s teaching in the synagogue when a guy, called Jairus, rushes in and falls at his feet, begging him to come and heal his daughter who is literally “at the point of death” (Mark 5:23). On the way to Jairus’ house, Jesus is stopped by a woman with a chronic health condition. Jesus’ response to her is beautiful, taking all the time to not only heal her body but show value for her soul. But imagine Jairus! Screaming inside for Jesus to Come On! Filled with anxiety…. Read More
The Solution…..?
If you’re still reading this blog today then it’s likely that you, like me (and I expect most people), recognize the symptoms of hurry sickness, can see how it’s negatively affecting our lives….and want a way out. What’s the answer? Well, tracing John Mark Comer’s book, the solution is not: MORE TIME. “If only there were ten more hours in the day!”……is not a real solution. What would we do with it? Learn a new skill, enjoy a new place, travel to new sites, help more people…..maybe a whole load of incredibly… Read More
Losing to a Goldfish
Pop Quiz: which of these relate to you…. Moving from one check-out line to another because it looks shorter/faster. Counting the cars in front of you and either getting in the lane that has the least or is going the fastest. Multi-tasking to the point of forgetting one of the tasks. Anybody? These are what authors Rosemary Sword and Philip Zimbardo offer as ‘symptoms of hurry sickness’. Hurry Sickness: defined as… “A behaviour pattern charactersied by continual rushing and anxiousness” “A malaise in which a person feels chronically short of time, and… Read More
What do I need to do to become the me I want to be?
Answer: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.“ Hurry. What would you say is the greatest enemy to the spiritual life? There may be a whole host of things, but would ‘hurry’ even make the list? See what you think about these…. “All of my worst moments…are when I’m in a hurry.” [John Mark Comer] “Love, joy, and peace are incompatible with hurry” – Love takes patience, joy comes from being present to the moment, peace….well, does it need explaining? [John Mark Comer] “Our greatest danger is not that we renounce faith,… Read More
Dream Themes
“All of them were united in prayer, gripped with one passion, interceding night and day.” Acts 1:14 In the spirit of Rewilding The Church, over the last couple of months we have used our Monday Hubs to pause and listen to what He is telling us as a church to do here in Barking Riverside; not only our next steps as a church but how we can help those in our community thrive. Each week the same sort of themes kept coming out of our prayers and discussions, even discussions outside of… Read More
Rewilding The Church Pt 6
In this series we have explored many different aspects as to how we need to free ourselves and the church to give room to what God is calling us to do: What rewilding the church means Putting our faith in Him and listen to what He is telling us to do Simplicity of our faith and discipleship Reaching out to those who feel they don’t fit in to church How we need to come together as brother and sisters to accomplish through Him The last piece of the puzzle is Hope. In… Read More
Rewilding The Church Pt 5
“The strength of this vital defensive construction required wholehearted commitment to the same shared vision; structural integrity was the result of human connection.” Steve Aisthorpe, Rewilding Church, reviewing Nehemiah 3 Last week was all about looking for those in your circle who are missing from church; those who feel like they don’t fit in or who aren’t accepting of every part of the Christian narrative. This week we’re looking at how connections with our brothers and sisters help us see great things through Him. As we have explored previously in this series,… Read More
Rewilding The Church Pt 4
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14 I have always been a Christian. I was baptised… Read More
