The Screaming Urge

I just want to encourage you to read the comments on the Screaming Urge page…and also I want to prod you to continue to share your thoughts.  Did you participate?  Did it effect you?  Have you come to any conclusions?  Thanks to all who have been sharing…I get a lot out of it.

Wednesday Night – Worship and Prayer

As the Solidarity Fast comes to a close, we are having a special meeting tonight, Wednesday the 13th, at the Eastgate building, starting at 7pm (our regular Bible study will resume next week).

We hope you can join us for a time of worship, and community prayer which we hope will culminate the three day fast.  This is open to all…we won’t be asking who participated or not…that’s private stuff.  Lets all just gather together and declare Christ our supplier, and pray for those in need.

Hope to see you there.

rob

Meditations Have Been Added

We now have a new page called “meditations“, and the instructions for their use are the introduction to the page. Again, it’s my suggestion that you print this page out to have a hard copy to use during prayer.

Also, I want to thank those who’ve already shared their thoughts “pre-fast” on the “Screaming Urge” page….and I want to encourage others to share your thoughts as well.  “Rob…if we turn off our computers, how are we supposed to write comments?”  Good question.  I guess that’s why I’m prodding you to share now…but I also recognize people will be at work, and still be wired at different times…so the opportunity still exists to share your thoughts during this experience.  However, even if you have to wait until the fast is complete, please jot down some thoughts and share them with us all.  It’s so important for us to exchange ideas as we reach out for the Lord.

God bless you…may you know the power of the Good King during your practice of intentional humility.

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Prayers Have Been Added

We’ve uploaded morning and evening prayers on the “Prayers” page. 

“How are we supposed to use those Rob?”….I’m glad you asked.  We’ve written prayers for the morning and the evening.  Each morning of the fast, it would be cool if all of us together (not at the same time, but within the context of morning time) were praying the same thing, in solidarity, so to speak.  Then, at the end of the day, with our TV’s off, our lights out, our normal comforts put aside, if in unity, we pray for the poor and oppressed of the world.

“Does God hear prayers that we read?”  As a good evangelical, years ago I would have said “no”.  But after I got healed from knowing everything, I have found that as a human, a written prayer is just the thing to get my mind and heart focused in the right direction.  It doesn’t mean that the written words have any magical powers…they are a tool to bend my heart, mind and will towards heaven.  I will usually elaborate, and pray conversationally along with the written prayer.  Praying the Scriptures (especially the Psalms) is a wonderful practice which everyone can freely embrace.  God hears prayers.  Read, whispered, thought, sung, screamed and sighed.  God hears prayers…that’s the easy part.  The trick is to get around to praying.

You may want to print the prayers out by copying and pasting them into a Word document, and have them with your Bible, or in someplace you’ll remember to see them.  When we turn off the power, you may want to have a hard copy of the prayers so you don’t have to return to the computer.

In the morning prayer, there is a pause for meditation.  I will be adding some references for that before Sunday.

God bless you, all who are willing to participate in this fast.

-rob

Solidarity

ROMANS 12:15b…”TO WEEP WITH THE WEEPING”

The Solidarity Fast is an attempt to stand with those who have nothing, experiencing what they experience, feeling what they feel.  The follower of Christ is encouraged by Scripture to “weep with those who weep”, yet for those of us living in the thick of an opulent and decadent society, it’s often a difficult task to identify with those who have nothing. 

For three days in June, we are inviting those who want to feel again to join us in a fast from participating in the normal, often overindulgent, American eating and lifestyle habits, and live with less food and less convenience. We encourage you to take part in this as minimally or as deeply as you want, but we encourage you to allow God to open your heart and see the world differently as a result.

For more information on how to participate, click here.

sol·i·dar·i·ty
Pronunciation: "sä-l&-'da-r&-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: French solidarité, from solidaire characterized by solidarity, from Latin solidum whole sum, from neuter of solidus solid
: unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards  

fast                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Pronunciation:'fast                                                                                                             Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English fæstan
1 : to abstain from food
2 : to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods

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• Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
• The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
• 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).